Board Thread:Naruto Discussions/@comment-1926479-20140720152733/@comment-945885-20140721132232

I'm guessing that the series could end within the next 15 chapters. That would probably include a jumbo-sized final chapter with around 45 pages.

If the series ends with chapter #700 as a 45~ page finale, that would bring the series to exactly 72 volumes, with appropriate page counts for the remaining three volumes.

Accounting for next month's Obon festival, that would also be right around the point that the movie will be in theaters, and a few weeks after the series' 15th anniversary.

Assuming roughly 320 pages of story left, I think that's plenty of time to finish this battle (especially if Kaguya is about to be sealed) and move into a possible final battle scenario, falling action, and an epilogue.

What few unknowns remain could easily be explained in a data book or some other piece of media (there will probably be a lot of new Naruto goods coming out to celebrate the 15th anniversary). And, while it remains to be seen, the movie will probably be written and supervised by Kishimoto again (given how well Road to Ninja and the other manga-ka supervised films by Oda and Toriyama have done), and could well be a canon tie-in. Perhaps that's why they've kept it under wraps and are announcing it only a few months before it premiers.

Of course, this is all just theoretical for now. Hypothetically, this scenario makes the most sense in terms of timing. Naturally, the needs of the story would trump good timing.