Naruto Higher or Lower is a fast power-scaling game. Two shinobi appear side by side, you can see the first one's Power, and you decide whether the second is higher or lower. Get it right and the second character becomes the new reference; get it wrong and the run is over. It is one of the quickest Naruto games online to pick up, and the fastest way to find out whether your idea of the strongest Naruto characters matches the numbers.

Every character in the pool has a Power rating displayed on a steep curve, so the gap between a genin and a Kage looks as dramatic as it feels in the series, and the gap between a Kage and the war's final villains looks bigger still. The pool is the strongest 150 characters of Part I or the strongest 200 of Shippuden, depending on the era you choose, so the late-war heavyweights only appear in Shippuden mode.

The daily run gives you a two-minute clock. Look at the current character's Power and tap Higher or Lower for the next one. Each correct call adds a point and slides the board along, so the character you just guessed becomes the next reference.

Your score climbs a shinobi rank ladder as you go: Genin at 1 point, Chunin at 3, Jonin at 5, Elite Jonin at 8, Anbu at 12, Sannin at 17, Jinchūriki at 23, Kage at 30, Legendary Shinobi at 38 and The Strongest at 47. The run ends when you miss or when the clock reaches zero, and your best score goes to the daily leaderboard.

You get one daily run plus one spare life a day. The life can either continue a run right after a mistake or start a second daily run, whichever you need first, and the clock pauses while you decide. Classic mode adds two practice runs a day with no clock and a spare life of its own; those runs do not count for the leaderboard.

Think in tiers before individuals. Kage, Sannin, Akatsuki members and jinchūriki cluster near the top of the scale, genin and chūnin near the bottom, and most mistakes come from comparing two characters from the same tier. When that happens, ask who actually won or would win the fight in the series, not who is more popular.

Use the number on screen, not just the name. Because Power is shown on an exponential curve, a reference near the top of the scale means almost everyone who follows is lower, and a reference in the low thousands means almost everyone is higher. Save your careful thinking for the middle of the range.

Respect the clock. Two minutes goes quickly, and a run that ends on time scores exactly the same as one that ends on a mistake, so do not stall on easy calls. Use Classic mode to learn the scale first.