Naruto Fans Debate Who Was The Strongest Kage Bodyguard (And Why It Was Darui)

"Naruto," without a doubt, has some of the strongest characters across all anime, with many far exceeding standard jutsus to ascend to near god-like levels. One of the first times fans saw so many powerful characters all in one place was during the Five Kage Summit arc of "Naruto Shippuden."

The Gathering of the Five Kage takes place right before the eve of the Fourth Shinobi World War, as the leaders of all five nations meet to discuss how to deal with the Akatsuki. Although the Kage themselves are some of the strongest shinobis in the world, they each brought along two guards at the request of the Fourth Raikage. Gaara, the Fifth Kazekage, had his "siblings" Temari and Kankuro protect him. 

Old man Onoki, the Third Tsuchikage, had Akatsuchi and his granddaughter Kurotsuchi with him. Ao and Chojuro protected Mei Terumi, the Fifth Mizukage. Even though A, the Fourth Raikage, was more than capable of taking on any threats by himself, he brought C and Darui as a backup. While the other Kage had their successors accompany them, Danzo, the most villainous of the eight Hokage, chose to have two of his highest-ranking shinobi, Fu and Torune, alongside him.

While the Kage assembled the meeting to solve a problem that plagued the entire world, the summit very much acted as a test of strength between the nations. Since many of the strongest characters in "Naruto" were present, the event naturally sparked a debate amongst anime fans, trying to decide which of the Kage had the strongest bodyguard.

When u/gzet4 brought up the question of which of the Five Kage had the strongest bodyguards on Reddit, many "Naruto" fans quickly jumped on the thread, stating that Danzo's shinobi, Fu and Torune, would wipe the floor with the others. Many users, like u/Pox_Americana and u/VariationGlum7864, pointed out the differences between the Leaf Village's representatives compared to the others, with the former saying, "Danzo brought the body-stacker, division busters. The rest brought their valedictorians/salutatorians."

However, the thread opened the floodgates of "Naruto" fans voicing their support for the Raikage's bodyguard Darui, or as u/BNYay called him, "Chad Darui." U/thessjgod mentioned that Darui already has the strength of a Kage at this point in the series, saying, "Darui is practically Kage level and dumpsters everyone here. Nobody is f****** with his black lightning." U/ProjectXenoviafan echoed this sentiment, believing that the shinobi matches up with Sasuke and Kakashi as the three best lightning users. U/LolIsThatReal further expanded on Darui's capabilities, saying, "Darui has lightning, wind, and water release. He also has the storm release kekkei genkai, also known as gale style."

It's clearly a toss-up between the Leaf and Cloud villages, as fans go back and forth debating who's one and two. U/geizterbahn ranks them "Danzo > Raikage > Rest," while u/Sounds_Like_Sean has Darui in the top spot followed by Torune and Fu. Similarly, a deleted user puts Darui and his fellow shinobi C first, and Danzo's guards second.

For those questioning whether Darui deserves the recognition, u/BNYay recommends a simple task to complete: rewatch the Fourth Shinobi World War arc, because it shows "Naruto" fans Darui in all of his glory.