Regarding the Screen Rant Article:
10) If anything, Naruto was overloaded with characters. To his credit, Kishimoto was able to focus on most of the characters that would serve the story, but unfortunately he threw too many under the bus that deserved more spotlight (SAKURA) and favored too many others (SASUKE). And all development at the end was destroyed.
9) Shippuden unfortunately at times was very slow that I stopped watching it. The manga was decently paced, but in the end the payoff wasn't worth it
8) On this one I'll agree. Again, in retrospect, the payoff really wasn't worth it, but the suspense and expectations kept me coming back. Boruto is just ridiculously predictable
7) Eh, it had the potential. The early ones in part one had a lot of strategy and misdirection in addition to all the martial arts and elemental attacks. Garaa vs Lee is definately the highlight, with two styles that have nothing in common going head to head.
In the end, though, the series threw the ninja part out and basically became another DBZ.
As far as action goes, Cowboy Beebop, Avatar and Korra, DragonBall, Yu Yu Hakusho and many Gundam series have action that surpass Naruto's by a longshot.
6) No. Every villain had some sort of sob story to justify their path, and those who survived were forgiven like it was no big deal. Going back to HDI's point, I remember hearing about a Klansman that was charged for murdering someone (I can't remember the victim's ethnicity exactly). He apologized in court, and the victim's mother did say she forgave him. Still, she didn't request the judge and jury to acquit him, and he was sentenced accordingly nonetheless.
But I will agree the premise of the original Naruto villains was pretty intimidating, except when Kishi abused the Sharingan.
5) In hindsight, Naruto's goal was as straight forward as the other two characters mentioned in the article. He just wanted to be Hokage, and even after learning of all the horrors of the Shinobi system, he just rolled with it. Yeah, he promised peace, but was it a JUST peace? If he had aspired to fix the world and have the Hokage be the backdrop.
4) In Naruto's case, it certainly made him more compelling. With Boruto, it just comes off as Gary-Stu to the max
3) I will agree on this one. I wouldn't call Naruto "hard-core", but it definitely had a lot of dark moments. So far, the Boruto anime feels as dark as a random episode of Pokemon
2) To be fair, a lot of Naruto's power-ups seemed to be plot-convenient. But at least he didn't start out with everything.
1) That certainly was his defining trait in the beginning. With Boruto, it feels like there is not point, and thus, no suspense
I think I agree with this list more than most other people here, but I'd like to point out that it doesn't mean they make it worth the ending. The ending really just trashed on everything where the series' best qualities don't feel worth defending.
Hey... this is off topic but it's been a rough week for me. My dad died in a car crash and... well I still can't believe it happened and I will never get over it but... I'll pull through. I'm still gonna be the same person I was before because that's what he would've wanted and I just wanna thank you guys for being my friends even though we never physically met. God bless you all.
I'm sorry I'm late to this, and you have my condolences. I lost my father a long time ago too 
See, I disagree here. Subverting expectations is like deconstruction, it has to have a purpose, otherwise it's just destruction. When you properly deconstruct a trope, you don't just tear it apart. Instead, you leave something else in it's place. Likewise, subverting expectations is going against what the audience believes will happen due to their exposure to various tropes and cliches. When handled properly, it can ask them why they thought things would turn out like that and serves to reinforce themes,settings, morals, or other ways to tell the audience what type of story it is. Your still giving the audience something, rather than simply taking things away.
But like deconstruction, now it's not being used properly. It's used to justify nonsensical writing, just like deconstruction was used to defend the work of edgelords. Writers these days just feel too egotisical, to in love with the idea of being an auteur that they forget you get auteur-status after firmly establishing yourself first. And you're still required to tell good stories that can stand on their own, like The Witcher novels or ASoIaF.
As was said before, there is a difference between making twists that work and twists for the lulz. Subverting expectations is a good tool for writing, but it has to have a purpose. It could lead to the big picture otherwise consistent with your story, show why this plot device is a bad one, etc.
Endgame was another example of subverting expectations properly (I'd say spoilers, but you really have been living under a rock if you haven't seen it yet, so consider this your own damn fault).
In the first 10 minutes, Thanos is killed. No one expects this, but it shows even in death he won
In addition, the Infinity Stones were destroyed. The things that could fix the disaster are gone, and they come up with time travel out of the blue to get them back, while establishing some clear ground rules on it.
Many expected it to be an action-packed movie, but instead it was a large set-up to fixing the world. Something far more heroic than blowing up bad guys
Thor got depressed and fat. This could be interpreted as something made for the lulz, but it made sense: Thor could have killed Thanos instantly in IW, and because he didn't, the snap was his fault (and Starlord's). He may have found Sanctuary for his people, but where could he go from there? Some interpreted it as a big middle finger to him, but for me it just shows out of all the survivors he suffered the worst, having a lot guilt to bear. Sure, it was very unexpected. But it made sense it played out that way.
Hawkeye's change was unexpected, but WELCOME. He was justified in feeling the way he did, and turning into Ronin helped make him cooler.
Stark botches getting the Space Stone because of Hulk. But instead of giving up, he goes further back in time and finds a way to get back.
Thanos comes back via the past, and now instead of eliminating half of all life, he's going to eliminate it all and replace the universe with essentially his entire army. And on top of that, he points out the Avengers are responsible for his return.
Instead of him using the stones to fight, it's a battle of Capture the Flag to get the gauntlet
We all knew Iron Man was going to die, but instead of going Death of Superman or sacrificing himself as a human shield, he took the stones to kill Thanos (and ironically fulfill Thanos' original goal, killing HIS HALF of the universe)
Steve getting his happy ending with Peggy may have been fanservice, but it was well-deserved fanservice.
The difference between this and Naruto was that the former was telling the story it had promised, even with all its twists and turns. Naruto abandoned it's story FOR the twists
Question. Do you guys remember why the OVA that we all love was made? The one where we see Naruto on the ground and Sakura holding him as he dies because of the aftermath of his fight with Sasuke and then at the end we see that Naruto lived and Sakura crying.
Why was that made? I remember reading that it was made to inspire hope for one of the disasters that happened in Japan at that time, but I can't recall correctly and I'm not sure if that was even the case.
For the Tsunami they made an alternate animation ED with Freedom...with Sakura walking by her lonesome until she encounters Naruto, who she smiles too. The OVA was a promotional thing.
However, in the case of both, it begs the question: why were they made with that if they knew NH/SS was endgame? They could have done anything for ED 12, Assuming they knew the end, they could have just did a whole animation with all the characters helping out others, but they chose to focus on Sakura being cheered up by Naruto. The OVA could have been 100% Naruto vs Sasuke, but they began and ended with NaruSaku (and even hinted at a child with the baby cry).
They also had the ending that seemed to focus on the Naruto girls, with Sakura reaching out into the sky, and Naruto slowly appears between her hands, as if she's caressing him. 
More than anything, it bothers me that the anime and other media were in someway promoting NS and they claim Kishi told them how it was going to end. It's like they were compelled to take his red herring one step further.