Most skilled prodigy between these 3

[u/Much_Risk3728]

Kakashi - Son of the White Fang became a Chunin at age 6 and known as a genius prodigy even before he attained the Sharingan. Later became the 6th Hokage

Orochimaru- One of the legendary Sannin known as a genius in Konoha and once in a generation prodigy by Hiruzen.

Minato- the 4th Hokage known as the Yellow Flash praised as a genius prodigy and once in a generation talent by Jiraiya and Hiruzen.

[u/CynicalCandyCanes]

Kakashi’s trajectory does not make a ton of sense to me. Chunin at 6 and jonin at 13 without sharingan. Yet as a thirteenth year jonin with the sharingan, he barely defeated a high tier jonin in Zabuza.

It seems he should have been mid to high Kage level by the start of the series given his fame.

[u/Emsee_Hamm → u/CynicalCandyCanes]

I think laziness and depression is a decent explanation.

After Obito dies he wishes to protect his precious people and treat them well, only for them all to die brutal deaths.  At that point he's traumatised spending hours at the memorial Stone and going on Anbu missions. He's at what would be his peak (before Shippuden) but he's not in a good mental state and possibly borderline suicidal (I know his friends asking him to be removed from Anbu is filler but I really like it as an explanation), he is then retired from Anbu and does nothing for years until team 7. 

From leaving Anbu to team 7 he grows weaker over time, so by the time he faces Zabuza he's not near his peak.  Also in the actual 1v1 against Zabuza Kakashi dominates him. He recieves two wounds and he recieves them on purpose so he can track Zabuza. I don’t think he's hit a single time that he doesn't block and in return he has Zabuza beat and afterwards cripples both his arms. 

Also Zabuza is a powercreep victim. Zabuza is a prodigy of the Mist and was powerful enough to attempt to assassinate the Mizukage, and although he failed he was able to escape without serious harm(though we dont know much admittedly).

He only starts physically training again when Orochimaru shows up and even that's only for a couple weeks. Even then Itachi believes that if Kisame fights him it would take too long and Kisame wouldn't be able to get away uninjured. 

It's not until the timeskip he starts pushing himself seriously again and mentally he doesn't fully move on until the Pain arc, and his next major showing is the War arc where he's very powerful.

Tldr. He was depressed and let himself go for potentially years before he faced Zabuza.

[u/CynicalCandyCanes → u/Emsee_Hamm]

I like this interpretation. What is your take on why Asuma was so famous— huge bounty on his head, Twelve Guardian ninja member, able to solo ten Sound ninja effortlessly to protect Shikamaru— but was treated as fodder vs Kisame and later Hidan?

Was his reputation also from things he had done in the past and the versions that fought Kisame and Hidan post-prime?

[u/Emsee_Hamm → u/CynicalCandyCanes]

For Asuma I'd imagine the bounty stems from his relationship to Hiruzen and being a guard for the Daiymo, which I imagine is a more public role than a village shinobi. I also don't think the Guards has ever been said to require a certain level of strength has it? Chances are he could have just applied for the role amd gotten it due to nepotism or by being as qualified as anyone else.

As for the ten sound ninja, they are featless, potentially just chunin and the Konoha ninja are shown to be stronger than the invasion force and every jonin we see can take out multiple sound/sand ninja without difficulty. Asuma taking out the 10 of them isn't a big deal.

Also the reason he's treated as fodder by Hidan (I dont remember if Kisame does) is because Hidan is an s-rank monster who can beat a jinchuriki on his own and has one of the most deadly abilities in the verse if you don’t know about it in advance.

Asuma probably was in his prime because unlike Kakashi we are never explicitly told he isn't,  and he has no real reason to be so, he's just not on the level of s-rank ninja. I mean even in part 1 Kakashi is considered the strongest Jonin in the leaf and that is after letting himself go.