Pain Was the Last Good Naruto Arc, According to Shonen Jump & DBZ Editor

Kazuhiko Torishima is the legendary Weekly Shonen Jump editor who discovered Akira Toriayma. Dragon Ball is very much Toriyama's baby, but Torishima played a huge role in shaping the manga's popularity. Torishima served as Toriyama's editor from the very start of Dragon Ball to the start of the Saiyan Saga. Without Torishima, Dragon Ball as we know it wouldn't exist. That said, Torishima has a sharp tongue and isn't afraid to criticize the manga industry.

In a Napoli Comicon interview attended by X user @XMathemagicianX, Torishima recently shared some harsh words about modern One Piece, despite respecting Eiichiro Oda's work in earlier arcs. Similarly, Torishima praised Naruto as being "very good at the start," but was seemingly unimpressed with the rest of the manga. According to the legendary Shonen Jump editor, the Pain Arc was Naruto's last good saga before Masashi Kishimoto's series fell off.

Pain Was the Beginning of the End For Naruto

Torishima did not elaborate on why he thought the Pain Arc was the last good story arc in Naruto, but anyone who's read or watched the series can understand why someone would feel that way. The Pain Arc was the culmination of everything that had happened in Naruto: Shippuden up to that point, bringing the overarching Akatsuki storyline to an epic close by having Naruto finally face off with their leader, Pain.

Pain is an amazing villain who directly challenges Naruto's ideals, so much so that Naruto has no true way to counter him philosophically. The destruction of the Hidden Leaf Village feels painfully earned and Jiraiya's death is one of the most emotional moments in the entire series. The Pain Arc is rightfully considered one of the greatest shonen sagas of all time, featuring the absolute best battles in the entire series. Later arcs just don't reach the Pain Arc's heights, especially as Naruto slowly loses itself with aliens and dragging the plot out far too long.

Torishima Wanted Kakashi to Stay Dead & For Sasuke to Die

Torishima also mentioned that he wanted Kishimoto to make Kakashi's death permanent. During the Pain Arc, Kakashi exhausts all of his Chakra fighting Pain to protect Choji, dying in the process. This is one of the most emotional moments in the series, comparable to Jiraiya's death – or it would have been if Kakashi actually stayed dead. Kakashi dying raised the stakes unlike anything else in the story up to that point, and showed that anyone could die.

Until Kakashi came back and proved that Naruto's main characters have the thickest plot armor around, around. Interestingly, Torishima also said he wanted Sasuke to die. Given how important Naruto redeeming Sasuke is to the manga's overall themes, killing him off would have been a major tonal shift, but it make for a powerful moment that shows that Naruto's ideaology won't always have a clean answer or happy ending for him, just like in the Pain Arc.