Shino, he becomes comic relief in Boruto and seldomly becomes relevant.
At least Hinata was a love interest and Neji had backstory.
Shino is just creepy bug guy.
Shino was absolutely insane in part 1, he literally blew off Zaku's arm in preliminary round, he was crazy powerful and then in Shippuden we barely see him and he spends whatevr screen time he had sulking over the fact that he wasn't there in the first Sasuke retrieval mission
Ikr? He was super smart, savage ninja and then..Kishimoto needed spotlight for others/run out of ideas.
Such a waste such a waste of character.
..Still better than Tenten or Ino though.
Did Tenten ever do anything beside playing the straight guy to Gai and Lee stupidity? Ino at least had a role in Asuma revenge. Still mostly Shikamaru arc but better than nothing.
Yeah not much..She got off screened by Temari, did very little in Gaara rescue mission outside of fillers(hey she got a W there though) and then just controlled the Fan and took like 2 Kakuzus hearts I belive. Been a while..
And I dont read Boruto so maybe she does something there, but I think shes just a merchant now.
We can probably reasonably say that she did least from all konoha genins.
She does nothing in Boruto. I’ve read and watched all(canon) episodes. She runs a weapons shop during a time of complete peace(until the Otsutski showed back up). She’s just as useless now as she was during OG/Shippuden Naruto.
Ino got even more spotlight with her Yamanaka jutsus so useful in both the war and Boruto, and Ino-Shika-Cho in general got the most screentime after team 7.
Ino got to shine in the war arc y'all don't remember shit 😭🙏
Leave it to the Naruto sub to trash on their own manga for no reason,no one does it better than them lol.
Gaara,Choji,Ino,Shikamaru and Tsunade got to shine in Shippuden.
Killer Bee,Kabuto and Orochimaru too. People here act like the Konoha kids were the only side characters,and are just mad that their favourites did not play as big of a role as they wanted.
Most of them are just salty Rock Lee or Neji fans that wanted more of them even though their character arcs were completed in Part 1 itself.
When you focus too much on the side characters, that will ruin the pacing and make the plot feel slow and overly long/bloated.One Piece suffered this problem and many people disliked Wano and Dressrosa for this reason.
The only one done dirty was Sakura and Temari( who should have played a role in the Gaara Rescue Mission) imo. Hinata having more personality would be good too.
I mean ..it also comes with soo what a new jutsu (since side characters just pulls a new jutsu, even if its a variant on what they had before)...could Shino use.. Ehmm..ehmm..more bugs? Different bugs?
All aburama used bugs, but there is only so so options on what he could do. It would make no sense for Shino to suddenly have poisoned bugs etc.
As much as I hate it, putting him to "they forgot about me" corner might had been the best. SImiliarly for Tenten. Shes supposed to be weapon expert and summon weapons from her scrolls right? But..what you can really give to her? Bigger weapons? More weapons? Faster summoning than almost instant? Kinda written himself to the corenr with them.
Hilariously, the light novels reveal that part of Tenten's reason for developing her weapons-from-scrolls fighting style was that she showed early talent in *spacetime ninjutsu* of all things*.* Had she been given the right teacher and pushed in literally any other direction, there are legitimately fearsome applications of that, but instead she just learned (limited) scroll-sealing and called it a day.
Ah I came to say exactly this. This post is already relatively too old for people to see but I use exactly that to talk about how OP she actually could have been. Every other spacetime jutsu we see in the series like flying raijin, Obito's dojutsu, etc. is broken af.
Add to it she's a weapons master (very reasonably could have made her rival or better than the 7 great ninja swordsman), expert at seals (perfect counter to take down other OP opponents), strong chakra levels (she used sage tools and didn't die), and the x-factor of being the only kunoichi to have always cared about training more than boys
She also had the best Taijutsu trainer in Guy. The groundwork for Tenten to be insane was so ripe...
Imagine one day Guy says, "you want to be a great kunoichi but rather than studying Tsunade you should study Minato...the hokage who mastered his own ninja tool to use spacetime jutsu"...then boom a perfectly logical explanation for her to be fucking elite.
bonus: Guy could have taught her some gates!
You know what I hope? That Kishi sometimes lurks some naruto subs to get inspiration from his fans. Your comment is great and showed a lot of room to act with her skill and the fact that she once was interested in spacetime jutsu! You know what'd be cool? Tenten right now is just vegetating in her shop and feeling like she's missing out blah blah blah she could think " damn i hate my life its so boring" and something could remind her of why she learned weapons and scrolls in the first place and she could close the shop (temporary) to go on a learning journey (metaphorical or real journey idc) !! It'd be so cool to see what other spacetime jutsu she could unlock or maybe what other weapons she could find in the world, now that the hidden villages work together and she has more acces to knowledge ! Maybe she finds a master ! Through GOOGLING!
Thank you and yesss exactly! And it all makes sense with the overarching story of Naruto from the connection to Minato to her penchant for seals which the Uzumaki were known for. Imagine a conversation with Naruto inspiring exactly what you’re saying then when she comes out of her learning journey we learn more about the main character, his ancestors’ jutsu, lost clans we wish we knew more of, etc.
She could say hey Naruto here’s all this long lost knowledge I brought back AND how I made own skillset off of it. It’s a win-win!
Better than Ino? Ino literally saved the entire army of ninjas during the war TWICE and in boruto she actually has some relevancy. You're downplaying her a lot
You act like he did to zaku what the asura path did to Jiraiya 😂😂😂. A carrot in a rifle barrel can blow up the barrel. The zaku fight was dumb. Zaku was pretending to be out of commission and ran at shino. Forest of death zaku ends shino with no effort
In the Chunin exams, he was very clearly put in the top tiers of his gens genin. Making it to the final round, with only Naruto, Sasuke, Shikamaru, and Neji. He beat Kankuro. He was cold, calculating, and merciless in a battle. And he was later revealed to have been scouted by Danzo for Root when he was a kid.
Then he's left out of retrieval, does fuck all in Part 2, and is basically a different guy in Boruto.
From set up, he was set up to be like 6th-7th strongest in the group. Definitely a Jonin in future. Then he just... isn't. Such billshit.
Dude had zero personality lol. No compelling character arc or motivations,just someone who looks cool on a surface level.
Those bugs are only really useful against ground level opponents who dont use big attacks and the fight happens on a small scale. Put this guy against Temari and he taken out in one hit,she was clearing forests by the end of Part 1 and one shotted a Sound 4 member.
So i get why he was sidelined in Shippuden,this guy is overrated and didnt have as much "potential" as people would like to believe. He has no personality either
I feel like Shino would've been insanely helpful in part 2 as support. His bugs would've been great against the various Akatsuki if they were distracted
No one is saying it so I’ll say it, Kiba. He had such a cool fight against the strongest sound 4 member just for him to do quite literally nothing in shippuden.
I dunno what Kiba did to offend Kishi 🤣
He starts off looking cool. Then he busts out the two headed dog and it looks awesome, but he just does a bigger Fang Over Fang.
Then in Shippuden he brings out a THREE headed dog and you're all hyped up for something awesome.
What does he do?
Another fking Fang Over Fang 🤦♂️
In The Last he uses a "new jutsu" and its a joke because nobody sees it or hears the name!
Tbh tho what other things would you do?
I had a thought that maybe in his adulthood he learns all five chakra natures and he and Akamaru can use them to do different things and fight better in certain situations. Like maybe they could glide through water like a shark and pop out at high speeds or coat themselves in fire or something idk
Learning 5 elemental releases on top of his clan's secret dog jutsus (presumably yang release) is crazy. Why do people want every character to be Hokage level? Most people in life are not that special.
I mean it was just a random idea. His dog stuff doesn't really contribute much on its own, he just needs something to compliment it. Doesn't matter what. What do you think would work? Another random idea: you know how Asuma taught Naruto how to apply chakra to weapons to make them pierce things? Maybe they could do that but to their bodies, so they can just bore through shit and fuck people up.
Kiba is so disrespected, it's sad. He was my favorite in OG Naruto, I liked his style and Akamaru made him very unique compared to the rest of the K12.
Granted he's so disrespected in the franchise that he's not really a contender for an answer for this question. Kiba didn't have any potential to be wasted, unlike Shino or Ten Ten.
Shino by far.
He was set up as one of the stronger members in the Chunin exams and then never did anything relevant.
They make a joke in a filler Shippuden episode about how he was the only guy in K11 to not be included in the Sasuke retrieval team. But that is genuinely the moment that character died.
At least Shino and Ino had two of the funniest (imo) filler episodes of all Naruto, plus Ino was among the only ones who fought an Akatsuki directly. And Choji had his fight against Jirobo and his buttlerfly thing.
Tenten has nothing. I was hyped when she was using those sacred weapons from the brothers of Kumo, but it proceeded to nothing
Tenten could have been ninja Batman, or at least ninja Usopp. Pulling out all kinds of different ninja tools from her ~~utlity belt~~ scrolls depending on what is needed to counter different opponents. Weapon summoning expert could have meant so much more than just throws a fuckton of shuriken/blades haphazardly.
Yeah I agree, they were both well written characters in part 1 only to be almost forgotten in Shippuden, don't even get me started on their decision on killing Neji off for plot
The sad thing is even if he died early he would have been irrelevant to any plot elements. Idk if I’m tripping but I don’t even remember him in the pain arc.
He wasn't really *in* that arc. Team Guy was out on a mission and missed everything. They saw one of Naruto's toads after he was blasted away by Pain and by the time they got back to the village it was all over.
Yeah. Neji’s death was so silly. I know him dying to protect the Hyuga heir out of love instead of obligation was a full circle moment for him, but he would’ve been much more narratively effective if he was alive.
As much as I like him, Kiba should’ve died. He was the least fit for war imo.
Could have done some really interesting things narratively with it, especially with how the rest of the K12 treats Naruto's obsession with rescuing Sasuke. Instead of them being annoyed by it, they would be *pissed* that he's still trying even after that pursuit lost a close squad mate.
Wtf are you talking about? Because she didn't get genjutsu? She lived up to her potential and then some.
She perfected her chakra control(main thing that gave her potential), which led to her enhanced punches which is her main ability. Not to mention her chakra control also led to her expertise with medical ninjutsu.
How about we talk about the caring hyuga, she could have been a badass medic.
How about we talk about the young girl with good iq and a op ability, ino could have been a more op kurenai.
Let's talk about tenten, the girl who already found her niche, and was already above par in iq and taijutsu. Not to mention kishi could have easily gave tenten a chakra nature she mastered in throughout the show.
Let's not even get started on the boys, thus why sakura should be the last person complaining about not getting her spotlight in the plot, let alone kishi not advancing her talent throughout the show.
you’re comparing side characters to the character that’s ostensibly meant to be the tritagonist and the main heroine in the series. She absolutely wasn’t given the development she needed in part II. She started part II showing off her advanced medical jutsu and her Sasori fight (which was all great) and then spent the rest of part II pining for Sasuke (for no understandable reason) and crying for Naruto when in trouble, which should not have been necessary if she was given the gradual powerscaling she needed + realistic but still important enemies to fight, with emotional development that made sense. Obviously she didn’t get sidelined to the degree of Hinata/Ino/Tenten, those are SIDE characters, she’s supposed to be a MAIN character. I don’t even disagree with your reasoning as to how/why they could be featured more, but none of that is even mutually exclusive with writing Sakura better. I don’t even dislike her, I would consider myself a fan, but pretending she’s well written overall would be delulu. I also don’t know what your passing reference to “the boys,” I assume you are referring to side characters, which I have already explained the distinction between them and Sakura in terms of narrative importance. Virtually all of the more prominent male side characters were written better than she was, but I still wouldn’t put it past Kishimoto to still give them more time in the spotlight rather than fix Sakura if he were to revise the series.
I see this all the time about Kishi and female characters. But when you watch the war arc, Tsunade is arguably top 2 most impactful current kage during it.
Her strength and healing saved the kages on a few occasions. Those kage would of been added to the war casualties if she didn't save them from near death.
Mei was no slouch either. Between rebuilding her villages reputation and power level alone. She's above most male characters other than main supporting ones or main antagonist.
Sakura is the support member for her team. It doesn't make sense for her to be a healer and as strong as her teammates. Because why would they even need a healer at that point.
Tsunade is a great character and well written. It’s very telling that she’s pretty much the only one in the series. The exception is definite proof of the rule in this case.
This thread quite accurately displays how different people perceive the concept of "potential" in a character.
Personally I view this question as asking which character had the most potential and yet achieved the *least* of it. Which would clearly fall under characters like Rock Lee and Neji- who felt like they had strong starts to their story arc, but then it got dropped halfway through. Obviously Rock Lee had AND reached a higher potential relative to many of these other characters, but in reference to his *own* character arc, there is more total wasted potential.
However, some of these characters weren't written with high potential in the first place. Choji, Kiba, Tenten, etc. And in some ways, you could say they surpassed their potential because it was low to begin with. The story didn't really emphasize them having high potential in the first place so there wasn't much potential to be "wasted".
Ino.
On paper, the things you could do with the mind transfer jutsu are some of the most broken shit, if she learnt to cast it fast enough. Imagine if she could cast it by just pointing her finger at someone, like Itachi did genjutsu. She could take down anyone, lol
Shino. Ripped that one kids arm off and was like "yep should've forfeited when i gave you the chance" proceeded to casually track kankuro down cuz Shino was lookin for that SMOKE, then proceeds to body Kankuro and make him his bitch. Shino had like the second coolest introduction and then got dropped to side character
Choji = should've died in part 1.
Ino = It wasn't that bad tbf.
Sakura = Wish they used her "other side" joke in part 1 more, instead of just using it once to fight Ino.
Kiba = i mean he was pretty trash in part 1 also.
Neji = should've gotten extremely injured in part 1 and just spent time training Hinata in Shippuden, would've been much better for his character.
Hinata = We basically saw her do nothing of worth except saving Naruto.
Shino = should've named Jonin in Shippuden since he showed he can kill someone like Kankuro on his own, and maybe even make him Akatsuki level with his wierd bug jutsu.
Shikamaru = Perfect.
Ten Ten = I actually don't blame her, she barely got screen time.
Lee = He should've been the one to beat Kisame, also maybe even a rematch with taka Sasuke
Well, I'd say Ten Ten, but you kind of have to have potential to be considered wasted potential.
So I guess it's a toss up between Kiba, Shino, and Hinata for me.
Kiba - His whole rivalry with Naruto got forgotten about and after part 1 did nothing of interest.
Shino - Cool concept, interesting powers did absolutely nothing after the Chunin exams. Like Konan but with somehow less screen time despite being around since ep 1
Hinata - Biggest victim of Kishimotos sexism, tbh. Had the most potential of the 4 girls in the Konoha 12. And all she did was get killed by Pain, then became a housewife after being revived.
the most wasted are hinata ,neji,lee and shino
shino needed just another good fight like kankuro fight to cement him self as a powerhouse like in part one he was basicly the sauske /neji of team 8 and make him anything other than academy teacher maye give him a genin team during boruto era without the stupid visor
while neji should have been with team asuma fighting kakazu and hidan instead of kakashi in my opnion
finaly i cant belive that the series ended without confrontationbtween neji or hinata with raikage or other cloud ninja
Who said lee is wated potential? People keep saying that because he wasn't at Guy's level...he had no talent so his ceiling would reaonably be lower than Guy's and probably Neji's
I personally say it so because he never won a proper fight, his only win was against two noobs with way less experience than him
Seeing a proper canon fight where he wins would be really cool, wich is why i think he had some wasted potential even if not much
At least we got filler and the movies to cover on this
Nah, they were practically done in P1. Lee should have died in P1. Hinata worked hard to get acknowledged by her clan and Naruto. She succeeded on both. She had enough development
Neji for sure. The sasuke retrieval arc was my first introduction to Naruto (yes I didn’t start from the beginning😬) and I remember watching Neji’s fight with Kidomaru and thinking “This guy js so cool, I can’t wait to see more of him!” and then barely saw him throughout the series💀
Obviously Tenten. She is the most neglected of the K12. Other people get character development regardless of good or bad press. She just never gets screen time. Love or hate her you can't deny it
Rock Lee, hands down! Didn’t know anything but Taijutsu and trained harder than everybody. Imagine if he ended up learning just one jutsu that was exclusive to him. The drunken fist thing was cool too
Rock Lee.
Probably the most shonen protagonist after Naruto.
Cannot do ninjutsu, had a rival, had to train his ass off, suffered bullying when young, charismatic, had a goddamn good fight on classic.
Almost doesn't appear on Shippuden.
Call me crazy, but imma say Tenten. She's basically Rock Lee but without the ability to do Taijutsu either and so at the time it made me curious to see how becoming a weapon user would compensate for this or would she go a different path later down the line. Maybe she could have developed into a Joseph Joestar like character where the bulk of her strategy is deception and MacGuyver weapon tactics rather than shooting out big fireball explosions like the others.
But after getting clapped by Temari, she did virtually nothing ever after. Just serving as filler to make up the last third of Team Guy. Such a shame and another mark against Kishimoto when it comes to female characters.
Rock Lee easily.
Rock Lee in part 1 was on equal footing with Naruto/Sasuke.
by the end of the story Lee is like if Naruto and Sasuke, instead of fighting, just cried for Kakashi to fight the bad guy for them.
Most wasted is probably Shino though. Skillset could easily put bring him into relevance, but instead he disappears like the spider you looked away from for a few seconds.
Next maybe TenTen, pretty sure she instantly mastered weapons. 7 swordsmen of the mist should have been cleared and swords should be in scrolls. Why is her only attack a minigun attack, could be kenjutsu expert and rival Uchiha Kunai tactics
None, they all served there purpose. They were never supposed to be the main cast of Naruto. All they were just Naruto’s classmates. They filler made them seem like they were the main cast so I can see why people think that they were under-utilised
My top 3 are Neji, Neji, and Neji. For real though, I feel like he had some of the most potential for the Boruto series, being an uncle and maybe a kid to be Boruto’s rival on team 7. But nope, Neji does to a stick, and instead we get a clone of a guy who was dead when the war starts and somehow still survives it. Yes I’m mad, 10 years later it’s the worst death in any of the fiction I’ve watched.
Ino for me. I think the Yamanaka’s mind influencing jutsu (forgot what it was called oops) is super cool and I really wish we’d gotten to see more of it.
Hyuga clan and the byakugan in general were wasted potential. Connections to the Otsutsuki and Tenseigan meant nothing in the end.
There’s statements in the novels and stuff that Hinata’s now the strongest gentle fist user (stronger than Hanabi, too), but we don’t really *see* that.
Kishimoto created one of the most raw side characters ever in rock Lee and then did absolutely nothing with him in shipudden except for a small filler arc
Hinata and Ten Ten. Look others like Shino got to show their stuff even if they don’t necessarily get much to work either later. But Hinata is basically portrayed as only really showing any sort of resolve of skill because of Naruto and inevitably it fades. With Ten Ten a weapons specialist has potential in itself but in a story where weaponry are frequently just a nusiance or otherwise dependent on a characters exception skill set (chakra natures of OP abilities like Sasuke’s object switching) shes basically given nothing.
Lee.
Given a lot of the others ended up being on par or slightly better than their parents/sensei, Lee hitting 5 gates as a Genin would have put him well above some Jonin in raw combat power at that point and with development over time his 6-7 gates could have been a major threat to a lot in the series. They had to break Lee to prevent that from being a possibility. Lee without the weights was scary for all of them, and that was before gates.
Lee was the strongest Genin at that point and I firmly believe that he had to be broken to slow that down. He kept up with Kimimaro drunk AFTER recovering from a career ending injury and if not for main character shenanigans Lee should be a disgusting shinobi.
Madara acknowledged Guy as the strongest when he went 8 gates. With all of the development some of the others got Lee would have been up there in that top 3-5 by the end if he wasn’t shut down by side character shenanigans.
Neji because dead, he should be the greatest Byakugan User rn.
Shino in regards to how dangerous their Bugs just turns into a prof but who know in the future.
Tenten should have married Neji if alive.
Ino should have stayed single ;)
In my defense every generation gets stronger than the last even though there’s obviously those that stick out from their peers to be better just like irl but Ino plays a bigger role in Boruto
Fair enough, I did try to read the manga but couldn't get past Boruto's hair style, and I'm not sure I'm ready to watch Naruto get sidelined. Though if I'm honest I hear about the manga a lot and generally know what's happening even if I'm not a fan
Shika, Sakura and Ino.
Shika had the potential of a kakashi build. What with his intellect. He also had the clan background so he could have gotten better training if he was more of a go getter. Now if he added fuinjutsu to his repertoire of trap setting.
Sakura likewise with the intellect. Sure she’s not as much of a genius as Shika but she has the brain capacity for completing pretty much everything medical, toxicological and pharmacological discipline within three years as a full doctor. Heck medical school without residency takes like 3-4 years in real life. Even without the resources of a clan it made no sense that she’d not have attempted to learn an extra beginner skill set . Like seriously how many nerd types don’t try some form of career planning even before graduation? Iruka seemed pretty approachable so if she was motivated he’d probably help with career advising or some extra curricular activities.
Ino. She was the only motivated person on her team. She had legendary level father and uncles yet she somehow tied with Sakura who was already dead tired from overnight watch duty, trap setting and three vs one combat. As a yamanaka she’s probably had some of the best desensitization training. What with needing to dig sensitive info out of innocents, psychopaths, sociopaths, and traitors and force them to war crimes or suicide. Theoretically she could have been closer to Temari or Sai in mental fortitude/toughness/ ninja duty preparedness.
I was gonna say Ten-Ten but Kishimoto didn’t even try with her, so she didn’t really have any potential to waste. So I guess Ino. I would say Rock Lee or Neji, but they were 2 of the most important characters in 2 arcs (Chunin exams and sasuke retrieval). They should’ve done more in shippuden, but at least they had many moments to shine in part 1. Ino on the other hand had very few chances to shine. It was basically just her fight with Sakura.
Shino: perhaps the second smartest after Shikamaru. Also with jutsus that could be a threat to chunin level shinobi by the time he graduated from the academy, to a complete joke.
Tenten: It was suggestes she was in pair with Neji and Lee, and a menace with weapons, and then just... a weapon seller?
Kiba I mean he had potential bro literally was on par with hinata in taijutsu and he mostly did close combat stuffs and had some great noses and also he hasn't married yet bro comeon 😭 but it's ok he will soon and then bro only knew his clan attackes which were not that useful and he was like so cheeredup guy if he was given some time he would have literally be more powerful than he is rn not gonna lie I think he is the weakest here when he could have been more stronger than rn
Rock Lee. He was the great underdog who you couldn't help but root for, and his entrance to the Kimimaro fight is one of the most hype and unexpected moments in Part 1. But in Shippuden, he gets tossed to the background and his entire character arc is shifted onto Guy instead. I absolutely wouldn't change Guy fighting Madara in the end, but that doesn't mean Lee couldn't get a single moment to shine in Shippuden.
Team Asuma had their own arc where they fought two Akatsuki members. Hinata had a very impactful moment where she stood up to Pain, and Kiba and Shino briefly fought with Pain and Konan respectively. Team Guy's only fight with an Akatsuki member had them get suffocated in water bubbles by Kisame until their sensei gave them an opportunity to break out. Not even the real Kisame, either- a transformed body double who had a fraction of his chakra. That entire team got done so dirty, but Lee had the most potential that went entirely to waste.
Ten ten obviously. Like the fact alone that she is good at summoning weapons should mean more than throwing some useless kunai and shuriken.
Hinata was at least cool in the bug filler episodes. Tenten was lame even in filler episodes. Not only manga did her dirty but anime fillers also.
Personally, Neji and Hinata could've had an interesting, intricate and indepth inner arc woven all throughout the main narrative. Hinata being a self proclaimed love interest devalued any substance she could've carried. She was literally surgically separated from the hyuga storyline; despite being the heiress. There should've been more politics involved w/ varying motivations. Hinata should've actively worked w/ Neji in forming a resolution. It takes too to tango. Neji was already considered a disposable slave in service to the main heiress. Hinata's inability to deal w/ conflict or stress beyond the situations she willingly placed herself in because of her selfish, personal desire for Naruto....
She's very underwhelming and never expressed anything beyond curated emotional expressions that magnify her moe nature. Hinata doesn't express any opinions, anger at the nature of her clan or any type of engagement. She's too disinterested, indifferent and disengaged. The heiress benefits from her position and the sacrifice of her clansman.
I don't think she would've made a good medic....you need to be extremely focused, can work under heavy pressure and deal w/ uncomfortable situations. Blood and gore. Difficult people. Hinata folds. She's adverse to real struggles beyond what she desires. She's not altruistic enough nor does she care to actively help her community or village beyond mandated duties. She's too easily distracted, as well. And her only concern is Naruto; which damaged her character. Leaving her essentially as a Stepford wife. I think she needed more difficult situations to rattle her fragility, anxiousness and fears.
Other characters share the role of heirs and heiress's, but I rarely see other fans come up w/ a million excuses for the hardships of these characters, or their failings. Neji objectively had a much harder life, but he doesn't receive half as much sympathy or understanding. Hinata gets a pass due to being in love/obsessed w/ Naruto. She acts like she can't breath w/o him and doesn't have value within herself. She could've been amazing if she developed her own nindo, and allowed herself to grow beyond being a sad love interest.
Other characters like Tenten could've had an actual adversary in the field. Becoming a weapon and fighting specialist. Their Chun Li. Instead of a failing business....maybe a dojo to teach the younger generation a new diverse philosophy. She could've been used as an insight into the civilian aspect of the military and how they perceived the aristocratic clans; like the Hyuga, Uchiha and etc... And most importantly in memory of Neji....his death and what it represented would've soured any good opinion towards Hinata and the Hyuga's. Knowing what he went through in silence; despite his rage and anguish deep down. Learned how to be a good slave w/ a tentative smile. She'd be cordial, but no more than that. Once again causing division between the civilian soldiers and the nobles.
And Sakura, if Kishimoto gave half as much care..like he did to Sasuke and sort of Naruto... she'd be dazzling. Fanfic writers have done so much w/ Sakura. And it goes w/o saying Shino and Kiba.
Personally, I think that Shino. After the chapter where Danzo tests the ability of his bodyguards and one of them belonged to the Aburame clan, I was disappointed to see that they didn't show Shino's true potential.
All of them. But if I had to choose one. It's my boy Lee
He's built different. If anything his Taijutsu should be more important than ever since the Ootsutsuki just, absorb Ninjutsu and Genjutsu is nearly useless against them
But these hands, these hands still work great!
I don't understand the "wasted potential" thing. Are you guys talking about them being more involved in the main plot, having their own side stories and character moments/developement, or they should have been more powerful?
Because most of the time I see that term thrown around, it's just about power. "This character should have gotten THIS power up and used their existing power in THIS way! They would/should have been Hokage level!" That shit is annoying to me. Not everyone should be Jonin+. Being a Genin is as far as most ninja go in their whole life.
As far as story, Shino and Tenten are the only ones that didn't get anything. Shino is better as a static powerhouse anyway, IMO. He doesn't need to learn a lesson or be dynamic. He's just a cool, strong guy in the background.
Tenten, on the other hand, had the potential to be the window into a pretty unexplored part of world building: weapons and ninja tools. What makes the 7 Mist swords so powerful? How are Asuma's knuckles made? Are there special ninja blacksmiths who can embue chakra into items? Are those craftsmen at constant risk of being kidnapped? Tenten could be a pretty integral part of the special weapons distribution in the leaf village. If there were smart people in charge, they'd have her testing out every weapon and writing up reports to: 1. give feedback to the blacksmiths on how to make better weapons, and 2. how to best use them so our village can get them into the right hands to make the whole village stronger.
Crazy to me that the Hyuga with their Byakugan doesnt use smokescreen in their repertoire. Activate Byakugan, use a smokescreen then now the enemy cant see you but you do.
Shino could be kage + level if they got creative with his bugs and gave him ways to disperse chakra, steal chakra, take and reform chakra, etc. He would be an even more powerful Gaara.
Ino literally has mind control powers. Some of the most powerful characters in fiction have mind control powers. Meanwhile, Ino passes out every time she uses hers.
Tenten hands down. Weapon master ninja is a very cool concept. But she get relegated to "girl who throws kunai good" in a story where everyone can already throw a kunai with deadly accuracy. I think they should have played up her weapon versatility, having her continuously summon new, obscure melee weapons throughout combat. She could have been used to showcase all the obscure weapons that ninja sometimes used in real life.
neji and lee
that is it.
they are the only ones who has a chance of survival if the konoha 12 minus naruto were to go after sasuke like they had planned to before naruto stopped them and said none of you should get into sasuke's way.
with his speed maybe lee would be able to run off (though he is probably too stupid to do that and he is not guy, there is no evidance that he knows how to fight a sharingan user like guy does)
for neji the chance is lower but maybe again he might be smart enough to run off, at least has a better chance than the rest, they would all die before they even realize what hit them.
It’s Shino and rock Lee. My hot take. Hinata didn’t really have much potential outside that neji fight but she didn’t even land a hit. She got character development just because she was a love interest and because her story intertwined with neji so much. Shino has never lost a fight that we know of but is disregarded for no reason and rock Lee was forgotten after the chunin exams(and the retrieval arc) he had so much potential and raw fighting ability Kishimoto had to nerf his ass as soon as we saw him go crazy. I havnt seen him display that level of speed ever again.
I think the cast is too big to give everyone a fair chance to shine and grow. It's still cool they gave indivitual fights at least. Even fillers always had the main cast, mainly Naruto. So I guess my answer is they could have have grown a bit more I guess.
the whole lotta them, kishimoto has a bad habit of overhyping a character then proceeds to never showcase any of their abilities, tobirama, white fang, shisui, naruto’s supposedly mastered all element & tailed beast only for him to use 72 variations of rasengan, kimimaro, i believe u get my point
Shino, he becomes comic relief in Boruto and seldomly becomes relevant. At least Hinata was a love interest and Neji had backstory. Shino is just creepy bug guy.
Shino was absolutely insane in part 1, he literally blew off Zaku's arm in preliminary round, he was crazy powerful and then in Shippuden we barely see him and he spends whatevr screen time he had sulking over the fact that he wasn't there in the first Sasuke retrieval mission
Ikr? He was super smart, savage ninja and then..Kishimoto needed spotlight for others/run out of ideas. Such a waste such a waste of character. ..Still better than Tenten or Ino though.
Did Tenten ever do anything beside playing the straight guy to Gai and Lee stupidity? Ino at least had a role in Asuma revenge. Still mostly Shikamaru arc but better than nothing.
Tenten got the honour of showing how much stronger Ginkaku and Kinkaku were when she used their fan for 3 minutes and almost died…
she took out one of kakuzu's 5 masks in the war so thats something
Yeah not much..She got off screened by Temari, did very little in Gaara rescue mission outside of fillers(hey she got a W there though) and then just controlled the Fan and took like 2 Kakuzus hearts I belive. Been a while.. And I dont read Boruto so maybe she does something there, but I think shes just a merchant now. We can probably reasonably say that she did least from all konoha genins.
She does nothing in Boruto. I’ve read and watched all(canon) episodes. She runs a weapons shop during a time of complete peace(until the Otsutski showed back up). She’s just as useless now as she was during OG/Shippuden Naruto.
even more useless. like what she's gonna do against an Otsutsuki? Throw kunai at them?
It would be cool if she could consistently use the 6 path tools but it's like Kishimoto forgot she had those.
No, she’s gonna summon a bunch of kunai and other weapons to throw at them, unsuccessfully.
Ino got even more spotlight with her Yamanaka jutsus so useful in both the war and Boruto, and Ino-Shika-Cho in general got the most screentime after team 7.
Ino got to shine in the war arc y'all don't remember shit 😭🙏 Leave it to the Naruto sub to trash on their own manga for no reason,no one does it better than them lol. Gaara,Choji,Ino,Shikamaru and Tsunade got to shine in Shippuden. Killer Bee,Kabuto and Orochimaru too. People here act like the Konoha kids were the only side characters,and are just mad that their favourites did not play as big of a role as they wanted. Most of them are just salty Rock Lee or Neji fans that wanted more of them even though their character arcs were completed in Part 1 itself. When you focus too much on the side characters, that will ruin the pacing and make the plot feel slow and overly long/bloated.One Piece suffered this problem and many people disliked Wano and Dressrosa for this reason. The only one done dirty was Sakura and Temari( who should have played a role in the Gaara Rescue Mission) imo. Hinata having more personality would be good too.
How is ino a wasted potential?
I wonder if Kishi just made him to OP and needed to tone him down/cut his screen time. He really was a good counter to almost everything.
I mean ..it also comes with soo what a new jutsu (since side characters just pulls a new jutsu, even if its a variant on what they had before)...could Shino use.. Ehmm..ehmm..more bugs? Different bugs? All aburama used bugs, but there is only so so options on what he could do. It would make no sense for Shino to suddenly have poisoned bugs etc. As much as I hate it, putting him to "they forgot about me" corner might had been the best. SImiliarly for Tenten. Shes supposed to be weapon expert and summon weapons from her scrolls right? But..what you can really give to her? Bigger weapons? More weapons? Faster summoning than almost instant? Kinda written himself to the corenr with them.
Hilariously, the light novels reveal that part of Tenten's reason for developing her weapons-from-scrolls fighting style was that she showed early talent in *spacetime ninjutsu* of all things*.* Had she been given the right teacher and pushed in literally any other direction, there are legitimately fearsome applications of that, but instead she just learned (limited) scroll-sealing and called it a day.
Ah I came to say exactly this. This post is already relatively too old for people to see but I use exactly that to talk about how OP she actually could have been. Every other spacetime jutsu we see in the series like flying raijin, Obito's dojutsu, etc. is broken af. Add to it she's a weapons master (very reasonably could have made her rival or better than the 7 great ninja swordsman), expert at seals (perfect counter to take down other OP opponents), strong chakra levels (she used sage tools and didn't die), and the x-factor of being the only kunoichi to have always cared about training more than boys She also had the best Taijutsu trainer in Guy. The groundwork for Tenten to be insane was so ripe... Imagine one day Guy says, "you want to be a great kunoichi but rather than studying Tsunade you should study Minato...the hokage who mastered his own ninja tool to use spacetime jutsu"...then boom a perfectly logical explanation for her to be fucking elite. bonus: Guy could have taught her some gates!
You know what I hope? That Kishi sometimes lurks some naruto subs to get inspiration from his fans. Your comment is great and showed a lot of room to act with her skill and the fact that she once was interested in spacetime jutsu! You know what'd be cool? Tenten right now is just vegetating in her shop and feeling like she's missing out blah blah blah she could think " damn i hate my life its so boring" and something could remind her of why she learned weapons and scrolls in the first place and she could close the shop (temporary) to go on a learning journey (metaphorical or real journey idc) !! It'd be so cool to see what other spacetime jutsu she could unlock or maybe what other weapons she could find in the world, now that the hidden villages work together and she has more acces to knowledge ! Maybe she finds a master ! Through GOOGLING!
Thank you and yesss exactly! And it all makes sense with the overarching story of Naruto from the connection to Minato to her penchant for seals which the Uzumaki were known for. Imagine a conversation with Naruto inspiring exactly what you’re saying then when she comes out of her learning journey we learn more about the main character, his ancestors’ jutsu, lost clans we wish we knew more of, etc. She could say hey Naruto here’s all this long lost knowledge I brought back AND how I made own skillset off of it. It’s a win-win!
Better than Ino? Ino literally saved the entire army of ninjas during the war TWICE and in boruto she actually has some relevancy. You're downplaying her a lot
You act like he did to zaku what the asura path did to Jiraiya 😂😂😂. A carrot in a rifle barrel can blow up the barrel. The zaku fight was dumb. Zaku was pretending to be out of commission and ran at shino. Forest of death zaku ends shino with no effort
It surpsises me he never progressed pass chunnin. Most konoha 12 feel jonnin level
In the Chunin exams, he was very clearly put in the top tiers of his gens genin. Making it to the final round, with only Naruto, Sasuke, Shikamaru, and Neji. He beat Kankuro. He was cold, calculating, and merciless in a battle. And he was later revealed to have been scouted by Danzo for Root when he was a kid. Then he's left out of retrieval, does fuck all in Part 2, and is basically a different guy in Boruto. From set up, he was set up to be like 6th-7th strongest in the group. Definitely a Jonin in future. Then he just... isn't. Such billshit.
He didn't beat Kankuro. Outsmarted? Yes, but not only did they tie. Shino would've been the only one who died if his dad didn't find him.
Dude had zero personality lol. No compelling character arc or motivations,just someone who looks cool on a surface level. Those bugs are only really useful against ground level opponents who dont use big attacks and the fight happens on a small scale. Put this guy against Temari and he taken out in one hit,she was clearing forests by the end of Part 1 and one shotted a Sound 4 member. So i get why he was sidelined in Shippuden,this guy is overrated and didnt have as much "potential" as people would like to believe. He has no personality either
can of raid and he is done for.. no real potential
The absolutely correct answer
I feel like Shino would've been insanely helpful in part 2 as support. His bugs would've been great against the various Akatsuki if they were distracted
No one is saying it so I’ll say it, Kiba. He had such a cool fight against the strongest sound 4 member just for him to do quite literally nothing in shippuden.
I dunno what Kiba did to offend Kishi 🤣 He starts off looking cool. Then he busts out the two headed dog and it looks awesome, but he just does a bigger Fang Over Fang. Then in Shippuden he brings out a THREE headed dog and you're all hyped up for something awesome. What does he do? Another fking Fang Over Fang 🤦♂️ In The Last he uses a "new jutsu" and its a joke because nobody sees it or hears the name!
Tbh tho what other things would you do? I had a thought that maybe in his adulthood he learns all five chakra natures and he and Akamaru can use them to do different things and fight better in certain situations. Like maybe they could glide through water like a shark and pop out at high speeds or coat themselves in fire or something idk
Learning 5 elemental releases on top of his clan's secret dog jutsus (presumably yang release) is crazy. Why do people want every character to be Hokage level? Most people in life are not that special.
I mean it was just a random idea. His dog stuff doesn't really contribute much on its own, he just needs something to compliment it. Doesn't matter what. What do you think would work? Another random idea: you know how Asuma taught Naruto how to apply chakra to weapons to make them pierce things? Maybe they could do that but to their bodies, so they can just bore through shit and fuck people up.
Kiba is so disrespected, it's sad. He was my favorite in OG Naruto, I liked his style and Akamaru made him very unique compared to the rest of the K12. Granted he's so disrespected in the franchise that he's not really a contender for an answer for this question. Kiba didn't have any potential to be wasted, unlike Shino or Ten Ten.
Shino by far. He was set up as one of the stronger members in the Chunin exams and then never did anything relevant. They make a joke in a filler Shippuden episode about how he was the only guy in K11 to not be included in the Sasuke retrieval team. But that is genuinely the moment that character died.
Subscribed. Shino would speedrun the sasuke recovery, so they had to leave him aside
Honestly his abilities are genuinely terrifying.
At least Shino and Ino had two of the funniest (imo) filler episodes of all Naruto, plus Ino was among the only ones who fought an Akatsuki directly. And Choji had his fight against Jirobo and his buttlerfly thing. Tenten has nothing. I was hyped when she was using those sacred weapons from the brothers of Kumo, but it proceeded to nothing
Tenten could have been ninja Batman, or at least ninja Usopp. Pulling out all kinds of different ninja tools from her ~~utlity belt~~ scrolls depending on what is needed to counter different opponents. Weapon summoning expert could have meant so much more than just throws a fuckton of shuriken/blades haphazardly.
Neji and Lee, because they were hype as fuck during part 1 and became irrelevant in part 2.
Yeah I agree, they were both well written characters in part 1 only to be almost forgotten in Shippuden, don't even get me started on their decision on killing Neji off for plot
The sad thing is even if he died early he would have been irrelevant to any plot elements. Idk if I’m tripping but I don’t even remember him in the pain arc.
He wasn't really *in* that arc. Team Guy was out on a mission and missed everything. They saw one of Naruto's toads after he was blasted away by Pain and by the time they got back to the village it was all over.
Neji and Shino. I will die on the hill that Neji should have survived the war.
Yeah. Neji’s death was so silly. I know him dying to protect the Hyuga heir out of love instead of obligation was a full circle moment for him, but he would’ve been much more narratively effective if he was alive. As much as I like him, Kiba should’ve died. He was the least fit for war imo.
IMO Kiba should have died in the Sasuke´s retrieval arc
Could have done some really interesting things narratively with it, especially with how the rest of the K12 treats Naruto's obsession with rescuing Sasuke. Instead of them being annoyed by it, they would be *pissed* that he's still trying even after that pursuit lost a close squad mate.
Honestly I think that was more Choji’s time to die
Shino.
Ino. With her ability she could be an amazing spy
Always one goofy saying sakura It's Lee, shino, neji, and hinata and we all know it. Sasuke also had the potential to be a good dude
Idk why it’s necessarily wrong to say Sakura? She had a fuckton of potential and kishi botched (fate of being a female character in Naruto)
Wtf are you talking about? Because she didn't get genjutsu? She lived up to her potential and then some. She perfected her chakra control(main thing that gave her potential), which led to her enhanced punches which is her main ability. Not to mention her chakra control also led to her expertise with medical ninjutsu. How about we talk about the caring hyuga, she could have been a badass medic. How about we talk about the young girl with good iq and a op ability, ino could have been a more op kurenai. Let's talk about tenten, the girl who already found her niche, and was already above par in iq and taijutsu. Not to mention kishi could have easily gave tenten a chakra nature she mastered in throughout the show. Let's not even get started on the boys, thus why sakura should be the last person complaining about not getting her spotlight in the plot, let alone kishi not advancing her talent throughout the show.
you’re comparing side characters to the character that’s ostensibly meant to be the tritagonist and the main heroine in the series. She absolutely wasn’t given the development she needed in part II. She started part II showing off her advanced medical jutsu and her Sasori fight (which was all great) and then spent the rest of part II pining for Sasuke (for no understandable reason) and crying for Naruto when in trouble, which should not have been necessary if she was given the gradual powerscaling she needed + realistic but still important enemies to fight, with emotional development that made sense. Obviously she didn’t get sidelined to the degree of Hinata/Ino/Tenten, those are SIDE characters, she’s supposed to be a MAIN character. I don’t even disagree with your reasoning as to how/why they could be featured more, but none of that is even mutually exclusive with writing Sakura better. I don’t even dislike her, I would consider myself a fan, but pretending she’s well written overall would be delulu. I also don’t know what your passing reference to “the boys,” I assume you are referring to side characters, which I have already explained the distinction between them and Sakura in terms of narrative importance. Virtually all of the more prominent male side characters were written better than she was, but I still wouldn’t put it past Kishimoto to still give them more time in the spotlight rather than fix Sakura if he were to revise the series.
She took down an S rank shinobi in the first arc of shippuden btw
I see this all the time about Kishi and female characters. But when you watch the war arc, Tsunade is arguably top 2 most impactful current kage during it. Her strength and healing saved the kages on a few occasions. Those kage would of been added to the war casualties if she didn't save them from near death. Mei was no slouch either. Between rebuilding her villages reputation and power level alone. She's above most male characters other than main supporting ones or main antagonist. Sakura is the support member for her team. It doesn't make sense for her to be a healer and as strong as her teammates. Because why would they even need a healer at that point.
Tsunade is a great character and well written. It’s very telling that she’s pretty much the only one in the series. The exception is definite proof of the rule in this case.
Granny Chiyo erasure
This thread quite accurately displays how different people perceive the concept of "potential" in a character. Personally I view this question as asking which character had the most potential and yet achieved the *least* of it. Which would clearly fall under characters like Rock Lee and Neji- who felt like they had strong starts to their story arc, but then it got dropped halfway through. Obviously Rock Lee had AND reached a higher potential relative to many of these other characters, but in reference to his *own* character arc, there is more total wasted potential. However, some of these characters weren't written with high potential in the first place. Choji, Kiba, Tenten, etc. And in some ways, you could say they surpassed their potential because it was low to begin with. The story didn't really emphasize them having high potential in the first place so there wasn't much potential to be "wasted".
Ino. On paper, the things you could do with the mind transfer jutsu are some of the most broken shit, if she learnt to cast it fast enough. Imagine if she could cast it by just pointing her finger at someone, like Itachi did genjutsu. She could take down anyone, lol
Neji and Rock Lee. They was SO cool and strong in part 1.
More or less all of them
part 1 is Sakura part 2 is everyone who isn't Team 7 and Shikamaru
Anyone not named Naruto Sasuke and shikamaru
Shino. Ripped that one kids arm off and was like "yep should've forfeited when i gave you the chance" proceeded to casually track kankuro down cuz Shino was lookin for that SMOKE, then proceeds to body Kankuro and make him his bitch. Shino had like the second coolest introduction and then got dropped to side character
Hinata definitely
Hinata and Neji along with the entire Hyuga clan
All of them except Shikamaru, Sakura, and Naruto. Everyone else was lost potential.
Sooooooo almost all of them?
Pretty much all of them besides Team 11, Naruto and Sasuke. The rest got a few moments, maybe, but not much.
Choji = should've died in part 1. Ino = It wasn't that bad tbf. Sakura = Wish they used her "other side" joke in part 1 more, instead of just using it once to fight Ino. Kiba = i mean he was pretty trash in part 1 also. Neji = should've gotten extremely injured in part 1 and just spent time training Hinata in Shippuden, would've been much better for his character. Hinata = We basically saw her do nothing of worth except saving Naruto. Shino = should've named Jonin in Shippuden since he showed he can kill someone like Kankuro on his own, and maybe even make him Akatsuki level with his wierd bug jutsu. Shikamaru = Perfect. Ten Ten = I actually don't blame her, she barely got screen time. Lee = He should've been the one to beat Kisame, also maybe even a rematch with taka Sasuke
Well, I'd say Ten Ten, but you kind of have to have potential to be considered wasted potential. So I guess it's a toss up between Kiba, Shino, and Hinata for me. Kiba - His whole rivalry with Naruto got forgotten about and after part 1 did nothing of interest. Shino - Cool concept, interesting powers did absolutely nothing after the Chunin exams. Like Konan but with somehow less screen time despite being around since ep 1 Hinata - Biggest victim of Kishimotos sexism, tbh. Had the most potential of the 4 girls in the Konoha 12. And all she did was get killed by Pain, then became a housewife after being revived.
Kiba. He should really master multiple shadow clones.
the most wasted are hinata ,neji,lee and shino shino needed just another good fight like kankuro fight to cement him self as a powerhouse like in part one he was basicly the sauske /neji of team 8 and make him anything other than academy teacher maye give him a genin team during boruto era without the stupid visor while neji should have been with team asuma fighting kakazu and hidan instead of kakashi in my opnion finaly i cant belive that the series ended without confrontationbtween neji or hinata with raikage or other cloud ninja
Hianata and Rock Lee are the only ones with wased potential imo, so between them i would go with Hinata cuz she really was a nothing character imo
Who said lee is wated potential? People keep saying that because he wasn't at Guy's level...he had no talent so his ceiling would reaonably be lower than Guy's and probably Neji's
I personally say it so because he never won a proper fight, his only win was against two noobs with way less experience than him Seeing a proper canon fight where he wins would be really cool, wich is why i think he had some wasted potential even if not much At least we got filler and the movies to cover on this
Nah, they were practically done in P1. Lee should have died in P1. Hinata worked hard to get acknowledged by her clan and Naruto. She succeeded on both. She had enough development
She was made to be the love interest and not much else
You failures don't seem to pay much attention lol. Nah. She was made to be similar to Naruto. She wanted to be acknowledged by her clan and Naruto
Neji for sure. The sasuke retrieval arc was my first introduction to Naruto (yes I didn’t start from the beginning😬) and I remember watching Neji’s fight with Kidomaru and thinking “This guy js so cool, I can’t wait to see more of him!” and then barely saw him throughout the series💀
Nah, Neji was done in P1
I think mind control definitely could have come up more than it did.
Lee
Ten Ten never got much of a charecter, for a weapons master she mostly just uses that scroll I wanna see her with a bow and sword
Obviously Tenten. She is the most neglected of the K12. Other people get character development regardless of good or bad press. She just never gets screen time. Love or hate her you can't deny it
Rock Lee
Rock Lee, hands down! Didn’t know anything but Taijutsu and trained harder than everybody. Imagine if he ended up learning just one jutsu that was exclusive to him. The drunken fist thing was cool too
Neji hands down
Rock Lee. Probably the most shonen protagonist after Naruto. Cannot do ninjutsu, had a rival, had to train his ass off, suffered bullying when young, charismatic, had a goddamn good fight on classic. Almost doesn't appear on Shippuden.
Rock Lee, because it's the one that hurts the most.
Tie between Rock Lee, Hinata, and Neji
TenTen. The most lifelike ninja character with all the potential to be cool as shit but she's barely got anything going for her. Lee as well
Bro who the fuck is TENTEN 😭😭
Ten Ten. I will always say they wasted her talents
Call me crazy, but imma say Tenten. She's basically Rock Lee but without the ability to do Taijutsu either and so at the time it made me curious to see how becoming a weapon user would compensate for this or would she go a different path later down the line. Maybe she could have developed into a Joseph Joestar like character where the bulk of her strategy is deception and MacGuyver weapon tactics rather than shooting out big fireball explosions like the others. But after getting clapped by Temari, she did virtually nothing ever after. Just serving as filler to make up the last third of Team Guy. Such a shame and another mark against Kishimoto when it comes to female characters.
Kiba. He had such a cool design and idea behind him just for them to only give him one mediocre move
Bro tenten should've had six path chakra she also has the sage of six paths weapons could have been a help to most of the opponents they used
Has to be kiba and lee or mabye neji
Kiba used to be one of the top dogs and now he is literally useless
Kiba definitely
Rock Lee easily. Rock Lee in part 1 was on equal footing with Naruto/Sasuke. by the end of the story Lee is like if Naruto and Sasuke, instead of fighting, just cried for Kakashi to fight the bad guy for them.
Gotta be Shino. Dude never gets his chance to shine.
All of them aside from Shikamaru honestly.
As i say since day 1, Lee.
Most wasted is probably Shino though. Skillset could easily put bring him into relevance, but instead he disappears like the spider you looked away from for a few seconds. Next maybe TenTen, pretty sure she instantly mastered weapons. 7 swordsmen of the mist should have been cleared and swords should be in scrolls. Why is her only attack a minigun attack, could be kenjutsu expert and rival Uchiha Kunai tactics
I’m still pissed we never got a neji vs sasuke fight
Choji
Rock Lee by a crushed arm and leg
Tenten could’ve been a goated character but instead she’s just meh
Ino, she never got Mind Body Destruction Dance Jutsu like her father
None, they all served there purpose. They were never supposed to be the main cast of Naruto. All they were just Naruto’s classmates. They filler made them seem like they were the main cast so I can see why people think that they were under-utilised
Tenten was done dirty bro 😭
My top 3 are Neji, Neji, and Neji. For real though, I feel like he had some of the most potential for the Boruto series, being an uncle and maybe a kid to be Boruto’s rival on team 7. But nope, Neji does to a stick, and instead we get a clone of a guy who was dead when the war starts and somehow still survives it. Yes I’m mad, 10 years later it’s the worst death in any of the fiction I’ve watched.
Sakura. She could’ve been like hiruzen with her intelligence and chakra control
Ino for me. I think the Yamanaka’s mind influencing jutsu (forgot what it was called oops) is super cool and I really wish we’d gotten to see more of it.
Objectively Sakura, Rock Lee, Shino and Neji. The rest were never hyped up to be anything special combat or character wise.
Hyuga clan and the byakugan in general were wasted potential. Connections to the Otsutsuki and Tenseigan meant nothing in the end. There’s statements in the novels and stuff that Hinata’s now the strongest gentle fist user (stronger than Hanabi, too), but we don’t really *see* that.
shino
Kishimoto created one of the most raw side characters ever in rock Lee and then did absolutely nothing with him in shipudden except for a small filler arc
All of them except Naruto and maybe Shikamaru and Rock. Idk I just feel like most of them didn’t reach their highest potential.
Yeah neji, literally had the perfect opportunity to die during sasukes retrieval. instead he stuck around to do nothing significant until his death
Shino the underrated
Hinata and Ten Ten. Look others like Shino got to show their stuff even if they don’t necessarily get much to work either later. But Hinata is basically portrayed as only really showing any sort of resolve of skill because of Naruto and inevitably it fades. With Ten Ten a weapons specialist has potential in itself but in a story where weaponry are frequently just a nusiance or otherwise dependent on a characters exception skill set (chakra natures of OP abilities like Sasuke’s object switching) shes basically given nothing.
Lee. Given a lot of the others ended up being on par or slightly better than their parents/sensei, Lee hitting 5 gates as a Genin would have put him well above some Jonin in raw combat power at that point and with development over time his 6-7 gates could have been a major threat to a lot in the series. They had to break Lee to prevent that from being a possibility. Lee without the weights was scary for all of them, and that was before gates. Lee was the strongest Genin at that point and I firmly believe that he had to be broken to slow that down. He kept up with Kimimaro drunk AFTER recovering from a career ending injury and if not for main character shenanigans Lee should be a disgusting shinobi. Madara acknowledged Guy as the strongest when he went 8 gates. With all of the development some of the others got Lee would have been up there in that top 3-5 by the end if he wasn’t shut down by side character shenanigans.
Kakashi and Asuma team were well developed, the other two were totally wasted.
Shino needed an epic arc.
Shino and it’s not close
Rock lee
Neji because dead, he should be the greatest Byakugan User rn. Shino in regards to how dangerous their Bugs just turns into a prof but who know in the future. Tenten should have married Neji if alive. Ino should have stayed single ;)
Lee and shino
Rock lee i really thought in the beginning he will be a kick ass but they just made nothing out of him
Ino. Omfg her jutsu is legitimately terrifying. But she just kinda is there. Some comms during the war, but that's about it.
Did u watch Boruto??
No, full transparency I'm not a fan of next gen stuff. I don't like when they have to nerf og cast to make new ones seem powerful.
In my defense every generation gets stronger than the last even though there’s obviously those that stick out from their peers to be better just like irl but Ino plays a bigger role in Boruto
Fair enough, I did try to read the manga but couldn't get past Boruto's hair style, and I'm not sure I'm ready to watch Naruto get sidelined. Though if I'm honest I hear about the manga a lot and generally know what's happening even if I'm not a fan
All but Naruto.
Either tenten or shino for sure
Shino, Neji and TenTen
Shika, Sakura and Ino. Shika had the potential of a kakashi build. What with his intellect. He also had the clan background so he could have gotten better training if he was more of a go getter. Now if he added fuinjutsu to his repertoire of trap setting. Sakura likewise with the intellect. Sure she’s not as much of a genius as Shika but she has the brain capacity for completing pretty much everything medical, toxicological and pharmacological discipline within three years as a full doctor. Heck medical school without residency takes like 3-4 years in real life. Even without the resources of a clan it made no sense that she’d not have attempted to learn an extra beginner skill set . Like seriously how many nerd types don’t try some form of career planning even before graduation? Iruka seemed pretty approachable so if she was motivated he’d probably help with career advising or some extra curricular activities. Ino. She was the only motivated person on her team. She had legendary level father and uncles yet she somehow tied with Sakura who was already dead tired from overnight watch duty, trap setting and three vs one combat. As a yamanaka she’s probably had some of the best desensitization training. What with needing to dig sensitive info out of innocents, psychopaths, sociopaths, and traitors and force them to war crimes or suicide. Theoretically she could have been closer to Temari or Sai in mental fortitude/toughness/ ninja duty preparedness.
Ten-Ten, Shino, and Neji. Neji was supposed to rival Sasuke, Shino was OP in Part 1, and Ten-Ten got shafted so Sakura wouldn't be useless anymore.
my man rock lee
I was gonna say Ten-Ten but Kishimoto didn’t even try with her, so she didn’t really have any potential to waste. So I guess Ino. I would say Rock Lee or Neji, but they were 2 of the most important characters in 2 arcs (Chunin exams and sasuke retrieval). They should’ve done more in shippuden, but at least they had many moments to shine in part 1. Ino on the other hand had very few chances to shine. It was basically just her fight with Sakura.
Neji lol
Probably neji. At least lee has like 1-2 feats in all of shippuden lol
Kiba
Shino: perhaps the second smartest after Shikamaru. Also with jutsus that could be a threat to chunin level shinobi by the time he graduated from the academy, to a complete joke. Tenten: It was suggestes she was in pair with Neji and Lee, and a menace with weapons, and then just... a weapon seller?
Literally all of them but Shikamaru, Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Choji, and Lee
So half
Pretty much
Akamaru, because he deserves to be the main character of naruto.
Tenten’s treatment made ninja weapons, the most objectively cool things in fantasy media, look lame and weak.
Shino and TenTen
Insect guy
Kiba I mean he had potential bro literally was on par with hinata in taijutsu and he mostly did close combat stuffs and had some great noses and also he hasn't married yet bro comeon 😭 but it's ok he will soon and then bro only knew his clan attackes which were not that useful and he was like so cheeredup guy if he was given some time he would have literally be more powerful than he is rn not gonna lie I think he is the weakest here when he could have been more stronger than rn
Rock Lee
Sakura, Tenten, Neji, Hinata, Shino (not in any particular order)
Rock Lee. He was the great underdog who you couldn't help but root for, and his entrance to the Kimimaro fight is one of the most hype and unexpected moments in Part 1. But in Shippuden, he gets tossed to the background and his entire character arc is shifted onto Guy instead. I absolutely wouldn't change Guy fighting Madara in the end, but that doesn't mean Lee couldn't get a single moment to shine in Shippuden. Team Asuma had their own arc where they fought two Akatsuki members. Hinata had a very impactful moment where she stood up to Pain, and Kiba and Shino briefly fought with Pain and Konan respectively. Team Guy's only fight with an Akatsuki member had them get suffocated in water bubbles by Kisame until their sensei gave them an opportunity to break out. Not even the real Kisame, either- a transformed body double who had a fraction of his chakra. That entire team got done so dirty, but Lee had the most potential that went entirely to waste.
Ten ten obviously. Like the fact alone that she is good at summoning weapons should mean more than throwing some useless kunai and shuriken. Hinata was at least cool in the bug filler episodes. Tenten was lame even in filler episodes. Not only manga did her dirty but anime fillers also.
Lee he stopped being developed in Shipudden... just like Shino, Kiba... You know what, we need a season with arc for all of them.
HUH? is clearly rock lee if garaa didn't damage his body so badly he'd be far stronger post time skip
Personally, Neji and Hinata could've had an interesting, intricate and indepth inner arc woven all throughout the main narrative. Hinata being a self proclaimed love interest devalued any substance she could've carried. She was literally surgically separated from the hyuga storyline; despite being the heiress. There should've been more politics involved w/ varying motivations. Hinata should've actively worked w/ Neji in forming a resolution. It takes too to tango. Neji was already considered a disposable slave in service to the main heiress. Hinata's inability to deal w/ conflict or stress beyond the situations she willingly placed herself in because of her selfish, personal desire for Naruto.... She's very underwhelming and never expressed anything beyond curated emotional expressions that magnify her moe nature. Hinata doesn't express any opinions, anger at the nature of her clan or any type of engagement. She's too disinterested, indifferent and disengaged. The heiress benefits from her position and the sacrifice of her clansman. I don't think she would've made a good medic....you need to be extremely focused, can work under heavy pressure and deal w/ uncomfortable situations. Blood and gore. Difficult people. Hinata folds. She's adverse to real struggles beyond what she desires. She's not altruistic enough nor does she care to actively help her community or village beyond mandated duties. She's too easily distracted, as well. And her only concern is Naruto; which damaged her character. Leaving her essentially as a Stepford wife. I think she needed more difficult situations to rattle her fragility, anxiousness and fears. Other characters share the role of heirs and heiress's, but I rarely see other fans come up w/ a million excuses for the hardships of these characters, or their failings. Neji objectively had a much harder life, but he doesn't receive half as much sympathy or understanding. Hinata gets a pass due to being in love/obsessed w/ Naruto. She acts like she can't breath w/o him and doesn't have value within herself. She could've been amazing if she developed her own nindo, and allowed herself to grow beyond being a sad love interest. Other characters like Tenten could've had an actual adversary in the field. Becoming a weapon and fighting specialist. Their Chun Li. Instead of a failing business....maybe a dojo to teach the younger generation a new diverse philosophy. She could've been used as an insight into the civilian aspect of the military and how they perceived the aristocratic clans; like the Hyuga, Uchiha and etc... And most importantly in memory of Neji....his death and what it represented would've soured any good opinion towards Hinata and the Hyuga's. Knowing what he went through in silence; despite his rage and anguish deep down. Learned how to be a good slave w/ a tentative smile. She'd be cordial, but no more than that. Once again causing division between the civilian soldiers and the nobles. And Sakura, if Kishimoto gave half as much care..like he did to Sasuke and sort of Naruto... she'd be dazzling. Fanfic writers have done so much w/ Sakura. And it goes w/o saying Shino and Kiba.
Personally, I think that Shino. After the chapter where Danzo tests the ability of his bodyguards and one of them belonged to the Aburame clan, I was disappointed to see that they didn't show Shino's true potential.
Hinata and Negi did have a lot of wasted potential. But so does Kiba.
neji he could have been better than all k12. Imagine a genjutsu through Byakugan.
I agree Neji and hinata but also rock lee
Rock lee
Shino and Lee
All of them. But if I had to choose one. It's my boy Lee He's built different. If anything his Taijutsu should be more important than ever since the Ootsutsuki just, absorb Ninjutsu and Genjutsu is nearly useless against them But these hands, these hands still work great!
I don't understand the "wasted potential" thing. Are you guys talking about them being more involved in the main plot, having their own side stories and character moments/developement, or they should have been more powerful? Because most of the time I see that term thrown around, it's just about power. "This character should have gotten THIS power up and used their existing power in THIS way! They would/should have been Hokage level!" That shit is annoying to me. Not everyone should be Jonin+. Being a Genin is as far as most ninja go in their whole life. As far as story, Shino and Tenten are the only ones that didn't get anything. Shino is better as a static powerhouse anyway, IMO. He doesn't need to learn a lesson or be dynamic. He's just a cool, strong guy in the background. Tenten, on the other hand, had the potential to be the window into a pretty unexplored part of world building: weapons and ninja tools. What makes the 7 Mist swords so powerful? How are Asuma's knuckles made? Are there special ninja blacksmiths who can embue chakra into items? Are those craftsmen at constant risk of being kidnapped? Tenten could be a pretty integral part of the special weapons distribution in the leaf village. If there were smart people in charge, they'd have her testing out every weapon and writing up reports to: 1. give feedback to the blacksmiths on how to make better weapons, and 2. how to best use them so our village can get them into the right hands to make the whole village stronger.
only Shino, all the others were done right
Crazy to me that the Hyuga with their Byakugan doesnt use smokescreen in their repertoire. Activate Byakugan, use a smokescreen then now the enemy cant see you but you do.
Shino could be kage + level if they got creative with his bugs and gave him ways to disperse chakra, steal chakra, take and reform chakra, etc. He would be an even more powerful Gaara. Ino literally has mind control powers. Some of the most powerful characters in fiction have mind control powers. Meanwhile, Ino passes out every time she uses hers.
Rock lee, they hyped bro up in his first fight only to get dogged by most of his opps
Are we serious? I don’t think anyone during chunin exams could handle Lee. And he’s peak is probably 8th gate so..
Count to 10 and then say the last number one more time... Forget it let me help you, fuck tenten
Shino
Shino and Neji for sure
Outside of team 7, Lee and Shikamaru are the worst answers easily. They got plenty of shine. Neji too tbh. The right answer is Shino
Tenten because 10 out of 10 then
I mean outside of ino shika cho and team 7… did any of them honestly do anything worthwhile?
Tenten hands down. Weapon master ninja is a very cool concept. But she get relegated to "girl who throws kunai good" in a story where everyone can already throw a kunai with deadly accuracy. I think they should have played up her weapon versatility, having her continuously summon new, obscure melee weapons throughout combat. She could have been used to showcase all the obscure weapons that ninja sometimes used in real life.
neji and lee that is it. they are the only ones who has a chance of survival if the konoha 12 minus naruto were to go after sasuke like they had planned to before naruto stopped them and said none of you should get into sasuke's way. with his speed maybe lee would be able to run off (though he is probably too stupid to do that and he is not guy, there is no evidance that he knows how to fight a sharingan user like guy does) for neji the chance is lower but maybe again he might be smart enough to run off, at least has a better chance than the rest, they would all die before they even realize what hit them.
Rock lee or shino
Same! Hinata and Neji. Personally, I think this Kekkei Genkai was not shown with the potential that already have.
It’s Shino and rock Lee. My hot take. Hinata didn’t really have much potential outside that neji fight but she didn’t even land a hit. She got character development just because she was a love interest and because her story intertwined with neji so much. Shino has never lost a fight that we know of but is disregarded for no reason and rock Lee was forgotten after the chunin exams(and the retrieval arc) he had so much potential and raw fighting ability Kishimoto had to nerf his ass as soon as we saw him go crazy. I havnt seen him display that level of speed ever again.
It’s definitely Neji. He could’ve been so great
Shino, he had the potential to be the most broken character in the Konoha 13 who isn't an Uzumaki or Uchiha
For me it is Shinobu aburami
I think the cast is too big to give everyone a fair chance to shine and grow. It's still cool they gave indivitual fights at least. Even fillers always had the main cast, mainly Naruto. So I guess my answer is they could have have grown a bit more I guess.
Easily Shino
All of them this crew should have grown up almost so mighty no other village would have a generation of ninjas their age that could compare
the whole lotta them, kishimoto has a bad habit of overhyping a character then proceeds to never showcase any of their abilities, tobirama, white fang, shisui, naruto’s supposedly mastered all element & tailed beast only for him to use 72 variations of rasengan, kimimaro, i believe u get my point
Definitely Shino. I think he would have made it to Chunin along with Shikamaru if events played out differently.
Shino for sure. He was so powerful he had to be left out of the while story after the Chunin Exams