Naruto's Otsusuki vs Saiyans from Dragon Ball: Which is superior?

The Otsutsuki Clan and the Saiyans are two highly recognizable races from Naruto and Dragon Ball. Both have been known to destroy planets, be arrogant, and have many legends and conflicts throughout their respective series.

Naturally, fans of both series have speculated who would win if these destroyers of worlds ever made contact: The methodical and cunning Otsutsuki Clan or the barbaric and destructive Saiyans?

Both Naruto and Dragon Ball make good cases for each race.

Note: This article contains spoilers for the entirety of Naruto and Dragon Ball. It is also only the author's opinion. Only canon information is allowed. Unless the movies are canon to their respective series, there is no movie information or characters.

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Naruto's Otsutsuki vs Dragon Ball's Saiyans

The Otsutsuki Clan

The Otsutsuki are a mysterious race of beings from beyond the stars, predating the events of Naruto. As the progenitor of chakra, the Otsutsuki have traversed planets, planting God Trees to harvest their fruits and then moving on to the next as God Trees drain life from worlds to sustain themselves.

The Otsutsuki can fly, rewind time, teleport, and create tools capable of slicing through anything. They can also open different dimensions, kill via ash bones, shrink and grow things, make energy balls on par with a spirit bomb, and even have secret immortality techniques.

They aren't to be taken lightly. Kaguya was the true final boss in Naruto Shippuden, and worse, Otsutsuki keep showing up in Boruto. The protagonists tend to have to be creative to defeat them, either combining attacks or using techniques that would otherwise kill them (see Baryon Mode Naruto).

While the Otsutsuki are majorly powerful, what makes them genuinely frightening (especially throughout Boruto) is their intelligence. Instead of brute-forcing their way through a problem, they prefer using subterfuge and trickery to accomplish their goals.

Kidnapping, possession, dimension-hopping: it's all legal for them.

The above deceptions are often necessary, as some are very powerful but not very durable.

Momoshiki, for instance, needed constant revitalization of chakra pills and fruit to continue his lifespan. Isshiki parasitically used Jigen's body and tried hopping to more hosts due to nearly dying from his wife Kaguya's betrayal.

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Saiyans

The Saiyan race from Dragon Ball is one of the most iconic and powerful races in the entire series. They already possess great strength as kids, if Kid Goku wiping out the Red Ribbon Army in the original Dragon Ball is any indication. By adulthood, with proper training, they can destroy planets.

The Saiyans can fly, teleport, are very durable, fight for hours if not days without rest, have the Great Ape transformation that makes them giant apes during the full moon, and gain strength after recovering from battle. The aforementioned destruction of planets is also a feat that applies to cities.

Although the Saiyans are capable of all these feats, not every one of them ends up performing them. Goku's mother was retired during Planet Vegeta's destruction, Broly's father was a scientist, and there were engineers, scouts, and whatnot. The actual formidable warriors became members of the Frieza Force.

The Super Saiyan legend and transformation state would be effective, but thus far has only been done by 11 Saiyans out of the hundreds if not thousands that have existed. The main character Goku is a Saiyan, so there's plenty of fleshing out the Saiyans as a race throughout Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball Super.

The Saiyan Race all share weaknesses: they cannot breathe in space, they can still suffer illness and die from it, sufficiently powerful blows and/or cutting techniques can slice through their skin like how Destructo Disc, for instance, sliced Nappa's cheek, and their lust for battle often overrides any sense they may have.

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Who is superior?

This is a very loaded question, as it depends on which character fights which character. If it's Goku or Vegeta circa Dragon Ball Super, it's a Saiyan victory.

Goku would want to compare might, and Vegeta would relish the opportunity to show off. Both trained under who can destroy planets with their nails.

If it's a general Saiyan vs Otsutsuki fight, like a planetary invasion, then it gets interesting. The former took well over ten years to eradicate the Tuffles, as seen in Dragon Ball Z, and only won that because of the full moon.

The Otsutsuki have used the moon for Infinite Tsukuyomi in Naruto Shippuden, which trumps the Saiyans hard and/or keeps the fight at range.

However, the Saiyans are more brutal and encouraged to fight at close range, and the Otsutsuki generally don't do well at close range. Unless you're talking about very close-range techniques like the All Killing Ashbones or sending Saiyans into other dimensions, it's a Saiyan victory if the fight lasts too long at close range.

Another problem is that the Saiyans are cocky, incredibly militant, and prideful to the point of foolishness. They hate seeing injuries and weaknesses of any sort and are generally hard-headed, as Dragon Ball Z demonstrated many times with Vegeta and Goku.

This backfires on them when they underestimate opponents.

As demonstrated in Naruto Shippuden and Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, the Otsutsuki are colder and more calculating. They can think three to four moves ahead, but the Saiyans win out due to their reliance on chakra fruits and God Trees.

The Saiyans are better only because they don't rely on outside factors but on inner strength. That didn't save them from annihilation via Frieza, but the survivors have gone beyond Frieza into divine beings.

The Otsutsuki would probably be considered very tough challengers, with karma providing near immortality.