Minato is the biggest prodigy in the series. From the time he was in the academy Minato was known as a genius. He also held the highest chunin exam test score ever in konoha history. After graduating the academy his sensei was Jiriaya and he became the world's youngest Kage (now gaara is the youngest Kage at 16) He invented the rasengan, perfected and improved upon tobirama’s flying raijin and he mastered and perfected Sage mode. Everyone who spoke about Minato regarded him as a genius. He was believed to have been the child of prophecy and a natural prodigy that appears only once in a generation. He saved kushina from hidden cloud jonin, while he was a Genin. The 9 tail fox himself who had fought hashirama many times regarded Minato as a Shinobi on the same caliber as Hashirama! Minato also learned sealing jutsu of the legendary Uzumaki clan. The raikage said Minato was so talented he didn't believe anyone would ever surpass him. He was literally a one man army and defeated battalions of Shinobi in the third great shinobi war by himself. Opposing nations were ordered not to engage, and had flee-on-sight orders if they seen him. Minato also said he wasn’t good at Sage mode however…Minato was being humble. He has the markings of a PERFECT SAGE!!! and used the mode without summoning ma and pa like Jiraiya! He was also able to instantly enter Sage mode without sitting down to gather energy like Naruto! Remember Minato is a prodigy, so his definition of good is different than ours. Minato is not from any special clan or bloodline and was still was able to become strong enough to overwhelm tailed beast and become one of the strongest Kages ever. Not only can he deduce an opponents abilities in mere seconds but he can also come up with the best strategies. That’s why he’s so great