From my understanding, Minato's the strongest because he was more dangerous than the rest. He's one of the fastest known ninja, has a space-time ninjutsu that makes him even faster (in a sense) and has a seal-less ninjutsu that can one-shot all but the most resilient.

And Hiruzen's the God of Shinobi. The only stats that weren't 5 were his strength, speed and stamina which are all accountable to his old age.

A part of me wants to see Kabuto pull them out of the Shinigami just so we can see what they can all do, first-hand.

 

It's been said several times, but when Sarutobi fought Hashirama and Tobirama, their skills were limited by Orochimaru's strict method of control.

Not to belittle Sarutobi; he was still the God of Shinobi. In his prime, his stat wheel was probably all filled out.

 

Supposedly Sarutobi, in his prime, was stronger than Hashirama and Minato was stronger than the Third.
And really, I can totally picture Sarutobi being bawse. I mean, he was bawse in his old age, and do you remember pictures of him as a Sensei? He just screams "awesome ninja- approach at your own risk".
Not a word needs to be said about Minato.


Remember, strength doesn't equate to the size of the planet you can toss around. It equates to all around Ninja skills, and combat effectiveness. Being able to change the landscape means shit if your throat is slit in the next two seconds.

 

Kishimoto seems to have left ninja skills behind and embraced his inner Akira Toriyama though. It seems Kishi wrote a lot of stuff in the early manga that he's starting to change a lot now. Like most people do in books/writing though.

I'd honestly say the Third was stronger than Minato. Although what I'd like to see is if Jiraiya is stronger than Minato or not.

 

Hiruzen in his prime might have been superior to Minato in most standard ninja arts, but Minato possessed a specific combination of abilities which made him almost unbeatable to most potential opponents. He didn't need to master all the different aspects of shinobi warfare, since he could beat just about anyone using a combination of two or three key techniques. And although he was certainly a genius, Minato did have Kushina's help in developing some of his fuuinjutsu-based techniques. I suppose you could say that some of his abilities were customized Uzumaki Hiden jutsu.

It's possible that Hashirama could defeat or draw with Minato thanks to Mokuton (using trees as a shield to prevent Hiraishin kunai from getting near him). But as far as we know Hiruzen didn't have anything comparable.

 

More accurately, she just taught him fuuinjutsu since we have no idea whether she was involved in the Hirashin. And the fuuin part of the Hiraishin seems to me to be the lesser part of the technique; the main part is the manipulation of space-time (which Minato mastered to the point that he could do it seal-lessly) whilst the jutsu-shiki provides the co-ordinates.

 

I still honestly have no fucking clue how the hell space time justu is supposed to work. Half the time it seems like seals and then half the time it doesnt.

Minato vs anyone in a straight up fight is kinda pointless, Minato has the ultimate trump card. If he lays so much as a finger on you, he can take you anytime anywhere. Tobi ran like a little bitch once he lost control of the nine tails and knew he was marked. To beat Minato you have to stay away from him, keep ahead of him at all times, but the problem is there isn't anyone faster. Say you survive that first rasengan like Tobi did, what's to stop Minato from simple severing your brain stem with a kunai and save a little chakra for the next idiot?

Sure Hiruzen and hashirama could probably beat Minato if they caught him by surprise or wounded, but in a straight up fight I don't see how anyone could beat Minato. Unless Susanno could stop Hirashin before Minato got inside it, in that case Madara might could pull it off. If that worked I see Minato outlasting Itachi and Sasuke.

 

I think Minato is a lot like the Jerk from the Star Wars trilogues. The jedi use a light saber not because it is the only thing they know how to use, but because it is the most direct, efficient tool most of the time. Sure, Jango Fett could out-shoot them, aim a rocket launcher better, and fly with a jetpack with more ease, but in terms of pure lethality, a Jedi with a light saber still wins. The power of the tool and the skill of using it renders all of the other tools useless.

 

http://www.mangahere.com/manga/naruto/v60/c577/

New chapter is out. I actually liked it this week. Seeing Tsunade do something was quite satisfying even if it could have been better.

 

I was kinda hoping she'd get killed. But I can always hope for next week, right?

Looks like Kabuto vs Itachi is next.

 

Tsunade looks pretty dead to me. That's not just a sword piercing through her body.

 

She has her immortality on, it should be rather hard to kill her.

 

Poor Tsunade.
Was about time somebody died though. You think Kishi will start taking character deaths to the extreme now?

Edit: On second thought, yeah. Her technique will probably save her.

 

I think he won't touch any of the younger generation, but the older characters like Kakashi/Tsunade are probably fair game.

 

She has her regeneration jutsu up though; that's let her survive things that should have been very fatal in the past.

Plus, Madara's last attack hit her through the gut, which isn't the sort of wound that causes instant death. If she can heal from having her heart sliced through with a sword, she could definitely handle some organ damage that wouldn't even kill her for several minutes before taking her super-regeneration into account. Granted, healing that injury requires getting un-impaled first, which won't be easy.

That aside, the real proof that she's not dead is that the story's just moving along instead of throwing a flashback sequence at us. Major characters always flashback before they're killed off for real.

 

I do suspect she will die by wars' end, though.That's sorta the whole point of the Creation Rebirth seal....
Moving on.
Itachi v Kabuto.
+/- Sasuke.
Epic match.
FIGHT!

PS Kishimoto is a bloody tease.

 

Yeah, I think Tsunade is still alive and will be reasonably well with the use of her regeneration jutsu. That said, her chances of surviving the aftermath of this battle lowered drastically.

Also, I wonder if Kishi has some plans for Dan. If I recall correctly he is one of the last two Edos with a big emotional baggage (the second one is Hizashi Hyūga) that the author haven't used yet. I thought he will meet Tsunade on the battlefield, but it seems unlikely right now.

 

The Dan/Tsunade reunion is getting nearer, and I have a feeling a flashback will start soon that will signal Tsunade's death. She'll probably perform a super restore the other kages' health in a second due to her regeneration jutsu, but at the cost of her own life.

She'll probably want that, since she doesn't want to to revert to her original appearance... going out with a bang and being remembered as beautiful and strong, not wrinkly and frail.

 

What I'm wondering is how Dan was so knowledgable about all of the Edo Tensei/Madara stuff, I know Kabuto summoned him, so that might have something to do with it, but he seemed to know a fair bit. Wether he will end up with Tsunade and she dies as he fades away or something like that...

 

He already killed Kakashi once and then brought him back. What's the point of offing him again?