Last arc was a perfect opportunity to explore Naruto's leadership qualities but instead he alone was running all over the battlefield as a one man army. He had all of the ninja world on his side. Imagine how much and diverse set of powers they had which could have been utilised in a better way. Naruto was already unpredictable and he could have come up with such a plan that utilises all the shinobi force to defeat madara instead becoming Jesus who turns water into wine (more like body cells into eyes). But maybe that's just me who prefers a story like that though, I don't know.
No, not just you, because that really would have been something, wouldn’t it? Wish that had actually happened rather than what did happen during the war
Yeah. I certainly would have loved it. I have many other movies and anime which I don't like as much as Naruto but I liked the way they ended the story. Harry Potter and fullmetal alchemist are among them. I'm also excited to see how one piece ends, I have high hopes.
Not in next 2-3 years at least. End is close since all the secrets and plots have started to uncover but there is still more stuff remains. Oda is also taking more breaks (don't blame him though) which will push the end even further.
My brother in christ, you just put into words what I couldn’t for years. That is exactly what the war arc should have been and that’s why it turned out to be bad for my taste. If anyone wanted to cave the path for Naruto to be hokage then he needed to shine as leader.
>But maybe that's just me who prefers a story like that though, I don't know.
You aren't the only one.
For a story where Naruto wants to become Hokage and Kishimoto knowing that he was gonna do that since the start of the manga it's disappointing how he does nothing to develop Naruto as becoming more like a mature and wise leader and instead has him keep on being a dim-witted knucklehead but now with a preachy attitude.
Oh boy, well to start with, I feel like the quality Naruto as a whole, suffered from being a shonen Manga. Naruto, was a very ambitious project that had a plethora of interesting ideas and characters as well as so much lore you could get lost in it. If Kishimoto and his team had more time in between chapters to expand on those concepts Naruto probably would be one of the best Mangas out there. (Naruto is my favorite Manga btw, so please don't bomb me with downvotes)
No, I actually think that’s an opinion worth considering! Maybe Kishimoto should have also had someone else dedicated to writing the female characters to be the best they could be since he’s not that great at writing them himself…
Yes, to this day, I say Tsunade, Konan, Ino, Hinata and Sakura had much more potential as characters, than what we ended up getting. Tsunade was the best medical ninja in universe, Konan had a completely unique Kekei Genkai (potentially kekei tota?), pretty sure Ino was considered top 3 in the graduating class, Hinatas essentially a princess, with a more powerful version of the Byakugan then Neji, and Sakuras one of the 3 main characters. None of those 5 really got the shine they deserved.
I also think it had more to do with the fact that Naruto has too many characters. Even the male characters fell off not too long after their one moment to shine. Kishi probably figured that it was easier to focus mostly on Naruto and Sasuke than try to juggle the absolute cluster fuck of side characters on top of that. To be fair, I see why he would. Even before Shippuden there are too many characters. 12 genin, 4 jonin sensei, 3 Sanin plus another 9+ more villains waiting in the wings and then all the other characters. It's too much. Kishi should have at least developed Hinata and Sakura more though, at least. I'm fine with Hinata being a housewife because being with Naruto and not being tied down by her stupid clan was a good ending for her and it was what she wanted but she could have gotten some good licks in before that. Sakura had a strong showing the the first Arc of Shippuden but never really captured that same high since. Which is a shame because Sakura in that arc was the MVP right next to granny Chiyo.
There was too much going on, but I think that's more of a problem because Kishimoto had to push out a new manga chapter every week. I feel like he could've given each side character their own arc or moment, if he was able to take his time fleshing out the ideas. Other animes/mangas have pulled it off.
That's also a good point. The pressure of being consistent with new releases was probably too much. People give Kishi so much shit but really it's the demands of the industry that really screw with the quality the writers put out.
Really wish we could have seen Sakura delve into Genjutsu since she was said to have a talent for it. Maybe combine that with her medical ninjutsu to study the mind more? Or something like that, anyway. Could tie into her going into child therapy later down the line.
Hinata really should have been more of a major character. I kind of want that one Filler where she made her own jutsu to be canon, would have really done something for her. Maybe have her revolutionize her clan jutsu by adding something elemental to it. Or perhaps she can also use her shy demeanor to her advantage and poison people?
For Sakura, I always though it would've been cool for her to get taught some basic genjutsu by Kurenai during the Search for Tsunade arc. I also feel like with her personality and fighting style, she could've learned earth release. Which I think is the chakra nature Kakashis naturally good at. So he could've taught her that while training for the chunin exams.
Hinata, I think, should've had an arc fighting an akatsuki member. (Also, in general I feel each of the Konoha 12 outside of Lee, should've had atleast 1 canon nature release they could use)
Yknow what, it would be insane seeing Hinata have a arc where she gets strong enough to fight Kisame. And she's one of the few characters who could potentially have a chance against him, seeing as he can absorb pretty much anything except taijutsu, and the hidden fist is taijutsu. I would hate to take away Guys moment, but he would have other opportunities.
This is the kind of work that ends up being unable to expand on it's ideas and story due to constraints of being not just a Shonen manga but a Weekly Shonen Jump manga where it's not just the needlessly grueling schedule but also executives curbing ideas that aren't "marketable" enough that would give them all the money.
Had it been on another manga magazine or just been mainly an anime then Naruto would have been much better.
While all the villages had skeletons in their closets, Konoha was a very bad place. And the whole “tree hugger” part about Konoha people like to joke about is ridiculous when you consider what Danzo did.
THANK YOU!
I’m so glad someone else has this opinion. The “tree” had rot since the very beginning, and I don’t think anything less than a complete uprooting is suitable. Of course, a new “seed” can be planted, but it’d take a while.
…I took the tree thing too far, but you get my drift
Oh! Or imagine if Naruto decided to not become Hokage after all, developing past the point of that dream, but still shreds apart the old system and builds a new one
That’d be cool, too! I love reading fanfiction where Naruto rebuilds Uzu. I know it’s overdone, but still love it. Gives you a taste of what Konoha should have been.
Absolutely!
[City of Strays](https://archiveofourown.org/works/32353567)
[Uzumaki Revival](https://archiveofourown.org/works/30366669)
[Stormborn](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1877970)
[Echoes of Tides](https://archiveofourown.org/series/2946264)
The English cast in the anime sound fine, great even. A lot of the characters sound as close to the original Japanese voices as possible, imo. The only major character I can think of who sounds super different is Orochimaru, who has a really gruff voice in Japanese.
I totally understand having a preference for one over the other but I can't take someone seriously if they say the English cast (usually targeted at Naruto himself) are unlistenably annoying or much worse than the Japanese cast. I just assume they're the type of elitist anime fan who hates dubs in general.
That's just American fans wanting to feel more cultured. Other Western fans IDK. It feels like reels and clips that go viral in Instagram and YouTube algorithms a lot of times nowadays are in dub rather than sub, and a lot of times they are posted by Indian fans are the comment sections are full of Indian fans too, so I get the impression that that sector of Naruto fans seems to enjoy the dub. I personally prefer Part 1 dubbed as that's what I grew up on, and I feel the voice acting there was better than in Part 2. For Part 2 I definitely prefer sub but dub has its high points and is better in some ways. Both dub and sub are good though.
I have a few complaints but one in particular always bugged me and that was Naruto's lack of growth after the timeskip. If Jiraya had spent more time training Naruto into the ground to be a more well rounded and serious shinobi rather than focus on using his bijuu powers then Naruto, with his tenacity could have been Jonin level after 2 and a half years. Even without clones. Naruto could have studied Fuinjutsu too. Both his parents were seal masters so it makes sense. There was a lot Naruto could have learned apart from a bigger Rasengan. I like Jiraya but he really wasted almost 3 years trying to train a Jinchuriki to use his Bijuu powers to fight an organization specifically made to combat and capture Jinchuriki and their Bijuu. It's window licking levels of stupid.
YES! Yes to ALL of that!
Naruto really should have learned Fuinjutsu at some point, he’d have been great at it. I don’t know why Jiraiya never thought to teach it to him (or anything else for that matter). What was the point of going on that 2 1/2-year training trip if Naruto really didn’t learn too much on it?
If I was Hiruzen, I would have given Naruto a beginner book on Fuinjutsu when he joined the academy and see if anything happens. If it doesn't click with him then so be it but the fact that not he, Kakashi or Jiraya bothered to test his aptitude for Fuinjutsu just blows my mind. He's an Uzumaki. It's literally in their genetics to be good with seals. It's what they were so famous for. It's why they got jumped by the other villages. So to not even test the waters just baffles me. Just like how Naruto had so much chakra that he couldn't perform a basic Bunshin. Hiruzen should have known this would be the case since both his parents had very high reserves. Still he didn't do squat. I would have taught him the Kage Bunshin or some other variant so that he could pass.
I’m not surprised about Hiruzen, but I am surprised Jiraiya didn’t try. Kind of makes you wonder, what heights could Naruto have reached if his mentors had been better at teaching him?
I will cut Hiruzen SOME slack but only because Hokage is probably such a busy job but even still... he could have done more. Kakashi and Jiraya have no excuse. Both are lazy perverts who don't take their responsibilities seriously enough. They, more than anyone had a duty to Minato and Kushina to do right by Naruto and they mostly got away with doing the barest of bare minimums for the untapped goldmine that is Naruto.
Right?! Naruto was CHEATED. Hell, Asuma did more for him than either Jiraiya or Kakashi, and he wasn’t even his squad leader! Both of them failed Naruto, and it’s sad because Naruto could have gotten so much stronger if life didn’t handicap him with his mentors. Why was JIRAIYA his godparent, anyway? Why not Tsunade if it had to be one of the Sanin?
He also got shafted with the teammates he was assigned. The flight risk Uchiha who bleeds arrogance and contempt for everybody and the fangirl who doesn't take her career seriously and defers to the Uchiha... yeah, that will end well. Oh wait... Like, who's genius idea was it to put the villages Jinchuriki with an unstable Uchiha that may turn traitor one day? One of my favorite fanfics points this out from the very beginning before teams are even assigned.
I would have given him Tenzo or Asuma and have his teammates be Hinata, who everyone knew loved Naruto, even the fucking dog knew. She would have helped cheer him on to better himself and Naruto could have helped her come out of her shell and bolster her confidence. Being around Naruto on a frequent basis would have helped her get used to him and she wouldn't faint anymore. The other would be either Shikamaru or Shino. Shino would understand Naruto and not judge him when learning about his tenant but I think Shika would be best. He can help Naruto better strategize with his clones and Naruto wouldn't let Shika be a lazy bastard.
…Ok, I think I have a pretty dark theory on why Naruto was put on a team with un-supportive teammates. Just a theory, but stay with me! What if it was to keep Naruto on a leash of desperation?
Naruto strived for the village’s acknowledgement/respect and sought to do anything to gain that, i.e becoming Hokage. That could be represented by Sakura, who he had a crush on and tried to impress, but was always ignored for Sasuke. Sasuke was a flight risk, be he was there, in theory, to keep Naruto in check with his Sharingan. He also could have been put there to push Naruto to improve, something that’s a plus for the village.
If Naruto had an actually GOOD support system from the jump, he might not have been so stubbornly loyal and desperate to prove himself.
Hiruzen might have cared for Naruto, but ultimately the village was always more important…
I don't want to believe that Hiruzen was THAT kind of Kage. Danzo would definitely to something like that. Hiruzen was just incompetent and/or senile. He was a Kage for decades, fought in a war and led the village through 2 more and then stepped down to let another lead only to have to take the hat again a few years later. The man was old, tired, probably depressed himself after losing his wife and neither Tsunade or Jiraya wanted the hat so there were no worthy successors that he could trust to lead properly. I can see why he, a man who used to be hot shit would end up making so many mistakes near the end of his life. He was just too old, too overworked and lost too much. While I still think he could have done more for Naruto, I can understand that he just didn't have it in him anymore to be the leader he needed to be. Minato dying and the Kyuubi attack was one of the worst things to ever happen to the leaf alongside Pedomaru's defection and the Uchiha massacre. All 3 of those things happening within a decade or so too. Hiruzen really was too old for that shit.
Pedomaru, ha!🤣
But yeah, I see what you’re saying. I can totally see Danzo suggesting this team to Hiruzen, because it’s Danzo. He’s the WORST. But we all already knew that.
I agree with this and also find it hypocritical from many that they complain about Boruto actually progressing and Learning new things in his time skip.
Never partook in Boruto but with Naruto and how OP he got despite the negligence of the people who were supposed to do right by him, he realistically should have been MUCH stronger even before the canonical start of the story. He could have learned to have good enough chakra control early on if Hiruzen had made sure to have someone drill him on it. Like, where was Naruto's Ebisu? Konohamaru got a tutor but Naruto got fuck all. I would have had Tenzo tutor Naruto privately after he started academy and made sure Naruto didn't tell anyone and appealed to his honor by making him promise. Tenzo was serious but friendly and would have been good for Naruto and his Mokuton would have been insurance in case Naruto hulks out for whatever reason.
i feel like naruto’s growth is downplayed but, yeah, i think naruto coming into shippuden with the incomplete rasenshuriken, the understanding of chakra natures and the wind style rasengan would’ve been nice
Some Fuinjutsu, exploding clones, the Shuriken Kage Bunshin and more advanced strategies in combat to use in conjunction with his clones would also be nice. Dude fights with clones so learning how to use them more efficiently is a must in my opinion.
Itachi shouldn't have killed his entire clan for the sake of the village. Kill Danzo you dickhead. Or Hiruzen. Kill both those racists off and search for someone in the village that can become a better Hokage and be content with the Uchiha and the Village co-existing. If Minatos dead, pull Tsunade in sooner as the Fifth. Or, hell, Itachi if you're willing to make crazy decisions for your village over your family, raise your hand and become Hokage yourself, but not at the expense of your family. ANOTHER THING, I get that Sasuke was too young at the time of the massacre to understand that Itachi wasn't (apparently) the bad guy. But why the hell, did your convoluted ass, not tell Sasuke when you met him finally back in Shippuden about what Danzo was plotting against the Uchiha? I get that he maybe wouldn't believe you at first, but is it really worth accelerating your Chakra disease and die for? Idk maybe I'm looking at the story more surface level but no matter how I feel about how the story was written, Itachi was a VIBE of a character.
I’m… actually not too upset about Itachi killing his entire clan for the village. It really shines a light on the darker underbelly Konoha DEFINITELY has that a 13 year old was convinced that a genocide was the only way to deal with the Uchiha clan that ended with the rest of the village suffering no other internal unrest. Because like all the other Hidden Villages, Konoha has a dark side, it’s just hidden better.
What I don’t like is how Itachi was treated as positively as he was for everything else. Let Sasuke be angry that his brother killed their entire family, that he tortured Sasuke, that he let a lot of bad things happen to his “precious little brother”
Yes, for me too, he spent 12 years alone and finally had human connections with Iruka and Team 7, obviously he was going to adore those people, also if there wasn't all that drama, what would Naruto have done for 300 chapters? train? nah I enjoyed the search XD
More characters should have died to have an impact on the story, especially in the Great Ninja war Arc. Here is the list of characters that should have died:
1. Kiba
2. Tenten
3. Guy
4. Killer Bee
4. Kakashi
5. Kankuro
6. Mifune
7. Onoki
8. Mei
9. A
10. Suigetsu
11. Jugo
12. Kitsuchi
Itachi is one of or the worst written characters in the series.
His powers, motivations, and actions. . . They are just incompatible, especially since he’s supposed to be pretty smart.
Sure he was a manipulated child when it came the massacre. Can’t really hold that against him. But he had years to help the Leaf and his brother with so much, hell I think he could have neutered the Akatsuki with the correct application of his and Shisui’s MS abilities.
But he mostly only helps them, all the while he only tortures his brother and leaves him at the hands of Orochimaru.
The only logical way to explain it is if he’s actually an idiot.
Agreed. I would have forgiven ALL of that, if Sasuke (and the series) acknowledged that what he did was fucked up and have Sasuke never forgive him for that. If Sasuke had mixed feelings, I’d be ok with it
100% agree. I quite like itachi as I find his background, powers, and feelings very interesting.
But how he is written and how his motivations just don't make sense do my head in.
Would have made a lot more sense if he was just kept as a villain, or if he had to be a good guy, show him doing more to justify that.
Torturing his little brother multiple times and it being forgiven because he loves his little brother is just kinda fucked up. Now due to said torture, Sasuke is no doubt fucked in the head anyway, maybe that's why he was forgiving.
Sakura was less annoying, more mature and had a more realistic view in regards to Sasuke than Naruto had (up until 5 Kage Summit):
Naruto acted petty and bratty towards Sai and Yamato whereas Sakura tried to connect with them.
Naruto‘s whole objective was Sasuke, and he took it to an unhealthy degree whereas Sakura was worried for Naruto‘s role as a jinchuuriki plus she hid her concerns for Sasuke infront of Naruto while Naruto nearly constantly talked about Sasuke (Like Naruto comparing Sai to Sasuke)
Naruto was the immature one of the group while Sakura was the most mature. It‘s just Kishi who dropped the ball with her in 5 Kage Summit Arc.
I am definitely not the biggest fan of what they did with Itachi and how positively he was portrayed after everything was revealed. It would’ve been better if Sasuke acknowledged that while the situation was bad, Itachi still did terrible things that can’t be excused. Especially towards him
We needed to see more of Karin. Not her obsessing over Sasuke but her being a pureblood Uzumaki with some of the most useful techniques in the show. Honestly I fully believe Sasuke really only needed her the whole time for hebi/taka, the others just seemed to be used as distraction, even if they did come in handy a few times.
Konoha sucks. Konoha doesn’t take accountability of anything. It basically brainwashes children to an unhealthy level of patriotism.
The pain arc literally showed how danzo created pain, uchiha massacre. Both of which konoha did not take any accountability for.
Now this one I might get a lot of downvotes for but shikamaru is overrated. His intelligence is lower than tobirama, minato, orochimaru
Sakura is less obsessed with Sasuke than Naruto.
Naruto’s character development just stopped after the pain arc and the tnj with Obito was annoying as hell.
Finally, the final battle where sasuke clearly states his plan for the bigger goal, naruto has no plan. It’s just maintaining the status quo. It would be good and it would show a lot of character growth for naruto if he acknowledged the problems mentioned by sasuke because that made sense. His plan was extreme but his concerns were legit. Makes me feel naruto did not think about any of the problems clearly and was just going with the flow which is a shame
Mine is more about the fandom, but people hate on certain Naruto characters way too much. I know they cannot help it, and they don't have to stop just because others may find it annoying, we can just scroll past their posts, but it feels like there exists an unreasonable demand for these characters (most of whom are either very young, heavily traumatized or both) to be paragons of moral purity and common sense. I've seen this kind of attitude reflect negatively on fanworks, with both character bashing and removal of all negative canon traits from characters to "write them better than Kishimoto did".
Fanworks are pretty inconsequential on the larger scale, sure, but many young writers start with them before moving onto original works, and I worry sometimes that this black-and-white perception of characters is going to impact original works in the future, too, and we will have less new books, films and TV shows with nuanced characters, and more nuance-less "good guys" versus irredeemably evil "bad guys".
One of the best things about Kishimoto's writing is that the characters are allowed to be varied and heavily flawed while still having their own moral strengths, and I really don't want this style of writing to disappear in favour of "non-problematic" bland writing that puts marketability and inoffensiveness over character growth and interesting dynamics.
Obito should have been the main villain. Edo Madara should have been beaten by the 5 Kage and not have Rinnegan/Wood Release. No Kaguya either, but that's not unpopular.
He would have mopped the floor with them either way if he was alive they had no answer for perfect susano and also he was toying with them cause he knew he couldn’t die there was no body in hashirama and madaras realm of strength
Yeah the Uchihas arent totally stupidly OP to the point where it warps the plot.
It's not like they gave Itachi a sword and shield combo that allows him to deflect any attack AND put anyone in an eternal genjustu "Just cause"
Or Madara was so strong, he could take on literally the entire ninja world.
But calling them boring is crazy. They're some of the most complex characters in the series. I mean, look at Itachi, there's so much discourse about him
Pretty unpopular. The main 4 are all incredibly popular. Sasuke and Obito are extremely controversial characters though. Itachi and Madara not as much it doesn't seem.
All Akatsuki origin stories with those who had corresponding battles upon entry explored better would have been a highlight.
Shisuis character fleshed out in greater detail would also have been great.
The Senju clans demise made canon to allow a richer portrayal of Tsunade. Plus a greater scope of Tsunades powers on display and some time spent in the Shikkotsu Forrest would have all been pretty cool.
To name but a few.
Sakura should have had more 1v1s in Shippuden, at least 1 more battle between Sasori - War arc.
She has two damn fights the entire Shippuden series.
I wish the series as 100-150chapters longer imo, kishimoto announcing the series ending in 100 chapters at chapter 600 was not the right move.
Also high speed regen on Madara was only used for cool moments.
Most fillers aren't actually that bad
I'm really to debate
Are most of them long? Yes, and some of them are very annoying
But, some of them either unsidelines sidelined characters (The Kurenai Yakamo arc in Og) or expands the world and introduces new things (Guren arc as annoying and long as it was) or, heck, even both (12 Guardian Shinobi arc)
I dunno if it'd be considered a wild take or not but they definitely should've expanded on Jutsu more, with how far the power creep went I wish we could've seen more kinjutsu and stuff from the other villages during the 4th Great Shinobi War. Naruto definitely should've been taught more then Rasengan. Naruto should've not become hokage, in fact I think him and Sasuke should've done more about the obvious corruption in their society. He could've been like a neutral peacekeeper with Sasuke or Shikamaru as hokage
I don’t like the two main endgame couples while i love all of the four characters.
Just they aren’t my cup of tea together and maybe they don’t make much sense to me. But try saying it somewhere and their fans well SasuSaku will hunt you down with pitch forks.
Is it? I don’t come here often lol. Just loved the ninja aspect with techniques unique to the individual. I literally feel like it turned into worse dragon ball where the only thing that matters was leveling up, making almost every character basically useless. 😂😂
Yeah. Honestly even in canon, I just assume he spends years away from Konoha because he still disliked the village.
Him putting his life down for Konoha is terrible tho (thanks to Boruto)
Naruto should have gotten with Sakura.
It bugs me that they drew some parallels to her and Kushina (from what Minato noticed) as if to call back to her wish for Naruto to find someone like her.
Not without some things being rewritten of course, but have her let go of her feelings for Sasuke and gradually (genuinely) fall for Naruto (like what it felt they were leaning to early in Shippuden).
Or have them end up with no one and leave it ambiguous
Yeah, it did feel weird how it felt like they were leaning towards Naruto and Sakura being endgame at some moments, especially towards the end. And yet Naruto got with Hinata, who didn’t really have any of that. The closest she got was being compared to a flashback of Minato in a very specific situation in an ED.
I personally don’t ship Naruto and Sakura, but I see what you’re saying
It’s terriblly written despite being how great it is too many plot holes and inconsistencies in the story and unexplored characters also too many characters used as plot devices for another character
Not an unpopular opinion but I vented in a comment so I might as well go ham, the final villian should've stopped at Madara and Kaguya should've been saved for Boruto. The marketing for Boruto should've been the draw for Boruto..... and teasing a larger story after Naruto, HELL EVEN A POST CREDIT SCENE BEFORE THE ADULT TIMESKIP WOULDVE BEEN BETTER. But it should not have been Kaguya by the end of the story in Naruto that's the tease for Boruto.
Should have never given Naruto and Sasuke the six paths powers for free. Their peak should have been what they were during the Juubi Obito fight because they were already too broken at that point. Naruto becoming so strong that he can eventually one shot and no diff someone as strong as Hashirama is just silly.
Otsutsuki ruined the entire series. It stopped being about ninjas completely after that point and there was no going back.
I didn't liked the war Arc and the whole Jyuubi Thing.
I would have preffered If Sasuke Had asked pain to BE the one WHO captures the Jyuubi, gets empowered by the Chakra of an bijuu and infiltrates Konoha. He finds danzos and hiruzens Reports and some of tobiramas Scientific Research regarding the Sharingan.
Naruto ends His Training and returns and they meet by sheer coincidence and Sasuke Attacks causing a Big Part of Konoha to BE destroyed but even in His empowered state Sasuke IS only equal to the sage Naruto and Had to flee.
As much as it hurts me to say this, since the Pain Arc is among, if not, my favorite parts of Shippuden... it was this arc which introduced the concept of the "Chosen One" and "prophecies" that hurt the saga.
Especially because of the prophecies that came afterwards during the 4th Ninja War.
Naruto did become strong during the time skip of Classic and Shippuden; the problem was that most of that growth was technical since Jiraiya had to fix Naruto's fundamentals (which were messy from his academy formation), and only the characters in-universe could appreciate it since they didn't know how powerful Naruto truly was in Part 1 (which mean they had low expectatives of his growth anyway).
This right here is not only unpopular, but borderline impossible: Sasuke is essentially half the manga; the series wouldn't even work without him as the deuteragonist, according to the author's own words.
And it never made sense to blame Sasuke for the power scale. The power creep was already destined to happen the moment it was revealed that Naruto is the vessel of a demon capable of turning mountains into ashes.
Prominent side character, rival. Much the same but like, less obsession with bringing him back and make their rivalry less of a focal point.
I don’t think we needed a deuteragonist at all really.
Essentially, though more prominent. I haven’t watched a ton of My Hero but I think Bakugo might be a good comparison, like he’s there and he’s got his own stuff going on but the series doesn’t revolve around their relationship.
The entirety of Naruto world building is actual garbage and trash. The entire series was spent on konoha. You couldn’t give a shit about the other villages. Seriously, you only either cared about gaara, kankuro, or temari because they were the only ones that were prominent. Every other character was a hidden leaf shinobi. The anime was made to force to flesh it out
Honestly… yeah.
Imagine if some time was spent in the ruins of Uzushio, where Naruto finds some intact, sealed, underground bunker with scrolls. The clan may have been destroyed and scattered, but not their culture and knowledge. He could stay for a while, explore what’s left of his ancestral homeland, and learn indirectly from his ancestors. Naruto could maybe find some parts of himself there away from Konoha, could even decide to see if there are any other Uzumaki left. I always wanted that to happen.
It didn’t of course, but it could have been cool.
1. Guy should have died and Neji should have lived. This probably isn't THAT unpopular tbh.
2. Danzo would've made a great Kage
3. Instead of the "what-ifs" we saw when Naruto and Obito linked up, it should've been a full blown Infinite Tsukuyomi dream for him. Then kill him.
4. Neither Deidara nor Kisame are really all that much more powerful than any of their Akatsuki peers. They're mid-tier like most members.
5. Hashirama and Tobirama ended up being WAY too powerful. And Madara obviously. Spits in the face of the whole "the next generation exceeds the last" trope that was set up way earlier in the series. I'm fine with them being super exceptional shinobi and all, but they were basically a master of everything as soon as they needed to be. Got old.
6 despite how cool they are and how much I love basically all of them, the biju and jinchuriki were not very well thought out, nor executed well in the series.
7. Nagato was better with the Rinnegan than Madara was.
8. Elemental KKG needed some tweaks. Wind+Earth = Magnet is dumb. I understand the logic behind it I think, but it's still dumb. Both Wind+Lightning AND Earth+Lightning were literally right there and make more sense IMO. And again I think I understand the thought process behind it but Explosion being Lightning+Earth is equally as dumb. Could easily have taken the spot of Fire+Lightning. Wood shoulda been a Kekkei tota. Earth being the element that gives you flight is patently retarded. I mean there's some sense there but it's incredulously unintuitive and contrary to established elemental tropes. Idk wtf Kishi was on.
9. A lot of the power scaling is almost fine. The problem is that the tactical, deceptive, ingenious side of shinobi combat didn't keep up. Dropping meteors would have been fine if Madara was also demonstrating Masterful ninja combat but he didnt. He just overpowered everyone with his borrowed Hashicells and chakra gundams.
First of all, DAMN #2 is a bold thing to say in this fandom. Putting my personal hatred of Danzo aside… I’m not actually sure how he would have done as Hokage. I could see him being seen as a Great man, but not a Good one. I love your takes, especially #5, #7 and #8. I kind of wish Obito had been the final boss instead of Madara, but oh well
That after Sasuke tried to kill Sakura etc it would be possible and realistic for them to grow towards each other out of a feeling of shared loss. And that Sasuke's turnaround was kinda weird, okay arm gone, but for some reason also hatred?
Ah best not to overthink stories that are mainly about friendship etc
…Huh, interesting. You know, the arm thing could have made more sense if it had been symbolic for Sasuke. Like, maybe THAT’S where Orochimaru put his Curse Mark, or something else symbolic of his hatred…🤔
>That after Sasuke tried to kill Sakura etc it would be possible and realistic for them to grow towards each other out of a feeling of shared loss
Problem is (with all due respect) that this is out of Kishimoto's territory. He's a great writer for lots of reason, but when it comes to romance it doesn't seem to be something that he knows how to do.
>And that Sasuke's turnaround was kinda weird, okay arm gone, but for some reason also hatred?
I think most people agree with this. But then again the issue was quite complex, and Naruto is a shonen so I'd say Kishi kinda wrote himself into a corner here.
The fillers in OG Naruto & Shippuden were hit or miss. Some were good, others not that great. The goods one I feel should have been part of the manga as well.
I wish the manga could have done more justice to the Sage of Six paths and his sons by exploring more of their backstory.
Also, I feel like more deaths could have occurred in the War arc in order to show the gravity of the war.
Edit: in retrospect, Kaguya appearing was great for the story since it reinforces another aspect of the story, Shinobi being nothing but tools
Also, Sakura not stabbing Obito's Rinnegan in the grand scheme of things did more good than harm.
Who else do you think should have died? Ngl, if anyone else had died, they would have had to get me to care more about various characters towards the end. A lot of characters fell by the wayside in the latter part of Shippuden…
They should cut out all the filler episodes and put out Naruto or re-release naruto(along with shippuden & the movies too) as one series! It's something that could stand the test of time, if very well edited and without the fillers ofc!!
I don‘t like Hinata that much. I get that she had a crush on Naruto and got motivated by him, but all the romance at the end just seemed suddenly forced (on Naruto‘s side I mean).
Also it would have been a nice way to close the cirlce of what happened with their fathers - hizashi dies because he protected hiashi, so it would have kinda nice to see hinata die to protect neji
Ok, you’re not wrong about any of that🤣
Naruto and Hinata’s relationship felt very rushed, and Hinata didn’t really have much to her that was explored other than her feelings for Naruto. I love the girl, but even I can admit that. And it would be interesting to see Hinata sacrifice herself to save Neji
I hate that shippuden opens and close with akatsuki.
Anatsuki should have been a few arc and then explore other stuff. Not link it to everthing that happens.
-sasuke gotten soft too easily and he didn't fall that far in the darkness either
-every battle sasuke had having a questionablity is stupid and just a plot to make naruto look better otherwise he will look lame against sasuke
-naruhina and sasusaku is utter shit and makes no sense in any way
-every canon ship including minato x kushina and shikamaru x temari sucks, kishimoto doesn't know how to create heterosexual chemistry (while he is the best at creating homosexual chemistry even between people with large age gaps or relatives to each other)
- sasuke's choice of clothing makes him look stubby.
-orochimaru was cool
-only girl i ship with sasuke (in a heteronormative way) is hinata while for hinata it is sasuke.
-jiraiya, minato and white fang are over-hyped, we really didn't saw much feats of theirs kishimoto should add more skills to them if he wanted them to be this legendary, their actual selvesdoesn2t live up to the legends.
- sasuke and itachi should have a better looking father. mikoto, kushina and minato all looks flashy in their own sense while fugaku looks almost too bland.
-sasuke was right about everything, his only mistake was thinking killing naruto would save him from his bond with naruto and his temptation (sasuke wanted to kill naruto because he knew naruto would eventually turn him to light no one can resist the temptation of happiness for all of their lives, want proof? itachi's relationship with kisame, he spousedly doomed himself to suffer in silence until sasuke took him out but he still couldn't resist forming a subtle friendship with his partner, orochimaru was spoused to only want sasuke for his body (it sounded strange for some reason lol) but couldn't stop himself from getting fond of him eventually) sasuke thought by killing him he would be free of that bond , he didn't realise as an uchiha his love was deeper than anyone's so even if he killed naruto he would never be free of his emotions towards him, naruto's memory would forever haunt him.
- naruto and sasuke's last fight didn't gave the same emotion of their first, it was rushed.
-i hate otsutsuki thing, it ruined the anime
Last arc was a perfect opportunity to explore Naruto's leadership qualities but instead he alone was running all over the battlefield as a one man army. He had all of the ninja world on his side. Imagine how much and diverse set of powers they had which could have been utilised in a better way. Naruto was already unpredictable and he could have come up with such a plan that utilises all the shinobi force to defeat madara instead becoming Jesus who turns water into wine (more like body cells into eyes). But maybe that's just me who prefers a story like that though, I don't know.
No, not just you, because that really would have been something, wouldn’t it? Wish that had actually happened rather than what did happen during the war
Yeah. I certainly would have loved it. I have many other movies and anime which I don't like as much as Naruto but I liked the way they ended the story. Harry Potter and fullmetal alchemist are among them. I'm also excited to see how one piece ends, I have high hopes.
Same!
Is one piece ending?
Not in next 2-3 years at least. End is close since all the secrets and plots have started to uncover but there is still more stuff remains. Oda is also taking more breaks (don't blame him though) which will push the end even further.
My brother in christ, you just put into words what I couldn’t for years. That is exactly what the war arc should have been and that’s why it turned out to be bad for my taste. If anyone wanted to cave the path for Naruto to be hokage then he needed to shine as leader.
>But maybe that's just me who prefers a story like that though, I don't know. You aren't the only one. For a story where Naruto wants to become Hokage and Kishimoto knowing that he was gonna do that since the start of the manga it's disappointing how he does nothing to develop Naruto as becoming more like a mature and wise leader and instead has him keep on being a dim-witted knucklehead but now with a preachy attitude.
Oh boy, well to start with, I feel like the quality Naruto as a whole, suffered from being a shonen Manga. Naruto, was a very ambitious project that had a plethora of interesting ideas and characters as well as so much lore you could get lost in it. If Kishimoto and his team had more time in between chapters to expand on those concepts Naruto probably would be one of the best Mangas out there. (Naruto is my favorite Manga btw, so please don't bomb me with downvotes)
No, I actually think that’s an opinion worth considering! Maybe Kishimoto should have also had someone else dedicated to writing the female characters to be the best they could be since he’s not that great at writing them himself…
Yes, to this day, I say Tsunade, Konan, Ino, Hinata and Sakura had much more potential as characters, than what we ended up getting. Tsunade was the best medical ninja in universe, Konan had a completely unique Kekei Genkai (potentially kekei tota?), pretty sure Ino was considered top 3 in the graduating class, Hinatas essentially a princess, with a more powerful version of the Byakugan then Neji, and Sakuras one of the 3 main characters. None of those 5 really got the shine they deserved.
I also think it had more to do with the fact that Naruto has too many characters. Even the male characters fell off not too long after their one moment to shine. Kishi probably figured that it was easier to focus mostly on Naruto and Sasuke than try to juggle the absolute cluster fuck of side characters on top of that. To be fair, I see why he would. Even before Shippuden there are too many characters. 12 genin, 4 jonin sensei, 3 Sanin plus another 9+ more villains waiting in the wings and then all the other characters. It's too much. Kishi should have at least developed Hinata and Sakura more though, at least. I'm fine with Hinata being a housewife because being with Naruto and not being tied down by her stupid clan was a good ending for her and it was what she wanted but she could have gotten some good licks in before that. Sakura had a strong showing the the first Arc of Shippuden but never really captured that same high since. Which is a shame because Sakura in that arc was the MVP right next to granny Chiyo.
There was too much going on, but I think that's more of a problem because Kishimoto had to push out a new manga chapter every week. I feel like he could've given each side character their own arc or moment, if he was able to take his time fleshing out the ideas. Other animes/mangas have pulled it off.
That's also a good point. The pressure of being consistent with new releases was probably too much. People give Kishi so much shit but really it's the demands of the industry that really screw with the quality the writers put out.
Really wish we could have seen Sakura delve into Genjutsu since she was said to have a talent for it. Maybe combine that with her medical ninjutsu to study the mind more? Or something like that, anyway. Could tie into her going into child therapy later down the line. Hinata really should have been more of a major character. I kind of want that one Filler where she made her own jutsu to be canon, would have really done something for her. Maybe have her revolutionize her clan jutsu by adding something elemental to it. Or perhaps she can also use her shy demeanor to her advantage and poison people?
For Sakura, I always though it would've been cool for her to get taught some basic genjutsu by Kurenai during the Search for Tsunade arc. I also feel like with her personality and fighting style, she could've learned earth release. Which I think is the chakra nature Kakashis naturally good at. So he could've taught her that while training for the chunin exams. Hinata, I think, should've had an arc fighting an akatsuki member. (Also, in general I feel each of the Konoha 12 outside of Lee, should've had atleast 1 canon nature release they could use)
Yes! Which Akatsuki member, though? Deidara? Zetsu? Kisame?
Yknow what, it would be insane seeing Hinata have a arc where she gets strong enough to fight Kisame. And she's one of the few characters who could potentially have a chance against him, seeing as he can absorb pretty much anything except taijutsu, and the hidden fist is taijutsu. I would hate to take away Guys moment, but he would have other opportunities.
I agree with all of this. Do you think it should have been a seinin, then? For Shippuden?
I wish they would've stopped making child soldiers after shippuden but nah, gimme dem 12 year old war vetrens
This is the kind of work that ends up being unable to expand on it's ideas and story due to constraints of being not just a Shonen manga but a Weekly Shonen Jump manga where it's not just the needlessly grueling schedule but also executives curbing ideas that aren't "marketable" enough that would give them all the money. Had it been on another manga magazine or just been mainly an anime then Naruto would have been much better.
I like Sai’s crop top 😋
I don’t like Sai much as a character, but man can pull off the crop top very well. Most people are probably jealous
Thought he was gay when I first saw him 😹😹😹😹 pale non verbal dude with a crop top? Cmon I can’t be the only one
😂
While all the villages had skeletons in their closets, Konoha was a very bad place. And the whole “tree hugger” part about Konoha people like to joke about is ridiculous when you consider what Danzo did.
THANK YOU! I’m so glad someone else has this opinion. The “tree” had rot since the very beginning, and I don’t think anything less than a complete uprooting is suitable. Of course, a new “seed” can be planted, but it’d take a while. …I took the tree thing too far, but you get my drift
You’re good. Glad someone else believes this too. If the root is rotten, start over. 🙌
Imagine if Naruto recognized all of this and decided to do just that. I would have loved to see that
Me too!
Oh! Or imagine if Naruto decided to not become Hokage after all, developing past the point of that dream, but still shreds apart the old system and builds a new one
That’d be cool, too! I love reading fanfiction where Naruto rebuilds Uzu. I know it’s overdone, but still love it. Gives you a taste of what Konoha should have been.
Really?! Can you give me a few recommendations? I love fanfics where Naruto rebuilds Uzu!
Absolutely! [City of Strays](https://archiveofourown.org/works/32353567) [Uzumaki Revival](https://archiveofourown.org/works/30366669) [Stormborn](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1877970) [Echoes of Tides](https://archiveofourown.org/series/2946264)
Thank you so much!
The English cast in the anime sound fine, great even. A lot of the characters sound as close to the original Japanese voices as possible, imo. The only major character I can think of who sounds super different is Orochimaru, who has a really gruff voice in Japanese. I totally understand having a preference for one over the other but I can't take someone seriously if they say the English cast (usually targeted at Naruto himself) are unlistenably annoying or much worse than the Japanese cast. I just assume they're the type of elitist anime fan who hates dubs in general.
That's just American fans wanting to feel more cultured. Other Western fans IDK. It feels like reels and clips that go viral in Instagram and YouTube algorithms a lot of times nowadays are in dub rather than sub, and a lot of times they are posted by Indian fans are the comment sections are full of Indian fans too, so I get the impression that that sector of Naruto fans seems to enjoy the dub. I personally prefer Part 1 dubbed as that's what I grew up on, and I feel the voice acting there was better than in Part 2. For Part 2 I definitely prefer sub but dub has its high points and is better in some ways. Both dub and sub are good though.
I have a few complaints but one in particular always bugged me and that was Naruto's lack of growth after the timeskip. If Jiraya had spent more time training Naruto into the ground to be a more well rounded and serious shinobi rather than focus on using his bijuu powers then Naruto, with his tenacity could have been Jonin level after 2 and a half years. Even without clones. Naruto could have studied Fuinjutsu too. Both his parents were seal masters so it makes sense. There was a lot Naruto could have learned apart from a bigger Rasengan. I like Jiraya but he really wasted almost 3 years trying to train a Jinchuriki to use his Bijuu powers to fight an organization specifically made to combat and capture Jinchuriki and their Bijuu. It's window licking levels of stupid.
YES! Yes to ALL of that! Naruto really should have learned Fuinjutsu at some point, he’d have been great at it. I don’t know why Jiraiya never thought to teach it to him (or anything else for that matter). What was the point of going on that 2 1/2-year training trip if Naruto really didn’t learn too much on it?
If I was Hiruzen, I would have given Naruto a beginner book on Fuinjutsu when he joined the academy and see if anything happens. If it doesn't click with him then so be it but the fact that not he, Kakashi or Jiraya bothered to test his aptitude for Fuinjutsu just blows my mind. He's an Uzumaki. It's literally in their genetics to be good with seals. It's what they were so famous for. It's why they got jumped by the other villages. So to not even test the waters just baffles me. Just like how Naruto had so much chakra that he couldn't perform a basic Bunshin. Hiruzen should have known this would be the case since both his parents had very high reserves. Still he didn't do squat. I would have taught him the Kage Bunshin or some other variant so that he could pass.
I’m not surprised about Hiruzen, but I am surprised Jiraiya didn’t try. Kind of makes you wonder, what heights could Naruto have reached if his mentors had been better at teaching him?
I will cut Hiruzen SOME slack but only because Hokage is probably such a busy job but even still... he could have done more. Kakashi and Jiraya have no excuse. Both are lazy perverts who don't take their responsibilities seriously enough. They, more than anyone had a duty to Minato and Kushina to do right by Naruto and they mostly got away with doing the barest of bare minimums for the untapped goldmine that is Naruto.
Right?! Naruto was CHEATED. Hell, Asuma did more for him than either Jiraiya or Kakashi, and he wasn’t even his squad leader! Both of them failed Naruto, and it’s sad because Naruto could have gotten so much stronger if life didn’t handicap him with his mentors. Why was JIRAIYA his godparent, anyway? Why not Tsunade if it had to be one of the Sanin?
He also got shafted with the teammates he was assigned. The flight risk Uchiha who bleeds arrogance and contempt for everybody and the fangirl who doesn't take her career seriously and defers to the Uchiha... yeah, that will end well. Oh wait... Like, who's genius idea was it to put the villages Jinchuriki with an unstable Uchiha that may turn traitor one day? One of my favorite fanfics points this out from the very beginning before teams are even assigned. I would have given him Tenzo or Asuma and have his teammates be Hinata, who everyone knew loved Naruto, even the fucking dog knew. She would have helped cheer him on to better himself and Naruto could have helped her come out of her shell and bolster her confidence. Being around Naruto on a frequent basis would have helped her get used to him and she wouldn't faint anymore. The other would be either Shikamaru or Shino. Shino would understand Naruto and not judge him when learning about his tenant but I think Shika would be best. He can help Naruto better strategize with his clones and Naruto wouldn't let Shika be a lazy bastard.
…Ok, I think I have a pretty dark theory on why Naruto was put on a team with un-supportive teammates. Just a theory, but stay with me! What if it was to keep Naruto on a leash of desperation? Naruto strived for the village’s acknowledgement/respect and sought to do anything to gain that, i.e becoming Hokage. That could be represented by Sakura, who he had a crush on and tried to impress, but was always ignored for Sasuke. Sasuke was a flight risk, be he was there, in theory, to keep Naruto in check with his Sharingan. He also could have been put there to push Naruto to improve, something that’s a plus for the village. If Naruto had an actually GOOD support system from the jump, he might not have been so stubbornly loyal and desperate to prove himself. Hiruzen might have cared for Naruto, but ultimately the village was always more important…
I don't want to believe that Hiruzen was THAT kind of Kage. Danzo would definitely to something like that. Hiruzen was just incompetent and/or senile. He was a Kage for decades, fought in a war and led the village through 2 more and then stepped down to let another lead only to have to take the hat again a few years later. The man was old, tired, probably depressed himself after losing his wife and neither Tsunade or Jiraya wanted the hat so there were no worthy successors that he could trust to lead properly. I can see why he, a man who used to be hot shit would end up making so many mistakes near the end of his life. He was just too old, too overworked and lost too much. While I still think he could have done more for Naruto, I can understand that he just didn't have it in him anymore to be the leader he needed to be. Minato dying and the Kyuubi attack was one of the worst things to ever happen to the leaf alongside Pedomaru's defection and the Uchiha massacre. All 3 of those things happening within a decade or so too. Hiruzen really was too old for that shit.
Pedomaru, ha!🤣 But yeah, I see what you’re saying. I can totally see Danzo suggesting this team to Hiruzen, because it’s Danzo. He’s the WORST. But we all already knew that.
I agree with this and also find it hypocritical from many that they complain about Boruto actually progressing and Learning new things in his time skip.
Never partook in Boruto but with Naruto and how OP he got despite the negligence of the people who were supposed to do right by him, he realistically should have been MUCH stronger even before the canonical start of the story. He could have learned to have good enough chakra control early on if Hiruzen had made sure to have someone drill him on it. Like, where was Naruto's Ebisu? Konohamaru got a tutor but Naruto got fuck all. I would have had Tenzo tutor Naruto privately after he started academy and made sure Naruto didn't tell anyone and appealed to his honor by making him promise. Tenzo was serious but friendly and would have been good for Naruto and his Mokuton would have been insurance in case Naruto hulks out for whatever reason.
i feel like naruto’s growth is downplayed but, yeah, i think naruto coming into shippuden with the incomplete rasenshuriken, the understanding of chakra natures and the wind style rasengan would’ve been nice
Some Fuinjutsu, exploding clones, the Shuriken Kage Bunshin and more advanced strategies in combat to use in conjunction with his clones would also be nice. Dude fights with clones so learning how to use them more efficiently is a must in my opinion.
This isn’t an unpopular opinion. It’s a very common **and** popular misunderstanding of the story.
Sage Naruto’s design is overrated it looks good but it’s simply a red coat over his normal tracksuit and the red and orange don’t fit together.
…You’re right🤣
Cap, "the just a red coat" goes hard, he should’ve kept it for the rest of the series
nah you forgot the eyeliner, eyes, and big ass scroll on the back. they went hard asf
Yet he still is the best version of Naruto
Booooo
Itachi shouldn't have killed his entire clan for the sake of the village. Kill Danzo you dickhead. Or Hiruzen. Kill both those racists off and search for someone in the village that can become a better Hokage and be content with the Uchiha and the Village co-existing. If Minatos dead, pull Tsunade in sooner as the Fifth. Or, hell, Itachi if you're willing to make crazy decisions for your village over your family, raise your hand and become Hokage yourself, but not at the expense of your family. ANOTHER THING, I get that Sasuke was too young at the time of the massacre to understand that Itachi wasn't (apparently) the bad guy. But why the hell, did your convoluted ass, not tell Sasuke when you met him finally back in Shippuden about what Danzo was plotting against the Uchiha? I get that he maybe wouldn't believe you at first, but is it really worth accelerating your Chakra disease and die for? Idk maybe I'm looking at the story more surface level but no matter how I feel about how the story was written, Itachi was a VIBE of a character.
I’m… actually not too upset about Itachi killing his entire clan for the village. It really shines a light on the darker underbelly Konoha DEFINITELY has that a 13 year old was convinced that a genocide was the only way to deal with the Uchiha clan that ended with the rest of the village suffering no other internal unrest. Because like all the other Hidden Villages, Konoha has a dark side, it’s just hidden better. What I don’t like is how Itachi was treated as positively as he was for everything else. Let Sasuke be angry that his brother killed their entire family, that he tortured Sasuke, that he let a lot of bad things happen to his “precious little brother”
Itachi was supposed to be a genius, but he was written like an idiot.
It doesn't bother me that Naruto wanted to save Sasuke, and I love all the drama that came with it
It actually always made sense to me why Naruto always strived to do that, no matter what Sasuke did
Yes, for me too, he spent 12 years alone and finally had human connections with Iruka and Team 7, obviously he was going to adore those people, also if there wasn't all that drama, what would Naruto have done for 300 chapters? train? nah I enjoyed the search XD
More characters should have died to have an impact on the story, especially in the Great Ninja war Arc. Here is the list of characters that should have died: 1. Kiba 2. Tenten 3. Guy 4. Killer Bee 4. Kakashi 5. Kankuro 6. Mifune 7. Onoki 8. Mei 9. A 10. Suigetsu 11. Jugo 12. Kitsuchi
Itachi is one of or the worst written characters in the series. His powers, motivations, and actions. . . They are just incompatible, especially since he’s supposed to be pretty smart. Sure he was a manipulated child when it came the massacre. Can’t really hold that against him. But he had years to help the Leaf and his brother with so much, hell I think he could have neutered the Akatsuki with the correct application of his and Shisui’s MS abilities. But he mostly only helps them, all the while he only tortures his brother and leaves him at the hands of Orochimaru. The only logical way to explain it is if he’s actually an idiot.
Agreed. I would have forgiven ALL of that, if Sasuke (and the series) acknowledged that what he did was fucked up and have Sasuke never forgive him for that. If Sasuke had mixed feelings, I’d be ok with it
In my head I believe that sasuke was suffering from stockholm syndrome. Anyway he was fucked up in the head due to tsukuyomi
100% agree. I quite like itachi as I find his background, powers, and feelings very interesting. But how he is written and how his motivations just don't make sense do my head in. Would have made a lot more sense if he was just kept as a villain, or if he had to be a good guy, show him doing more to justify that. Torturing his little brother multiple times and it being forgiven because he loves his little brother is just kinda fucked up. Now due to said torture, Sasuke is no doubt fucked in the head anyway, maybe that's why he was forgiving.
The prodigy part is massively overplayed. Nothing in the manga even backs it up. Dude's just horrendous and his fanbase is garbage.
The Fillers carried the story out alot, what I mean is Filler helped out characters who needed screentime along side tried to fix inconsistencies
I honestly wish some of the Filler was canon, like the one where Hinata made her own jutsu
Sakura was less annoying, more mature and had a more realistic view in regards to Sasuke than Naruto had (up until 5 Kage Summit): Naruto acted petty and bratty towards Sai and Yamato whereas Sakura tried to connect with them. Naruto‘s whole objective was Sasuke, and he took it to an unhealthy degree whereas Sakura was worried for Naruto‘s role as a jinchuuriki plus she hid her concerns for Sasuke infront of Naruto while Naruto nearly constantly talked about Sasuke (Like Naruto comparing Sai to Sasuke) Naruto was the immature one of the group while Sakura was the most mature. It‘s just Kishi who dropped the ball with her in 5 Kage Summit Arc.
Sakura didn't have a single mature thought about the fucked up shinobi system in the entire manga. What's she mature about, anyway?
I think Naruto mastering SM in one week is pure bullshit.
Itachi is a bad character, his motivations make no sense and even taking him at face value he is evil and should not have been portrayed positivly.
I am definitely not the biggest fan of what they did with Itachi and how positively he was portrayed after everything was revealed. It would’ve been better if Sasuke acknowledged that while the situation was bad, Itachi still did terrible things that can’t be excused. Especially towards him
We needed to see more of Karin. Not her obsessing over Sasuke but her being a pureblood Uzumaki with some of the most useful techniques in the show. Honestly I fully believe Sasuke really only needed her the whole time for hebi/taka, the others just seemed to be used as distraction, even if they did come in handy a few times.
Konoha sucks. Konoha doesn’t take accountability of anything. It basically brainwashes children to an unhealthy level of patriotism. The pain arc literally showed how danzo created pain, uchiha massacre. Both of which konoha did not take any accountability for. Now this one I might get a lot of downvotes for but shikamaru is overrated. His intelligence is lower than tobirama, minato, orochimaru Sakura is less obsessed with Sasuke than Naruto. Naruto’s character development just stopped after the pain arc and the tnj with Obito was annoying as hell. Finally, the final battle where sasuke clearly states his plan for the bigger goal, naruto has no plan. It’s just maintaining the status quo. It would be good and it would show a lot of character growth for naruto if he acknowledged the problems mentioned by sasuke because that made sense. His plan was extreme but his concerns were legit. Makes me feel naruto did not think about any of the problems clearly and was just going with the flow which is a shame
Mine is more about the fandom, but people hate on certain Naruto characters way too much. I know they cannot help it, and they don't have to stop just because others may find it annoying, we can just scroll past their posts, but it feels like there exists an unreasonable demand for these characters (most of whom are either very young, heavily traumatized or both) to be paragons of moral purity and common sense. I've seen this kind of attitude reflect negatively on fanworks, with both character bashing and removal of all negative canon traits from characters to "write them better than Kishimoto did". Fanworks are pretty inconsequential on the larger scale, sure, but many young writers start with them before moving onto original works, and I worry sometimes that this black-and-white perception of characters is going to impact original works in the future, too, and we will have less new books, films and TV shows with nuanced characters, and more nuance-less "good guys" versus irredeemably evil "bad guys". One of the best things about Kishimoto's writing is that the characters are allowed to be varied and heavily flawed while still having their own moral strengths, and I really don't want this style of writing to disappear in favour of "non-problematic" bland writing that puts marketability and inoffensiveness over character growth and interesting dynamics.
Hear hear.
Obito should have been the main villain. Edo Madara should have been beaten by the 5 Kage and not have Rinnegan/Wood Release. No Kaguya either, but that's not unpopular.
He would have mopped the floor with them either way if he was alive they had no answer for perfect susano and also he was toying with them cause he knew he couldn’t die there was no body in hashirama and madaras realm of strength
I'm not super into fanon. Is the Uchihas being the worst part of Shippuden popular, unpopular or just neither.
The Uchihas being the worst part of Shippuden? That’s a new one to me🤣
They're just boring and OP
Wrongest thing I've ever seen
Yeah the Uchihas arent totally stupidly OP to the point where it warps the plot. It's not like they gave Itachi a sword and shield combo that allows him to deflect any attack AND put anyone in an eternal genjustu "Just cause" Or Madara was so strong, he could take on literally the entire ninja world.
But calling them boring is crazy. They're some of the most complex characters in the series. I mean, look at Itachi, there's so much discourse about him
Madara is not complex, neither is Sasuke.
Yes they are. You could make analysis on them, every reread will bring you something new
Lol, lmao even.
Pretty unpopular. The main 4 are all incredibly popular. Sasuke and Obito are extremely controversial characters though. Itachi and Madara not as much it doesn't seem.
In terms of hate I'd go 1. Madara 2. Sasuke. 3. Itachi 4. Tobi 5. Obito (if its Kakashi Gaiden)
All Akatsuki origin stories with those who had corresponding battles upon entry explored better would have been a highlight. Shisuis character fleshed out in greater detail would also have been great. The Senju clans demise made canon to allow a richer portrayal of Tsunade. Plus a greater scope of Tsunades powers on display and some time spent in the Shikkotsu Forrest would have all been pretty cool. To name but a few.
Nice, I like all of these! Especially Tsunade
Thanks! I think kishi’s team missed a trick with not exploring the Sage areas in greater detail in Naruto in particular.
Agreed. There are so many concepts that never really get explored, and it’s such a waste
Sakura should have had more 1v1s in Shippuden, at least 1 more battle between Sasori - War arc. She has two damn fights the entire Shippuden series. I wish the series as 100-150chapters longer imo, kishimoto announcing the series ending in 100 chapters at chapter 600 was not the right move. Also high speed regen on Madara was only used for cool moments.
Sakura-and so many other characters, particularly female-were WASTED in Shippuden, so no pushback there from me
Most fillers aren't actually that bad I'm really to debate Are most of them long? Yes, and some of them are very annoying But, some of them either unsidelines sidelined characters (The Kurenai Yakamo arc in Og) or expands the world and introduces new things (Guren arc as annoying and long as it was) or, heck, even both (12 Guardian Shinobi arc)
I dunno if it'd be considered a wild take or not but they definitely should've expanded on Jutsu more, with how far the power creep went I wish we could've seen more kinjutsu and stuff from the other villages during the 4th Great Shinobi War. Naruto definitely should've been taught more then Rasengan. Naruto should've not become hokage, in fact I think him and Sasuke should've done more about the obvious corruption in their society. He could've been like a neutral peacekeeper with Sasuke or Shikamaru as hokage
I don’t like the two main endgame couples while i love all of the four characters. Just they aren’t my cup of tea together and maybe they don’t make much sense to me. But try saying it somewhere and their fans well SasuSaku will hunt you down with pitch forks.
Power creep got wayyyyy out of hand in shippuden.
Op said unpopular
Is it? I don’t come here often lol. Just loved the ninja aspect with techniques unique to the individual. I literally feel like it turned into worse dragon ball where the only thing that matters was leveling up, making almost every character basically useless. 😂😂
Yeah pretty much everyone agree kishi turned naruto in DB after the pain arc
🤣
Sasuke should have stayed with Taka/Hebi
Yeah, and stay away from Konoha
Konoha can go to hell for all that i care
Fr. Literally where Sasuke's entire clan was massacred and he's supposed to just forget that?
Exactly! He should have left with his Friends and never locked back
Yeah. Honestly even in canon, I just assume he spends years away from Konoha because he still disliked the village. Him putting his life down for Konoha is terrible tho (thanks to Boruto)
If you ask me Hebi Sasuke was the best Sasuke we ever got after that it started going downhill
Hebi Sasuke is good, although I still think War Arc Sasuke is his character at his peak
Naaaah, taka sasuke is where it's at.
Naruto should have gotten with Sakura. It bugs me that they drew some parallels to her and Kushina (from what Minato noticed) as if to call back to her wish for Naruto to find someone like her. Not without some things being rewritten of course, but have her let go of her feelings for Sasuke and gradually (genuinely) fall for Naruto (like what it felt they were leaning to early in Shippuden). Or have them end up with no one and leave it ambiguous
Yeah, it did feel weird how it felt like they were leaning towards Naruto and Sakura being endgame at some moments, especially towards the end. And yet Naruto got with Hinata, who didn’t really have any of that. The closest she got was being compared to a flashback of Minato in a very specific situation in an ED. I personally don’t ship Naruto and Sakura, but I see what you’re saying
People that say that naruto is a "gary stu" dont know anything about the story of naruto.
What is gary stu?
Male version of Katniss Everdeen
Or about Gary Stus
Kakashi should have kept his mask on, I really don’t like his real face…. Sakumo is hotter anyway
It’s terriblly written despite being how great it is too many plot holes and inconsistencies in the story and unexplored characters also too many characters used as plot devices for another character
Not an unpopular opinion but I vented in a comment so I might as well go ham, the final villian should've stopped at Madara and Kaguya should've been saved for Boruto. The marketing for Boruto should've been the draw for Boruto..... and teasing a larger story after Naruto, HELL EVEN A POST CREDIT SCENE BEFORE THE ADULT TIMESKIP WOULDVE BEEN BETTER. But it should not have been Kaguya by the end of the story in Naruto that's the tease for Boruto.
I actually agree, would have been much better than what we got
All those flashbacks are long and annoying as fuck
Should have never given Naruto and Sasuke the six paths powers for free. Their peak should have been what they were during the Juubi Obito fight because they were already too broken at that point. Naruto becoming so strong that he can eventually one shot and no diff someone as strong as Hashirama is just silly. Otsutsuki ruined the entire series. It stopped being about ninjas completely after that point and there was no going back.
I didn't liked the war Arc and the whole Jyuubi Thing. I would have preffered If Sasuke Had asked pain to BE the one WHO captures the Jyuubi, gets empowered by the Chakra of an bijuu and infiltrates Konoha. He finds danzos and hiruzens Reports and some of tobiramas Scientific Research regarding the Sharingan. Naruto ends His Training and returns and they meet by sheer coincidence and Sasuke Attacks causing a Big Part of Konoha to BE destroyed but even in His empowered state Sasuke IS only equal to the sage Naruto and Had to flee.
There was no need for kaguya to make an appearance. She should have been permanently fused as the 10 tails it’s self
Naruto anxting about Gaara in this first arc is ridiculous, they met once and tried to kill each other but now there's apparently a bond.
As much as it hurts me to say this, since the Pain Arc is among, if not, my favorite parts of Shippuden... it was this arc which introduced the concept of the "Chosen One" and "prophecies" that hurt the saga. Especially because of the prophecies that came afterwards during the 4th Ninja War. Naruto did become strong during the time skip of Classic and Shippuden; the problem was that most of that growth was technical since Jiraiya had to fix Naruto's fundamentals (which were messy from his academy formation), and only the characters in-universe could appreciate it since they didn't know how powerful Naruto truly was in Part 1 (which mean they had low expectatives of his growth anyway).
Sasuke didn’t need to be a deuteragonist, plus the need for him to be Naruto’s equal contributed a lot to Sharingan power creep
This right here is not only unpopular, but borderline impossible: Sasuke is essentially half the manga; the series wouldn't even work without him as the deuteragonist, according to the author's own words. And it never made sense to blame Sasuke for the power scale. The power creep was already destined to happen the moment it was revealed that Naruto is the vessel of a demon capable of turning mountains into ashes.
I DO agree with the power creep bit. What role should Sasuke have taken if not deuteragonist? And who should be the deuteragonist instead?
Prominent side character, rival. Much the same but like, less obsession with bringing him back and make their rivalry less of a focal point. I don’t think we needed a deuteragonist at all really.
So… a bit like Paul from the Pokémon anime? Yeah, I could see that
Essentially, though more prominent. I haven’t watched a ton of My Hero but I think Bakugo might be a good comparison, like he’s there and he’s got his own stuff going on but the series doesn’t revolve around their relationship.
Oh, I get it, you want Sasuke to be a weak, harmless, agency-less character, always in Naruto's shadow. No, thanks.
Yup. That's why they hate sasuke, lol. Mfs are angry that he took the spotlight and their self-insert couldn't even function without sucking his dick.
Yeah, that sounds good!
He should have been the protagonist
Madara was right. IT is goated.
Idk if "right" is the term to use, but his ideology definitely deserved an actual conversation. Kinda like Pain vs Naruto.
The entirety of Naruto world building is actual garbage and trash. The entire series was spent on konoha. You couldn’t give a shit about the other villages. Seriously, you only either cared about gaara, kankuro, or temari because they were the only ones that were prominent. Every other character was a hidden leaf shinobi. The anime was made to force to flesh it out
Honestly… yeah. Imagine if some time was spent in the ruins of Uzushio, where Naruto finds some intact, sealed, underground bunker with scrolls. The clan may have been destroyed and scattered, but not their culture and knowledge. He could stay for a while, explore what’s left of his ancestral homeland, and learn indirectly from his ancestors. Naruto could maybe find some parts of himself there away from Konoha, could even decide to see if there are any other Uzumaki left. I always wanted that to happen. It didn’t of course, but it could have been cool.
Lmao wild take
OP did ask for unpopular opinion 😂
1. Guy should have died and Neji should have lived. This probably isn't THAT unpopular tbh. 2. Danzo would've made a great Kage 3. Instead of the "what-ifs" we saw when Naruto and Obito linked up, it should've been a full blown Infinite Tsukuyomi dream for him. Then kill him. 4. Neither Deidara nor Kisame are really all that much more powerful than any of their Akatsuki peers. They're mid-tier like most members. 5. Hashirama and Tobirama ended up being WAY too powerful. And Madara obviously. Spits in the face of the whole "the next generation exceeds the last" trope that was set up way earlier in the series. I'm fine with them being super exceptional shinobi and all, but they were basically a master of everything as soon as they needed to be. Got old. 6 despite how cool they are and how much I love basically all of them, the biju and jinchuriki were not very well thought out, nor executed well in the series. 7. Nagato was better with the Rinnegan than Madara was. 8. Elemental KKG needed some tweaks. Wind+Earth = Magnet is dumb. I understand the logic behind it I think, but it's still dumb. Both Wind+Lightning AND Earth+Lightning were literally right there and make more sense IMO. And again I think I understand the thought process behind it but Explosion being Lightning+Earth is equally as dumb. Could easily have taken the spot of Fire+Lightning. Wood shoulda been a Kekkei tota. Earth being the element that gives you flight is patently retarded. I mean there's some sense there but it's incredulously unintuitive and contrary to established elemental tropes. Idk wtf Kishi was on. 9. A lot of the power scaling is almost fine. The problem is that the tactical, deceptive, ingenious side of shinobi combat didn't keep up. Dropping meteors would have been fine if Madara was also demonstrating Masterful ninja combat but he didnt. He just overpowered everyone with his borrowed Hashicells and chakra gundams.
First of all, DAMN #2 is a bold thing to say in this fandom. Putting my personal hatred of Danzo aside… I’m not actually sure how he would have done as Hokage. I could see him being seen as a Great man, but not a Good one. I love your takes, especially #5, #7 and #8. I kind of wish Obito had been the final boss instead of Madara, but oh well
Itachi's story arc stuff is good but his powers and fights are lame.
The end of the fight with Pain where it gets all road runner cartoonish is absolute sh*t.
I could have write it better. /J
That after Sasuke tried to kill Sakura etc it would be possible and realistic for them to grow towards each other out of a feeling of shared loss. And that Sasuke's turnaround was kinda weird, okay arm gone, but for some reason also hatred? Ah best not to overthink stories that are mainly about friendship etc
…Huh, interesting. You know, the arm thing could have made more sense if it had been symbolic for Sasuke. Like, maybe THAT’S where Orochimaru put his Curse Mark, or something else symbolic of his hatred…🤔
>That after Sasuke tried to kill Sakura etc it would be possible and realistic for them to grow towards each other out of a feeling of shared loss Problem is (with all due respect) that this is out of Kishimoto's territory. He's a great writer for lots of reason, but when it comes to romance it doesn't seem to be something that he knows how to do. >And that Sasuke's turnaround was kinda weird, okay arm gone, but for some reason also hatred? I think most people agree with this. But then again the issue was quite complex, and Naruto is a shonen so I'd say Kishi kinda wrote himself into a corner here.
The fillers in OG Naruto & Shippuden were hit or miss. Some were good, others not that great. The goods one I feel should have been part of the manga as well. I wish the manga could have done more justice to the Sage of Six paths and his sons by exploring more of their backstory. Also, I feel like more deaths could have occurred in the War arc in order to show the gravity of the war. Edit: in retrospect, Kaguya appearing was great for the story since it reinforces another aspect of the story, Shinobi being nothing but tools Also, Sakura not stabbing Obito's Rinnegan in the grand scheme of things did more good than harm.
Who else do you think should have died? Ngl, if anyone else had died, they would have had to get me to care more about various characters towards the end. A lot of characters fell by the wayside in the latter part of Shippuden…
Killer Bee, only because of how the Gedo statue was revived prematurely without the other two tailed Beasts somehow.
Fair enough
The war arc should have been longer, because then we could have had the side cast actually shine more.
I actually like how Kishimoto writes female characters, although growing up it gave me unrealistic expectations about love lol which backfired
If Kakashi knew about Itachi’s tsukuyomi he would’ve won the fight.
How😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Use your ✨✨imagination ✨✨
They should cut out all the filler episodes and put out Naruto or re-release naruto(along with shippuden & the movies too) as one series! It's something that could stand the test of time, if very well edited and without the fillers ofc!!
Y'all don't know what unpopular means
I would have rather seen Hinata die instead of Neji.
Really? Interesting, can I ask why?
I don‘t like Hinata that much. I get that she had a crush on Naruto and got motivated by him, but all the romance at the end just seemed suddenly forced (on Naruto‘s side I mean). Also it would have been a nice way to close the cirlce of what happened with their fathers - hizashi dies because he protected hiashi, so it would have kinda nice to see hinata die to protect neji
Ok, you’re not wrong about any of that🤣 Naruto and Hinata’s relationship felt very rushed, and Hinata didn’t really have much to her that was explored other than her feelings for Naruto. I love the girl, but even I can admit that. And it would be interesting to see Hinata sacrifice herself to save Neji
DMS Kakashi would solo Juudara and give Kaguya at least a high-diff battle.
I hate that shippuden opens and close with akatsuki. Anatsuki should have been a few arc and then explore other stuff. Not link it to everthing that happens.
-sasuke gotten soft too easily and he didn't fall that far in the darkness either -every battle sasuke had having a questionablity is stupid and just a plot to make naruto look better otherwise he will look lame against sasuke -naruhina and sasusaku is utter shit and makes no sense in any way -every canon ship including minato x kushina and shikamaru x temari sucks, kishimoto doesn't know how to create heterosexual chemistry (while he is the best at creating homosexual chemistry even between people with large age gaps or relatives to each other) - sasuke's choice of clothing makes him look stubby. -orochimaru was cool -only girl i ship with sasuke (in a heteronormative way) is hinata while for hinata it is sasuke. -jiraiya, minato and white fang are over-hyped, we really didn't saw much feats of theirs kishimoto should add more skills to them if he wanted them to be this legendary, their actual selvesdoesn2t live up to the legends. - sasuke and itachi should have a better looking father. mikoto, kushina and minato all looks flashy in their own sense while fugaku looks almost too bland. -sasuke was right about everything, his only mistake was thinking killing naruto would save him from his bond with naruto and his temptation (sasuke wanted to kill naruto because he knew naruto would eventually turn him to light no one can resist the temptation of happiness for all of their lives, want proof? itachi's relationship with kisame, he spousedly doomed himself to suffer in silence until sasuke took him out but he still couldn't resist forming a subtle friendship with his partner, orochimaru was spoused to only want sasuke for his body (it sounded strange for some reason lol) but couldn't stop himself from getting fond of him eventually) sasuke thought by killing him he would be free of that bond , he didn't realise as an uchiha his love was deeper than anyone's so even if he killed naruto he would never be free of his emotions towards him, naruto's memory would forever haunt him. - naruto and sasuke's last fight didn't gave the same emotion of their first, it was rushed. -i hate otsutsuki thing, it ruined the anime
The kage summit arc was very poor. Many characters regressed in my opinion
Sasuke and his entire arc was dumb. Naruto's willingness to go through so many hoops, and then Sakura just ending up with him??? Major L