Naruto obviously has insane shinobi latent talent.
Talentless hacks don't learn taju kage bunshin no Justu in a Single sitting- especially if you barely have a understanding of chakra.
Naruto is a genius period- in real world he would be called a savant--
Somebody who is extremely good at one thing ( Einstein ) but
Terrible At other Things. --
Of course he acts like a idiot- he has poor formal education, no parents to teach social skills, and was ostracized as a kid-- do you have any idea what that does to A persons psyche!
Sorry, but in real life hard work means jack shit- it's about deliberate practice- meaning how effective you work- not how hard.
Naruto had the appearance of a loser because of extenuating circstances-- he acts likes like a idiot at times because he was never taught how to properly behave. Lol, of course Sasuke seemed like a genius-- he practiced uchiha Justu, while naruto was stuck with academy shit, Sasuke was tought katon style by his dad, and was privately tutored by ****ing itachi uchiha in shuriken Justu. Not
Only that,But sasuke had a family support system, naruto had literally no reason to study or train, even when he lost his family, he was given a reason to learn- and had a good foundation.
In order to compare natural talent switch naruto and Sasuke circumstances.
Lets say naruto was tought uzumaki fuinjistu from a young age, was privately tutored by danzo for wind Justu etc... Then was given a very good purpose for bettering himself.
Furthermore, lets say Sasuke was not tought anything except for academy Justu, didnot have any reason to further improve himself, and was hated by everyone. Lol- of course naruto would be stronger.
The point is that, regardless of hard work- Naruto is Obviously extremely talented- hard work alone doesnot allow you to learn rasengan in a week. Hard work isnot enough to master sage mode in a few days, hard work isnot enough to add elemental chakra to rasengan etc...
Do you really think rock lee doesnot work as hard as naruto?? It's Naruto's natural talent that allows for success-- that's life.
The only reason naruto acts stupid is because of DBZ. Since then people follow the archetype of gold for a protagonist.
Basically, somehow- making naruto have stupid moments ( even of they contradict the manga- nobody is that stupid to forget about Hashirama and madara, it Nagato chakra absorb) serves to make more money. SERIOUSLY
I look at those moments as comedic affect ( I guess it's some funky Japanese humor- similar to how apparently Sakura hitting naruto is funny...)