<p>Tobirama,itachi,orochimaru,hiruzen,shikamaru,kabuto,madara,kakashi and minato. </p>

<p>I'm going to go ahead and say something extremely unexpected. </p><p>Naruto. </p><p>[Intelligence is a] very general mental capability that, among other things, involves the ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend complex ideas, learn quickly and learn from experience. It is not merely book learning, a narrow academic skill, or test-taking smarts. Rather, it reflects a broader and deeper capability for comprehending our surroundings—"catching on," "making sense" of things, or "figuring out" what to do.[ Gottfredson, Linda S. (1997). "Mainstream Science on Intelligence] </p><p>Well, Naruto does that. A lot, and very well. He reasons, plans, solves problems. He's not very good at abstract thinking because he never got taught that very well. However, he easily comprehends complex ideas. He lacks the knowledge to actually realize he does understand it. But i'll just remind people when he spread his chakra to the Alliance to facilitate their transport. he came up with the idea of spreading chakra, making contact to his father and so allowing him to transport everyone out. Since he was taught pretty poorly early in his life he was never taught properly about chakra, but nevertheless came up with the idea and executing it without fully understanding the mechanics behind them. He knew these mechanics had to exist, he simply lacked the knowledge to know what they were. </p><p>Similarly, he learned rasengan by dealing with his own problems and using his own strengths, had the emotional intelligence to stand up to Pain, and found creative ways to deal with Kaguya. </p><p>In the end, he's seen as stupid because he simply lacked years worth of education, because he lacked parents, their guidance and a school system fit for him. But he's a lot smarter than people give him credit for, and it's definitely acknowledged by even the ones considered the smartest like Tobirama and Minato. </p>

<div class="quote"><i> <p>BakumatsuWarrior wrote: A thread about smart shinobis but almost no mention of Tobirama? Really? Here's my list though, in no particular order: Black Zetsu, Tobirama, Madara, Itachi, Kakashi, Shikaku, Shikamaru. </p> </i></div>
<p>I mentioned tobirama as second smartest. </p><p>@Killman naruto definitely is really smart he showed his intelligence in the first battle with zabuza to rescue kakashi from the water prison, fooled kiba in the chunin exams, tricked neji wjth a bunshin, fooled kakazu, fooled the pains with transformation jutsu, understood and applied the principle s of wind release to make his rasenshuriken which minato couldn't do, learned rasengan in a week, and im sure there are few other s. However, I wouldn't say he is the smartest however, he does have many stupid moments and other people have slightly more impressive intelligence feats. </p>

<div class="quote"><i> <p>MlGshinobi wrote: however, he does have many stupid moments and other people have slightly more impressive intelligence feats. </p> </i></div>
<p>Yea but considering he started about ten miles behind on everyone due to his shitty past, the fact that the Academy caters only to the analytical type (which Naruto isn't), no parents to teach him and everyone's attitude towards him making him a prankster in stead of a proper school attendee, id say he does pretty well. most of his stupidity comes from lack of knowledge, not so much lack of actual understanding. </p>

<div class="quote"><i> <p>Thekillman wrote: </p> <div class="quote"> <p>MlGshinobi wrote: however, he does have many stupid moments and other people have slightly more impressive intelligence feats. </p> </i></div>
<p>Yea but considering he started about ten miles behind on everyone due to his shitty past, the fact that the Academy caters only to the analytical type (which Naruto isn't), no parents to teach him and everyone's attitude towards him making him a prankster in stead of a proper school attendee, id say he does pretty well. most of his stupidity comes from lack of knowledge, not so much lack of actual understanding. </p> </div> <p>I agree naruto 's slow start wasnt his fault. We see his intelligence from episode 1 when he learns the S rank shadow clone jutsu despite being called a failure. Don't think I underime his intelligence, id go as far to say he is smarter than kakashi because naruto uses his wits to best people he shouldnt be able to beat. Kakashi wins because he is better, but naruto just takes it a notch higher. But I can't say naruto is smarter than someone like tobirama who invented very complex jutsu from scratch when he wss almost always in battle. </p>

<p>@MlGShinobi, are you sure Kakashi doesn't win because he's intelligent as well? </p>

<p>Kakashi definitely wins because of his intelligence, sorry if I worded that wrong. But I think naruto does it on a higher level all though many might argue its only because of the plot, which I agree to an extent. But kakashi only uses his intelligence to beat people who are more or less on his level, zabuza is a prime example of that. In their first meeting, zabuza, despite kakashis intelligence tricked kakashi and got him in a water prison. At that point, team 7 really was screwed. But naruto a mere genin was able to come up with a strategy to free kakashi from the demon of the hidden mist, which he really shouldn't have been able to , and its a testament to his intelligence. Kakashi did a great job of using his dogs to sniff out zabuza by making him cut him and put the blood on his sword, but zabuza was someone in his league and they were more or less evenly matched. After that, kakashi gets floored in most of his other battles, although usually because of his low stamina, but for example he was unable to keep up with itachi's overlays in part one, and nearly got critically injured from itachis exploding shadow clone. Naruto on the other hand was able to outsmart someone like neji, who he should have had no chance of beating. I know the nine tails sort of bailed him out, but still he tricked neji in the end. Then the pain and kakazu fights are other examples of him beating people he shouldnt be able to beat. Kakashi wins because he is evenly matched or better, but naruto takes it fo the higher level by beating opponents who should have been able to stomp him. </p>

<p>I think Naruto is inherently supposed to be an intelligent person, but his social awkwardness leads him to look like a blunt fool. Not that any of that's his fault, however. </p>

<p>Yea, tbh naruto's personality put him in situations where people always tried to make him look dumb. Naruto just doesnt like being ignored. </p>

<div class="quote"><i> <p>Slaphappyjoy wrote: I think Naruto is inherently supposed to be an intelligent person, but his social awkwardness leads him to look like a blunt fool. Not that any of that's his fault, however. </p> </i></div>
<p>Well intelligence is a really broad concept. Naruto's understanding of things is very intuitive, which simply means he has to try a lot. Kurama enabled him to actually succeed this way. </p><p>As to Naruto beating people he shouldn't, Naruto is extremely unpredictable simply because he doesn't think like others do. Using Sexy Jutsu against Kaguya is what no sane ninja would even try. He uses unconventional tactics and jutsu, and that makes more experienced people's tactics and preconceptions fail. </p>