Sage Mode is superior to the Mangekyo Sharingan

[Hiro Onoyuga]

It has been said several times on this board that Sasuke's completion of the Susano'o has made him Naruto's equal in Sage Mode. However, that is not the case. Lets first start by breaking down the strengths/ninjutsus and weaknesses of the Mangekyo Sharingan

Mangekyo Sharingan:

Amaterasu-the inextinguishable black flames that are a trademark of the Mangekyo's powers. The main selling point is that they can't be turned out since the claims of their heat-hotter than the sun-is clearly a hyperbole. The Flames burn slowly, however, they are extremely hard to put out, only methods that exist is Sasuke's Amaterasu Extinguish jutsu with his left eye, and Jiraiya's Fire Sealing technique.

Tsukuyomi-the second most powerful genjutsu of the series, and the most powerful genjutsu used by humanity, when used by Uchiha Itachi it becomes almost unbreakable, able to put the victim under 24-72 hours of mental torture. However, Sasuke's Tsukuyomi isn't anywhere near that of his brother's, due to him being a ninjutsu attack type instead of Itachi's genjutsu supplementary type. Sasuke's is no where near as strong or effective, thus he must use his ninjutsu to make up for it.

Susano'o-Arguably the Mangekyo Sharingan's strongest technique, even stronger than Amaterasu. It can only be awakened after the Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi are awakened. Provides an extremely strong defense but sacrifices' the user's mobility. Sasuke was able to get around the Susano'o's mobility problems by having his be a ranged type. Even with the final armor coming on, it'll probably be a ranged type.

Kamui(For Kakashi)-Kamui is another extremely powerful MS technique that only Kakashi can use so far, he can create a rift in space and time and suck in targets, either keep them in an unknown space or transport them somewhere else.

Mangekeyo Sharingan Weaknesses

Amaterasu-the slow burning is the primary weakness of Amaterasu. The victim has enough time to remove any clothing or armor that they have on before they are immolated. Also massive chakra drain

Susano'o-the weakness in Susano'o is mobility. The user sacrifices his speed, agility, even shunshin and jumping ability for an extremely durable defense. A way for the user to get around these mobility weaknesses that Susano'o has, as shown by Sasuke, is creating a 'mini-Susano'o', however, the defense is much less complete and is far more vulnerable to damage. There is also the weakness that Danzo found out in the complete Susano'o-the spine, which-when the aura is blown off, leaves the user inside completely vulnerable. And then there is the life force drain, which is arguably more dangerous than chakra drain and leaves the user even more exhausted than normal.

The final weakness to the Mangekyo Sharingan itself-blindness. With each use, the user damages the user's eyes, closing off the user to 'light' forever. The only way around this blindness is the transplant of a close relative's eyes it seems.

Sage Mode Strengths:

Enhanced Strength-In Sage Mode, the user's speed and strength greatly increase. As shown by Naruto and Fukasaku, they can lift giant stone statues up with ease, which weigh around 50 tons each. The ultimate showing of this strength was Naruto catching the horn of the boss-sized rhino that Pain summoned against him, then throwing said rhino several hundred meters into the sky.

Enhanced Speed-In Sage Mode, the user's speed increases greatly. Both Naruto and Jiraiya have shown the ability to blitz people with them not being able to react. The most extreme form of this was Naruto's destruction of Demon Realm and Jiraiya's leap at Hungry Ghost with the Chou Odama Rasengan. With Naruto's destruction of Demon Realm, he appeared from hundreds of meters away, created a Rasengan, and slammed it down on Demon Realm before it could hurt Tsunade.

Enhanced Durability/Near Invulnerability-In Sage Mode, the user's body becomes extremely durable to the point of near invulnerability. Naruto fell nearly 100 meters while in Sage Mode into extremely sharp jagged rocks, yet received zero injuries and commented it didn't really hurt at all. Also, while in Sage Mode, Naruto was able to tank the Shinra Tensei without much damage while it nearly killed Kakashi, Choza, and Choji, and it killed the other ninja that came with them, while Naruto received no injuries, just knocked the wind out of him. The only thing that seems to be able to penetrate this extreme durability is Pain's chakra rods which can disrupt chakra in the victim.

Enhances Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, and Genjutsu-In Sage Mode, the user's Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, and Genjutsu are all pushed to extreme levels. Jiraiya can create an Odama Rasengan that is powerful enough to hollow out an entire mountain, while Naruto can create ones that are powerful enough to launch boss summons into the sky. The ultimate expression of the ninjutsu enhancement is the Fuuton: Rasenshuriken, in Sage Mode its destructive abilities are enhanced so much, when it explodes, it can vaporize an entire mountain range, and not only that, it moves extremely fast, at least mach 1, and can cover an entire mountain range in seconds. When someone master's Sage Mode, they gain the Kawazu Kumite-or the Frog Kata-which is a extremely powerful taijutsu (explains more below). The only genjutsu that has been seen in Sage Mode is the most powerful in the series, the Magen: Gamarinsho-more commonly known as Frog Song, it paralyzes both the mind and body, and is used by Fukasaku and Shima.

Kawazu Kumite-the Taijutsu style that Naruto gained when he mastered Sage Mode. Extremely powerful, you don't even have to hit the person to injure or even kill them due to the senjutsu chakra that's wrapped around the user's body as an aura, similar to that of an invisible Jinchuuriki Cloak.

Chakra Sensing-by far one of the most useful abilities that a person in Sage Mode gets. They can sense all the chakra around them, and if fighting someone using the Sharingan, they can actually fight blindfolded due to their newfound sensing abilities.

KN0 Sage Mode- unique to Naruto, this state is achieved when Naruto balances his spiritual energy, his physical energy, the natural energy around him, and finally Kyubi's chakra to create an even stronger form of Sage Mode. Not much is known so far, but it is powerful enough to shatter Nagato's genjutsu-like control while using the chakra rods.

Sage Mode Weaknesses:

So far, there are two weaknesses. The user has to find someplace safe while his allies fight so that they can enter Sage Mode for one, otherwise, they can't do so in battle since entering Sage Mode requires perfect stillness. Naruto bypassed that by using his clone technique which would allow him to enter Sage Mode via use of a clone gathering the energy, and he's gotten good enough with it so he can even while moving.

Another weakness that is exclusive to Naruto-because he can't fuse with either Fukasaku or Shima, his Sage Mode has a limit of five minutes, and he can't spam clones like he normally can, thus is limit to creating three to fight with him, and three to gather energy to make 15 minutes total in Sage Mode.

Conclusion:

From the abilities shown by both powers, it is easy to see why Sage Mode is better than the Mangekyo Sharingan. It grants far more abilities without much cost, and there is nearly zero charge time to use most of the jutsus. Thus, in Sage Mode, Naruto is still superior to Sasuke who has mastered the Mangekyo Sharingan.

[Leji_hyuga]

nice theory, this is the reason why kisame and itachi ran from jiraiya they knowing the secretes of the senjutsu and knew jiraiya had it, itachi knows the sage mode is better then MS.

[Uchiha]

I completely agree with you about the comparison of the two. Sage Mode does grant the user many things at minimal cost, but the consequence of failing to perfectly sync yourself can prove to be a bad thing. Also, actually being able to activate Sage Mode during battle is near impossible, unless, like you said, you have alies helping you. But you know what they say, a chain is only as strong as it's weakest link. So the chances of Sage Mode being acquired during battle depends on the effectiveness of your alies at holding of your opponent.

Yes, the Mangekyou Sharingan's techniques do come with a few drawbacks, but if caught in either Amaterasu or Tsukiyomi can prove to be fatal. The only reason Kakashi didn't die when fighting Itach was because his mastery of the Sharingan and actually resisted Itachi's Genjutsu to an extent.

As for the Chakra drain, Sage Mode is superior because it draws energy from nature rather than Chakra, so the endurance is outstanding. I don't think it can be said who will win because it really depends on the ninja's mastery of either.


In short, just because the Mangekyou has more weaknesses than Sage Mode, doesn't make it better. Like stated before, the drawbacks of the Mangekyou aren't as serious as the one major flaw of Sage Mode. Other than chakra drain, the effects of the Mangekyou are more long term. Compared to the Sage Mode needing complete stillness in battler to activate is a big enough weakness for it to be dropped below the Mangekyou Sharingan. If activated, then it can prove to be a problem. One on one, it proves useless unless able to merges with both Toad Sages, which also isn't the quickest of things to do.

[Ace Akau]

soo true sage mode is better

[Uchiha]

In some ways. If not given the proper time, it's useless. If we're talking about Naruto there is only one way. From what I last saw he can't merge with the Toad Sage.

[dragoon master dj]

but then what about the eternal mangekyo? could that be stronger than MS? now that sasuke has eternal as well he wont go blind whenever he uses any of those mangekyo techniques

[Uchiha]

I would think the eternal Mangekyou would solve the major problem of slowly becoming blind.

[Ace Akau]

Yah

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