Since the beginning of the series, Naruto spread messages against hatred and war. You could notice it already in the first episode, when Naruto declares his wish to be Hokage and prove himself in the eyes of the villagers who hate him, and later on when Iruka accepts Naruto as a human being and not a monster that killed his parents.
During the pre-Shippuden part, these kind of messages keep popping up in some occasions. For example, Naruto's speech in the Zabuza arc in attempt to explain that ninjas are people with emotions and not just tools of war. But the important thing for this discussion is; the message of the manga was never a main key element in the plot itself at that time.
The focus changed during the Shippuden part, and the message of the series became the main topic of the story. You could see it clearly in the Pain arc and Nagato's ideology of "The Cycle of Revenge". The manga's message, brought to the readers by Naruto, is that hatred and war can be stopped if people choose to cease violence. In this particular case - not killing Nagato and avenging the death of his beloved sensei. Eventually, Naruto beats Nagato by the infamous "Let's Talk no Jutsu" which most of the readers feel uneasy with.
Now, let's discuss recent events. Since Sasuke's defection from Konoha, the readers expected the manga to end with a final clash to the death between him and Naruto, who both were presented as eternal rivals since their bromance in episode 3.
But it's not going to happen.
Why is that? Mainly, because it will contradict the entire message of the manga. This turn of events was hinted since Hashirama's story about the founding of Konoha with Madara in hope to stop the blood spilling between the clans, and became even clearer by Naruto's and Sasuke's recent conversation with the Six Paths - in order to achieve peace, the endless fight between Senju and Uchiha must stop. Naruto and Sasuke fighting to the death now would only mean that nothing has changed.
So here lies the conflict: What should a writer do - fulfill the readers' expectations or stick to his message to the end, whether the readers like it or not?
