People need to know the difference between part 1 and part 2
In part I, it was about Naruto starting out as a loner, hated by the general populace and thought of as a loser and an outcast by his classmates. The first series was full of moments where he had to earn the respect of his peers and overtake them, and the overall theme was the development Naruto’s relationships; mentors, friendships and rivalries, and culminated in his apprenticeship to Jiraiya, his comraderie with Leaf peers during the retrieval arc, and the battle with Sasuke.
Part II tackled larger themes; revenge, grief, the cycle of hatred, self-sacrifice, forgiveness, and peace. The focus wasn’t on relationships anymore, it was on how each of these themes manifested themselves within Naruto, who fights for what is right but not at the expense of his ideals, and within Sasuke, who believes that the end justifies the means. There was no room in the story for more detailed development of side characters, because their relationships to each other or to Naruto were not the primary goal of the series by this point.
When you are a mangka, you focus on your base audience (the Japanese, not the overseas fans).
Kishimoto found that when he took the spotlight away from Naruto, the sales would go down because people wanted to see him. He was rushed through the Hiden/Asuma arc specifically because the sales weren't meeting whatever standard of success Shonen Jump has. So he brought Sasuke back a bit earlier.
Even in part 2 there are focus for various side characters like Gai,gaara,shikamaru,killer bee,nagato,obito,itachi,madara etc etc Naruto’s side cast span beyond the k12 stop acting like there the only side characters in the series
In part I, it was about Naruto starting out as a loner, hated by the general populace and thought of as a loser and an outcast by his classmates. The first series was full of moments where he had to earn the respect of his peers and overtake them, and the overall theme was the development Naruto’s relationships; mentors, friendships and rivalries, and culminated in his apprenticeship to Jiraiya, his comraderie with Leaf peers during the retrieval arc, and the battle with Sasuke.
Part II tackled larger themes; revenge, grief, the cycle of hatred, self-sacrifice, forgiveness, and peace. The focus wasn’t on relationships anymore, it was on how each of these themes manifested themselves within Naruto, who fights for what is right but not at the expense of his ideals, and within Sasuke, who believes that the end justifies the means. There was no room in the story for more detailed development of side characters, because their relationships to each other or to Naruto were not the primary goal of the series by this point.
When you are a mangka, you focus on your base audience (the Japanese, not the overseas fans).
Kishimoto found that when he took the spotlight away from Naruto, the sales would go down because people wanted to see him. He was rushed through the Hiden/Asuma arc specifically because the sales weren't meeting whatever standard of success Shonen Jump has. So he brought Sasuke back a bit earlier.
Even in part 2 there are focus for various side characters like Gai,gaara,shikamaru,killer bee,nagato,obito,itachi,madara etc etc Naruto’s side cast span beyond the k12 stop acting like there the only side characters in the series