That was one of the main reasons I dropped the manga, honestly; there were a whole bunch of characters I actually liked, but they were pushed off to the side so that Kishimoto could focus on characters I didn't like, eg. Sasuke. Uuuugh, Sasuke. How I loathe thee.

...Anyways, on a... Related? Unrelated? I don't know anymore... point, I always got my fix of morally grey shonen from Gundam. XD