Naruto: 5 Biggest Underdogs, Ranked

The world of Naruto is filled with some incredibly powerful shinobi and others who aren't all that high up the pecking order. Often, fans love for the story to give them glimpses of characters that are overpowered; however, more often than not, fans love to root for an underdog. Shonen anime tend to make use of this trope quite a lot.

Naruto is one anime that relies on this trope quite a lot. Kishimoto, the author of the story, has filled his story with quite a lot of geniuses; however, it is developing the underdogs that he spends most of his time on.

5 Hinata Hyuga

• Clan: Hyuga Clan
• Kekkei Genkai: Byakugan
• Ninja Rank: Chunin

Hinata is a member of the Hyuga Clan, born to the leader of the Main Family, Hiashi Hyuga. She's known to be a rather meek character who doesn't enjoy fighting at all. Hinata is an incredibly soft person, and compared to Neji, her cousin, she is not so skilled either. In combat, Hinata often struggles, as was seen across her major fights in Naruto. However, being inspired by Naruto, she always fights to the end.

When she fought Neji, she knew she didn't have much of a chance to win; however, she continued fighting and impressed everyone. Against Pain, Hinata showed her bravery and went on to save Naruto's life. Eventually, against all odds, Hinata becomes a skilled fighter. She even manages to surpass the likes of Hanabi, who is deemed a genius in the story. Hinata is certainly an underdog that the fans have loved to support against all odds.

4 Sakura Haruno

• Clan: None
• Kekkei Genkai: None
• Ninja Rank: Jonin

Sakura Haruno is one of the main characters in the story, alongside Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha. Just like the two of them, she is a member of Team 7, which is led by Kakashi Hatake. Sakura isn't all that skilled as a ninja, and when compared to her teammates, she has no special skills or abilities. She isn't born to some special clan, nor does she possess infinite chakra reserves. Sakura is merely human, which is exactly what makes her special and relatable to a lot of people watching the show.

Sakura is almost never better than those she faces in combat. Her victories come through extreme struggle and see her give everything that she has got. She excels at Medical ninjutsu; however, that doesn't stop her from getting better at other areas of shinobi arts. Sakura constantly attempts to conquer her weaknesses. She is an incredible underdog in a world filled with overpowered ninjas and even Gods. By the end of the series, Sakura becomes a Jonin and heads Konoha's medical division. She even manages to surpass Tsunade Senju, one of the legendary Sannin, which is quite a feat. Sakura stands as one of Konoha's strongest ninjas right now, and is certainly among the strongest ninjas to ever live.

3 Rock Lee

• Clan: Lee Clan
• Kekkei Genkai: None
• Ninja Rank: Jonin

Rock Lee is a character that the fans absolutely adore simply due to him being one of the biggest underdogs in the Naruto series. He was introduced in the story towards the beginning of the Chunin Exams arc and, shortly afterwards, he went on to make a great impact. Rock Lee was never a user of Ninjutsu or Genjutsu. As a child, he suffered quite a bit because of his inability to use these powers; however, he spent his entire time bettering his Taijutsu arts.

Under Might Guy, Lee became an admirable fighter and developed into a genius of taijutsu. He showed the fans what he is capable of when he is pitted against Gaara of the Sand in the Chunin Exams. Against all odds, Rock Lee gave Gaara the beating of a lifetime and showed everyone that, despite not being a traditional genius, he was one to take seriously. In the years that came, he progressed tremendously as a ninja, learning to open all the Eight Inner Gates. What's more, he also ended up becoming a Jonin of the village. He is said to have surpassed Might Guy by adulthood, which is quite an achievement. Lee even started his own clan, which his son, Metal, currently leads.

2 Might Guy

• Clan: None
• Kekkei Genkai: None
• Ninja Rank: Jonin

Might Guy, just like Rock Lee, was once a ninja with limited ability. While Lee was born without the ability to use ninjutsu and genjutsu, Might Guy was born with limited ability in these arts, meaning that he could very well perform ninjutsu; however, the degree to which he could use it was not all that great, making it rather useless. As a kid, Guy didn't have much potential, and he struggled in the Ninja Academy quite a bit. However, he trained his body and soul at all times and, through sheer hard work, stood among the elites such as Kakashi Hatake.

Guy kept working on his taijutsu skills at all times. Eventually, he reached a point where he had become the strongest user of Taijutsu in the world. In the Fourth Great Ninja War, Guy even put up an admirable fight against Madara Uchiha, who had ascended into his Six Paths form. Guy, despite being a ninja of limited talent, was able to stand among those with better skills than him, simply because he trained that much harder, and that is something the fans absolutely love about his character.

1 Naruto Uzumaki

• Clan: Uzumaki Clan
• Kekkei Genkai: Boil Release, Magnet Release, Lava Release
• Ninja Rank: Kage

Naruto Uzumaki is the protagonist of the Naruto series and certainly the biggest underdog in the story. Naruto was born without much talent as a ninja. At the same time, he had the nine-tailed fox sealed inside him, which made it even harder for him to accomplish basic things such as chakra control.

Naruto was also held back by the fact that the beast inside him often attempted to take over his body, and whenever he tried to rely on its power, he, along with everyone else around him, was hurt. Despite that, Naruto worked hard to attain New powers and eventually even conquer the Tailed Beast inside him, turning it into his biggest ally. He is the personification of hard work and the guts to never give up. It is through these qualities that he became as great as he is today. Even against foes who were better than him, he never gave up and defeated them with these qualities. Undoubtedly, Naruto is the greatest underdog in his own story.

All the chapters of the Naruto manga by Masashi Kishimoto are available to read via Manga Plus and Viz Media.