Shounen Naruto by Masashi Kishimoto

[KiSwordsman]

Not to be the pessimist here but it's definitely going to be crap, probably much worse than that.

The real question is "Is it going to be better or worse than Dragon Ball Evolution?". If Kishi's really is very involved I'm going to say worse. Much worse. I mean, Super Mario Bros bad.

Naruto has barely been able to work as a two hour animated movie. As a mid budget live action Lionsgate movie? Directed by some random guy? Maybe he's really talented but it's not a good sign.

Geez, I don't have much good to say about Kishimoto nowadays. But 'Super Mario Bros movie bad' is very harsh

 

[Doughboy]

If you could reboot Naruto how would you do it?

I saw this question online, couldn't help but to ask others. Basically this is what I would do:

• Just delete Sakura's existence. I'm serious when I say that Part 1 Sakura will forever go down as the worst shonen heroine in anime history. Part 2 was more bearable but she regressed every time it came to Sasuke, so still terrible.
• Give everyone in Konoha 11 equal development, Naruto and Sasuke got way too strong and the other 9 just looked weak sauce by the end of series.
• Never create Kaguya, she was just made to beat Madara so that's a terrible reason to create a character.
• Decide Naruto vs. Sasuke before the final arc/ninja war, instead of Sasuke randomly wanting to destroy everything as Hokage and forcing a final fight. Mind you it was a great fight but it was super forced.
• Let Itachi or Zetsu be the final villain. I think either one would be great, difficult to beat but it would be in a reasonable way to beat them.

Naruto I still very much enjoy, it's one of my favorite series ever but being a long running series, it eventually has it's problems

 

[WalterB]

Yeah disregard Kaguya, just find a way to make a cool fight with madara and make him the final enemy, he is legendary eough to be the perfect final enemy for Naruto anyway.

 

[Belserion]

I would let Obito actually die. Him coming back was unnecessary and served no overall purpose. What he did Madara could have easily done. His "death" shaped Kakashi and I was content with the flashbacks we got. Now when I think of Obito I just shake my head.

Kaguya came out of nowhere. Just magically appeared to be final villain. I would change this and leave Madara as final villain. Maybe even Sasuke.

Let Neji live!!

Have Sasuke or someone kill Orochimaru. I'm seriously still trying to wrap my head around nakamized Orochimaru. Just no. He could have even been final villain. Just have him stay a villain. I feel like everyone just forgot the things he's done, including "killing" the third

Balance the power levels better. Naruto and Sasuke becoming these overly super powered characters was cringey to me. Of course I expect them to be stronger than their year mates but these guys probably surpassed all Kages dead and alive. I feel this was too much. I would have left out the whole Hagoromo's power part.

 

[Kiki]

- Give Hinata more screentime with her cousin Neji
- Give Hinata more feats
- Give Konan more screentime (among Akatsuki members, she was the only one with less screentime )

 

[Leoat12]

Naruto is a complex story, I could a make a book of corrections. XD
However, there are some simple things that could make the story a lot better and a bit like the first part.I don't like most of Shippuden so I would rewrite most of it and make the fight less grandiose and more ninja-like. From a point onward it became a fight of who had the biggest monster and it is not ninja-like at all.

 

[M3J]

Keep Obito dead. His presence made the manga even worse. Keep Tobi as Madara, just to add to Madara's legend.

Make the war arc actually about war, carrying over Pain's lessons. No childish bullshit that we had to suffer through, but Naruto seeing his loved ones die and coming to terms on how do deal with it, and understanding Pain more. No Edo Tensei. Those who were dead stay dead.

I dunno how, but Madara finds a way to become young and powerful again, in his prime. Probably by learning Orochimaru's body transfer and improving upon it. Orochimaru and Madara work together, and we eventually get Orochimaru and/or Madara vs. Naruto and Sasuke.


That is, IF I even want Madara alive. Maybe Tobi gets killed by Sasuke, but one way or another Itachi stays evil and dead. Danzou stays horrible. And the manga doesn't go batshit crazy with the power levels, it still stays true to Part I.

 

[randimari]

Seriously, as a girl the character known as Sakura Haruno is truly the biggest disgrace to all women that I've ever seen in a fictional story. I never seen an author make such a useless, spiteful, despicable, ugly, mean and petty character ever before in my life. I have such strong emotions to this cause I actually hate girls like this. She is by far the worst character, male or female, that I've ever seen in anime.

Also like @Leoat12 said, why did Naruto get so complicated towards the end? How did a story about ninjas turn into one about gods and aliens? Kishi was pulling things out of his ass in the last 100 chapters.

 

[GhostJawz]

While very subtle, there was a point in the plot that made me realize that most of my beloved characters would inevitably be left behind and forgotten. Many argue that the Pain arc is what solidified Naruto's dream of being Hokage and I would be one to agree, but while I also disagree with the notion that the story would've been better if it ended there .. I can't help be accept the fact that I wouldn't be able to finish the story well from that point.


Character Wise; I loved Rock Lee. Hell ... I'm sure everyone did. The no talented ninja whose only admirable skills are hand-to-hand combat and the 'gift of perseverance'? What a relatable character ... gone to waste. I get that Naruto is a Shonen ... and I get that the main character is usually the one in the spotlight story wise ... but I felt as though Lee was utterly flushed down the toilet. Look, Lee was the first character aside from Zabuza to neutralize the effectiveness of the Sharingan. He told Sasuke that if his body can't keep up then what's the point of predicting his movements. Heading into the Chunin Exams and putting his life on the line for a girl who wasn't even on his team? Going mano e mano with a Jinchuuriki? I can write a whole essay on Lee's character development from start to finish and I will say that he truly got the short end of the stick. It's almost as if all the characters were in a horse race and Lee was the Front Runner out the gate. You can say that TenTen would be the Last place horse .... well ... Lee was in first place for about 1 Arc then suddenly dissapeared into the pack. Look, I know we all have different favorite characters who all got different treatment in terms of development, but compared to all the other characters, Lee and TenTen only had hard work and perseverance to rely on. The way Kishi handled these characters through the story solidifies to me that the idea of Hard Work paying off does not matter and that the only thing that matters in a Shonen is talk-no-jutsu, OP God hacks, and the 'guts to never give up'.(Mind you, Lee also had this .. but in respect to Jiraiya and the prophecy .. Naruto gets it)


Plot Wise; I was just about to get into a rant on the whole Sasuke loving Sakura fiasco .. but let me skip this since everyone already mentioned how stupid Sakura's character is. The Plot was fairly decent. Shippuden gets no pass because it started out painfully slow and even the Gaara kidnap arc took too long in my opinion. I mean, if we're gonna spend that much time on a kidnapping, it should result in death .. not an a$$pull Lady Chiyo sacrifice. Anyway, the story picks up and gets really good around the Hidan and Kakazu arc. Akatsuki making moves and two members who happen to be immortal? Goodness gracious you couldn't write better characters. I mean, compared to Kaguya and Madara, Hidan and Kakazu's defeats were placed well within the realm of possibility and I don't mind their demises one bit. I did however find it annoying that as great as Kakazu was, his kill count in the fight against Kakashi and Azuma's team was a big fat 0. I mean, a 91 year old battle hardened criminal who fought the 1st Hokage can't kill 3 kids and half a Sharingan? Not like Choji and Ino did anything in those fights anyway. And why not make Kakazu look like more of a scrub by having the main character off him with a jutsu he hasn't even mastered yet. I'm not going to nit-pick every arc, but if you can't tell my main problem with the story is and has always been character development.



Guys like Shino start the story shrouded in complete mystery, and when you see them fight for the first time their abilities leave you in awe and you wonder what more they have up their sleeve. Don't shove the Byakugan 360 degree field of vision down my throat with fights like Neji vs Kidomaru only to have it neutralized by a couple of Obito tree branches. Don't make TenTen a Weapons Only Expert when you know damn well Ninja stopped using Kunai and Shurikens the moment the 3rd Hokage died. Don't try to convince me that Sakura and Sasuke having a kid makes sense after we've seen him commit attempted murder twice, scolded her many times, and knocked her unconscious on multiple occasions. Don't tell me that the Eye of the Moon Plan even mattered the moment Madara got reanimated, because at that point he was even more unbeatable than when he was revived and became 10 tales jinchuuriki. Naruto saving Guy Sensei after using the 8 gates? Guy Sensei NOT killing Madara with the 8 gates? (Perhaps the most blasphemous plot point I've witnessed)


I'll end with this. If I were to reboot the Naruto series their would be a complete overhall of character development. I would change MANY things but the most important would be these few.

1. If I allow the story to end at a certain point, it would be Guy Sensei vs Madara. The Story ends here, no if's ands or buts about it. Sasuke and Naruto are both fighting to recover from their near death experiences as Guy Sensei puts his life on the line for the future. Guy leaves behind a legacy that has nothing to do with the Springtime of Youth, but rather an idea. An idea that is somewhat relatable to the Will of Fire. Probably something like .. 'Never let the Fire fade into the Darkness'. Madara dies, Sakura honors Obito's wish and destroys The Rinnegan, Naruto and Sasuke recover(And whether they get their power ups or fight I don't really care) and Black Zetsu is destroyed.


2. Have Naruto's dream of becoming Hokage be fulfilled without him actually becoming it. This was established during the Pain Arc and it was well received by many fans. Naruto gets the recognition of everyone around him by saving the day. Is he a strong candidate for Hokage after this? Of course, but that doesn't really mean he NEEDS the title. I would rather Naruto humble himself a bit and understand that there is more to being Hokage than wearing a red hat. After all, Sasuke considered Itachi the true Hokage and for some reason I feel as though Naruto would feel the same.


3. Sakura Haruno. The uselessness of Sakura stems from her unwavering desire to find Sasuke and be with him. This right here? This absolutely killed her development, and in a way .. Naruto's too. Why is Jiraiya allowed to get over Orochimaru but Naruto isn't allowed to get over Sasuke? Mind you, two years isn't that long and I understand that she misses him, but Shippuden makes it very clear that Sasuke harbors no feelings for this girl and she should really learn to take a hint. What's it gonna take besides some genjutsu? An attempted slash in the back? The words 'You are annoying'? At least when Sakura was 'useless' in Part 1, she had an excuse. She was a no-talented ninja who I believed was better suited for a no talented Ninja like Rock Lee who vowed on his own life that he would keep her safe. Shippuden? She has no excuses. She was given Tsunade's strength, healing abilities, sacred seal, but somehow someway still didn't have the ability to get over Sasuke. Sakura was given the golden keys. She had her chance to escape the cage, but she chose to stay because the Warden looked attractive.


4. More Konoha Character Deaths. It has been made clear to me that many of the characters in Naruto are just side characters. Guys like Iruka Sensei who played a big part in Naruto's dream to become Hokage are given shovels and told to bury themselves in Kishi's backyard. Since he doesn't have any OP abilities or anything worth showing off in battle he is forgotten until it really matters .. the LAST EPISODE. What gets me the most about this series is it's pandering for those with power and it's dismiss towards those who don't have it. Kurenai sensei's Genjutsu made her a cut above the rest, TenTen's weapon skill far exceeded Jounin levels, and most of the Konoha rookies are from some exclusive clan with exclusive abilities.Has Kiba had even one fight in Shippuden? All I'm saying is .. if you're not going to use your characters for anything ... then kill them off. If you're going to kill Neji, have him die in a blaze of glory by putting the Madara Sharingan against his Byakugan. Don't kill him for the sake of this Naruto X Hinata narrative. Don't have Yamato kidnapped before the war starts then give me some silly filler moment showing me that he's been alive this whole time.


# I Apologize For This Rant

 

[Hanzō]

So far I have never seen a live action movie of an anime/manga that was satisfying or done well! But as always I would like to be proven wrong!

 

[roggie]

So far I have never seen a live action movie of an anime/manga that was satisfying or done well! But as always I would like to be proven wrong!

There will always be the problem to put a story of i-dont-know-how-many chapters/episodes in barely 1 and a half hour.

 

[howard090]

I would rather letObito die.

 

[M3J]

I'd actually keep Sakura the badass that she was in Rescue Gaara Arc, but without devolving her as she was in the last two or three arcs. I don't think she was an entirely bad character, but she was written to be a Sasuke-obsessed teen girl at various different points, and that hurt her character a lot. She wasn't about Sasuke for majority of Rescue Gaara arc, which made her decent, if not enjoyable.

Oh, and I'd also get rid of DBZ-esque power bullshit, other than the bijuu bomb. Keep it simple like it was in Part I and keep the fights far more about strategy and abilities than whoever has the bigger phallus.

 

[Doughboy]

Man can you imagine if Kishi gave Sakura Rin's personality while keeping her how she was during that arc? She reached her pinnacle in that fight and just bottomed out from there. I don't think anything could save her. Part 1 was so damn awful I just could never really look at her any different but even a hater like me can admit that was my favorite Sakura fight by far.

 

[The President]

First Big Change would be in the Pain Arc:

Not have Nagato negate all his actions. Have Nagato not even change his mind and have that final clash against Naruto which he obviously looses (being a cripple) and forcing Naruto to kill for the first time (and have that carry on and burden Narutos character, and make him eventually overcome that burden through reasonable means). Also means characters like Choza die (which can feed into Chojis future development), and of course Kakashi too (although conclude his character with his talk with his dad). This can not only maintain the massive prestige of the Pain Arc and make it go down as the best arc in shonen, but also develop and complete multiple amazing character arcs simultaneously. Nagato would go down as one of Shonens best villains, someone who killed multiple named characters, destroyed a village and forced the MC to prematurely develop as a character (something which Naruto doesnt do because Nagato accepted his BS) all while dying with all his dignity and credibility as a character intact. Naruto would be forced to undergo some serious changes, and this development can make him one of shonens best MCs (as he was undoubtably great in the SM arc, all kishi needed to do was build upon that rather then regress it). Kakashis character arc would conclude in a very suitable way and cement him as a GOAT, rather then later on getting ruined by the whole Obito business.

Second Big change would be in the War Arc:

Definitely do NOT have Tobi be Obito. The mystery behind him was one of the biggest conspiracies in not only shonen but manga in general that I have seen. Him being Obito was way too damn obvious, and above all else, the reasoning behind Obitos actions were absurd and made him loose every ounce of credibility as a villain he had garnered over the course of shippuden (which is a hella lot). To add salt to injury the dude overstayed his welcome by a mile, like jesus christ, and then goes on to even become a good guy again after everything he did smh. An alternative is make him be Izuna, he'd have far more chemistry with Madara, have a motive to do what he did and be an intimidating figure on the battlefield.
Another alternative is not reveal who he is at all. This option might not sit well with some people, but I think if Kishi did it right it could actually work. Have Tobi stick true to being 'nobody' and have his whole character revolve around that fact, would also have fans talking about it widely throwing out more and more theories. Meaning more genuine lasting value rather then just being a cash grab with this Boruto shit. I actually kinda like this option more then him being Izuna. Would have been very impressive balssy writing if Kishi had done this and Tobi would go down as one of my all time favourite villains because before "the big reveal" he truly was brilliant.

Power Levels Scale Down:

Jesus christ what did it turn into with the planet busting jubi jinchurikis. Just terrible. Have Madara be the strongest character in the series (yes, everything relating to the Jubi and Ootsutsuki remain a myth) and have him just be slightly above Nagato. Or alternatively you wouldnt even need Madara since Tobi would be an excellent final villain (since hes the one that orchestrated everything at the end of the day and we were with him the longest) and just have Tobi be the strongest character in the series.

 

[z.5]

My version of Naruto would be a whole different manga - the only thing it would share would be the characters and venues.

I'd:
- Remove Uchiha Senju overarching conflict (yes that includes the whole Sharingan -> Rinnegan bit, the Tobi nonsense, Madara returning [he was much cooler as a historical figure and was ruined when he did actually return]).

- Lessen the power of jutsu and encourage more use of ninja-tools and actual stealthy behavior (no more nuclear explosions).
In fact, just make ninjas act more like ninjas in general.

- Even remove genjutsu as a whole (I really hate reading a cool fight sequence only to be later told that it wasn't true and only occurred in the character's mind).

- Keep Itachi as a villain.

- Make the story a lot less 'epic' and a lot more believable.

- Have no ninja war.


Story-wise, I'd not have Sasuke kill Orochimaru, but rather barely escape before he becomes actually stronger than him.

Naruto would hear about Konohagakure sending out a hit squad to track down and kill Sasuke - and would sneak out of Konohagakure to track down Sasuke.

Naruto would meet Jiraiya and actually train how to be a ninja from him.

Then we could have the Pain wanting to track down tailed beasts revelation.

Different countries could be introduced as Naruto/Sasuke sneak through them, picking up information about their targets (Itachi and Sasuke respectively) and escaping/hiding from local powers - this way the different cultures and characters could be introduced non-invasively into the story, do their part and then not stick around - avoiding the issue of far too many underdeveloped characters at the end.

Sasuke would be hiding from Naruto and Konohagakure whilst trying to track down Itachi.
Naruto would be hiding from Akatsuki (and Konohagakure) whilst trying to track down Sasuke.

At some point, Naruto would run into Orochimaru, who would help Naruto to find Sasuke (as he wants Sasuke's sweet Uchiha body).
But Naruto could also escape at some point - and please, for the love of all that is holy, Naruto wouldn't be so stupid to realize that Orochimaru isn't a good guy and can not be trusted (man Naruto is a moron, I'd change that also...).
Maybe Orochimaru could end up tracking down Sasuke near the end - Sasuke could beat him (showing how much he as grown and how strong he has become) before he finally gets to test himself against Itachi.

Story would end with Sasuke finally killing Itachi.
Naruto finally beating Pain (not converting him to the 'Cult of Friendship').
Then, Naruto could either fight Sasuke or convince him to return to Konohagakure.

It's possible to have Naruto and Sasuke run into each other, during the story, but I'd rather they didn't manage to fight/go full out before the end.

 

[SleipnirX]

There’s actually not a huge amount i’d change to it really, as others have said it’s got it’s fair share of problems, but correcting them would probably end up breaking other things. It’s such an impressively comprehensive storyline that pulling one thing out would mean having to take a whole thread out, and that might make a whole section fall to pieces. By the time you’re done with that you’ve got something that bears little resemblance to the story as it is. There’s other series that could do with a reboot far more than Naruto, ultimately.

 

[z.5]

By the time you’re done with that you’ve got something that bears little resemblance to the story as it is.

 

[SleipnirX]

Hehe, I know a lot of people got quite jaded with Naruto, which is why I’m in no particular hurry to finish watching shippuden! From what I remember I’m still in the cosy spot where things are beginning to get serious but still feels like there’s great things to come... but it’s been so long now I’d probably have to re watch it all before continuing anyway

 

[gnut]

Oro kills 3rd...to start naruto's adventure.
I would rather have oro in pursuit of naruto's body to control kurama than him after sasuke's eyes.
Also for oro to be behind minato and kushina's death.
Naruto,jiraiya and tsunade kill oro but kabuto gets away.
Sasuke fights itachi the same way but is the one later to kill kabuto after milking him for all their research.
I agree...no edo tensei.
Pein kills jiraiya but dies fighting naruto and tsunade kicks the bucket protecting konoha.
Kakashi becomes hokage but is killed by sasuke while naruto is training to control kurama....
Afterwards naruto faces off against sasuke and kills him...only to walk away from the hokage seat and ninjutsu period to become the sage of six paths.