Board Thread:Naruto Discussions/@comment-31278419-20170331010234/@comment-27089028-20170411222755

I wouldn't reboot it from the beginning but I would step in right before Madara walks out of that coffin during the Shinobi World War Arc and let me explain why.

After arguably one of the most beloved and popular arcs the Invasion of Pain Arc I think this was the time that the Naruto series should have gotten ready to wrap itself up. After the leader of the Akatsuki Pain falls we are left with 3 main antagonistic forces to deal with; Danzo, Tobi and Sasuke. Danzo is beautifully handled in the expertly executed Five Kage Summit Arc so that leaves us with just Tobi's Eye of the Moon plan and the matter of Sasuke to deal with.

First thing I'd change is instead of Edo Madara stepping out of that coffin the one who will emerge will be...The Sage of the Six Paths. First off, the Sage in my version of Naruto's story correlates to Tobi's story about the him, the Ten Tails and his sons which means he isn't half-alien or any of that total BS and doesn't have a retc- I mean brother called Hamura which means he is just the human child born with chakra who possesses the Rinnegan and fought the Ten Tails to pay for his mother's sins. It's streamlined, simple, poetic and a solid foundation for the lore of the series. The reanimated sage will fill in Madara's role except he will actually be forced to fight though not to the point his personality is restricted because he's still the damn founder of ninjutsu (yes ninshu is also not a thing deal with it) and will proceed to peacefully depart from the land after the reanimation jutsu is cancelled but not after dealing more damage to the Kages than they originally took in the canon storyline so Dan and Orochimaru can have their moments.

But you may be asking why this specific and hugely impactful change, well it ties into my second change which is the identity of Tobi and spoiler alert it's not freaking Obito. Tobi is Madara Uchiha who transferred himself into an artificial body composed of Hashirama's cell putty and nicked Obito's remaining eye off his corpse when he stumbled across it. You see in my version of events after battling Hashirama he stumbles away (no Izanagi crap) with a broken body too damaged to ever fight again where he waits in hiding and awakens the Rinnegan, summons the Gedo, creates Zetsu and transfers his soul into a new artificial body. But upon discovering his new artificial body is too weak to handle the Rinnegan he transplants them into Nagato. His body does eventually become strong enough to handle transplanting one Rinnegan as he would use it in the War but he gave them to Nagato so he could use him to restore his original body.

While it may upset those of you who wanted a big dramatic reveal for Tobi's true identity the idea of a weakened Madara as a villain is so much more seductive than some cry-baby Uchiha who started a war because he couldn't get laid (yes I know his motivations are more complex blah blah but they're not explained very well) and the whole mask and mystery ordeal can be because of Madara's shame at being such a weak shell of his former self as well as the obvious need for anonymity early on in the story. Madara is a charismatic, funny, scary, sympathetic, strong-willed and endearing villain and while I'll always say he's a better villain than Kaguya his canonical role was diminished as he was only introduced during the waning days of the war which doesn't do him any justice not to mention Tobi made a splendid Madara before the mask broke to reveal a man child who really doesn't stack up.

Madara would assume Obito's role, become the Ten Tails Jinchuriki, maybe fight Guy (who actually dies in the fight because it was hugely disrespectful for Kishi to not go through with allowing Might Guy his moment of glory) or that awesome Samurai leader in a battle to the death, activate Infinite Tsukiyomi but be unable to fully put it into effect as he's fighting off Team 7 and the former reanimated Hokage which has left his Chakra levels a little exhausted.

He would eventually be killed but not after an awesome battle and then Sasuke could have his little revolution moment highjacking the incomplete Infinite Tsukiyomi using the Bjuu to quite literally 'erase the past' from the minds of all those enslaved (yes the Infinite Tsukiyomi is mind control because that's what Tobi described it as at the summit before it got retconned into being some lovey dovey dream simulator) and then proceed to try and off Naruto to awaken the Rinnegan so as to further his plans. From there the series can continue as it did in canon albeit with minor changes of course.

So basically the only changes I'd make would be to streamline the final parts of the story by having the antagonists be Tobi/Madara and Sasuke because for the love of Kami we did NOT need the convoluted, contradictory, ass pull plot no jutsu BS we actually got. A story should be streamlined and Naruto was doing that just fine until the War arc derailed it and it's crucial to get the ending right because a story lives or dies on the whim of an ending...oh and I'd kill off Sai instead of Neji and don't ask me to explain because you damn well know why I'd change that.