Who is the Smartest Character in Naruto?

[BLEACHurFACE]

shikamaru! of course

[Paradice]

Hard to say but since shikamaru has the highest possible IQ possible, can you be smarter than that?

[Mareep]

Shikamaru
His father could be smarter but Shikamaru has just the swag

[spiral167]

definitely shikamaru

[IronMonkeyFist]

Y'all gotta be stupid. IQ !=! intelligence. They usually go hand in hand but that is not 100% the case.

Itachi is the most intelligent character in Naruto thus far, followed by Minato and Nagato.

[-Omega-]

Originally Posted by IronMonkeyFist

Itachi is the most intelligent character in Naruto thus far, followed by Minato and Nagato.

I'm not necessarily disputing the claim, but what are basing that on?

[IronMonkeyFist]

Originally Posted by -Omega-

I'm not necessarily disputing the claim, but what are basing that on?

Itachi has displayed in his genius in combat and understanding the human condition. His whole take on reality and death and what it means to be human is just so profound it's incredible.

Nagato's genius shines in similar ways, though it's gotten less, "screen time" if you would let me put it that way. While it's obvious Nagato is a prodigy and a genius in terms of battle, the way he looks at mankind and war ought to be the most meaningful one I've seen so far.

Minato's intelligence mainly comes from his tactical mind and fighting genius. He's a shrewd as f*ck person, as Jiraiya said so himself, and he always seems to have something on his sleeve. The way he handled Tobi for example, that was crazy. The same goes for his encounter with A and B. He seemed to have analysed B and identified a potential problem in the future in regards to his jinchuuriki status - mere minutes after meeting him.

Intelligence cannot merely be summed up by a number you receive as a result from a test you take. Intelligence takes all kinds of shapes and forms and goes well beyond what you "know".

[AkikoHime81]

Originally Posted by IronMonkeyFist

Intelligence takes all kinds of shapes and forms and goes well beyond what you "know".

Yes. And because of this there are actually more than one character in Naruto/Naruto Shippuden that can be considered "intelligent", only that they show their intelligence in various ways, from making strategies, conducting valuable experiments, inventing jutsus, mastering jutsus, when fighting on the battlefield, and even when creating schemes/plot that involves understanding human condition.

Because I admire the last one I chose Itachi as my version of the smartest character in Naruto.

[IronMonkeyFist]

Originally Posted by AkikoHime81

Yes. And because of this there are actually more than one character in Naruto that can be considered "intelligent", only that they show their intelligence in various ways, from making strategies, conducting valuable experiments, inventing jutsus, mastering jutsus, when fighting on the battlefield, and even when creating schemes/plot that involves understanding human condition.

I don't contest that.

Though I will vehemently disagree with anyone saying Shikamaru is the smartest character. For all his smarts, he had a hell of tough time dealing with Hidan who, despite being an S-ranked ninja, was dumb as hell.

Shikamaru wouldn't last against the likes of Itachi, Nagato, Kakashi, Jiraiya and many other top tier characters who are actually smart in more ways than one.

[AkikoHime81]

Originally Posted by IronMonkeyFist

I don't contest that.

Though I will vehemently disagree with anyone saying Shikamaru is the smartest character. For all his smarts, he had a hell of tough time dealing with Hidan who, despite being an S-ranked ninja, was dumb as hell.

Shikamaru wouldn't last against the likes of Itachi, Nagato, Kakashi, Jiraiya and many other top tier characters who are actually smart in more ways than one.

My version of the smartest character in Naruto is also Itachi, because I admire his intelligence outside and on the battlefield, and also all over the story plot.

I think that most of the people will be fast in deciding Shikamaru as the smartest character in Naruto because it is his salient feature as a character, therefore they may have the tendency to ignore other characters' intelligence because those other characters have other capabilities than just intelligence (which of course doesn't mean that their intelligence is below Shikamaru's; but intelligence is not their most notable characteristic). Shikamaru on the other hand, other than his Kage Mane, doesn't have any other salient feature, for example Sharingan, Rinnegan, speed, Sage mode, etc. So, during critical times, if the key person is Shikamaru then it is mostly his intelligence that saves the day. Of course he wouldn't last against such characters, but it is not because he lacks intelligence, but because he lacks other capabilities (for example: the ninjutsus mastered).