Summary

• Shinobi thrive in teams - learning cooperation, covering weaknesses, and amplifying strengths is key for success in the shinobi world.
• Strong partnerships can outdo larger squads - deeper understanding and effective combination of abilities lead to victory.
• Team dynamics are crucial - from the Sand Siblings to Team 7, strong bonds and teamwork propel shinobi to greatness.

In the shinobi world, ninja almost always work in teams, and some of the most powerful teams in Naruto prove exactly why. Young ninja are taught to move in packs as soon as they make genin, when they are sorted into teams of three. Whether these teams stay together after ranking up or not (the best often do), they learn how to cooperate with their comrades, cover for each other’s weaknesses, and augment each other’s strengths.

The standard team formation of the Five Hidden Villages isn’t the only coordination shinobi can pull off. Partnerships that are strong enough and in good enough sync can often outdo bigger squads of shinobi. The teams that know each other best, with not only the most powerful abilities but also the ability to combine those abilities effectively, come out on top of the shinobi world.

10 The Sand Siblings Are A Powerful Family

Gaara, Kankuro, and Temari - Sunagakure

They may not show up to fight together too often, which is why their true prowess often goes overlooked. However, when they do, these three leave no question as to why they went from dysfunctional weapons to running the entire Sand Village in just two years. Gaara is very clearly the powerhouse of the three, as a jinchuuriki, but Temari and Kankuro can more than hold their own.

In Shippuden, though Gaara and Kankuro lose their fight against Sasori and Deidara.

Their showing up out of the blue as a united team to save the lives of the Sasuke Retrieval Squad is one of the best moments in Naruto. In Shippuden, though Gaara and Kankuro lose their fight against Sasori and Deidara, Kankuro’s rage at the people targeting his younger brother goes to show how their relationship has vastly improved since Part One. From the final arcs through Boruto, all three are vital to protecting the shinobi world.

9 Sasori And Deidara Are The Ultimate Artist Collab

Sasori and Deidara - Akatsuki

Nagato probably thought that if he put two artists together, they would get along. Unfortunately, Sasori and Deidara’s love of art is where they clash the most: Sasori believing great art should last forever, and Deidara believing only art with a fleeting life can be great. Despite this, the two do respect one another deep down.

Unfortunately, because Sasori doesn’t last long, viewers only get to see them together for one fight, but they make the most of it. Deidara’s clay bombs make short work of Gaara and Shukaku’s sand, which previously was unbeatable except by another jinchuuriki. Meanwhile, Sasori proves that his puppetry skills put Kankuro’s away, with Kankuro only surviving because of Sasori’s confidence that nobody could ever counteract his poison.

8 The Legendary Sannin Were The Leaf’s War Heroes

Orochimaru, Tsunade, and Jiraiya - Konohagakure

From their team moniker alone, it’s easy to guess how incredibly powerful Tsunade, Orochimaru, and Jiraiya were together, even without the beasts they all secured contracts with. They grew up together, with their genin team trained by the future Third Hokage, and know each other better than anyone else. During the Second Great Shinobi World War, the Sannin were feared as the strongest shinobi of their generation.

Unfortunately, they lose major points for their horrendous breakup and current seething hatred of each other, ensuring they'll never work together as a team again. Their clashes with one another are earth-shaking, and in Part One, they’ve remained the only ones capable of defeating one another for decades. By Shippuden, their respective students not only sur them, but prove to be stronger teammates as well.

7 Hidan And Kakuzu’s Immortality Gives Them Several Edges

Hidan and Kakuzu - Akatsuki

These two go far beyond Sasori and Deidara’s bickering: they flat-out detest each other and wouldn’t be teamed up at all if they had a choice. Anyone else with their lack of cohesion would be wiped out in their first fight, or by each other, as was the fate of Kakuzu’s previous partners. Hidan and Kakuzu, however, can’t kill each other any more than their opponents can: they’re both immortal.

Hidan’s curse jutsu and Kakuzu’s five hearts and many stolen techniques make both of them truly vicious on their own. Together, they’re a pair of monsters that it takes several of the heroes, Naruto perfecting his brand new Rasenshuriken jutsu, and Shikamaru to bring down for good. Hidan is technically the more vulnerable of them, but if he goes too far, he can beg Kakuzu to bail him out.

6 Itachi And Kisame Are A Dangerous Pair

Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki - Akatsuki

Itachi and Kisame’s introduction leads to some of the Naruto. In their confrontation with Kakashi, Asuma, and Kurenai, they almost instantly have three of the Leaf Village’s strongest jonin completely incapacitated and, if not for Gai’s timely arrival, beaten. The only way to avoid being trapped in Itachi’s Tsukuyomi is to not look at his eyes, which leaves opponents vulnerable to Kisame’s hungry sword.

Their standout fights (Itachi versus Sasuke and Kisame against Bee and Gai) happen when they are separated, leaving them little opportunity to show off their coordination. Even so, they’re one of the only Akatsuki team-ups that could be called a genuine friendship, with genuine respect and understanding between them. Both are legitimately grieved when they believe the other is dead.

5 Zabuza and Haku Are The Two-Man Team Of All Time

Zabuza Momochi and Haku - Rogue shinobi

These two are a huge reason that the Land of Waves Arc is one of the Naruto. Their skills are terrifying to behold, both to viewers and to the young and inexperienced Team 7, who have never fought anyone so brutally strong. If Zabuza’s outrageously huge meat cleaver of a sword doesn’t get you, Haku’s lethal Ice Style kekkei genkai will.

He dies abandoning his mission to kill his boss for disrespecting Haku.

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Much as Zabuza claims that Haku is only his weapon, like a shinobi is supposed to, it slowly but surely becomes clear that Haku is the only person alive he cares about. However, he’s only pushed to return Haku’s eternal loyalty to him after his teammate is killed protecting him, and he dies abandoning his mission to kill his boss for disrespecting Haku. Fighting them and witnessing their tragic end not only makes Team 7’s bond as a team stronger, but makes them question what the right way to be a shinobi is.

4 Team Gai Trains Hard And Fights Harder

Rock Lee, Neji Hyuuga, and Tenten - Konohagakure

Any team trained by Might Gai is going to wind up being among the Leaf Village’s strongest, but Rock Lee, Neji, and Tenten are special (well, Tenten tries the best she can with the screentime that she gets). Initially, they don’t quite get along, especially with Neji and Lee’s clashing attitudes about natural strength, but that changes as they mature. By Shippuden, they’re notably closer.

One of the best examples of how their friendship has evolved and how their training style has benefited them comes from the episode “Beasts! Alive Again!” When Team Gai are forced into one-on-one battles with doppelgangers exactly as strong as them, Lee happily reminds them of their team’s “stronger than you were yesterday” motto, giving them the edge they need to overpower their opponents. They’re all able to win the fight solely on the power of hyping each other up: that’s teamwork right there!

3 Team 10 Were Born To Be A Great Team

Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akimichi - Konohagakure

Not many shinobi inherit their teams, but Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji are just the latest in a sixteen-generations-long line of Ino-Shika-Cho teams formed by the shinobi of their three clans. As much as they can get on each other’s nerves, they have grown up together and know each other extremely well. Shikamaru and Choji in particular share one of the strongest friendships in anime.

Their hereditary team-up comes with a tried-and-true set of formations to deploy in battle. They are intended to complement the kekkei genkai of all three clans, and though highly versatile, could not be pulled off without all three . With Shikamaru catching opponents in his shadows, Ino capturing their minds, and Choji laying the final smackdown on them, they’re incredibly hard to beat.

2 The Ame Orphans Were Shaped By War And Grief

Nagato, Konan, and Yahiko - Amegakure

Naruto is only one of the powerful prodigies Jiraiya trained. During his time waging war in the Hidden Mist Village, he took three war orphans under his wing and taught them ninjutsu so they could protect themselves. Yahiko, Konan, and especially Nagato grew wildly strong in a few short years, and the friends formed Akatsuki initially to pursue world peace.

Even after Yahiko’s death, Nagato and Konan remain close together as Akatsuki’s strongest partnership, manipulating everything behind the scenes (keeping Yahiko around too as one of the Paths of Pain). Though Konan only gets to show off her true strength after Nagato’s death, Nagato himself wields Hidden Village-destroying power. In the end, Naruto cannot overpower them: the only way to get Nagato to stand down and reverse what he’s done is to get him and his remaining teammate to change their minds.

1 Team 7 Steamrolls Everyone In Their Way

Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno, and Sasuke Uchiha - Konohagakure

These three might have had a long and dysfunctional road to get there, but Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke remain the Naruto. During most of Part One, fighting alongside one another and learning from one another propels their rapid growth as shinobi. Even after Sasuke ditches the village, his final moments with Sakura and Naruto alike show how close they’d already become and how monumental a shift the loss of one teammate is.

However, by the end of the series, the final battles against Madara and Kaguya prove that they never truly lost their old team spirit, as they take on the shinobi world’s most powerful beings together without the slightest adjustment period: even after years apart, as enemies, they still move in perfect sync. Though they’re physically distant again by the time Boruto rolls around, their bonds remain as strong as ever.