>>281597675
it didn't completely ruin the series, but it probably made it worse. It makes Naruto and Sakura all around worse characters, though Naruto is mostly fine outside of his Sasuke obsession. It also necessitates spending a certain amount of time chasing him which frankly could have been used on much more interesting things in that world. Teenage team 7 feels like a giant missed opportunity. You'd have to rework the villains and plot but that's not necessarily a bad thing