This came straight from tvtrope "Fridge Brilliance":
"There's always been some flak on the fact that one of the series' themes is that a hard-working fool can overcome a genius is undercut by the fact that Naruto not only has a hateful super-demon power at his disposal, but is also descended from uber-powerful warriors. However, when you think about, before Naruto got serious about his training, he was nothing more than an obnoxious brat who could only aggravate people with his antics. Once he started working his butt off, things began to improve. And the reason he didn't look so impressive after the timeskip was that he was mostly relying on the Kyuubi, which reduced his overall effectiveness. The moral isn't hard work can overcome genius, it's that your natural gifts can only take you so far, and that there's always room for improvement."
This is stating that being a Jinchuriki of a tailed beast, being born from a powerful clan and father, doesn't guarantee shit right away. Naruto was able to utilize all of his abilities because he trained his Wind affinity jutsus, Sage Mode, and Bijuu Mode. Natural gifts or certain power can only take you as far based on my interpretation.
He wasn't that impressive to be honest when he use kyuubi mode at the beginning of the time skip. But after the all the training throughout the timeskip and kicking Kurama's ass to show him he is not that pathetic without him. I have to admit, he regained my respect that I lost during the beginning of part 2.
