Re: Naruto 692 Discussion / 693 Predictions | No Chapter Until ~25th
Well you just swooped in and said most of what I wanted to, but I can add to it.
I consider him to have access it as much as was shown, or suggested. The argument that he wouldn't be capable of utilising FRS without Kurama doesn't hold much water.
Given what's been said about Naruto and what we know about his parents, he was bound to have a large pool even if he didn't have the Kyubi. Plus, the first instances of FRS were created with the power he gained from Senjutsu, not Kurama.
Ok? So they were Jonin, at the level we're operating at I'm finding it difficult to imagine that that's meant to be particularly impressive. Kushina was a talented and gifted kunoichi with exceptional chakra even amongst her exceptional clan. And Minato was a Kage. And it isn't just two. Zetsu's statements about his machinations over the generations make it clear that the transmigrants occurred over and over within his descendants, almost exclusively in the Uchiha and the Senju.
Kushina was a successful Jinchuriki, chosen to be a Jinchuriki specifically beacuse she had strong chakra, and taught Minato everything she knew about sealing, which includes the Dead Demon Consuming Seal which was straight up said to be an Uzumaki technique. And I would say, despite not having his father's reflexes and the obvious aspects of his intellect, he appears to be just as intuitive as Minato. We can also assume that he added to Naruto's chakra pool as well seeing as how Minato knew Senjutsu and a large amount of charka is needed to learn it. So going back to my first point, being the son of a Jinchuriki who already had a unique and strong chakra before becoming a Jinchuriki and a Senjutsu master, Naruto would have definitely still had a great amount of chakra without the Kyubi. And despite not being a direct decendent, he has what the Senju are mostly known for, which is a great life force and stamina. Not that it matters anyhow as he is the reincarnation of Asura who ancestor of the Senju.
I'm not sure what the Neji example is meant to prove other than Neji was exhausted and thought he was defeated. And if we're going to include examples of his teammates helping him out, I'm going to be forced to mention the times Taka saved his life. I'm sure we could put an exhaustive list together for both of them accounting the times they've been saved by teammates. It's what they do. And the fact that we've even mentioned Taka speaks mountains about his supposed tendency to do things 'solo'. The only instance of luck listed is against Kiba. The advancement of his Sharingan at opportune times is always helpful, and I'm going to mention his CS necessity in multiple battles starting from the Forest of Death, if we're going to rehash Kurama, why not? Kakashi saved him from what was likely to be an unfortunate exchange against Naruto at the last moment. You've already mentioned Itachi's utter lack of interest in actually killing him. The entire sequence of his attack on the Kage Summit is a series of convenient happenings, luck, and someone popping out of nowhere to save him. Gaara's attitude when he attacked the Kages certainly helped him keep his life. Zetsu comes out of nowhere to save him against Mei. Obito comes out of nowhere to save him against Oonoki. They both drag him away from his old teammates later. Even in the war arc, Sasuke has needed support as much, if not more so, that Naruto. This idea that Sasuke has been going it alone much more than Naruto is kind of ridiculous, the only reason it might seem that way is because Sasuke's self-centred and ungrateful.
There is also the fact that Sasuke was lucky that Haku had no intention of killing him. He was lucky that Orochimaru gave him the Cursed Seal, which bailed him out plenty of times pre and post timeskip. He was lucky to have been bailed out by Tsunade from his coma. He was lucky Naruto only wanted to scratch his headband instead of get a blow in. He's also very lucky that Konaha didn't just say screw Naruto's feelings and commence to sending Nin after Nin after him. He was lucky that Kakashi's dumb as dog couldn't stick with Karin's scent and lead Konoha to him. He was lucky Killer Bee underestimated him . He was lucky Danzo was holding back and decided not to use Shisui's eyes. I'm also curious as to why he says having the advantage of teammates counts as luck for Naruto but he doesn't count it as such for Sasuke.
We must also consider the context of how they got to where they did.
While Naruto gained the Kyubi at birth, he lost his parents, which was incredibly detrimental to his growth. Sasuke, however, had his family initially. It was because of them that he pushed himself so he could live up to his clan's name and get from out of Itachi's shadow. Ignoring all the emotional strain it caused, it did wonders for his basic ability as a shinobi as he was at the top of the class in school before the series. Naruto on the other hand, skimped on his studies and classes because he wanted get attention. That alone gave Sasuke a leg up on Naruto before the series even started. Things would have been much more different if Naruto had a family to start with.
By the Valley of the End, the two were comparable in power, but Sasuke still had better technique than Naruto, which was elevated even more when he was trained by Kakashi. His fully evolved Sharingan allowed him to maximize his technique to the fullest where as Naruto would keep on charging forward into his counters. I'm pretty sure that if Naruto had the same formal Taijutsu training and knowledge, he wouldn't have been completely overwhelmed by Sasuke when he fully evolved his Sharingan and would have fought smart. We've seen that the Sharingan isn't the end all be all and skilled Shinobi can get by.
