I loooove this anime. Personally I look for a combination between a good story, good character relationships , and action. And this anime delivers them all. It does have ninjutsu, samurai, and forbidden jutsu...but its not centered on those things. The best part I would say is how the character relationships play out during entire series.
It does have simliarities to naruto in the jutsu aspect. However I would say its more serious than naruto is in general. However it does have points of cute humor in the character relationships.
I recommend this to anyone who likes anime even a little and are looking for something different. It's an excellent series.
