The entirety of Naruto's skill set and tactics all fall in the line of hard core and intense training, aside from the powerup given by Hagoromo and Bijuu Mode.
Before I even make a deep analysis, Naruto would never have had the stamina/chakra to pull most of these techniques off by himself. His own chakra was mixed in with Kurama's, so at an early stage he was already being pumped by the Kyuubi thanks the 4th. Naruto was never really born a genius, he was just born lucky in a sense. Always given the right pieces in play.
Shadow clones > Naruto had to train for hours (or was it all day and night?) just to master the technique.
Rasengan > Do I have to explain why this technique took such an ample amount of time? It lasted the entire Hokage retreival mission arc just for him to learn it, and mind you he only peformed it once at the last minute before the arc itself ended.
Summoning Jutsu > His first try he summoned a tadpole, and it took quite a while for him to master the technique, and even that he could not do without Kurama's chakra.
Rasenshuriken > Same with the Rasengan except watered down due to the shadow clone method, he still had to train incredibly
Time skip > Mastering his already known skills to a new level.
Rasenshuriken > Self explantory
Sage Mode > Self Explantory
KCM > Could not do without the help of his mother, and Killer Bee.
Shushin (KCM) > Had to get used to moving at incredible high speeds
Bijuu Mode + Sage Mode > Did not come "naturally" --It wasn't hard to begin with, Kurama noted that it did not work earlier because Kurama would not synch his body with Ma and Pa. Though now that Kurama trusted him, you can understand the rest.
BIjuudama > He trained throughout the War Arc, and that mastery applies when he learned BM. It wasn't instantly granted, Naruto had to master the chakra ratios.
Most of Sasuke's training in Part 2 came from MS/EMS - Mind you, that was not really training at all.
I didn't ask you to give reasons justifying that Naruto isn't a genius. I already know that. And neither did I demand a list of his efforts. I’m well aware of them. All you basically did was to prove that Naruto wasn't quite a prodigy and that he worked hard (I completely agree with it), which was probably the most futile effort of countering my argument as well as composing a useless reply. YOU need some schooling…
Let me get some things in your mind. And for that, I’ll address two points (which is also the summary of the following explanation):
1. Naruto has considerable natural ability to aid in his learning. It isn’t all down to his hard work. He didn’t come to this point based on hard work only.
2. Naruto worked hard, but not as much as you seem to be implying. You’re exaggerating his hard work.
Naruto has natural ability:
It’s true that Naruto wasn’t a genius. But he wasn’t something ordinary either. He was special and super lucky. Being Ashura’s transmigrant, he had significant natural potential accompanied by all the benefits of naturally having tons of chakra and insane amount of luck augmented by Minato and Kushina's chakra that helped him on his way augmented by Kurama's leaked chakra augmented by complete access to Bijuu Mode (thanks to Kurama) augmented by the Sage's endowment of chakra. He was overflowing with luck and natural ability because of all that. Plus, his chakra didn’t blossom due to hard work like Ashura. He was endowed with an already blossomed chakra from Ashura.
Status of Naruto's hard work:
Naruto sure did a lot of hard work. Who denied that? But his success isn’t all down to his hard work. It depends a lot on his natural ability as well, as mentioned above. And the main thing is Naruto only worked hard, NOT intense, or long. He learned everything so swiftly because of his shadow clones, it didn’t really cause much learning stress or rigor. Although the training wasn’t easy, but it was easier than what it could have been. And due to his ability, it also wasn’t quite intense. Its general hard work ninjas do. Sasuke did it as well (although not as much as Naruto). And Naruto’s training covered such a short span of time for the very same reason. He was able to learn jutsus quickly. He worked hard but not as hard as you seem to be implying. You’re just exaggerating the stretch of time it took Naruto to master those techniques. Even Kakashi said that Sasuke mastered techniques in days, whereas Naruto can do the same in couple of hours. You think that has nothing to do with natural ability? Despite not being a genius, he learned everything so quickly. So where do you think that is coming from? Is it all without innate capability?
And because of that, you can hardly put Naruto’s training under the “hardcore” category.
Comparison to Sasuke:
This is your biggest perception flaw. You think that all of Naruto’s progress is owed to his hard work ONLY (aside from obvious endowments), and are completely ignoring his natural potential and ability. And you’re saying all of Sasuke’s progress is because of his natural talent and ability ONLY (aside from obvious endowments), and you’re completely neglecting his hard work.
And whatever you said about Naruto, I can say about Sasuke. But I don’t want to get into that. I'll just mention it slightly. Just consider the time period after Academy. He was determined to enter the squad at any cost. He wasn't giving up or ready to postpone his entry. And determination leads to hard work. Also, he worked really hard for Chunin exams. Not to mention all the struggle he had with the Curse Mark. And after losing to Gaara, he was even more determined to train harder. He had a goal set in mind, he had to work really hard for that. He wasn't just casually growing strong. He trained with Orochimaru to polish his skills. In addition to that, during the 3 year time skip, he trained much harder, as was evident at the beginning of Part 2 that he had lots of new jutsus up his sleeve whereas Naruto was just the same old thing. Shadow clones, Rasengan, and Kurama's aid in anger. Naruto worked hard to develop Rasenshuriken. Do you think Kirin was just a random experiment? Just because Sasuke's training isn't portrayed doesn't mean he isn't doing any training or hard work. And acquiring MS/EMS is different from actually mastering it. Sasuke had to put in effort to master it, probably manipulating Amaterasu flames on Susanoo. Just because MS/EMS grant a certain ability doesn't mean you have to do nothing in order to master it. And just because Sasuke's practice with those things isn't shown, doesn't mean he isn't doing it as well.
All I want to say is that, Naruto worked quite hard, harder than Sasuke, but his natural ability plays a significant role in his advancement. And that Sasuke has natural talent, even more so than Naruto, but he still worked really hard to come to this level.
When you compare Naruto's hard work to Sasuke's, you really don't see a lot of difference. There is certainly a difference, Naruto worked harder since he wasn't a prodigy, but not a lot of it to consider it significant, because Sasuke ALSO worked hard a lot, and Naruto ALSO possessed natural adeptness.
"Naruto really didn't work that hard in comparison to Sasuke" means his hard work doesn't stand out much when compared with Sasuke because although he worked quite hard, Sasuke was also really dedicated in working hard. It doesn't mean from any angle that he didn't do hard work at all. Or that he relies completely on natural talent.
Since when does being an ashura transmigrant grant the ability to learn powerful jutsu? Do you have any scans? To support your claims?
No, I don't have any scans since Ashura wasn't portrayed at all, and because nobody ever talked about Naruto's special capabilites with relevance to Ashura since nobody knew he was Ashura's reincarnation. Although you can consider that whatever unique thing was mentioned regarding Naruto's chakra was because of Ashura's chakra, but it wasn't specifically told because nobody knew about it. But I do have common sense to infer that.
Ashura inherited Sage's inferior chakra genes, and he worked hard to catch up with his brother, due to which his chakra blossomed and he gained the same power as Indra (according to the Sage). Naruto however, didn't have to do much hard work Ashura did, since he was endowed with the already blossomed Ashura's chakra. And having an already blossomed Ashura's chakra that could rival Indra i.e. Sasuke, don't you think he gets the ability to learn powerful jutsus? Although not to Sasuke's level, but atleast to some extent?
