>>280355635 (OP)>Naruto>"starts out with a disadvantage and has to work hard to overcome his shortcomings"No he didn't. In the very first chapter we're shown that the Clone jutsu is his worst jutsu, he can't even do the regular version.
Then, a magic scroll falls into his lap by pure luck, and he reads it and within a few hours is able to teach himself how to use the MASS SHADOW CLONE JUTSU to create HUNDREDS of clones and effortlessly defeat a fully grown, professional ninja
Why?
Did he work hard?
No, he got the cheat codes and then his Magic 9-Tails Fox Chakra did the rest of the work for him
Everybody who thinks Naruto's story was about "an underdog who works hard" must have been reading a different story. He's constantly carried by the fox, or by his uzumaki heritage and chakra pool, or by lucking into getting the perfect mentor at the perfect time who unfucks his problems
Did Naruto stick with Ebisu's "boring but necessary" training to control his chakra?
No, Jiraiya showed up and said "ah I see, the fox is sealed in you the wrong way, let me just undo that"
and then Naruto could instantly walk on water
I think people are just confused because of Rock Lee's arc intersecting with the Neji fight
LEE was the one with a hangup about "hard work vs natural genius"
Naruto's beef with Neji was that he beat the shit out of Hinata, and refused to admit that "people can change the fate they're born into"
Completely different things