No you're wrong At the time when the era of Yuyuhakusho and DBZ are finished, Naruto was definately the best back then. It even had the best sales not just in Japan but also in the West and through worldwide, so many people were crazy cause this series was godlike (Part 1) which also brought many shonen mainstream, people were praising this shit, you never see people complains.
Naruto would never gone so far to shippuden if it had not been the most popular series and the biggest sales that would support Kishimoto.
Nowadays, even though it's still popular, it wasn't as good as it used to be, Naruto defiantly went down from grace, there're alot of better series than Shippuden especially this war arc. You see alot of mix controversial about this series, but there're defiantely alot of hate treatment in this series, which I personally think it deserve it.
Naruto Had to work hard because everything was already laid out for him but especially he had Ninetails inside of him and his best chakra reserve thanks to the Uzumaki bloodline from his well known parents, he got it easy. Everything was predestinied even before he was born when Gamamaru confirm that his prophecy was correct from the beginning , Neji was right about destiny, Naruto was definately born lucky.
Rock Lee and Gai are the true underdog, heck even Sakura is more of hardworker than Naruto, it just goes to show you how pathetic Naruto become.
Pain arc was the best, but that ending ruined it so...
