Naruto's 5 Cringiest Moments According To Reddit

Of all the shōnen manga and anime of the last quarter-century, the most notable — commercially, culturally, and editorially — is almost certainly "Naruto." The Masashi Kishimoto-created series about the coming-of-age process of a group of young ninjas in the throes of war and supernatural calamity has left an imprint on worldwide pop culture that very few other properties can match. And of course, though the manga itself is a massive hit, a lot of that popularity is down to the long-running anime franchise now spanning three series: "Naruto," "Naruto: Shippuden," and the generational sequel "Boruto."

For its fans, the "Naruto" anime has been such an established source of comfort and emotion for so long now that it has entered that larger-than-life cultural phenomenon zone where "quality" is almost beside the point. If you grew up on "Naruto," it scarcely matters how good or bad the show is in its sum total; it exists above that. It's "Naruto." 

The flip side of that, of course, is that no one will take the series to task more viciously and ferociously when the occasion calls for it than its own fanbase — as demonstrated by a 2017 Reddit thread by a since-deleted account on r/Naruto that asked posters to name the most cringeworthy thing they had ever seen on the show. Plenty of scenes, lines, and moments were cited — any show with 700+ episodes and countless storylines will have its fair share of clunkers — but something of a consensus on the absolute cringiest still managed to emerge.

The question of just how consistent the character writing is across all 700+ episodes of "Naruto" and "Naruto: Shippuden" is a highly controversial one in its own right, but one thing has pretty much never been up for debate: Sakura Haruno's enduring love for Sasuke Uchiha. The relationship between the two characters, and Sakura's attendant rejection of Naruto's romantic advances, became such a defining element of "Naruto" over the years that, by the time Sakura attempted to pull a fake love confession on Naruto, no one was buying it — not the fans, and not, indeed, Naruto himself.

The scene in question takes place during "Sakura's Feelings," the 206th episode of "Naruto: Shippuden," and finds Sakura resorting to desperate measures to try and stop Naruto from attempting to return Sasuke to the Hidden Leaf Village. She believes feigning love for him and disinterest in Sasuke will dissuade Naruto from going through with a potentially life-threatening mission — but Naruto immediately sees through the act, admonishes her for lying, and informs her that he wants to save Sasuke for himself, not for Sakura.

This callous, disastrous attempt at manipulation, however well-intentioned, became arguably the most infamous moment in "Naruto" history; unsurprisingly, it was cited in the most-liked comment on the Reddit thread, with u/lemonade_101 simply writing in answer to the thread, "When Sakura confessed her 'love' to Naruto," to the tune of over 140 likes.

The arc of Sai from literal unfeeling ninja to one of "Naruto"'s most sensitive and empathetic characters is among the series' quietly stronger elements, but before it is fully carried out, we do get a lot of rocky interplay out of his introduction into Team 7. As a member of Root (known as the Foundation in the English dub) trained from an early age to suppress all emotions and look at the world with ruthless, single-minded objectivity, Sai can always be counted on to speak his mind — and, on "Shippuden"'s 36th episode, "The Fake Smile," this habit literally gets him punched, much to the chagrin of many fans.

On the Reddit thread, both u/Futon_Rasenshuriken and a since-deleted account singled out Naruto and Sakura's angry attitude toward Sai on this episode as particularly cringeworthy. "The Fake Smile" sees Naruto diminish Sai as an inadequate replacement for Sasuke who will never truly be a member of Team 7, prompting Sai to observe that he's glad not to be lumped in together with Sasuke, whom he views as a traitor. This causes Naruto to almost attack him before being stopped by Sakura — only for Sakura herself to later punch Sai in the face and prohibit him from ever badmouthing Sasuke again. 

The fan distaste for those scenes was summed up by the since-deleted Reddit user, who wrote, "Even if he has no grasp of emotions, anyone in Sai's position should be allowed to say what he did."

Several of the moments mentioned in the Reddit thread come from the Five Kage Summit arc of "Naruto: Shippuden," widely considered by fans to be the series' creative and narrative nadir. Another moment to which that applies would be the one on Episode 201, "Painful Decision," in which Ino Yamanaka cries convulsively upon learning that Sasuke, now deemed a criminal, has had an execution order placed upon him.

While the update about Sasuke's current standing in life doesn't exactly come as cheerful news to any of the Konoha 11, fans were confused as to why Ino specifically is so affected by it. After all, the closest she had to a meaningful connection with Sasuke was a brief, inconsequential crush years prior; the two hardly ever interacted on the series otherwise. The scene tries to pass it off as a result of a repressed yet long-harbored infatuation Ino has with Sasuke — but it's not exactly a convincing explanation in light of what we know and have seen of Ino up to that point. 

Not for nothing, a since-deleted Reddit account posted, "Ino crying over Sasuke when he was announced to be a criminal in five kage summit arc. Like come on guys, Sasuke interacted more even with Sai than Ino. I don't even think if Sasuke remembers who Ino is at all." Highly voted comments by u/miraistrife and u/JusticeArcana expressed similar bafflement at Ino's sudden outburst of emotion.

One thing that becomes clear when looking at fan responses to "Naruto" in the macro is that, when it comes to cringing, wincing, rolling eyes, and other expressions of impatience, the kunoichis do tend to get most of the flak. Whether that's a result of anti-woman bias on the part of fans or of the show's own trouble supplying its female characters with good writing is an endlessly debatable question, but wherever you come down on it, one thing's certain: No one catches more heat than Sakura.

Incidentally, the one department for which fans of "Naruto" seem to reserve the most disdain for Sakura's characterization is her intense romantic devotion to Sasuke. On the original "Naruto" series (usually termed "Part 1" by fans), the relationship at least has some reciprocity to it, but on "Naruto: Shippuden," Sasuke just manifestly has too much on his plate to worry about romance. And so does Sakura, for that matter — which makes it all the more baffling to fans that, on Episode 425, "The Infinite Dream," she actually takes a moment halfway through Naruto and Sasuke's battle against Madara Uchiha to ponder to herself, "Sasuke isn't even concerned about me." 

Fan reaction to the line was largely derisive even at the time of release, and two since-deleted accounts on the Reddit thread identified it as a cringey moment — a sudden pivot to a well-worn, divisive narrative thread in the midst of far more urgent business.

Most of the more popular picks on the thread were pretty unanimous as far as the cringe factor goes; the closest any of the above items came to being divisive was the debate over how sensitive it was of Sai to talk trash about Sasuke in front of his friends. But there's one particular moment that someone will always bring up when discussing lame "Naruto" moments and someone else will always be on hand to defend: Naruto's hyperventilation.

On Episode 209, "Danzō's Right Arm" — yes, this is yet another Five Kage Summit moment — Naruto is shaken out of denial by the inescapable realization that virtually all of his friends want Sasuke dead and that there may be no bringing him back home anymore. Emotionally overwhelmed, he falls to his knees, starts breathing heavily, and then passes out. It's decidedly a tonal shift for a series that doesn't always depict its characters in such a messily vulnerable state. 

On the thread, several Redditors took issue with it, including u/Aaroniero, who wrote, "I still think Naruto hyperventilating was a bit much," and a since-deleted account, who responded to that comment with "It was overdramatic. He actually fainted because of Sasuke..." 

Further downthread, however, several users made a point of defending the scene, including u/Ty_Kamiya, who wrote, "That was actually probably one of my favorite scenes in the entire series, showing how, despite these people practically being gods, they're still subject to mental and emotional trauma just like us." One man's cringe is another man's pathos, as they say.