He had the passion to DRAW the characters yeah, but it doesn't seem like he was really invested in the story, if all he was doing is asking how to make it popular.
Yeah, that's the thing that I never got either; how someone can only just be in it if it's popular rather than telling a good story.
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 do still think most of the softening of the story is more Kishimoto growing older, having kids, and having a minor panic of I don't want my kids to see something violent. What the change of editors did was make the story have more plot holes and become more inconsistent. Partily due to them trying to screw around with the story, and partly due to them not being able to both help and rein in Kishimoto.
Kishimoto does his best work when he has a good editor supporting him; enough to produce the third best selling manga ever. Without a good editor...he is. Ok, does too much exposition and has some weird idea but at it core still has a decent story.
I honestly feel like if its "Because he had kids." He would have written a story in which bad guys have to face justice. In which there are people who are just BAD and there is no explaining it. Because that teaches a real-life reality. It becomes a cautionary tale rather than "Don't worry every bad thing you do doesn't mean a thing because a golden child will be sympathetic to you UwU"
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.
I don't know if he did everything he could to finish, because he was still churning out new characters all the time when he could have just focused on a few and finished if he had the ideas to do so--he was just bored of the MC and didn't really know what to do anymore and then he really screwed up by Overpowering Madara to the point that he had to make Kaguya just to get rid of him. It just becomes so damn bizarre at the end.
I think Kishimoto stopped with the tactics because tactics are hard to figure tbh. It's easy to just give random power-ups and OP abilities rather than focus on minute details. "Why bother with trickery when I can just railgun through the door!"
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.