Naruto has been ruling the hearts of anime lovers for years. In this guide, we’ll help you discover about the filler in Naruto Series. If you’ve followed the manga you’d know that the anime version is quite extensive and thus has a lot of additional content that isn’t related to manga. For readers who haven’t watched Naruto or don’t know about the Naruto filler list yet, let me share the plot summary first.
Background Summary
Naruto Uzumaki is a young ninja who isn’t liked by his fellow villagers. Why? Twelve years before the series began, an evil group called Nine-tails attacked Konohagakure. During that invasion, they destroyed the majority of the village and killed many people. Naruto’s father, at the time, was the fourth Hokage of the village who ended up sacrificing his life to protect the village. In his bid to do so, nine-tails into his newborn son. Thus, Naruto encompassed the spirit of evil as per the villagers and thus there was animosity towards the new-born.
Now that you know about the background, both Naruto lovers and casual readers will now be able to understand the naruto filler list. Without beating the bush, let us address the elephant in the room – Filler Content in Naruto or Filler Episodes in Naruto.
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How many filler episodes are there in Naruto?
Naruto anime series ran for five years between 2002 to 2007. During this time, 220 total episodes were aired and only 96 of them were adapted from Manga. Rest 124 episodes are categorized in the naruto anime filler list. Based upon percentage, about 43.6% of the total Naruto episodes boast of filler content.
Does filler episodes in Naruto help the story arcs?
Though many people consider filler episodes to be nonsense that carries no value, I must say that that statement can’t be farther from the truth. Since Naruto is 43.6% filler, there are plenty of filler story arcs that give you deeper nuances and understanding about the adaptation. As a critical anime series, Naruto has canon arcs, filler arcs and the majority of the filler arcs take place towards the end of the series, primarily after episode 135. However, that doesn’t mean that filler episodes weren’t there before the 135th episode, there were plenty of them sandwiched here and there.
Before we check out the filler arc, let us understand about the canon story arc which affects the show directly.
Naruto Canon Story Arc List
During the early episodes, the anime adaptation works in sync with the manga counterpart. There are 5 different distinct canon stories and arcs that resemble the original manga. Let’s check them out first.
Prologue: Episode 1 to Episode 19:
The land of waves escort mission. The original story revolves around Naruto joining the Team 7 in his bid to finish the mission to the Land of Waves.
Chūnin Exams: Episode 20 to Episode 67:
Team 7 is introduced to the new characters as they enter Chūnin Exams which includes the likes of Team Guy, Orochimaru, Three Sand Siblings, and the Rookie Nine.
Konoha Crush: Episode 68 to Episode 80:
Konohagakure – the village experiences a dark period and is attacked and destroyed by Orochimaru, Otogakure, and Sunagakure ninja.
Tsunade Crusade: Episode 81 to Episode 100:
Tsunade is the world’s best medical-nin. During these episodes, the Akatsuki in the form of Orochimaru and Jiraiya are attempting to convince Tsunade to join their team.
Valley of the End: Episode 107 to Episode 135:
This section of the story arc is dedicated to the ‘Sasuke Recovery Mission’. The plot is extremely similar to manga and this arc follows Naruto’s attempts to stop Sasuke from joining the rival team – Orochimaru.
Naruto Filler Story Arc List
As the leading manga series adaptation, there are production hassles time and time again. Naruto at the time wasn’t short of its own troubles. Due to production hampering, the showrunners decided to create numerous arcs to fill time. These arcs are not a direct adaptation from Manga but the creators’ own addition to keeping the anime running for a long time. Most of these filler episodes would involve Naruto teaming up with different characters that played a short role in the narrative but didn’t impact the storyline in a direct way.
Having said that, it’d be unfair to suggest that these filler stories are boring and that they don’t carry any value. I love filler stories and though they don’t carry much weight in terms of affecting the main plot, I find them refreshing, to say the least. Here’s the detailed Naruto filler list that I want to share with you.
| Episodes | Title | Summary |
|---|---|---|
| 102-106 | Land of the Tea Escort | Naruto and Team 7 work hard towards helping Idate Morino win a race in the land of Tea. |
| 136-141 | Land of Rice Fields Investigation | Sakura, Jiraiya, and Naruto encounter the Fuma clan en-route to Orochimaru. |
| 142-147 | Mizuki Tracking | Naruto helps in capturing Mizuki who is an escaped criminal. |
| 148-151 | Bikochu Search | Naruto and Team 8 are searching for the bikochu beetle in their bid to find Sasuke Uchiha |
| 152-157 | Kurosuki Family Removal | Naruto along with the support of the Team Guy engages with the Kurosuki family after an encounter between the two parties. |
| 159-160 | Gosunkugi Capture | Kiba, Hinata, and Naruto help Sazanami to prove that he’s innocent and clear his name for any wrongdoing. |
| 162-167 | Cursed Warrior Extermination | Neji, Naruto, and Tenten travel to a distinct land of birds in order to investigate and deal with a ghost about which they have no idea. |
| 169 to 173 | Kaima Capture | Anko Mitarashi accompanies Ino, Shino and Naruto to the Land of the Sea to find information about their enemy - Orochimaru. |
| 175 to 176 | Buried Gold Excavation | Naruto forms a partnership with Hinata and Kiba in order to find a hidden treasure so the duo can improve their overall Ninja mission success score. |
| 178 to 183 | Star Guard | Team Guy and Naruto visit Hoshigakure in order to help the villagers to guard their sacred star which is under a considerable threat. |
| 187 to 191 | Peddlers Escort | Hinata, Naruto, and Choji work towards protecting some peddlers from the wrath of the Janin based in the Land of Vegetables. |
| 195 to 196 | Third Great Beast | This is the first arc revolving around the supporting lead. Herein Team Guy deals to get rid of vengeful Yagura. |
| 197 to 201 | Konoha Plans | The Konoha 11 is successfully able to defend Konoha from Genno the Trap Master. |
| 203 to 207 | Yakumo Kurama | Kurenai leaves team 8 on a temporary basis to take care of his old business with Yakumo Kurama. |
| 209 to 212 | Gantetsu Escort | Lee, Sakura, and Naruto help the authorities to transfer a Shinobazu member behind the bar. |
| 213 to 215 | Menma Memory Search | Naruto does everything he can to help Menma reclaim his memory and succeeds in doing so. |
| 216 to 220 | Sunagakure Support | Konoha 11 go to Sunagakure to rescue Matsurifr from the Four Celestial Symbols Men. |
Naruto Filler Episodes Worth Watching
Just because an episode is a filler, don’t assume doesn’t mean it doesn’t pack an entertainment value. Most of the filler episodes are light-hearted and really help you unwind from the original plot. The anime only episodes add quality background stories to the framework set by the story arc as a result of which you get to witness new characters. Among all the filler Naruto episodes, ‘Kurosuki Family Removal’, ‘Star Guard’, and ‘Menma Memory Search’ are my favorite ones.
Best characters from Naruto Filler Arcs
Naruto, as its runtime suggests, is packed with amazing interesting characters. These exotic characters made their way onto our screens during the filler episodes. Most of them stick with us long after the series is over. In this section, I want to share some of the characters that I truly got attached to from the anime-only story arcs in Naruto.
Raiga Kurosuki
Raiga’s character development is quite similar to Jaime Lannister in GOT. He goes from a tormented and cruel killer to a supportive guardian who’s never out of love. His character development gives you goosebumps and doesn’t feel shocking. What does feel shocking is the lightning power sword he has called Kiba. His tragic story makes up for a memorable arc and as a result, he has a great place in our heart which elevates him from a normal filler character.
Menma Uzumaki
Arguably Menma has to be the most fascinating filler character I had seen at that time. Since I loved all those episodes from Menma Memory Search, my affinity towards this character can be clearly understood. If you want to imagine what Naruto’s character arc would’ve been in case if his parents weren’t killed? Menma’s life would provide you an ideal peak. Surprisingly during this phase, we also learn about the alternate reality wherein Naruto is overpowered by his dark self and is corrupted with the power he holds.
Sumaru
Yet again, I love this character because it was part of a filler story arc that I really adore. Sumaru, a genin was an integral aspect during the Star Guard Mission. His tragic family history lets you in one of the more emotional moments in this series. It’s during this stint that you also get introduced to the Peacock Method. And who doesn’t like that?
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How do I watch Naruto Online?
I don’t know why you haven’t watched Naruto yet, but there are hundreds I can give you so you can start. Many people have watched the series a dozen times and still look for ways to watch the show online. The owners of Naruto, the Viz Media, allow you to stream the anime from the website. You can access both the versions – dubbed and subtitles based. Other than that, you can even watch anime on online streaming services such as Hulu or Crunchyroll.
Conclusion
I hope this in-depth Naruto filler list helped you learn more about the show. If you haven’t yet started watching the show I’d recommend you do so and pay close attention to the filler story arcs above as those will enhance your overall Naruto experience and not consume them as fluff.