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Originally Posted by Ero-Senn1n
He didn't spend too much time on side characters, it would be boring. People start complaining when side characters get too much time, even in this war they complained that Naruto and Sasuke are not in it yet and that side characters fighting are boring.
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It would be boring, because we all know that side characters don't matter in Naruto. That's however the flaw with them.
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And it has a lot to do with the first part, the whole first part can be regarded as just a setup for the second part and finally the war.
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Well, 'setup' is a pretty lame excuse in my opinion, especially for a war that lasts two days. The only story strings Shippuuden had connected to the first part were Naruto's struggle with the kyuubi, the relationship of Itachi and Sasuke, that got further development, and Orochimaru's hunger for power, which didn't last long though. You could maybe mention Akatsuki as well, although there was hardly anything we got to know regarding them in the first part. I'd even go so far as to say that Akatsuki was basically a 'shippuden only thing'. Kishimoto is trying to create more connections via Edo Tensei, for example with the hidden mist arc. However, he didn't do anything with this one in particular other than to achieve an 'oh look, it's them' from fans.
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Side characters are all here, they level up, they fight and so get their screen time, some people complain that they get too much time while others that they don't get enough time, that just shows that they get just enough time. Stories of some dead characters are closed with a "happy end", like Hanzou or Sasori. The living characters get both powerups and character development, for example Choji. This war is where the children who were introduced in Naruto's ninja academy class become real grown up ninjas. Girls like Sakura and Ino who used to be some annoying teenager Sasuke fangirls have now grown up to become real assets for the alliance, they show a perfect performance, one could say they had grown up to be real women (for example Ino's performance was quite impressive).
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It's not about screen time. It's about development. In the case of Hanzou, or more recently Gaara (probably), I can really appreciate the effort. However those power ups and mere panel appearances of other characters are irrelevant, because there's no story behind them. At this point, if it wasn't for their recognizable faces, all the side characters would be substitutable. They play no part in the grand scheme of things, except for the fact that they are among tens of thousands of others who risk their lives in order to maintain peace, or rather freedom. That is why their screen time is boring to some. There's nothing behind it.
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Konoha and usual missions would be quite boring, those stories are good for anime fillers and movies, but the main plot has to advance. It's a shonen manga, the power levels have to grow, the known world has to expand, etc. Every new boss fight has to go beyond the level of the last one, and after the Naruto vs Pain fight there is no way back, either it's a global event or it's not enough for the viewer. To put it simply: Naruto has become No.1 in Konoha by defeating Pain, now he has to become No.1 in the whole ninja world, anything less would not be satisfactory for the readers. It's like DB/DBZ: at the ending of dragon ball Goku became the strongest on earth, there was no challenge any more, so in DBZ the author had to go into space to find new evil guys to fight.
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Ah, I'm sorry, maybe I wasn't clear enough. What I meant was not for the story to focus more on Konoha missions. I wanted to say that the story with Madara, Sasuke and Naruto, as it is right now, does not need the existance of 30 side characters and 4 other countries. They are all useless elements that get in the way if you don't include them into the more meaningful parts of the story. Well, the countries aren't that explored yet, to be fair, and can serve for the introduction of stronger and stronger bad guys, like you mentioned. Still, all those characters are just not needed for the plot.
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Failing or not failing is a matter of taste, for example it's good according to my taste. I think Kishimoto follows the patter of dragon ball here, and DB/DBZ earned a lot of money and fame, so he can't go wrong following that successful story telling pattern.
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I guess you're right there. You and many other people may enjoy the manga, and I'd be lying if I said I weren't, too. However, the cheap writing and missed opportunities I see in the manga just spoil the fun every now and then.