The world of anime is filled to the brim with incredible fighters. Most of the time, the shounen genre is responsible for giving us some of the best protagonists out there with a combination of good storytelling and seriously awesome fight scenes. Each series does it a little differently, but the formula is still the same: a plot that drives characters to become their strongest selves, fulfilling a goal through defeating enemies and showing everyone just how powerful they really are. Even if you’re not a huge anime fan, you’ve probably heard of some generic shows that have a huge following that’s made the series last for years. The Dragon Ball and Naruto series are usually among the top names almost anyone knows.

As the leading protagonists of their respective shows, Goku and Naruto are two of the most popular anime characters out there. If you haven’t heard of their names before, there’s a good chance you’ve been living under a rock for most your life. As two extremely powerful characters, it’s only natural to wonder who would win in a fight. Keep in mind, this list was composed with both characters being in their best conditions, which is usually much later in their series. So, if you’ve ever wanted to entertain the idea of a fight between two powerful, popular anime characters, now’s your chance! Here are 10 Reasons Why Goku Could Destroy Naruto (And 10 Why Naruto Would Win).

20 GOKU: HE CAN LITERALLY BLOW UP PLANETS

We know Goku is really over-powered in a lot of ways, but there’s one thing that should really tell you just how far out of his league Naruto really is. Goku has the power to blow up literal planets. Now, of course, there’s no real reason for Goku to do this, he’s a good guy after all, and eliminating an entire planet just isn’t his style.

The reason we know this is because Frieza could, and has, easily eliminated planets before like it was nothing and that was only his first form! Later down the road, even after he evolved, he’s also defeated by Super Saiyans. It stands to reason that Goku would have just as much power.

19 NARUTO: THE ELEMENTS BEND TO HIS WILL

It can be really difficult to fight an opponent that has elements on their side. After all, if you can make your fighting arena a weapon itself, that can be an especially tricky fight. Luckily for Naruto, he’s able to use quite a few of the elements.

We know that Naruto specializes in his wind release, but he has quite a few others that aren’t as well known! We’ve also seen him use lightning, earth, fire, and even lava! He’s very accomplished in every nature transformation, so we could see this helping him a lot in a battle against Goku.

18  GOKU: HE'S INCREDIBLY FAST

Everyone knows about the classic Naruto run. As a kid, you’ve probably even tried it once or twice. Apparently, this is how ninjas gain the most speed while dashing to their destination. As fast as this odd run may be, it will never get close to the kind of speed Goku has.

Goku is not only an incredibly strong creature naturally, but he’s also amazingly fast. In fact, he moves so fast that people might not even be able to see him. If he were to fight Naruto, there’s no way the ninja would be able to even see what’s attacking him!

17 NARUTO: COULD GOKU REALLY BEAT A TAILED BEAST?

Naruto’s Tailed Beast could certainly cause some damage to Goku. Tailed Beasts are already some of the most powerful creatures in the Naruto universe; they’re also known as Chakra Monsters. With their incredible ability to utilize chakra in massive amounts, they’re already formidable, but that’s not the most petrifying thing about them.

Part of what makes a Tailed Beast is the fact that it does not reason, it only fights. It’s said that the Tailed Beasts aren’t exactly intelligent because, otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to utilize their full strength. This also makes them random fighters, and since they wield a lot of power, they become random and dangerous.

16 GOKU: HE COULD BEAT ANYONE, JUST SAIYAN

It should be obvious, but there’s a big reason why Goku could beat Naruto: he’s an alien. Between the two, one has a huge advantage when coming from a completely different species and holds a lot of power because of it.

Saiyans are incredible beings that hold a lot of power and potential naturally. This means that, even if they were to fight as children with no real experience, Goku would still have the upper hand. It’s purely about what you’re born with when it comes to this point. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t in the cards for Naruto.

15 NARUTO: SPIRIT BOMBS DON'T WORK ON GOOD PEOPLE

One of Goku’s most powerful weapons is his Spirit Bomb. This is a collection of energy that Goku is given from various creatures in order to create one pure ball of positively-charged energy that could eliminate almost anything. This move should be the deciding factor in a fight like this, but fortunately for Naruto, it’s not!

The thing about the Spirit Bomb is that it can only be used to damage those that are sinister. Naruto may have a Tailed Beast inside him, but he’s a good person. This means he’s immune to one of Goku’s strongest moves, and that’s one of the biggest advantages Naruto could have in a fight against a Saiyan.

14 GOKU: FIGHTING ALIENS ALL THE TIME REALLY MAKES A PERSON STRONGER...

We’re not doubting that throughout all of the Naruto series and spin-offs that Naruto didn’t have a lot of fighting experience, but there’s clearly a big difference in the kind of antagonists both heroes fight. Fighting other shinobi all the time is a little different than fighting giant, over-powered aliens.

Goku’s experience is clearly a lot different and it could help him out a lot in a fight like this. With both characters being pretty good at strategizing, it would take something extremely special in Goku’s training to help him defeat Naruto, and fighting aliens all the time will do it!

13 NARUTO: YOU AND WHAT ARMY, GOKU?

naruto performing the shadow clone jutsu

Since very early on in the series, we can see that Naruto really likes to create clones; they’re probably one of his most useful weapons. The cool thing about the clones Naruto makes is that they don’t take up a lot of his chakra and are almost as powerful as the original person.

This means that Naruto could make an entire army just out of himself in order to defeat the Saiyan. It’s a pretty over-powered move we’ve seen him use before, but it’s certainly worth entertaining as an advantage. As long as he’s fine, his clones could cause some serious damage.

12 GOKU: DO YOU EVEN LIFT?

The first thing we need to look at is the huge disadvantage Naruto has physically; even as an adult, you can clearly tell that he’s nowhere near Goku in physical strength. For starters, Goku isn’t even human, so those giant muscles are probably more powerful than any creature on Earth; even a ninja!

Of course, this isn’t Naruto’s fault, we’re not sure any regular human could ever get on Goku’s level when it comes to strength. In a fight where powers aren’t even being used, we’re pretty sure Goku would have Naruto down in seconds without even putting in that much effort.

11 NARUTO: YOU CAN'T CATCH A NINJA

naruto in training

Naruto may not be a cool alien fighter from space, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t also have some pretty cool tricks up his sleeve. We’ve seen Naruto take down some serious villains, like Pain, with the kind of stamina never seen before. Because of the Tailed Beast and his lineage, he’s in peak condition.

His training to become a ninja is perhaps one of his greatest advantages, if he were to ever fight Goku. This is a completely different fighting style then the Saiyan, which might actually hold most advantages because Goku would never see it coming! The element of surprise would certainly be in Naruto’s corner.

10 GOKU: NARUTO WOULD BE EXHAUSTED TRYING TO DEFEAT HIM

Goku Smiling

Honestly, Goku might not even have to do much when it comes to fighting Naruto. The Saiyan might just stand there and let Naruto have his fun while he scrolls through social media for a couple hours because Naruto would just drop from exhaustion trying to beat him.

Goku is so powerful that your average human wouldn’t really stand a chance against him in a thumb war. We’ve seen what members of his race, including his fellow aliens, can do, so we could see him not doing much in order to defeat Naruto... even if he’d have to do anything at all.

9 NARUTO: HE HAS EXCELLENT SENSES

To be a shinobi, you have to be extremely detailed in your training. Part of this is heightening your senses so that you can easily take down your opponent, or at least be wise enough to know when you’re not enough. It’s hard to imagine an earlier version of Naruto having excellent senses, but his later self certainly does!

Goku may have a lot of things heightened thanks to being a Saiyan, but Naruto may just stand a chance if his senses are enough to keep the battle going. In order to keep going, he would have to be able to sense everyone of Goku’s moves, which may prove a little difficult, but not impossible.

8 GOKU: DIVINE-LIKE POWERS MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE

Saiyans have many forms that can certainly be useful when it comes to fighting. We see this all the time when it comes to the characters in the Dragon Ball series because they’re frequently changing forms in order to fight certain enemies.

These forms will vary in strength, typically getting stronger as they go, but one of the strongest is the Super Saiyan God transformation. This gives the fighter divine-like ki that they can use to attack their opponents with. Do we seriously even need to explain why the power of a deity would be hard for Naruto to defeat?

7 NARUTO: HIS LIFE FORCE IS PARTICULARLY STRONG

Life Force is a pretty big thing in the Naruto series; it’s essentially the thing that helps determine a person’s vitality. A Life Force could tell you everything from the person’s lifespan to the person’s ability to use chakra. When it comes to this, Naruto is known for having an incredibly powerful Life Force.

Because of this, a lot of Naruto’s powers are heavily boosted. It’s certainly a huge advantage over Goku, especially if we’re keeping their powers the same; this would mean that we’re unsure of what Goku’s actual Life Force is, if he even has one in this hypothetical battle.

6 GOKU: HE'S MASTERED EVERY FORM OF HIS RACE

We’ve talked a little bit about the different transformations Saiyans can use, but the cool thing about Goku is that he’s actually mastered all of them. One of the reasons why Goku is considered so powerful is because he’s been able to accomplish this feat; something that should be nearly impossible to do.

This says a lot, not only about Goku’s power and abilities, but also his character. He’s very determined and can easily fight Naruto in any one of his forms. While each varies in its power level, we’re certain he has a few outside of his divine-like form that would also be enough to take down the shinobi!

5 NARUTO: HEALING IS IMPORTANT WHEN YOU'RE IN A TOUGH FIGHT!

If you haven’t noticed, there’s quite a few ways that Goku could knock Naruto into next week; it really shouldn’t be that hard for him. However, one big difference that the shinobi will always have an advantage on will be his healing ability.

Naruto is known for being able to heal himself fairly well. Healing is one of the most important advantages you can have in a fight because it allows you to stay stable, even after you’ve taken some pretty big blows. As long as he can keep himself well enough to heal, we’re sure Goku would have a tough time injuring him to the point that he couldn’t fight.

4 GOKU: THE GREAT APE

Goku roars in his Great Ape Form in Dragon Ball

While the Super Saiyan God transformation is most certainly one of the strongest forms a Saiyan can turn into, there is another form that could potentially rival Naruto’s Tailed Beast: the Great Ape. Goku, like all other Saiyans, can turn into this giant anthropomorphic form on full moons.

There’s a lot of speculation as to why Saiyans can do this, such as Saiyans originally being Great Apes themselves, but Saiyans can often use this to their advantage. In this bestial form, they’re able to bolster their strength. If you thought Goku was already incredibly strong, you haven’t seen anything until he goes bananas!

3 NARUTO: BUT... TOADS?

Unlike Goku, Naruto has the ability to summon some friends to his aid, whereas Goku is just one fighter that couldn’t really “summon” help. So, Naruto could use his abilities to call on the aid of his usual toads to help out.

Throughout the Naruto series, these toads are often seen as one of the main summons. Residing on Mount Myōboku, these frogs have incredible powers and fighting experience that makes them pretty powerful companions when it comes to a fight. Taking on Naruto alone seems like a pretty hefty task, but if you throw the toads in there, it’s a whole other kind of battle.

2 GOKU: THE “HAKAI” METHOD CAN BRING ON A LOT OF TROUBLE

Goku has a certain kind of ability that’s actually very powerful and super spooky to think about. The “Hakai” method is one we often see the Gods Of Destruction use because it’s typically able to eliminate any target. It’s spooky to think that a typical good guy like Goku would ever need to use power like this.

And yet, this Saiyan can definitely use this to his advantage! If Goku were to use this method on Naruto, he would simply cease to exist. We’d really hope that it would never come to that because it would certainly be a dark route to go, but it is one we should entertain.

1 NARUTO: SAGE MODE

Part of Naruto’s ability to use multiple kinds of natural forces comes from him also being able to use one of the most powerful modes out there: Sage Mode. This kind of power is extremely helpful, but it also comes with a few disadvantages. For example, Naruto needs to build up the power to use it, which means he could be vulnerable for a while.

While this isn’t a move you’d want to use as a last resort, it certainly would be one of the advantages he has over Goku, if he came into the fight prepared. It’s one of Naruto’s more powerful advantages and it would definitely be a surprise for the Saiyan!