The 7 Biggest Mistakes The Naruto Series Made

Naruto has been routinely thought of as one of the greatest anime series of all time, and for good reason. The story of the Hidden Leaf Village has traversed the original anime, Naruto: Shippuden, Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, and Boruto: Two Blue Vortex, with no signs of the franchise ending anytime soon. Over the decades, many of these characters have evolved and grown in leagues of power, though that doesn’t mean there weren’t some flubs along the way. Looking back through the years, we narrowed down the top seven mistakes that the series has made in both the anime and manga interpretations of the shonen franchise.

7.) Too Much Filler

The Naruto anime became a powerhouse early in its anime history, adapting Masashi Kishimoto’s work in such a way that it perfectly captured the energy of the manga. Unfortunately, the manga simply couldn’t keep up with Pierrot’s anime adaptation, which meant that original stories had to be created to keep Naruto releasing weekly. For years, with hundreds of episodes, original episodes were made by the production house, and while some could be interesting, a good portion failed to live up to the original story. In recent years, Studio Pierrot has made the decision to create anime on a schedule that doesn’t see it endlessly released weekly, and Naruto has benefited from this fact.

6.) Sasuke & Sakura Becoming a Couple

Even in the early days of the shonen franchise, it seemed like Sasuke Uchiha and Sarada were simply never meant to be, mostly thanks to the former’s unwillingness to do anything but search for revenge. Thanks to this fact, the younger brother of Itachi treated the female member of Team 7 like dirt, with Sakura seemingly never being phased in her pursuit of settling down with him and bringing him back to the light side. While their relationship was explored in ancillary material, it never had the chance to breathe in the manga and anime adaptation. While Sarada is one of Boruto’s best characters, one has to wonder if her birth was earned by the former members of Team 7. Speaking of Sasuke, this isn’t the only time he is on this list.

5.) Sasuke Uchiha’s Redemption

Honestly, Sasuke worked far better as an antagonist than he did as a hero. Consumed by revenge, the Uchiha was mostly a villain throughout Naruto: Shippuden, looking to get revenge on his brother while eventually pointing his ire at Konoha. While Sasuke would return to become Boruto’s mentor, this could have still worked had he been a villain; in fact, it might have made this relationship even more interesting. In trying to push all these new characters in the ninja world, Sasuke returning to the light side feels as though it neutered the Uchiha in a sense.

4.) Orochimaru & Kabuto Surviving Shippuden

Of all the characters introduced in the Naruto franchise, Kabuto and Orochimaru are definitely some of the most evil. Not only did the pair survive both the original series and its sequel series, Naruto: Shippuden, but they were both forgiven thanks to the redemptive nature of Naruto and the Hidden Leaf. This is a trend of the shonen franchise, but the snake-like pair were incredibly deserving of a bad end. While Kabuto might not be seen much these days, the fact that Orochimaru is still a part of the Hidden Leaf Village is a wild statement on its own. While the pair didn’t die during the sequel series, there is still time to rectify this mistake, though that might be a pipe dream for Boruto: Two Blue Vortex.

3.) Itachi’s Secret Mission

Following the death of Itachi Uchiha, it was revealed that Sasuke’s older brother had actually killed his own clan because they were evil, and he had been employed in secret by the Third Hokage to do so. This twist destroyed a big part of Itachi’s character while also casting quite a disparaging look at the clan as a whole. The Uchihas always destined to become evil seemed like a tough pill to swallow, especially when you see that Sasuke was able to, somehow, dodge this idea. Sasuke and Itachi could still have had their loving moment at the very end without flipping the script on the older Uchihas modus operandi.

2.) The Tobi/Obito Reveal

Obito Uchiha was an interesting character when it came to dying next to his friends and giving Kakashi his Sharingan, but the detailed history of the former friend turned enemy can be a lot. To say nothing of the fact that Tobi, the original disguise that Obito harbored during his first appearances, was an interesting character in and of himself. Seen as the “rookie” of the Akatsuki, that iteration of the villain could have made for some interesting storytelling, separate from the Uchiha storyline. The major Obito reveal simply didn’t have the same punch, and it was certainly lessened when the decision was made in Shippuden’s final act to redeem him.

1.) The Otsutsuki

From the beginning, the story of Naruto has excelled when it comes to focusing on the ninja world, but when Kishimoto decided to inject some extraterrestrials in the mix, the franchise fell a notch. While the shonen franchise had plenty of spectacular elements, the Otsutsuki never quite felt like they clicked with the other attributes of the series. Kaguya’s arrival as the secret big bad of Naruto: Shippuden, effectively “one-shotting” Madara Uchiha, happened way too quickly and still leaves a bad taste in the mouth of many fans. Plus, the alien collective simply has not been anywhere close to hitting the same stride as the Akatsuki, the rogue ninjas still considered one of anime’s best villain collectives.

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