Uchiha Barles, thanks for a concise reply. It's rare that any post on these forums doesn't include the words "gay" or its silly 'net substitute for kids: "ghey". I really don't like it when Kishimoto makes Naruto do dumb things, and I think there are separations between how Naruto acts in a fight which make him either a smart fighter or a dumb one. Typically, he has only those two modes, and whichever mode Kishimoto chooses will decide the fight generally.

In the Haku fight, for example, he was acting stupid. He runs into the fight, and both he and Sasuke get their asses handed back to them because of it. Once he gets smart, and uses the power he had lying latent, his character and fighting demeanor changed entirely. Another example was the Kimimaro fight. He had all his power harnessed, but what did he do with it? Rush in like a newbie. It was obvious from the get-go of the fight, when we saw Naruto rushing in like a tool, how the fight was going to end. Is that because Kimimaro is stronger? Nope. It's simply because Kishimoto made Naruto do stupid stuff.

I think what I don't like about Naruto's characters and his abilities are how Kishimoto uses them. Often, he'll craft something so funny or intelligent that I'm amazed. I think "great story!" and keep waiting for more. Then I'm surprised by a silly use of Naruto's character which is not consistent at all with the character we've been shown. Given what we know about Naruto, the Kimimaro fight should have been impossible, but we needed to have how strong Kimimaro was, and Gaara was, and thus Naruto was made to act stupid. I think there are a LOT of better ways that it could have been handled, and most likely, a Kyuubi-ized Naruto could have had a perfect fight with Kimimaro one-on-one, or possibly with a Gaara linkup.

Regardless, when Naruto does the stupid thing and relies on his power without thought or skilled use of the power, he loses. Bitch about it all you want, it's like Kimimaro's power, or Gaara's power. Are you going to say "awww, that lame whore. Can't he just NOT use the sand for ONE fight?!" Silly.

-xtortout