1. Obito
2. Minato
3. Itachi
4. Kabuto
5. Orochimaru/Jiraiya
6. Orochimaru/Jiraiya
7. Madara
8. Hashirama
9. Sasori
10. Sasuke
HM:2nd Hokage, Tsunade, Kisame
"Talent hits a target no one else can hit; Genius hits a target no one else can see. " - Schopenhauer
lol anyways, lets stick to the original thread. it says pure talent and Google defines talented as having a natural aptitude or skill for something... Since there are so many great and talented shinobi in the narutoverse, i'll just limit to those ninja that the manga gave fair highlights and screen time.
I suggest this list for the most talented ninja's in their respectful field of expertise .
in no particular order:
Madara. (Combat/Ninjutsu) no explanation needed
Hashirama (Combat/Ninjutsu/Charisma) no explanation needed
Minato. (Combat/Ninjutsu) no explanation needed btw, copying ninjutsu is also talent
Kakashi. (Combat/Ninjutsu/Tactical) no explanation needed btw, copying ninjutsu is also talent
Itachi. (Combat/Ninjutsu/Genjutsu/Tactical) no explanation needed
Orochimaru. (Genetics/Ninjutsu) no explanation needed
Hiruzen. (Combat/Ninjutsu) no explanation needed
Shisui. (Combat/One of Uchiha's finest Sharingan users and he became an Anbu at a very young age and he wouldn't be recognized by enemies as "Shisui of the Body Flicker" for nothing ..)
Tsunade. (Medical Ninjutsu) the best in her field of expertis
Shikamaru (Tactical) - some of his career highlights include:
single-handedly defeated Hidan and the master mind on how to kill Kakouzu.
My list does not include:
- Naruto and Obito: since they had to really work hard example: the Senjutsu and Bijuu trainings for Naruto and
Obito's early childhood training to Madara's
- Tobirama yes he got good ninjutsus and the original maker of Kagebunshin and FTG but....
he died in a lame battlefield against "Unknown" Hidden Cloud Ninjas
- Neji :yes he's talented and a genius but i think he is just next to Shikamaru in my list. He deserves the 11th spot in my list
- Sasuke : he's a genius in hand2hand combat but i think he doesn't surpass Rock Lee and Neji in that category.
He has good ordinary flame-type ninjutsus but it is very common to the Uchihas and i think his is just average.
He has many high level ninjutsus but these are borrowed powers from many people like Oro, Itachi and SO6P. (Unnatural)
- Hanzo the SAlamander - I wish to include him in the list since he defeated the 3 talented shinobies of the leaf (The Sannins) during his prime but the mangga lacks more story about this amazing shinobi.