It might take some convincing for Naruto fans to accept that some of its filler episodes actually improve the series. To be fair, the anime boasts seven hundred episodes – with almost half of them being filler – and it can be tough to separate the good from the bad. However, there are plenty of reasons not to skip Naruto's filler arcs.
Whether they skew humorous or dramatic, Naruto's filler episodes give its massive cast of characters time to shine, something that the core narrative occasionally struggles with. The shinobi world is equally vast, and some of these filler episodes use the world to its advantage, and expands on it in an interesting and insightful way.
10 Gotta See! Gotta Know! Kakashi-sensei's True Face!
There are many questions surrounding Kakashi Hatake throughout Naruto, with one of the biggest being why he wears his omnipresent mask. Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura are just as curious as fans, which is what the plot of "Gotta See! Gotta Know! Kakashi-sensei's True Face!" is all about. The trio determinedly trail Kakashi for a day, waiting for the inevitable moments when he has to take it off, only to be foiled at every opportunity.
The punchline is that behind Kakashi’s mask lies another mask is only the beginning. The actual payoff to this episode's joke only comes several real-life years later, in the Shippuden episode "A Special Mission", wherein Kakashi finally takes off both masks to reveal that his true face is shockingly average.
9 Kiba's Long Day!
Akamaru and the rest of the Inuzuka clan's dogs hold the blue ribbons for Naruto. "Kiba's Long Day" serves as a way to develop the Inuzuka clan's bonds with their loyal companions, and works as much needed character development for one of Naruto's best side characters. When a sickened Akamaru turns violent, Kiba is willing to do anything to help him.
Kiba is more distressed than his friends or the audience have ever seen him at the prospect that Akamaru could potentially be put down. He tries to break him out of Anbu containment, fights both Naruto and his own sister to protect him, and risks his own life istering his dog a risky cure. Meanwhile, Akamaru struggles against the disease to avoid killing Kiba – proving that his love for his best friend is stronger than any sickness.
8 Laughing Shino
At first glance, Naruto and Shino being hired as bodyguards doesn't seem like a hilarious concept. A wealthy heir will lose his inheritance if he laughs at his father’s funeral, so the famously stoic Shino is set to impersonate him. But, when the relatives next in line poison Shino to laugh uncontrollably, Naruto has to step in and take over for his friend.
While he doesn't suffer as much as Tenten, Shino doesn't get as much attention as the rest of the Konoha 12. However, in this episode, he shows that not only is he willing to do anything to complete a mission, but he's not as cold and emotionless as people think. The only thing funnier than Shino making a spectacle of himself to help Naruto is him flatly swearing Naruto to secrecy afterward.
7 Land Of Tea Arc
In the very first episode, Naruto and Iruka were lucky to come away from Mizuki's manipulations stronger than before. Naruto could have easily ended up like Idate Morino: tricked by his sensei Aoi into betraying the village as a child, and fleeing home forever out of shame. But Idate can’t run forever: the assassin Team 7 is protecting him from is Aoi.
This mini-arc is notable for the multiple conflicts all clashing together. From the high-stakes race itself, Naruto helping Idate regain his sense of self-worth, to the fights with Aoi, it remains exciting throughout. Aoi's initial thrashing of Team 7 also adds extra fuel to the fire of Sasuke's insecurities, being one of the defeats he flashes back to before deciding to defect.
6 Animal District
In conversations about the funniest Naruto episodes, the ostrich from "Animal District" is bound to come up. Appearing in multiple episodes, Condor is a bad-tempered bird determined to give every shinobi that gets in his way a bad time. He is Naruto's most underrated and powerful rival – in his own mind, anyway.
His first ever appearance, "Naruto’s School of Revenge", introduces him as a troublesome runaway who pecked at people who annoyed him. Stung by his loss to Naruto, Condor develops rapidly, learning to talk, becoming proficient in ninjutsu, and becoming leader of the Four Ninja Animal Warriors by his next appearance. Though he's beaten again, he doesn't give up on his dream of defeating Naruto.
5 Blaze Away, Byakugan! This Is My Ninja Way!
Though Hinata's journey is underrated compared to other characters, the change she undergoes from the original Naruto to the end of Shippuden is incredibly important. This is far more apparent in the latter, but the seeds of her evolution are shown as early as "Blaze Away, Byakugan! This Is My Ninja Way!". When Naruto is intent on finding a way to track Sasuke down, Hinata and his other friends stand by his side.
For years, Hinata looked up to Naruto for his determination to succeed even with the odds against him. Here, she shows off how hard she's worked to get stronger after the Chuunin Exam arc, using her Protecting Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms technique to save her friends. Though Naruto's mission fails, Hinata succeeds in making the people she loves start to view her differently.
4 Kakashi: Shadow of the Anbu Black Ops
This thirteen-episode arc is considered by many fans to be so good, it deserves a place in the canon story. The episode depicts Kakashi's life when he was a part of the Anbu, the Leaf Village's special assassination and tactical squad. Not only do viewers watch his struggles, but they also get a glimpse of the youths of other iconic characters.
Kakashi can't protect everyone he cares about, losing Minato and Kushina to the Nine-Tails' attack and believing he was unable to stop Itachi from going rogue. However, viewers also see how he did his best to protect others, such as both preventing a young Yamato from killing Hiruzen and allowing Yamato to escape unharmed, believing it would help the village. Even his habit of failing potential genin teams is in hopes of protecting them from his own team's fate.
3 Hot-Blooded Confrontation! Student Versus Sensei!
One of the best teachers in Naruto is the indomitable Might Gai, leader of Team Gai with special focus on fellow taijutsu specialist Rock Lee. Gai has complete and total faith in Lee's ability to become a great shinobi despite his lack of ninjutsu or genjutsu, and Lee idolizes Gai with every fiber of his being. This episode emphasizes not only their bond, but their strengths as well.
When Gai and Lee are trapped in a genjutsu that makes them see one another as enemies, they're not fooled. They use the iconic techniques of their master-student line to break out of the technique without harming the other. Afterward, rather than harm their attackers, Gai takes the opportunity to give them a lesson about how to be more honorable shinobi, the same way he imparts his philosophy onto his students.
2 Naruto's Favorite Pupil
Naruto's greatest ambition is to become the leader of his village, one that everyone looks up to. One of the first people to see him as a role model is Konohamaru, the Third Hokage's young grandson. In his first appearance, Naruto impressed him enough that he starts to mature and seriously work towards the goal of becoming Hokage himself.
In this Shippuden episode, even though Naruto isn't actually around, an older Konohamaru is still doing his best to live according to the WWND (“What Would Naruto Do?”) philosophy. In the wake of Pain's destruction of the Leaf Village, he's anxious to have something important to contribute to his home's recovery, only to be reminded that his dedication to protect it is vital on its own. His display of a perfect Rasengan drives home how far he’s come in his journey as a shinobi.
1 Arrival Of The Three-Tails Arc
These episodes are lauded for having one of the best villains in Naruto. Guren is one of Orochimaru's followers, loyal to the point of being devastated that she can't serve as her master's next host body. She entertains herself by watching over Yuukimaru, who is slated for use in Orochimaru's experiments, but that doesn't go as she expected.
Yuukimaru has a kind and gentle nature soothes Guren's cold heart, and she finds that she cannot allow him to come to harm after all. Her devastatingly powerful Crystal Style makes her a lethal weapon, but she finds a new purpose in being Yuukimaru's protector instead. Unlike many of Orochimaru's former followers and those connected to the Tailed Beasts, the two of them escape the shinobi world's conflicts and find happiness together.
While the anime adaptation of Naruto is filled with standalone filler episodes and story arcs, many of them add value to the stories and development of the series' large ensemble cast. While many watch-guides cut out this content, it's not a terrible idea for longtime Naruto fans to give them a chance.
