Highlights

• Kishimoto has a tendency to turn his villains into good guys, which sometimes undermines their potential as formidable foes.
• Characters like Toneri, Sasuke, Orochimaru, Kabuto, Gaara, Haku, Nagato, Konan, Team Taka, Obito, and Itachi all had the potential to be amazing villains if their redemption arcs were avoided.
• The overuse of villain redemption in Naruto lessens the impact of truly evil villains and limits the storytelling possibilities for characters like Jinchuriki.

Masashi Kishimoto's Naruto series has had some of the most incredible villains in fiction during its serialization and it goes without saying that the way Kishimoto handles his villains is unique, to say the least.

Almost every villain in Naruto is a product of their circumstances which makes for great writing. However, Kishimoto ended up turning way too many of his villains good. It goes without saying that while the change of heart worked for some, it only made other characters worse.

Updated on October 9, 2923, by Rei Penber: The Naruto world is filled with quite a lot of interesting villains for the fans to enjoy. Kishimoto has done incredibly well at writing some phenomenal villains over the years. A lot of the Naruto villains are simply victims of the environment that they were born in. Others wanted the same peace that the heroes do but took the wrong approach. There is a dearth of truly evil villains in the world of Naruto, and the author has turned some truly fantastic villains into good guys in the end. While villains having good motivations is certainly a fun concept, it is often overused in Naruto. There are quite a lot of villains who could have simply stayed evil and while this list already goes over the vast majority of them, there are others that deserve a mention of their own. With that, this list has now been updated.

11 Toneri Otsutsuki

Toneri was introduced to the fans in The Last: Naruto the Movie. It was quite clear that this villain was going to be extremely powerful. Given that he had the blood of the Otsutsuki and was a direct descendant of Hamura, he was sure to pose a great threat to the likes of Naruto and the shinobi world in general. Toneri infiltrated Konoha and even managed to kidnap Hanabi.

To make things worse, Hinata was also his prisoner for quite a long time as he wanted to marry her. If that wasn't enough, he, eventually, wanted to destroy the entirety of Earth and restart life from scratch. Yet, Naruto ended up forgiving him and he turned into a good guy as well. This was absolutely bizarre and should not have been Naruto's decision to make alone. Toneri had great potential as a villain and he should have died as one.

10 Sasuke Uchiha

As one of the main characters in Naruto, it was a known fact that Sasuke would eventually become a good guy again. He had his stint as a villain throughout the vast majority of the series and he did unspeakable things during this time. Sasuke was, likely, one of the most evil villains in the entirety of Naruto, given his ideology and what he wanted to accomplish. He caused pain to quite a lot of the villages and to his friends as well.

Sasuke did unspeakable things in the war, such as planning to execute all the Kage, and even locking up all the Tailed Beasts. He infiltrated the Kage Summit and attacked the Raikage. Given all that he did, Sasuke should not have been forgiven at all. Sasuke did not deserve redemption and he certainly did not pay the price for everything that he did. In the end, it was Kakashi who put in a word for him and everyone simply forgot about all that he did. Realistically, Sasuke should never have been forgiven and he should have been fought by Naruto as a villain.

9 Orochimaru

Orochimaru was possibly the most intimidating villain in Naruto in the first part of the series. Not only was he responsible for making Sasuke leave the village but he also attacked Konohagakure and killed Hiruzen Sarutobi. He also killed Rasa, the Fourth Kazekage. Before he attempted to destroy Konoha in the Konoha Crush arc, he actually tried to do the same on several other occasions.

Orochimaru was quite an incredible villain and for him, redemption never really made any sense. Yet, in the Fourth Great Ninja War, he was somehow redeemed and he ended up giving up on his dream as well. Orochimaru's potential as a villain was completely wasted.

8 Kabuto Yakushi

Kabuto Yakushi was once the right-hand man of Orochimaru, however, after Sasuke killed him Kabuto took it upon himself to get stronger. By attaining great strength, he managed to become one of the main villains in the story.

Kabuto was hugely responsible for the Fourth Great Ninja War which saw tens of thousands of shinobi lose their lives. In the end, however, he was redeemed quite strangely by Kishimoto. Kabuto ended up saving Sasuke's life but should never have turned good, to begin with.

7 Gaara

Gaara is a very important character in Naruto and one of the Kage from the Hidden Sand. He started his journey in Naruto as a villain. Gaara was quite fearsome and even gave Naruto a run for his money. In fact, he could have destroyed the entirety of Konoha by himself and that alone is an indication of what a fearful villain he could have been if kishimoto simply let him be one. However, Gaara ended up being turned good by Naruto after the two connected following their battle.

This wasn't necessarily a bad change per se. Gaara is one of the instances where the villain being turned into a good guy was done right by Kishimoto. However, there is a dearth of Jinchuriki being evil in the Naruto world. These people are incredibly ostracized and hated on. Seeing the conditions that they live in, the story of Naruto should certainly have seen some Jinchuriki, such as Gaara, on the villain side. And, given that Gaara was the most known of them all after Naruto, it would have been incredible for him to be a villain even after the events of the Konoha Crush.

6 Haku

Haku was introduced to the fans in the very beginning of Naruto. Being taken in by Zabuza at a very young age, Haku simply followed his orders and did what he wanted. Haku was incredibly powerful but he lived his life for Zabuza. In the end, he ended up fighting against Naruto and his group and both he and Zabuza ended up dying.

However, Haku had a much more human side than Zabuza did. This was certainly enjoyable for the fans to witness, however, at the same time, once again, Haku had the potential to be a terrific villain if he had not been killed off so early in the series and being turned into almost a pawn. Given how heavily the story focuses on the Uchiha and Senju conflict later down the line, it would have done well to keep villains that drift away from their likes.

5 Nagato Uzumaki

Nagato Uzumaki, or Pain, was one of the best villains in the Naruto series. Pain was a result of the wars that the villages had waged against each other over the years, leading to the destruction of Amegakure as well. It goes without saying that he was incredibly well-written and probably goes down as the best villain the series produced.

However, Pain had a change of heart in the end as well. By talking to Naruto, Pain simply decided to put his faith in him and gave up on everything without second thoughts. Having come as far as he did, it didn't feel natural for him to believe in Naruto, especially when Naruto wasn't even able to answer his question about how he would bring about peace.

4 Konan

Konan was the partner of Nagato Uzumaki and the two attacked Konohagakure together. Just like Pain, she was born in the misery of Amegakure and rose to great heights with the Akatsuki. After Yahiko's death, Konan became Nagato's strength and helped him on every opportunity she could get.

Sadly, just like Nagato, she eventually put her trust in Naruto Uzumaki. Had Nagato not turned good, Konan wouldn't have either, and, together, the two would've remained a much better villainous duo.

3 Team Taka

Team Taka was Sasuke Uchiha's team which he led after the death of Orochimaru. Although Sasuke's redemption was necessary for the plot to move forward, Team Taka's redemption certainly wasn't. The group would've made great villains had they gone their own way and started life without Sasuke doing what they do best.

Instead, they were turned into good characters and they ended up helping Orochimaru in his day-to-day life, just as they did in the past. Their story came in a full circle and didn't make much sense as the final character arc did nothing for any of them.

2 Obito Uchiha

Obito Uchiha is, perhaps, the biggest villain in the world of Naruto. Obito became a villain after witnessing the death of Rin at the hands of Kakashi. Convinced that the world of dreams was the way to go forward, Obito did everything in his power to help Madara achieve his goal. He attacked his village, led to the deaths of both Minato and Kushina, almost killed their newborn baby, among many other evil things.

Obito played a part in the Uchiha clan massacre and also had a hand in the Blood Mist era of Kirigakure. He started the Fourth Great Ninja War and killed countless people. Clearly, Obito had come too far for a redemption of sorts, yet Naruto forgave him, and he ended up joining their side, which simply didn't make much sense.

1 Itachi Uchiha

Itachi was introduced in the story as a villain who murdered his entire clan in a single night just to test his powers. He was Sasuke's goal and quite easily carried the potential to become one of the best villains in the entire series. In a shocking turn of events, Itachi was eventually revealed to have been good all along.

While his story was certainly written well enough, Itachi would've arguably made a much better villain had he stayed true to his initial character. Once again, Kishimoto's habit to rewrite every villain as a good character saw Itachi become a good guy and even a savior in the Fourth Great Ninja War, which is quite bemusing given that he massacred countless innocent men, women, and even children doing what he did in a single night.

MORE: Naruto: Things Itachi Uchiha Did Wrong