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Naruto: Clash of Ninja Revolution:(wii)faq/walkthrough

Naruto: Clash of Ninja Revolution: (wii)faq/walkthrough



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Table of Contents
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[01] Version History

[02] What this FAQ is?

[03] What this FAQ isn't?

[04] Fighting Overview

[05] Naruto Uzumaki

[06] Sasuke Uchiha

[07] Sakura Haruno

[08] Kakashi Hatake

[09] Neji Hyuga

[10] Hinata Hyuga

[11] Rock Lee

[12] Might Guy

[13] Tenten

[14] Ino Yamanaka

[15] Shikamaru Nara

[16] Shino Aburame

[17] Gaara

[18] Kankuro

[19] Temari

[20] Jiraiya

[21] Tsunade

[22] Orochimaru

[23] Kisame Hoshigaki

[24] Itachi Uchiha




NOTE: As in many FAQs before this, I use the tried and true Control+F
layout which lets you jump to what you need. Say you're a typical
Sasuke Fangirl and just want to see his stuff, you'd copy the code
next to his name in the table of contents, and I'm using the term code
lightly... Anyways, open up the Control+F window and then paste the
code, which for this example is [06] into it, then you simply jump to
the section :) Control+C -> Control+F -> Control+V


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[01] Version History
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Version 1.0
01 / 31 / 2008
This is version1.0, therefore, I'll assume it's completely flawless
and not change it at all unless YOU put forth the effort to tell me
I'm wrong and what I need to fix, so please do. I know it must have
some problems or some things I've overlooked, and with cooperation we
can make it great. Just make sure you leave a name if you submit a
strategy or fix, so that I can credit you.


Version 1.2



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[02] What this FAQ is?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is more of a character guide than a FAQ, I just call it one
because I'm posting it on GameFAQs. It's purpose is simple: to
provide you, the faithful reader, with general knowledge of all the
characters in the game, and knowledge of their special moves and
signature jutsu, as well as their unique traits and strengths, and
some good strategies to use. This guide doesn't actually make you a
better player, since this game isn't extremely complex (compared to
Soul Calibur 3 as an example) and button mashing can get you through
single player just fine. But, if you're like me and have human friends
OMG rite?) who come over and play games with ya, then this guide will
help you screw them out of victories and make them curse your name and
possibly even slug you. Well, that's my intent anyway... I have been
told that I'm pretty good at fighting games, and they probably are my
favorite genre of game, and I was shocked that noone made a character
guide for this game yet, especially because the Wii is sooo lacking in
good fighters. I hope you will find this useful.

The strategies and opinions expressed in this guide are entirely mine
unless otherwise stated. If you contribute something to the guide
then of course I'll give you credit. I want people to use my ideas
when they play the game, but I don't want people posting my ideas as
their own on forums and whatnot, because that is stealing. At the
same time these characters are NOT mine, and I do not claim that to be
the case. I do not own anything related to Naruto, Nintendo, or Tomy
except for my own personal Wii and my copy of the game. I wrote this
guide for GameFAQs, but I have a list of approved sites for its
posting in the Copyrights section. If you want to post any or all of
this guide anywhere else, you must first ask my permission through
email.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[03] What this FAQ isn't?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This isn't a perfect tie in with the anime/manga, I don't use the names
as properly as some fanboys would want me to, I use them as they appear
in the game's instruction booklet. I will not review the game, and I
definitely will not provide a walkthrough, because this is not a
walkthrough, and seriously, who needs a friggin walkthrough in a
fighting game. If you just want to know how to unlock all of the
characters, that's actually rather easy, I did it in about 4 hours.
You must beat the game (single player) with all the characters (except
for a few, but do it with em all just to learn em all) and beat all 23
of the game's missions. Anyways, if you really need help with the
missions, it's pretty easy to find what you need through google,
that's what I did.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[04] Fighting Overview
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*I use the Gamecube Controller style when I play, and reference the
controls as such. If you prefer to use the Wiimote / Nunchuk, or the
Classic Controller, then convert the controls as necessary. I do this
because the Wiimote controls often aren't as responsive as I'd wish
them to be. I have nothing against using the Wiimote in other games.*


==================
= Basic Controls =
==================

Movement/Jumping: Analog Stick or D-pad
Dash: Double Tap towards or away from the foe
Double Jump: Jump again when in the air
Weak Attack: B Button
Strong Attack: A Button
Special Attack (Jutsu): X Button
Throw (nearly useless): Y Button
SideStep: L Button or R Button
Change Target (3-4 Player): Z Button
Deflect Projectiles: C Stick


======================
= Advanced Maneuvers =
======================

Blocking: Nothing, or hold direction away from opponent

In the classic control scheme of Street Fighter II, blocking is as
simple as moving away from the opponent. This works fine in 1v1s, but
can occaisonally mess up in 2v2s where you're switching targets and
the camera is rotating, often you'll be blocking and then accidentally
be walking towards the foe. For this reason I tend to prefer the
"don't do anything" control method for blocking. Also, ala Super
Smash Bros, your guard can eventually be worn down and broken, so
don't sit and block all day, especially because when your guard breaks
it BLOWS YOUR CHAKRA, making you feel rather stupid for getting into
that situation. As your guard weakens, the little blocking animation
turns from Blue to Yellow to Red, and then breaks.


Deflecting: C-stick at projectiles (takes proper timing)

Against people like Naruto and projectile-less fighters like
Tsunade, this is worthless. But against Sakura and Tenten, the main
projectile spammers in the game, this is extremely important as both
a means of dealing damage back to them, and also to break their combos.
Additionally, when successfully deflected, projectiles won't be eating
at your guard, thus making at least attempting this maneuver much
better than simply standing and guarding the projectiles. Even if you
fail, you should be standing still and will guard automatically. The
projectiles that cannot be deflected are: Shino's Bugs, Gaara's Sand,
and Temari's Fan Blasts.


Charging: Hold A Button (Strong Attack)

All the characters who use projectile attacks as their standard
Strong Attack, can charge them for added damage and possibly more
hits. Characters who don't specialize in projectiles usually have
1 Charge Level, but a few have 2 Charge Levels, and Tenten actually
has 3 Charge Levels, and her max Charge is actually the first hit of
a really ridiculous projectile combo. Sakura's Shurikens become a
homing scattershot when fully charged. Tsunade can charge many of her
physical A attacks, and Kisame can charge one of his sword attacks.


Standard Jutsu: X Button

Every character has a signature move, and all of them are unblockable.
This means that they need to be dodged, or interupted with a fast
attack, either option is fine. These Jutsu, when standing on the
ground, will almost always require an initial strike to hit first,
and will drain ALL your Chakra, whether they succeed or not. I
highly reccomend learning how to chain these in after a few initial
combo hits, which makes them much easier to land and will add in some
extra damage.


Secondary Jutsu: Special + X Button

Every character has at least one alternative or variation on their
Jutsu. Some characters lose their first Jutsu and gain a more
powerful version when in Crisis. These Crisis Jutsu still take ALL of
your Chakra. Many other characters have secondary Jutsu that are used
while jumping and pressing X, or with Down + X. These typically do
not take all your Chakra, though they still take 75% of it. Another
type of Secondary Jutsu is the Transformation, such as activating the
Sharingan or opening the Inner Gates, these also do not take that much
Chakra and are activated with Down + X. There are a few moves in the
game that are technically a Jutsu and will require some Chakra or
drain Chakra while the A Button is held, but these do not require use
of the X Button and I list them in a different section for each
character. Most of the Secondary Jutsu that take 75% Chakra instead
of all your Chakra, are blockable and not as powerful as your Standard
Jutsu. This is a general rule and not always true, read under each
character to know specifically how their Jutsu work.



Substitution Jutsu: L Button or R Button (Sidestep) during attacks

If you are being attacked and hit L or R, you use a Substitution Jutsu.
A Substitution quickly lets you escape an enemy's combo and counter
attack, usually from behind though not always, just depends on when
you do it and what character you're using. This move takes a big
chunk of Chakra, but you'll quickly find that if you dodge out of a
combo where your foe had the intent to chain in a Jutsu, and he
blatantly missed because of it, that it's Chakra well spent. For
some characters who have good combos and can usually do as much
damage with combos as they can with their Jutsu, saving Chakra for
frequent Substitutions is a wise strategy.


Counter Stance: Away + A Button (Strong Attack)

Holding away from the foe (as you would during blocking) and then
hitting Strong Attack, will make most characters enter a Counter
Stance, in which case they do something neat if they are hit during
it. The best example is Neji, who uses Rotation to block any type
of attack and repel the attacker. Kakashi reveals his book and will
teleport behind you and use "A Thousand Years of Death!" should you
attack him in his Counter Stance. It's a good idea to learn what
each character does in their respective Counter Stance, because many
of them are really match breaking. Most of them leave the foe wide
open for counter attacks, or automatically counter attack.


Rolling Landing: A Button or B Button (as you land from a fall)

Any time (and I mean any time) that you are hit and would fall hard
onto the ground, you can hit either Attack Button and roll to negate
the knockdown and get away. This is easiest to do from a high fall
like after a throw, but can be done all the time including during a
combo, as long as you get hit onto the ground during it. You can aim
the roll with directional input, and if you roll towards an enemy
during their combo, you can often end up behind them to land a sneak
attack. Someone very succeptible to this, oddly enough, is Naruto.
Many of his combos hit foes into the ground and then he jumps down at
them. This is when you would roll, before he jumps down for the last
hit. This is a move that should be practiced and used whenever
possible, especially during enemy combos.


Hide: Dash towards an object, or Sidestep towards it

When you hide behind an object, you're safe from direct attacks, even
projectiles, untill the object breaks or you move or your opponent is
smart enough to get close and hit you around it. Every character has
two attacks from hiding, one with Weak Attack and one with Strong
Attack, and most characters have pretty powerful attacks from hiding.
You can also choose to leap right out from hiding instead of attacking
out of it. Hiding is something I like to do right at the begining of
a round, but is also not a good idea vs Sakura, Temari, or Tenten.
Those three are extremely good with rapid projectile spams, and can
easily destroy your cover in an instant. One thing interesting to
note about hiding objects is that they can be used in combos. Hitting
someone into an object constitutes an extra hit in your combo.


Attack Throw: Special

A few characters possess these kind of moves, they result in a throw-
like motion for the foe, but only if they hit, which makes them very
different from normal attacks. Unlike real throws, attack throws
start with an attack (duh) and can therefore be guarded against. In
a normal combo, even if all the hits are blocked, you can still go
through them all. In an attack throw, if the initial hit is blocked,
the rest doesn't happen. A prime example of this is Sasuke's Up + B.
If hit by this, you will be grabbed and launched up into the air,
before being slammed headfirst into the ground. If guarded against,
Sasuke simply jumps up pointlessly. Tsunade's jumping + A attack is
similar: if it hits then Tsunade grabs your head between her legs
and backflips, probably breaking your neck and shattering your skull
all in one motion. If guarded against she simply hits the ground, no
backflip. If you plan to use a character frequently, take the time to
learn if they have an attack throw and make good use of it.


Airborne Throw: Y (While in Air)

Some characters are capable of using throws in the air, Naruto and
Kakashi for example. I don't have a list of them all and honestly,
airborne throws are typically a worse alternative during a combo then
simply continuing with the combo attacks. However, if your foe is
relentlessly blocking your combos, then an airborne throw can really
catch them off guard. I tend to think of most throws as pointless,
very few characters have good options directly after a throw for
damage even close to what you'd get from your stronger combos. If
someone out there feels I should list all the characters who can
airborne throw, or wants to submit the list to me and have his/her
name on this guide, then by all means, do so.


Crisis: Less than 40% Health Remaining

This is a requirement for many of the strongest Jutsu in the game, and
has a neat side effect of causing your Chakra to regenerate much faster
than normal. Chakra regeneration is inversely proportional to Health
remaining. I felt I should define this term so people knew what I was
talking about when I say Crisis next to a character's Jutsu. For a
reason I will never understand, the female characters are the ones
who typically have Crisis Jutsu... the only male characters who have
them are Naruto and Guy.


==================
= The Characters =
==================

Here's the bulk of this guide, the information on each character. I
play the game with the damage set to 3 usually, because I prefer a
bunch of quick rounds where a Special Jutsu can easily kill a foe
without giving them the chance to use their overpowered Crisis Jutsu.
If I say an attack will do about 50% Health, and for you it only does
30%, don't email me to tell me I'm wrong. It's that you don't have
your damage set the same as mine. You can change this in Settings,
and I'm pretty sure it defaults to 2. Don't forget to use Control+F
to find what character you want, it's faster and easier that way.


*If I left out anything about a character that you feel is worth
noting, email me about it and I'll probably add it. You'll even get
credit and your choice of bonus prizes... and of course by bonus
prizes, I mean nothing other than the satisfaction of helping a lazy
FAQ writer, and your name in the section where it applies*


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[05] Naruto Uzumaki
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

===========
= Summary =
===========

As the main character and the game's namesake, the developers thought
that Naruto should be one of the strongest characters in the game.
Initially, he may not seem that great, partly due to the fact that
his projectiles SUCK horribly, and partly because his best combo
attacks all end the same way, with a jumping attack and then an attack
from the air, which leaves you quite vulnerable if the opponent
decided to substitute earlier in the combo. However, his attacks
actually chain very well together, indeed it's rather easy to do so
with a bit of practice, and splice in some Special Jutsus for good
measure. Naruto can also use a super hilarious "pop goes the weasel"
Shadow Clone Attack, and can summon a Shadow Clone to fight with him,
though this slowly drains Chakra while active.

Naruto's true power lies in his Crisis abilities, which makes him
much better if played in matches with the attack set to a low value
(meaning both people deal less damage to eachother and fights last
longer). Naruto has a powered up Jutsu when in Crisis, which is rare
though a few other characters have special Crisis Jutsu as well (most
of them female for some reason...?). Additionally, he has a very
strong transformation when in Crisis, which gives him entirely new
attacks complete with the demon fox claws and constantly regenerating
Chakra. The Nine Tailed Fox Naruto is very strong, but the reason
Naruto shines is that he has the choice to retain his normal moves
and use the insanely powerful Rasengan, or to switch into his
alternate form, that choice is what sets Naruto apart from most of
the other characters, who usually only have one of those two options.
True to his fighting style in the anime, Naruto seems to be at his
best when he's in a pinch, losing the fight, don't count him out, EVER.


==================
= Special Jutsu: =
==================

Uzumaki Barrage: X

This is a standard Special Jutsu in every aspect, and will be my basis
for comparison on other characters. If you ever watched Naruto vs Kiba
then you'll be familiar with this attack, Naruto summons a group of
clones to aid him in the attack. First one straight kicks the foe into
position, next the others move in and surround the foe with a series
of upward kicks, and finally Naruto jumps in to bring his foot down
HARD on the foe's head after he's been kicked into the air. Deals
decent damage, less than the majority of other Jutsu in the game, but
Naruto more than makes up for this with his Crisis Jutsu. Requires an
initial strike to hit.


Rasengan: Crisis X

Who watches Naruto and doesn't love this move? If you've been fighting
with someone clearly better than you, and he's weakened you into crisis
while keeping about 60% or 70% of his health left, then this Jutsu is
a "WTF!" instant turnaround victory move, especially if you chain
it after a short combo, for added damage and a much greater chance of
successfully landing it. The cel shaded graphics do a damn good job
of making a very pretty Rasengan, and this is one of the more fun
Jutsu to use the Wiimote controls with, whee spin whee. The spirally
Rasengan does a lot of damage when it first hits the foe, a bit more
when it sends them skidding backwards, and a final hit when it
explodes at the end. Does about 100% more damage than Uzumaki Barrage,
which is crazy but mostly because Uzumaki Barrage is a little subpar
in it's damage. If it was as strong as most other Standard Jutsu,
then Rasengan would only be doing about 70% or 80% more. Needless to
say, this replaces Uzumaki Barrage. Requires an initial strike to hit.


Nine Tailed Fox: Crisis Down + X (Transformation)

This transformation will instantly heal Naruto by a modest amount and
give him the Red Chakra that we all know and love, which gives him
a steadily regenerating Chakra bar, and allows him to use his new
Jutsu much more often. The transformation also changes his attacks,
specifically changing Strong Attacks from Kunai into Claws, which
means no more projectiles, and a lot more damage with combo attacks.
His transformation moves are in his attack list thankfully. As an
added bonus, the activation of this transformation doubles as a close
ranged knockback attack, not much damage, but cool looking. Setting
a standard for all Transformation Jutsu, this doesn't take much Chakra,
maybe 25%. You cannot change back for the duration of the fight.


Nine Tailed Berserk: X (In Nine Tailed Fox)

This is a really violent looking Jutsu, if you can even call it one,
since it's just a relentless series of slashes followed by an
unnecessary explosion of Red Chakra. Naruto likes to yell "I'll
DESTROY You!" when he does this. Personally, as cool as this is, I
think I like Rasengan more, which is probably because Rasengan does
more damage. The power of Nine Tailed Fox Naruto comes alive when you
master sneaking this Jutsu in after claw slashin combos. Requires an
initial strike to hit, and note that this is not a typical attack
Jutsu, and is more like a combo, this means that it typically DOESN'T
WORK if used on an airborne foe, even when other Jutsu would. Use
this only on standing foes for best results. Deals more damage than
an Uzumaki Barrage but less than a Rasengan. Requires an initial
strike to hit.


=============
= Abilities =
=============

Shadow Clone Jutsu: Away + A

Naruto doesn't have a Counter Stance in his normal form, he just has
this ability, which summons an AI controlled clone at the cost of
slowly draining Chakra. The clone dies in one hit, making this not
very useful, but occaisonally confusing oppoents in 4 player brawls
and causing them to waste a Jutsu on a clone, which will make everyone
laugh till they pee themselves.


Pop goes the Weasel: Down + A

Naruto slams his hand onto the ground, and after a small delay, a
clone pops up from under the ground a la Naruto vs Neiji, deals decent
damage and is very suprising from far away in 4 player battles. Not
as useful in a 1v1, though the delay is long enough that you can often
start this attack, get hit during it, and the clone still pops up and
strikes the foe as he's already hitting you. Does not require Chakra,
which is really bizzare.


Super Speed: Dashing A (In Nine Tailed Fox)

When Dashing towards an opponent if you hit A you will teleport right
behind your enemy. This is a nice way to start a combo and is not
expected from most people, one of the nice things about the
enhancement provided by the Demon Fox's Chakra. Make sure you have
room to run before trying this, or else you'll mess up.


Chakra Counter: Away + A (In Nine Tailed Fox)

This is functionally Neji's Rotation, crude though it may be. Naruto
shields his face with his claws, if he is attacked he flings both arms
outward and explodes in Red Chakra. He also does this maneuver at the
end of Nine Tailed Berserk. This is a pretty good Counter Stance due
to the fact that it has high knockback, which gives you room to dash
and abuse Super Speed.


Bane of 1000 Weasels: Down + A (In Nine Tailed Fox)

This time around Naruto teleports underground and delivers the attack
himself, thus eliminating the chance of him getting attacked while he
summons the clone like in a normal Pop goes the Weasel. It's hard to
not like this attack, it just reminds you of that fight with Neji so
much. The main drawback to this attack is that it's extremely easy
for the foe to counter attack you if he blocked.


==============
= Strategies =
==============

Naruto's combos in Nine Tailed Fox form are very damaging, but you
will probably spend more time in normal form and thus learning those
combos is more important. Forward + B -> B is a good two hit combo
that bounces the enemy up, at which point you can go into another
combo on them, usually the standard B -> A -> A -> B Spam combo, or
a B -> B -> Uzumaki Barrage combo, which is pretty unavoidable if they
didn't roll out of the combo earlier. If you see a naruto starting
this kind of combo, then try and Substitute out of it to evade his
Jutsu and make him blow all his Chakra.

When Naruto gets pissed and enters his Nine Tailed Fox form, then his
combos are a bit different, and rely more heavily on the A Button. In
Nine Tailed Fox form Naruto's best combo is probably Up + A -> A.
this leaves an opening to start another combo after it, meaning it's
time for B -> B -> B -> B -> A. In a close fight where you both get
low on Health, transforming into Nine Tailed Fox form, then
teleporting behind your opponent and using that combo will more than
likely end the battle in your favor. This is a fast game and planning
these types of combos ahead of time is how you win. Also remember
that Nine Tailed Fox Naruto has some very nice Chakra regeneration,
and you should use Nine Tailed Berserk (preferably after one or two
normal attacks) all the time. Final Note, if your opponent has 60% or
less Health and has weakened you into Crisis, it's often easier to
end the fight with a Rasengan than it is to try your luck with Nine
Tailed Fox Naruto, unless you really like playing as that version of
Naruto.


==============
= Conclusion =
==============

Naruto is a good character, his ability to come back from Crisis with
a devastating Rasengan or let rip with his claws in Nine Tailed Fox
form are both extremely effective. Even if his combos are a little
repetitive, they still do good damage and he's one of the easiest
characters to chain in Jutsu during combo attacks. His main flaw
is his awful projectiles and the fact that his best abilities are
limited to Crisis times. As a main character should be, Naruto is
good enough to be competitive with the more uber characters, such as
Sasuke, Kakashi, Temari, Orochimaru and Itachi.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[06] Sasuke Uchiha
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

===========
= Summary =
===========

I'd be lying if I said Sasuke wasn't one of the best characters in the
game, he's just really good. Sasuke's Fireball Jutsu has a bigger
radius than Orochimaru's and Jiraiya's Fire Jutsu, meaning it can
hit enemies on the ground! So if you end a combo with Fireball Jutsu,
hold A to keep the fire going and crush the foe into the dirt with a
flaming combo from hell. Sasuke is good in his normal state, Lion's
Barrage is on par with Uzumaki Barrage, and he has a nice variety of
cool combo attacks. His proficiency with projectiles is decent, far
above Naruto's single kunai attacks. Sasuke also has quite a few nice
airborne combos, he seems very fond of jumping all the time. His
Counter Stance is actually a teleport attack that poofs right above
your foe's head. He has an Attack Throw with his Up + B that flies
up into the air before smashing back down. Sasuke gains new abilities
and combo attacks when he engages his Sharingan, and is generally
better in that state and should be played as such.


==================
= Special Jutsu: =
==================

Lion's Barrage: X

This is the technique that Naruto based his Uzumaki Barrage on, which
is why they look very similar and do the same amount of damage. Lion's
Barrage is pretty sweet looking, Sasuke kicks the enemy into the air
and follows up with a series of flipping motions kicking the enemy a
few times and then stomping them into the ground. It's a quick and
elegant attack. Like most Jutsu, the best time to use this is after
some initial combo hits, for added damage as well as making it much
easier to successfully land. Requires an initial strike to hit.


Sharingan: Down + X (Transformation)

Use this to enter Sharingan state, and hit it again to revert to
normal state (why you would revert I'll never know?) The transformation
takes about 25% of your Chakra, reverting takes none. Sasuke then has
lightning covering him in this state, so it's easy to tell which state
you're in.


Chidori: X (In Sharingan)

They made Sasuke's most powerful technique suck, and we'll never know
why... Chidori is unblockable, like most basic X Jutsu, and it
causes you to run forward when you do it, both of those are good
qualities. That's it for the good qualities... It does less damage
than any other X Jutsu, and I mean any of them, yep, Lion's Barrage
does more damage than Chidori. Compared to some of the amazing
Jutsu of other characters like Sakura and Neji, this teeny weeny
damage Jutsu is trash. Don't assume that because this is the uncharged
version it doesn't take all your Chakra... it still takes it all.
Requires the dash strike to hit.


Max Chidori: Hold X (In Sharingan)

If you charge up Chidori, then it will rocket you across the full
length of the stage or untill you strike your foe, at which point you
pierce right through them and take a much bigger chunk of their Health,
then finish standing on their other side. This Jutsu is much better
than an unchanrged Chidori... welll... except for the fact that you
have to stand totally still and vulnerable for about 2 seconds to even
get to use it. This gives your opponent plenty of time to see it
coming and avoid it, and also makes it impossible to sneak into a
normal attack combo like most Jutsu. In the rare occaisons where you
can successfully use this, it's pretty nice, but if you play mainly
against intelligent human opponents, this Jutsu will hardly ever be
used. Requires the dash strike to hit.


Fire Style Phoenix Flower Jutsu: Jump -> X (In Sharingan)

This was always one of the cooler Fire Jutsu, though it actually
doesn't look all that impressive in this game. It comes out fast and
inflicts damage in a narrow cone that shoots out at a shallow angle,
you'll land more hits if you're closer to the foe when you start it,
and you'll blow all of it's damage if you're too high up when you
start it. In total, it only does about 5 hits, but it does a LOT of
damage per hit. Even if you don't pull it off perfectly, it will, in
all likelyhood, still be better than a basic Chidori. This move is
pretty easy to sneak into Sasuke's combos as many of them put him up
in the air anways. As a secondary Jutsu, this doesn't take all your
Chakra, only taking about 75% of it, and it can be blocked.


=============
= Abilities =
=============

Fire Style Fireball Jutsu: Forward + A

This is SO much better than Jiraiya and Orochimaru's Fire Jutsu, as
it has a huge radius and can hit people on the ground. It actually
traps them under it if they are on the ground, making this a very
efficient way to use your Chakra and inflict a lot of damage. Hold
A to increase it's duration at the cost of draining Chakra.


Lion's Strike: Away + A

Sasuke's teleport attack. I like this attack because the kick reminds
me of Lion's Barrage. This is a good move to instantly close the gap
on long range fighters, and is pretty suprising whenever it's used.
Sadly, the flashy smoke poof animation makes it very noticeable and
easily blocked by a foe with fast reflexes.


Head Crush: Up + B

Sasuke's Attack Throw, this skill will grab a foe and lift him into
the air, before coming back down and smashing them, upside-down, into
the ground. If blocked, this attack simply causes Sasuke to jump up
pointlessly. This is a neat looking attack, but it doesn't do so
much damage that it's better than a nice combo. However, if you're
up against someone who loves to Substitute, then this attack is of
major value as you cannot Substitute out during the throw, and it will
not build their Chakra as much as a flurry of combo attacks.


Counter Teleport: Away + A (In Sharingan)

If attacked in this state, Sasuke sneaks right behind the opponent,
ready to deliver any kind of combo he deems fit. This isn't
necessarily better or worse than any other Counter Stance, but fits
Sasuke's personality well and looks pretty nice.


Shadow Strike: Up + A (In Sharingan)

This is a faster and meaner version of Lion's Strike, with many
advantages. First and foremost, it uses Up + A instead, thus freeing
up Away + A for a Counter Stance, which normal Sasuke doesn't have.
Second, it comes out faster than Lion's Strike, and doesn't waste time
with the smoke poof style teleport, instead using a classic ninja
teleport. Finally, this attack goes BEHIND your opponent, making it
extremely hard to block, and smart oponents will usually have to move
forward to avoid this, except for friggin Gaara who can just use the
Sand Shield. If you're having trouble in any Single Player mode,
spam this move, as the AI has a lot of trouble avoiding it.


==============
= Strategies =
==============

In my personal opinion, Sharingan should be initiated as soon as
possible, and left on for the duration of the fight. If you would
like to fight as a Sharingan-less Sasuke, by all means do so, but I'm
not coming up with a bunch of combos for his weaker state. Thankfully,
a lot of Sasuke's normal attacks remain unchanged through the
transition to Sharingan. Now that we've got that covered, let's learn
some horribly efficient combos as Sharingan Sasuke.

This one is my personal favorite, mainly because I tend not to rely on
the "hit or miss" nature of charging Chidori, and prefer to use my
Chakra in a more reliable attack. Start with Down + B -> B -> NOTHING.
Yeah, you heard me, at that point in the combo you can hit A or B, but
I say don't hit anything, and prepare a Phoenix Flower Jutsu. This
is totally unexpected, and will work the first time you try it unless
your foe rolled away right as he landed. After you do this 7 or 8
times, I'm sure your foe will figure it out and try to avoid getting
into this situation. Please note that Phoenix Flower Jutsu will only
do about 3 hits if you hit it too fast, bringing your combo total to 5.
If you wait a bit and drop lower before initiating it, you can get the
max of 5 hits from it, bringing your combo total to 7. This is an
excellent use of Chakra and a very efficient combo. Another very
potent Fire Jutsu is the Fireball Jutsu, but this is easy to see coming
if simply used by itself. The best use of this Jutsu comes in what I
like to call Sasuke's "AfterBurn" combo. This is simple to do, use
Forward + B -> A -> B -> B -> A combo, which concludes with a Fireball.
However, the foe should have ended up on the ground and be underneath
the fire, so at this point you hold the last A Button and keep the
fire stream going. Use this with full Chakra for best results, it
does massive damage and keeps the foe in a Fireball Jutsu hitlock
which maximizes its damage. Since the entire combo must hit, foes who
see this coming will Substitute out of the combo earlier, so beware of
that.

Sasuke is a very complex character and takes more time to completely
learn than most of the other characters. His Up + B is a very painful
Attack Throw reminiscent of a Piledriver. This attack slams the foe's
head into the ground with a satisfying crunch. Sasuke's Shadow Strike
is an extremely easy way to hit a foe without them expecting it. Use
his Counter Stance to escape a combo and instantly be able to set up
your own. The ability to revert back to normal and change your moves
and main attack Jutsu (back to Lion's Barrage) any time you want, is
another nice quality about Sasuke. Naruto would never choose to
revert back from Nine Tailed Fox form because he would lose his
amazing Chakra regeneration and claw attacks. On the other hand,
Sasuke could revert just to use an attack combo with Lion's Barrage
because it's way easier to chain in than Chidori is.


==============
= Conclusion =
==============

Sasuke is a powerhouse with a lot of variety, but this variety means
that he has plenty of good moves, and a few bad ones too *cough
Chidori cough* which keep him from being uber 1337. His basic attacks
all look pretty friggin cool as well. Sasuke is good, but not so good
that he out-classes the Sanin or Itachi.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[07] Sakura Haruno
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

===========
= Summary =
===========

Sakura is the shuriken fighter in this game. Noone else comes close
to her skill with shurikens. She can chain throw 3 times both on the
ground and in the air. Also, when charged to the max, her shurikens
scatter shot and home in on their target. Sakura actually doesn't
have that many different combos, but she doesn't really need much
more variety, since shurikens work just fine for ranged fighting.
Sakura also has some of the sweeter looking Jutsu in the game, and
can freely Substitute and Teleport, which helps to supliment her
lack of diverse moves. Sakura is an average fighter, because even
though she exhibits great skill with shurikens, Temari and Tenten are
both better at playing the range game and have more damaging combos.
Sakura's best qualities are her rapid projectile spams, efficient for
both damage and for draining your foe's guard from a safe distance,
and her very damaging Jutsu, Super Inner Sakura.


==================
= Special Jutsu: =
==================

Inner Sakura: X

This is one of my favorite Jutsu, because it's just really sweet
looking. The initial strike is an overhead punch, if it hits, then
the foe bounces up, where Sakura catches them with a few punches, then
lays into their gut hard. During this time, Inner Sakura appears off
to the left side and deals a bunch of hits as well. Then, to finish
them off, she jumps up with a knee and yells "Keep it going... Get
Outta Here!" as she ends it with a spin kick that sends the foe flying.
It's a typical beat em up Jutsu, and like most of the standard Jutsu,
it isn't necessarily better than anyone elses. I just happen to like
the way it looks. Requires an initial strike to hit.


Super Inner Sakura: Crisis X

Ow... Seemingly the same at first, except Sakura's hands are glowing
red, that can't be good. After the first few hits, the foe flies up
farther than normal, and Sakura focuses her rage as they're coming
back down. Then a very intense series of blows from Sakura and Inner
Sakura ensues, finishing off with a knee and kick again. Sakura yells
quite a few nice things during this Jutsu, sometimes ending it saying
"The end of the world, BLAST AWAY! That feels about right." Like
most Crisis Jutsu, you can expect this to be significantly stronger,
this Jutsu does roughly 60% more damage than her standard Jutsu does.
Requires an initial strike to hit.


=============
= Abilities =
=============

Perfect Substitution: Away + A

Sakura puts her smarts to work in her Counter Stance, using the tried
and true Substitution Jutsu. If attacked, she instantly Substitutes
and counter attacks from above. Because Sakura has such superb Chakra
control, this ability doesn't drain your Chakra.


Ninja Teleport: Forward + A

Sakura moves forward a set distance and turns around to attack the
foe from behind. The distance you teleport is always the same, and
thus if you use this from very far away, you won't make it behind the
foe and will just be turning around for no reason. This is a drawback,
and it might seem problematic, but think about it for a sec. If you
are so far away that teleport won't work, you shouldn't be wasting
your time teleporting, and should be shuriken spamming. This skill is
good in medium or close range, and should be avoided at long range,
especially because shurikens make much more sense for distance damage.


==============
= Strategies =
==============

As Sakura, distance is your friend. The most reliable projectile
attack is the homing shurikens, but the A -> A -> A combo throws more
shurikens and does more damage. The airborne shuriken spam can lead
into the ground shuriken spam, for a nice combo of about 12 hits. So
Jump -> A -> A-> A -> Land -> A -> A -> A. She also has some decent
melee combos, but usually I stick to range and close to melee once my
Chakra is built enough to use Inner Sakura. Her best melee combo is
B -> B -> B -> B -> A -> A -> A, the last 3 hits are from the air
and this combo requires some knockback distance to hit properly, so
it's not as good right next to a wall.

Sakura is a technical character and takes a lot of technical skill
to be decent and is much better if you have good timing to roll away
when you land, block with Perfect Substition, and get behind your
opponent frequently with Ninja Teleport. Lots of characters can sneak
behind the enemy with teleporting skills, and so the fact that Sakura
has a shitty teleport skill, is just one more way she's inferior to...
Sasuke or Itachi or Shikamaru, so don't think of that as a saving
grace. Remember though, blocking attacks too much will cause your
opponents guard to break and leave them relatively helpless; if you're
shuriken spamming and he's sitting and blocking, YOU have the advantage.
Be wary of foes who can sneak behind you, as they'll usually wait till
you start a shuriken combo and get behind you while you're vulnerable.
Also remember that fully charged shurikens are less damaging than a
3-chain shuriken combo, and the wide scatter of the charge shurikens
can occaisonally cause some to strike objects and dissapear before
hitting your target.


==============
= Conclusion =
==============

Sakura is not the best character in the game. Where she excels, others
excel more. However, Sakura has a distinct charm and some really cool
Jutsu, and is the best in the game with shurikens. Sadly, the attacks
from Tenten's weapon barrages and Temari's fan (which trumps every
other projectile weapon) are better for distance warfare. Sakura
just doesn't possess the speed of Tenten or the power of Temari, which
doesn't make her a bad character, but makes her noticeably inferior
to them. But Sakura is still cuter than them, so she wins XD.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[08] Kakashi Hatake
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

===========
= Summary =
===========

As we come to the end of Naruto's squad, it's time for their squad
leader, Kakashi Hatake, the Copy Ninja. Kakashi has a Sharingan
in one of his eyes, this is because he was not born with it and is
not an Uchiha. As such his prowess with the Sharingan is less than
that of a full blood Uchiha. Being the Copy Ninja, Kakashi is famous
for his ability to use his Sharingan to master the Jutsu of his foes.
He can use this ability to reflect some Jutsu back at their users.
Kakashi also posseses a hilarious Counter Stance while in his normal
state, and a sweet attack throw where he pulls you underground. He
is a good brawler with a few nice tricks to keep things mixed up, and
an above average Jutsu while in Sharingan form.


==================
= Special Jutsu: =
==================

Lightning Blade: X

Essentially the same as Sasuke's Chidori. By that I mean that this
skill doesn't do nearly enough damage to be useful. Kakashi pushes
the foe a small distance away with his Lightning Blade, which is the
only real difference from Sasuke's Chidori. Remember, both this and
the charged version will take ALL your Chakra, so try for the
charged version. Requires the dash strike to hit.


Max Lightning Blade: Hold X

Substantially more powerful than an uncharged Lightning Blade... but
also takes much longer to use. Most foes are never going to let you
use this, but if they do let you hit them, you may be shocked to find
that it still does less damage than Lightning Blade Strike, even though
it has to be charged and is much harder to land. So, there's not
much reason to ever use Lightning Blade by itself, and little reason
to ever fight without the Sharingan activated. Requires the dash
strike to hit.


Sharingan: Down + X (Transformation)

Like Sasuke, Kakashi can activate the Sharingan, but because he is not
as proficient with it, it slowly drains his Health while active. It's
the only real drawback to his Sharigan, as it strengthens his combos
and enables the use of Lightning Blade Strike, which is one of the
most powerful Jutsu in the entire game! I would suggest leaving this
on for the duration of the fight. Takes about 25% Chakra to activate
it, reverting takes none.


Lightning Blade Strike: X (In Sharingan)

After an initial hit, Kakashi does a 4 hit combo that ends with a
kick into the air. He then starts charging a Lightning Blade and
catches the foe as they come down, by piercing them through the chest
with his Lightning Blade. This is one of the more damaging Jutsu,
above standard damage Jutsu like those of Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura,
this is more like the damage inflicted by Itachi with Tsukuyomi.
Also, it has the distinct advantage over his other Lightning Blade
Jutsu, of being a normal Strike based Jutsu and therefore can easily
be chained in during a combo, such as B -> B -> X. This skill seems
like it literally does as much damage as all the initial hits plus
the damage a fully charged Lightning Blade would do... and thats a
lot. Requires an initial strike to hit.


=============
= Abilities =
=============

Secret Jutsu, 1000 Years of Death: Away + A

Kakashi's Counter Stance, he starts to read his favorite book (I'm
pretty sure it's Make Out Violence, I'm not sure which one it is this
time) and thats when you ATTACK him. Wait... bad move, cus that's
just what he wants you to do. He dodges and appears behind the
attacker, and does his most secret of all his techniques "1000 Years
of Death!". It's just a glorified poke to their butt, they go flying
in the opposite direction and take pretty good damage. This is one
of the more entertaining Counter Stances. Do note that this cannot
be used in Sharingan status.


Earth Style, Head Hunter: Down + A

Kakashi's very cool and unique Attack Throw, also doubles as a teleport
attack. It takes no Chakra, unless you hold the A Button, which lets
you stay hidden longer but also rapidly drains Chakra. A personal
favorite of mine and hilarious whenever you do it. As is standard
with Attack Throws, this move doesn't work when blocked, your hand
will pop out of the ground but you won't drag the opponent under and
will just jump out pointlessly. Kakashi does an 8 hit combo when
he drags them under, and it does a good amount of damage, enough to
make this a staple in your arsenal when playing Kakashi.


Copy Jutsu: Away + A (In Sharingan)

This is an interesting Counter Stance, in that it only works on
enemy Jutsu, and even then only on Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Shikamaru,
and Lee. It will counter their standard Jutsu with the exact same
Jutsu, only redone in Kakashi Style. Inner Kakashi is really funny
looking. Entering the stance has no Chakra cost, but if you pull off
a Copy Jutsu, then you use all your Chakra and the oponent wastes all
their Chakra. It's good in those rare instances where it's possible.


==============
= Strategies =
==============

Hit hard and fast, there isn't really a reason to wait around as
Kakashi, especially since the Sharingan will be draining your Health
throughout the fight. If you need to close the gap on a ranged foe,
use Head Hunter. If you can see it coming and are against an
appropriate foe, use Copy Jutsu. Aside from that, I'd say just be
aggressive, which you should do with every character in any fighting
game. Kakashi has a lot of variety in his combos, and many good ones,
but I personally like the combos that begin with Forward + A. I like
Foward + A -> B -> B -> B -> A -> B or any of the slight variations
on that combo. I also like his down B Spam combo, it's a series of
kicks that keep the foe in the air. Kakashi's abilities are very
straightforward, just press the offensive and sneak in Lightning Blade
Strike as often as possible. I play with the attack value set to 3,
and that Jutsu does over half a foe's Health, and thusly will probably
only get to be used once per fight. Occaisonally reverting just to
be able to use 1000 Years of Death is fine, we both know you want to.


==============
= Conclusion =
==============

Kakashi lives up to his name as the Copy Ninja with his ability to
fully counter some enemy Jutsu. I only wish it worked against more
people. He has a good variety of combos and one of the most powerful
Jutsu in the entire game, as well as a very cool and damaging Attack
Throw. He's one of the better characters, as he should be, being one
of the most 1337 of the high ranking Leaf Ninja. Fear the eye...


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[09] Neji Hyuga
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

===========
= Summary =
===========

Neji is a member of the branch family of the Hyuga Clan, their
purpose is to protect the main family. While they aren't actually
slaves, they have markings on their heads that allow them to be
forcefully controlled by the main family. Neji is a prodigy and is
able to use the most advanced abilities known by the Hyuga Clan. In
the game (as well as the anime) Neji's skills lie in his Chakra
infused blows, both increasing his damage and letting him inflict
internal damage to vital organs or to a foe's Chakra points, thus
sealing their Chakra. His 64 Palms Jutsu drains about half a foe's
Chakra, and his Triple Palm drains a decent chunk as well. If you
just want a Chakra fight, then Shino is your main man, but Neji's
added Chakra drain is nice too. Neji's real power lies in his
Rotation abilities, which suppliment his normal attacks quite nicely.
Neji always has his Byakugan activated in battle.


Neji's Byakugan eyes let him see attacks from all directions, he has
NO blind spots... but can he see why kids love Cinnamon Toast Crunch?

Neji: "Because they are DESTINED to love it!"

Kids: "NO Silly! Because it has Cinnamon Sugar Swirls in every bite!"


==================
= Special Jutsu: =
==================

8 Trigrams 64 Palms: X

Neji's classic move. He repeatedly strikes the foe's Chakra points,
sealing their Chakra, which translates to draining about 65% of their
Chakra in this game. But even with an extreme advantage like that,
this STILL does a heap ton of damage, better than normal Jutsu like
Uzumaki Barrage and Lion's Barrage, and way better than Hinata's
Jutsu. There really is nothing bad about this Jutsu. The animation
is pretty nice, Neji starts with two simultaneous strikes and doubles
the number every time untill he gets to 64, finishing it with a final
Chakra burst for added damage and style. Requires an initial strike
to hit.


8 Trigrams Exploding Palm Rotation: Down + X

This is not like normal Palm Rotation. This move will activate very
shortly after being initiated, whether anyone hits you or not. The
Chakra is so intense that it combusts in the air, exploding and
intensifying the Rotation. It isn't a counter attack, it's an
offensive Rotation that has a huge radius and is red in color, not the
usual blue. This comes out really fast, it can often be used after a
foe activates their Jutsu but still come out before theirs, thus
interupting them. Remember that since this is an offensive Rotation
and not a counter attack, you can be interupted during it (though that
is EXTREMELY unlikely). The radius is much larger than a normal
Rotation, and can easily hit everyone around you in a 4 player fight.
Doesn't require all your Chakra, only about 75% of it. Because this
doesn't drain Chakra, and does less damage than 64 Palms, you should
stick with that in 1v1s, and use this more in larger fights with
more people nearby to hit.


=============
= Abilities =
=============

8 Trigrams Palm Rotation: Away + A

Neji's Counter Stance might be the best one in the game. Before I go
in depth on it, you need to know that it can be extended to last for
a longer time if you hold A, but it will drain Chakra untill you let
go or successfully counter an enemy attack. There is no need to do
this if you have good timing, but I thought it was worth mentioning.
If Neji is attacked by anything during this stance, even projectiles,
he will spin around while releasing Chakra all over his body, creating
a blue Chakra whirlwind that deflects any attack and counters with
equal force. Its radius is big, its damage is nice, and it looks
puurty as well. It is quite possible that in a 4 player fights you
can strike everyone in the fight with Rotation even though you only
countered an attack from one foe. The damage from Rotation is
nothing compared to the extreme damage from the Down + X version, but
that takes a lot of Chakra and this usually takes none. A good move
any time you know your opponent is about to attack.




Triple Palm Strike: Special Forward + A

This is Neji's basic Chakra draining attack. It's a 3 hit attack that
does decent damage, and is also his A attack when used from hiding.
It also occurs at the end of 3 of his combos. This attack is good at
what it does, it's always nice to deal damage while draining Chakra,
instead of filling up their Chakra like usual. Here's the list of
combos that end with a Triple Palm Strike.
B -> B -> A
Forward + B -> B -> A -> B -> B -> A
Down + B -> A -> B -> B -> A
Down + A -> B -> B -> A


Chakra Strike: Special

Neji attacks a single Chakra point with a strike. This drains some
Chakra, though not as much as a Triple Palm Strike, and also occurs
at the end of some of Neji's combos. These are typically the longer
combos, thus you will do more total damage but drain less Chakra.
This attack sends the foe flying a decent distance. Here's another
list of combos, the ones that end with a Chakra Strike.
B -> B -> B -> B -> A
Forward + B -> B -> A -> B -> B -> B -> B -> A
Down + B -> A -> B -> B -> B -> B -> A
Down + A -> B -> B -> B -> B -> A


==============
= Strategies =
==============

It's gonna be fun on the bun, Neji is a very good character with a lot
of advantages and good combos. Down + B -> A -> B -> B -> X, when
properly executed, Neji's 64 Palms will come out too quickly after
the 4th hit of that combo to be avoided (unless of course they'd been
blocking those hits). This is harder than sneaking it in after B -> B
but does more total damage, you can sneak it in any time you think you
can get away with it. Neji's best combos are the ones that will
incorperate some Chakra drain, and I have already listed those under
Abilites. Pressing your offense is a fine strategy, but it's always
fun to use Rotation a few times too, if only because it looks sweet
and pisses people off when they attack you and FAIL because of
Rotation. The Exploding Rotation is typically best left to bigger
fights because of it's large radius, or when you need some extra range
to hit someone in a 1v1. Neji is a character where, although he's
fairly good with projectiles, you should never use distance and always
close to melee, just because of the Chakra drain. Also, he lacks a
rapid approach technique, and so if you do get very far away from a
long range fighter, you have no choice but to try and run/jump your
way over or take a hit and use a Substitution. It's best not to
get into that situation by simply staying in their face and never
letting up. Neji is pretty good no matter how you play him, he's a
genius.


==============
= Conclusion =
==============

Neji is one of the better characters in the game, he brings a lot to
the table and his ability to drain Chakra is a rare and powerful
asset. Shino is the only other character with any good Chakra drain.
Neji always has Rotation to fall back on, and a great wide area attack
for 4 player brawls. His only flaw is the lack of any teleport or
other rapid approach technique. Neji knows that he will win, because
he is destined to.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[10] Hinata Hyuga
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

===========
= Summary =
===========

Hinata and Neji are NOT siblings. They just happen to both belong
to the same main family, but occupy different branches. Hinata is
more like the nobility and Neji is like the slave, though thats not
exactly how it works, it's a close enough comparsion. This would
explain Neji's hatred of Hinata. In the game, Hinata specializes
in channeling and blasting Chakra through her palms, which logically
would make her attacks stronger than most characters. Sadly, the
game developers saw fit to make her pitifully weak, which makes me a
sad Panda. Hinata is decent, her projectiles are fair, her combos,
though they often look impressive and may require 7 or 8 buttons to
successfully execute, often only do as much as 4 or 5 button combos
from other characters. This means that not only is she not as good
as those other characters, but potentially more difficult to learn
to use. If I haven't put you off from playing her yet, then read on
to find out specifically why I feel this way and said all those mean
things. Hinata always has her Byakugan activated in battle.


==================
= Special Jutsu: =
==================

8 Trigrams Palm Combo: X

These are single or double Palm Strikes, and as such they barely do
any damage on their own. Hinata moves around the foe, striking them
6 times to stun them, then charges her Chakra and unloads a few blasts
reminiscent of a Haduken into the chest of her foe. It doesn't look
all that strong, because it isn't. Sadly Hinata doesn't have any
other real use for her Chakra, she can't use rotation and doesn't
possess any Chakra intensive abilities. This is one of the weaker
Jutsu in the game, and it makes me sad to see them stick this crap on
Hinata, I mean why not Ino? Nobody likes her... I think it would be
cool if they added an internal bleeding status effect to some of
Hinata's moves, including this one, so that after the initial damage
the foe would be subject to added damage over time from the internal
injuries. Of course, that's just my ramblings, no such luck, this is
one of the weakest Jutsu in the entire game. Requires an initial
strike to hit.


8 Trigrams Spirit Palm Counter: Crisis Down + X

Thankfully, once Hinata enters Crisis, she has a much less sucky Jutsu.
This does a crap top of damage, like most Crisis Jutsu, but is still
not as good as Super Inner Sakura or Rasengan because those are attack
Jutsu and this is a counter Jutsu. It takes no Chakra to enter the
counter stance, only using Chakra if it successfully activates.
Hinata grabs the foe's hand and flips them over her back and into the
air (how is she THAT strong?). As they are coming down she blasts
them with a massive Spirit Palm that makes me want to yell "Haduken"
every time I see it. This does a good amount of damage, less than the
other powerhouse Crisis Jutsu like Rasengan and Super Inner Sakura,
in fact even less than some of the most powerful normal Jutsu like
Lightning Blade Strike. Curses! I started saying bad things again,
ok this is good, in that it's better than her normal Jutsu, about 80%
more damage, and it also looks pretty cool. I just think, that as a
balancing factor, this should be doing much more damage than it does
now. I mean, for god's sake, Hinata needs some kind of uber Jutsu to
bring her back from the brink of intense suckitude.


=============
= Abilities =
=============

Spin Counter: Away + A

When Neji counters he spins himself. When Hinata counters she spins
her foe. If attacked, you counter with this move which doesn't do any
damage, but leaves the foe totally open to any kind of attack, and it
leaves enough of an opening to use her Palm Combo, or anything you
feel like using. It's functional and doesn't have any real problems,
YAY.


Flying Palm: Jump -> B

When you use this, you jump forward a set distance and it doubles as
an attack. It's like a midair dash, pretty cool actually, though it
doesn't do much damage. I have yet to figure out why Hinata is able
to do this yet noone else is, maybe cus shes liek sum kind of liek
angel or sumthin, and dat means she can fly. I honestly don't know,
but I thought it was worth noting.


==============
= Strategies =
==============

Hinata only has 11 attack combos and no real special abilities... OK
Pyzik, cmon you can do this, think of strategies for a simple character
like this. Ok, first and foremost, her two best combos start the same
way but end differently, they do about the same damage:
B -> B -> B -> A -> B -> B -> B
B -> B -> B -> A -> B -> B -> A -> A
Her Up + B move will launch the foe into the air and leaves enough of
a gap to be used again instantly to juggle the foe. Forward + A -> A
is a two hit combo where Hinata often moves so far that she sneaks
around an opponents guard and hits them in the side. I know this from
experience fighting my lil sis who loves Hinata, and plays her against
all odds. If I keep blocking she'll always use that to hit me anyways.
The Flying Palm can be used to smack a foe who likes to jump before he
attacks, or right after a throw to sneak a hit in as they're coming
down. Whenever you get weakened into Crisis, NEVER use her normal
Jutsu anymore, and only use Spirit Palm Counter, since it does almost
twice as much damage. Spirit Palm Counter is capable of countering
most strike based Jutsu, so it can be used on a foe starting their
Jutsu to screw them out of it. If you're bad at timing counter
attacks, I would say you shouldn't play Hinata untill you're really
good at timing them.


==============
= Conclusion =
==============

I conclude that Hinata ranks among the worst characters in this game,
but... just like Super Smash Bros Melee, me saying this doesn't mean
that it's impossible for you to get your ass handed to you by a pro
Hinata. She is not as good as the other characters, but if the
person playing her is good enough, she is still a force to be reckoned
with. Thats pretty true in fighting games across the board, don't let
a character's limitations prevent you from playing them. You need to
be patient and know when to attack and when to counter to be good with
Hinata.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[11] Rock Lee
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

===========
= Summary =
===========

The Lotus of the Leaf Villages blooms twice! Poor Bushy Brow just
doesn't understand what a huge goof he is, but we love him anyways.
Rock Lee is a Taijutsu expert, and that means two things. 1: He never
uses projectiles, or any long ranged Ninjutsu, all of his attacks are
melee (and the majority of them are kicks). 2: He has a huge variety
of physical attacks and combos, and can use his Chakra to open the
hidden gates, strengthening his Taijutsu noticeably, and giving him
the most powerful Jutsu in the game... so powerful in fact that it's
TOO powerful with the attack value set to 3. It deals 90% of a foe's
Health like that, making that technique better suited to lower attack
matches; seriously, who needs that much overkill? Rock Lee is a very
fun, very strong, very unique character. The only other character
close to Rock Lee is, of course, his Sensei: Might Guy.


==================
= Special Jutsu: =
==================

Primary Lotus: X

Rock Lee's signature move, the Primary Lotus is a spinning piledriver
type move that involves using Lee's wrist bands to tie up the foe
first, thus preventing their escape during the Jutsu. If you use this
by itself you may be shocked by how little damage it does, but after
opening the Gate of Rest you'll quickly find that it's on par with
many of the better Jutsu in the game. The Lotus is easily used on
foes falling down from being launched into the air by Lee's combos,
indeed there are many times to easily chain this move in. Aside from
opening the Gates, this is normal Lee's only Chakra using move, and so
if you tend not to use this much, then you have plenty of Chakra for
frequent Substitutions instead. If this move is used on Gaara, the
animation changes and incorperates a series of kicks just like what
happened in the Chunin Exams when Lee fought Gaara.


Gate of Rest, Open! Down + X (Transformation)

Opening this gate takes exactly 50% of your Chakra, and causes an
increase to damage for all of your attacks, as well as an increase in
the damage of the Primary Lotus. This should be done ASAP in every
round of every fight. Like Naruto's Nine Tailed Fox Transformation,
this acts as a close range melee attack and will damage anyone near
you when activated. This is a one way transformation.


Gate of Life, Open! Down + X (Transformation)

After opening this gate, you enter the Hidden Lotus. This also takes
exactly 50% of your Chakra, therefore if you started with full Chakra,
you could open both gates consecutively right at the begining of a
fight, which is a good way to gain the advantage instantly. In this
state, your attack damage is insane, and you have extremely fast
Chakra regeneration, but your Health goes down rapidly. The main
purpose of putting yourself in this predicament, is to enable the use
of the Hidden Lotus and end the fight with it. Like the Gate of
Rest before it, this doubles as a close range attack. This is a one
way transformation.


Hidden Lotus: X (In Hidden Lotus state)

This is a teleport strike Jutsu, you will ninja teleport next to
the foe before you strike, no matter where you are. If the strike
connects and this Jutsu activates... the foe is almost surely dead.
See, it'd be funny if I was exaggerating, but I'm not. With the
attack set to 3 like how I usually play, this Jutsu is almost always
an instant kill. On some characters you will one-shot even if the foe
started with full Health, others will take more like 90% Health, but
if you already attacked a bit then it will still end the match.
This is Rock Lee's trump card, and should be used as such, not relied
on as his staple attack, because it is too risky for that strategy.
Requires an initial strike to hit.


=============
= Abilities =
=============

Leaf Hurricane: Forward + A

It sure is nice to yell out your moves every single time you do them.
This is Lee's advancing attack, he leaps forward a great distance
while spinning and kicking. It does pretty good damage and there are
a couple combos that send the foe flying through the air and set up
nicely to be followed up by this attack. Theres nothing really
special about this move, it looks cool though.


Leaf Whirlwind: Down + A

This is another great attack, it covers a nice wide circular area and
hits anyone on the ground as well. This move really shines when used
as part of a one-two combo that is as follows: Down + B -> A. Both
of those attacks strike the ground and will hit grounded foes, which
makes this a great follow up anytime you've just put your foe onto
the ground and want to add on some more damage. If used on standing
foes, this move trips them and essentially sets up for using itself
again. Dang, Lee's got long legs...


High Speed Taijutsu: Away + A

Lee effortlessly deflects an enemy attack and leaves them completely
open, so he can have his sick way with them... It's a Counter Stance,
it does what it does, and that's all it does. I don't use this much,
only because Lee is a bloodlust berserker by nature, and doesn't need
to sit around idly waiting to counter attack his foe.


==============
= Strategies =
==============

With Rock Lee, you have a whole lot of options for combo attacks, and
it's pretty easy to chain them all together. The main "tricks" to
Lee are as follows. If you can, start with Up + B, as this lifts the
foe into the air and gives you plenty of time to land before them and
start a combo on them before they hit the ground. Second, whenever
a foe hits the ground, try and use Down + B -> A to crush them into
the ground and add some more damage. Finally, ALWAYS be ready to use
the Lotus on foes falling down from an aerial combo. This is much
easier near the edges of the stage, where they have nowhere to be
knocked away too and will fall down right into your lap. Practice
with Lee's standard B -> B -> B -> B -> A combo and then land a Lotus
right afterwards. That combo (with the Gate of Rest already opened)
does well over half a foe's Health, and is just one of the many ways
you can inflict massive pain with Rock Lee. Using the Hidden Lotus
is fun, but also risky because of how much damage you cause yourself
doing it.


==============
= Conclusion =
==============

Rock Lee is an explosive powerhouse of a character. Easy to learn and
to do well with, but his high power comes with high risks that can
cost you the match against skilled opponents. He's a really fun
chaarcter to use and possesses the single strongest Jutsu in the
entire game. Even if you think you've won, NEVER count out Rock Lee:
"The Lotus of the Leaf Village blooms twice"


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[12] Might Guy
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

===========
= Summary =
===========

"They call me the Handsome Devil of Leaf Village!" Guh, it's easy to
tell where Lee gets it from. Guy is Lee's sensei, and that explains
why they dress exactly the same. Guy is very overconfident, and can
seem like a jerk at times, because of how much faith he puts into his
Taijutsu. As far as how he plays in the game, he's more or less a
clone of Rock Lee (or vice versa if you prefer). Some of his moves
have some different animations, but they're activated the same way.
So I'm gonna make Guy's section pretty brief, since if you read Rock
Lee's section you've basically got both characters covered.


==================
= Special Jutsu: =
==================

Youthful Embrace: X

"What an Idiot!" Guy sucker punches you and sends you flying across
the field. This strike is awesome, Guy dashes forward a nice distance
when he does it, so it's easily chained in after any combos that send
the foe flying through the air. Just always be watching and ready
to try and land this. If it hits, the foe is sent reeling and Guy
quickly rushes over and apologizes "You're such a great person" before
giving them a nice hug. The hug does most of the damage, it looks
quite painful, and this is one of the more entertaining Jutsu because
of the lovely sunset background that you get to see during it. If
this move is used on Lee, he screams "Guy Sensei..." during the hug.
Like Lee's Lotus, this does more damage if you open the Gate of Rest
first. Requires an initial strike to hit.


Gate of Rest, Open! Down + X (Transformation)

Opening this gate takes exactly 50% of your Chakra, and causes an
increase to damage for all of your attacks, as well as an increase in
the damage of the Primary Lotus. This should be done ASAP in every
round of every fight. Like Naruto's Nine Tailed Fox Transformation,
this acts as a close range melee attack and will damage anyone near
you when activated. This is a one way transformation. This enables
the use of the Leaf Youthful Lotus, and yes I copied and pasted this
description from Rock Lee's section.


Leaf Youthful Lotus: Crisis Down + X (After opening the Gate)

If you're in Crisis AND have opened the Gate of Rest, which you should
do in every fight ASAP, then you can use Guy's version of the Lotus.
He uppercuts the enemy into the sky and screams "The Power of Youth!"
before he does his Lotus. It's the same type of spinning piledriver
move as Lee's, but it has Guy's awesome sunset background during it,
and it does quite a bit more damage. Of course, this IS a Crisis only
Jutsu, so it's understandable that it should do a crap ton of damage.
And let's face it, noone can do as much damage as Lee's Hidden Lotus,
so Lee is still more powerful in the end. Requires an initial strike
to hit.


=============
= Abilities =
=============

Severe Leaf Hurricane: Forward + A

It sure is nice to yell out your moves every single time you do them.
This is Guy's advancing attack, he leaps forward a great distance
while spinning and kicking. It does pretty good damage and there are
a couple combos that send the foe flying through the air and set up
nicely to be followed up by this attack. This does slightly more raw
damage than Lee's, but the damage differences between their attacks
aren't that big of a deal.


Severe Leaf Whirlwind: Down + A

This is another great attack, it covers a nice wide circular area and
hits anyone on the ground as well. This move really shines when used
as part of a one-two combo that is as follows: Down + B -> A. Both
of those attacks strike the ground and will hit grounded foes, which
makes this a great follow up anytime you've just put your foe onto
the ground and want to add on some more damage. If used on standing
foes, this move trips them and essentially sets up for using itself
again. Guy doesn't yell the name of this move when he uses it, like
Lee does.


What an Amateur: Away + A

Guy's Counter Stance, it makes me think he's going to yell Crane Style
or something similar every time I see him stand like that. There's
noone else who looks quite as goofy in their Counter Stance, except
maaaaybe Kakashi and his book. If attacked during this, Guy teleports
behind the foe and says "What an amateur" it's pretty annoying when
you do that to someone 5 times in a row. Any back teleport move is
good because it usually results in free shots at the opponent. I
usually don't use this because with Guy's power you can end matches
before waiting and counter attacking ever becomes a necessity.


Dynamic Entry: Dashing + B

It's just his dashing kick attack, but he always yells Dynamic Entry,
unlike Lee who doesn't feel the need to say anything, he screams his
moves enough...


==============
= Strategies =
==============

The same strategies that I listed under Rock Lee's section all apply
here. If you look at Guy's Attack List, it's the same as Lee's.
However, their moves actually differ a little bit in some of the
animations, with Guy often using some slower but slightly more powerful
hits. Guy should still make good use of his Up + B to get opponents
into the air before starting a combo, and has an easier time landing
his Jutsu on falling opponents because it makes him dash forward and
Lee's Primary Lotus doesn't. Always crush them with Down + B -> A
after they land. Don't fight at a distance, keep up close where you
can do the most damage. If things turn ugly, break out your Lotus for
a nice turnaround victory.


==============
= Conclusion =
==============

Might Guy is a fun character, and I do like to use him, but I like
Rock Lee more because he has the Hidden Lotus and Guy doesn't have an
equally uber technique. Guy typically does a little more damage per
hit, but doesn't go through his moves as fast as Lee does. They're
basically the same character, both good and very powerful. Guy is
the Handsome Devil of Leaf Village, and is lethal in the hands of a
master.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[13] Tenten
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

===========
= Summary =
===========

Tenten is the weapon specialist of the series, she can use Ninjutsu to
summon throwing weapons from scrolls. Her proficiency is not only in
long ranged weapon attacks, but also high speed attacks and jumping
moves. She likes to fight from the air, most of her combos have some
type of jump involved in them. She also typically moves a fair
distance from the foe after many of her jumps, which emphasizes the
long range aspect of her game. Finally, Tenten is the only character
in the game who can lay a trap. She can lay a mine which fires Kunai
up at anyone who stepped on it. Tenten is a hybrid character with
both strong projectile attacks and quick melee moves. Splice in her
high jumps and trap laying abilities, and you've got yourself a winner.


==================
= Special Jutsu: =
==================

Rising Twin Dragons: X

Tenten loves to summon weapons from her scrolls. In this Jutsu, after
she hits the foe, Tenten unfurls both scrolls and jumps up into the
air with them twirling around her. Then she unloads a massive barrage
of weapons on the foe... it looks really funny because she misses with
over half of them. But enough hit to do nasty damage, this is a great
Jutsu, especially because Tenten has loads of opportunities to chain
this in after her attacks, I'll go into that later. The reason it's
so easy to chain is because it's range is deceptively long, she runs
forward when she uses it, making this a great move after you send the
foe flying through the air, or as they back dash. Requires an initial
strike to hit.


Rising Dragon Dance: Jump -> X

This follows the trend of most jumping Jutsu, it does a lot of damage
in a rapid fire fashion, comes down at an angle, typically works
better the closer you are to the target, and only takes about 75%
of your Chakra. I like this move, but it's SO easy to chain in her
normal Jutsu after attacks, that I rarely find it necessary to take
the risk of trying this Jutsu. If dodged or blocked, this will
accomplish nothing. I have found that if you can jump up right next
to a foe who's near the wall, and unload the barrage of weapons while
you are both in the air, you can get an obscene number of hits out of
it, around 25. This is a difficult trick to pull off, but works best
if you throw the foe towards the wall and then jump up to intercept
him before he lands. This Jutsu can strike everyone in a 4 player
fight.


=============
= Abilities =
=============

Dragon Mine: Down + A

This lays a trap on the ground for a set duration. Anyone who touches
it (besides Tenten of course) will trigger a burst of Kunai up at the
foe. If you just hit Down + A, then Tenten automatically backdashes
after laying the mine. if you hit Down + A -> A then Tenten will leap
forward after laying the mine. It is possible to have 2 active at a
time, but difficult to have 3 together, because of the limited time
that they remain in the field. This also occurs at the end of her
combo: Down + B -> A -> A (one of my favorite combos), and in her
Forward + A -> B -> A -> A combo.


Dragon Counter: Away + A

If Tenten acitvates her Counter Stance, and is attacked, she dodges
and back dashes away from the foe (gaining some nice distance). She
also unfurls a scroll and fires a blast of assorted weapons in the
process. It's a really nice move, that has a two-fold function of
being a backdash and a counter attack.


==============
= Strategies =
==============

There's a lot of things you can do when you're playing Tenten. First,
her easiest projectiles combo is Jump -> A -> A -> A -> A. Another
way to trigger that combo is to hold A untill max charge, then as
you release the attack, spam A and you initiate a combo that ends
the same way. Either of these combos has NO DELAY when you land. OK,
that means a lot of things, but the main point is that since there's
no waiting around after the combo's done, and her standard Jutsu makes
her run forward, you can easily chain in Rising Twin Dragons after
Tenten's projectile combo. If you don't have Chakra for it, that's
fine, you can chain on another combo after that combo. It's easy to
rack up crazy damage by chaining her combos together, and there are
a lot of ways to do it, especially if you're creative about hitting
people into mines. Also all of her combos that start with Forward + A
will move her forward a great distance when they start, which is a
nice way to suprise a foe who doesn't expect you to be all up in his
face all of a sudden.

Tenten is a lot of fun and has a lot of variety, but when I play her,
I usually focus on chaining in Rising Twin Dragons during my combos.
So let's talk about when to use Rising Dragon Dance instead... there
are two main times to do this. The first and more common is when a
foe is on the ground, and you can hit them before they start to get
back up. A good amount of hits to aim for is anywhere from 10 - 15.
That's how many hits you should expect from the Jutsu, not the entire
combo, and if you get less than that, then it probably wasn't worth
all that Chakra. I like to use this right after Down + B -> A -> A.
That combo concludes with a mine, which shoots them up and gives you
time to jump towards them as they land, and fire off a Rising Dragon
Dance as they're laying on the ground. It's important to jump ASAP
and to jump towards them for this to work. The rare other time that
Rising Dragon Dance is good is if both you and your foe are in the air
and near the wall of a stage. You can try to create this situation
by throwing the foe towards the wall when you're both close to it,
then jumping up and activating the Jutsu just before they come down
to your height. If done properly, you can get around 25 hits out of
this Jutsu, which does a shit ton of damage. Those situations are
rare, but very useful.


==============
= Conclusion =
==============

Tenten is one of the best characters in the game. Being so skilled
in projectiles and jumping makes her VERY vulnerable to Temari, who
excels in deflecting projectiles and aerial juggling. Tenten has the
imcredible speed and fast combos that make her a threat in melee, even
though her specialty is range. Her traps are a special advantage that
only she, in the entire game, has access to. And to top it all off,
her Rising Twin Dragons is one of the easiest Jutsu to use, because
it moves her so far and because she has plenty of combos to use it
after. Tenten is easily up there in the top for speed, and is a great
all around character.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[14] Ino Yamanaka
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

===========
= Summary =
===========

Ino fills the role of the popular preppy anorexic girl that thinks
all the guys in school want her, in the Naruto universe. She's a
blond, and a mean one at that, who isn't shy about putting people down.
She had a soft spot for Sakura back in the day, and they were close
friends, but became bitter rivals when they both started to lust after
Sasuke. You might think that Ino would play similarly to Sakura, but
you'd be wrong... Ino is pretty terrible, down in the same class with
Hinata but better because Ino has very powerful long range Jutsu.

Ino has barely any variety in her moves, with only 14 combos in her
Attack List. Many of her combos make her do a ninja teleport off to
the side and fly back in with a kick... this not only looks semi-
retarded (teleport AWAY from the enemy to attack, of course!) but
also doesn't always work, thus your combo won't finish properly just
because you were too close to a wall... On one hand it pains me to
see how pitiful they made Ino, but on the other hand it means that
Hinata has a sister in suckitude, so she's not lonely down there at
the bottom of the tier.


==================
= Special Jutsu: =
==================

Mind Transfer Jutsu: X

This is a unique Jutsu in that Ino shoots a very fast moving blue
projectile from her head, and the Jutsu doesn't activate unless it
hits a foe. This is both an advantage and a huge weakness, because
if by some chance you miss your foe, you are HELPLESS for a good while
and will fall down onto the ground. If it hits then Ino takes over
the foe's body, and calls for Asuma (her Sensei). Right as he get's
ready to attack, she releases the Jutsu, and Asuma gets a free shot on
the target. This is an above average Jutsu with good damage and a
huge range.


Mind Transfer Jutsu, Pummel: Crisis X

Same as the above Jutsu, same range and same drawbacks, except that
this time, Ino gets her own shot in after Asuma attacks. This does
nice damage, but aside from doing more damage than the other version,
is the exact same thing. Remember not to miss with the projectile or
you'll be stunned for a good while. This is Ino's saving grace, and
will allow you to win fights that you should have lost.


=============
= Abilities =
=============

Backstab: Away + A

In Ino's Counter Stance, she says "Get Ready" which sounds like a
blatant taunt into attacking her. If attacked she Substitutes and
then stabs the foe in the back with her Kunai. It's a functional
Counter Stance, though I prefer the ones that simply dodge/teleport
and then leave you free to use whatever attack you want. Ino would
have benifited more from such an ability since it would give her an
easy openeing to use her Jutsu.


Slide Attack: Forward + A

Ino jumps and slides forward along the ground, sliding and tripping
her foe with her Kunai. This is actually a pretty cool technique, I'm
just trying to figure out why Ino has it and noone else does. You
usually end up on the opposite side of the foe when you use this.


==============
= Strategies =
==============

Ino doesn't really have any special traits in her combos. Her best
combos are B -> B -> B -> B -> B -> B, and Away + B -> B -> B, and
Down + B -> B -> B. It's all pretty bleh, just try to keep attacking
to build up your Chakra to use Mind Transfer Jutsu frequently. Just
don't mess up and miss, because the recovery time from a failed Mind
Transfer Jutsu is BRUTAL. Her Jutsu is stronger in Crisis, just like
Naruto and Sakura, but not so much stronger that she magically becomes
a good character because of it. Use her Slide Attack to occaisonally
get a suprise hit on your foe, but aside from that she really has
nothing going for her. If you


==============
= Conclusion =
==============

Ino is down there with the worst characters in the game, and there's
very little reason to play her, unless Ino is your favorite character
or something. It's always worth playing your favorite character.
If anyone has a favorite character, don't let my opinion put you off
from playing them, but Ino is so bad that I just can't get in to
playing her, especially since there are so many much more powerful
characters in the game that I like... Gaara and Jiraiya for example.
Play Ino at your own risk.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[15] Shikamaru Nara
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

===========
= Summary =
===========

Shikamaru Nara is my favorite character from the anime. He's the most
intelligent of all the original Genin, his I.Q. is OVER 9000!!!11!!1!2
...
...
...
I apologize for the horrible DBZ reference, no Shikamaru's I.Q. is
actually only over 200, but still well above genius level. He isn't
the fastest or strongest ninja around, and doesn't have any special
bloodline trait, but he is a very dangerous opponent because of his
clever use of the Shadow Possession Jutsu. In every episode where
Shikamaru has a fight, he totally outsmarts his opponent with some
amazing crap. In this game, Shikamaru is one of the best characters,
but not because he has some extremely powerful Jutsu or because his
physical damage is very high. All his power and strategy comes from
his Shadow Stance, in which he can use two different teleport attacks,
one to the front and one to the back, which is all you'll ever need
in any fight you're in.


==================
= Special Jutsu: =
==================

Shadow Possession Jutsu: X

This is the same version of the Shadow Possession Jutsu that he used
in his first fight in the Chunin exams. He takes over his foe and
then they both share the same actions, as if Shikamaru is using his
foe as his puppet. The main drawback to this Jutsu is that the foe
EXACTLY duplicates Shikamaru's moves, and so if Shikamaru were to
directly stab the foe, then likewise he would be stabbed by the foe.
This makes the Jutsu seem useless, but it is very situationally
useful based on the surroundings. When Shikamaru uses this Jutsu, a
wall appears behind the foe. Both Shikamaru and the foe throw a
shuriken at eachother, and they both matrix dodge it, but the foe
dodges right back into the wall *OUCH* hitting it so hard that it
splits it two. One of the funnier Jutsu to watch, this one does
decent damage. Requires an initial strike to hit.


Shadow Drop Jutsu: Down + X

This is another really funny looking Jutsu. Just like something out
of a Saturday morning cartoon, Shikamaru creates a hole under the foe
with his shadow, and the foe falls in... then through a spacetime
paradox, falls from the top of the screen back onto the ground. The
shadow hole extends along the ground till it hits a foe, and in a
4 player fight he extends his shadow towards everyone on the field,
so it's 3 times as powerful in those fights. In a 1v1, it's a little
too weak for my tastes, and I prefer to use my Chakra for well timed
Substitutions to keep myself alive. Should you miss with this Jutsu,
you're left open for a very long time, so using it presents a risky
element of chance. Only takes about 75% of your Chakra, cannot be
blocked, which is very rare and makes this different from most
secondary Jutsu which are usually blockable.


=============
= Abilities =
=============

Shadow Stance: Away + A

This is not a Counter Stance, it does nothing on it's own, but allows
the use of teleport attack combos, 8 different combos to be exact.
Many of Shikamaru's basic combos cause him to end in this pose, the
final A hit doesn't actually attack, it triggers this pose. The game
calls this "Special Pose" but I figured that Shikamaru probably
already got enough trouble for hanging with Choji all the time and
didn't need a suggestively gay name for his best ability. It should
be noted that you can still use his Jutsu from Shadow Stance.

This is a very complex ability, but it can be simplified like this.
If you hit A while in Shadow Stance, you will teleport behind the
foe and attack with your Kunai. Alternatively, if you hit B while
in Shadow Stance, then you teleport right above the foe and knee them
in the face. Since you can choose which side of your foe you want to
attack, it is very difficult to dodge these attacks. Your foe has
to guess what you're going to try and move accordingly, he has a 50%
chance of guessing wrong and taking a hit that leads into whatever
combo you feel like using. This is Shikamaru's golden ability.


==============
= Strategies =
==============

Shikamaru is a fighter where you have to know his combos and plan
accordingly to achieve the maximum damage. Many of his basic combos
will put him into his Shadow Stance, but he can instantly enter that
with Away + A if necessary. He can also use Jutsu from Shadow Stance,
tricking an opponent who is readying his defenses for your attack and
not thinking in a million years that you'd be about to use Shadow
Possession Jutsu. The best combo for entering Shadow Stance is as
follows: B -> B -> B -> A This is a 3 hit combo as the A hit isn't
actually an attack, it's entering Shadow Stance. Naturally you
would continue the combo after this OR would hit X right after
entering Shadow Stance, to chain in Shadow Possession Jutsu for a
nice chunk of damage.

Shikamaru has 8 combos he can use from Shadow Stance, remember that
those starting with A will teleport behind the foe and attack with a
Kunai, and those starting with B will teleport right above the foe
and knee them in the face. Here's a list of the combos:
B -> B -> B
B -> B -> A
B -> A -> A (These two are the best for frontal attacking)
B -> A -> B (These two are the best for frontal attacking)
-----------
A -> A -> A
A -> A -> B (These two are the best for back attacking)
A -> B -> B -> B (These two are the best for back attacking)
A -> B -> A

Usually it's easy to close the gap on foes with your Shadow Stance
combos, but if you want to use a dashing combo, I reccomend using
Dashing B -> A -> A -> A -> A. This causes you to run at them with
a flipping kick followed by three Kunai slashes to the back, and is
a good change of pace from your usual combos. In a 1v1 I don't often
use Shadow Drop Jutsu, but in a 4 player fight the shadows extend to
every enemy player, so it's much more useful and a funny way to break
up everyone's fights and make them all want to target you for it.
Aside from that, Shikamaru is a brawler. Clever and strategic though
he may be, his strength is in keeping up an offensive through teleport
attacks and never giving the opponent a chance to strike back. When
I play Shikamaru, I usually save Chakra for Substitutions in the
event that my foe manages to counter attack me, that way I can keep
up the offensive. Also, when you typically don't rely on your Jutsu
for damage, it makes every time you choose to use it that much less
expected from your foes.


==============
= Conclusion =
==============

Shikamaru is easily one of the best characters in the game. Sadly
he doesn't have the explosive power of some of the characters like
Naruto, Kakashi, and Rock Lee, but he more than makes up for it with
his Shadow Stance and arsenal of teleport attacks. Because of the
way Shikamaru works, he's especially effective on foes like Sakura,
Temari, and Tenten, because they try to stay at a distance and
Shikamaru can be on them in a second. He also has one of the funniest
Jutsu in the game, just one more thing to love about the guy.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[16] Shino Aburame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

===========
= Summary =
===========

Shino Aburame is bug kid, for those of you who might not know who he
is. It's understandable, since he hardly ever does anything in the
anime. In the rare occasions where he does fight, he shows some
impressive skills and cold calculating logic reminiscent of someone
like Shikamaru. Shino's bugs come from inside his body, he has holes
all over his body that let them freely enter and exit, and they eat
his Chakra to survive. The bugs can also eat an enemy's Chakra in
battle. In the game, Shino has a lot of cool looking moves and is
a good all around character who excels in Chakra draining moves. He
takes a little time to learn however, as a lot of his combos are
broken up with teleporting and other strange bug abilities, but
give enough time and practice, Shino is a force to be reckoned with.


==================
= Special Jutsu: =
==================

Parasitic Insects Jutsu: X

This is one of the meaner looking Jutsu in the game. Shino spreads
out a cloud of bugs and dissapears... Then he asks "where're you
lookin?" from behind his foe, promptly backhanding them onto the ground.
Then the bugs swarm in, ripping at the body while it's on the ground,
doing a good amount of damage though not quite as high as moves like
Lightning Blade Strike or the Lotus, and draining about 30% Chakra.
This is a fun happy time Jutsu, but should only be used in 1v1s,
because Insect Pillar is much better in 4 player fights. Requires
an initial strike to hit.


Insect Pillar: Down + X

Shino vanishes in a cloud of bugs, then rematerializes into a spike
of bugs that shoots out of the ground below the foe. This deals good
damage, but deals more if you can get the foe on the ground before it
hits. Drains about 80% of the foe's Chakra, making this very useful
even in a 1v1, but it's godlike in a 4 player fight. You see, a
spike appears under every enemy on the field, so in a 4 player fight,
this one Jutsu will take everyone's Chakra down to almost nothing
(assuming noone dodged it) and it only takes 75% of your Chakra. This
is Shino's golden ability, use it not only for it's damage, but to
prevent your foes from using their Jutsu against you. This Jutsu is
unblockable, but can easily be dodged by foe's who see it coming,
decreasing it's usefulness in 1v1s.


=============
= Abilities =
=============

Swarm: A

Shino doesn't use Kunai or Shurikens, he uses his bugs for his
projectile weapons. They travel along the ground straight out from
him, and do a nice amount of damage as well as draining Chakra, but
they move much slower than normal projectiles. If Shino takes a hit,
then the Swarm dissapears. Cannot be deflected like normal
projectiles. Can be charged for more damage like any other projectile
attack.


Insect Counter: Away + A

Shino has a GREAT Counter Stance, easily one of the best in the game.
If attacked, he bug teleports away behind the foe but also binds them
with an Ankle Snare at the same time. This leaves them open for a
huge amount of time, letting you prepare whatever you feel like to hit
them with. Since Ankle Snare is an attack, this Counter Stance does
some damage and drains some Chakra before you even use your own
follow up attacks. Use this to set up for either of your Jutsu,
especially when fighting against a fast aggressive opponent who you
can easily tell is going to attack again. Counter attacks ftw.


Ankle Snare: Down + A

This is a positively great disable, it does some damage and drains
some Chakra, but it holds the enemy helpless for a good while and sets
them up for either of your Jutsu. Though you can use this move by
itself, it naturally occurs during some of Shino's combos. Here's
the list:
B -> B -> A -> B -> A -> A
Forward + B -> B -> A -> A
Away + B -> B -> A -> A


Insect Cannon: Forward + A

Fire's a blast of bugs from Shino's hands. This is usually a 3 hit
combo (though I've seen it do less) that does a decent chunk of
damage and drains about 24% of a foe's Chakra. Though you can use
this move on it's own, it's better to simply use the combos where, it
will occur, here's the list:
B -> B -> B -> A
B -> B -> A -> B -> B (He does a one handed version in this one)
B -> B -> A -> B -> A -> B -> A
Forward + B -> B -> A -> B -> A


Insect Rain: Up + A

This does less damage than Insect Cannon, but can hit opponents from
farther away. Shino summons a rain of bugs that target the foe, no
matter how far away he is, dealing damage and draining about 20%
Chakra. This also happens in his Down + B -> A combo.


==============
= Strategies =
==============

Shino is a complicated character who can be played a lot of ways.
He is functional at a distance with all his A Abilities, but also has
some good melee combos. The important thing to remember as Shino, is
that you should always try to use bugs whenever possible, if a combo
has the choice of either B -> B or B -> A, you should almost always
choose A for the bug attack and Chakra drain. Shino's greatest
strength is the Chakra drain, which will keep you from being countered
by frequent Substitutions and allow you to lay into your foe. Since
Shino has a lot of options in a fight, the best strategy is to keep
your foe guessing. If you get into a pattern of Ankle Snare combos,
suddenly hang back and use ranged attacks, and your confused foe may
run right at you to attack, only to get caught in your Counter Stance
and snared again anyways. And always follow the golden rule of Shino,
in a 4 player match, never use Parasitic Insects and always use Insect
Pillar, since it hit's everyone.


==============
= Conclusion =
==============

Shino is one of those hybrid characters who can do a little bit of
everything, but he also has the best Chakra drain in the entire game,
and some of the best Jutsu and Counter Stances, and the best disable
in the entire game. With all these advantages at his disposal, Shino
is a great character. His main weakness is that many of his abilities
are slow, and won't always hit faster opponents. In the end, Shino is
easily up there with the best characters in the game, if only because
of Insect Pillar.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[17] Gaara
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

===========
= Summary =
===========

Gaara of the Sand, he is one of the most powerful ninja in the Sand
Village, and eventually (in Shipuuden) so powerful that he becomes the
Kazekage. Gaara's power comes from the same source as Naruto, but
where Naruto has the Kyuubi (9 Tails), Gaara has the Ichibi (1 Tail)
sealed inside him. Gaara's demon is different, his is called Shukaku
and has the power to control sand, and this is Gaara's power as well.
Gaara defends himself with his sand, and uses it for long range
attacks as well. It's possible to play Gaara and barely move at all,
simply shooting sand and spamming sand attacks, and Substituting any
time you take damage, before continuing the offensive. However,
Gaara does very well in close combat as well, his combos chain well
and he has a LOT of knockback. Gaara is a great character and my
second favorite.


==================
= Special Jutsu: =
==================

Sand Coffin / Sand Burial: X

When activated, Gaara sends a trail of sand along the ground. It
looks adorable and me and my sister like to go "nom nom nom" while
the sand travels along, it looks just like it wants to eat you. Sadly,
thats pretty much what it does. If caught by the sand then the foe is
completely encased in sand, that Jutsu is called Sand Coffin. Gaara
is perfectly capable of suffocating people this way, by covering their
face as well, but he usually leaves that open and prefers to finish
them with Sand Burial. In that Jutsu, he rapidly compresses the Sand
and crushes the victim with much more force than necessary, dealing
an instant kill. In the game it is still powerful, but not nearly as
powerful as it should be, this should be up there with the Hidden
Lotus in my opinion. Still, this Jutsu looks sweet, and it's strong
enough that noone needs to complain. Requires the sand trail to hit,
for the Jutsu to activate.


Shukaku, The Sand Spirit: Down + X

I tend to prefer this Jutsu, because it has many advantages. First
of all, this is a secondary Jutsu and takes about 75% of your Chakra,
instead of all of it like Sand Burial. However, it still does the
same amount of damage as Sand Burial. Also, unlike a lot of Secondary
Jutsu, this is unblockable, whereas Temari's and Tenten's are indeed
blockable. Finally, this Jutsu's range is huge and it can hit more
than one foe at once, if they are lined up properly. In this Jutsu,
Gaara summons a sand cocoon and makes himself invulnerable for a few
seconds. During this time, the massive claw of Shukaku shoots out
across the screen, dealing a mean hit to anyone unlucky enough to be
hit by it. The best way to avoid this attack is to be up in the air
when the claw comes out, although it is also pretty easy to sidestep
enough to dodge it when it comes out, easier the closer you are to
Gaara. He is also vulnerable upon emerging from the cocoon. This is
one of my favorite of Gaara's attacks.


=============
= Abilities =
=============

Sand Shot: A

Gaara is another character with an unorthodox projectile attack. Like
Shino's bugs and Temari's fan blasts, Gaara's Sand Shots cannot be
C-Stick Deflected. They also do very nice damage when charged. It
is a decent way to follow up after sending an enemy flying, charging
your Sand Shot and spamming a few at your foe. Obviously this is of
much less use against foes who can teleport up to or behind you, but
we have ways of dealing with them, bwahahaha...


Sand Shield: Down + A

Gaara's magical Sand Shield causes his sand to surround him on all
sides, attacking anyone around him anywhere, even behind him. That's
right, Gaara has an easy to activate and relatively quick back attack,
so if you can predict when a foe will teleport behind you to attack,
you can totally screw them over. This attack also has insane
knockback, it sends foes flying across the entire field. Finally,
this occurs at the end of a lot of Gaara's combos, which means that
if a foe Substitutes behind you near the end of the combo, you can
often get lucky and still hit them due to it's obscene range. Here's
a list of the combos where this naturally occurs:
B -> B -> B -> B -> A -> A
B -> B -> A -> B -> A -> A
Foward + B -> B -> A -> A
Down + B -> B -> A -> A
Down + B -> A -> B -> A -> A
Up + A -> B -> A -> A


Sand Daggers: Forward + A

This is yet another long ranged sand attack, indeed it's area of
effect is much bigger than you would think. It's possible to damage
foes who are beside or even behind you, though they have to be very
close. It's also possible to hit foes almost up to two back-dashes
away from you. However, in all these long range instances, it doesn't
do as much damage as it can when they are up close, it does a 6 hit
combo when they're in close quarters. Use this to stop an advancing
foe in his tracks, or to add damage onto a foe just landing from an
attack. This is even better when used as part of a combo, here's the
list of combos where it occurs:
B -> B -> B -> A
Forward + B -> A
Away + B -> B -> A


Sand Pillar: Up + A

Gaara summons up a pillar of sand right under the foe, launching them
into the air. This is an infinite range ability, it will hit the foe
no matter where they are. On its own, it doesn't do much damage, but
it is the first hit of a very strong combo, and is an important part
of Gaara's best combo. Here's a list of the combos where it occurs:
B -> B -> A -> A
B -> B -> A -> B -> B
B -> B -> A -> B -> A -> A
Down + B -> A -> A -> A This one is THREE Sand Pillars in a row!
Down + B -> A -> B -> B
Down + B -> A -> B -> A -> A
(The below Combos start with a Sand Pillar)
Up + A -> B -> A -> A
Up + A -> B -> B


Sand Teleport: Away + A

In Gaara's Counter Stance he makes his little hand sign and waits for
an attack. If attacked he vanishes into his sand and reappears behind
the foe, ready to strike. It's no different than any counter teleport
type ability, except it has an animation tweaked to Gaara's style.
I typically "counter" by never giving my foe a chance to attack me in
the first place, and so I don't find much use for this. However, it's
good at what it does.


==============
= Strategies =
==============

With Gaara, you have two main options. There's the "play it safe and
use ranged attacks style" and the "overpower your foe with insane
combos style". As far as ranged combat goes, you can simply use any
of his Sand Abilities, explained in detail in that section. For
heavy duty melee, I'll explain the tricks here. Gaara has a super
crazy combo that has no delay after it, and leaves the foe up in the
air, which means you can follow it up with almost any other combo you
want. This uber combo is Down + B -> A -> A -> A, it juggles the foe
with THREE Sand Pillars. The easiest follow up is Forward + B -> A,
hit em with Sand Daggers when they land. However, with a little
imagination, you can do some very damaging combos. I discovered that
Up + A -> B -> A -> A works well most of the time, the only problem
is that sometimes the foe is too far away to be hit by the B backflip
kick and then the rest of the combo fails. I've saved the best for
last though, it is possible to chain this combo after itself...
2 or 3 or even 4 times... it just takes good timing and it helps if
you're near a wall so they aren't knocked as far. If you can keep
using the Down + B -> A -> A -> A combo and never let them land on
the ground, then they have no choice but to Substitute out of it.
This is horribly cheap, but it is possible so I figured I should list
it. Some other characters have seemingly infinite combos like this,
but there is no such thing as an infinite combo in this game. Even if
you think you've got one, Substitution Jutsu will always exist. Oh,
and remember to use Shukaku's claw every now and then, best used as
they land so that the claw will come out right as they stand back up.
Remember to wash off thoroughly after playing in the sand, and have a
nice day.


==============
= Conclusion =
==============

Gaara is my second favorite character in the game, mainly because of
his very powerful combos and ridiculous knockback. It feels like
you're in complete control of the fight when you play as Gaara. He
has ranged attacks as well as powerful melee combos, and some good
Jutsu (though not quite as good as some of the other characters). He
is a pretty easy character to learn, and one of the only characters
able to quickly and easily protect his backside from attacks. Gaara
sets a standard for the other Sand Ninja, they are all among the best
in the game, though not as good as the Sanin.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[18] Kankuro
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

===========
= Summary =
===========

Kankuro is a puppet master, but he's actually pretty lousy at it. In
Shipuuden you get to see some real puppet masters, including Sasori
who made the very puppets that Kankuro uses. In this game, Kankuro
only uses one puppet, his first puppet Crow (also knowns as Karasu).
Controlling Kankuro is more complicated than any other character
because you have to always be aware of both your position and Crow's.
Foes cannot choose to target Crow, but he can still be attacked. I
will refer to Crow as he, even though it's a puppet, because when I
play Kankuro, Crow is my friend and also my scapegoat for any time
I make a mistake. "Damnit Crow stop screwing around and get them!"
Generally, B controls Kankuro's attacks and A controls Crow's. In
the event that Crow takes damage, Kankuro doesn't take any, but will
lose a bit of Chakra (proportional to the damage Crow took). I kinda
like Kankuro, he's a nice change of pace from the other characters,
and can use some tricks that noone else can, simply because of his
unique two character setup. If you aren't patient with learning
advanced controls and positioning, then Kankuro isn't for you.


==================
= Special Jutsu: =
==================

Puppet Master Jutsu: X

This is the same type of attack that Kankuro used during his fight in
the Chunin Exams. He sends Crow out who wraps his arms around the
foe and then crushes the ever living crap out of them, breaking most
of their bones in the process. Kankuro concludes by saying "I'll
break everything but your neck" as the final hit is dealt. This is
a standard Jutsu in every way, there's nothing wrong with it, but I
have more fun with the other two Jutsu myself. Requires an initial
strike to hit.


Secret Jutsu, Poison Kunai Barrage: Down + X

This is an absolutely awesome Jutsu. First of all, this Jutsu comes
from Crow and not from Kankuro, which means if Crow is off in left
field and you use this, your opponent will probably be shot from an
unexpected angle. However, this attack works best in close quarters,
where all the projectiles can hit and it can do maximum damage. Crow
fires 14 poison coated Kunai, that is the maximum number you can hit
with at point blank or close range. From farther away, anywhere
around 10 is good... if you're landing less hits then you're sucking
badly. A max damage hit does about 40% of a foe's Health, for only
75% of your Chakra, a pretty good deal. This is just fun to use
because it comes from Crow, so you can do fun tricks with positioning,
such as getting a free shot at their back if Crow is behind them.
This can be blocked, like most secondary Jutsu. Though you can hit
more than one person with this Jutsu in a 4 player fight, it doesn't
actually target them all with more Kunai, so don't expect this to
hit everyone.


Secret Jutsu, Poison Bomb Shower: Jump -> X

Crow jumps up when Kankuro does, and Crow has to be in the air for
this to work. Upon activation, Crow fires off 10 of his Poison Bombs
in a wide cone shot. If you are right next to the foe then this will
do its max of 10 hits, but in most fights if you land anywhere around
8 then that's good. The full 10 hits is slightly stronger than Poison
Kunai, doing 45% of a foe's Health, and this Jutsu also only takes 75%
of your Chakra. With both Jutsu Kankuro yells "Watch out!" which is
really bizarre. Why would you warn someone when about to use a
suprise attack, doesn't that defeat the purpose?


=============
= Abilities =
=============

Poison Bomb: A

This very weak projectile attack comes from Crow and not from Kankuro,
which is a nice advantage as it lets you shoot people in the side and
back fairly easily. They cannot guard as easily from the back, and
this is a good strategy for creating an opening on a foe who's guarding
against all your attacks. The attack's low damage is offset by how
long is stuns the enemy, the poisonous gas has a heavy stun effect.


Poison Kunai: Jump -> A

This is just a jumping projectile attack, but it works with A anytime
Crow is in the air... even when he should be on the ground and you
forced him to jump. This means during a combo: B -> B -> A -> A -> A,
if you made Crow jump twice during the B hits of the combo, when you
get to the A hits Crow will just hover in the air and keep blasting
Kunai. This is a neat trick that me and my sis discovered. If Crow
is in the air and Kankuro isn't, you can use the Forward + A -> A -> A
combo to force 3 Kunai shots out in rapid succession.


Puppet Dash: Forward + A

This is your basic control which moves Crow forward, it also doubles
as an attack and is the first hit of a few combos. If you need to
move Crow, this is the way to do it. The basic combo attack with
Crow is Forward + A -> A -> A.


Puppet Call: Away + A

If Crow is too far forward and you need him to come back, use this to
call him back to you. Because that's all this control does, it
shouldn't be used very often, especially since having Crow behind the
foe isn't necessarily a bad thing. Always be aware of your situation
and know when to pull Crow back.


High Jump: Up + B

Kankuro jumps up over his opponent to attack their back side. Directly
after using this he can use any of his first 9 combos with no delay.
Some of his combos end with him performing this jump, in those combos
the last B hit isn't an attack, it is this jump. Here's the list:
B -> B -> A -> B -> A -> B
B -> A -> B -> A -> B
Forward + B -> A -> B
Forward + A -> B -> A -> B

*These are Kankuro's most important combos, because they are designed
to let you chain right into another combo. I have done 60% or more
Health with some of these extra long combos, though in all likelihood
noone will actually let you get away with them and will Substitute
out early*


==============
= Strategies =
==============

Memorize memorize memorize. Learning how Kankuro and Crow need
eachother in their combos is extremely important. I will not list
all the possible combos you can do between them, because they are
so diverse and complex, that it would take an hour to read through
em all, but here are some of the tricks I have learned...

Remember to chain your Down + X into your normal combos, and remember
that it works best in extremely close range. You can suprise a foe
like this: Forward + A -> Down + X. Crow will mad dash at them, and
if he hits them, they'll be stunned long enough to get a free shot in,
which should do all 14 hits because of how close Crow is to them. You
can also use B -> B -> Down + X, which can easily be done after one of
the high jump combos and you've already jumped behind your foe. If
you're in a 4 player fight, try to use the Jump -> X Jutsu more
because it's easier to get multiple foes in it's cone range. A good
combo with Crow by himself is Down + A Spam, Crow spirals upward in
a series of slashes and hits them back down. Kankuro does the most
damage working together with Crow, but it's ok to rely on Crow by
himself and hide on the other side of the field too... unless your
foe is smart enough to teleport over to you and punish you for that
strategy.

Here are some wierd quirks with Crow's controls. You can make Crow
jump during combos with Kankuro when Kankuro can't jump, by hitting
up during the attacks. If you hold A to keep a Poison Bomb Charged,
you can still move and attack with Kankuro and B, and the shot won't
fire untill you release A. If Crow is in the air and you are on the
ground doing a combo that involves hitting the A button, Crow will
often start shooting Kunai down at the foe instead of doing his
normal combo attacks. An exception to this is when he teleports in
to attack, he will always do that reguardless of whether he was
already in the air or not. You'll have to force Crow into the air to
make him do this, that means simply have him double jump while you're
doing the B hits of a combo, and when you get to the A hits watch the
Kunai fly. If Crow is too far from you to feel comfortable, pull
him back to you, and likewise use his dash attack to close the gap
between him and your foe.


==============
= Conclusion =
==============

Kankuro can chain a lot of combos and Jutsu together to do loads of
damage in a short period of time, but is heavily dependent on the
positions of himself and his puppet. He's the most difficult
character to master in the entire game, but that doesn't mean he's
bad, he just requires more work to be good. I acknowledge that I'm
not as good with Kankuro as I am with some other characters, but I
see his potential to be that good with enough time and effort.
Kankuro is a one of a kind character with plenty of tricks to make
him competitive in any match.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[19] Temari
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

===========
= Summary =
===========

Temari is the fan-wielding Ninja from the Sand, and the last member of
Gaara's squad. She is a long distance fighter, both her standing and
jumping Jutsu have a lot of range, and her ninja fan specializes in
cyclonic barrages from a safe distance. Unlike Sakura and Tenten who
typically do best spamming straight along the ground or from air to
ground, Temari actually does best spamming from the ground to the air,
which means throws are actually GOOD on Temari. Her fan trumps all
other projectile weapons, which is logical and how it worked in her
fight with Tenten, but is still a huge overpowering trait and a bit
of a balance issue. If you counterpick as Temari vs Sakura or Tenten,
you already won. Because of these traits, I state Temari as the best
distance fighter in the entire game. But... being someone who needs
a bit of distance is also a disadvantage, as fast close combat foes
can overwhelm you and disable your best attacks, simply by being too
close. Temari has an aggressive know-it-all kind of attitude and is
ready to settle her differences with her fan doing the talking.


==================
= Special Jutsu: =
==================

Wind Style, Wind Scythe Jutsu: X

A really nice Jutsu, for a couple reasons. As far as damage goes,
this one is pretty good, but it's nice because of its range. The
hitbox of this Jutsu continues outward over a distance, much like
Gaara's sand coffin but faster. That means that although the foe
must be inside the wind slash hitbox at least once for the Jutsu to
activate, this Jutsu DOESN'T require an initial strike to hit. Even
if you think you jumped over it you can sometimes accidentally land
into it and activate it. The Wind Scythe Jutsu is an awesome series
of wind slashes that lifts the enemy up into a vortex where they take
a lot of hits, before falling back down and landing directly on the
fan (which has to hurt like hell). This breaks their back and Temari
yells "You're still weak!" and then throws them off along the ground.
Now lets talk about the negative aspects of this Jutsu compared to
most other characters Jutsu... oh wait I'm terribly sorry, there don't
seem to be any. Wind Scythe Jutsu just kinda rocks out loud.


Ninja Art, Hurricane: Jump -> X

This is like most jumping X Jutsu, in that it comes down at an angle,
does a lot of damage, and won't take all your Chakra, only about 75%
of it. When used, Temari fans two giant wind blasts down that become
cyclones upon hitting the ground. They then travel along the ground,
striking any enemy they hit a ton of times before traveling past. If
the foe tries to block this Jutsu, he's hit sooo many times that it
depletes over half his guard meter by itself. The nice advantage to
this Jutsu, is that it has infinitely long range. The cyclones will
continue untill the edge of the field, you can never be far enough
away to avoid this, and blocking it is risky, and jumping over both
cyclones is also pretty tough to do, though the attempt usually
results in taking much less damage than hitting both cyclones. The
only way to escape this Jutsu completely unscathed, is to be so close
to Temari that the cyclones go over you and miss completely, or to be
able to rapidly move sideways or teleport up to Temari and not be near
the cyclones. I usually opt for this instead of Wind Scythe Jutsu.


=============
= Abilities =
=============

Fan Flight: Jump -> B

Temari literally rides her fan on the wind and flies a short distance
forward, attacking anything in the way. This does light damage but
covers a lot of ground quickly. If used while high in the air, this
move will often soar over the opponent, not hitting them at all but
moving you to their backside. This move isn't great, but it's good
at what it does. Here are the combos where this move occurs normally:
Down + B -> B -> B
Up + B -> B


Counter Fan Flight: Away + A

In Temari's Counter Stance, she shields herself with her fan, and will
counter with a Fan Flight if attacked during it. Theres not much to
say about this one, pretty straightforward.


Wind Scythe: Down + A

Temari swings her fan in a 360 sweep attack that knocks anyone it hits
into the air. This has a much larger range than you'd think it does,
and is a staple move for Temari, as it sets up for a combo of three
additional fan attacks. That combo is as such:
Down + A -> A -> A -> A


==============
= Strategies =
==============

The most important thing I can emphasize about Temari is range. Her
standard ground fan combo A -> A -> A will do half as many hits and
much less damage if it is used on a foe right next to you, the attack
demands distance to maximize its power. However, being too far away
will also be bad, as the fan blasts do eventually dissipate and might
not reach their target in that case. A good melee combo for Temari
is Down + B -> B -> A. Also use B -> B -> B -> A -> A -> A if a foe
is in your face and you need to do a lot of damage. Whenever you use
Wind Scythe or a throw, make sure you follow up with three more A hits
up at them since aerial juggling is one of Temari's strongsuits.

Using Temari's Wind Scythe Jutsu is actually very easy due to its
extra range. It can be chained into a normal attack combo like with
any other character, but I rather enjoy using it with a throw. Most
people will not expect this at all, and throws are unblockable. Simply
run up and grab the foe, then hit X as soon as you can. They should
fall into the attack and be sucked up into the painful vortex of Wind
Scythe Jutsu. Temari's Wind Scythe Jutsu is by no means bad, but I
just prefer to use Hurricane instead. Hurricane can only be used from
the air, and so you need to plan ahead for time to jump to use it
properly, if you don't and your foe gets up close and sneaks under it,
then you blew 75% of your Chakra for nothing. The easiest combo to
use this in is the air juggling combo from Down + A -> A -> A -> A.
The delay after the second of the three fan blasts is shorter and you
can jump up and prepare your Hurricane faster, but adding the final
fan hit gives you that much more damage and will get the foe a little
father away, which often results in more Hurricane hits. Just make
sure you're fast enough to hit them with it before they get up, or
else they'll take way less hits than if you had just hit them while
they were still laying on the ground. As Temari, fanspamming is your
best friend, but also your main flaw. If you're fighting someone who
can teleport up to or behind you, then he can sneak right up while
you're in a combo and cheapshot you. Be very careful when fighting
these foes.


==============
= Conclusion =
==============

Temari is the best distance fighter in the game. Everything about
her is designed to work just as well, if not better, from a long
distance as it does in melee range. Use kicks, sweeps, or throws to
keep your foe far away from you, and unload heavy duty fan punishment.
Temari shows no mercy, and is a good choice against other projectile
fighters like Sakura and Tenten. Temari is vulnerable to fast melee
foes, especially those who can teleport, but is still one of the best
in the game, like her Sand Ninja bretheren.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[20] Jiraiya
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

===========
= Summary =
===========

At long last, we come to my favorite character in the game. Jiraiya,
as one of the Sanin, ranks among the most powerful characters in the
game. He has an arsenal of great Jutsu, including a wonderful disable:
Dark Swamp, a great defense that doubles as a pokey pokey attack:
Needle Gizo, and a Fire Jutsu like Orochimaru and Sasuke, plus he has
two Summoning Jutsu: one that drops a frog on the foe and another that
burns them to a crisp. Jiraiya is a big guy and has very powerful
physical attacks, some of his palm thrusts send foes skidding back
even if they blocked, and his kicks crush them into the ground.
Jiraiya is a jack of all trades, he even has an Attack Throw. He is
the most well rounded of the Sanin.


==================
= Special Jutsu: =
==================

Summoning Jutsu, Toad Flame Bomb: X

Jiraiya's standard attack Jutsu. After a quick punch he slams his
hand down to summon one of his Toads, then jumps on it's back. They
both breath fire together, creating an explosive combo attack that
burns the crap out of whoever he hit with it. Deals good damage,
somewhere around 45% Health, but not so much that you should always
use your Chakra for this. Jiraiya has so many other cool things he
can do with his Chakra, that this is actually my least favorite use
of Chakra. Using an AfterBurn combo (see Fire Breath) is the best
way to use your Chakra, with Bring Down the House Jutsu and Needle
Gizo in a close second. Requires an initial strike to hit.


Bring Down the House Jutsu: Down + X

This attack is great any time, but especially in 4 player fights.
Jiraiya drops a massive Toad on his target, inflicting damage to
everyone nearby. It deals slightly less damage than Toad Flame Bomb,
but only takes 75% of your Chakra and has such a nice range, that it's
almost always better. This is one of your staple skills, any time you
see an opening, drop this one in (horrible pun intended).
"It's raining frogs!"


=============
= Abilities =
=============

Ninja Art Needle Gizo: Away + A

Jiraiya's Counter Stance is my favorite one in the game. In this
state you are invulnerable and act as if you block all attacks from
all sides. Also any enemy that touches you, even if they Substitute
attack you from behind, or are laying on the ground, will take rapid
damage over time from being in contact with the needles. Finally,
if you hold A, you can keep this stance active for a long time, while
draining your Chakra. When using this as a follow up attack, I
reccomend holding A to keep the attack going longer. This is his
golden move, I love this and use this more than I use the X Button.


Earth Style Dark Swamp: Down + A

Jiraiya hits the ground and summons a muddy pit under the foe, who
then slips into it and... somewhere... I have no idea where they go?
But shortly thereafter, the foe pops back out, totally vulnerable to
anything you would want to hit them with. This is Jiraiya's disable,
it is an infinite range skill that works like an Attack Throw. That
means if they block it, nothing happens, and the move fails. This is
a good setup for Needle Gizo, especially in a 4 player fight, since
both Dark Swamp and Needle Gizo can hit more than one foe at a time.
If they Substitute out to attack behind you, and you've already
activated Needle Gizo, then they won't hurt you and will take damage
instead. You can use combo attacks or Jutsu after a Dark Swamp as
well, I just gradually determined Needle Gizo to be the best course
of action. Use whatever you want, that's the whole point behind using
a disable in the first place.


Fire Style Fire Breath: Forward + A

Do you remember how I raved about Sasuke's Fireball Jutsu and his
"AfterBurn" combo? Well guess what? Jiraiya can do it too. This
move is functional by itself, it does decent damage untill they are
pushed out of it's range. But, if used at the end of his combo, it
pins the foe under the ground, crushing and burning them in a hitlock
untill you release the A Button, which you shouldn't do; just use all
your Chakra and roast them alive. Here is the combo:
B -> B -> A -> B -> A
This is the most Chakra efficient damage you have access to, and it
looks very painful too. I like to mix it up with Bring Down the House
Jutsu and Needle Gizo as well, but that's only for variety's sake.


==============
= Strategies =
==============

Well... with a character like this, you have so many options on how
to spend your Chakra and how to fight, that I can't really explain
them all. Jiraiya is a strong melee fighter, he doesn't hit very
fast, but hits extremely hard. One of his combo's has an Attack Throw:
B -> B -> A -> A It ends with an Attack Throw that you can't make
him use except in that combo and as his A Attack from Hiding. He
grabs the foe's head and then flexes his arm hard, sending them flying.
I like his Down + B -> B -> B combo a lot too, he repeatedly stomps
the foe into the ground. A few of his combos end with a hard palm
thrust that sends the foe flying backwards, even if they block it.

As far as Chakra usages, the AfterBurn combo works well in open areas.
Another great combo, ESPECIALLY in a 4 player fight, is Dark Swamp ->
Bring Down the House Jutsu. You'll drop the toad as they're coming
back out of the swamp, dealing a lot of damage, probably to more than
one foe at once. Another good combo is Dark Swamp -> Needle Gizo,
which is my personal favorite. Occaisonally using Fire Breath at
other times is fine too, it works well if you can pin them against a
wall with the fire. When you see a character with this much variety,
wthiout even using his standard Jutsu, and then you see characters
like Hinata and Ino, it's clear why they are so terrible. If only
everyone had as many cool moves as Jiraiya. Do beware of some of
Jirayia's longer and slower combos, as they can leave you open should
they be blocked or your foe teleport behind you.


==============
= Conclusion =
==============

All the Sanin are good characters, but Tsunade is only really good in
close combat, and Orochimaru doesn't have nearly as many special Jutsu
as Jiraiya does, making Jiraiya the most versatile. Jiraiya is also
good at attacking everyone at once, making him better than Tsunade and
Orochimaru in 4 player fights. Jiraiya is a very dangerous opponent,
especially if you know all his moves, and he is my personal favorite
character in the game.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[21] Tsunade
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

===========
= Summary =
===========

Tsunade is the next Sanin we'll be looking at, she was part of the
squad with Jiraiya and Orochimaru and is the 5th Hokage. She is
renowned for her amazing physical strength and frightening temper.
The reason behind Tsunade's strength is that she is a medical ninja
and enhances her attacks with Chakra, resulting in stronger blows.
In the game, she doesn't actually have to use Chakra to attack, but
still exhibits superhuman strength, like the ability to split the
earth with her punches and send foes flying with one finger. Sadly,
Tsunade doesn't have any special Ninjutsu, with the exception of an
amazing self healing Jutsu, and she also doesn't have any projectile
weapons. Tsunade is a straight melee fighter, with a LOT of power,
and good variety in her combos. She is the most powerful of the
Sanin, and the only one who can self heal, but also the simplest and
lacks projectiles.


==================
= Special Jutsu: =
==================

Legendary Heel Drop: X

"Now you've ticked me off!" After landing the initial hit she leaps
into the air and raises her leg... this can't be good. When this
hits, the field explodes and the earth splits, leaving a massive
crater in the field and doing the standard good damage that a heavy
hitting Jutsu should. This is a good use of Chakra, but so is
Substituting to keep up your offensive. Whether or not you choose
to use this attack a lot or not is up to you. I prefer to use this
when I know I can easily chain it in during my combo and I feel like
crushing some skulls. Requires an initial strike to hit.


Mitotic Regeneration: Crisis Down + X

After an initial hit, which HAS to hit and does some damage, Tsunade
releases Chakra from a special seal on her forehead. She uses this
Chakra to fascilitate the growth of new cells in her body, rapidly
healing her wounds. If you're fighting a Tsunade and she uses this,
quickly finish her off before the benifits heal her too much. This
is a great Jutsu, and after activating it, you should try and stall
with blocking and Attack Throws to drag out the fight and keep on
regenerating Health. Tsunade is the only character capable of healing
herself like this, which is good as this Jutsu is very powerful and
can easily turn around a fight. Requires an initial strike to hit.


=============
= Abilities =
=============

Finger Quake: Down + A

Since Tsunade doesn't have any projectile attacks, this is her closest
thing to a projectile. She pokes the ground so hard that it shoots a
small earthquake out in a line. This is not only good as a long
ranged attack, but also good for striking a foe who just landed on
the ground. Master this move and use it often, it also occurs at the
end of some of her combos, here's a list:
B -> B -> A -> A
A -> B -> B -> A -> A


Finger Flick: Forward + A

This is Tsunade's hilarious Attack Throw, though her Skull Crush is
another Attack Throw, this one is much funnier. She pokes with one
finger, and if it is blocked then nothing happens. But if it hits,
the foe is screwed: Tsunade says "One finger is all I need" then
flicks them so hard that they fly across the field and take a load
of damage. You've gotta appreciate a woman with finger strength.


Flying Kick: Up + A

Tsunade leaps across a fair distance with a kick. This is a great way
to close the gap between you and a foe, it does nice damage, and it
has good knockback. Tsunade has a ton of great moves, this is just
one of them. This doesn't cover as much ground as dashing and
attacking does, so stick to that for very long distance attacks.


I'll Crush You: Away + A

This is a fun Counter Stance, if attacked, Tsunade says "I'll Crush
You" and ninja teleports behind the foe. She doesn't even turn around
to face the foe, and simply elbows backwards, slamming them hard in
the back and sending them flying. It's a Counter Stance, they all
kinda feel the same with a few rare exceptions (Needle Gizo).


Skull Crush: Jump -> A

She comes down at an angle from the air, and if she hits her foe in
the head, she grabs their head between her legs. If blocked, nothing
happens, but if it hits then the throw triggers and she does a
backflip while still holding the foe. She lands hard on the ground
and crushes the foe's skull and breaks their neck. Noone should be
able to get back up after this attack, I only wish it did more
damage. Still it just looks so happy that I sometimes feel the need
to spam it, just to see the hatred on my foe's face.


Impact: Jump -> B

The very earth itself splits when Tsunade lands from this attack. The
impact area will damage everyone around you, but her fist does the
most damage and this is best used as a direct attack on foes right
under you. If you jump and your foe is far away, use Skull Crush for
the forward movement. If your foe is closer, use Impact for it's
downward movement. This does less damage than Skull Crush.


Dizzy Fist: Special Hold A

In most of Tsunade's combos, when you use an A Button hit it can be
charged if you hold the A button. If you land this hit (which can
be hard to do since you have to take the time to charge it) then the
foe will have a ? above their head. This puts them in the "Dizzy"
status where their movements are reversed as are the A and B Buttons.
It's infuriating to be hit by this in a fighting game, as your
counter attacks will be blatantly wrong because you'll be hitting the
wrong buttons. This is one of the most powerful things that Tsunade
can do, and it's pretty common in her combos. Here's a list of the
combos with a * next to the A Button hit you have to hold:
B -> B -> B -> A* -> B
B -> B -> A* -> B
B -> B -> A* -> A
Forward + B -> A* -> B
Down + B -> A -> A* -> B
A -> A -> A* -> B
A -> B -> B -> B -> A* -> B
A -> B -> B -> A* -> B
A -> B -> B -> A* -> A
A -> B -> A* -> B
A -> B -> A* -> A
Dashing -> B -> A* -> B
Dashing -> B -> A* -> A


==============
= Strategies =
==============

Oddly enough, I don't have to list any combos here since I already
listed her best ones up there under Dizzy Fist. Making the effort to
charge your attacks and make your foe Dizzy is definitely worth it,
as that usually completely messes up their chance of performing combos
against you. It's really hard to play with your buttons and directions
reversed, I've tried, the combos are just too engraved into my brain
for me to suddenly reverse the buttons on the fly. Tsunade's combos
do a lot of damage but also usually send the foe flying away, which
means you have to chase them (no projectiles remember). It would be
nice if she could chain her combos together more, but she would also
be overpowered then because of the crazy damage she would do. Always
try to use your Attack Throws at least a little, because they break
up the action for a sec and give everyone a chance to think, but also
because they look sweet. Whether you choose to use Chakra for Heel
Drops or for Substitutions is up to you, but if you're losing the
fight then it's no contest: Use Mitotic Regeneration! Take advantage
of the fact that you're playing the only character who can self heal
like that, it's a powerful asset. Crush your foe with no mercy!


==============
= Conclusion =
==============

Tsunade is a jerk, she hits really hard, makes you dizzy, and can heal
herself. As one of the Sanin should be, she's up there with the best
characters in the game and can be very difficult to fight against in
melee. Tsunade is more vulnerable than most characters to long range
attackers like Temari and Tenten, but her ridiculous physical strength
can carry her through even the most difficult situation. Tsunade is
probably not as good as Jiraiya and Orochimaru, if only because they
both have good ranged abilities as well and Tsunade is straight melee.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[22] Orochimaru
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

===========
= Summary =
===========

Orochimaru is the last of the Sanin, he left his squad and abandoned
Jiraiya and Tsunade just as Sasuke did with Naruto and Sakura. I
always liked Orochimaru's style, all of his Jutsu are snake-like and
he specializes in snake-themed attacks. He can also shed his skin to
heal himself, and even transfer to new bodies to remain eternally
young. He is a sick-minded and evil ninja, who knows nothing of
compassion and doesn't think twice about killing those who get in his
way. Having grown up together with Jiraiya and Tsunade, he knows
them both very well. In the game, Orochimaru is definitely one of
the best characters, because he has great skill with projectiles and
can use Striking Shadow Snakes in his combos, which does a lot of
damage and covers a huge range. He can also teleport freely to either
side of his foe and remain phased out of the game during his teleports.
Orochimaru is the combo specialist of the Sanin, very dangerous with
his high damage snake combos and teleportation ability.


==================
= Special Jutsu: =
==================

Five Pronged Seal: X

This is the best standard Jutsu in the game. Orochimaru spins and
slashes at the foe. If it hits, he then grabs them around the neck
with his snake tongue, lifts them high into the air, and slams them
down for good damage. After that, he brings them up close, cracks
his knuckles sickly, and hits the foe with his Five Pronged Seal,
which insantly blows all their Chakra and prevents them from recovering
Chakra for a very long time. You should try to save Chakra at the end
of a fight so that next round you can open with a combo and this Jutsu.
Sealing a foe's Chakra instantly almost guaruntees you the victory,
since it eliminates the chance of them Substituting out of your combos
and the chance of them turning the fight around with a Crisis Jutsu.
Requires an initial strike to hit.


Grass Longsword: Down + X

Orochimaru's prized extending sword, that he keeps concealed untill
he needs to use it. This is a Secondary Jutsu, but still only hits
one foe, still takes all of your Chakra, is unblockable, and actually
does more damage than Five Pronged Seal. So it seems just like any
standard Jutsu, except for the fact that Orochimaru flies across
half the field when he uses this, making it very easy to hit a far
away foe. As nice as this Jutsu is, Orochimaru's intense combos can
often do even more damage, so once you have your foe's Chakra sealed,
you should never use Chakra on Jutsu and save it for Substitutions.
Since this is incapable of hitting more than one foe at a time, there
isn't much use for this Jutsu... ever.


=============
= Abilities =
=============

Leaf Teleport: Special Away + A

This is a great skill of Orochimaru's. When used, you vanish in a
cloud of leaves, and then reappear behind your foe, ready to unload
a ton of snakes to the back of their head. This doesn't take any
Chakra and puts you right behind your foe, reguardless of distance.
But... that's only if you do it normally, this is more than meets the
eye. If you rapidly switch the direction you are holding, then you
teleport to the FRONT of your foe instead of their back. So if you
were holding left, after you hit A, quickly hold right, and you will
teleport right in front of your foe. This can be further modified by
holding the A Button, which leaves you phased out of the game untill
you release A. This drains Chakra quickly, but can be used to dodge
attacks or to hide and wait for a chance to strike, or just to
confuse the hell out of your foe. Since you can change what side you
teleport to, and how long you're gone, this is the best teleportation
ability in the game.


Fire Style, Fire Stream: Forward + A

Orochimaru's Fire Jutsu isn't terrible, but it doesn't shine like it
does for Sasuke and Jiraiya. Orochimaru has one combo which uses his
Fire Stream, it's Away + B -> A, and if you hold A it can do pretty
good damage, but also blow all your Chakra. Orochimaru can already
do crazy damage with normal combos that don't take Chakra, so why
would you ever choose to waste it like this. If you're a fire fanatic
and really want to use this Jutsu, then try to get a slight distance
from the wall of the stage and pin your foe against it with the fire,
that does the best damage. I advise against using this Jutsu.


Striking Shadow Snakes: Special A

Orochimaru shoots freaking snakes out of his hands, how happy is that?
The snakes can travel outward in a straight line or up at an angle to
strike airborne foes. The snakes do a LOT of damage and rack up a
crazy number of hits. In one two button combo, I got a 19 hit combo,
that's kinda ridiculous. You should only use combos with the snakes,
and avoid his other combos. For a laugh, check his Attack List, his
combo 07 is the same as combo 12. Here's a list of Snake Combos:
B -> B -> B -> B -> B -> A
B -> B -> B -> A -> A
Forward + B -> A -> A -> A
Forward + B -> A -> B -> A
Down + B -> A
Down + B -> B -> B -> B -> A
Down + B -> B -> A -> A
Dashing -> B -> A
Down + A -> A -> A
Down + A -> B -> A


==============
= Strategies =
==============

Rule of thumb with Orochimaru: always try to use combos with Striking
Shadow Snakes, and typically avoid other combos. The snakes do sooo
much damage, get a crazy number of hits, and look great too. He's not
a super complex character, attack relentlessly and try to use Five
Pronged Seal as soon as you can in every fight. Try to end the fight
with full Chakra so you can start the next fight with Chakra ready
and waiting for a Five Pronged Seal. The ability to completely seal
a foe's Chakra is Orochimaru's greatest asset. The only two things
you should ever use Chakra on as Orochimaru, are Five Pronged Seal,
and Substitutions, and occaisonally for the trick with Leaf Teleport,
but that's only in rare occaisons. Normally teleporting doesn't
require any Chakra, so you can do it all day, and why not? It's fun
to be Orochimaru, you have access to many of the best abilities in
the game... and I hear he was actually MORE powerful in the last
Clash of Ninja game O.o?


==============
= Conclusion =
==============

Orochimaru, the last of the Sanin, is the best of the three. Since
they are all among the best in the game, some people might argue that
Orochimaru is the best character in the game. I personally think that
Itachi is better, but Orochimaru is a close second to Itachi and very
fun to play as well. He's a teleporting madman who has insane combos
and the ability to completely seal your Jutsu. He isn't slow like
Jiraiya, and has good projectiles unlike Tsunade, and can teleport
which neither of them can do, which is why I say he's the best of the
three. Orochimaru is a great pick for 1v1s, but not as great in 4
player matches.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[23] Kisame Hoshigaki
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

===========
= Summary =
===========

Kisame Hoshigaki is a mysterious member of Akatsuki who is almost
always seen working with Itachi. His appearance is reminiscent of
that of a shark, he has a blueish skin color and visible scales, as
well as many jagged triangular teeth. Kisame and Itachi are the only
playable members of Akatsuki in this game, though if you count that
Orochimaru used to be a member that makes three. Kisame is a very
accomplished swordsman and is skilled in Water Element Jutsu. He is
also known to have insanely high Chakra reserves, comparable to
that of Nine Tailed Fox Naruto. Furthermore, his mysterious sword,
"Samehada" is covered in scales and tears at flesh instead of cleanly
cutting like a normal sword. His sword is also capable of eating
Chakra, every time you are attacked by Kisame's sword you will lose
some of your Chakra. Kisame can use his enormous Chakra for the
biggest Jutsu in the entire game: the Water Style Shark Bomb Jutsu.
Even when blocked, this attack sends foes across the entire length of
the field and explodes in a watery cascade upon ending. Kisame is a
high power, low speed, sword wielder.


==================
= Special Jutsu: =
==================

Samehada, Rip!: X

I love Kisame's sword, and it loves to rip and tear into people. This
Jutsu is a slow and nasty sword combo. After the first hit, Kisame
stabs them and then slowly pulls the sword back, tearing into them and
draining Chakra in the process. After that he swings for another
attack, pierces the enemy to get some leverage, and then lifts them
up and over, slamming them into the ground on his other side. Deals
moderate damage for a Jutsu but also drains about 40% of the foe's
Chakra. This is a pretty average Jutsu, requires an initial strike
to hit.


Water Style, Shark Bomb Jutsu: Down + X

Using his insane amount of Chakra, Kisame fires a massive water shark
across the field, dealing decent damage to whoever it hits, and pushing
them across the field, even if they block it they will still be pushed
to the other side. At the end the shark explodes in a watery cascade,
it's all very prettyful, but its damage varies a lot depending on
positioning. Here's a general summary: the foe takes more damage
the farther the distance he is moved by the Jutsu, so use it when they
AREN'T pinned against a wall. Also, they take more damage based on
the distance the Shark travelled before hitting them. The ideal
situation is you on one side of the field, your foe about halfway
across, and the wall nice and far on the opposite side. This Jutsu
can do impressive damage, upwards of 40%, but only when you carefully
use it where it can do the most damage. You would think that they
would give Kisame some more powerful Jutsu, what a shame. Only takes
about 75% of your Chakra. I do like this move, I just think it should
be doing more damage than it does now.


=============
= Abilities =
=============

Counter Slash: Away + A

Kisame protects himself with his sword in this Counter Stance. If
attacked, he repels the attack with an upward sword slash that lifts
the foe into the air with it's sheer force. It's a Counter Stance,
just a simple counter attack and nothing more, though the fact that
it lifts your foe up in the air is nice for follow up attacks.


Flying Slash: Jump -> A

This is a quick attack that has little to no lag upon landing, and is
important for Kisame as an initial hit to set up for a combo right
afterward. This both makes combos do a bit more damage, and also helps
you land them since Kisame's basic attacks are painfully slow.


Flying Shark: Jump -> B

Hehe, I thought it was kind of a funny name. This is Kisame's big
air attack, does more damage than Flying Slash and comes straight down
on foes below you. It also shocks the ground when he lands, doing
damage in a small area.


Sharkskin: Forward + A

This attack can be charged to do more damage and drain more Chakra.
Many of Kisame's sword attacks will drain Chakra, but this is the
easiest one to do on the fly. It is unlikely that you'll be able to
fully charge this attack in a normal fight, but it doubles it damage
and Chakra drain when fully charged. It also occurs naturally during
two of Kisame's combos, here they are:
B -> B -> B -> A
Forward + B -> A


Power Throw: Y

When Kisame uses a throw, he grabs the enemy and slams them on down on
the opposite side, setting up for more attacks. I usually just follow
this up by hitting A for an additional sword slash, but it's a nice
throw all the same. A rarity since I hardly ever use throws and just
happened to discover this, and it does do pretty good damage.


==============
= Strategies =
==============

Kisame is pretty slow combo-wise, but I have found a few tricks to
help him out. Especially with his Flying Slash. Use this on the way
down from a jump to hit a foe with a light slash, and then instantly
go into a combo. It's a cheap way to add one more hit on to a combo,
and Kisame needs all the help he can get. His A -> A -> A -> A combo
is one of his better ones, any that end in the upward sword slashes
are good because of the damage and also because they will drain Chakra
from the foe. A "clean" sword hit from Kisame won't drain Chakra, but
any of the hits with the scaley part of the sword that cause a ripping
animation will drain Chakra. Kisame has a big lack of variety in his
combos, which only serves to compound the problem of him being
amazingly slow. Try to use the sheer range of his sword to offset
his speed, such as in his Down + A -> B -> A combo. The sweeping
slash has a deceptively long range, letting you set up the combo with
relative ease.

Because of the possible damage it can do given the right distance,
always try for a Water Shark Bomb Jutsu whenever you see an opening,
It's especially nice in 4 player fights. If you are being hammered by
a fast foe, just wait it out and try to win through counter attacks,
that's about all you can do when everyone is faster than you. His
combos starting with B come out faster than the A combos, so against
a fast foe a good combo is B -> B -> A -> B -> A. Never stay far
from your foe for long, distance is not your friend. If you end up
facing a long ranged attack specialist... good luck :(


==============
= Conclusion =
==============

Kisame is a cool character, but is just too slow and underpowered to
be good. His Chakra drain is good, though not as good as Shino's and
Neji. Kisame feels like he plays at about 1/2 the speed of most
other characters, and he is noticeably without any projectile attacks
or teleportation abilities. Still, he is cool, and that warrants
playing him at least a little. He ranks in the middle, with the Sand
Ninja and Sanin, as well as Orochimaru and Itachi, all residing above
him. But, he's still leagues better than Hinata and Ino, and that's
something.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[24] Itachi Uchiha
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

===========
= Summary =
===========

Itachi Uchiha is Sasuke's older brother and the source of his anger
and hatred. Itachi murdered their entire clan, leaving only Sasuke
alive. Currently, Itachi works with Akatsuki, with his partner in
crime, Kisame. He is a Sharingan specialist and highly skilled in
Genjustu. Using his Tsukuyomi, he can create the illusion of hours
of torture in only a few seconds. Itachi is also lightning fast, one
of the fastest of all ninja. In the game, Itachi shows amazing skill
with Shadow Clones, using them in almost all of his attack combos. He
also has a devastating counter attack, Clone Explosion. Naturally, he
is amazingly fast and can use the same teleportation ability as
Orochimaru. In my personal opinion, Itachi is the best character in
the game. As a show of his obvious superiority, or maybe just because
he feels like it, Itachi never uses his left arm in combat.


==================
= Special Jutsu: =
==================

Tsukuyomi: X

The Ultimate Sharingan based Genjutsu. Itachi traps his foe in his
own little world, where he controls time and space and a thousand of
him surround the foe and take turns a stabbin with katanas. The pain
of this torture is so intense, that the foe feels real pain even
though it was just a Genjutsu. Itachi can create the illusion that
it took hours and hours, even though in reality it only lasted for
seconds. He says something special to Sasuke when he uses this Jutsu.
Deals plenty of damage, but also obliterates 100% of the foe's Chakra.
This is a great move at any time, but especially when your foe has
full Chakra. Requires an initial strike to hit.


Clone Explosion: Down + X

The Ultimate counter Jutsu. Itachi enters his Counter Stance, if
attacked, he appears behind the foe... revealing that what was just
attacked was actually a Shadow Clone. The Clone promptly explodes,
dealing extreme wide area damage (when me and my sister play together
we've gotten double kills with this before) and making whoever just
attacked Itachi feel very foolish. It all happens so fast too, I
just love the animation, I only wish it said "Epic Fail!" across the
screen when this Jutsu happens. This is unblockable, obviously.
Itachi blows all his Chakra when he uses this, Hah Hah, BLOWS his
Chakra, that was got to be the single most clever pun in the history
of FAQs. I'm sooooo freakin funny!


=============
= Abilities =
=============

Perfect Teleport: Away + A

Though this is Itachi's ability, it is functionally the same as
Orochimaru's. The only noticeable difference is that Itachi's doesn't
have any leaves, just a poof of smoke. This doesn't even take any
Chakra and puts you right behind your foe, reguardless of distance.
But... that's only if you do it normally, this is more than meets the
eye. If you rapidly switch the direction you are holding, then you
teleport to the FRONT of your foe instead of their back. So if you
were holding left, after you hit A, quickly hold right, and you will
teleport right in front of your foe. This can be further modified by
holding the A Button, which leaves you phased out of the game untill
you release A. This drains Chakra quickly, but can be used to dodge
attacks or to hide and wait for a chance to strike, or just to
confuse the hell out of your foe. Since you can change what side you
teleport to, and how long you're gone, this is the best teleportation
ability in the game. Naturally, the lightning fast Itachi has access
to this ability.


Clone Dash Combo: Forward + A -> B or Forward + A -> A -> A

Itachi instantly summons a Shadow Clone and sends it mad dashing at
his foe. In the B combo he follows up the Clone's attack by dropping
in with a drill kick. In the more powerful A combo he attacks with
Kunai instead. Both of these combos allow you to send in the Clones
to do your dirty work, and also to teleport yourself right up to
your foe during the attack.


Clone Drop: Jump -> A

Itachi uses a perfect aim, infinite range, near instant attack on his
foe. He summons a Shadow Clone that attacks with a drill kick. It
doesn't do great damage, but it's sooo easy to hammer someone from
across the field. How Itachi can summon Shadow Clones so fast... and
using only one hand, is beyond me.


Flying Clone Combo: Up + A -> A or Up + A -> B -> B -> B

Itachi initiates this attack with a Shadow Clone so that he can remain
safe at a distance. The 2 hit A combo only uses the Clone and is
thus less risky than moving in yourself. The 4 hit B combo is more
powerful but causes Itachi to teleport in and do the attacking himself,
which carries a greater risk of being counter attacked.


==============
= Strategies =
==============

Itachi is wonderful, use your Shadow Clones to do half the work for
you. He can be everywhere at once between his Clone attacks and his
teleportation. If you're taking a beating, use Clone Explosion to
make your foe regret every trying to fight back. Itachi's best combo
is B -> B -> B -> B -> B -> A, it's up there with Orochimaru's combos
in terms of damage, and it also looks cool as in concludes with a
pincer attack between Itachi and his Clone. Any time you hit your foe
onto the ground, try and use a Clone Drop on them to add some extra
damage. One of my favorite combos from anywhere is Up + A -> A quickly
followed by Forward + A -> A. After the first Clone's attacks you
send another to attack the foe twice as he's falling, as long as you
don't hit A again then Itachi won't teleport in, letting you keep your
safe distance from the foe. Itachi is a great counter to projectile
fighters like Temari and Tenten, and Sakura as well, because he can
easily attack anyone anywhere, and has no distance limitations. Once
a foe starts with the projectiles, Itachi can simply slam a clone in
their face or teleport behind them to begin the ownage. Itachi's
Down + A -> A combo will send him dashing at the foe with a Kunai
attack, then automatically teleport behind them. This is a nice way
to interupt anyone doing something, then get ready for another combo.
Finally, his Forward + B -> B -> B combo leaves the foe in the air and
you can usually add in any other combo right afterwards. I suggest
the best combo: B -> B -> B -> B -> B -> A, this double combo attack
chain does amazing damage. All of Itachi's moves are great, it's
simply a matter of finding out which ones work well for you, and when
the best time is to use them.




Naruto: Clash of Ninja Revolution: Character Guide by chaotix_0
Version 1.1, Last Updated 2008-02-01 View/Download Original File
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