Naruto has a good premise: Five nations, with five villages of ninja protecting them. With Konoha village in the center, and Naruto, a good hearted orphan, who grew up alone, rejected by most people in town given that he carries the Kyuubi (the Nine tailed Fox that attacked the village several years ago) sealed inside him. He's a boy, who struggles to be accepted, and often calls attention with pranks. He can be loud, hyperactive, naïve, and immature, but sometimes he shows a serious side, a sad face, which shows what he really wants or who he really is. In Iruka sensei, he found an "older brother", he was the first person to care about him. The 3rd Hokage, also looked after him, but as the village leader, he was a busy man. The story then follows his road to becoming a shinobi, in team 7 with Kakashi as the sensei, Sakura, the girl he likes, and Sasuke, who becomes his rival. Then, there are many secondary characters, Konohamaru, Shikamaru, Choji (these 3 can be considered Naruto's friends), Ino, Neji, Lee, Tenten, Kiba, Hinata, Shino, all children genin, and the adults chunin or jonin, Gai, Asuma, Kurenai, Genma, Anko, Ibiki, etc. As the anime goes on, others are introduced: the Sand ninjas (Gaara, Temari, Kankuro), Jiraiya, who becomes a sensei and a parental figure to Naruto, Tsunade as the next Hokage, Orochimaru as the horrifying villain, Kabuto, etc. The variety makes the series entertaining through the 140 episodes without fillers (you can skip them, I rate this without considering them). There are some connections to Dragon Ball, obviously Goku-Naruto, Roshi-Jiraiya, the long fights, but not much more. Fantasy plays a big role in the jutsus, chakra, is the creative side of this. The soundtrack was amazing, unforgettable, plays perfectly in the dramatic moments. Flashbacks are a little overused, but in certain occasions they make the episodes more emotive.
With a solid beginning, the first arc focuses on team 7, a mission involving an opressed town, and Zabuza, a mercenary as one of the villains. It had good fights, a dramatic finale, bloody, serious, even tearful. The bonds grow between the team, especially Naruto and Sasuke. The 2nd arc, the Chunin exams, focus on team 7 and the secondary characters. But most important, Orochimaru appears as the villain, and when he poisons Sasuke, the story starts to get darker. Then, the fights one on one are very well done, especially Lee vs Gaara, Shikamaru's, Naruto vs Neji. The next arc is excellent, with the fights between the 3rd Hokage and Orochimaru, Naruto vs Gaara. Here, the heroes fight against evil, and everyone defends the village from the attackers, and the Sand ninja who betray peace. With the sacrifice of the 3rd, and Konohamaru's sadness, it becomes tearful. During all this, Naruto, Sakura, and the others start to grow up, little by little, while Sasuke slowly gets closer to darkness. The next arc shows the bonding between Naruto and Jiraiya, while searching the 5th Hokage, Lady Tsunade. The protagonist trains, grows, and manages to change the woman's heart after her traumatic past. On the last track: Sasuke leaves the village looking for power and Orochimaru, Tsunade sends a genin squad to retrieve him, including Naruto and Shikamaru. This arc was excellent, and ends with a great fight between the once teammates of team 7. It gave protagonism to characters like Neji, Choji, Kiba, Lee, Gaara, Kankuro, Temari and Shikamaru, producing entertaining and dramatic fights. Blood, strategy, fellowship, friendship, background stories, emotions, feelings, all included. The villains were great and tedious, yet one disgusting (Kimimaro). The final fight was about two teammates parting ways, and how much Naruto tried to reason, understand a fellow who was consumed by revenge.
The main characters are a big part of the series, their evolution was interesting, considering they started in a poor way. Naruto is solid, fun, goofy, persistent, but many times his naivety was exaggerated. When serious, he could be great. But when dumb, he could became dull, especially in the first episodes. He grew up during the storyline, but sometimes seems like he was reversed on purpose to cause comical childish situations. Still, I liked his relationship with Iruka, Jiraiya, Kakashi, and Sakura. His interest in Sakura was genuine, pure and selfless, especially after the first arc. With Kakashi, patience was the word for them. Jiraiya became like a grandfather to him, he was the first person besides Iruka to look after him as family. The rivalry with Sasuke was good at the beginning, but then changed. About the rest, considering flashbacks and the future, his true friends though not the best, would be Shikamaru and Choji. As for Hinata, some fans consider her highly. She looks cute, shy and innocent here given how young she is. But she's not on his mind, when he thinks about the persons who rescued him from loneliness, those are team 7 and Iruka. So, despite the few moments she appeared and supported him, she is overestimated because Naruto doesn't consider her. Konohamaru is a kid who deserved more time with Naruto, that way he could grow up better. Then, Naruto's attitude can be inspiring, he changed Gaara, Tsunade, and he made Sakura better too. He works hard, trains, but that's not what makes him especial. He has the Kyuubi, and is the son of the 4th Hokage. So he's good because of his kindness, his unbreakable will which allowed him to survive a childhood without his parents. Then, there's Sakura. She starts as a bad character, who only thinks about her crush Sasuke. Fortunately, she slowly changes, and starts to look after herself so she doesn't get behind her teammates. The moment at the forest of death was critical, just as the fight with Ino. Of course Naruto's attitude and Kakashi's guidance inspired her. Sadly, the crush on Sasuke was highly exaggerated, since he never showed interest, so that made her dislikable sometimes. It was unjustified. When she cared about her two teammates by equal, when she needed Kakashi to calm her down, those were her moments. Her relationship with Naruto was good because it evolved. She passed from ignore to care and respect. Also, it could be noticed, in some reactions, they were similar, both immature. And she could keep him on line when he crossed a line (though in the manga this didn't occur so often as in the anime).
At last, Sasuke. He is important in the storyline, but this given his tragic past: his parents and clan were murdered by his brother Itachi. Such a traumatic event made him a cold, distant boy, with no interest in nothing but revenge. As an Uchiha, he was admired, people had high expectations for him, and he was the crush of each girl. This was the opposite to Naruto, who was the 4th Hokage's son, but only a few knew, and so he was nobody, just the loud boy who has the Kyuubi. The problem with Sasuke is how self absorbed he became through the anime, especially at the end. Team 7 cared for him, Kakashi tried to lead him on a different way, but the trauma was too big, and Orochimaru took advantage of the situation. Sasuke's attitude was exaggerated too, but his evolution was well written. His fall into darkness and hate was not sudden. The rivalry with Naruto played a part on the plotline, yet at the beginning was annoying how he seemed to always win. Naruto was belittled too many times by Sasuke, and almost everyone til half of the series. Iruka saw Naruto's will at first, Hinata did because she liked him (but she didn't get to share time with him), Sakura and Kakashi recognized him when they started to know him. But Sasuke didn't until the end. So the best of him was his tragic storyline, the flashbacks where it was showed his loss. Then, he wasn't really likable.
Anyway, the storyline was promising. Sometimes was childish and tedious, but often was emotive, touching, inspiring. The younger audiences like it. Older audiences might not survive it, and if they do, they won't like the finale. This part I set high expectations for Shippuden though it didn't turn out as great as it should have been. Still, leaves some unforgettable memories from childhood, produces tearful moments, that's important.
