What Naruto was during part 1 and what it became by the end of Shippuden was like night and day. Other than the characters, it’d be hard to think the two were even the same series. So many facets of the story changed and the combat underwent a massive overhaul that made it start to resemble Dragon Ball Z more.
Some of that is natural for a series that went on as long as Naruto did. Characters are bound to get more powerful, but some of the charm was lost when Naruto and Sasuke became literal walking gods.
10 The Characters Being Ninjas
By the start of Shipudden things started to move away from ninja battles, and it only got worse the longer the series went on. By the time the war started, you could hardly tell any of them were ninjas anymore. Everything became about who had the largest ninjutsu, making the series more like Dragon Ball Z than it did Naruto. That on its own isn’t too big an issue. It’s that it stripped away what made battles like Naruto vs Sasuke and Rock Lee vs Gaara so great.
9 Strategic Battles No Longer Existed
At the start of Naruto, the elements people had affinities for played a role in things. There was a clear counterbalance for just about everything in the series. It’s part of what made the Chunin Exams so fun. Most fights boiled down to exploiting those weaknesses. Even some of the earlier Shippuden fights kept it. It all went out the window by the time Sasuke and Deidara fought one another as strategy no longer mattered, only powerful abilities.
8 Hard Work No Longer Mattered
One thing Naruto used to be great at was never freely giving characters powerups out of the blue. Naruto and Sasuke both had to work extremely hard to get as strong as they were.
It’s what made Naruto’s battle with Pain so epic because it was the culmination of a great training arc for the character. By the war, none of that mattered as both characters were given a multitude of powerups for no reason other than to make them strong enough to battle Madara/Kaguya.
7 Sasuke’s Redemption Arc Took Too Many Detours
For as much as the series was about Naruto, it was just as much about Sasuke. While Naruto wanted to become Hokage and bring peace to the world, Sasuke wanted to avenge his family. Their relationship was one of the best parts of Part 1 and the early part of Shippuden. When Itachi’s true nature was revealed, Sasuke’s arc towards redemption took far too many detours. He flirted with becoming an outright villain too many times and lost part of what made him a good character by the end.
6 It Became The Naruto & Sasuke Show
There was a time, not long before the war where side characters got opportunities to shine and to matter. Hinata got her moment against Pain and Shikamaru did against Hidan. Even Sakura got hers against Sasori at the start of Shippuden. When the war came around, none of that mattered anymore as they were all inconsequential to Naruto and Sasuke, something they tried to remedy against Kaguya, but it was too late by then. Sakura and Kakashi just never felt on the same level.
5 Threat Of Failure Disappeared
Death isn’t always needed in a series. Plenty of great fights can happen without it. What it does do is show that failure exists, that there are times when the bad guy can win, building them up because of this.
Orochimaru killing the third and Pain killed Jiraiya did this, providing great character development with each. War of the magnitude that ended the series needed more than just Neji. It needed more than the heroes winning endlessly, save for when Madara fought.
4 The Byakugan & Sharingan Being Equals
At the start of the series, the Sharingan was powerful due to its ability to copy techniques. It’s what made Kakashi such a feared ninja and why Orochimaru was after Sasuke’s body. The Byakugan wasn’t far behind in power, letting the users get near 360-degree vision and make them masters of hand-to-hand combat. As time wore on, the Byakugan got no major additions, while the Sharingan got powerup after powerup until it rivaled the Rinnegan in power.
3 Dojutsu Being A Rarity
Having a Byakugan or Sharingan used to make you special. It’s part of what made Kakashi so feared and why the Hyuga had such a good standing in the village. As the series reached its climax, it began to feel like every other person had some sort of dojutsu. Danzo had a whole supply of eyes in his arm, and Obito seemed to have a collection of his own. It ruined the mystique having one of the eyes was meant to have, especially as Obito and Madara were popping them out of people repeatedly.
2 The Theme Of The New Generation Surpassing The Old Was Thrown Away
From the start of the series until near the end, the prevalent theme in Naruto was that the newer generation would surpass the old one, that the old guard needed to move aside. It was all leading to the moment when the chief power from the past would arrive again. Madara was the perfect person to use to have the story come full circle. Unfortunately, that was tossed aside in favor of money as Kaguya was shoehorned in so that Boruto could be made.
1 Naruto & Sasuke’s Rivalry Became About Destiny
Kaguya’s out of nowhere reveal gets talked about a lot in terms of missteps, but it’s not even the worst one. That belongs to them ruining Sasuke and Naruto’s rivalry, the backbone of the entire series. Rather than them being two sides of the same coins, they were made into rivals by destiny. Nothing they did mattered because they were destined to fight as Asura and Indra’s reincarnations. It was an idiotic decision that made their final fight lack oomph, despite it looking amazing.