...Not really. When you actually look at the "talk no jutsu" scenes. Naruto has very limited persuasion abilities. Largely its people that have given up on life and became bitterly cynical about the world. Then after a fight Naruto tells them they shouldn't give up hope on the world and they can fight to make it better.
Hell, when you look at his attempts at Talk-no-Jutsu-ing Sasuke, it didn't work for most of the series because Sasuke was obsessed with revenge not about being cynical about the world. It only worked once Sasuke was over revenge, became cynical about the world, and planned enacting his hokage of the shadows to scare the world straight idea.
If you made Naruto ~Evil wohooo~ all he would do is just reaffirm what they already believe, and won't be able to convince them of anything.
Let's be real here, the concept of evil is the idea that you hold a person accountable for their actions in the Narutoverse. The moment you believe they deserve punishment for their wrongdoings, then you are evil and need to be stopped.
I guess you could say that killing the innocent is evil, but they have this idea of guilty because you support a corrupt system which is not too far off from how people see America today in terms of systemic bigotry, but that is politics and not worth discussing here. Just saying it is alot more realistic than you think.
Naruto is a self-made hypocrite and when it is someone else's revenge or justice he talks you out of it, but if HE deems it okay like say him getting mad and wanting revenge on Orochimaru for taking away his boyfriend best friend then it is okay.
Naruto should have died a long time ago
The story shows various characters that are suppose to represent what Naruto would be like if he turned "evil." Also, if you don't like evil how about dark or cynical? Haku, if Naruto became so desperate for affection he would turn himself into a human-weapon for anyone that showed him a little affection. Gaara, if Naruto believed no one could ever love him so he lashes out at the world and does acts of murder to prove he exist. Neji, if he resigned himself to the system and put down others for trying to make a change. Nagato, a student of Jiraiya that tries to fulfill his dream of peace but doesn't believe reforming the ninja system can be done peacefully. Obito, love of his life is killed so he gives up on the world. Boruto, if Naruto was a spoiled brat that always complained about his suffering but never did anything to improve it, and I swear whenever someone does evil/dark Naruto fanfic they often turn out like Boruto.
A lot of people seem to believe that being cynical and thinking the world sucks makes them smarter for figuring out, "the truth of the world." The thing is that on some level all the characters in Naruto know the ninja system sucks, cynical about the world, and resigned in the fact that nothing can change. What makes Naruto stand out is, that he wants to change it and believes he can. If not, at least he is trying. So, he brings hope to people who initially look down on him through them seeing his efforts; even if its just when facing them. That is the Talk-No-Jutsu. If he is cynical/dark/evil he is just one voice among many saying nothing can change and just give up. Of course, this important part of the story was neglected to chase after Sasuke and abandon for Hinata.
People that believe the Talk-no-Jutsu shows Naruto's massive persuasion power he has are just buying into a meme.
This has to get political for a second but look at how people treated Obama/Trump. They came in promising hope, change, and to fix the damages in the system. Lots of people bought into their promises and voted for them. (How you feel about them, I will leave up to people opinion of them, and hope we all leave it at that.) It is very similar to what Naruto did.
Now, for what was considered evil in the story. The characters actually had a very standard morality. The main difference is the societal pressure put on them, they were told since they were young to suppress those morals and their emotions by their ninja code. That told them to be emotionless tools is the ideal, which Naruto pretty much rejected by the first arc, and declared he would make his own way ninjas should live by. Beyond that don't betray your village seem to be what defines you as evil or not.
Edited by Bail o' Lies, 17 December 2022 - 06:07 PM.