@Halfmetal-lich:
As Naruto is ending soon, I figured it's time to talk about some things I acutally liked in "Part 2"
1. Itachi's backstory
2. Naruto deciding not to kill Nagato
3. Jiraya acutally staying dead and having a pretty cool death scene.
4. Hinata.
5. Shikamaru vs Hidan
6. Sakura's one single moment of being useful in her fight with Sasori.
7. 8 Gates Guy.
8. The other Kages.
We all have our issues with Naruto, but there were some gems in there. What are yours?
I'm actually surprised about some of your choices. Opinions, I guess. Some of them are debate worthy, though:
1- Itachi's backstory.
I think this one is pretty high on the list of every Naruto fan (and even non fans). Honestly? I feel like this moment, alongside the Fourth Hokage flashback, are two of the most contrived and logic defying pseudo-retcons ever written. And it's surprising, considering (at least the latter) they were on Kishi's mind from very early on. Though seeing how he later ruined Gaara's past too with the worst retcon in the series, well. I can see him doing rewrites in his mind till he completely wrecked every backstory ever.
The Itachi case in particular doesn't sit well with me because he's portrayed as the best human being on the entire universe. He did everything in his entire life for the greater good. He was the greatest peace lover in the planet. Ghandi was fucking Hitler fused with Pol Pot compared to Itachi! And yet, during Sasuke's flashback, we see how Itachi acter erratically, beated up some Uchiha policemen, acted defiantly. . .also, during his zombie moments, didn't he ask Sasuke to stop walking the path of hate or some crap? Holy shit, YOU forced him to walk that path by torturing him both physically and psychologically beyond the realms of reality! If his hidden agenda was to make Sasuke kill him and thus make him a Konoha hero, he did it in the WORST possible way ever! There were like a gazillion other ways to make it work. And then. . .Oh, Sasuke, don't be shrouded in darkness! What the hell? It's all your doing! You peace-loving mass murdering sadist!
Honestly, fuck Itachi in the ass.
3. Jiraya acutally staying dead and having a pretty cool death scene. We'll see about this one. . .
4. Hinata. Hinata was well handled, true. On the Rock Lee spin-off. Here, she was mostly relegated to cheerleader duties like the rest of the Konoha 11, then she had a pretty ok moment with her confession to Naruto. . .and then she got ignored. Just like that. She finally musters up her courage to confess her love to him, making that a supposedly character changing moment, and her reward is. . .being ignored.
In the spin-off, the author even brought back the issue with her superior younger sister, the way her father doesn't respect her at all, and brought a satisfying CLOSURE to the whole situation: she faced Hanabi, barely bested her, showing her improved fighting abilities and being complimented by Neji on said improvement (which is something that also brings closure to their relationship), and her father finally accepting her and being proud of both of her daughters. THAT is how it's done.
The rest are ok. I guess mine would be the Gaara rescue arc (although that arc already started the fad of "You no Team 7? You no matter, you off screen biatch!" by making Team Guy barely relevant or shown AT ALL), 4 tails Naruto vs. Orochimaru and Hidan vs. Shikamaru. And I guess Killer Bee wrecking Sasuke, and Raikage wrecking Sasuke. That's it.