East Vs West: Character Battles #4

When people think Anime, they think Japanese Cartoons. They’ve been translated and “eaten” up by the American audience and other animation companies wanted a piece of that pie. Thus ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’ was created. It blends various Anime Styles and Marshal Arts with the American technique to create something brilliant. But some people see a connection to a certain Orange Ninja…

Aang Vs Naruto Uzumaki

For those who don’t know, Naruto Uzumaki is a young boy (or teenager depending if this happens before or after the time skip) who becomes an orphan after a Demon known as the Nine Tailed Fox attack his village. The demon was stopped and placed in his body, which made the villagers scared of him for that. He grew up mostly alone wanting people to respect him, which is the main reason for his dream to be Hokage, AKA the Village Leader.

After failing the Ninja Exams three times, he finally got a passing grade and soon meet his fellow classmates and partners in Sakura and Sasuke (which one is his love interest depends on pretty much your point of view). The rest can only be told through two anime series and an almost 400 chapter manga series that is still continued to this day.

Aang, differently, was a young boy who was sent to a monk academy for Airbenders when it’s been discovered that he is the Avatar, or as the abridged version calls it, Kung Fu Action Jesus. While the monks argued about his upbringing, Aang runs away and is somehow became trapped in ice. He stays trapped for 100 years until a brother and sister pair known as Katara and Sokka unintentionally set him free.

He soon learns that the Fire Nation took over the world and that he has to learn the rest of the fighting styles (Earth, Fire, Air, and Water) and defeat the Fire Lord before a comet comes and gives the Fire Nation another shot of steroids. He is soon joined by Toph, a Blind Earthbender (and the reason I started watching this) and his former enemy Zuko.

Hearing it like this, you can’t possibly draw any connection between the two. But the fans soon discovered plenty of similarities. We got a fire guy (Zuko/Sasuke), Masters of Earth movement (Toph/Gaara), weapons only females (Tenten/Mai), Fighters who don’t have powers named Lee (Rock/Ty), Fan Users who are Strong Females (Suki/Temari), the guys they like who think males should wear the pants (Sokka/Shikamaru), Sibling to the Fire Guy but is better at it (Azula/Itachi), and so on and so on…

So might as well put the two main characters in a battle. Who truly deserves a ball of wind like energy that they can control?

Round One: Location

Pretty much, this can take place anywhere. It could be in the weird hybrid animal filled world of Avatar with their wide spaces and cities with no sort of technology. Or it could take place in the world of Naruto with giant animals, lush forests, animals that can talk, and cities with computers that can randomly draw names but somehow with no TVs or Telephones…

But the winner of this category has to be able to use their surroundings to their advantage. Aang has the distinct ability of the Avatar, which gives him the ability to use Earth, Fire, Wind and Water as his move list (one short of summoning Capt. Planet), so pretty much Aang has a weapon in any location. But using his Ninjutsu, Naruto can hide in plain sight. And he is also a great digger.

But for this round, I have to give it to Naruto. If in a crowded city, Aang would have to cut back from his tricks to prevent hurting the people around him. Naruto doesn’t since his attacks usually require him to make contact with his opponent.

WINNER: Naruto

Round Two: Learning Ability

Aang had multiple teachers. For Airbending, he had Monk Gyatso and the other Western Air Temple Monks. For Waterbending, he had Master Pakku and Katara. For Earthbending, he had Toph (who was the hardest of them). And for Firebending, he had Zuko.

Naruto also had multiple teachers. In his pre-squad years, it was Iruka Umino. Once on a squad, he had Kakashi Hatake. And for his solo training, he had Jiraiya, one of the Three Legendary Ninjas.

For sheer number, Aang won this. But even if the numbers didn’t favor him, Aang has this round. Jiraiya did taught Naruto some powerful moves, but it kind of been over shadowed by the fact Jiraiya tends to go after the ladies more then training Naruto.

WINNER: Aang

Round Three: Fighting Ability

Both of these guys use their abilities in their fighting style, but this will look at them without said powers. Naruto’s attacks seem wild, but pack quite a punch (or a kick depending on what he uses). His Taijutsu comes into question since most of his attacks use Shadow Clones in them.

Aang is lucky considering each Bending Style is based on a particular fighting style. Waterbending is based on the Tai Chi Style. His Earthbending thanks to Toph is based on the Southern Praying Mantis Kung Fu style. The Airbending of his original is based the Ba Gua style and bits of Hsing Yi Style.

As of now, he’s learning the Firebending style of fighting, but as is, he has an impressive list of fighting styles to pull out. This gives Aang an edge in this situation.

WINNER: Aang

Round Four: Powers

As mentioned, Aang has the ability to control Earth, Fire, Wind and Water of various forms and such. He also has a state known as the Avatar State which gives him the knowledge of all the previous Avatars before him. Though he is unable to control when he uses the Avatar State, he does have impressive use of Earth, Wind and Water.

Naruto has multiple tricks up his sleeves which includes the Shadow Clone Technique, Transformation Jutsu, Summoning Jutsu, and the Rasengan. Also at times of desperation, he can summon Chakra from the Nine Tailed Fox within him giving him a boost in Strength and Speed and also a healing factor and vector like arms that can change length and time and are made of Chakra.

Aang had to train in order to control the Avatar State, but he failed thanks to Azula. Naruto has trained to use the Nine Tailed Fox’s energy and has, though the more he uses it, the less he controls. Naruto owns this category.

WINNER: Naruto

Round Five: Weapons

Aang only has a staff which also doubles as a glider. Naruto brings various ninja weapons including a Kunai which doubles as a projectile weapon and a hand to hand weapon. For multiple uses, I believe Naruto has the edge since Aang staff can’t defend against Naruto’s throwing weapons.

WINNER: Naruto

Round Six: Allies

Aang’s allies are a lot, but the three that are usually with him is Katara (a Waterbending Master), Toph (a Earthbending Master), and Sokka (boomerang user/strategist who recently been upgraded to Sword Master). Recently, he also gained Zuko (a Firebender and son of the Fire Lord) and a few others who don’t aid in fighting.

Naruto’s allies are also a lot, which includes his teachers, Sakura, and various other Genin of the Village Hidden in the Leaves. Sasuke was once an allie but left to become stronger as Naruto tries to find him and stop him from going to Orochimaru. He also rotates more then Aang.

Though the rotations would give him an advantage, Naruto is usualy forced on these teams unless it was to find Sasuke or (after the time skip) to stop Akatsuki. Even as friends, he doesn’t work as well with the team as the others (who were paired up when Naruto was with Sasuke and Sakura). So Aang has the distinct advantage for having allies he knows very well and not being forced into.

WINNER: Aang

Round Seven: Chakra Control

Aang, as well as every Avatar Character, has seven types of Chakras in their body. Earth, Water, Fire, Air, Sound, Light and Thought Chakra, which can be blocked by emotions the human contains. If Aang is able to release all these Chakras, he can control the Avatar State.

Naruto, as well as every Naruto Character, has eight different gates that control the flow of Chakra in the human body. Initial, Heal, Life, Harm, Limit, View, Wonder, and Death Gate, which can be unlocked to give the person a boost. If anyone unlocks all of the gates, they will surpass the strength of a Kage, but they will die.

Adding to the above, Naruto has two types of Chakra flowing through him. His normal Chakra is basic, but is in abundance. And the Demon Fox’s Chakra, which increases his stats and adds to his abilities.

After the events of “The Crossroads of Destiny”, it is believed that Aang’s Chakras are locked, and thus unusable. It is unknown if this is true or if he just simply has to start all over again to regain it, but until we find out, it’s an unknown factor. If a new episode changes this, this will be reviewed, but until then, this goes to Naruto.

WINNER: Naruto

Round Eight: Toughest Opponent

Despite being the Avatar, Aang has been given one tough opponent over another, each usually resulting in running away. When Zuko was only chasing him, it was easy to defeat him. But when Azula began the hunt, Aang finds it more difficult to defeat this opponent, opting to run away more often then finishing the fight. Then came “Combustion Man” as Sokka calls him. This guy was pretty much unstoppable until Zuko’s distraction and Sokka’s Boomerang damaged his third eye, seemingly destroyed him.

Naruto had one tough opponent after another, each one being harder then the previous. His toughest opponent, though, happened to be his comrade and rival in Sasuke. In the beginning, Sasuke was someone Naruto was training to defeat. After a few missions, Sasuke soon saw the difference in their power and became jealous. He soon joined with Orochimaru for power to defeat Naruto and his brother, Itachi. Despite Naruto’s promise and determination, the fight between them proved too much for him to take and he was defeated.

What’s the point of being the Avatar if you’re just going to run?

WINNER: Naruto

Round Nine: The Fan pairings

Since Naruto won mathematically already, I decided to give Aang one more point. Aang is usually paired with either Katara (when she isn’t paired up with Zuko) or (to a lower extent) Toph. Naruto is usually paired up with Sakura, Hinata, or by most people, Sasuke. Heck, I’m not even a fan of Yaoi and I see it more likely he’ll end up with him then the other two…

WINNER: Aang (Only because I don’t like Yaoi. If you do, then call this a win for Naruto)

OVERAL STATS: Naruto: 5 – Aang: 4

With the score of Five to Four, Naruto wins when it comes to stats. But when story comes to play, who really has the advantage? For this story, I’ll use pre-time skip Naruto since I am more used to him to take on Aang before going to Ba Sing Se.

Round Ten: The Story

Bored knowing that Jiraiya is still out on his “secret mission”, Naruto begins to train himself once more. During a run through of his new attack, he slips and falls down a hole. For some reason, the hole had a dimensional vortex that sucked Naruto in and then spit him out in an unknown desert.

Unable to find the hole he was spit out of, Naruto roams the desert for a while until he finds an oasis from a distance. Happy to find water, he begins to run there. Over at the Oasis, Aang and the gang were resting up planning their next move when Naruto ran through them and put his head in the water.

Aang was about to say hi but Sokka soon stop him. “Aang! What are you doing?” Sokka asked. “I was going to say hi.” Aang replied. “How do you know he’s not with the Fire Nation?” Sokka asked. “He doesn’t look like someone from the Fire Nation” Katara said. “You think it’s a coincidence that he JUST shows up from nowhere and finds us in the middle of a desert?” Sokka said. “Well, it is a desert and we are at an Oasis”. Katara replied.

Toph, being annoyed of Sokka and Katara’s argument, walks towards Naruto. He lifts up his head and said “Man! That was refreshing!” Toph goes next to him and asks “Hey, who are you?” “Oh, my name is Naruto Uzumaki. I come from Konoha.” “Konoha?” “Yeah, you know… It’s one of the villages in the Land of Fire.”

“So you are with the Fire Nation!” Sokka screamed when he overheard their conversation. Sokka pulls out his Boomerang and points it at Naruto. “You better not do anything or else you’ll be getting a taste of Boomerang!”. Naruto gets up and looks at Sokka. Seeing the position he’s in, he automatically assumes that they’re a bunch of thieves.

“So that’s how it is”, Naruto said, “you better be ready, cause you’re looking at the next Hokage.” “Don’t be stupid!” Sokka said, “ we got you out numbered…” Naruto smiled as he makes the familiar hand signals. “Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!” Naruto yells as a bunch of smoke surrounds him.

When the smoke clears, the Aang gang’s 4 on 1 quickly became 50 on 4. After seeing this, Katara, Aang and Toph (who suddenly felt more then one person) got ready for battle. The Narutos charged at all of them when Katara asks Toph “Which one is the real one?” Toph feels around but replies “I can’t tell! All those footsteps feel real to me”. Sokka was about to say something when two Narutos gang up on him.

Soon each of them was captured by two Narutos each. One of the Narutos told Toph, “I really don’t like the idea of hitting a lady…” Toph soon smiles and says “Don’t worry,” as she lifts both her feet and smashes them to the ground. Two pillars showed up and hit both her Narutos in the chin hard. Toph finishes saying “You won’t get the chance to!”

Toph’s Narutos soon disappeared. She wondered why but then gets the idea. She screams to the others “The fakes go down in one good hit. Just hit them hard enough and they’ll be gone!” Aang uses his Earthbending to free himself and Katara. After that, they head to the body of water and create a big wave together.

The wave washes all the Narutos (and Sokka) away and when the water cleared, only one Naruto was left, upside down being held up by a tree. Naruto gets back up as Aang rushes towards him, with his staff in hand. Using his Airbending ability, Aang jumps higher then normal and begins his decent to swing the staff towards Naruto.

Naruto reacted fast and caught the staff before it reached his head. “You got a lot of power” Naruto tells Aang, “Shame you’re using it like this.” Aang jumps back away from Naruto as the others soon joined him. Naruto looks at the situation and realize he needs to get help.

The gang looked confused as they see him bite into his thumb and do some more weird hand signals. When he was done, Naruto raises his hands and screams “Summoning Jutsu!” He then slams his hands down to the floor as more smoke fills up. As the smoke clears, nothing appeared.

“Aww come on! When I really need it!?!” Naruto screams as the others looks puzzled. Toph soon replied, “Are we sure he’s a real threat?” “He is from the Fire Nation, so we know he’s after the Avatar.” Sokka replied. “Maybe this is just a big misunderstanding” Aang said, “I’ll go over there and find out why he’s here.”

Aang walks towards Naruto as he was still complaining. Naruto notices it and then soon runs straight towards him. Naruto throws a various amounts of punches and kicks, but Aang nimbly avoids them all. With a bit of Airbending, Aang blows Naruto away. Naruto quickly landed and soon replied “So you’re learning the Rasengan too, huh?”

Aang has a puzzled look on his face as Naruto makes two more clones. He holds out his one hand as the other two pour Chakra into his hands. Soon a ball of energy formed in his hand “Let me show you how it’s really done!” Naruto declared. Aang soon yelled and says “Whoa whoa whoa! Since when can a Firebender do that?” Naruto then becomes confused himself and says “Firebender? What’s that?”

Moments later, they both explained everything and each side apologized for jumping to conclusions. Toph soon confirms that Naruto is telling the truth. They soon begin to help him look for the portal that he came through. Toph quickly found it and they headed that way.

Before leaving, Naruto shook Aang’s hand and said “It was nice meeting you. Good thing we stopped or else I would of hurt you with the Rasengan.” Toph replies, “I was going to stop you before you even reach Tender toes here.” “Yeah, I like to see you try!” Toph makes a stomp and Naruto is quickly captured in a stone trap (think similar to Iroh in Ba Sing Se). “Okay! Okay!” Naruto admits, “You can.”

Toph releases Naruto and they say their goodbyes. Naruto makes one last statement “If you ever come to Konoha, I’ll treat you all to some Ramen.” He quickly jumps in as the other look on. Toph then soon says “What’s Ramen.”

WINNER: Aang (with the Assists)

It seems cheap, but that’s the way Aang is. He’s usually with those guys like if they were the clothing on his bank. You can’t picture a realisitc fight with him alone unless they’re in some big gang war. And once friendly, Naruto is quick to admit defeat, as he has shown with Sakura.

Though like the Superman/Goku fight, these two would have been friend. Possibly friendly rivals if they lived in the same world. But tricking either of them would have been easy to do like it was here.

Like the outcome? Want to give your opinion of the events? Want to make suggestions? Then give a reply. The next match will be a Cartoon Version Vs an Anime Version of a certain blue Hedgehog.