Board Thread:Naruto Discussions/@comment-31278419-20170309233927/@comment-31099706-20170310121757

And imo the anbu weren't filled with super powerful ninjas. just a select few of skilled ninjas for stealth missions maybe. they seemed to be more of assasians than warriors/ninjas. and might gai was more of a fighter he did not have the ability to easily infeltrate places. uchiha itachi, kakashi, yamato were more than likely the last of their powerful shinobis. maybe it's because of the lack of war. or because of danzo's need for the shinobi's only for his secret root anbus. they all seemed stronger. And the fact there's a fact that the village just can't take all of the good ones with them, since skilled jonins are needed to teach the new fresh genins. They might as well improvise.

And shikamaru is very smart in battles but he is also very weak in most battles involving brute strength. He can only improvise with the given situation and also the fact that his enemies believe him to be not much of match is also a big facter for his fights. But in the end he is best in team fights with more combat specialists than him so he could lead them while they can follow him. In a one on one he could be at a very high risk like the battle with the sound four's tayuya. He was saved by temari in the final moment but he surely gave a fight. And the ranks are mostly given to mentally fit ninjas then just with brute strength and power.