5 Best Naruto Arcs Ranked

Naruto influenced an entire generation. In recent years, the Naruto craze has come back in a big way. However, the one major problem with Naruto – especially for newcomers – is the fact that there are just way too many episodes to tackle. However, as in most anime, the show’s story is unfolded through arcs. Arcs are simply connected episodes within a larger story focused on key plot points. Below, find the list of the best arcs in Naruto and Naruto Shippuden, ranked.

Spoilers Below

5. Akatsuki Suppression Mission Arc

Naruto was a great show. Naruto Shippuden started out even better. It was like an octane fueled, ramen loving punch to the gut from the very start with that opening scene featuring Sasuke’s return. Although that wouldn’t happen until sometime later, it really showed that the show understood what the story was all about, and what the fans wanted from it.

However, eventually Shippuden would go horribly astray, with the majority of the Fourth Shinobi World War arc being a mess. Things that were really tightly controlled up until then, like the power scale of the characters, just went loose and went crazy. Fights between ninja started seeming more like giant mech battles than carefully planned, strategic battles that they used to be.

I digress.

The Akatsuki suppression arc is wonderful because it is simple. The bad guys we face in this one aren’t the most powerful members of the secret organization, but strong enough to give some of our regular Jonin a run for their money. Ultimately, this arc is largely about Asuma, his impact on his squad, and our heroes facing the death of someone who wasn’t already old – someone close to them.

4. The Chunin Exams

When I think of Naruto, this is one of the arcs that first comes to mind. It really sets up the best parts of Naruto – the fact that our hero is something of a nobody that no one in their right mind expects to become a Chunin. It also shows Sasuke begin to reach his full potential, back before he became basically an arrogant jerk.

The Chunin Exams arc is incredible, from the mission in the woods, to Sasuke receiving the curse mark, all the way through Naruto’s battle with Neji and Sasuke’s battle with Gaara. It’s the show and the fights we love at their best.

3. Fated Battle Between Brothers

At this point, we already like Sasuke a bit less cause he’s just such a tool, but things haven’t gotten too out of hand. And this is the arc where we finally see the battle between Sasuke and Itachi play out. It’s a wonderful battle where we learn a lot of big truths, and it’s really awesome to finally not feel bad about loving Itachi since he’s actually a good guy (sort of). The big reveal that Itachi is actually a good guy is the biggest twist of the entire show, and is exactly the kind of emotional payout that fans deserve after watching hundreds of episodes.

2. Pain’s Assault

In my humble opinion, Pain’s assault should’ve been the final arc. Shippuden could easily have left out the majority of the Fourth Great Shinobi War Arc without hurting the show, with maybe a few episodes devoted to Obito and then a quick cut the battle between Sasuke and Naruto (which was also pretty epic but too short to really be called an “arc”).

In this arc, we see Naruto really embody the power of the Fourth Hokage plus some – we even meet Minato for the first (and honestly should’ve been the last) time.

All the themes present within Naruto – Naruto’s endless optimism, his ability to change the hearts of others, and the ability to overcome obstacles and achieve greatness through perseverance – are on display here. Plus, our hero essentially becomes the next Hokage as he’s the only one who can defend the Hidden Leaf Village from Pain.

It’s the culmination of everything we love about Naruto in one, single arc.

1. The Land of Waves

The first real arc and the greatest – the Land of Waves will forever be my favorite Naruto arc. It’s so good that it really could be a stand alone anime, and it omits some of the issues with later shows, like fillers. Not to mention this arc contains within it the single greatest villain of the entire series – Zabuza. Cut down in his prime, Zabuza is the first great villain to be changed through Naruto’s influence, a theme which is continued throughout the story until about the end of the Pain assault arc.

We also get introduced to Kakashi in this arc, and because of our naivety of the ninja world, we don’t realize how much of a badass he really is.

If you are in doubt of where to start with Naruto, you can’t go wrong with “The Land of Waves”.