Naruto's Baryon Mode and massive chakra reserves give him the slightest edge in a rivalry that ended in a draw once before.
Their final battle at the Valley of the End ended in a literal draw โ both lost an arm. But if we take both characters at their absolute peak, Naruto's Baryon Mode is the tiebreaker. This form, which fuses Naruto's chakra with Kurama's like nuclear fusion, granted him speed and power that overwhelmed Isshiki Otsutsuki, a being that both Naruto and Sasuke together couldn't touch in their standard strongest forms.
Sasuke's Rinnegan gives him absurd versatility: space-time teleportation, the ability to swap places with objects, access to all six paths of Pain's abilities, and his Susanoo is a perfect-body colossus that can channel Amaterasu and Indra's Arrow. At full power, Sasuke's arsenal is arguably the most versatile in the entire Naruto universe. His combat IQ is also significantly higher than Naruto's โ Sasuke fights with precision and strategy while Naruto relies on overwhelming force and clones.
However, Naruto's chakra reserves are in a league of their own. As a Uzumaki with the Nine-Tails, he can sustain Six Paths Sage Mode for extended fights, spam shadow clones numbering in the thousands, and his Rasenshuriken variants cover nearly every elemental weakness. In a prolonged fight, Naruto's stamina outlasts Sasuke's Rinnegan, which drains chakra at an enormous rate. The manga made it clear these two are equals, but Baryon Mode existing gives Naruto the technical edge at absolute peak.
Naruto's Baryon Mode overwhelmed Isshiki Otsutsuki, who was faster and stronger than both Naruto and Sasuke combined in their base strongest forms. His chakra reserves as a Uzumaki jinchuriki are virtually limitless, letting him sustain Six Paths Sage Mode and thousands of shadow clones. In an endurance fight, Sasuke's Rinnegan chakra drain becomes a liability while Naruto is still going strong.
Sasuke's Rinnegan grants space-time manipulation, the ability to swap positions with objects for perfect dodging, and access to all Six Paths abilities. His combat intelligence is demonstrably superior to Naruto's, and Indra's Arrow was powerful enough to match Naruto's strongest combined Rasenshuriken. In a battle of skill versus power, Sasuke's precision and versatility could exploit Naruto's more straightforward fighting style.
Naruto edges this out at absolute peak power, but their canonical draw makes it clear this is essentially a 50/50 fight. Baryon Mode is the tiebreaker that didn't exist during their final valley fight. Without it, this is a dead heat โ with it, Naruto has a trump card Sasuke can't answer.
Naruto Uzumaki also fights
Sasuke Uchiha also fights