Huh, who deserves to be Hokage seems like a no brainer to me but all you guys who put Shikamaru as your first choice really surprised me. I wouldn't have thought you guys were that impressionable.

First I'll start by berating Hidan. Lets face it Hidan was an idiot. He is easily the dumbest character I've seen in this series and the guy was pretty useless. How often is Shikamaru going to come across an opponent who knows one technique, if he had known atleast some ninjutsu he could have easily defeated Shikamaru. The only thing Hidan had going for him was his immortality, if not for his immortality not only would he have not been much of an adversary but his one technique hinges on the fact that he is immortal. Without his immortality I doubt Hidan would even be Chuunin level. Secondly Hidan was dumb, damn was he ever dumb. Can you think of any other opponent who after seeing Shikamaru's shadow mimic in action would still get caught with it again and again and again. I can't think of anyone. So don't make too much out of the fact that Shikamaru defeated Hidan because Hidan was pathetic.

Lets move on to why I don't think Shikamaru is a worthy candidate for Hokage. Sure he has great analytic ability and he could probably be a good leader but in battle Shikamaru is anything but strong. We've seen Shikamaru in what five battles. He beat that Sound genin, then there was Temari and despite the fact that he was promoted to Chuunin he lost his match against Temari and don't think I'm saying that he lost just because he quit. As he himself said, when he finally caught her he was at his limit and could do nothing else, so if it was a real battle she would have just waited until his shadow mimic ran out and then killed him. Then he lost to Tayuya but he was saved by Temari, then there is the battle where Asuma died and finally this one here.

Here is some things you guys don't seem to know about Shikamaru. His strongest technique thus far is his shadow neck bind, which as we saw in his battle with Tayuya can be overpowered if the opponent has enough chakra or is simply physically strong enough to break out and that is his best technique. Here is another thing, Hidan already mentioned Shikamaru's five minute time limit with his shadow mimic but that is not the only weakness Shika's techniques have. We all know Shikamaru can stretch and manipulate his shadow but as he said in his match against Temari he cannot extend a shadow beyond its natural surface area. So not only does he have a time limit but a distance limit as well and that distance depends on the time of day. Naturally, since shadows are longest at dusk Shikamaru is strongest at dusk but as he told Naruto when they were chasing after Sasuke he can't use his techniques at night because there isn't enough light.

So there we have four things against Shikamaru. He has a five minute time limit, there is a limit to how far he can stretch his shadow, he can't use his technique if there isn't enough light and his techniques can be easily over powered. So he has to try and end his battle quickly but he doesn't have strong enough techniques to be able to do that, anyone who has mid to long range attacks has an almost insurmountable advantage over him and he is completely useless in the dark. That doesn't sound like a Hokage to me. Just think of how Shikamaru would have fared if say, he was the one fighting Orochimaru instead of the Third, or if he was in that three way Sanin battle instead of Tsunade. I know you may be thinking that those comparing him to them is unfair but we are talking about Hokages, so it isn't. Hell, how well do you think Shikamaru would do if he had to go one on one with Naruto?

Not only does Shikamaru lack strong techniques but he is not strong physically and really he is not meant for one on one battles. His techniques are meant to compliment Ino's and Chouji's. Shikamaru just wouldn't do well against a high level opponent by himself. This case was an exception because Hidan was exceptionally dumb and even so Shikamaru wasn't able to do much against him the first time around. He only looked impressive here because he had some high caliber back up in Kakashi and he had already acquired information on Hidan's abilities and was able to set a trap for him before hand. I would argue that anyone could come up with a plan to defeat even the strongest of opponents if they know all their abilities and you certainly can't expect Shikamaru to have a trap prepared beforehand, for every single opponent he faces. Anyway bottom line, Shikamaru is not kage material in my opinion. Kages have to be strong and they have to be able to hold their own in any situation against any opponent. Shikamaru would be a great elder/adviser though.

Now that thats out of the way my here are my picks for Hokage. First up Naruto. That should be self explanatory, he already has incredibly powerful techniques and he has more potential than anyone else in the village. All he lacks is knowledge and experience and he'll get that in time.

The only other person I think has Hokage potential is Sakura. Tsunade is hokage and Sakura is basically a carbon copy of Tsunade. Just like Naruto anything Sakura lacks she'll acquire in a few years.