Super Naruto: Clash of Ninja 4/Kabuto

Kabuto
Health:	190
Guard Gauge:	1640
Backdash Type:	Normal

Summary

Kabuto was often considered a sleeper character in Vanilla GNT4. In Super, he augments his great jab, low sweep, and 2A combo finisher with improvements to some of his lesser-used buttons and strings. Kabuto is a character who leverages his user's fundamentals via his above-average close-quarter attacks and strong punish game. The character's signature ability is continual health regeneration, making Kabuto a pesky foe to defeat.

Character Traits

• Passive health regeneration that gives Kabuto the highest effective health in the game. Even while he's getting comboed, he's recovering health.
  • Also has the lowest max health to offset this. Kabuto is very easy to two touch or TOD.
• Has a ground infinite that forces substitution, and multiple starters to route into it
• Uncombo super that enables very high damage or TOD combos

Notes

• Cellular Activation: Kabuto will continuously regenerate a portion of the damage he takes in a match. While he has the lowest base health in conjunction with this, if he is able to avoid getting hit too much at a time he can effectively have the most health in the game. He is hard to kill with paper cuts, but is easy to two-touch or even TOD.

Super Cancel Points:

• ()
• ()

String List

String #	Inputs	Notes
01		Cancellable at () For 02 and 05-07, the final move has Guard.
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
09
10		The final move has Guard.
11
12
13		The final move has Guard.
14		Not present in the in-game Strings List. For 15, the final move has Guard.
15
16		Cancellable at () For 18-20, the final move has Guard.
17
18
19
20

Weak Attacks

5B

	Damage Hit Level Startup Active Frames Recovery Guard Damage Blockstun Advantage on Hit Advantage on Block 11 High 13 4 22 - - - -7 Primary Jab. Can go into () on whiff.
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6B

	Damage Hit Level Startup Active Frames Recovery Guard Damage Blockstun Advantage on Hit Advantage on Block 13 Mid 22 3 31 - - - -15 Description
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2B

	Damage Hit Level Startup Active Frames Recovery Guard Damage Blockstun Advantage on Hit Advantage on Block 14 Low 20 4 28 - - - -13 Low, high crush sweep and also low profiles incoming attacks. Good at round start. Flag Data High Crush frames 11~30
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4B

	Damage Hit Level Startup Active Frames Recovery Guard Damage Blockstun Advantage on Hit Advantage on Block 15 Mid 32 4 27 - - - -16 Staggers on hit Guard frame attack. The stagger lets 4B lead to a strike/throw mix on hit if the opponent wiggles out, or a combo if they don't. Flag Data Autoguard frames 2~22
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8B

Damage Hit Level Startup Active Frames Recovery Guard Damage Blockstun Advantage on Hit Advantage on Block 19 Mid 26 5 27 - - - -8 Rainbow kick. Kabuto goes airborne of course, so it's great for low crushing and is safe on block. At -8 on block, it leaves Kabuto with time to or afterwards to beat an opponent attempting to take their turn with a jab. On hit, can be linked into string for a combo. Flag Data Low Crush frames 11~

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Running B

	Damage Hit Level Startup Active Frames Recovery Guard Damage Blockstun Advantage on Hit Advantage on Block 15 Mid 21 5 43 - - - -19 Description
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j.B

	Damage Hit Level Startup Active Frames Recovery Guard Damage Blockstun Advantage on Hit Advantage on Block 16 Mid 25 - - - - - - Standard divekick. Not that interesting.
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Strong Attacks

5A

Uncharged Uncharged Charged Charged	Damage Hit Level Startup Active Frames Recovery Guard Damage Blockstun Advantage on Hit Advantage on Block - - 25, 26 - - - - - - Description
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6A

Damage Hit Level Startup Active Frames Recovery Guard Damage Blockstun Advantage on Hit Advantage on Block 13 Mid 21 3 34 - - - -18 Advancing palm strike; the forward movement lets it whiff punish well and catch backdashes. is a super cancel point, and the string converts into Kabuto's ground infinite on hit or keeps him safe on block. is also a low, so it can stuff certain reversals that crush highs and mids. Flag Data High Crush frames 9~20

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2A

Damage Hit Level Startup Active Frames Recovery Guard Damage Blockstun Advantage on Hit Advantage on Block 13, 35 Low 44 5 - - - - - Re-appearance can be delayed at the cost of chakra by holding . Opponent is put into a Capture state on hit Capture state attack similar to Kakashi's where Kabuto dives into the ground and appears underneath the opponent to stun them, dealing big unscaled damage and resulting in a hard knockdown. It tracks the opponent's position, but the slow start-up and highly punishable recovery on whiff make it not that good in neutral, especially since projectile spamming isn't all that common. 2A is rather Kabuto's ideal combo ender when he doesn't have enough chakra for supers.

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4A

	Damage Hit Level Startup Active Frames Recovery Guard Damage Blockstun Advantage on Hit Advantage on Block - - 8 28 - - - - - Counter. Teleports Kabuto behind the enemy.

8A

	Damage Hit Level Startup Active Frames Recovery Guard Damage Blockstun Advantage on Hit Advantage on Block - - 11, 12, 13, 14 - - - - - - Description
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Running A

	Damage Hit Level Startup Active Frames Recovery Guard Damage Blockstun Advantage on Hit Advantage on Block - - 17, 18 - - - - - - A running kunai throw attack. Plus on block, leading to strike/throw/pressure if the opponent blocks it and has hard-to-punish recovery on whiff if it's stepped.
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j.A

	Damage Hit Level Startup Active Frames Recovery Guard Damage Blockstun Advantage on Hit Advantage on Block - - 8, 10 - - - - - - Description
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Throws

5Y

File:SCON4 Kabuto 5Y.png	Damage Hit Level Startup Active Frames Recovery Guard Damage Blockstun Advantage on Hit Advantage on Block 20 - 1 1 48 - - - - Description

j.Y

File:SCON4 Kabuto jY.png	Damage Hit Level Startup Active Frames Recovery Guard Damage Blockstun Advantage on Hit Advantage on Block - - - - - - - - - Description

Specials

5X

	Damage Hit Level Startup Active Frames Recovery Guard Damage Blockstun Advantage on Hit Advantage on Block 10, 70 Mid 20 14 33 - - - - Kabuto does a shoulder charge with crazy long active frames that make it incredibly easy to wake up super with.
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2X

Damage Hit Level Startup Active Frames Recovery Guard Damage Blockstun Advantage on Hit Advantage on Block 15 Mid 30 19 79 - - - - Combo counter resets on hit Drains chakra on hit Kabuto releases a Genjutsu AOE around himself that puts the opponent to sleep if they're hit on the ground and drains a small amount of their chakra. The first active frame is blockable but remaining active frames are unblockable, and it's also backturn unblockable if Kabuto and the opponent are facing the same way. Used primarily as a combo tool, but also has use as an incredibly strong, inescapable meaty unblockable on the opponent's wakeup thanks to the active frames if timed right. Combos involving can make getting hit on the ground by Kabuto a death sentence, as the uncombo properties paired with his standing infinite let him dish out massive damage or even TOD combos when executed properly. Sleep is long enough to let Kabuto follow up with any of his loop starters to finish his combo optimally without accidentally giving the opponent enough meter to KnJ out.

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Strategy

Kabuto is a fundamentals-heavy character who relies on a straightforward yet strong selection of buttons and strings. His low HP, which is the smallest in the game, is made up for by continual regeneration after taking damage, and as such zoners like Haku or Sakura will be limited in their ability to threaten Kabuto with chip damage. On the other hand, Kabuto must be wary of being on the receiving end of touch-of-death combos that would not be able to finish the round against a character with a normally sized health bar.

Kabuto's blockstrings apply good pressure and tend to leave him in an advantageous position. (or ) lifts the opponent in the air, giving Kabuto an opportunity to or mix their landing. If the opponent uses jump kunai or a swordsmen , Kabuto's string finisher has guard frames and will punish the attack, though this finisher will whiff if the opponent double jumps first.

is an extremely strong capture state combo-ender, often accessed with .

Kabuto has a grounded infinite, linking the string into itself on repeat, which combines the hitstun of his horizontal kunai slash and the speed of his quick jab. This loop can also be started with , , or . Kabuto can kill opponents caught grounded with low meter by linking the loop with , which drains meter and starts a new combo. The A+B tech can be used to make the link from the kunai slash to jab easier. can also link into if the opponent does not mash out of stagger state.

Colors

Default ()

Color 2 ()

Color 3 ()

Anbu ()

Changes from Vanilla

(May be outdated. Please let an editor know about further changes.)

• Health: increased from 180 to 190
• Grabbable moves: RA, JA, 8A, 2A landing
• 5B: hitbox appears two frames later, slightly smaller hand hitbox; elbow hitbox removed; hand hitbox larger on frame 2; one more frame blockstun
• 5B(B): has slightly more stun; hitbox appears and disappears a frame later; slightly more lift on hit
• 5BBAB(B): transition time adjusted to match 6B(B); slightly more lift on hit (not on 6B(B))
• 5BBAA(A): guard frames changed to be start to 22 instead of the entire move; pushes on block
• 6B(B): has four frames less endlag
• 6BA(B): high crush added to frame 18-21
• 2B: high crush from 11-31; transition to 2B(B) window increased by 10 frames
• 2BB(B): replaced with a custom 6BA(B) that knocks away on hit and block; hitbox appears one frame later
• 2BB(A): has guard frames from 1-22
• 8B: high crushes on landing; 4 less recovery frames
• RB: changed to strong and pushes on block, bigger hitbox
• JB: launches instead of staggers
• 6A: has high crush on frames 9-21
• 6A(A): has more stun
• 6AA(A): now also lifts on block
• 4A: window improved
• A4A: comes out quicker and ends quicker
• 2A: flags adjusted to match the animation better, cannot sub during the animation, unscaled damage applies to both players
• A2A: can be hit at the peak of his jump
• 5X: activator has the hitbox appear 4 frames sooner and begins moving 3 frames sooner
• 2X: does slightly more damage, drains chakra, second frame to end is unblockable; hit airborne launches higher; stuns much longer when not putting into sleep

Resources

Gameplay footage

• Paradise vs LilyHV ( Temari) and Ricky Ant ( Naruto/ Might Guy), Biweekly 26 (5/17/2020)
• Dark Tournament 2: Dope vs Jerry ( Kimimaro) and vs Kandle Itachi