Board Thread:Naruto Discussions/@comment-24373005-20140831023026/@comment-25349026-20140831045414

Obviously, its a big thing in US novels that the publisher gets to change things to their liking against the writer's will, so why not with Japan too. Its entirely possible that Shueisha didn't think Naruto was "shounen" enough and told him to crap it up and make it more like Bleach and One Piece. The first arc had a seriousness that was continually brought down as each year passed until it was the equalvilant 'inspirational sports movie' status.

Its reeks of George Lucasisms. Everything after Empire was made exclusively to engage kids and market toys, so too I think Naruto went the way of cheap marketing, believe it.