Offscreen power displays don't count. We don't know what the circumstances of that were, nor exactly how it went down. They're impressive resume-padders but in terms of narrative plausability, they don't mean squat.

The only thing Shikamaru's team did to help Shikamaru get Hidan alone was stop Kakuzu from following. THey had nothing whatsoever to do with his one-on-one fight with Hidan, it was the exact same net result as if both of them had been alone to begin with. There were no 'mitigating circumstances' there. And yeah, he's only got those two gimmicks but in one-on-one combat? They basically make him invincible. Shikamaru might have known the tricks but he was still risking his life with every move he made, because one scratch and it would all be over.


And I still don't see what Sasuke being a villain has to do with anything. No, he may not be one of Sakura's "peers". But they were both part of the same class, went through the same training, and then both of them underwent intense training under one of the three legendary ninjas. They should be at approximately the same skill level, which is what is relevant to this conversation.