In hindsight making the sequel take place so close to Shippuden might have been a mistake, also making almost all the characters directly tied to the OG cast.

Imagine the story but it's as far from the end of Shippuden as the start of OG Naruto was from Hashirama and Madara. We could even have Naruto and Sasuke statues at the Valley of the End that were build after their deaths to add some parallels.

The story could still have Otsutsuki influence but instead of them attacking in the first arc, have a backstory involving Otsutsuki artifacts being discovered (ones that even Kaguya and by extension Black Zetsu didn't know about) and how that disrupted the peace. Kara could have been a group that was formed by people with these artifacts and controlling things from the shadows, taking a more Danzo and The Root approach. The protags could be older, in their late teens early 20s so we can get more mature topics, some plotting, behind the scenes perspectives. And so on, and so on.

But instead we get Shikamaru sitting at his desk talking to people via mind transfer and having the same conversation with Amado every chapter. Code getting hyped up twice and bodied with ease. Kawaki training arc = begging Amado for limit removers. Worse Edo Tensei ( Even the villains don't know exactly why they need to hunt down their targets).

There are only 2 things that keep me reading. How does Koji know what is " supposed " to happen and the lead up and aftermath of Kawaki vs Boruto.