Board Thread:Theories and Speculation/@comment-26388300-20160325102110/@comment-26773508-20160416112358

Lulcielid wrote: Having a bigger skillpool doesn´t necesarily make Sasuke superior to Naruto, for example a martial artist "X" that has 15 different techniques vs martial artist "Y" that has just 1 technique but "Y" wins cause that 1 technique alone can singlehandly trump the other 15 techniques (an in-universe example would be a Truth-Seeking Ball user vs any other non TSB user). Yes that's true. I'm just talking about who's more impressive. They're both equal in power in manga lore. But as others have stated, Naruto isn't like DBZ where if A>B and B>C, then A>C. Imagine there's a villain stronger in power than both Naruto and Sasuke. Who do you think is more likely to take down that villain, Naruto or Sasuke? Naruto has Kage Bunshin, Rasengan-variants, Kurama Mode and Bijuu Dama. Sasuke not only has incredibly versatile base ninjutsu skillset, but his Rinnegan also has teleportation, chakra-absorption ability, Chibaku Tensei (and Deva Path by extention), Perfect Susanoo, Amaterasu, Kagutsuchi, high-level genjutsu, etc. He also likely has all the Six Paths of Pain and maybe even the Outer Path. Naruto only has brute force. Sasuke has brute force and more. Admittedly, his brute force isn't comparable to Naruto, but he can make up to it by Perfect Susanoo.

So in a battle against an opponent who is superior in power, a varied skillset such as high-level genjutsu, Six Paths of Pain, Perfect Susanoo, etc. can go a long way into distracting the opponent and catching him by surprise, which dramatically increases the chances of taking the opponent out. Naruto, on the other hand, will be just doing Kage Bunshin, Rasenshuriken and Bijuu Dama. Since the opponent is superior in power, Naruto may not be able to tank the opponent's attacks without getting seriously injured.

It is in situations like these that a versatile skillset comes in hand. Instead of just going around tanking nuclear blasts and trying to hit your opponent with a Rasenshuriken, a high-level genjutsu and the Rinnegan jutsus can mislead the opponent and turn the tide of the battle. That's how Itachi can beat almost any shinobi in the series, despite having lower chakra reserves. Brute force can only take you so far. If one knows how to misdirect people, half the battle is won.