Set Ups That Were Never Paid Off In Naruto

Let's talk about set ups that were never paid off in Naruto. Kishimoto introduced many concepts that were fogotten in the series. Sakura being a genjutsu progidy, the Akatsuki Rings, Madara's trump card in the War Arc. Other characters like Sai, Anko, Kurenai, Rock Lee, and Neji were set up to be important in Naruto Shippuden but were also forgotten.

Let's talk about these characters and concepts that were not fully explored or developed in the Naruto Manga or Naruto Anime, and discuss how these concepts could have been used or if not having them in story was a better choice.

[diegoaristizabal]

To sum it up: anything and anyone not named Naruto or Sasuke was a setup that never paid off.

[Pentarax]

I think the reason Sakura's whole Genjutsu specialty got dropped is because Kishi kinda went a bit bonkers with the Sharingan. Its sole purpose was to copy any jutsu its user sees. It wasn't even supposed to be as powerful as the Byakugan in terms of perceptive ability.

And by the end of the series it was basically the reality-altering godhax eye.

[Zac_Frost]

The "Hard Work beating Natural Talent" lost all meaning when you learned that Naruto and Sasuke were the reincarnations of people who were basically demigods and were always set to acquire godlike powers themselves.

[virgoproxy]

The Hyuga being the strongest clan with the best visual prowess never really paid off

[The_Fluffy_One]

Naruto never finds out that Nagato and Karin are related to him through the Uzumaki Clan. I know it wouldn't amount to much due them all being enemies at the time, but Naruto finding out he has living family members (regardless of how distant) would have been nice to see.

[jivf]

Being a "genjutsu specialist" for a non Uchiha in Naruto is basically just a meme. Not a single non Uchiha has ever really shown anything that even comes close to competing with the prowess of Sharingan users. It's super unfortunate that Kishimoto never fleshed out those older ideas

[Alitacyan]

Totally agree with you on Anko. She was shaping up to be a super interesting character but Kishi really did her dirty.

[darknaventuredelbarrio]

The fact that the Rain Village was totally forgotten is the most upsetting thing in the story for me bc it could literally have been the reason why shinobis start a war in the first place instead of random gods fighting in another dimensions

[senyurra]

Tsunade vs Kabuto showed how medical ninjas fight. It was really unique, we saw they were capable of cutting muscles, striking the intercoastal and scrambling nerves (my favourite part of the fight). It was so cool, I wish they showed moves like these later in Shippuden

[vladzf]

The setup that never payed off that hurts me the most was Rock Lee, he was extremely strong as a kid, never stopped training but he was just irrelevant for the rest of the story. Everyone loved his fight with gaara, the best IMO, and we never see anything like that ever again.

[LightDestruction]

One big set up was the rasenshuriken. When Naruto first used it it was set up as this absolute destruction ability that cut to such a level that it destroyed chakra networks and couldn't be healed... And then after that those things were never mentioned again and it basically just became a bigger rasengan

[jordanmanley]

How about the set up of Shino's character in OG Naruto? He was the silent dark horse of the Konoha 12, with intelligence approaching Shikamaru's, ruthlessness similar to Sasuke (he blew Zaku's arm clean off and THEN laid him out on the floor), and abilities as creepy and broken as Garra's. The in universe reason he wasn't on the Sasuke retrieval mission was due to him going on a mission with his father, a Jounin and Clan head. If he was able to keep up with Shibi at that age, we know that he was supposed to be elite for his age, yet purposely hid in the background and only showed his abilities when necessary. With such a hype buildup of his character, what did we get in Shippuden? We got a mopey teen who, while still powerful, became a vessel for the Meta joke that kishimoto always forgets about Shino. That transformation was such a huge letdown for me, but it's nothing compared to the absolutely atrocious disgrace Boruto did to his character... The loser academy teacher that talks to stuffed animals and didn't even make Jounin. Why? Why did Kishimoto inflict such a disservice to a character with such potential?

[vaarka]

One sad part about Lee having nothing from Shippuden is that, after his surgery, I was very excited to see where his progress went. The idea of him being so incredibly good at Taijutsu because he couldnt do ninjutsu or genjutsu was super cool. I always thought it'd be so cool to see Lee become the fastest human ever due to his dedication. Imagine how badass it couldve been to see someone like Itachi, who is known for his hand sign speed, get stopped by Lee before he can finish the first form of the sign because of how fast and specialized Lee is. Imagine having someone so good at Taijutsu that they become one of the only ninjas to ever outspeed a mastered sharingan's sight.

[golddoesgames]

Honestly, Kishimoto is a master of writing himself into a corner, only to either ignore the plot point, or bullshit a way out of it

[TheSolbird]

I had a theory that Kurenai (when Kishimoto was planning the start of the series and creating the basic outlines for the teams and characters) was designed to be an Uchiha, prominent red eyes with defined rings in them, genjutsu specialist, etc. But then that idea was scrapped after he developed Sasuke's backstory, so he kept the character design and just had her be a random jounin instead of another Uchiha, letting her keep the red eyes as a nod to her original concept. Would have been interesting if she was another survivor and then fought Itachi, or if she was a bastard child and didn't know she was an Uchiha until she awakened her own Sharingan.

[vincentclark]

I feel like women from the leaf village just weren’t written to be as good as they could have been. Kunoichi from the other villages were pretty badass

[celswolf]

TenTen never did nothing in the main story. However in fillers she was a badass.
In a world where you can summon a** meteorite only with hand signals she specialized in throwing things to the opponent.

[SpammytheHedgehog]

If Sakura had used her Genjutsu skills to beat Ino, then people would take her more serious.

[DankSouls]

Sakura being a genjutsu prodigy opens so many opportunities for narrative foils and parallels. Sakura, the innocent and kind (and privileged in some aspects) beinf the ultimate counter to one of the strongest genjutsu users in the entire ninja world....her lover. Not only does she suffer a heavy emotional turmoil over seeing her friend and romantic interest lose himself to darkness and hatred. She is the key to bringing him down. Ultimately giving her reason to confront him in part 2 instead of "im gonna do it alone this time. Ill kill Sasuke". She becomes also the thematic key to bring Sasuke back to the good side. Sasuke casts illusions and is lying to himself, wants power and control over people. Sakura in return dispels his illusions, figuratively and literally. Genjutsu doesn't work on her and calls him out on his idiocy. Also ties Naruto's friendship with both of them. Naruto being the good in the world Sasuke needs, and Sakura being the one to make him see that. The persom with the most powerful eye has been blind after all....


But what we got was lackluster character because kishimoto can't think things through

[ponchito]

I’m 100% sure that they never showed the Hidden rain village ever again because it was probably too much to draw.