14 replies to this topic

[ramenanmitsu]

Just as the title says. I want to discuss who is the most intelligent character in terms of battle, rather than relying on the hype but actual feats. Hype says Shikamaru, Feats says Naruto (imo). 
 
(Edit: My definition of battle smart: The ability to analyze and think of a counter or solution against the enemy on the spot. )
 
In my opinion, Naruto shows the most intelligence in terms of battle smart. 
[Naruto] 
Vs. Zabuza: Henge'd into a weapon and caught the high-ranked missing-nin by surprise from behind. 
Vs. Kiba: Henge'd to Kiba, confusing both Kiba and Akamaru. 
Vs. Neji: Digged a hole while tricking Neji to believe that he was defeated and attacked Neji from below. 
Vs. Pein: Henge'd into multiple rocks and deceiving a S-ranked shinobi. 
Vs. Third Kazekage: Noticed the contradiction of the having the strongest pike and shield at the same time. (Oh btw, in Japanese the word contradiction is written as 矛盾. 矛 means pike, and 盾 means shield. The word "contradiction" was probably derived from the Western countries.) Used his rasengan to direct Third Kazekage's attack and destroy either his offensive strike or his defensive body. 
Vs. Obito: Realized that only Senjutsu are effective and attacked Obito from the back. 
 
Regarding other characters....
2. [Sasuke]
Vs. Sound Three: Hid his weapons in his fire attacks. 
Vs. Deidara: Figured out he was a rock type by analyzing the mines after hitting them with a chidori senbon. Used his sword as a footing on the spot so he won't get blasted. Tricked Deidara into believing he died. 
Vs. Obito and Madara: Continuously analyzing the attacks and relaying information to Naruto. 
 
However, compared to Naruto, many of his battle victories could be attributed to skills instead of intelligence and trickery.  
 
3. [Sakura]
Vs. Sound Ninja: Tricking the sound ninja into believing she was a kawarimi
Vs. Sasori: Showed that she collapsed only to destroy the Kazekage puppet, Dodging Sasori's moves by analyzing his finger patterns
Vs. Zetsu: Exposed him
Vs. Kiba, Rock Lee, Sai: Made them believe she was going to fight, only to bring them down by 
smoke bombs. 
 
Not ranked in top three
[Shikamaru]
For all the praise there is on Shikamaru, when you compare how his intelligence contributed in this war with Naruto and Sasuke, I have to say I'm not impressed. He wants to be Naruto's strategist, but he is still standing on the same spot for 70+ chapters, with no solution on how to defeat the enemy so far. During this time, Naruto has figured out that only a Senjutsu-based attack will work on Obito, and Sasuke has analyzed how Obito and Madara's attacks work. 
 
Shikamaru has proven his street smart in part 1 but I have yet to see it in part 2.
(Edit:I didn't include his fight with Hidan because he had a lot of prep time, and it doesn't fit my definition of battle smart above. )
 
So, what do you think of this list? Do you agree with Naruto being the smartest character? 
Remember, I'm not talking about academically smart. 

Edited by ramenanmitsu, 09 May 2014 - 05:06 PM.

[Greed-Sama]

Shikamaru has proven his street smart in part 1 but I have yet to see it in part 2. 

 

 

Oh, yeah. I must have forgotten all about the Immortal Akatsuki being taken down by Shikamaru with barely a scratch on him. 

 

And you also picked the 3 main characters as most intelligent. You do know that we've seen them the most, so that would skew the results, right? 

 

Not saying that Naruto isn't smart, though I would use the word clever and adaptable rather than smart, but would it really make sense for you to see the heroes greatest feats be performed by Shikamaru...? 

[Liu bie]

you forgot Minato, those videos in you tube of Naruto shippuden fights. Minato vs Obito that Night where  Kurama attack Konoha. He were  all the time   talking himself and analyzing.

[ramenanmitsu]

 

Oh, yeah. I must have forgotten all about the Immortal Akatsuki being taken down by Shikamaru with barely a scratch on him. 

 

And you also picked the 3 main characters as most intelligent. You do know that we've seen them the most, so that would skew the results, right? 

 

Not saying that Naruto isn't smart, though I would use the word clever and adaptable rather than smart, but would it really make sense for you to see the heroes greatest feats be performed by Shikamaru...? 

Shikamaru took down Hidan with a lot of prep time, just like how Konan took down Tobi with a lot of prep time as well. Therefore, I didn't really consider it as "battle smart". Intelligent yes, but not in terms of battle where you have to act on the spot, if you know what I mean. 

 

Your second part. That's exactly the part I was afraid of. While writing this post I was thinking....doesn't this just show who's got the most battles to prove them? But I think the list proves true for quality as well. 

 

On the third part, I was aiming more for street smart. And why not? We've seen him do some great feats in part 1. I just don't see him using those abilities in part two for the amount of panels he has. 

 

 

 

you forgot Minato, those videos in you tube of Naruto shippuden fights. Minato vs Obito that Night where  Kurama attack Konoha. He were  all the time   talking himself and analyzing.

What part of the fight proved Minato to be smart? Could you please elaborate?

 

And I'm only listing the top three, so if there is any character on the list Minato is smarter than please tell me.

Edited by ramenanmitsu, 09 May 2014 - 05:57 AM.

[Branden]

I'm pretty sure it's Naruto. He's constantly being told he has surpassed the previous generations and is always in the spotlight showcasing his innovative on the fly fighting style.

 

He has also fought a wide range of unique and powerful opponents that often have a notable advantage over him. These fights have given him wisdom and combat experience.

[Gojira]

Probably Shikamaru, Sasuke or Naruto.

[narusaku256]

Sasuke has more of a skill oriented approach! Naruto, I don't know why it sounds a bit weird but Naruto is a quick thinker. Notice how fast he comes up with counter strategies! His grasping of things is quite strong!

[BakeNeko-Chan]

I think Naruto is a very good tactical fighter, he's adaptable and quick on his feet as opposed to someone like Shikamaru who is highly intelligent but requires a lot of thought and planning before he executes a strategy. Though Shikamaru did show quite a bit of on the spot quick thinking in part one.

 

That said, it is difficult to make an adequate comparison because, obviously, Naruto has gotten the bulk of the fights throughout the series. I don't feel I can't conclusive say Naruto is the most battle smart, but he's definitely not stupid or just a berserker relying on brawn.

 

Sasuke, I would say he's smart, but I think he relies more on his natural skill than on the trickery or smokescreens we've seen Naruto use to get an edge on an opponent. Sasuke is good at analyzing his opponents, but his sharingan is what gives him the upper hand there -- literally allowing him to see things others can't.

 

What we've seen of Sakura in battle suggests she also has tactical skill to back up her raw strength, but again, it's hard to place her on a scale since she's not had a lot of chances to really showcase her battle smarts. She had to do some quick thinking against Sasori and she was able to analyze him without the benefit of the sharingan like Kakashi or Sasuke, which I feel shows impressive battle instincts. I just wish there was more to go on to really be able to say where Sakura actually measures up to some of the other characters in terms of battle intelligence.

Edited by BakeNeko-Chan, 09 May 2014 - 07:11 PM.

[Sakamaki Izayoi]

I would vote for Shikamaru because all the others let the villain to achieve their full potential in battle.
On Kisame vs Gai, he could have defeated him right on his weakest form but Bee and Gai managed to let him touch his sword and replenish his chakra.
Madara basically everyone, even Naruto, Sasuke and others let him both Obito and Madara achieve their full potential many times.

[Darth Krypt]

Madara. Because everything was just as planned. Aizen would be proud.

[xxRomanceGirlxx]

I'd have to say Naruto as well. He's not the smartest in everything and can do stupid things sometimes, but his battle strategies is definitely not one of those cases. I was kind of struggling to answer because I'm sure people like Kakashi, Sasuke, Sakura, and Shikamaru all have really strong battle smarts, but what makes Naruto special is his ability to improvise. He doesn't need to plan ahead as much as them because he thinks of things on the spot and that kind of ability is especially useful in battle.  And he's very creative and not opposed to trickery or deception in battle which brings nice element of surprise.

 

But, as someone else said, this is hard to measure. I'm pretty sure everything has strengths and flaws in their battle tactics and that some of the others might have skilled strengths while fighting in certain things that Naruto isn't as great at.  

Edited by xxRomanceGirlxx, 10 May 2014 - 09:37 AM.

[James S Cassidy]

One problem I find is that the battles you have shown, while good examples, it is only part of the battle. Naruto didn't win on his own smarts and some even required teamwork effort. Sure, the Neji and Kiba fights was purely Naruto on his own, the rest actually required some outside input. Naruto learned of Pein's technique through Jiraiya and the Frogs thus being prep-time. Kakashi helped with Obito's fight and provided some tactical input as well as Kurama who came up with some ideas. Naruto did have a good plan with Minato's ability and it worked.

Zabuza fight also required effort of his teammates as well especially Sasuke who needed to basically add his own touch to the plan which made it more effective. It is also hard to judge Naruto's combat knowledge as even sometimes he forgets his own plans. During the Obito fight, he was about rush in if someone didn't stop him and reminded him of what he just said several seconds ago.
 

I don't know. Probably Madara is the best example of the best combat smarts. He not only has prep-time, but he always has a back door of sorts and knows a lot about techniques to think on the fly with.

Naruto's battle tactics are really unconventional and out of the box which is probably why they work.  They are unpredictable and thus not part of a standard combat strategy which is why many of his opponents are caught off guard. They also extremely underestimate Naruto's abilities and thus let their guard down which also plays an advantage. Plus, Naruto sometimes does things on a whim and not because he knows they will work. Sort of like a 50/50 shot that just so happens to work.

I don't know. I'd give it to Madara with Naruto and Sasuke being even in second. Madara has always been one step ahead and always found a way out so far.

 

The other problem I face is that some of these characters never fight long or have only a few battles under their belt while Naruto has basically been fighting almost every enemy. The Sasuke retrieval arc showed many members of the group being capable of thinking on the fly, but sadly this was their only battle really. Hinata, Ten-Ten, and a few others have rarely shown feats or merits of it.

Edited by James S Cassidy, 10 May 2014 - 11:12 AM.

[Ace of Circle]

Naruto is the most unpredictable,but/and Shikamaru uses his surroundings more

[Iwantbuns]

Shikamaru is probably the most strategic and intelligent in battle

[Shadow1275]

wait a minute, Naruto won a poll concerning brains