Just finished reading the manga of Naruto, so I have some thoughts on it. This will relate to the main topic at hand in regard to the “ending”.
Do note I did not watch the animated version in its entirely. I went to the series with a fresh outlook since I hardly remember much from it. In short, I’ll be basing my opinion entirely on the story of the manga proper, while emphasizing SOME aspects from the animated version, in how they adapt certain battles.
With that said, I thought it was an amazing read. Naruto has a great cast of characters; the premise was simple, yes, but strong enough to hold its own for its entire duration. At first, the theme presented itself that “hard work beats natural talent”, but that isn’t the theme. The actual theme of Naruto is that love, friendship, and the connections you make will grant you happiness, courage, and power (I give Naruto 3/5; only thing that felt lacking is that I wish there were more missions for Naruto to explore just prior to the War Arc to flesh characters out and give further insight on the Danzo affairs after his apparent death).
Each antagonist was proposed to showcase a foil to Naruto. Based on a similar situation, they were left in a place they had no one to vent and stricken with loneliness and despair, leading to their path of destruction. You see this with Gaara, Sasuke, Nagato, Obito, Madara and even Kaguya.
And I think Kaguya was the ultimate testament of “love” for someone like Naruto.
Each antagonist stray off the path because their “love” was replaced with pain and overwhelming hatred for others, and in turn, became sway in their own emotions and manipulated. It’s why the best moments of Madara during the War Arc is where he scolds Obito for being a fool. “I used your hatred, manipulate you for my own means, and once you fulfilled that, you are no longer useful”.
And then it turns out Madara was also manipulated by his own hatred to bring about the birth of Kaguya.
And because she is a “mother”, to Naruto, mothers are supposed to be the ones that care, comfort and love for their children. Yet, Kaguya was the representation of “hate”; it was no mother’s love, just cold and calculating despair and no heart. A fitting finale antagonist for Naruto. It wasn’t the case of main villain kept changing but rather, Kaguya was the true antagonist, and like Obitio, Madara was nothing more than a tool to bring her return.
I never felt that the War Arc was slow; it’s possible that since I’m binge reading all at once, the pacing issues wasn’t that apparent. Perhaps in the animated it was a drag, but it is to be expected.
I never understood the whole “realism” aspects. These are ninjas that can shoot fireballs, magical eyeballs, gigantic demons, talking toads and snakes running around. Any sort of realism was gone the moment Naruto performed the Art of Doppelgangers lol.