While Naruto has an array of iconic fights that feature some of the coldest attacks and moves, Minato’s showdown against Obito in Naruto: Shippuden remains the coldest. The fight in question does not last as long as most of the other narratively significant duels in the series. It unfolds only for a few seconds when it initially convinces the viewer that Naruto’s father, Minato, may not even win.
However, just when it looks like Obito has overpowered the Hokage, Minato delivers one of the smartest moves in the history of anime to gain the upper hand.
In its long runtime, Naruto is packed with some incredibly slam-bang action sequences. For instance, Gaara and Rock Lee’s fight has become so iconic that it has almost transcended the anime’s legacy and has been recreated multiple times by fans. Most showdowns between Naruto and Sasuke have also gone down in the history of anime as some of the greatest fight scenes.
While Minato’s battle against Obito is not as widely remembered as some of the most popular showdowns, it deserves credit for delivering a well-timed twist and putting Minato’s intelligence on full display.
Minato & Obito’s Strengths Make Them Perfect Rivals
Minato possesses several special triple-prong kunai, which he uses during battle to mark locations and limit the movements of his enemies. While his kunai skills are enough to help him overpower most opponents, his true strength lies in how he couples them with his Flying Raijin (Flying Thunder God) technique.
Obito’s greatest strength allows him to completely neutralize Minato’s kunai attacks. He possesses Kamui, an ability that lets him make parts of his body intangible by sending them into another dimension. Owing to his Kamui, Minato’s kunai attacks do not harm him and daggers merely pass through his body parts as he turns them intangible.
Initially, this leads Obito to believe that he will easily win his fight against Minato. Little does he realize that Minato has the perfect offense planned against him.
Minato Brilliantly Weaponizes Obito’s Defense
During the fight, Minato quickly realizes that his kunai attacks will be useless against Obito if he is well-prepared to face them. He notices how Obito triggers his Kamui when he expects one of Minato’s daggers to hit him and switches to his normal self when he has to counter-attack him. Obito does this because to be able to harm Minato with his attacks, he will have to make himself tangible.
Minato realizes that the brief moment where Obito becomes tangible and drops his Kamui is the chink in his armor.
With this realization, he leverages his own Flying Raijin technique, which allows him to instantly teleport to any custom formula seal he has previously placed. He leads the sequence by first throwing a dagger straight at Obito’s face, which phases into his head without harming him because of his intangibility.
While this leads Obito to believe he has already won and deflected Minato’s attack, Minato carefully waits for him to drop his Kamui defense and teleports to his dagger behind Obito’s head. This catches Obito completely off-guard, and, before he can even think about reactivating his intangibility, Minato takes him down by slamming a Rasengan on him.
Minato’s Rasengan Is Cool, But It’s His Execution Against Obito That Makes It the Greatest Move
The sheer presence of mind and tactical brilliance Minato uses in this showdown makes it one of the coldest displays of Rasengan attacks in Naruto history. His Ransengan is not even as impressive as some of the more devastating variants Naruto and other characters use later in the series. But the way Minato lands it makes the attack far more memorable.
On paper, Obito’s intangibility almost made him invincible in the fight. Minato’s kunai should have been completely useless against him. However, the brilliance with which he uses one of his daggers to eventually unlock his teleportation and gain a serious edge over Obito is beyond impressive.
Even the animation in the Naruto fight sequence is perfectly fluid as it immerses viewers in the fast-paced exchange between the two characters and captures how Minato tricks Obito with a feint before completely overpowering him.
