Lately I've noticed that the series of events in character and story development have left me feeling like Naruto has deviated from the exciting path it once seemed to be on. Many of the significant characters and restrictions have been thrown out the window to appease the concept of "unpredictability". I don't feel like the villains or the heroes in this story have been as intimidating or compelling as they once were. The beginning of the story allowed certain elements to seem fresh or exclusive. When we saw an uchiha it meant something because there were a finite amount of them given the level of potential their clan possessed. When ninjas had forbidden techniques I assumed there were drastic drawbacks that would adversely affect the user to prevent abuse. Things seemed that way until they decided they didn't want to kill off characters. Things started to seem less final. Characters are being resurrected and Justus that were exclusive to certain clan have been passed around like currency. The twists have been more and more lack luster. But is this cynicism valid? Or do I have a preconceived notion of how I thought it "should" be? The story is on its own path. I'm not the one telling it. It's hard to step back sometimes from my expectations. Do you guys feel the same?