Board Thread:Theories and Speculation/@comment-26490760-20150926205437/@comment-26773508-20151005135236

Thekillman wrote: i forgot: "the next generation surpassing the previous" is not supposed to be taken literally, and of all things is not about power. It's a highly symbolic thing, where a disciple is able to achieve something their sensei was not. Someone like Part1 Konohameru would surpass Hiruzen if he managed to make a good Tea recipe that Hiruzen always failed at. That's what that sentence means. It's not about power. Naruto was said to surpass Kakashi when he got Rasenshuriken, even though it's fairly clear that Kakashi would at that point easily kick Naruto's ass. Same goes for Sage Mode and Jiraiya. The sensei had greater knowledge, power and far more experience and jutsu. Naruto simply achieved something they never managed to do. If we interpret it the way you're suggesting, then the word "surpass" becomes meaningless. I might as well say that I've surpassed my university professors when I can get more accurate data than my professors in one experiment prescribed in the syllabus. So the claim of me surpassing my professors based on just one feat is quite evidently ludicrous. I can only claim to surpass my professors when I have grasped all the basic intricacies of professional physics better than they do, and demonstrate that knowledge and skills by making contributions to the field that are much more groundbreaking than those made by my professors. Unless I do that, there's no meaning in claiming that I've surpassed my teachers.

So if Kishi meant that the new generation always surpassed the old, literally, then his statement turned out to be complete nonsense as the series progressed. If, on the other hand, Kishi meant it the way you interpret it, then again it turns out to be nonsense, since that interpretation simply renders the keyword of the statement (surpass) as totally meaningless. So it's nonsense either way.

P.S. Agree about Naruto's intuitive ability, though. However, one can still call him dumb in the normal sense of the word, since analytical skills are a must to understand and function well in the world. Intuition, in and of itself, has many pitfalls. Whereas analytical thinking and abstract thinking first builds on our intuitions to model the world, but also allows us to test our intuitions in a systematic way in order to determine whether our intuitions are in the right track or not.