Yay. I have another oneshot/character study thing. Whether more are forthcoming is, again, subjective.

In the eyes of most people, Uzumaki Naruto was many things, but a genius was not one of those things. He was loud, brash, impulsive, and wore neon orange. Such behaviour was hardly that of a person with above-average intelligence. He certainly could not appear more different from those great acknowledged genii, like the Uchiha prodigy Itachi, the clever strategists of the Nara Clan, or even his own father, hailed as a once-per-generation talent like no other.

Yes, Naruto lacked their calm and cool, the apparent ease with which they accomplished what they set out to do, and certainly never seemed like he knew what he was doing, beyond throwing a horde of Kage Bunshin at the matter. But he could very well be genius. Perhaps not quite on Namikaze Minato's level, but at the very least Naruto was, without a doubt, in possession of no small amount of potential.

It is likely that any shinobi of decent intelligence could have learned to use the Shadow Clone Technique, and it may be the technique is in theory simple enough for most Academy students to grasp. It does seem that the only real reason it was labelled kinjutsu was due to the likelihood that a normal shinobi could accidentally kill himself through chakra depletion, by way of misjudging how many clones he could safely split his chakra between. Naruto appears to have merely been lucky in this regard, that his chakra levels, between the Uzumaki vitality and the Kyūbi's power, are so abnormally high that such a risk is nearly nonexistent.

However, no common shinobi could have managed to learn the Rasengan as quickly as he did. An A-ranked technique that takes the shape manipulation of chakra to the highest possible level, the user would require both strength and great control in order to pull it off perfectly. Uchiha Sasuke, suggested by many to be a genius in his own right, spent a month mastering the Chidori, a technique of equal strength. Naruto first forms a true Rasengan after two weeks of training, while under heavy duress.

Indeed, it is while under great stress that Naruto's cunning comes to the fore. The strategies used to catch Zabuza and Neji off guard, while perhaps not the most spectacular evidence ever, certainly succeeded, in part playing off his opponents' underestimation of a fool they had already written off as a harmless boy playing at being shinobi. And these are only early examples.

In other areas, though, the boy displays much less stellar ability. He fails the Academy's final exam not once, but three times, each time due to his inability to perform the standard Bunshin no Jutsu, an E-ranked skill taught to all Academy students. He often fails to arrive at certain answers despite the evidence being right before his eyes. Explanations given to him have to be simplified in order for him to understand it.

Genius, though, does not necessarily mean that one must excel on all fronts. Furthermore, Naruto's particular problems may in fact have nothing to do with the level of his intelligence.

The basic Clone Technique requires good chakra control. Haruno Sakura's greatest talent is this, while most Academy students can manage it to various extents. Twelve-year-old Naruto's weak point, however, has been observed to be his (in)ability to exert fine control over his chakra. Indeed, even years later, he forms his Rasengan with the aid of a shadow clone because he had not mastered the chakra control needed to form it with a single hand. Given the extraordinary level of power he has, it is unsurprising that he encountered the rarely observed problem of simply melting his clones by way of overloading them with chakra. Few twelve-year-olds would have sufficient strength to manage such a spectacular meltdown so easily.

As for why it takes him years to realise that there are people who truly care about him, why it never seems to have occurred to him to ask about his parents...well, consider the facts. Here is a child who has, throughout his formative years, consistently been ignored and disliked. Not mistreated and abused, no, but neglect can do just as much damage, if not even more so. People who mean him well are a rarity at best; he does not expect it to last, since once they hear of whatever it is that makes everyone avoid him, they will do the same. How was he to know whether Umino Iruka genuinely cared, or had simply not gotten the memo?

What does it matter, anyway, knowing who your parents were, if the knowledge that such people existed will not bring them back to your side? Better not to think of it at all, because once you start asking why, there may be no end to the questions. Or perhaps there will be an answer you cannot bear. One invited pain and insanity with the very thought of the questions.

And so were many of the other questions Naruto could have asked. He could not have gotten the answer of why they hated him, nor would knowledge of the answer have helped change their treatment of him. Sometimes, you don't even know the right questions to ask. Once one has learned not to ask quite so many questions, hearing an explanation becomes equally foreign, especially when people once did not deign to offer any.

Even a genius cannot simply learn from thin air. When the only people who cared about Naruto were too busy to see if he ate well and kept his apartment clean, how was he to learn all the little things he was supposed to do? Is it any wonder that he seemed to be so slow, and yet started improving by leaps and bounds once he received some proper teaching?

Jiraiya's purpose for taking him on a training trip had little to do with learning powerful new techniques like Sasuke or Sakura did. What Naruto needed was for someone to help him master all those basic skills he lacked, such as that ability to dispel genjutsu, in order to ensure his future progress as a shinobi not be hampered by a weak foundation.

Once Naruto has been brought properly up to speed, though, he accomplishes feats on par with the best of them. Combining the Rasengan with nature manipulation was never accomplished by Kakashi, also a highly intelligent man and a natural adept at the ninja arts. Jiraiya of the Sannin did not quite master senjutsu in his time. And while others have managed to fully utilise the power of the demons sealed within them, it can be said that achieving this with the most powerful of the tailed beasts is no easy matter.

And if it had been suggested to his Academy classmates that Uzumaki Naruto would go on to do all this, they would all have sworn on their family fortunes that the dead last was too stupid to pass the Academy final exam, much less all this wishful thinking. Even now, everyone believes it is Naruto's determination that has allowed him to succeed, not any real natural talent. Stamina and stubbornness does not a genius make.

Is Naruto really as stupid as everyone thinks he is, though?