I've persisted on because i know its a hugely popular and famous anime so it must be good. Some season episodes were definitely interesting and action-packed (e.g. the chunin exam) but many other episodes were a drag. If they shorten it, maybe it was still worth the watch for the plot.
Personally, the main characters (the trio) were very hard to love and if i don't like the characters, its hard to watch on. Naruto was always reckless and he never seems to learn regarding that. Sakura is almost always 'useless' in terms of battle and it would seem that the only reason she is there is to be the love interest of Naruto and the girl who falls for Sasuke. If her technique of using Chakra was that great as said.. surely she could have developed that better. but when i think of her, im just reminded of her squealing 'sasuke'. Sasuke's personality is .. 'gloomy', 'act-cool' and arrogant. It was although nice to watch when Sasuke and Naruto had a little bromance moment when they save each other, or competing to climb the tree.
In comparison, other adventure/action/shounen type anime that does a way better job would be Hunter x Hunter.
