I did like the idea of the chakra beasts ^.^ so that way, they could all be equal in strength but be advantageous depending on the user. Will there also be people like jinchurikis that hold the chakra beasts

I'm not entirely sure what you mean with the adding the new chakra types but taking ligntning out? so will there be 8 chakra types in general?
But I think Metal shouldn't be a chakra type, since it would kind of switch up all of the strengths/weaknesses of chakra types. If anything, it could be a kekkei genkai that is dominant since there is a large village of those with the Metal kekkei genkai?

I think there should be some tension between nations, since tension usually leads to conflict which is always good x)

The entirely new map is a good idea, although I don't have the skills to do that Dx

Hmmm, I had some ideas yesterday but they were lost cause of school >_< If I can think up of any new ideas, I'll let you know ASAP ^.^