The Naruto watch order looks simple until you discover that the franchise is over a thousand episodes long and that a large share of them do not happen. Here is the version you actually need, without the spreadsheet.
The Naruto watch order, short version
Watch in this order:
- Naruto (220 episodes)
- Naruto Shippuden (500 episodes)
- The Last: Naruto the Movie (watch after Shippuden episode 493)
- Boruto: Naruto the Movie
- Boruto: Naruto Next Generations (optional)
That is it. Everything else is either filler or a standalone film you can watch whenever you like.
The filler problem, honestly
Roughly 41 percent of Naruto and around 44 percent of Shippuden is filler. Across both series that is close to 295 episodes that do not advance the story in any way.
This is the single biggest decision in any Naruto watch order, and it is not a small tax. Watched straight through, filler adds well over a hundred hours. It is also the single most common reason people quit the series somewhere around episode 150 and never come back.
The one skip that matters most: in the original Naruto, the canon story effectively ends around episode 135. Episodes 136 to 220 are a long, largely disconnected filler run before Shippuden picks the story back up. If you are going to skip one block, skip that one.
Shippuden’s filler is scattered rather than concentrated, which makes it harder to summarise honestly. Rather than reproduce a long episode list that goes out of date and is easy to get wrong, use a maintained filler list alongside your watch and check each arc as you reach it.
Should you skip all of it?
No, and this is where most guides oversimplify.
Some filler is genuinely good. Certain character-focused episodes give Shikamaru, Rock Lee and the supporting cast room the main plot never allows. The Kakashi ANBU arc in Shippuden is filler and it is better than plenty of canon.
My honest recommendation: skip filler on a first watch so you actually finish, then come back for the well-regarded ones. Finishing matters more than completeness.
The movies: only two are canon
There are eleven Naruto films. Two of them are canon.
The Last: Naruto the Movie (2014) sits between Shippuden episode 493 and the finale, and it is not optional. It resolves the Naruto and Hinata relationship that the series otherwise skips over entirely. Watch it in position or the ending will feel like it jumped a step.
Boruto: Naruto the Movie (2015) covers events the Boruto series later retells, and it works as the bridge into the next generation.
The other nine are standalone adventures. Some are enjoyable, none are required, and none of them affect the story.
Do you need to watch Boruto?
Only if you want to. The core story concludes within Shippuden, and it concludes properly.
For context: Boruto: Naruto Next Generations ran 293 episodes and ended its first part in March 2023. The anime has been on hiatus since, pending the Two Blue Vortex continuation. It has its own filler problem and a famously slow opening stretch.
If you loved Shippuden and want more time in the world, it rewards patience. If you are watching Naruto to see how Naruto’s story ends, you can stop when it does.
Roughly how long is this?
The full Naruto watch order runs 720 episodes across both series, and all of them at around 23 minutes each is somewhere near 276 hours. Cut the filler and you are closer to 170 hours, plus the two canon films.
At two episodes a night that is a year. At a weekend binge pace it is a couple of months. Either way, the filler skip is the difference between finishing and not.
More anime: our anime coverage has watch guides and breakdowns, including everything Naruto.
Did you skip the filler or grind through all of it? Settle it in the comments.
Sources: episode counts and filler percentages per community-maintained filler lists and Anime Watch Order. Naruto is created by Masashi Kishimoto; all rights belong to Shueisha, TV Tokyo and Studio Pierrot.
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