Board Thread:Naruto Discussions/@comment-31278419-20170915213819/@comment-27089028-20171029160240

Mushibrow wrote: As fans we always complain about underused characters, and thats fair enough, but in the end we have to realize everyone can't get the spotlight, it would hinder the main cast. Nevertheless there are many people I find in ig saying Asuma is useless, Kurenai is useless, but honestly it has been implied numerous times they are among Konohas best ninjas, even though they dont have much story to tell about With all due respect I think that's not true, it is possible to focus on a larger cast IF you are willing to pace your story. Kishimoto didn't really do that, we had like one mission with Team 7 before thrusting them into the Chunin Exams. The main cast may have received all that spotlight but more spotlight does not equal well-developed characters e.g. Sakura got this real bad, the supposed main Heroine who is notorious in the fandom to the point a supporting character like Hinata is seen as vastly superior. Kishimoto should have either have done 2 things.

1) Killed off more characters, at the end of Naruto the cast is still laughably huge after the War Arc. By killing off more of the secondary or supporting characters you can focus on developing how that impacts the main cast as well as be able to focus on said main cast more without worrying that you're neglecting other characters.

2) Focused on more characters, creating more arcs and doing some actual world building rather than shelving out info as the plot demands. What annoys me is that Kishi was actually asked near the end of Naruto to pave the way for a potential part 3 which means if he had taken greater time and care with his story he'd actually be appeasing the demand for more material rather than shoehorning in elements of story that irredeemably suck i.e. Kaguya and the BS alien drama.

TL;DR version: You can shorten down your cast of characters or actually develop them.