It really depends on your play style. My play style can make a two star Nine Tails Naruto work well with the Fire Main. How I do it, I just do it. I am the one who will go in and mess around until I can understand what I am given and do something with it. As for Sage Naruto, he is very good as well and very helpful in Ninja Exams.

I would not say original Naruto is bad at all. He works well in certain situations, like if you need a ton of clones and one just does not cut it and they need to constantly be replaced.