Naruto Sharingan

Yeh Deidara's a genius, albeit in a different way to shikamaru. Shikamaru relies on his intelligence to set his opponenet up and predicts their moves, deidara's style is more of a gambler. He adapts to the situation quickly no matter what happens and is ready to take a bit of a risk to achieve his objective

Yes, Deidara and Shikamaru fight differently but they are both TACTICAL geniuses. They can be considered geniuses because of the mental effort they put into the fight. They are smart and easily adapt their surroundings, they outsmart the opponent by doing what is risky or unexpected - and when they win, there is a sense that they've earned the win against the odds.

When someone with a blood limit or Gaara wins, on the other hand, it's expected and less seen as a win from hard work (even if it is) than as a truely talented person proving their superiority. The deeper one delves (in a way an audience can but other characters can't) the more one sees the effort involved in these "geniuses" mastering of their bloodlines or techniques. But they aren't called geniuses for this effort. When an Uchiha or Hyuuga is called a genius, which is just a term for their innate skills or Bloodline, it is used in the way we might call someone a child prodigy.

Naruto is once again an exception because he is never called a genius yet he bridges these two types of genius fighters. Our protagonist can win a fight tactically - by being creative and tricking his opponent. He fights this way against Kiba and against Zabuza. He primarily uses Henge and Kage Bunshin for a tactical advantage. But Naruto also has the Kyuubi Chakra inside him and once he masters use of it (or atleast teaches himself how to tap into it - mastery will hopefully come later), this is a powerful weapon. It allows him to Summon and to Rasengan - these skills are power attacks not trickery. Having Kyuubi is the only way he has a fighting chance against opponents who are from genius clans like Haku, Neji, Gaara (not bloodline but certainly a prodigy) and Sasuke.

Naruto's intellegence is always underestimated - just because he isn't sneaky smart or book smart, can't memorize stuff and is gulible doesn't make his an idiot. Properly reading people and being able to use determination to think outside the box is brillance of another form. Creativity is the ultimate intellegence - to be able to fix a problem by whipping up something all together unexpected is an amazing gift ... far greater than copying knowledge or manipulation of surroundings.

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There are fighters to rely PRIMARILY on gifts inherited or given at birth - fighters like this include Ino, Chouji, Kiba, Shino, Gaara, Kimimaro, Uchiha and Hyuuga clan members. The ones who specialize in bloodlimits (vs something just passed down) and Gaara are considered prodigies and thus called geniuses.

There are fighters who rely on PRIMARILY on their intellect and trickery. These include anyone who didn't have the fortune to inherit gifts (like pretimeskip Sakura and Konohamaru) or anyone who tends to use those skills toward confusing the opponent or as a backup/final stroke after the trickery was successful. These folks, when they are called geniuses, it usually is an earned term that refers to their mental capabilities and implimentation.

BUT this can be further divided into fighters who fight tactically and plan far in advance like Shikamaru and Kakashi (both have inherited or bloodline skills but tend to use them only as a complement to their battle plan) AND fighters who don't plan but are brilliant at adaptation and thinking on their feet like Naruto, Deidara (both probably have gifts inherited or given at birth - Kyuubi and the reason Deidara would be called a rock genius - but this complements a trickier fighting style as trump card finishing blows) and Kabuto. The latter catergory can be even further divided. Naruto fits in the group of those with a moral underpinning and thus, there is a limit to how far a fighter like this will create chaos with their trickery. Naruto's attack and manipulation is always aimed at the shinobi opponent ... never innocent civilians or himself (with the mild exception of when his bunshins fight eachother). On the other hand, Deidara, Sasori and other amoral fighters are willing to go to extreme measures for their aims - including threaten the destruction of an entire village or becoming nothing more than a fleshy disk within his puppets. For amoral fighters, the final trump card isn't a developed move like Rasengan but their unexpected willingness to go so far.

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Naruto simply put, fights by instinct. Sometimes that instinct is to use stratergy and trickery - his "heaven" and sometimes, against villians who are too smart to be easily tricked and too powerful for your normal ninjutsus, he pulls out his almighty trump card, The giantic "earth" Kyuubi provides. I agree he will become most powerful when he learns how to mess the two and fight with both simultaniously, but give the poor guy a break. His "earth" not only puts a huge mental strain on him but is still under development. This is the first time we are seeing him use his "earth" to this degree ... and it's only the 2nd time he's ever 4-tailed period. I think in time he will grow more control over his Kyuubi powers ... enough control that he will be able to mentally stay focused enough to incorporate some "heaven" too .... and at that point it'll be REALLY fun to watch!

# posted by Lexiefaye @ 2/06/2006