The most intelligent character in the Narutoverse.

-Logic- · Jun 12, 2012

temitope said:
the most intelligent is......uchiha......itachi.....

Hell yeah! :ice:

vandell · Jun 12, 2012

God Of The Uchiha said:
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I've seen many threads arguing about Itachi's and Shikamaru's intelligence. I would like to clear things out once and for all so that the fanboys can be silenced. Let me start off by saying that I am indeed an Uchiha fanboy, however, I can acknowledge when any Uchiha would loose. I've admitted Itachi's defeat to several characters many a time, and with full confidence, and not out of reluctance. This will hopefully assure you that I'm not being too biased.

Let's start off with Itachi. We'll begin with some factual information:

Itachi has a 5 in intelligence, as does Shikamaru.

Itachi became an Anbu captain at the age of 13! A feat worthy of remark in a thread like this.

Itachi was born into the Uchiha clan as the eldest son of Mikoto and Fugaku Uchiha and was praised by all as the best of his generation, a genius above all others, even by the standards of the battle-adept Uchiha clan, Itachi's prowess far outshone their own. However, few could understand him. When he was only four, Itachi had already witnessed countless lives lost due to the Third Shinobi World War, which emotionally traumatised him and turned him into a pacifist. This is a brief summary of his intelligence. If you look at the parts in bold you'll notice that he was praised by many, and without a doubt already one of the most intelligent character introduced to the series.

At age 7, Itachi graduated from the Academy at the top of his class after only one year, mastered the Sharingan at age 8, passed the Chūnin Exams at age 10, enrolled in ANBU half a year later and became captain by 13. I'm sure the parts in bold surprise you.

When Itachi volunteered to fight Kakashi as they were coming for the Akatsuki in the early parts of the Shippuden, I'm sure he wasn't even scared. He managed to fend off Chiyo, Kakashi, Sakura and Naruto despite not having the Mangekyo Sharingan with him. Although he lost, he did his job, and if he wanted to I'm sure he could have done some serious damage.

One of the greatest feats that Itachi has achieved is breaking out of the Edo Tensei. Although many might argue that it was a completely lucky event and had nothing to do with intelligence. I beg to differ. If that was anyone else they would not have known what to do with KA. KA isn't, and was never supposed to be used for the Edo Tensei. The fact that Itachi, so quickly realized that he could break out of it with KA is tremendous and is also a monument to his intelligence.

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Just look at Kabuto's poor face, and his reaction. "Uchiha Itachi... he's clearly on another level to the others!" I wonder if Kabuto had Shikamaru in his mind when he was saying this :noc:

Here we see Itachi blocking Nagato's summon, so he can create a blind spot in the Rinnegan's shared field of vision! This is insanity, I don't know whether he figured this out on the spot, or he already knew about the Rinnegan's shared field of vision, but either way, Shikamaru would never have been able to do this. Some ask why this requires intelligence, it's a physical feat, no? That may hold some truth, but without intelligence such a feat could not have been executed.

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One of my favourite things I like to reminisce about is the time when Itachi analyzed Nagato's Chibaku Tensei. Something I doubt Shikamaru would have been able to do, please note that me saying Shikamaru not being able to analyze Chibaku Tensei properly is just my opinion, it holds no facts. Let's explore this feat.

Here we see Itachi noting almost instantly that is has a gravitational pull! This is ludicrous! What a genius!

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This is practically the same thing, he's analyzing it.

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Within seconds Itachi's already figured out Chibaku Tensei's weakness. What a genius! Note how he also says that you do not have to aim as it's gravitational pull will simply guide the attack. Shikamaru has nothing on this. They seem to think that tactically he's better, which is false.

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Notice how direct, and official Itachi is. He asks the right questions, and gets the job done.

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This is the final feat of Itachi that I'd like to get over with, as this thread has already become a wall of text!

Again, people seem to think that tactically Shikamaru has done more than Itachi, but they can't come up with a shred of evidence. In this fight Itachi teaches Kakashi about the Sharingan. IMO Kakashi got owned. Notice that in this picture Itachi is so calm, and seems to be formulating a plan.

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On the next page look at how direct, and sure Itachi's facial expression is.

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Here on the next page, Itachi absolutely trolls Kakashi. He performs a Water Style Jutsu without Kakashi even being able to see it even with the Sharingan.

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On the next page, I have to admit, even I was confused! Itachi creates a clone, before anyone can even notice it. It confused the living shit out of Kurenai.

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Even Kakashi, the man praised as an intellectual among his generation pales in comparison the Genius of Uchiha Itachi. He admits it himself. He also comments that Itachi hasn't even begun to show his true power, and proceeds to imply that he's simply toying with them.

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May I ask what Shikamaru was doing at age 7? What was Shikamaru mastering at age 8? When did Shikamaru pass the Chūnin Exams? When did Shikamaru enroll to become an Anbu Captain? When did Shikamaru ever, ever, do anything on the scale that Itachi has? When has he ever done something worthy of mention? I'll applaud him for the fact that Tobi mentioned he was a pain to fight, but apart from that, what other big time things has he achieved? Oh yeah, he hasn't done anything extremely special. Never. He wasn't doing any of that. Itachi has been shown to achieve great feats even at a young age. One thing I'd like to point out is that he became an Anbu Captain at age 13. Kakashi became a Jōnin at the age of 13, so technically Itachi was his boss U_U I'm sure we can all agree that Itachi is more intelligent than Kakashi, and already Itachi has achieved a higher rank than him, at the same age. Itachi has also owned Kakashi many times in battle.

I've analyzed the feats Itachi has achieved that I deemed worthy of being mentioned in this thread. If anyone dares to cross me then begin, list any amount of feats that Shikamaru has achieved, and none will match Itachi's. None.

IMO, Itachi beats Shikamaru in intelligence, all round too. He has come up with better tactics, and in seconds. Shikamaru would poop his pants if he saw Nagato's Chibaku Tensei, haha, believe me U_U

Thank you to all who read, please share so that the Shikamaru fanboys may be silenced.

Edit: I believe that my interpretation of intelligence derives from my deep love for Philosophy. Itachi seems to me the philosophic type, and as a result of his personality I've dubbed him the most intelligent. Some of his quotes still interest me, even today. Thanks to all who read.

I think that they are both incredibly intelligent, Itachi has just always had more at his disposal, and he has had an infinitely larger amount of drive than Shikamaru, who as we all know is lazy lazy lazy.

Now, a fact is that whenever Shikamaru makes a plan in battle, he always succeeds as far as the goal of the plan was. Tobi complemented Shikamaru on his intelligence, singling him out. And to the whole "Kakashi is as smart as Shikamaru" thing, I'll admit Kakashi is smart, but honestly, Naruto is the one that said that, and I wouldn't trust Naruto's judgements much at all, he's pretty biased in Kakashi's favor. For instance, I doubt anyone would say that Kakashi truly has a better sense of smell than Kiba, even though Naruto said so. So I will stick with my belief that Shikamaru is smarter than Kakashi.

Overall, it's really hard to tell, because of the difference in their power levels. Shikamaru has made a lot out of a little because he is so weak. For him, the only way to battle is with his intelligence, because as a ninja himself he is always the less powerful one. Itachi however has the massive power levels to go with his intelligence, so we haven't seen him fight purely with his intelligence as Shikamaru does. But he's a thinker.

In my opinion, Shikamaru has more tactical intelligence. In battle, he can make the best use of what he has at his disposal, better than Itachi, because that's all he does and the only way he can hope to win. He can create the best strategies overall. However, Itachi is more intelligent philosophically. He thinks about things like feelings and what makes people do things on a psychological level. He has a drive because he has thought these things through and seems to understand what is really important. Shikamaru hasn't thought those things, and hasn't come to those conclusions, which is why he is so lazy. That shows that Itachi is a better "thinker" than Shikamaru, but I believe that Shikamaru is a better "tactician". Thoughts?

The part in bold was a post made by Fizzy Drink who changed my mind completely, you should read all of it. I agree that Itachi is more philosophical and is a better "thinker" and I actually agree that Shikamaru is a better tactician simply because he does not have the Ninjutsu pool that Itachi does. For this reason, I dub Itachi the greatest thinker of all time, and Shikamaru one of the greatest (his dad's intelligence he has yet to beat) tacticians of all time. I'd still like to know what you guys think overall. I'm still convinced that overall it's Itachi.

i like the thread but itachi is third to me, the four hokage is first for knowing that his dna and his wife dna would make a monster power of a child and they did, he didn't have to die, he chose to because he knew his son would be better then him. tobi second for knowing to stop attacking the village until itachi was dead, itachi third for his battle skills and just you have to be smart to think under pressure. Orochimaru is four for been one of the few people who could have kill all the Akatsuki if he wanting to. all he had to do is kill Kimimaro and take the second hokage and the first hokage endo tensi and beat the crap out of them all, Shikamaru is fifth for just being smart

-Cerberus- · Jun 12, 2012

Tobi number 1

yondaimeminato · Jun 12, 2012

I have been reading naruto for more than 4 years, back and forth. From the very very beginning to the very latest chapter. To this day I have not seen anyone like yondaime minato. The only one who comes close to Yondaime Minato, is Uchiha Itachi.

LuckyIIIX · Jan 6, 2013

I believe his entire plan initially revolved around making Sasuke strong enough to face Uchiha Madara. Although, his plan to make Sasuke a hero failed, his plan to make Sasuke one of the strongest Ninjas in the Narutoverse is probably one of his most important accomplishments. He knew that in order to awaken the EMS, Sasuke would need to bare the Uchiha's Curse of Hatred, which is a reasonable answer to why Itachi chose to go the path he did for his brother. People always emphasize his failures, like he never took them in to account. He for the most part was able to pan out backups on top of backups which made him a very strategic character. And for the people who say that he was a philosophical genius, well you guys are definitely correct. Aside from producing many of the most insightful quotes in the manga, his philosophical intelligence was probably on par or maybe above Minato's and Jiraiya's, and very similar to the Will of Fire philosophy. May I also state that one of Itachi's biggest faults when he was alive was his arrogance that came from his intelligence and power, to which he admitted. In chapter 578 page 16 Itachi says, "your nature stays the same until you die... but I did die once...". This quote shows his character development from the time of his death and what he learned after being revived. He tried to make Kabuto understand, and Kabuto is still being forced to understand the significance of acknowledging one's limits, through the infinite loop set by Izanami. To accredit his intelligence during battle, his battle against Nagato demonstrated his ability to analyse and react in split seconds to understand Nagato's peripheral vision through the summons, and to defeat the Chibaku Tensei with just a little bit of observation. With all of this being said, my point is that Itachi was intelligent in many ways. He was a well rounded intelligent shinobi who used his tools to his disposal with the conscience of a pacifist. His intelligence varied from quick and speculative analysis to the self awareness of his own powers. Just wanted to put this out there to show my ideas on Itachi's thought processes on the reasoning for his actions. BTW his killing of his own clan has been explained very clearly so I don't feel like i have to mention the reasoning behind it, which is justified in his case.

Wood Release · Jan 6, 2013

Itachi is a better compromiser

I think that Shikamaru and Itachi are both vry close in my definition of intelligence but Itachi is smarter. I am not an Uchiha fanboy. Nagato and Rinnegan are more in my taste.

Varrah · Jan 13, 2013

Re: The most intelligent character in the Naruoverse.

-Logic- said:
The ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills. The way he absorbs and information and uses it is awesome.

Sasori is top-tier in this regard.

Owarij · Jan 13, 2013

I'll start of by saying its shikakku

but if you're excluding the nara
then here's some scans to show you who's next

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Right of the bat we were introduced to the theme that an uchiha genius is naturally better than the average genius like orochimaru etc..We've seen Orochimaru admit complete inferiority when it comes to Sasuke's genius at that age..

but it gets interesting with Itachi. considering the databook and manga states and portrays him as an elite among elites...a genius among geniuses.. he's better than the average genius who's already better than the geniuses of the World at Large...

A sannin genius, who hiruzen said, Like Minato was a genius that came once a decade.. a man bursting with talent.. was NOwhere near the level of an Uchiha genius, also if Orochimaru and Minato had equal hype, and oro admitted that the hype he got back then when compared to Sasuke's genius is stupid, who's to say Minato wasn't as well?

But that's just the overall aspect of talent as a ninja
if we are to find out who's more intelligent, just look at the feats displayed in the manga

Itachi, the moment chibaku tensei was cast , immediately , in seonds broke down the technique, found the weakness, and had time to explain it to naruto....People like to use Minato's feat of figuring out his tangibility as means to say he's the most intelligent.. a worthy feat, but not like it hasn't been done before....

Itachi graduated the academy at 7, mastered the sharingan at 8, and was enlisted into the anbu at 10, having one of the best academic repsheets to exist thus, 2nd only to kakashi who had many reasons for his more advance placement..... Itachi according to the academy teacher needed almost no help at all.. he breezed through the academy on his own, learning most things by himself, guidance was barely needed at all he says, which is weird because at that age a child needs tutoring...

He was able to figure out the eye connect of the rinnegan, something Jiraya was unable to do for chapter....He was able to use his kunai skills to formulate a plan and block of the connected vision with easy

When stuck in a predicament against ocular genjutsu,

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he showed that compared to him, sasuke's intelligence,tactical and analytical ability was just not close... as he easily devised a simple yet effective way to get out the genjutsu given their circumstances... I've seen no shinobi thus far, given manga feats that puts them as quick on the feat as Itachi.....

you may argue Minato is more intelligent, But Minato does not have enough feats to make that claim, as his one biggest thing is the tobi tangibility issue

Vin Thora · Jan 13, 2013

Owarij said:
I'll start of by saying its shikakku

but if you're excluding the nara
then here's some scans to show you who's next

You must be registered for see images

Right of the bat we were introduced to the theme that an uchiha genius is naturally better than the average genius like orochimaru etc..We've seen Orochimaru admit complete inferiority when it comes to Sasuke's genius at that age..

but it gets interesting with Itachi. considering the databook and manga states and portrays him as an elite among elites...a genius among geniuses.. he's better than the average genius who's already better than the geniuses of the World at Large...

A sannin genius, who hiruzen said, Like Minato was a genius that came once a decade.. a man bursting with talent.. was NOwhere near the level of an Uchiha genius, also if Orochimaru and Minato had equal hype, and oro admitted that the hype he got back then when compared to Sasuke's genius is stupid, who's to say Minato wasn't as well?

But that's just the overall aspect of talent as a ninja
if we are to find out who's more intelligent, just look at the feats displayed in the manga

Itachi, the moment chibaku tensei was cast , immediately , in seonds broke down the technique, found the weakness, and had time to explain it to naruto....People like to use Minato's feat of figuring out his tangibility as means to say he's the most intelligent.. a worthy feat, but not like it hasn't been done before....

Itachi graduated the academy at 7, mastered the sharingan at 8, and was enlisted into the anbu at 10, having one of the best academic repsheets to exist thus, 2nd only to kakashi who had many reasons for his more advance placement..... Itachi according to the academy teacher needed almost no help at all.. he breezed through the academy on his own, learning most things by himself, guidance was barely needed at all he says, which is weird because at that age a child needs tutoring...

He was able to figure out the eye connect of the rinnegan, something Jiraya was unable to do for chapter....He was able to use his kunai skills to formulate a plan and block of the connected vision with easy

When stuck in a predicament against ocular genjutsu,

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he showed that compared to him, sasuke's intelligence,tactical and analytical ability was just not close... as he easily devised a simple yet effective way to get out the genjutsu given their circumstances... I've seen no shinobi thus far, given manga feats that puts them as quick on the feat as Itachi.....

you may argue Minato is more intelligent, But Minato does not have enough feats to make that claim, as his one biggest thing is the tobi tangibility issue

Lol I hate the whole Itachi was protecting Konoha this whole time. Well, tbh, I hate Kishi for creating this ridiculous plot hole. Itachi trained under Tobi for some time ffs!!! I dont think Tobi was intangible the WHOLE time he was with Itachi; Itachi could've easily killed (decapitated) him anytime he wanted.

Also, everyone in Akatsuki trusted him. Why not kill Kisame, run off to another relatively weak team (rip Sasori's heart out and finish Deidara quickly), then move onto decapitating Hidan, and dealing with Kakuzu? All the Akatsuki were'nt together all the time, so he could've just gone on a rampage. BUT I dont blame Itachi for that; rather Kishi for that garbage storyline. Face it; he hasnt managed to protect ANYONE; rather brought about the destruction of his own clan.

People say he figured out how to beat Chibaku Tensei; he did, but any reasonably intelligent shinobi could figure out, but not necessarily have 2 jinchuuriki and an great arsenal of jutsus to destroy it. You clearly see everything around you being pulled up: you yourself are being pulled up by a black orb. What could you possibly do to stop being pulled up???????? Thats right, Itachi fans, DESTROY THE BLACK ORB!!!

Im not an Itachi hater: I quite like him, but please do go around overrating the man.

In terms of pure intelligence, Shikaku and Shikamaru surpass almost anyone. Shikamaru is said to formulate 200 strategies and pick the best one, plan dozens of moves ahead of his opponent, and can analyse situations very well. Shikamaru has NEVER beaten his father at shoji, leading me to believe Shikaku is even greater than his son.

In terms of long term planning, Tobi seems to come out on top whichever way things pan out (obviously he'll be killed by the end), and Minato's long term plan to save the world is working out pretty well so far, and Naruto will obviously go on the SAVE THE WORLD!!

Itachi would definitely be in the top 5 for intelligence, but no way is he more intelligent than Minato, Tobi, and the Nara boys.

Boston Rob · Jan 13, 2013

Smartest character is the most intelligent

Owarij · Jan 13, 2013

Obv an itachi hater considering your just completely underestimated akatsuki and tobi..
you say any reasonably smart ninja would figure out chibaku tensei, sorry to burst your bubble, but killer bee is reasonably smart AND has hachibi who has thousands of years of experience, and he basically accepted death when it was cast

Minato has literally 1 feat.. 1 , which is figuring out the tangibility, and tons of other characters have figured this out as well, fu, torune, kakashi etc... His other "feat" isn't a feat, i'm refering to the whole plan to seal kyuubi in naruto... Considering he based that feat of a prophecy of a frog who has never been wrong in his life... that doesn't count as an intelligence feat.. So minato has one mediore intelligence feet in the manga, and you're putting him on the intelligence level of naras? el oh el ..

Tobi? smarter than itachi, cool, unfortunately tobi has already stated he is amazed by how far itachi can plan ahead etc, so tobi already admitted inferiority to itachi, you're wrong on that point..

Why would itachi risk a battle with tobi? WHAT does a battle with tobi have to do with his intelligence? Itachi was already sick, and his 1 important goal on top all else was dying by SASUKE'S hand.. . he would ruin everything he work for and attack tobi? for what? you're not making any sense

You say you're not a itachi hater,, but you're spewing nonsense.. Itachi brought the destruction of his clan? No they brought it upon himself..

As danzo and the anbu told him, whether he liked it or not, It was going to go down , he was given an ultimatum
DO it by his hands and he can save his brother, DONT do it and sasuke dies..
Was he to let his innocent brother die? he saved who he could from that incident and that happened to be one person.. Hiruzen failed in peace negotiations, danzo intercepted shishui's attempt.. there was no hope for that clan

Owarij · Jan 13, 2013

Ps, you do realize, had Itachi not make the deal with tobi saying konoha and their people are off limits
Naruto would have died a longggg time ago...

like at the end of p1, when naruto and sasuke finished fighting, zetsu popped up.. could have easily taken naruto and left..

Minato foolishly put naruto in danger by sealing the kyuubi into a child..at any time they could have taken him as a kid...
Thank itachi for that

lol99 · Jan 13, 2013

Owarij said:
I'll start of by saying its shikakku

but if you're excluding the nara
then here's some scans to show you who's next

You must be registered for see images

Right of the bat we were introduced to the theme that an uchiha genius is naturally better than the average genius like orochimaru etc..We've seen Orochimaru admit complete inferiority when it comes to Sasuke's genius at that age..

not really interested in arguing but saying fodder uchihas are more of a genius compared to orochimaru is simply laughable :lmao:

seems you are an orochimaru hater, thought they were extinct
you are trying to use insults as an argument lol and that too from sasuke, the one who talks high and mighty to his opponent and then after a few seconds gets his ass handed to him

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lets leave it at that

TurrinB · Jan 13, 2013

Probably Shikaku or Minato.

Owarij · Jan 13, 2013

lol99 said:
not really interested in arguing but saying fodder uchihas are more of a genius compared to orochimaru is simply laughable seems you are an orochimaru hater, thought they were extinct
you are trying to use insults as an argument lol and that too from sasuke, the one who talks high and mighty to his opponent and then after a few seconds gets his ass handed to him

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lets leave it at that

??You're comparing a 16 year old to sannin.. Not even mature yet.. Orohimaru himself admitted sasuke's genius and talent SURPASSED his own at that AGE... orochimaru never said sasuke was stronger than him ...

Everything sasuke said was true....orochimaru was thinking the exact same thing but didnt say it allowed.. he'll never say it allowed.. he has too much pride..

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"They called me a genius...but compared to him.."
It's not hard to understand.. Your average genius will not be better than the average uchiha genius equipped with a doujutsu...not to mention uchiha's simply push their children harder from an early age

And this is a 16 yr old boy.... defeating itachi , oro stated was an impossible dream ...for a mighty genius sannin? praised to be a once in a decade genius? as Sasuke said, put a normal genius infront of an uchiha genius and they automatically become average.. you can't compare....This isn't even about power... this is about who's the most smartest shinobi, and the topic did stray of course when talking about it

Hah :') Oro hater, Only character I hate is Sakura for justifiable reasons... And i never said uchiha fodder... uchiha fodder would be the police officers that came for Itachi.. I said uchiha geniuses ... and those above that level

Dark Artist · Jan 13, 2013

Orochimaru is the smartest villian in the whole manga this is for sure

while Shikimaru and KaKashi and minato are the smartest good people

ixc · Jan 13, 2013

NarutoUchia said:
shikamru and tobi are the smartest, itachi is 3rd. Don't even start your a uchiha fanboy i see you all the time.

HAHAHA TOBI, Dude Itachi is way intelligent than Shikamru and Tobi lolz. Itachi is by far the most intelligent in Naruto

KakuzuHatesMoney · Jan 13, 2013

NarutoUchia said:
shikamru and tobi are the smartest, itachi is 3rd. Don't even start your a uchiha fanboy i see you all the time.

I would say Shikamaru would be the last out of those. He didn't do anything significant to be honest.

In all honesty, you can't really measure intelligence just like that. What do we base it on? Exam grades, feats, strategies used etc? Intelligence is too subjective.

ixc · Jan 13, 2013

Obito already said (not exactly with these words) that he's inferior to Itachi when it comes to intelligence.

Shikamaru and his dad may be very smart, but Itachi is overall smarter, Itachi is smart battlewise but he also knows alot about people.

Itachi's WISDOM and INTELLIGENCE is unmatched

McMan03 · Jan 14, 2013

Yeah intelligence is just too vague really, I believe Shikaku is still smarter than Shikamaru. People like Itachi,Kakashi and Tobi are just different, We know Shikaku is the smartest commander but that doesn't mean he's the smartest in a fight, Itachi and Minato are pretty much unmatched Analyst, they are even ahead of Tobi and Kakashi for sure

The most intelligent character in the Narutoverse.

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