The Konoha 11 is a collection of Konoha's best genin from the start of the Naruto series. It consists of Team Guy, Team 8, Team 10, and the last two members of Team 7. These make up most of the expanded cast of Naruto Part I, and the series is viewed through the eyes of these characters, as the ninja world's otherwise unsteady peace begins to fall apart around them.
One thing that made Naruto Part I so compelling was getting to see this group slowly grow and develop into more talented ninja. They all start out with glaring flaws that hold them back from being more complete ninja, and the best part of watching a shonen series is watching them learn how they deal with those weaknesses, either erasing them entirely or minimizing them. For many of them, by the second half of the series, they'd erased these weaknesses to become dangerous high-level ninja in their own right.
11 Kiba Inuzuka's Superiors Have Noted That His Biggest Weakness Is His Overconfidence
Kiba’s biggest problem is his tendency to be overconfident. This is something that was specifically noted by the jonin he was working under. He believes in his and his partner Akamaru’s power probably a bit more than he should.
Kiba's overconfidence is what leads him to refuse to take Naruto seriously during the Chunin Exams, and ultimately what causes him to lose, as he likely could have defeated Naruto if he hadn’t allowed Naruto to overwhelm his senses with a sudden bit of gas in his face.
10 Master Of The Body Swap Jutsu, Ino Yamanaka's Weakness Is She Can't Work Alone
Ino has other problems like being boy crazy, but that doesn’t affect her when she’s on missions since she isn’t particularly attracted to either of her partners in the Ino-Shika-Cho trio. Her problem is that her technique isn’t as advantageous without her partners.
In one on one matches, it’s difficult for her to do more than basic ninja moves... at least early on. Later in the series, a number of other techniques are developed to make her into a more well-rounded ninja, but she still focuses on techniques that are best suited in a group.
9 Rock Lee's Need To Prove Himself Puts Him In Danger Needlessly
Rock Lee has a desire to prove himself to everyone else, to show that he can compete with genius ninja by applying himself and using hard work. It’s this that causes him to fight until he injures himself instead of playing it safe when he can.
Him using the Primary Lotus on Gaara was a smart move, but when he opened as many of the Eight Gates as he could, he needlessly endangered himself. Consistently attempting to prove he can keep up with everyone else is something Rock Lee takes years to overcome.
8 Tenten's Focus On Ninja Tools Holds Her Back In A World Of Superpowered Ninja
Tenten’s goal in life was to become a medical-nin in the vein of Tsunade, turning into a legendary kunoichi and proving that girls can be as good as boys at being ninja. But without the proper control over her chakra, she was never able to reach her goal of being a medical-nin.
Instead, she found a love of ninja tools —which is pretty useful in a practical sense, but in actuality, in a world where so many ninja possess over-the-top super-powered abilities, it’s significantly less helpful.
7 Choji Akamichi's Lack Of Self-Confidence Keeps Him From Reaching His Potential
Choji has two major problems that he deals with for much of the series. One of his problems is he hates being teased about his weight, which can cause him to fight a bit recklessly.
The other problem is he doesn’t usually believe in his abilities, to begin with. Over the course of the series, he works on these, and by the time the Fourth Shinobi War comes around he’s regarded as one of the most powerful members of the Akamichi clan, but both problems hold him back early on.
6 Hinata Hyuga Has A Kind Personality That Stops Her Early On From Mastering Her Clan's Martial Arts
Hinata didn't start out wanting to fight at all. She became a ninja because it's what was expected of her due to her place in the Hyuga clan. But because she was so kind, this translated to her father being overly harsh on her.
From there, she stopped believing in herself, and from there, her father began training her younger sister to excel more than her. Ultimately though, Hinata is an incredibly talented ninja, and when she begins to apply herself, it's hard for anyone to keep up. As an adult, she was even capable of defeating her sister Hanabi in combat.
5 Shino Aburame Has A Comedic Fear Of Animals & Plants That Eat Insects
Arguably, Shino has the fewest weaknesses of any of the Konoha 11. His only real fear is seeing animals or plants consuming insects. It’s a fear that’s more about comedy than anything, and that speaks to Shino’s power as a ninja.
He’s got the talent, excels at all his clan’s techniques, and is confident in his abilities so he doesn’t shy away from a fight. Still, if there’s one way to really throw him off his game, it’s to show something that will eat his prized weapons as a ninja.
4 Sakura Haruno's Biggest Flaw Early On Is A Lack Of Combat Abilities
One of Sakura’s earliest problems was an obsession with Sasuke. However, before the Naruto series wraps up, she solves this problem and arguably Naruto has a bigger obsession, chasing him down long after Sakura has told him to let it go. Sakura's other problem is also in the first half of the series —she simply isn't a great fighter.
Her intelligence is what gets her through Ninja Academy, but she doesn't possess any specific abilities that make her stand out as a ninja. Of course, like most of the younger ninja by the time the series gets into its first Shippuuden arc, this problem is resolved as she puts all of her efforts into becoming better and Sakura has learned to use chakra to give herself super-strength and is an excellent medical-ninja.
3 Neji Hyuga's Obvious Flaw Is The Byakugan Blind Spot
In the first part of Naruto, Neji's biggest weakness is his hatred for the main Hyuga branch, and by Part II he's working with his cousin Hinata. The closest thing that could be described as a weakness is the natural weakness of the Byakugan, in that it can’t see attacks coming from a very specific blindspot behind the back.
His best way of negating this weakness is by constantly sending out chakra to feel any particular attacks coming from that direction to react to them. It worked out in his favor, as people were rarely ever capable of taking advantage of this weakness.
2 Naruto Uzumaki's Problem Is That He's Way Too Hardheaded & Relies On The Nine-Tails Chakra
Naruto has a lack of talent in genjutsu and for a time in the early parts of the series, his ninjutsu is lacking compared to others. But neither of these is the major problem he has —his true weakness is being hardheaded. He constantly believes he can overcome all the odds, and thanks to the Nine-Tails chakra within him this is accurate, but he gets himself in over his head far too frequently and needs that chakra to get him out of it.
Fortunately, Jiraiya provides him with the necessary training during the time skip to become a better ninja and gaining more ninjutsu skills, because as the threats ramped up, him jumping into everything headlong was a problem.
1 Shikamaru Nara Is Supposedly Lazy, But This Weakness Never Seems To Hold Him Back
Shikamaru doesn’t really have a weakness. Both in the show and in real life it's discussed that his weakness is laziness but that never really matters in the grand scheme of things. He doesn’t want to do the work, but when he has to, he’s better at it than almost anyone else because he’s a genius.
When he was in combat against his opponents in the Chunin Exams, he showed an ability to think tactically even up against a smarter opponent, and it was that ability that made him the only person who passed that year. Laziness is his biggest weakness in that it holds him back from getting further as a ninja, but when it comes to combat it doesn’t hold him back at all.