That’s why some powerups feel undeserved.
Summary:
- We barely see any training in the later arcs of Naruto.
- Early in the series, the characters had to train a lot.
- That was likely done to not interrupt the plot.
Naruto is a series that is known for the message of “hard work matters” — or something along those lines. In the later parts, that message really practically disappeared. While the characters undoubtedly worked hard to defend the world, it isn’t really the main theme of the anime anymore.
Some people argue it’s because the characters — specifically, Naruto and Sasuke — were gifted godlike powers and were revealed to be reincarnations of ancient powerful individuals.
While that’s true, that’s not the main reason — the main reason we don’t really think about hard work near the end of Naruto is pretty simple. We don’t see the characters train anymore — something that was incredibly important during the earlier arcs.
We’ve Seen a Lot of Training in Part 1, but Not in Shippuden
In the first part of Naruto, we’ve seen a lot of training. The characters trained together in the first major arc — Land of Waves — then, they had to train even more for Chunin Exams. That’s not all of it, either: the series had to show constant progress, with characters constantly encountering stronger and stronger threats.
Training became much, much less relevant in Shippuden. Naruto apparently spent the entire skip with Jiraiya training, and is now much stronger.
Still, there are some training arcs: for example, during the Akatsuki Suppression Mission, at the end of which he defeats Kakuzu with his new technique. Then we see him train again during the Konoha Crush arc. The last major training arc is during the Fourth Great Ninja War — when Naruto visits a remote island.
Past that, though, there are still 200+ episodes — and almost all power-ups during them feel like miracles and not like a result of consistent training. That upsets some fans, while others argue that this approach is also fine.
Why We Didn’t Need Them in the First Place
Training arcs are cool and everything, but a huge amount of them may get tiring. A lot of them are stretched out for no reason — during the Akatsuki Suppression Arc, some fans complained that Naruto’s training segments interrupted the plot.
As such, a lot of fans feel that there didn’t need to be much training in the last arcs of Naruto. Sudden power-ups might seem undeserved, but these arcs interfere with the story — and Naruto already has its fair share of fillers. Ending an episode or scene on a cliffhanger only to show an unrelated training subplot would have upset even more viewers.