I think the problem was the whole "World Peace" BS that existed in the original Naruto. If it was just the story about a boy going from nothing to be the best, than sure....it could work. It works in Deku's case in MHA. He is not "trying to solve all crime." He is trying to be a great superhero which is a far more achievable goal.
Naruto's goal of world peace is just an unrealistic pipe dream because it is basically impossible. We can get close, sure, but there will always be someone who causes stir in the pot. People will cause trouble because they want it their way. What should have been world peace should of instead been "I want to unite the nations." An actual feasible goal and yet leaves open for more conflicts to arise up. I think this why they keep using the "clan on the moon Kaguya kids" is because if they have the other nations arise conflict, then it paints the characters in the bad light. At least they tried avoiding this...until they turned originally good guys into bad guys because "reasons" and had them be huge jerks. That one dude with the minigun basically the plot was just like Goldeneye. 006 gets shot in the head, comes back alive, and is now evil for some reason and is heavily scarred.
Now, because the original story pushed for this "world peace" goal, any conflict in the future will look like Naruto is a big failure. So, the problem doesn't really stem from Boruto itself existing, but rather what the original goal of the previous series was. Not to say Boruto still isn't crap, but saying this problem starts long before Boruto even existed. Boruto is just proving the point that "World peace" is at best a temporary thing and it COULD work if the characters actually lampshade how stupid the idea is. Sasuke tried to show how stupid world peace is by saying that conflict will always arise, but if he remains that the scapegoat and be the ultimate villain, then the nations will always rise up to battle him and create temporary peace. Then Sasuke just laid down and accepted the BS Naruto fed him because "reasons," and now they are shocked like that pikachu meme when kitten hits the fan.
If you want peace, prepare for war.
Genetics are such a weird concept that writers try to implement, but never go beyond trivial explanations. Like you said, what were the chances that mixing Hyuga and Uzumaki DNA would create genetic defects. I don't know why writers don't really do research into what they are writing. It just baffles me. Just do a little research outside of it. Of course, Kishimoto stopped caring about genetics when he gave the kids whiskers, but NOT the Byakugan right off the bat. He had to be "reminded" to give them the Byakugan and gave this half assed explanation of "well, they can turn it on and off like a Sharingan. So Himawari can have both her blue eyes and Children of the corn eyes." Let's not even talk about Boruto's "Life hax more powerful than Rinnegan I can see souls eyes."
He especially betrayed the the genetics when he specifically said earlier that the whiskers were a cause of the MOTHER being the jinchuriki and the Fox's chakra influencing Naruto's as he was being born and coming in contact with Kurama for 9 months. This is further proven that when the Gold and Silver Brothers also had the whiskers cause they ate the stomach lining of Kurama and gained his chakra boosts and thus gained the whiskers. It is supposed to be the influence of Kurama's chakra on the person that gives them whiskers. It has nothing to do with genetics what so ever. So Boruto and Himawari should NOT have whiskers cause it is NOT a genetic trait. Boruto is not a jinchuriki nor ate Kurama flesh, Hinata is NOT a jinchuriki, so how in the world do they have whiskers? Oh and added that the GandS Brothers had three whiskers as well and yet Kushina did not despite actually being the vessel for it. Minato got whiskers he unlocked in Bijuu mode. Speaking of which, why do Boruto and Himawari only have 2 when everyone else has 3?
So this whole thing with Boruto and Himawari having whiskers is just one thing right off the bat that Kishimoto either didn't know what he was talking about or really just a BSed excuse to tell people "Boruto and Himwari are his kids." It is stupid. This is why you never see fan art of Shinachiku with whiskers because WE KNOW that trait is not passed down through genetics. It is passed through Kurama's chakra exposure.
It is also VERY stupid that when it comes to this, the arguments get ridiculous because now the proenders are using these faux genetic markers to prove parentage.
"Salad can use Sakura's techniques. That is proof she is her kid." The techniques Salad uses is NOT one that is based down genetically. Anyone has the potential to learn it...even Naruto if he wanted. As well, so are you saying Tsunade and Sakura are blood related because they both have the same techniques?
So how the hell did things that are not originally passed down genetically all of a sudden are now passed down genetically and things that SHOULD be passed genetically are not? It is little things like this that show how and why this all was a rush job. They disregarded the canon that already existed to created a new one and retconned how genetics work only to go back and redo it so that "oops, well now it is passed down genetically."
And this is just a minor detail. One small detail added to make Boruto and Himawari branded as Naruto's kids is the one thing that destroys the very nature of the canon right out of the starting gate. This small detail is proof of their "retcon deception." And they can't say they easily "forgot" because the Gold and Silver Brother's whiskers was a concept being published during the war arc during the development of Naruto the last and Boruto and Himawari's designs. So that means they did it on purpose. They purposely gave them whiskers despite the canon itself saying it should be impossible for them to have them.
*slow claps* Good job, writing team. Continuity be damned.
I was originally hoping this peace thing would be addressed by having Naruto make things BETTER, not perfect. If Naruto paved the way to peace, well, congratulations! Now every ninja is unemployed!
I appreciate these writers try to build up our better nature, but to praise human nature is to also acknowledge our dark side. There is always going to be someone who starts trouble. Maybe it's for money, maybe they've got a vendetta, maybe they're just plain psychotic! We will NEVER have a utopia, and if we did it would probably be more of a dystopia anyway.
As for writers not doing research, there are two simple explanations: They don't have time, and even if they did, they probably wouldn't know where to look. Stan Lee once talked about this back when they were making their characters in the 60s. He used radiation a lot because it sounded scientific, but confessed it was probably way more colorful than real life, explaining "We simply didn't have time to properly research this stuff".
I imagine Kishimoto nor his staff didn't have much of a background in genetics, which is fine. A lot of perfectly smart people don't. As you said, the problem is that he makes these rules about inheritance and phenotypes in his world, and suddenly doesn't follow through with them. I imagine he forgot he even said those things, which in some series wouldn't be a big deal, but in a world with a bunch of bloodlines highlighted those would sound pretty important to me.
Not to mention that the new threats to create conflict has become "aliens from outer space!!!!!" So this is not even about ninjas anymore. And even if they are not aliens, the concept is the same since threats must be extraterrestrial now to one up the Kaguya fight.
Considering all the crazy things we had ninja do not only in Naruto but other media, it is honestly not that out of this world (pardon the pun). But to fight these aliens Naruto and Sasuke have to rely on mystical powers, which have nothing to do with actual ninjas.
At least Kishi let Sakura punch Kaguya in the head.
You ever notice that when Naruto makes an appearance in games like Jump Force or promotions they never use the Boruto's Dad version? They always use the original Naruto that was there since the Pein Arc. Personality and all. Why? Because people are not stupid and know that the Naruto you see in Boruto is NOT the real Naruto. Like you all said, that is Nardo and the anime companies know this. The anime websites know this. That's why they never put Nardo in anything.
And yet, they willingly use older Goku, Ichigo, Luffy, and so many other characters. Why? Because they got better when they got older, not worse. People who are blind to the fact that Nardo is not real (essentially that Naruto is still the same as before) will openly use the younger Naruto and not the older Nardo.
In Goku's case, his adult years really took off due to the intense fighting and power ups, and I think that's the favorite version of Goku for most fans.
With others, they had arcs to show their growth and usually their designs were somewhere in the range of what they were before.
However, Naruto's character stayed stagnant (if not went 180, at least in the Last), and his appearance is unrecognizable. He looks like a distant relative of himself at best.
I remember when one of the earlier Naruto games included a costume where Naruto wore the Hokage cape and hat on his back, but kept his Shippuden hairstyle.I think everyone liked that one. But the current adult Naruto just looks so bland aesthetically, even with the colors.
Was it ever much more than ninja themed, though? Hell, even that was tenuous. It was a series centered around ninjas that never really seemed to be about ninjas as much as people in bright colors engaging in DBZ fights in a world that couldn't even decide what technological age it was. You could have made them all samurai and I don't think it would have changed the story overly much.
To be fair, ninjas and other warrior cultures tend to be romanticized. Ryu Hayabusa just runs right up to his enemies and cuts them to ribbons. They implemented stealth in the 3rd game, but that didn't go well (and all it really was was tiptoeing behind a guy before killing him). Taki wears red, which would have NEVER blended in with anything (plus she's too top heavy to be a ninja. In fact, too many fictional kunoichi are too top heavy to do what they do without proper supports).
And let's not forget the NInja Turtles in the 80s. They did no sneaking and as time went on almost NEVER used their weapons until the Red Sky seasons. And even then they were relying more on sci-fi devices and those horrible second mutations they would change into at random.
Knights and Samurai have a similar issue as well. Media likes to portray these guys as noble and honorable warriors who would follow a code, if not be outright heroic. However, the honor for both was defined by their obedience to their masters. Slaughter a village? They'd do that. Rape someone? Sure! Use underhanded tactics in a war? As long as the leader says it's okay!
And then the Vikings. A lot of people like the idea of being Vikings, sailing the seas to uncharted lands and killing monsters with big axes. But they made their living by plundering their neighbors.
All I'm saying is that Naruto is hardly the first and only offender in this regard.
Maybe they got inspired by "Power Ranger in space" , that's why they want to create the first ever in the history of manga and anime "Ninja in space!!"
They must think like this when they have a meeting regarding the future of the franchise.
Look the western / the american love Star Wars , they also make power ranger in space , since our own country has abandon this franchise we should cater to them. SCI-FI Ninja in space would be a very brilliant idea!!
Ironically, the sentai which PRIS is based on was originally a VIDEO GAME themed series. The producers at Fox simply went for broke to make their own thing, reuse some old costumes believing it would be the last Power Rangers season.
If that's what happened, it's stupid to implement that into an established series, especially when there already so many others that do that same thing.