The show starts off well - all the characters are shown to work towards a common goal, the goal of being a great shinobi. There are some pervy jokes thrown around here and there, but the story is mostly made to appeal to those who can relate to the childish aspect of the characters, the humour and the story. Many of the characters are likeable - Jiraiya and Kakashi are good mentors, Rock, Neji and Gaara are interesting characters, and Sasuke provides appeal in the form of a rival.
The first arc is pretty good, though Naruto's declaration of becoming Hokage becomes really annoying and out of place real quick. The story of Zabuza and Haku, as well as their fight with Team 7, is pretty nice to watch. The Chunin Exam Arc, arguably, is the peak of the original Naruto anime : the arc is long, but each stage of the selection is fun to watch, as it provides compelling stories for each character involved, and the villain is interesting.
Here is where the show starts cracking - fillers start to take over and backstories get repetitively shown. Naruto sitting on the swing with the sad music in the background became a meme for a reason after all. The Tsunade Arc is where this is seen a lot - many scenes are repeated constantly across the semi-long arc (and beware, these arcs get LONG). Many scenes are pretty imaginative, but, sadly, not all are interesting and add up to an uninspired child's imaginative stories. The same goes for the Sasuke Arc, which, while it had its moments with Itachi and the Uchiha Clan, was still pretty repetitive in its storytelling.
Past that, everything till the end was filler, adding nothing to the story other than stretching it out for increased runtime and being almost unbearable. Characters like Sakura and Hinata were underused and poorly written, always relying on Naruto, Sasuke, among others, for help, but going back to acting rude to them or being absolutely detached. The art and animation was good, and while some of the fights were visually appealing, many early scenes were still shots. The music was treated much better, both in quality and usage. At the end of the day, Naruto is just a show made for children (put the pitchforks down fellas). Yes, some level of maturity is required to digest some of the plot points, but most of the show is made to appeal to predominantly younger audiences.
