Naruto a late bloomer ? LOL He learend S-Rank jutsu before he joined team 7 and learned an A-Rank jutsu at the same age Sasuke learned Chidori.
He only seemed like a late bloomer because Kurama's chakra was disrupting his development. Otherwise Naruto would have been superior to Sasuke like Hashirama was to Madara.
lel naruto became strongest shinobi in NV at the age of like 16...! what else natural talent is?
the only difference between hashirama and naruto is that we saw naruto in 700 chapters while hashirama in just like 30 chapters...! hashirama and madara lived in the era ov war, constantly fighting and what do masters like kakashi and jiraya say about shinobi training? Shinobies grow fastest in actual battles...!
Asura was a late bloomer since he failed to inherit is father's genes and developed power later on. Which meant, Indra > Asura.
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During Sasuke and Naruto's youth, Naruto was also lacking in hatred and skill as Sasuke seemed to be superior than him in that. Which also meant, Sasuke > Naruto.
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It may have been the same for Hashirama, lacking in skill as he could not sense the stone Madara through at him from above. Further suggested that Madara > Hashirama.
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As for your question though, Hashirama may have studied under a teacher some time before he even met Madara. That would explain why he wasn't far off from surpassing Madara in skill and power since Madara was strong at the time, able to defeat shinobi way older than him and seemingly more skilled than him. Hashirama may have been able to defeat Madara after learning senjutsu and teaming up with his brother while creating a harmonious society(Konoha) thus aiding him with "..the cooperation of other people." [
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] Same thing which Asura needed in order to surpass his brother, Indra. Another reason could be that Madara was holding back against Hashirama(considering he didn't use any genjutsu) only to test the skills of Hashirama and perhaps for his own sadistic enjoyment. :hmm: