It's a shounen Manga. The main cast (Naruto & co) was always going to act this way. At least it doesn't have 90% of fanservice, 10% of story like Fairy Tail.

Screw Naruto and Sasuke, Hatake Kakashi ftw.

 

Hell Naw man.
JIRAIYA will always be The Man of the Naruto Series. Forever. End of.

 

Itachi fucking Uchiha.

 

Screw Itachi, Jiraya and Kakashi. Danzo is the man amongst men. Hmmm, we really need more Danzo fanfiction.

 

GAI IS THE MOST YOUTHFUL MAN AND WITHOUT A HIP AND COOL ATITUDE!

 

Asuma Sarutobi. Died before shit got ridiculous, left his baby mama pretty well looked after and was just a chain-smoking, knuckle-knife wielding, wind chakra using mofo.

 

This. He knocked Kurenai up. Asuma wins hands down although Jiraiya is a close second.

 

But Asuma was practically useless. Come on.

 

He's a likeable average Joe with perfectly straight priorities.

 

I really enjoyed Minato. Competent, likable (unlike basically every other character), and a badass who was only surpassed when the manga decided to retroactively make every dead ninja a total badass.

 

Except Minato himself.

 

Outside of Hashirama, Madara, Obito, Sasuke, and Naruto, the strongest shinobi shown so far was most definitely Gai.

Gai warped space/time with a side kick. Not just any side kick, but the stupid goofy side kick he uses as his DYNAMIC ENTRY! to enter a room super usefully.

Madara flat out said he was the best fight he'd ever had other then Hashirama. If that isn't a compliment, I dont know what is.

 

Εxactly. Fuck those guys.

 

This is coming from a below average Joe?

 

If only he'd decided to sacrifice himself earlier when it would have made a difference.

 

Well, yes. I don't want to read about average little me, or terrible little you, and I definitely wouldn't consider an average person the most badass in a series.

 

The Hobbits?

 

Ah yes, the Hobbits of the Village Hidden in the Shire. Hard to spot, have preternatural stealth abilities, and have something called "Hero Weed" that has addicted such powerhouses as Gandalf of the Grey.

Also shockingly resistant to Yamanaka mind techniques.

 

You read/watch LotR for the Hobbits?

 

In part, yes. They were arguably the most pivotal characters through much of the story. Frodo bore the ring, Sam aided him to Mount Doom, Pippin and Merry fought and served at Minas Tirith and saw to the death of both a Nazgul and the saving of Faramir. They warred against Saruman in the Shire, survived Orcs and Goblins, met with Ents and Horselords, Dwarves and Elves, Men of the West and Men of Darkness. Just four little hobbits, from the little ol' Shire.

Were they Boromir, the dutiful son turned redemptive warrior? Or Aragorn, the hidden heir turned revealed king? Or Gandalf, the closest thing LOTR has to an arch angel of awesome?

No. But they didn't need to be to stand out. (And yes, my favorite part of Jackson's various infamous endings was the one with the Hobbit's return to the north).