Can anybody supply better evidence than this for an alternate genius?
1. Itachi quickly deduced methods to counter Edo Tensei
2. Itachi quickly countered Rinnegan shared vision.
3. Itachi had super-perception, even among dōjutsu users.
4. Itachi excelled greatly at genjutsu, an intellectually-based field.
5. Itachi grew at a superhuman pace.
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2. Itachi quickly countered Rinnegan shared vision.
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3. Itachi had super-perception, even among dōjutsu users.
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4. Itachi excelled greatly at genjutsu, an intellectually-based field.
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5. Itachi grew at a superhuman pace.
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6. Itachi "hardly had to be taught" (superhuman learning.)
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7. Itachi 'ceaselessly amazed' Obito.
8. Itachi was the only one to ever see through Obito's stealth.
9. Itachi "somehow" invented a jutsu that Obito did not fully understand.
10. Itachi mastered fundamentals to a superhuman degree.
11. Itachi overwrote both Obito and Orochimaru's manipulations.
12. Itachi remains unshakably calm and analytical.
extra
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8. Itachi was the only one to ever see through Obito's stealth.
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9. Itachi "somehow" invented a jutsu that Obito did not fully understand.
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10. Itachi mastered fundamentals to a superhuman degree.
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11. Itachi overwrote both Obito and Orochimaru's manipulations.
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12. Itachi remains unshakably calm and analytical.
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13. Itachi perceives that [every] jutsu has a weakness.
14. Itachi had learned enough to end the world war.
15. Itachi found legendary items that others could not.
16. Itachi was extremely skilled in nin/gen/taij/shuriken/ken/fūin-jutsu.
popular counter-arguments and my responses
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14. Itachi had learned enough to end the world war.
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15. Itachi found legendary items that others could not.
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16. Itachi was extremely skilled in nin/gen/taij/shuriken/ken/fūin-jutsu.
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popular counter-arguments and my responses
However, if Obito had wanted to corrupt Naruto like he did Sasuke, then that could have easily been accomplished, because Minato was the only one who knew about Obito, and Naruto was neglected and despised in the village for all of his childhood. Obito could have easily kidnapped the rejeced Naruto, which would have been much easier than kidnapping Naruto when guarded by Minato and dozens of ANBU, and raised him as an evil apprentice. Do you know what prevented that? Itachi. It was Itachi enforcing his pact with Obito. Naruto being the good guy and Sasuke being the bad guy is not a result fo superior or inferior planning, but of the antagonists' (Orochimaru and Obito) focus throughout the series: Sasuke. Nobody has even tried to corrupt Naruto. Additionally, Itachi didn't fail as magnificently as many make it seem. He suspected Obito would betray the pact, and corrupt his plans for Sasuke, the moment that Itachi wasn't around to enforce it, and planned not one, but two contingencies to prevent that. The first being Amaterasu, which Obito used Izanagi to survive. And yes, the initial contingency failed, but so what? Obito is already the most difficult character to kill, even without Izanagi, and Obito said that Itachi definitely would have killed him had he not been so cautious in keeping his secrets from Itachi. Everybody else, without exception, has failed to kill Obito. But I digress, the second contingency was Kotoamatsukami, which Itachi ended up using on himself and being able to, as Orochimaru put it, overwrite the manipulations of Obito and Orochimaru on Sasuke, and save Naruto, and thereby Minato's "plan." The quoted argument in no way signifies Itachi as in inferior genius, particularly because Minato also had the help of a prophecy, whereas Itachi did not have that magic safety-net for his predictions, not to mention Itachi was only 13 when he created his plan while Minato appeared to be in his mid to late twenties.
Minato's reasoning was that ninja could not extend their life for that long. Itachi, being in Akatsuki, knew of Kakuzu, who was from the time Hashirama, and the other immortal, Hidan, so he didn't rule out the possibility. If anything, Itachi's superior knowledge in this particular area kept his mind open to the possibility. Moreover, Minato can be counter-criticized for not recongizing his student despite only a year having passed by since Obito was thought to have died.
Let me answer this argument with another argument: Zabuza is smarter than Kakashi, and Itachi, because he clone-feinted Kakashi. Newsflash! A clone feint is executed from a distraction or blindspot and has little to do with a direct correlation of intelligence. Especially when considering that Itachi was outnumbered when Kakashi performed the feint, and was either holding back, a shouten-bunshin, or both.
Do you really know what Obito "masterminded" against Itachi? He betrayed his pact and ruined Itachi's already delicate deception. Obito was given decades of knowledge and preparation from Madara, and was in cahoots with Danzō and Orochimaru. He was handed everything in that regard. Itachi, in contrast, was a complete outcast that had no connections or allies, and was pitted against Obito, Danzō, and Orochimaru all gunning for Sasuke. And yet let's look at the scoreboard: Itachi's contigency plan for Obito being a traitor has saved Naruto and Bee, thereby screwing the Moon's Eye Plan, and overwrote Orochimaru and Obito's manipulations of Sasuke, as well as removing the Curse Seal, further screwing them. The level of sophistication in Itachi's "masterminding" is much higher than that of Obito, and Obito only looked better for a time because Itachi's second contigency hadn't run its course, and the deck was stacked in Obito's favor to begin with. Obito beating Itachi, which I don't agree to to being with given that his Kotoamatsukami contigency has completely flipped the war, would be like me beating Stephen Hawking in a game of chess if I started off with four pawns turned into queens and he started out with only pawns. Obito started out with all of Madara's 70+ years of preparing tools, gathering knowledge, and building soldiers, whereas Itachi was a young teenager on his own pitted against powerful and knowledgeable ninja.
I agree, but knowledge is not intelligence. Madara and Orochimaru spent decades gathering that knowledge, which Obito and Kabuto inherited. Moreover, it can be argued that Itachi gained an incredibly amount of knowledge for himself in an even shorter amount of time than Madara or Orochimaru, given that Kabuto stated that Itachi had many secrets that could stop the war, as well as finding legendary items that both Orochimaru and Madara [Black Zetsu] knew existed, but could not locate.
So did Jiraiya. Does that make him smarter than Itachi? Shikamaru graduated at age 12, and Minato appeared significantly older than six in the flashbacks of his academy days. This is not a solid indicator of superior intelligence, as it's variable on the "times," mostly meaning if there is an active war or not. As proof of this, we have Orochimaru calling Sasuke a superior genius despite Sasuke graduating six years after Orochimaru did.
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