The idea that Naruto Shippuden should have ended after the Pain arc is quite common, and while it may seem like a solid point at first, it doesn’t really hold up. Arguably the peak of not only Naruto Shippuden but Naruto as a whole, the Pain arc saw Naruto finally facing the man who killed Jiraya in one of the biggest fights in the history of the show. The Pain arc was of such quality that everything that came after it fell short in comparison, which is why many wish that Naruto Shippuden had ended after Naruto defeated Pain.
In hindsight, Pain was nothing but a pawn in Obito Uchiha’s plans for the Akatsuki. That said, from the beginning of Naruto Shippuden to the Pain arc, Pain was, by all means, the Akatsuki’s leader and the character audiences believed to be the most powerful Naruto villain. The fact that the leader of the Akatsuki was able to easily kill Jiraya established right away how powerful Pain was, and it set the stage for the ultimate confrontation between Naruto and the person chasing the Jinchurikis. More than a Pain vs. Naruto fight, the Pain arc was about the fate of the Leaf Village.
The Pain arc felt like a culmination of everything Naruto Shippuden had done up until that point. With Sasuke going after the Eight-Tails, Naruto was the only Jinchuuriki left for the Akatsuki to capture. With so much at stake and Naruto facing what audiences believed to be the most powerful Naruto Shippuden character, the Pain arc did play out like a finale. However, Naruto’s story was still far from over. The Pain arc would then be followed by the Fourth Great Ninja War storyline, which ended up being Naruto Shippuden’s actual final arc. However, not only was Naruto Shippuden’s War arc less interesting than the Pain one, it had some of the series’ lowest points. That is why so many people argue that Naruto Shippuden should have ended after the Pain arc. However, Naruto Shippuden’s problems began before the Pain arc, and the Fourth Great Ninja War storyline could have worked much better than it did.
Naruto Shippuden’s Problems Began Before The Pain Arc
While the Fourth Great Ninja War arc had several problems, Naruto Shippuden’s flaws were already appearing even before the widely acclaimed Pain arc. Some examples of how convoluted Naruto Shippuden had become are Sasuke’s arc, Kabuto’s storyline, the Akatsuki plans, the Madara Uchiha reveal, and Nagato’s backstory. Whereas Naruto Part 1’s only focus was on Naruto and his friends, Naruto Shippuden expanded the saga and made the Naruto world feel a lot bigger. While that made for a richer Naruto lore, it also made the stories feel less intimate. Such an issue slowly increased throughout Naruto Shippuden, and by the time Pain attacked the Leaf, the series’ story was already stretched too thin.
Naruto’s power scale and the number of characters all increased in Naruto Shippuden compared to Naruto Part 1, but making the story so ambitious made it more difficult for the anime to nail it. With so many characters and plot lines, it was not easy for Naruto Shippuden to be as Naruto-centered as Part 1 had been, which was a problem. Therefore, the flaws pointed out in Naruto Shippuden’s War arc episodes were already happening midway through the series. Obviously, arcs like Shikamaru’s revenge and the Pain storyline were a highlight of Naruto Shippuden, which is why those flaws were less noticeable.
Naruto Shippuden Had Several Unresolved Storylines After Pain
The idea that it would have been better for Naruto Shippuden to have ended after the Pain arc does not hold up for one major reason – Naruto still had several unresolved storylines to wrap up. Tobi had revealed himself as Madara Uchiha right before Pain went to the Leaf Village, which by itself meant that Naruto Shippuden could not end right there. The prospect of Madara Uchiha still being alive and controlling the Akatsuki from the shadows was too big of a storyline to be quickly resolved after Pain. In other words, defeating Pain would not end all of Naruto’s problems – there was still the Madara Uchiha issue.
Another major question mark in Naruto Shippuden’s story was Sasuke. After killing Itachi and learning the truth about the Uchihas and the Leaf, Sasuke aligned himself with the Akatsuki and decided to avenge his brother. What would happen with Sasuke had been the series' biggest question since the end of Naruto Part 1, meaning that, after Pain, Naruto would have to at least fight Sasuke once before the end of the show. Between the Madara Uchiha reveal and Sasuke’s story, there was just no way for Naruto Shippuden to end right after the Pain arc.
Naruto Shippuden Still Could Have Been Great After Pain
The biggest problem with Naruto Shippuden was not continuing beyond the Pain arc, it was the execution of the following storylines. The Fourth Great Ninja War, which was supposed to be Naruto Shippuden’s most important moment, ended up being a series of smaller stories whose pacing did not quite work. The Naruto Shippuden fillers, which were always a flaw in the anime, became even more common during the War arc. Instead of focusing on Naruto, Sasuke, and other key Naruto Shippuden characters, the War arc covered way too many storylines at the same time.
While some battle sequences like Madara vs. the Shinobi Alliance were instant classics, most of the War arc fight sequences were generic, redundant combat involving supporting characters. The fact that a lot of the canon Naruto Shippuden episodes during the War arc were actually a combination of manga canon with filler also didn’t help. By the time the Obito Uchiha reveal happened and the actual Naruto Shippuden ending chapter finally began, the War arc was already way too flawed. Therefore, had the Fourth Great Ninja war arc been more consistent, Naruto Shippuden’s final fights involving Madara, Obito, and later Kaguya would have worked better.
The concept of all Shinobi coming together to protect Naruto and Killer-Bee from the Akatsuki was very interesting. The Fourth Great Ninja War had been set up since the beginning of the show, and it was clear that Naruto’s generation would have to face one Ninja War before the end of the show. With so many powerful characters available for Naruto Shippuden to use, plus a lot of mysteries to be solved, the Fourth Great Ninja War and everything else that came after the Pain arc could have made for a great final batch of Naruto Shippuden episodes.
Naruto Shippuden should not have ended after the Pain arc, but it should have played the Fourth Great Ninja War storyline better. Saving Sasuke’s story to the very end of Naruto and bringing Kaguya to defeat Madara were also poorly-planned decisions, yet both of them could have worked with a few adjustments. The Pain arc set up an even more ambitious Naruto Shippuden finale, but unfortunately, it did not pay off.