The Most Powerful Ninja Clans In Naruto Ranked

The world of "Naruto" can be broken down into units. The largest units are the great nations, and in each great nation, there is a hidden shinobi village. Each shinobi village is comprised of family units — or clans — and they're more than just the people with which you share blood and heredity. In "Naruto," clans also each have their own special abilities and skillsets that are passed down from generation to generation. The interaction between the members of the clans (both internally and externally) can be either beautiful or tragic and draw parallels with real-world family pride. That's part of what makes the hit anime so powerful.

Speaking of power, there are no pretensions to equality. Because of the special abilities passed down, some clans are simply better than others. The ones with powerful kekkei genkai — abilities that can only be inherited — are highly-prized. While some kekkei genkai, like the eye-based dojutsu, can be implanted in other people, they cannot wield the power as efficiently as the natural-born users.

While theoretically, every character has a clan, some are more prominent than others; some carry historical power as well as physical power. The ones with both are the stuff of legends — family units whose mere name can arouse fear in any opponent. It's no surprise, then, that many of the most powerful shinobi are from one of these great clans. Here are the families to watch out for if you ever get into a fight with a member of a hidden village.

The Ino-Shika-Cho combo is legendary through the Village Hidden in the Leaves, such that each generation of this combination receives a matching trio of earrings from a member of the great Sarutobi clan to solidify their union once they become Chunin. Their name comes from the first few letters of the members of their respective clans (though, in reality, it comes from a strong card combo in the Japanese card game Hanafuda). In the "Naruto" timeline, we see the newest iteration formed from Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akimichi, and Ino Yamanaka.

Ino is the daughter of Inoichi, a top intelligence official for the village. The Yamanaka specializes in Mind Transfer Jutsu, which allows the wielder to take over another shinobi's body, and it can develop into the ability to get into other enemy's minds for intelligence gathering. Their telepathic abilities also make them invaluable as the main conduit of communication between the Allied Shinobi Forces' war room and its shinobi on the battlefield.

Their sensory abilities also mean that a member of the Yamanaka clan leads the team that keeps up the Hidden Leaf Village's barrier, which senses enemy movement into and out of the region. In many ways, they're like Konoha's NSA, but they can also take over opponents' bodies.

When the Hidden Leaf was founded, the first mission was to unite the clans since the Warring States Period saw each clan fighting as its own army. The key was to start with the largest and most powerful clans, and so the Uchiha, Hyuga, Aburame, and Akimichi clans became known as the four noble clans of Konoha. They're easily spotted by their light tan trenchcoats and sunglasses.

The Aburame clan's symbiosis with insects gives them one of the most unique powers in the world, though it also tends to gross out people who are not part of the family. As a child, an Aburame is given insects that burrow into their skin and form a symbiotic relationship with their body. Eventually, they learn to wield these swarms like a small chakra-filled army. The usefulness of a fly can't be understated; while one can sneak into a small space and provide reconnaissance, a large group of chakra-infused flies can take down opponents without much recourse. Some insects can devour opponents' flesh, while others simply poison them.

These techniques may sound gross to most people, but when used for espionage and warfare, they are invaluable tools to the Hidden Leaf Village.

At first glance, Choji Akimichi seems to be little more than the rotund, eternally-hungry comic relief in Naruto's genin class. Then he defeats the biggest of the Sound Village Four, and the power of the Akimichi clan shows through.

As one of the four noble families of Konoha, the Akimichi have a prestigious political and societal role in the village. They are all massive people, and their ability to convert fat into chakra makes possible their expansion jutsu, which allows them to become giants. When it comes to sheer force, the Akimichi clan can't be beaten. They also have their special Three Colored Pills, which act as chakra multipliers. The third pill, the red Chilli Pill, multiplies the power of the person who consumes it by 100 times — a feat only made possible by the clan's massive caloric intake. Choza is respected as a powerful warrior, and his son Choji gains the same reputation for his feats during the Fourth Great Ninja War and beyond. Just don't call him fat.

By the "Naruto" timeline, the Kaguya clan is just a memory with the exception of one warrior, but what a warrior. Kimimaro is so powerful that Orochimaru chooses him to be his next vessel, switching to Sasuke only after Kimimaro develops a terminal illness. Still, Kimimaro is able to kill the Kazekage and would have killed Gaara if his own disease-riddled body didn't collapse at the last second. His kekkei genkai allows him to manipulate his own bones into everything from unbreakable spikes and projectiles to impenetrable shields.

The Kaguya clan is descended from Kaguya Otsutsuki, the woman who brought jutsu into existence on this planet. They shared many of her characteristics, including dots on their faces and a lines in their hair that look strikingly similar to hers. Not only could their most elite manipulate their bone structure like Kaguya, but they also possessed her savage demeanor. The clan was known for launching into battle with no tactics or planning, happy to best their opponent with sheer ferocity. This hunger for battle resulted in everybody in the clan being wiped out against horrible odds, leaving only Kimimaro, who was kept locked up because the rest of the clan feared his power.

The most prominent member of the Sarutobi clan is Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage. But he isn't the only great member of the family that was one of the first to join Hashirama in the founding of Konoha. Indeed, there have been and still are many great and powerful Sarutobi Shinobi.

At one point, Sasuke's mother tells Naruto's mother that she named her son after Sasuke Sarutobi, Hiruzen's father, hoping it would propel him to be as great a shinobi as the elder Sarutobi. Hiruzen's son, Asuma, was one of the Land of Fire's elite Twelve Guardian Ninja and one of the village's top jonin while alive in the "Naruto" timeline. Hiruzen's grandson, Konohamaru, grew up idolizing Naruto and shared his dream of becoming Hokage. As a kid, he was able to learn the powerful Rasengan from Naruto (who was not the best teacher). As an adult, his extensive skills and experience lead him to become a sensei to the epic team of Naruto's son Boruto, Sasuke's daughter Sarada, and Orochimaru's clone Mitsuki.

There really seem to be no weaknesses in the Sarutobis.

We never get the last name of Sunagakure's leading family, so we can call them the Kazekage clan. But don't be fooled — even without a name, this is one of the most powerful clans in the shinobi world. To start, the leader is the Kazekage of the Hidden Sand Village, which attempts to take down the Hidden Leaf in the Konoha Crush. But their warriors are powerful enough that the Leaf Village accepts their apology and values them as close allies, so for the Kazekage to have been the best means that he must have been strong.

The real visible power in this clan, though, lies in the Sand Siblings: Kankuro, Gaara, and Temari. By the "Naruto" timeline, Kankuro is a master of the Sand's Puppet Master jutsu, bested within the village seemingly only by Granny Chiyo. Temari, a master of wind jutsu, doesn't ever seem to lose a battle and is one of the few people to ever get the best of Shikamaru. But of course, the real star is Gaara.

When the three first show up for the Chunin exams, they're the top team to beat. At this point, Gaara is untouchable and frighteningly powerful. Even after he stops being a jinchuriki, his sand justu is still one of the most powerful in "Naruto," and over the three-year time skip, he becomes Kazekage despite the fact that a portion of the population hates and fears him.

This is a clan of strong fighters whose true power lies in their ability to lead and influence their village. In sheer fighting skill, they aren't at the top of the heap. Yet their intellect and ability to strategize are unrivaled, at least in their newest leaders, Shikaku and his son Shikamaru.

Of course, the Nara's signature Shadow jutsu are extremely useful despite how simple they are. Shadow Possession freezes the opponent, making them easy prey for a Shadow Hand to choke them. The Nara clan also has extensive medical texts, to the point that Tsunade thanks them for sharing their knowledge in helping save Choji, and she's the strongest medical ninja in her world. This leads to the Naras' role as advisors.

Shikaku is the commander of the jonin and head strategist for the Hidden Leaf village. Even Shikamaru, as a recently-promoted Chunin, starts off giving strategy advice and consultation to the Hokage. Thanks to his strategic restraint, he is the only person to be promoted to Chunin after the Chunin exams that end with the Konoha Crush. Notably, he manages to dispatch immortal Akatsuki Hidan with an elaborate and well-laid plan. When Naruto becomes Hokage, Shikamaru is his top advisor. This means that father and son are both advisors to the Hokage, making them arguably the second most powerful people in the village. They also make the plans for the Fourth Shinobi World War, making them lead advisors to the whole shinobi world.

Like the Senju clan, the Uzumaki clan is descended from Hamura Otsutsuki, son of Kaguya Otsutsuki. For that reason alone, they're one of the most powerful clans, with absurd life force and chakra. While the Uzumaki clan had their own Hidden Village before the "Naruto" timeline, they were close allies with Konoha and sometimes lent their prodigious abilities for sealing jutsu to the Hidden Leaf (which is how the Nine-Tails ended up being sealed into Naruto). When Kushina Uzumaki moved to Konoha — introducing her abilities to what was already the strongest hidden village — the other villages became worried and wiped out the clan and its village. Its members went into hiding, going into the other villages.

Kushina would, of course, have a son, Naruto, who is obviously the most powerful shinobi in the anime, and the other Uzumaki alive in the "Naruto" timeline are almost as powerful. Nagato would go on to become Pain, who plays frontman to the Akatsuki and single-handedly flattens Konoha village. Elsewhere, Karin has the rare and highly valuable ability to sense chakra and chakra signatures, and by biting her, a person can restore their health.

And again, Naruto and his children are Uzumaki, and Naruto and Boruto alone are enough to say the clan's strong.

The Hyuga's Byakugan dojutsu is second only to the Uchiha's Sharingan in the Leaf Village. Kaguya Otsutsuki, the woman who brought jutsu to the world, had two sons: Hagoromo (the Sage of Six Paths) and Hamura. After they defeated their power-hungry mother, they went on to pass jutsu around the land. Hagoromo's sons became the first of the Uchiha and Senju clans, and Hamura's descendants became the Hyuuga clan. So by the start of "Naruto," with the Uchiha and Senju clans all but wiped out, the large Hyuuga clan is the most powerful clan in the Hidden Leaf.

The Byakugan allows the users to literally see chakra flow, giving them X-ray and 360-degree vision as well as the ability to literally turn off their opponents' chakra by targeting their chakra points. Plus, their chakra control is so great they can literally expel it from their body, resulting in such devastating techniques as the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms and the shield-like Palm Rotation. Along those lines, when Neji Hyuga and Sasuke Uchiha show up for the Chunin exams in "Naruto," everybody is excited to see what the two Genin considered the best in the village could do. Even Hinata Hyuga, seen as a weaker member at first, becomes one of the strongest in the village.

Madara Uchiha's frenemy, Hashirama Senju, was nicknamed the God of Shinobi. He co-founded the Hidden Leaf Village with Madara, and his philosophy has guided the village ever since. He beat Madara in battle (pretty much the only shinobi to ever do so), and his wood style is legendary. Anybody strong enough to defeat a Susanoo-clad Nine-Tailed Fox is basically a deity.

Hashirama was the First Hokage, his brother Tobirama was the second, and his granddaughter, Tsunade, was the fifth. As the story reveals, when the Otsusuki — who first brought jutsu to this world — split, Hagoromo had two children: one, Indra, founded the Uchiha clan, and the other, Asura, founded the Senju. The Senju clan was basically the only clan that could rival the Uchihas during the Warring States Period, to the point that their union led to peace and the founding of the hidden villages. While Tsunade is the last official member of the line, Naruto is the reincarnation of Asura Otsusuki (with Sasuke being the reincarnation of his brother, Indra), meaning that the Senju line's powers live on. The clan's philosophy of the Will of Fire, though, will always wield immense power as the cornerstone of the Village Hidden in the Leaves.

The Uchiha clan was long considered one of the strongest clans (if not the strongest) in the world. While all great fighters with a prodigious strength with fire style, their greatest abilities come from their Sharingan eyes. This kekkei genkai can do everything from rewinding time to opening a portal into a new dimension to trapping a person in a mental genjutsu for life. In fact, three of the clan's top abilities — the Tsukuyomi, the Susanoo, and the Amaterasu — are so divine they're named after Shinto deities.

Madara Uchiha went on to co-found Konoha with Hashirama Senju. But while the Senju somewhat disappeared over time, the Uchiha prospered, running the Hidden Leaf's police force and gaining a reputation as the most powerful warriors in the village. Despite the fact that the clan was all but wiped out, by the "Naruto" timeline, the surviving members are pretty much the strongest shinobi alive. If brothers Sasuke and Itachi had teamed up, they probably could have defeated every other ninja in the world; Madara basically does, but only thanks to fellow Uchiha Sasuke (and eventually Kaguya Otsusuki). Plus, Obito Uchiha, though he was set up by Madara, runs the Akatsuki and almost single-handedly takes on the whole shinobi world.

The Otsutsuki is the most powerful clan in "Naruto," and it's really not even close. This clan literally invented shinobi, and the most prominent clans are their direct descendants. Their power is legendary, and few other than Madara even knew about them for most of "Naruto" and "Naruto: Shippuden."

They are celestial beings who came to earth with the ability to harvest the magical powers known as jutsu. The matriarch Kaguya first uses this power to enslave the world. Her sons, on the other hand, eventually overpower her (despite the fact that she has become the Ten-Tails) and go on to spread jutsu to all the earthlings. 

The clan was so powerful that they eventually had to split their power up across generations to ensure some semblance of balance on the planet (and this is with just a portion of Kaguya Otsutsuki's full consolidated power). Kaguya, long thought extinct, is so powerful that she has set up an extreme long game to ensure her reincarnation after she was thought gone. Basically, combine the power of the most powerful clans with the power of all the tailed beasts, and you have the Otsutsuki.