In Naruto, family means power — and not just in the figurative sense. Masashi Kishimoto‘s creativity is on full display with his creation of a vibrant world, full of different ninja clans, each with their own distinct traditions, training, and jutsu passed down from generation to generation. Not only does a ninja’s family provide a community for training and protection, but many of their unique and powerful abilities can only be attained by people descended from their bloodline. Each hidden village in the series contains a diverse array of shinobi families focused on protecting their community, but it’s the strongest ninja clans that have historically shaped the state of the world.
In the inherently competitive and combative world of the shinobi, the strongest of these families carry the greatest legacies, but also the most scrutiny. While it’s technically impossible to choose a quantitatively superior ninja clan, one can’t help but consider which of these families is worthy of holding the title of “strongest” in the series. Though there are some more traditional answers, one of the most compelling cases belongs to a clan that fans of the show may not immediately consider: the Hyūga clan of the Hidden Leaf. While the Hyūga may not reach the same zeniths as other ninja families, their long-standing consistency and stalwart presence in Konoha makes them one of the underappreciated bastions of the hidden village, worthy of consideration as the strongest clan in the entire series.
Konoha Boasts the Strongest Clans in ‘Naruto’
When determining the strongest family in the series, the search starts and ends in Konohagakure, the Village Hidden in the Leaves. While each ninja village boasts their own distinct advantages that make them a formidable force, Konoha is easily considered to be the most powerful among them; a reputation born from the powerful families that make up the village, as well as the collective strength of the entire village. Konoha was founded by the Senju and Uchiha, two shinobi families that were so independently powerful, their unification effectively forced the rest of the ninja world to form their own ninja villages in response.
The awe, or terror, inspiring abilities of these two clans kept them at the top of the ninja world for generations; in the most powerful village, it’s the Senju and Uchiha who were treated as the highest of echelons, the impossible standard. Three members of the Senju clan have been Hokage: Hashirama, Tobirama, and Tsunade. Hashirama was known as the “God of Shinobi,” Tobirama, the greatest inventor of ninja techniques, and Tsunade is the greatest medical ninja of all time — each a legend with accomplishments that cannot be replicated. Meanwhile, their rivals-turned-allies in the Uchiha were similarly unimpeachable. Madara Uchiha was the only shinobi capable of matching up with Hashirama, and would later serve as one of the series’ greatest antagonists. From prodigies like Itachi Uchiha, to Hokage candidates like Fugaku, and even one of the main characters in Sasuke, the Uchiha are likely the most famous clan in the entire series.
But for all their tremendous abilities, it’s actually hard to argue that these two clans are the strongest in the series. Why? Because they’re barely in the series at all. Consider this, though these clans have a reputation as being the most powerful, they also have some of the fewest living members of any clan. The Uchiha clan was nearly driven to extinction after the tragic Uchiha massacre, and of the Senju, only Tsunade is a living member. While these clans rightfully boast having the strongest individual members, as an entire family unit, they fall short. Take Naruto Uzumaki, for example; he’s arguably the single most powerful character in the series, but as one of two remaining members of his family, it feels disingenuous to claim the entire family’s reputation off of him alone. If the main goal of a ninja family is to protect their own, then these clans have all fallen short of meeting this metric, disqualifying them from contention.
The Hyūga Clan Is Considered the Strongest in the Village
So if not the Senju, the Uchiha, or even the Uzuamki, why are the Hyūga the actual strongest clan in Naruto? One critical consideration for this perspective is the time frame in which the judgment is being made. Looking at the in-universe timeline, which predominantly explores Naruto’s life from his early teens to his adulthood, the Hyūga immediately look far more impressive. During those years, the Hyūga were a thriving, popular family, considered to be the strongest living clan in Konoha. Being the strongest living family in the strongest ninja village in the world paints a strong case for the Hyūga, but it’s a reputation well-earned even beyond the technicality of its semantics.
The clan has plenty of living members, enough to comprise two different branches within the family. Though their practice of dividing their family members into different tiers is a major shortcoming in their clan, it did serve its job of keeping the family safe for generations, even as Naruto’s unflappable stubbornness incited a shift in their mindset. As the series progressed into Naruto: Shippuden and, later, Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, the Hyūga continued to thrive, maintaining their already lofty reputation. Not only did they make up a considerable amount of Konoha’s contribution to the Fourth Shinobi World War, but their numbers only continued to grow over the years.
While naysayers may disagree with this choice, citing the lack of strong ninja in the clan as a reason, the individual talents of Hyūga clan members shouldn’t be discounted. While the individual members may not have the power of literal gods, the Hyūga still set an incredibly high bar of talent and ability among the broader ninja world. Neji is the first of Naruto’s generation of classmates, the Konoha 11, to be appointed a jōnin, the second-highest rank of a shinobi, just underneath that of a Kage. Hinata, despite her initially slow start as a ninja, later experienced an exponential growth in strength reminiscent of a main character. Additionally, Hanabi is considered a brilliant talent capable of overshadowing her sister even at a young age, while their father, Hiashi, is considered the strongest of them all, despite receiving limited screen time. And in Boruto, both Boruto and Himawari are considered full members of the clan through their mother, continuing to carry their legacy into future generations.
The Hyūga are Descended from the Otutsuki Clan
The case for the Hyūga isn’t just about numbers and consistency, though those factors do play a significant role in this argument. However, the Hyūga also possess a vitally important connection that few other families in the series can even compare to: their connection to the Ōtsutsuki Clan. The Ōtsutsuki are unique among the different families in the series, as they are extradimensional beings not native to this world. It was through their reality-altering actions that chakra, and ninjutsu, were ever introduced to this world in the first place, but because of the unique situation around their existence, it’s hard to properly compare them to the other families in the series. However, that’s not the case for their descendants, the Senju, the Uchiha, and, yes, the Hyūga. Like their greatest competitors, the Hyūga trace their roots back to the alien progenitors of ninjutsu.
The descendants of the Ōtsutsuki aren’t just connected to their ancestors by blood, but through their shared special techniques. Like the Uchiha, who inherited their Sharingan eyes from the Ōtsutsuki, so too did the Hyūga receive their Byakugan from their powerful ancestors. The Byakugan is a special type of eye technique found only in members of the Hyūga clan, which enables its user to visibly see the flow of chakra, an incredibly useful technique that has become underrated over the years. While not as flashy and customizable as the Sharingan, it’s important to note that the Byakugan is the default eye of the Ōtsutsuki clan, adding credence to its irreplaceable and highly useful capabilities.
They may not be as flashy a choice for the show’s strongest clan, but the Hyūga has remained the gold standard for consistency and tradition among shinobi families in Naruto. They may not have the strongest individual members, but as Naruto’s lonely childhood reminds viewers, a man alone does not compensate for a unified and connected family.
Naruto is streaming on Hulu in the U.S.
