The thing about art is that you have to pursue it for the love of it, not for the success it will bring...because the odds of that happening are slim to none in the first place. So few works ever get a chance to shine in the mainstream, and even fewer actually stay there.
I guess Kishimoto saw the success of DragonBall and wanted to copy it, without realizing its popularity was an accident. Most mangaka are broke as kitten. I think he had a panic attack when he realized what he had gotten himself into and prodded Yahigi to help him make it popular.
I can’t speak from personal experience about kids, but Kishimoto could have simply not let them read it. Spielberg forbade his kids from watching Jurassic Park when it first came out, and he still went on to make Saving Private Ryan. Roberto Rodriguez made things like Spy Kids, and he still made Machete. Besides, even the grittier stuff he wrote was targeted towards kids.
As for the messages he was trying to pass, yeah, not a good idea. I think it’s wonderful to pass a moral message to your readers, but it has to be in a way that is practical for the real world.
In Orochimaru’s case, he could have had characters forgive him as a person, but imprison him for his deeds nonetheless. Kishimoto could have used the past atrocities to highlight how many of them did what they thought was right, but show their actions were still wrong and now they had to live with reasonable consequences. I could go on, but there were so many other ways to competently preach about peace and forgiveness. Naruto wasn’t one of them.
From what I remember, he wanted to develop Kakashi and Sakura more, but I guess his editors said no to those. I feel like the war arc was a big catch up/cram session in an attempt to flesh out the world he created; something he should have done much, MUCH earlier.
You pretty much nailed it on why tactics were thrown out the window. Even so, Kishimoto could have asked his assistants to research ninja tactics and war strategy. The problem with this, though, is that Naruto since its inception wasn’t really about ninjas.
This is why I love the 2012 TMNT; they use ACTUAL ninjutsu and strategies in their battles. Just watch Gaijin Goomba’s video on the Ninja Turtles.
Kishimoto could have also used more of the works that inspired Naruto, particularly Jiraiya. Again, watch GG’s video with Johnny Young Bosch.
You know what, just watch all of Gaijin’s videos, because they are informative and just awesome.
The problem is that his "messages" are just garbage. "This guy is the reason your parents are dead, the reason you were alone almost your whole life." Cool guy. "This guy has done countless experiments on children, betrayed his friends and has zero remorse." Gets to gain immortality. "This guy has run away from you, tried to kill you, your friends, threatened the village you love." But
muh best frand who was absent 90% of our franship and the powah of lurv will fix errything.
We have to end the cycle of hate! by letting awful people live to continue doing kitten things. 
FFS he's writing a story about Ninja's who make their living off skills designed for subterfuge, warfare, and train from childhood to fight but he wants to sell this msg of world peace.
Something the sequel BTFO of the water since we find out kids are still being trained to fight. So Naruto's entire "I'm the chosen one who will bring peace by running my mouth at people who want to kill me." approach apparently fails.
Oh yea that whole "I'm going to focus on Sakura" thing that never happened. 
Edited by Tsuki Hoshino, 16 October 2019 - 09:33 PM.
Sakura says I don't know or I don't remember when Sarada asked questions about Sasuke and had the gall to punch at Sarada when she questioned if she's really married for not being able to give a straight answer about her own husband. And it was a chakra fueled punch that destroyed their house and would have hit Sarada had she not dodged. REAL FAMILY LOVE RIGHT THERE!!! 
