Pain was such a better final villain for Naruto it’s not even funny
Yeah, Pain’s arc actually had serious writing. His backstory was effective, the powerscaling felt organic, the stakes were real, and everything flowed naturally. The ending fumbled it, but that stretch was still peak Naruto. Honestly, the series should’ve ended with Pain. He
is the Akatsuki, and would’ve been a great final boss.
Madara was a cool aura farmer, but that’s it. The entire final stretch was slop, had no real tension and dragging. All those Uchiha and destiny shit ruined the series.