Naruto Fans Thought Konoha's Elders Were Even Less Useful Than Sakura
Masashi Kishimoto's "Naruto" often earns praise for its numerous astonishing characters. The mangaka truly filled the hit series with a memorable cast that, at various points, was capable of stealing the spotlight from the titular hero. And for a character who has managed to bring both fans and villains to tears, that's no easy feat. Still, that doesn't mean every character in Naruto is a clear home run. In fact, a few are honestly some of the series' most divisive.
For many reasons, Sakura has often received a lot of criticism from numerous fans. Thanks to a few of her worst actions against Naruto, some of the pitchforks raised against her are warranted. But one particular aspect often brought up is her overall usefulness, which is kind of unfair when looking at what she's managed to accomplish.
After all, we're talking about a character faithfully mirroring the Fifth Hokage. Like Tsunade, Sakura is a talented medical ninja that could easily shatter boulders with a punch. However, her talents get left in the dust because Naruto and Sasuke overshadow her to the series' end. For that reason, the character is often an easy target whenever the term "usefulness" in the series is explored and compared. Fortunately for her, fans on the Naruto Reddit don't believe she's the series' worst character in this regard, as many expressed how Konoha's elders are even more embarrassingly less useful.
Fans thought the elders contributed nothing but lousy advice
While the Hokage serves as Konoha's chief leader, they still listen to advice from some of the village's elders. The group of elders is officially called the Konoha Council, consisting of Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane. Danzō Shimura also joined them, but after his Machiavellian scheme to destroy the Uchiha Clan, the Third Hokage removed him. However, this doesn't mean the two remaining elders were any better than Danzō, as on the Naruto Reddit, fans noted how Homura and Koharu were consistently useless.
"I can't seem to think of a time these two actually gave solid advice that yielded a good result," u/chevsmt posted. "They should've been fired." U/DarksideOutlaw agreed with the sentiment but thought unemployment was too lenient of a punishment. They added, "More like exiled lol, I hate them with a burning passion all they do is give the worst advice and act like they know everything."
Homura and Koharu are supposed to be wise and always offer the best-unbiased outlook to help the Hokage with their decision. Instead, they often cause unnecessary headaches with nothing productive to show. Their advice is akin to thinking of Konoha's younger generation as nothing but mere tools for the village, especially Naruto. And it was actually their cold view and lack of faith in the young hero that almost drove Tsunade to wreck them in the Episode "Power To Believe." It was a brief moment of cheer for fans like u/ohhjeeezz, who posted, "I felt so relieved when Tsunade grabbed them by their collars, lmao!"
It's a surprise that they're still around in Boruto
"Boruto: Naruto Next Generations" is a sequel series brimming with many changes, especially concerning the cast. But there are still a couple of elderly ninjas offering some horrible advice. To the shock of some fans, Homura and Koharu are still alive and serving on the Konoha Council. This means they're now assisting Naruto, whom they obviously didn't initially care for when he was a child. Homura and Koharu's inclusion in "Boruto" is bonkers considering that in "Naruto," they were already pushing their early '70s. In "Boruto," visually, they have definitely aged up significantly. But fans like u/Moon_Colored_Demon questioned how they could still be alive. Maybe Konoha has a got a stellar healthcare system.
While their council membership does present some intriguing scenarios with Naruto as a leader, some fans feel that their prolonged survival is potentially a moment of weak writing for the series. After all, their link to Danzō doesn't exactly make their hands clean. U/Nina_Lazer best put it in perspective when they posted, "I get that forgiveness and breaking the cycle of hatred was the point of Naruto. But letting these two live [or at least not be exiled or imprisoned] for their role and cooperation with Danzo's treatment of both the Nine-Tails and Uchiha clan absolutely stands out as a narrative failing."