:sora: :
Ban Final Destination: This stage is beneficial to Naruto as he has an easy time playing neutral and setting up edgeguards. Sora hasn't got enough good tools to play neutral and he has to play in fear of a stray projectile. Additionally, Naruto is faster than Sora, so Sora is at risk of getting overwhelmed by Naruto.


The smartest play for the Naruto player would be to Ban Battlefield and Yoshi's Story as this removes the safe picks for Sora. Battlefield, whilst beneficial to Naruto, is Sora's one of Sora's best stages, and Sora can make the absolute most of this stage by using the platforms to do double Up-B's from the platfrom. Yoshi's Story is a similar playing field, as the low ceiling and close blastlines provide Sora with assistance in KOing, as well as a similar platform layout to Battlefield, make this stage very beneficial to Sora. The Naruto player would want to ban these stages in order to move the ball to his court and get an edge on the matchup.


Sora is left with stages now that either benefit Naruto more, or benefit both with some compensation on Sora's end. Out of the stages left (PS3, SV, ToS, and DL), the Sora player will need to try levelling the playing field. To do this, he/she will need to Ban Tower of Salvation and Smashville. As Tower of Salvation and Final Destination have a similar layout, the reasons are very similar for banning them, due to then putting a larger focus on Neutral than any other stages. Smashville benefits Naruto immensely, as he can use the platform to set up using clone mines, as well as the greater focus on Neutral whilst cutting the benefit to Sora.


Naruto is left with a stage that will both benefit and hinder Sora, and a stage that can give Sora somewhat of a benefit. The most optimal pick for Sora would be Pokemon Stadium 3, so the Naruto player will most likely Ban Pokémon Stadium 3. Dream Land allows Naruto to still have a good stage, whilst it can help and hinder Sora at the same time, due to it's large size and platforms. Naruto can effectively perform clone setups here and combo well, whilst Sora is able to use the platforms but kill Naruto later than norma

Neutral Game:
NARUTO WINS
Naruto wins the neutral game overall for the following reasons:

• Naruto is slightly faster on the ground than Sora on the ground. This key difference in speed gives Naruto a better approach.
• Naruto has four very strong projectile options, in Rasengan, Clones, Rasenshuriken and the Clone Mine, these can be troublesome to deal with.
• Sora doesn't have many reliable approach options. He may have to rely on SH Flowmotion in order to get in, but this leaves him open to punishment.

Because Naruto is an average-faller, Sora can't rely on moves like his Up-Tilt or Dash Attack to reliably combo into themselves, and this leads his neutral game to consistently be looking for an opening. The Naruto player will be looking to bait an approach option for Sora and then punish them for their mistakes. Whilst Sora can deal with each of these projectiles, it either requires good enough timing or is outright situational. To elaborate:
Sora can DSmash Rasenshuriken to cancel it out, however, he has to be a significant distance away from Naruto in order to land it, otherwise the DSmash won't come out quick enough.
Sora can use an aerial to cancel a clone, but this can leave him open, especially if he's using Fair, which is arguably his most reliable method of doing this.
Sora can DSmash a clone mine to cancel it, but this requires him to be on the ground (of course) and it can be punished after the hitboxes end.
Because of this, Naruto can play a bait and punish game with Sora, where he can use the clone mines to bait Sora into approaching him and then punish with either a kill confirm into Rasenshuriken or just a string of moves.

Overall, Sora just has a hard time playing Neutral, and Naruto's ability to both zone and play really aggressively really hurts Sora as the Sora player will struggle to find an opening to start a combo from.

Punish Game:
TIED
Both characters have variable styles of punish. Sora's punishes are usually combos, considering the relatively high damage output of some of his attacks can lead a good Sora player to be able to get large amounts of damage off from a whiffed move or an opening of some kind. Naruto on the other hand can punish with various methods, ranging from a combo for the sake of building up damage to a clone that starts a combo to a kill confirm combo (for instance: UTilt -> Rasenshuriken). In this particular matchup, Naruto relies on a bait and punish game as Sora can outrange Naruto most of the time as well as build up spectacularly large amounts of damage on Naruto with a single combo. Naruto can overall punish harder than Sora can, however Sora has a more versatile kit off a punish. Both characters rely on punishes significantly, however Naruto can gain the edge simply on account of his higher speed and harder punishes. The punish game overall is in Naruto's favour though, as both characters can seriously gain a lot from punishes, however Naruto is simply better at punishing than Sora is.

Offstage Game - Edgeguarding:
NARUTO WINS
Both characters are good edgeguarders. Naruto can use his clone mine or his aerial Down-B to take out characters' double jump, he can meteor smash with his forward air, and he can use Rasenshuriken, however this can have a chance of missing. Sora can use Thundaga, USmash, Fair, and FSmash (on opponents recovering high).

Sora can use his USmash's windbox to mess up Naruto's recovery, he can use his Fair to knock Naruto far enough away from the stage so that he can't recover. He can use Thundaga to hit Naruto further offstage and even potentially KO, and he can FSmash is Naruto misses the ledge. Sora arguably has an easier time edgeguarding as Naruto can only protect himself reliably with a Rasenshuriken offstage, as it can stall his descent. Naruto can edgeguard using a projectile or a spike, the latter of which is especially poor for Sora, whilst the former can lead to a weak meteor or a hit that can knock out the double jump, often leading to death for Sora.

For breaking guards, and recovering, has an easier time breaking 's guard simply because Naruto can entirely reset the edgeguarding game with a well placed Shadow Clone. Due to the backwards knockback, Naruto can potentially reset the offstage as he can displace Sora, sometimes enough to kill Sora due to sending him too far away to recover. Sora can also struggle with Naruto's guard as he can set up aerial Down-B clones, Up-B or even a Rasenshuriken offstage, whereas Sora can't do a huge amount about many of these without leaving himself open massively.

Overall, Sora only beats Naruto on recovery, but Naruto beats Sora everywhere else. The matchup is around 60:40