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Naruto - The Kyuubi
The reason I have Naruto next to Gaara in the thick of things is because of five passives, three being his own and one each from Guy and Gaara. The first passive we will cover is which punishes enemies with ignition if they taijutsu Naruto. This passive is good to deal the extra little bit of damage, and to halt or reduce the enemy team's healing capabilities by either out-dotting their heal, or just canceling it out altogether. The next passive is which is just beautiful, it makes Naruto immune to any and all debuffs, and the icing on the cake... heals him. Personally, Naruto heals just higher than a Sakura would with her jutsu for me.
Last but not least, - putting Naruto out into the front lines has its benefits, as Naruto gets hit he'll progressively become stronger, and sponge all those combos and taijutsu meant for your squishies.
With that said, the one true merit to having Naruto in my lineup is because its extremely hard to one-shot him in a single turn, and if he is left with 5% his HP his Ninjutsu and Attack are immense enough to hopefully three enemies in a single line.
- Benefits from Gaara's shield, making his round one even more tankier.
- Benefits from Might Guy's lifesteal, enabling Naruto to have immense sustain based off his damage.