When Naruto was at its best

[Raijingan]

For me it was when:

1. Battles were like chess. Strategy was more important than anything and characters thought several steps ahead.
Examples:
- Shikamarus battles
- Sasuke vs Deidara
- Sasuke vs Itachi

2. Witnessing the personal arcs of characters
Examples:
- Naruto goes from zero to the savior of the hidden leaf (long arc)
- Rock lee proves that hard work pays off (short arc)
- Neji learns his lesson about destiny and beats the sound ninja guy (short arc)

3. Chakra would actually run out during battle if you spammed ninjutsu so skill and ninja tools were widely used and vital

4. When they weren't afraid to kill off characters. In the end we had 40 heroes and 2 villains because the heroes didn't die

5. When Naruto gave you real motivation and life lessons

Dicuss

Edit:
6. When every jutsu had a limitation and weakness. Yes I know Itachi said that during the war arc as well but weakness did limbo have for example? Or the other hax abilites shoved in? The limitations of the abilities and the characters made it interesting

 

[Guntah]

At some early point, part 1, in between the start of the Chunin Exams and the end of the Tsunade Retrieval arc.

And then, at another point, the potential presented in the initial arc for what could be by far the greatest manga of all time was lost.

Not sure when though.

 

[00Rinne]

When the 9 dragon heads on Akatsuki where mysterious figures that could take down small countries lil to no diff... An the Rinne that the first dragon head of Akatsuki wield was mysterious as well..

 

[ChicagoJhawk]

COMPLETELY agree with OP on this one. Part 1 naruto had the best shit and even early shippuden was good when they introduced akatsuki. But is seemed like by the time war arc came around that kishi had an identity crisis with his manga and forgot what made it so good and instead resorted to making into a dbz sequel

 

[Mari Makinami]

To me, it started becoming worse approximately since the moment of Danzo's death. Until the war arc, everything has been fine, basically.

 

[Raijingan]

When the 9 dragon heads on Akatsuki where mysterious figures that could take down small countries lil to no diff... An the Rinne that the first dragon head of Akatsuki wield was mysterious as well..

I remember my first "lolwut?" moment I had in Naruto. It was when Pain attacked Konoha. He succeeded in attacking an entire village by himself and ****ing destroyed it. It was the first time in Naruto where I thought it was getting a bit silly

Still Naruto vs Pain is one of my favorite fights.

My second great "lolwut?" moment was when Tobi announced the fourth great ninja war when he and Zetsu were the only ones on his side

 

[Raijingan]

To me, it started becoming worse approximately since the moment of Danzo's death. Until the war arc, everything has been fine, basically.

I have to agree. I loved Naruto to death until the war started. Then it felt so shallow in some ways. Unnecessary characters were shoved in. I never wanted to see and be disappointed by Hanzo for example. I could no longer understand powerlevels and the heroes limits. Sharingan was no longer a double edged sword. Sage mode no longer required great concentration

 

[Sauce]

It went from being strategic to who has the most OP power level

 

[Angelic.]

Make Naruto great again

 

[Natsu Shazneel]

I only found it best in the Chunin exams arc.

 

[Blizzard3]

Well Naruto went the dragon ball way. Naruto part 1 was pretty much dragon ball......then we got shippuden z.
Personally I liked the neji v Naruto fight and lee v gaara

 

[123fire]

Actually it became better after the Obito reveal , since we got to see the first juubi jinchuuriki , and we saw Madara Uchiha the forshadowed villain in action as a juubi jinchuurki too! Heck we even saw Gai eight gates! I don't know why people hate the war arc