Dragonball and Naruto are two incredibly popular powerhouse properties in anime and manga medium. Both characters have earned legions of loyal fans who have followed them throughout their many adventures.
Both in the pages of Shonen Jump and their television and big-screen appearances.
Dragonball and Naruto, as franchises within the Shonen genre, both feature incredibly powerful and super-powered characters who engage in some truly wild and over-the-top battles.
From Naruto’s Rasengan to Goku’s Kamehameha, the sheer amount of extreme powers in their respective franchises make it no surprise that they have become as popular as they are.
Of course, as with any large fandom, comes a large degree of debate, and numerous fan theories that explore both franchises. One of the prevailing questions amongst both the Dragonball and Naruto fandoms is who would win in a fight between Naruto or Goku?
Both are iconic characters that have gone through much hardship to achieve their incredible powers, but it stands to reason that one would come out on top eventually, right?
If you’ve ever asked this question yourself, then you don’t want to miss this article, as we explore these characters in-depth to find out who would stand as the most powerful!
Before we get down to the nitty-gritty, it’s worth mentioning again who our two combatants are, and how far they have come within their respective stories.
Goku, the protagonist of the ever-iconic Dragonball first jumped onto the pages of Shonen Jump in December of 1984.
From the very first page, Goku stood out amongst other manga protagonists for his incredible and other-worldly strength that stood in stark contrast to his small stature.
Goku was a risk-taking, naturally powerful, and well-trained protagonist even from the young age of 12, and his power only grew substantially from there.
Goku quickly eclipsed all of his rivals, enemies, and friends in terms of sheer power; going through intense training regimens and even cheating death numerous times to grow more and more powerful and learn all manner of ancient and mystical arts.
Goku’s adventures still continue to this day, as a fully grown adult with a happy family, and his powers show no signs of stagnating.
Naruto, the protagonist of the series of the same name, first appeared in Shonen Jump in September of 1999. Since then, he has grown from a brash, outcast hot-head, to a true leader and historical figure within his own universe.
Naruto has grown from strength to strength as his series has progressed, learning the legendary Rasengan, and his own immensely powerful Kurama mode, which allows him to use the power of the nine-tail-fox spirit that lays dormant within him.
This is just a small number of powers that Naruto has developed over the course of his story. Even now, since taking the secondary-character position in place of his son Boruto, Naruto still proves to be one of the most powerful characters in Shonen manga history!
What Are Goku’s Abilities?
From his early childhood days in Dragonball to his now legendary power in the ongoing Dragonball Super, Goku has learned an immense number of abilities that have helped him to stand above his rivals and protect the universe.
Perhaps the most iconic of Goku’s abilities, and one of the most iconic attacks in popular culture is the Kamehameha wave. Admit it, we’ve all at some point attempted to pull off a Kamehameha at some point in our lives!
The Kamehameha is positioned within the world of Dragonball as a legendary ability that only the absolute masters of martial arts can pull off, so it’s no surprise that many of us in the real world have yet to pull one off.
Goku first learns of the Kamehameha from his master Roshi, who lets out an immense blast straight from the palms of his hands.
Goku, despite being told that he would need to train for generations to learn the move, is never one to listen to the rules.
Much to his master Roshi’s surprise, Goku lets out the move, completely by accident, at the young age of 12, proving himself once and for all as an otherworldly force. From this point on, Roshi makes frequent mention that Goku is very quickly surpassing him in power.
As the Dragonball series moves forward, and Goku grows older, he learns even more moves that transcend his power beyond mortal boundaries!
From the popular sequel series Dragonball Z onward, Goku learns a number of things about himself, such as his Saiyan heritage, which provides ample explanation for his gifted nature.
Other moves that Goku learns include the Kaio-ken and the Super-Saiyan transformations which allow him to significantly increase his power level, speed, and his mental capacity.
Now, at around the age of 31, Goku has risen to legendary status, not just on Earth, but throughout the Dragonball universe, as he faces off against intergalactic and multiversal threats!
Goku’s Super-Saiyan forms have also seen an incredible upgrade in power, such as the new Super-Saiyan God form, which sees his iconic hair turn a ruby red, and allows him to absorb enemy attacks as well as advanced self-healing capabilities!
Currently, Goku’s strongest form that he has reached is Ultra instinct, which, in true Dragonball style, changes his hair to a sleek white and grey combo.
Ultra instinct acts by severing the connection between the consciousness and the flesh, which allows the user to react completely unconsciously, and move at yet unseen speeds.
Ultra instinct is a godlike ability that Dragonball fans are still continuing to learn about, as Goku explores these powers.
What Are Naruto’s Abilities?
The Naruto franchise has seen quite radical changes in abilities and powers over the course of the series. When the series first showed up in the pages of Shonen Jump, it had a major focus on relatively grounded abilities that are associated with ninja.
This includes throwing kunai and shuriken and developing abilities that allow the characters to move about quickly and efficiently, as ninja love to do!
More mystical powers showed up in the form of the many ninjutsu powers, such as Naruto’s shadow-clone Jutsu, which allowed him to create numerous convincing copies of his form to overwhelm and confuse his enemies.
It is worth mentioning that Naruto had to spend significantly more time developing this ability than Goku did learning the Kamehameha. While Naruto is naturally gifted, it takes considerable time and training for him to acquire his various abilities.
As the Naruto series progressed, more and more otherworldly and immensely powerful abilities began to show, such as Naruto’s iconic Rasengan, which has more than a few similarities to Goku’s Kamehameha.
Naruto has also developed a number of transformations and forms that allow him to increase his already existing skill sets. These include such things as the Sage mode, which increased his power level, speed, and agility.
The six paths senjutsu and sage mode, that also increase his power level and give him the ability to avoid attacks that move at the speed of light.
Naruto’s powers increased further and further as his story headed towards its conclusion, and now, having achieved his status as Hokage, he has taken on a legendary position within his universe.
Despite his story now having concluded, Naruto’s powers still continue to develop, thanks to his appearances in the sequel story Boruto: Naruto Next Generations. In recent episodes of Boruto, Naruto has fought against the dreaded Ishiki, Amado, and Delta.
Against Delta, Naruto uses his Super-Ultra-Big Ball Rasengan, an appropriately named attack of immense power that can create massive craters in the ground, showing that Naruto has improved immensely since he first developed the ability.
Naruto developed his ultimate form over the course of Boruto, named Baryon Mode. This new form allowed Naruto to finally defeat Isshiki who had managed to put up a considerable fight against our hero.
This form allowed Naruto and Kurama, his long-time fox-tail spirit companion to merge their powers to create a new and more powerful type of attack energy.
This form, despite its great strength, takes up considerable energy from the user, and can significantly shorten their lifespan, so it must be used in short bursts. In his battle against Isshiki, Naruto chose to sacrifice his life to defeat his enemy, pushing himself past his limits.
Luckily, Naruto was able to survive, but not without immense sacrifice, with Kurama soon revealing that it was his life force that was consumed for Baryon Mode.
With Kurama now gone, Naruto is currently in a less powerful state, but his natural strength and quick thinking intelligence still remain.
How Would Naruto And Goku Fight?
If Naruto and Goku were to meet each other, the likelihood is that the two of them would become quick friends, rather than jumping straight into battle.
Both characters have similar world-views, as well as similarly voracious appetites for food! If the two were to fight, it would probably be as a form of training, or just a friendly spar, to see what each character is capable of.
If we want to really explore which character is truly strongest, we would need to see both of them fighting at their ultimate strengths.
Thus, Naruto would be using his Baryon Mode, with Kurama still around to provide him with power, and Goku would be using Ultra Instinct.
To begin with, the two would probably be very evenly matched. They would exchange blows and attempt to gauge the strength of one another.
Both characters would be able to stay in rhythm with each other, as Naruto has already earned the ability to move faster than the speed of light, and Goku is able to move completely on instinct.
It would probably take a considerable amount of time before either character gained the upper hand.
After some time, and after using considerable energy, the scales of the battle may begin to tip in Goku’s favor. Naruto’s Baryon Mode can only be used in very short bursts if he does not want to consume too much power or risk sacrificing his life.
Thus, Naruto would probably have to shift out from Baryon Mode occasionally, which gives Goku a window of opportunity.
Goku would begin to tire Naruto down, due to being able to stay in Ultra instinct music longer. Naruto would have trouble keeping up with some of Goku’s attacks and may have trouble landing attacks on Goku, who is now acting entirely on instinct.
However, Naruto is not completely without options at this point. While Goku would be able to tire him out slowly, Naruto can still keep up in his own way.
Rather unlike Goku, who tends to think only with his fists, Naruto is established to be quick thinking and light on his toes, thanks to his extensive ninja training.
Naruto would be able to use some of his more basic abilities, such as his shadow-clone Jutsu, to confuse Goku for even a split second. This would allow Naruto a small window of opportunity to regain his upper hand and land a few blows.
By this point in the battle, both characters would likely be running on fumes, and their various transformations would begin to fail them. In terms of basic strength, Goku is measurably stronger, thanks to his Saiyan heritage, and his intergalactic training and opponents.
By this point in the battle, both characters may be fighting one another using more basic forms. Naruto would begin to have more trouble, as Goku’s various fast attacks begin to do some serious damage.
Goku does not need any of his transformations to access abilities such as flight, or super-fast combat. Naruto would hold his own, using his ninja trickery, but Goku would soon find the upper hand and come out victorious.
Of course, Goku would not land a killing blow on Naruto, and would likely compliment him for his combat prowess, as the two would then probably go off to shovel down a few ramens together!
Who Can Defeat Goku Ultra Instinct?
At this point in the story of Dragonball Super, it is yet unknown who could possibly stand up to Goku in his ultra instinct form.
If the series is set to continue, then it is likely that we might see a few more opponents that can stand up to Goku in his ultimate form, but we have yet to see them!
If we were to widen our search window to characters from separate franchises, there are several characters that could potentially stand up to ultra instinct Goku. Such characters include Superman, Thor, and even popular meme take Shaggy from Scooby-Doo!
