Naruto Retrospective: How I would End the Series

Returning to Fix The Ninja World 

As a kid I was a huge fan of the Naruto anime and Manga. In the early 2000s I remember watching illegal downloads of it at my brother's friend's house and growing up it always enraptured me with it's aesthetic and approach to storytelling. While it wasn't my first exposure to anime, Princess Mononoke being the first thing of any relation to anime I have seen at the time, It definitely had the most impact and really sparked my interest in Shinobi and Ninja lore. Around 2007 or 2008 my parents banned me from watching anime and my love for the series faded into obscurity, it becoming a slight fever dream. Years later in 2010 I would pick the series back up again starting out with the manga and getting into the anime. I was and still am a huge fan of Kishimoto's artwork in the early part of Naruto and some of his writing is impressive, but the thing is that his storytelling capability and artistic prowess slowly descends over the course of his career as a mangaka.

Where the Series Should Have Went

You're average reviewer would go through the entire series and analyze every nook and cranny in hopes of consolidating the positives and negatives of the series as a whole. So for brevity sake I would prefer to focus squarely on what I would change about the series specifically. I will break it down into 3 distinct categories:
1. Before Time-Skip
2. After 5 Kage Summit
3. Right before the Ending

The higher we get on this list the more we shall see significant changes in the overall approach, themes and execution of the series as a whole.

 Omission of Kaguya

This is probably the most common opinion among Naruto fans. The exclusion of Kaguya. Her presence in the story had no build up except for a one off line about the origin of chakra which I felt was one of the worst mistakes the series made. Explaining the magic is a very common complaint I've seen many critics have. Not when it comes to the mechanics of the magic but the origins and history of said magic. Often times when you go out of your way to explain it you run the gambit of breaking the central logic of the series and therefore loosing people's interest and suspension of disbelief. So when they explained it as the whole origins of chakra being linked to one character eating some fruit and it leads to war and violence I found myself clocking out of the narrative. This would've been passable if Kishimoto just kept it as a backstory detail, but instead he has the gall to make her become a villain in the current time line replacing Madara. She was basically shoehorned into the story just to make excuse to continue it with a new species and batch of villains in Boruto.  Naruto is the worst when it comes to committing the crime of introducing continuously stronger villains to the point where the writer gets themselves into a corner, doesn't know what to do, introduces a new villain and it all ultimately results in a lack-luster garbage ending that could've otherwise been decent. The scaling of Madara should've been managed, the power system should've been optimized by making it more structurally sound with checks and balances to offset how overpowered Madara is. Or better yet create a situation where not only Naruto and Sasuke are the center point of resolving the overall conflict.

Might Guy Ends Madara

If there is one element of the story that I felt was lost long ago was the theme of "hard work beats natural talent and destiny." Might Guy and Rock Lee are walking symbols of this idea hence why they are some of the more popular characters in the series. So there was no other moment in the entirety of the 4th Great Ninja War arc more cathartic then when Might Guy "wrecked" Madara. Naruto and Sasuke, seemingly dead at the hands of Madara. The children of "Destiny" brought to ashes by his power. Might Guy the only one who can out do Madara in the only skill set that would work on him at the time, Tai-Jutsu. That feeling of seeing the underdog overcome insurmountable odds is something I sorely missed from the series and I hoped I would finally get a return to what made Naruto good in the first place. That feeling of a person who is ousted by society being the one to, against all odds, make something of themselves and take on the worst of challenges to come out victorious. But no, we don't get that. Instead we get Christ Naruto coming back from the dead. Might Guy's efforts meaningless because Madara's regenerative abilities are incomprehensible. Might Guy should've defeated Madara and died, being the ultimate symbol of hard work and perseverance.


5 Kage Summit - The Fall of Donzo, Rise of Sasuke

Sasuke should've been the final villain. His entire development was festering, bubbling towards that path, and if not a villain at least the final antagonist. The most disappointing thing about Sasuke post the Kage Summit was how he barely did anything until he made an appearance again in the final war against Madara. Sure he got the truth from the previous Hokage by way of resurrection, but this moment was lack luster to me. When Sasuke did his final revolution at the end of the series, it felt rushed and unearned, shoehorned into the series just to have Naruto and Sasuke fight at the end. I would make Sasuke's revolution happen on the eve of his assassination of Donzo, through that process he should've formulated his own faction to over-throw the Ninja world using Donzo as an example of how the people in power exploit the conflicts of the regular every day ninja-folk driving them to war and genocide. I feel like the inclusion of Madara, while hype, took away from the potential that Sasuke could've lived up to. His development felt pointless at this point.

Before the Fall - How Naruto Could've Been A Masterpiece

From this point forward my focus is going to be less on complaining and more on establishing the groundwork for where the series could've went from the end of part one. Part one Naruto is widely to be considered as perfect in the eyes of fans and ex-fans of the series. If there is one idea that was established from the beginning and not expanded upon to the degree by which it deserved it was the theme of the legitimacy of a Ninja society.

Anyone who knows anything about the history of Shinobi, whether in the series of Naruto or in the literature about them one thing persist. Ninjas are only necessary in times of war, times of blood-shed. No matter how much Kishimoto tries to subvert this with his platatudes on moral virtue and the quote "Ninja-Way" through the outright dismissal of the possibilities locks the Naruto franchise from being able to live up to it's full potential. The way to fix this problem, is going all the way back before Orochimaru attacked the Chunin exams.

Rewind - Sasuke Stays in Konoha?

Shinobi lay in the shadows relying on sabotage, espionage and assassination. Early on this reality of the Shinobi was abandoned, but what if it persisted? Sasuke was the second main character of the series, his problem is with the history of the Ninja world and how it's establishment led to the destruction of his people.

 Sasuke instead of joining Orochimaru would be better off staying in Konoha. There should've been a natural progression of him gathering knowledge about the history of the various ninja clans unveiling the secret truth about the conflict between the Uchiha and the Senju, their history of conflict and how it culminated into the Uchiha genocide. Naruto, a young Ninja desiring acceptance from the village of Konoha learns of the complicated and dark history of his village and matures. By becoming Hokage he hopes reform ninja society, maintaining the practice of Jutsu and learning ways to create a better life-style. Naruto through his research and acquisition of knowledge learns that the only way that the Leaf Village could maintain it's order was through the bloodshed of many.

Sakura under the tutelage of Tsunade becomes a high ranking medical ninja, but instead of continuing to obsess over Sasuke, she learns of the reality of his lack of affection for her and devotes more time to developing herself as not only a medical ninja but to creating an effective medical system that crosses boarders. The three from there go on various missions learning about the world. Sasuke on his mission to uncover the truth, realizing that with the stability of Konoha he can move across boarders and learn more. He rejects Orochimaru's attempt to lure him, realizing that even though he offered power, he would in essence be a slave to his will. Naruto is traveling to different villages not only to carry out his missions but to gain an understanding of how different villages view the Hidden Leaf Village. While training with Jiraiya he learned that a Hokage must learn diplomacy and cross country relations in hopes of maintaining a peaceful Ninja world. Sakura visits the different medical facilities and learns about high level secret medical Ninjutsu along the way. Over the course of this time Sasuke's hatred festers more and more, but he has made alliances all across the ninja world in various different clans. Naruto's desire for power, to become Hokage, Chief among the Ninja angers him. Naruto becomes more obsessed with perfecting his Ninjutsu abilities and becoming famous with the powerful elite Ninja from different clans. Sasuke growing more jaded as he learns of the clans who fall victim to the petty wars these elite force grunt ninja to suffer.

One day Naruto is out training with Jiraiya, Sakura with Tsunade and Sasuke is promoted to the ANBU black ops squad like his older brother Itachi. In a mission he is given the order to kill Itachi and through this is when he learns the truth after killing him. About Konoha, about the Uchiha, from a mysterious man, a masked man who claims to be Madara. Madara is old, frail, on his last leg living off of a chakra reserve that is maintained by the lives of other Shinobi. This device was provided for him by the Akatsuki in which Sasuke and Naruto have fought and killed over the course of the series. The reason why they wanted the Jinchuriki was to make Madara immortal but they never succeed in collecting all of them. Sasuke after learning about this instead of joining Madara, takes the power into his own hands, cuts the chord to the breathing old man and watches him die. Sasuke laughs as the wellspring of truth bleeds into his mind and he looks up to the sky content. He calmly goes back to Konoha and awaits the return of Sakura and Naruto from their training. One of the ANBU members is close friends with Sasuke, he tries to comfort him as he sits back lamenting the past, then he gives the order. In one fell swoop Shinobi all across the Ninja world turn against their masters subsequently killing all of the Kages and high officials in a massive coup de tat. While this is all happening Sasuke meets with Kakashi, has a long intense conversation with him, and stabs and poisons him while his guard is down.

The Shinobi are thrown into disarray as Sasuke gives a massive speech, talking about an exodus, out of the era of the Shinobi into an era of peace in which the everyday ninja isn't used as pawns for the elite. He talks about how in the history of the Ninja, many of them were peasants, low ranking people who desired to protect themselves from corrupt samurai. He speaks of how far the ninja has fallen from grace. He talks about how it was the creation of the Hokage, the establishment of a inner circle of elders that proliferated war between nations for selfish reasons that they assumed to be the will of the many.


Sasuke while having this ideology is so corrupt with his desire for revenge and power that it warps his perception of reality. He meets with Naruto, Neji, Kiba, Rock Lee, Shikamaru, Chiba, Inu, Hinata and the gang as they try and sort out what to do next. Sasuke killed Tsunade, Orochimaru and Jiraiya in their sleep before coming to this meeting. As he speaks many of the Ninja understand his plight, the likes of Neji, Sai, Shino, Rock Lee, Inu and Kiba join his crew. Shikamaru, Hinata, Chiba Naruto and Sakura oppose this, because they found his methods to brash, Naruto hoped to change the Ninja world through peace and diplomacy. Sasuke vehemently opposed this explains how every elder from the past generation contributed to their suffering even Jiraiya. He explains how he killed Jiraiya in his revolution Naruto devolves and turns into the 9 tails. Sasuke, knowing a way to combat it with his Mongekyo Sharingan paralyzes Naruto and the 9 tails in a genjutsu knocks them out and sends them into exile.

Sasuke takes over the Ninja world and Naruto in exile has to find the surviving Jinchuriki and learn how to master their abilities as well as think of a plan to sneak into Konoha and assassinate Sasuke. Naruto has to do one thing he's always regretted. Killing his friend.

There will be alot more to this but the idea is the utilization of the politics behind the Shinobi world which were one of my favorite elements of the series. Instead of relying on overconvoluted lore, focus on the central plot at hand optimizing on the political aspect of the story and utilizing what is inherent to Ninja. Strategy!

The final battle rages on as members on both sides die in rapid succession due to the chaos of war. Sasuke plots an entire trap for Naruto and the gang to fall into, several members die including Hinata. Naruto full of contempt secretly maneuvers throughout the house. Having mastered his 9 tails chakra his transformation justsu is ampted and his chakra capabilities are beyond what was possible before. Each level he has to battle against each of his previous friends along with his close and only surviving friend Shikamaru. They rise to the ranks killing Rock Lee and Neji in two gruesome and emotional battles. In the process however Shikamaru looses an arm and implores Naruto to leave him. Naruto presses on and Inu begins to fight Shikamaru on his last breath...

Will continue later!

This whole alternate ending wasn't completely my idea the whole idea about the coup de tat was inspired by Code Provider.
However everything else was originally mine.
I may do more blog posts expanding on this.
Bear in mind this is my personal opinion obviously.

Anyway, Hope you guys liked it.