At EoS, Naruto has saved the world, fulfilled his destiny, and gained enough power to blow up the moon a million times over - any subsequent conflict is either hollow in comparison, or contrived, or both.

This being the context, Boruto is fucking intolerable - who is this fucking brat, bitching like a bitch-ass punk bitch, about his father? He has no perspective - we know how his father struggled, in his journey from pariah to messiah, and brought peace and justice to the world. And yet this moron shows no appreciation for it, no appreciation for the fact that like as little as two decades ago clans were being massacred, academy graduates were killing each other, and the world almost ended.

On a story-telling level, Kishimoto should never have dumped Boruto's perspective on us. Sarada's would have been much more tolerable; indeed, the backstory arcs she and Orochimaru's son had were pretty interesting. But, hey, not like Boruto has any point but milking the cashcow anyway.

 

I've never actually got round to Boruto. Can you give me the basic plot points and how shitty it is? Last I heard, Naruto of all people was somehow kidnapped by an unknown ninja?

 

Do you mean the epilogue chapter of Naruto? Because Boruto is being written by a new author if I'm not mistaken, Kishi has little to do with it. One of the reasons the 4th war was so rushed is that he was wanting to get out of the game. Unfortunately Boruto is remarkably similar to the Naruto version of Cursed Child...

 

The movie, the manga or the anime? Because it's a contradictory mess.

Spoiler

The movie is about Boruto being a lazy prodigy who prefers to take shortcuts than work harder such as using new jutsu technology to cheat in the Chuunin Exams and is pissed at his dad for being a workaholic that values Konoha over his own family. Two Otsutsuki arrive - from Kaguya's clan - and blow up bits of Konoha and kidnaps Naruto to take Kurama. The Kages, Sasuke and, because the plot demanded it despite making fuck all sense, Boruto travel to the other dimensions and kill the bad guys. Boruto and Naruto reconcile.

The manga is an adaptation of the movie with minor changes and really bad drawings which leads into an Boruto getting some magical seal because he killed an Otsutsuki, the introduction of an underground organization with similar seals called Kara and a deeper look at the advancement of technology and its impact on shinobi.

Finally, the anime is set before the movie events to depict Boruto's academy life which is a lot of filler type episodes, a conspiracy about some kind of chakra entity corrupting people, a trip to Kirigakure which was kinda like a shitty version of One Piece's Mermaid Island arc, an adaptation of that Naruto Gaiden crap and now another adaptation of the movie including a third Otsutsuki that was cut from the original movie script.

tl;dr You're not missing out.

 

How did they kidnap Naruto?
Isn't he super duper strong by the end.

 

Powercreep is the word.

Or ret-conning.

Or looking the other way.

 

These were a pair of Kaguya-level threats and he had protect everyone in the arena from getting blown the hell up, Gaara vs Deidara style.

 

The Otsutsuki were a mistake. Any sensible human being should do their utmost to forget anything that has to do with the Otsutsuki, including the Sage of the Six Paths shit, and pretend that something else happened instead.

Also, other members of the Otsutsuki being god level threats is just completely stupid - the only reason Kaguya had that retard strength is because she ate from the 10 tailed tree whatever and gained chakra. Nothing had chakra before that tree thing. Why do these other rabbit aliens have it? Who keeps coming up with this? Who in the anime/manga business decided these things were good? Answers we'll never get to questions that never should even have to be asked.

 

The power creep/leap has always been one of the biggest issues in the fandom. Writing fights on that scale isn't the problem, it's getting the protagonist to that level of power in the first place. Few authors are willing to put in the time to create a believable progression in power, culminating in a character who can fight people like Pain, Obito, and Madara.

So instead we get an endless supply of academy Naruto's with bloodlines and skills that rival kage level ninja. And who doesn't love another rehash of the Wave Arc with a stronger protagonist.

The power creep inspires lazy writing.

Kaguya and her whole family are simply the end result of power creep, while also being the author's solution to it. A grab bag of characters with whatever power level they need for the current setting/hero.

 

I like how this thread gets activity only when we all pile in on the shitness of Boruto ha.

But seriously, any good new-ish stuff? Like HP, the Naruto fandom has seen quite the decline in new fics post-EOS, as is only to be expected. And of the older stuff I've been following, none bar two have updated in the last two years; and of that two, one is dead and the other iis basically on a semi-permanent hiatus.

 

Walk on the Moon updated a couple of times this year.

 

Yall didn't really have to circlejerk over the fact that Boruto is trash. That much is undeniable, but it doesn't really explain the lack of Hokage Naruto fics, or adult Konoha 12 fics in general. There is nothing wrong with how he ended up as the Seventh what with him being a War hero and all, it was long overdue. Problems with the plot predate that as much as all the way from the Invasion of Pain arc to the Fourth Shinobi World War that dragged on for too long.

Boruto being an annoying twat who appreciates none of the struggles his parent went through until then doesn't prevent anyone from writing a story about how said parent deals with the Hokage life, his mental process, thoughts and feelings, reactions to all the technological advancements of the new era and how Shinobi are viewed and utilized with such a changing world.

Or maybe I'm just an idiot who wants his fix of OP Naruto through legitimate means, now that he's canonically reached that point.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

The best Hokage Naruto story I know of is White Rain, which was recced here at some point. Outside of that Blonding by Endoplasmic Panda. It's not top quality, but is well above readable, and seems to have a lot of what you're asking for.

 

Boruto has an interesting premise but suffered because it chose the wrong MC. Sarada is a much better choice overall. As long as we don't give her Sakura's strength through osmosis, and despite having the eyehax supreme, she's not overpowered from the get-go, she has the right personality, the right friends (the fat chick is much more interesting than the kids Boruto hangs out with), the right motivation (first Uchiha hokage), and the right conflict with her parents and Naruto. They really botched it choosing Naruto's kid as the MC.

I mean, Boruto is not a bad character, but his personality and arc would be much more appreciated as a side character, at max a supporting one.

 

Yeah my bad, here it is: https://m.fanfiction.net/s/4237746/1/

Be warned, it's OC-heavy, but it's got a solid plot and fleshed out characters

 

The best post series story I'm familiar with is:
The one when A tries to assassinate Naruto.
It is a one-shot and an awesome one.

My issues with pots series stories are:
Naruto never mature, never grows up and remain as an Idiot even as Hokage.
He lets other to bully him to do stuff.
He doesn't stand for his own, his relationship with Sakura seems to remain as it was in their genin days.

 

White rain is a solid story worth reading, but Naruto is a side character. Is he Hokage? Yes. Is he badass? Yes. But he's not the main focus. The main focus is Itachi, the son of Itachi, from the child of an OC. Its more of a character exploration fic of Sasuke coming to terms with his brother's actions and accepting Itachi as an Uchiha.

Its a good story. Very well written and one of the few OC storys I liked. But its not a story where Naruto is the main focus.