The Worst Fight Ever In Naruto

In the world of anime, fans love to debate and discuss their favorite fights. The shōnen genre is especially privy to these kinds of discussion due to how often series like "Naruto" or "Dragon Ball" emphasize elaborately animated fight sequences. When a fight between two characters has the ability to drive the plot forward in a major way, how could fans not debate their favorites?

One topic of debate seldom heard in these circles, however, is what are fans' least favorite fights? After all, a show like "Naruto" contains dozens of fights within its hundreds of episodes. The least enjoyable ones are bound to be forgotten. Even so, there are a few fans who have pointed out the duds "Naruto" has offered over the years. You might think that such fights must have happened later in the series after many ideas were exhausted. Surprisingly, however, the majority of fans pinpoint the worst fight ever in "Naruto" as happening during one of its earliest arcs.

The fight in question comes during the third round of the Chunin Exam arc. At this stage, the various young Ninja still participating are bunched into pairs and forced to duel until knockout, death, or surrender. It just so happens that in the fourth round of this testing, Sakura is chosen to fight against her romantic rival, Ino. Neither girl has been given a particularly strong combat skill, so the fight in question deals more with their shared backstory. As fans on Quora are quick to attest, this ends up being a recipe for a rather bland fight.

"There were no special techniques used at all, mostly because Sakura is not from a ninja clan and Ino's abilities are supplementary not direct," wrote user Brandon Layne. "So it was just punching and kicking the whole time. Even worse, the tension between the fight is all about Sasuke Uchiha. They are fighting a match so that they can progress to the final rounds...and yet they are fighting over a brooding bad boy who doesn't even like them, and who has his own share of his issues."

To top it off, the fight ends in a draw. This anti-climatic ending and overall boring vibes make it a common answer to a question posed in a similar thread on Myanimelist. It is also especially uneventful in comparison to the rest of the arc, as one of the franchise's most iconic fights occurs mere episodes beforehand.