Okay, let me see. Most of the Akimichi clan jutsu are based on BECOMING HUGE, CATACLYSMATIC BALLS OF DEATH, from what little we saw, if not outright giants. What we saw of Chouji and his dad (during the Invasion) points to pure brute force without a shred of finesse. Much like Naruto, incidentally.
We must be reading different mangas then, I have seen one Akamichi jutsu where the user turned into a giant, and in what context? It was in the middle of a free-for-all warzone, trying to be stealthy and sneak around in that situation while slowly taking down one enemy at a time is just unecessary when you can become a 50m behemoth and just destroy the general area the enemy is in. How often do you think a shinobi encounters such a situation? I'd wager that 99% of the battles in a shinobi's life is fought against 1-4 opponents, and under what cirumstances? Probably during scouting/assassination/escort/info-retrieval missions, meaning turning into a giant wouldn't be beneficial if you wanted to keep things quiet.
The rest of the Akimichi arsenal appears to be changing parts of the body while still staying in normal form, more suited to performing general missions, not everyday on the job is an invasion. Chouji was a genin, and only seemed to know the meatball jutsu, a support-jutsu best used in conjuction with a team that had the means to immobilize an opponent, how lucky that he was on such a team and that as a rookie-genin, he would never fight without his team, unless something unexpected happend. His abilities post-TS are more subtle, where he enlarges just his hands to crush and smash Sai's ink-lions which shows that just because you're an Akimichi it doesn't mean that all you can do his turn into fatzilla and destroy city-blocks.
Naruto can get creative if the first approach doesn't work, he proved it. If you argue in favor of an Akimichi, then you have no right to argue AGAINST Naruto, who has SHOWN he's highly adaptable when there's need for it, and ALSO showed that if the situation requires it, he can cooperate with SASUKE of all people.
I never said Naruto couldn't improvise, in fact, I said it was his best ability. Problem is that's just useful for Naruto, how is it gonna help his teammates in the heat of battle if he comes up with something to defeat his opponent? His teammates have their own opponents to worry about. Shouldn't be anything to worry about if everyone on the same level, problem is Naruto doesn't know either his, or anyone else's limit, that's why he's unfit to lead.
Imagine the following scenario: Sasuke's escort when he escapes the village is Orochimaru and Kabuto instead of the Sound 4, do you think that Naruto as a team leader would:
A: Decide to retreat due to overwhelming odds.
B: Attack immediately after coming up with a hastily thought-out plan that assumes it's a 100% chance of success, like all his plans.
Gosh, it looks like Naruto got him and his entire team killed because he doesn't stop to think about the consequences of his actions. So what if the situation requires that he can work with someone he doesn't like? That's not a bonus, that's a goddamn requirement for being a leader.
Oh, and that diversion in the Forest of Death... where he copied his team and Kabuto and fought hours on end... Rememnber that little gem to keep his team safe?
That was HIS idea, and right there it shows brilliant planning in a team.
It was never stated who came up with the plan, Naruto did all the work though, and that was why Sakura complimented him, he himself said that his team did it, had it been his own plan I have no doubts that he would have taken full credit, like he did in the battle against Zabuza, his only moment in the story where he used surprising tactics and cunning to take on a superior opponent, and in that battle Sasuke played a crucial part of the plan.
During the battle against the rain-nins he almost got killed twice, 1st time when he rushed an illusion, punched it and fell through the illusion, landing on his hands and knees and about to get a kunai to the neck. 2nd time where he once again rushed the illusions after they had trapped the rain-nins, and upon hearing Sakura screaming that Sasuke shouldn't use the sharingan looked back to his team and almost got a kunai trough the skull. Not exactly chuunin-material selfcontrol there, a distraction could be the end of your life, not to mention your teammates.
So please, quit arguing against Naruto being a bad team leader. Against that Rain team, he took charge where even the 'genius' and 'bookworm' failed miserably to come up with a strategy. His unpredictability means that he's an excellent choice for making strange plans up. And catching an enemy off guard is half the battle.
Again, who came up with the plan isn't revealed, and why drag Sakura and Sasuke into it? I never claimed they'd be more deserving of a promotion than Naruto. They, like Naruto, lack certain key elements to become a good leader. Just because a plan is strange it doesn't mean it's good, his skill in improvisation is only displayed in the heat of battle, never has he showed that he can plan ahead before actually engaging the enemy or encountering the threat. I certainly wouldn't want a leader who can only plan while someone is trying to kill him and me.
And Naruto 'goofs off'? Who got Kakashi's ass out of trouble in the Wave arc? Naruto. Who got Team 7 and Kabuto's ass out of trouble in the FoD? Naruto again. Who saved Team 7 from Gaara? F'N NARUTO AGAIN.
Naruto being a goof off only applies if no one he cares about is in danger. Threaten his team, and you're in for a world of hurt. THAT's an important trait for a team leader - to CARE about his teammates.
I was referring to when he's on a mission, not while in direct combat with an enemy. The only during a mission time Naruto isn't behaving like a 6-year old is when he's fighting for his life, not that big of a deal but not an admirable trait either. Caring about your comrades is good, but not a requirement to become a chuunin, we've already seen Konoha's policy of putting your teammates life above the success of the mission so if they were forced to choose between to people to promote I believe they'd take the one who was slightly better but didn't care about his teammates.
He's got the spirit, the power and even the creativity. Why the HELL doesn't he deserve Chuunin? He'd do a better job at it than most miserable excuses for team leaders. Like say, Kakashi, who is the poster boy of what NOT to do in a team, namely play favorites.
I'm not going to argue the ranks of other characters, the question was why Naruto shouldn't be promoted, you can't promote people by saying that there already are a bunch of idiots holding the rank.
Note that I'm not belittling Naruto's strategic thinking, he's made alot of plans that could have succeeded had it not been for a special ability the opponent had hidden as a trumph card. In my opinion he's the best ad-libber in Konoha, problem is that it is only used when he's in mortal danger, if he could get some patience and put his improvisational skills to use he'd probably one of the best strategics in Konoha, almost up there with Shikamaru who's a strategic genius and have some ability in thinking on the fly, which he showed during the rescue-Sasuke-arc and against Hidan and Kakuzu, he's still not up to Naruto's level in that area though as Naruto can fight and plan at the same time, Shikamaru gets passive while doing it.
