but come on. An entire filler episode pretty much. They're going to ruin the ending of the novel because they'll have to rush it.
I thought the novels added more to the Narutoverse. They weren't the best written, but they were written in a young adult format, so I give them a pass.
I believe the novels are indeed canon, I could be wrong but I was under the impression Kishimoto oversaw the stories of each novel. He didn't write them, but he approved them. Which makes them canon. But again, I could be wrong about that.
Kishimoto was an editor for the novels, did artwork for them, and signed off on the timeline Jump released placing them into the Narutoverse. This is the same thing Bleach did by having novels fill in plot holes. Kubo didn't write the novels, but he signed off on them. This is the same as Kishi allowing another person to write Naruto The Last and he served as an editor for it. Another example is the Kaguya arc in the anime, the SP writers asked Kishi for information to make the arc.
No involvement in story - Not canon.
This is true. Kishi was an editor and did the artwork for the novels. That's why they were released in Japan to so much fever, because it was a novelized continuation to Naruto that filled in plot holes. Same thing is happening to Bleach now.
All Kishimoto did was draw the covers, he had no involvement with the story line nor approved them. Someone once posted a timeline *created by Shueisha* apparently denoting it as canon, but I read it and nothing mentioned Kishimoto or it being canon at all. All it did was shove the novels into a timeline. People speculated that was enough but it's not, because any and every filler fits somewhere in the timeline.
Those are good points. I don't believe in misinformation. However, Kishimoto having to approve is essentially editing. When Naruto The Last was being worked on, Kishi did designs and allowed someone else to write it. He went back and made corrections. Enough that he joked he probably annoyed the writers for the movie. The same is likely here.
Doubt it. Kakashi Hiden is a year after 699. They started off with freaking Sasuke's novel, which is a few years before 700
