Although anime fans often bemoan filler, Naruto's filler is one of its biggest assets, and its filler works from every angle to fill out Naruto's sometimes scant world-building. The darkest corners of Naruto's world are just as much illuminated by its filler as are the daily minutiae and antics of Konoha's adolescent shinobi.

Naruto has quite a lot of filler, actually. Around 43% of Naruto and Naruto: Shippuden, taken as a whole, can be considered filler. The reality is that even if the vast majority of filler is good, there are bound to be some slogs within such a huge batch of episodes. However, the same also works in reverse. Naruto has some absolutely killer filler, and these are the best arcs in the whole series.

5 In Naruto's Footsteps: The Friends' Paths Arc

This Filler Builds Out Characters Who Naruto Had Forgotten For Far Too Long

The "In Naruto's Footsteps: The Friends' Paths" arc is better known as the second Chunin Exams arc. It's also placed in one of the most inopportune moments possible, right smack-dab in the middle of the Fourth Great Ninja War as the Ten-Tails is finally being born. That's its biggest misfortune as an arc. It's hated from the start because it interrupts the momentum of a climactic canon arc that had been progressing steadily—arguably too steadily, too slowly, with too little happening. When the second Chunin Exam arc arrives, it's not exactly a welcome visitor.

This is a shame, because it's also one of Naruto's best filler arcs. Timing aside, the arc is a tremendous exploration of characters who Naruto had unfortunately long forgotten. After the time-skip setting Shippuden apart, Naruto unfortunately left a lot of its ing cast in the dust. This filler arc is a corrective for that.

The context for the arc is that while Sakura tries to revive the dying Naruto during the war, Tsunade thinks back to when she organized Chunin Exams during Sasuke's time with Orochimaru and Naruto's time training with Jiraiya. It gives a glimpse into the time skip between Naruto and Naruto: Shippuden, and also provides a clear connection between the time before and after. While Akatsuki had briefly appeared prior to the time-skip, their role as the primary antagonists in Shippuden felt a bit sudden. Tsunade's intentions with organizing the exams were to lure the Akatsuki out, providing a crucial link between either side of the time-skip.

In this arc, several sidelined characters from Konoha get the opportunity to shine. For example, Sakura teams up with Team Asuma, taking Shikamaru's place and allowing her to escape the narrative bind that Sasuke and Naruto usually put her in. Another great example would be Tenten; the second Chunin Exams arc is one of the few moments where Tenten really gets to take charge and stand apart from the others on Team Guy.

4 Three-Tails' Appearance Arc

Naruto Sets The Stakes For Jinchuriki With One Of Its Most Beloved Filler Arcs

Overall, one of the bigger problems with Shippuden's core narrative is the way Naruto handles world-building. For example, there's an obvious contradiction in the fact that the jinchuriki and Tailed Beasts are apparently a massive part of the plot, but they spend so little time in the spotlight. Naruto's filler comes to the rescue, though, giving a stronger presence to the people and Tailed Beasts who fill out the center of Shippuden's overarching conflict.

The Three-Tails arc is one such example. It introduces the fan-favorite character Guren, who is sadly anime-only. With her entrancing crystal jutsu, Guren is a shining example of the absolutely breathtaking ways that Naruto's mechanics can be twisted into novel ideas. Guren is also memorable for the affectionate relationship she develops with the young jinchuriki.

Guren leads a group organized by Orochimaru to capture the Three-Tails, and her team (Team Guren) ends up facing off against Kakashi and Team 8 (Shino, Kiba, and Hinata). Over the course of the arc, several others the fray: Naruto, Sai, Shizune, Sakura, and Ino. espite their efforts, Konoha beats back Team Guren but is unable to seal the Tailed Beast.

Along come Deidara and Tobi, just like in the manga canon, to capture the beast instead. This also speaks to something important about Naruto's canon and filler balance: a hefty amount of its filler is mixed with its canon, rendering the line between them very difficult to make out. At any rate, after this, the arc comes to an end and things carry along canonically.

3 Kakashi: Shadow of the ANBU Arc

Naruto's Least Skippable Filler Is Vital World-Building

Anime has few filler arcs as impactful, memorable, or important as Kakashi's ANBU arc. This arc elevates filler to an art form, using it to take Kakashi's characterization to a whole other level. It isn't just Kakashi, though; several crucial characters are padded out in this crucially important filler arc.

Itachi is one obvious example. The arc provides a ton of depth to Itachi, showing the inner conflict he faced when he s ANBU and is tasked by Danzo with keeping an eye on the Uchiha and, eventually, eliminating the clan. It also gives viewers substantially more insight into how and why Orochimaru came to defect from Konoha and Yamato's former life as the ANBU ninja codenamed Kinoe. The arc also shows why Danzo is such an ambiguous figure, too.

The arc is roundly considered to be unskippable by the Naruto community. No filler arc has attained such high acclaim, and for very good reason. The Kakashi: Shadow of the ANBU arc pushes the boundaries of what filler can do for a central narrative, deftly ing Naruto's overarching story without ever overtaking it.

2 Paradise Life On A Boat Arc

Naruto's Most Endearing Filler Arc, No Contest

Not everybody loves this arc, but it's a fantastic example of how Naruto can make something out of filler that is less serious. The premise for the Paradise Life On A Boat arc is that Naruto is being taken to an island for protection while preparations are made for the Fourth Great Ninja War. Yamato, Aoba, Might Guy, Naruto, and three other shinobi set sail for the Land of Lightning.

The road ahead is long and arduous. There are ample opportunities for solid comic relief, like Naruto being taken prisoner by his own shadow clones. There are also some interesting moments of development for everyone in the cast, like Tsunade's get-together with many of Konoha's female shinobi.

Without being overly serious, the Paradise Life On A Boat arc shows Naruto's filler in the polar opposite role of what it performed during the Kakashi ANBU arc: instead of being dire, it shows how easy Naruto's characters make it to gingerly balance comedy and suspense.

1 Six-Tails Unleashed Arc

This Heartbreaking Arc Shows That Filler Can Be As Good As Canon

Alongside the Three-Tails arc, the Six-Tails Unleashed arc shows the unbelievable depth that filler brings to Naruto's world. All the aforementioned benefits of the Three-Tails arc's focus on jinchuriki and tailed Beasts apply here, too. However, where the Three-Tails arc is particularly renowned for its flashy action and its focus on the tactical sealing and capture of the Three-Tailed Beast, the Six-Tails Unleashed arc is a brilliant example of how Naruto's filler can truly slot into the plot just like "canon", providing a voice to the jinchuriki who don't feature heavily enough in the plot.

Readers might recall the delicate bond between Utakata and his student, Hotaru. The arc goes heavily into Utakata's backstory as a jinchuriki, as well as his complicated relationship with his own dead master. Because of the latter, he's deeply hesitant at first to be Hotaru's master (despite her insistence). Nonetheless, the two spend a great deal of time together, and he eventually relents. The bond between Utakata and Hotaru is one of Naruto's most sensitively written relationships, and that's saying a lot for a series renowned for its profound sense of empathy.

It has an utterly tragic ending, too. As more of Konoha's ninja come into the fold, Utakata is pulled away from Hotaru into a confrontation with Pain after Naruto is captured, his chakra slowly being drained. The resolution sees Pain capture Utakata, taking his Tailed Beast and killing him in the process. Hotaru is never seen receiving the news of his death, and viewers leave her behind as she waits indefinitely, like Hachiko.

It's hard to capture in words why exactly the arc is so affecting. It's the perfect storm of its score, pacing, characters, dialogue, and drama that all come together in a certain ineffable way. Looking back on this list, each entry proves something about Naruto's relationship to its filler. Perhaps the thing that the Six-Tails Unleashed arc proves is that Naruto's filler deserves to be canon as much as any of its "true" canon.