Board Thread:Theories and Speculation/@comment-33186873-20171024151128/@comment-1746153-20171031070341

It couldn't just abruptly end there as it was, like the others said. However, I think Kishimoto could have wrapped up the story more neatly in time for the Pain arc (though that would require, for example, omitting Obito altogether). Also, the final battle after Pain's invasion would still have to be Naruto vs Sasuke with their different ideologies. The story didn't have to inflate to the scale it did IMO.