2.) Looking at part 1 of Naruto before the time-skip, Naruto as a character was set up for a much different trajectory as a character. From that point we could all easily have imagined Naruto and Sasuke becoming more and more powerful until they fight ending with Naruto becoming Hokage. At that time I think that sums up most of the expectations of readers before the start of part 2, but that's not what we have seen.
What we have seen is that Naruto's roll has gradually expanded far beyond what we were lead to believe in part 1. Part 1 Naruto is hinted strongly as being the son of Yondaime Hokage. He's is trained and we know will continue to be trained by the same teacher as Minato. All that was established at that time, was naruto's pedigree for becoming Hokage, seemingly meeting the qualifications that the Lords need for one to be considered for Hokage. He at least will meet the prerequisites.
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F1. In the last panel at bottom we see the Fire Lord discussing the educational pedigree of Kakashi.
However, there was no talk of "chosen one," no talk of the curse of hate, no talk of stopping the cycle of hatred in the Shinobi system, or any of the major themes in Naruto's character development that would forthcome in part 2 of Naruto. In part 2 Naruto starts walking a path very similar to Jiraiya. And when one steps back and looks at the character development of Naruto thus far we see many parallels to the life of Siddhartha, the man known as Gautama Buddha, who is the originator of Buddhism.
Siddhartha was the son of a King, Naruto is the son of Yondaime Hokage (not a king but close enough). Siddhartha was lecherous in his early life before becoming a sage. Naruto was self-hating. They both had moral weaknesses. Siddhartha was confronted with a question, "how can one be happy with all this suffering around me?" Naruto is confronted with the question, "how do we attain peace, when hatred exists?" Siddhartha fails repeatedly to find the answer but never quits. Obviously Naruto never quits. Siddhartha eventually finds the path to enlightenment through meditation at the tree of life. Naruto's training has involved many periods of meditation. When Siddhartha was deep in meditation, after coming to understand the nature of suffering or "Dukkha," a manifestation of his dark self, Mara, appears representing his attachments to this world. Siddhartha defeats Mara by surrendering, attaining nirvana, then becoming Buddha. Naruto meditates at the falls of truth and defeats his dark self in much the same way, surpassing his hatred.
What's my point? This is not the character arc of a simple protagonist. This is the arc of a sage, someone who walks a rare path that results in illumination and enlightenment. Naruto's arc is no longer a simple struggle with a friend. It's a much broader struggle that ecompases these esscential truths of existance. The themes in part 2 are far more complex and broader than simple friendship/rivalry. Naruto no longer cares about beating Sasuke as a rival. And unlike Sasuke, has transcended his selfishness to solve those larger goals. Sasuke has struggled with resentment and hate, but more often than not succumbed to it, and certainly has yet to transcend. While Naruto has let go of his earthly attachments, for the most part, in search of the answer to peace. The answer to which seems to be self-sacrifice and not military might.
If we use the hero's journey to make some further predictions with regards to Naruto's character arch, we can say that naruto is in the process of transmitting what he's learned on his journey to the broader world. This sums up the ending of the hero's journey as outlined by Campbell. This is similar to Gautama Buddha transmitting the dharma to those around him. In the latest chapters of Naruto we can see this as a growing theme between Sasuke, Naruto, and Itachi. Itachi's admonition to Naruto has changed Naruto's relationship/responsibility to Sasuke from rival to teacher or caretaker. Naruto will now help Sasuke to find the right path, the path that transcends hate.
Although they may fight, Naruto no longer embodies the Senju, but has transcended to that of the Sage of the Six Paths or a Buddha. One who shows the way. Although Sasuke seems to be projecting that Senju role onto Naruto, and is still within the cycle of hate, Naruto is currently outside of it. Ironic that Sasuke has repeatedly accused Naruto of being just that, an outsider.
