Even with all its brutality, Naruto’s world is far from black and white. It’s messy and complicated, filled with shinobi trying to survive in a system built on violence and politics. It’s easy to miss it with Naruto’s rose-tinted glasses, but even with all their power and training, most shinobi cannot escape their life of servitude; either to their leaders and clients or to their own prejudices and desires. The story shows this as many “heroes” start revealing their darker sides, while those labeled as “villains” end up being the ones who were wronged from the beginning. Naturally, this morally grey nature of the series has sparked endless debates among fans about certain characters even years after the show ended.
From village leaders making very questionable decisions to a system built on grooming kids into violence, Naruto doesn’t shy away from showing the ethical dilemmas in its war-fueled ninja world. The show also explores how even the purest intentions can lead to horrific outcomes, especially when power, duty, and personal trauma all mix together for less-than-predictable results. In the end, these six characters are easily some of the most debated in the Naruto universe, each one making us wonder what makes someone a hero… or a villain.
Shown from a young age to be an extremely smart and logical character, even as a child, Tobirama understood that the only way to end the war was to sit down with your enemies and reach a truce. He may not have been as vocal about this idea as his older brother Hashirama, but that can be attributed to his pragmatic nature rather than his actual desire to fight the Uchiha out of hatred or vengeance. And yet, Tobirama’s treatment of the Uchiha clan is one of the most debated aspects of his legacy as the Second Hokage.
His policies towards the Uchiha laid the groundwork for their eventual alienation and the tragedy of the Uchiha Massacre. He created the Konoha Military Police Force, which put the Uchiha in a position of power and prestige but also alienated them from the village’s populace. The Uchiha were already in the habit of keeping to themselves and, as enforcers of peace, were rarely viewed favorably by the common people; their new position only made them keep their distance from other villagers.
But were these actions intentional and fueled by bigotry or was all this just a case of bad judgment? A reanimated Tobirama does admit to distrusting the Uchiha but he also denies any actual hatred. He explains that he kept an eye on any clan that threatened peace and the Uchiha simply attracted his attention more than others. In his very next sentence, however, he praises the Uchiha, like Kagami, for their loyalty and commitment. This shows that Tobirama was nowhere near as racist or bigoted as some believe him to be. However, this doesn’t prove that he wasn’t unconsciously prejudiced, a view shaped by years of conflict with the Uchiha and the trauma of losing his brothers and clan members to them.
It should also be noted that his distrust wasn’t totally baseless since characters like Madara and Sasuke did show how dangerous the Sharingan could be when fueled by emotional pain, making his “curse of hatred” theory eerily accurate. In the end, however, his reign as Hokage did plant the seed for the Uchiha Massacre, whether intentionally or not, and that does make him one of the most controversial characters in the series.
The anime presents Hiruzen as this warm, grandfather-like figure to Naruto, but the way he treated the orphaned kid was honestly pretty terrible, which contradicts his image of a wise and compassionate Hokage. Despite Hiruzen’s promise to Minato and Kushina, we see Naruto growing up alone and hated by the entire village, with barely any emotional support. If Naruto had perhaps had a different personality than he did, this treatment could have easily made him into a villain, with devastating consequences for Konoha.
And that’s not all on Hiruzen’s questionable decision-making. As the Third Hokage, Hiruzen also gave his once-teammate Danzo way too much leeway to do whatever he wanted. With his gentle nature, he struggled to deal with threats preemptively and decisively and, as such, let Danzo deal with the darker parts of being a village leader however he saw fit. He repeatedly turned a blind eye to Danzo’s Root organization, even though their ethically questionable missions clearly went against everything Hiruzen claimed to stand for and caused more problems for Konoha in the long run.
But what makes Hiruzen even more controversial is that he knew about Danzo’s plan to make Itachi massacre the Uchiha and did nothing to prevent it. Which makes him seem either incompetent or disturbingly okay with wiping out an entire clan. In Chapter 619 of the manga or Episode 366 of Naruto Shippuden, Hiruzen even admits to ordering Itachi to carry out the massacre and spy on the Akatsuki. On top of that, during his time as Hokage, major threats like Orochimaru’s Sound Village and the Akatsuki grew stronger right under Hiruzen’s nose and he never dealt with the problems until it was too late. When you compare him to other Hokage like Tobirama or Minato, who made hard decisions when needed, it’s clear that Hiruzen lacked that same decisiveness, which caused long-term damage, even if it looked like short-term peace.
Morally, Danzo is an absolutely despicable character, his reputation tainted by a long list of terrible actions – stealing Shisui’s Sharingan, planning the Uchiha massacre, and even sabotaging the original Akatsuki. But when you consider how Hiruzen’s softer leadership may have made him think his ruthless approach was necessary for the village’s prosperity, a much different picture emerges. At the time of Danzo’s death, he thinks back to his relationship with Hiruzen when they were just young boys.
It’s clear he harbors some jealousy and resentment for Hiruzen always being a step ahead. But it’s also clear that he genuinely respected and cared for the late Third Hokage. Danzo survived multiple wars, watched his friends die, and saw peace treaties fail over and over again, which made him paranoid and ruthless. While none of that justifies any of his actions, it does make you wonder how different of a person he could have been if he didn’t feel that constant need to keep Konoha safe and in power by any means necessary.
Itachi had an extremely tough life that permanently damaged him and turned him into both a hero and a villain at the same time. He witnessed horrific mass casualties during the Third Shinobi War when he was only four years old, awakened his Sharingan at just eight years old after watching his friends die, and was exploited by both the clan and village leadership from a young age. By the time he was thirteen, he received an impossible ultimatum from Danzo: kill his entire clan (except for his brother) or watch them start a civil war that would destroy both the village and his beloved little brother Sasuke.
As a child who was incredibly mature for his age, Itachi understood how his clan staging a coup would be a lose-lose situation, with the Uchiha being branded as traitors and the village becoming more vulnerable to outside attacks. Aware of the dangers and limited in his options, Itachi made the choice to carry out the massacre. But unlike what the anime makes you think, this was not, in fact, the most logical decision. Instead, it’s a case of false dilemma fallacy. For all his wisdom, Itachi was essentially a groomed child who believed Danzo when he was asked to choose between two terrible options.
On top of that, Itachi’s double life forced him to maintain a cruel persona for so long that over time, the line between his act and his true self became blurred. Despite Itachi’s love for Sasuke driving almost everything he did, he still tortured his brother, joined the Akatsuki, and continued carrying out missions for a criminal organization, furthering Madara and Obito’s Eye of the Moon Plan. This shows that his actions, regardless of intentions, were morally questionable and emotionally scarring.
Orochimaru started off as a promising shinobi, training alongside Jiraiya and Tsunade under Hiruzen. But despite being surrounded by good influences, he chose to go down a dark path in his obsession with immortality. He conducted cruel experiments that killed many innocent people and broke every ethical rule, kidnapping 60 infants for DNA experimentation (with only Yamato surviving), imprisoning hundreds for cursed seal development, and even performing living dissections. A lot of this traces back to his childhood trauma from the Second Shinobi War – after losing his parents and finding a white snake skin, a young Orochimaru got hooked on the idea of immortality, a psychological damage that Hiruzen recognized but failed to address properly.
But what makes Orochimaru so controversial is his apparent redemption in Boruto: Naruto Next Generations. Considering the horrific nature and scale of his crimes, it’s hard for many fans to even wrap their heads around why Naruto chose to forgive him, let alone forgive him themselves. Worse, even in the present timeline, Orochimaru’s laboratory is still active with just some basic surveillance, allowing him to develop synthetic humans and continue his body modification experiments that cross the same ethical lines that made him a criminal initially.
The most messed-up part? His intel on Akatsuki, work with Hashirama’s cells, and familiarity with the reanimation jutsu all turned out to be huge assets during the Fourth Shinobi War. His immoral research ultimately helping save countless lives during the final conflict.
Sakura is easily one of the most disliked characters in Naruto, and while some of that hate is just jokes on the internet, there are real reasons why fans have issues with her character. Her character suffers from inconsistent development that contradicts her established background as a kunoichi trained in Konoha’s academy system since she was six. Her medical training under Tsunade required serious chakra control and extensive knowledge of human anatomy, but despite all that, it rarely translates to tactical awareness in crucial moments throughout the series.
Worse even after all her growth from a young civilian girl to a proper kunoichi, Sakura still throws logic out the window when it comes to Sasuke – including her willingness to abandon her village for someone who literally declared his intention to destroy it. The series presents her love as enduring – with Sakura loving Sasuke even after he almost went through with a Chidori strike that would have killed her if Kakashi had not interfered. And instead of treating her feelings as unhealthy, the anime shows it as admirable, which doesn’t line up with the survival instincts or loyalty you’d expect from someone raised in a ninja system.
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