Board Thread:Naruto Discussions/@comment-31948035-20170717011649/@comment-32569165-20170718111559

Kakashisologod1 wrote: DanteofSixPaths wrote:

@Rachin123 I'm not talking about in-series, I'm talking about his fanbase. Put Itachi up against anyone, they'll say Itachi will find some way to "outsmart" his opponent. What I'm trying to point out is that Itachi has never actually done that before, most of his techniques are used without any strategy at all. Yet if he goes up against somebody like Naruto, Sasuke, Obito, or Madara who're generally impervious to his techs, his fans say he'll use his intelligence to fill the huge gap between his power and theirs. Thats like a 1 person out of 1000,i love itachi but i will never say he could outsmart and beat EMS madara for example. Outsmart yes, Beat quite impossible.

Itachi is classes above Sasuke when it comes down to tactics. He is pretty much on Shikamaru's level, the fact that he thought about using Shisui's eye on Sasuke(and it will only work if he had Itachi's eyes) is more than enough proof. He thought about the outcome of the battle and made it seem as if he was trying to kill Sasuke the whole time, then he had planted Amaterasu(unknowing "Madara's" abilities) into Sasuke to get rid of him, so he wouldn't talk. Then even if "Madara" survived and somehow managed to convince Sasuke of the truth, he still had another back-up plan if the first one failed. He is essentially thinking a few steps of head.

No of course he cannot defeat the God tiers of Naruto(a.k.a Naruto, Sasuke, Madara, Hashirama, Juubito, Kaguya, Hagoromo, Hamura, maybe Nagato), but he would still be a match for many great shinobi.