Naruto's fighting style
After seeing and reflecting on Naruto's growth as a ninja I've realised how unsatisfying it was for me as a viewer. I like to see characters master everything that they begin as oppose to just leaving them mediocre in certain areas. For example, watching Naruto become more skilled with kage bunshins was fun to watch as well as his improvement in the rasengan which then transitioned to the rasen shuriken. After Naruto learnt Sage Mode it was all downhill from there for me as he really lost a lot of his identity as a fighter ever since he went from SM to KCM to BM to BSM to RSM etc... To me if Naruto had only been a more well rounded fighter (nothing OP) before he got his power ups, it would have been much more satisfying to see. It was like seeing some one receive power they weren't ready to wield, it sounds harsh but it is the sort of feeling I kept getting. Look at Madara and Hashirama, they are model shinobi because at their bare roots, they are masterful in basics but at their peak they are god like warriors.
Here are things I would have added to Naruto's growth in power before he learnt Sage Mode:
-Trains to properly use RS by throwing it (No brainer but WELL BEFORE he learns SM)
-Uses his new found ability to learn jutsu quickly with kage bunshins to his advantage by mastering an advanced but small collection of fuuton jutsu (Becomes a real prodigy in fuuton like Sasuke was in raiton)
-Develops his kage bunshins to a point where they can tank extreme damage without dispelling like Hiruzen's
-Pushes kage bunshins to a level which far exceeds previous limitations with a new advanced version of the KB Eg. He could switch his real body with any clone instantly which could be his own version of FTG (fan fic IK but would be awesome for him to be a true master of the KB)
-Learn better or much better TAIJUTSU from Guy or Lee as well as train his body to become physically faster and stronger, since it pairs PERFECTLY WITH CLONES and his close range fighting style. Clones with good taijutsu = Less clones needed to spam (This could occur almost anywhere on the timeline and still fit tbh)
-GET A WEAPON. Any would do. Not something he relies on but pulls out when shit gets real, similar to how Madara had his weird sickle and chain weapon and Hashi had his huge sword, Naruto and Sasuke could both have their respective weapons which would mesh nicely with all the other Hashi/Madara, Asura/Indra parallels. (Would have worked best if he received a weapon during timeskip)
-Learned some kind of toad inspired/related jutsu before he learns SM. It seems odd to see him as a Toad Sage that can only summon toads which is something he could do before SM anyway. Jiraiya had the doton swamp jutsu (forgot it's name lol) and the toad stomach summoning so I feel Naruto should have had his own respective Toad related jutsu to represent his roots as a toad sage since you forget all about regular sage mode come War arc. He uses regular SM once against Raikage and it's without his swag toad cape or summons anyway.
-Pretty much anything else that makes him a well-rounded, near-perfect, high-jonin level shinobi without crazy power. Similar to something like Part 1 Kakashi or Jiraiya without SM etc etc.
I would've liked to see Naruto to do at least some of these before getting SM and all his following modes.
What would you guys have changed, if anything?
Thanks for reading!
Thanks for reading!
