Naruto, Shippuden, and Boruto Filler Guide: Which Episodes Can Be Skipped?

Amongst anime fans, Naruto should require no introduction. The shonen franchise is well-known for ninja action, comedy, adventure, and unfortunately, way too much filler.

Luckily, you don’t have to watch all of the padding. With a good guide, you can sneak past the filler episodes of Naruto like a master shinobi. 

Naruto Basics

Since 1999, Masashi Kishimoto’s manga in Weekly Shonen Jump has inspired three main anime series — Naruto, Naruto Shippuden, and Boruto.

The original series alone has 220 episodes. When you add Shippuden (500 episodes), and Boruto (293 as of 2023), you get 1013 episodes. That’s a lot of potential for filler. 

Naruto Plot

Naruto tells the tale of one ninja’s rise from knucklehead troublemaker to knucklehead hero. He’s an underdog, but he learns from adversity.

As the plot develops, we learn about the past lives of Naruto’s mentors and parents. There’s also a dark web of secrets and conspiracies which entangles the ninja world. (Examples include Itachi’s motivation for wiping out the Uchiha clan, the origins of the Akatsuki, Danzo’s splinter group, etc.)

Eventually, it all leads up to a ninja world war.  After the end, Naruto settles down — and his son continues the cycle.    

Watch Order – Canon and Filler Arcs

Naruto has a bad reputation for too much padding and filler — and bad, cheesy filler at that. However, Naruto’s filler is actually easy to avoid, because so much of it is in big chunks.

In this guide, we will look at the story arcs and filler for Naruto. A couple of episodes are marked as omake — based on official, “extra” bonus material.   

Naruto Story Arcs

1. 1. Prologue – The Land of Waves, episodes 1-19
   2. Chunin Exams, episodes 20-67 — includes one recap
   3. Konoha Crush, episodes 68-80
   4. Search for Tsunade, episodes 81-100 — includes one filler
   5. Land of Tea Escort Mission, episodes 101-106 — Filler arc
   6. Sasuke Recovery Mission, episodes 107-135, also episode 220
   7. Episodes 136-219 (seasons 6 through 9) — 16 filler arcs

Naruto Filler

• Episode 26 — Special Report: Live from the Forest of Death! — recap
• Episode 97 — Kidnapped! Naruto’s Hot Spring Adventure!
• Episodes 101-106 — Episode 101 is an omake: Gotta See! Gotta Know! Kakashi-Sensei’s True Face!
• Episodes 136-219 — Episode 202, The Top 5 Ninja Battles, is a recap

All Early Shippuden Story Arcs

1. 1. Kazekage Rescue Mission, episodes 1-32
   2. Tenchi Bridge Reconnaissance, 33-53
   3. Twelve Guardian Ninja, 54-71 — filler arc (* 54 and 56 are partially canon. 55 is canon)
   4. Akatsuki Suppression Mission, 72-88
   5. Three-Tails’ Appearance, 89-112 — filler arc (* 89-90 are partially canon)
   6. Itachi Pursuit Mission, 113-118
   7. Kakashi Gaiden, 119-120
   8. Tale of Jiraiya the Gallant, 127-133
   9. Fated Battle Between Brothers, 134-143
   10. Six-Tails Unleashed, 144-151 — filler arc
   11. Pain’s Assault, 152-169
   12. The Quest for the Fourth Hokage’s Legacy, 170-171
   13. Pain’s Assault (continued), 172-175
   14. Past Arc: The Locus of Konoha, 176-196 — filler arc

World War and Conclusion Story Arcs

Note: Story arcs get messy during the World War, with filler episodes in the middle of canon arcs.  

1. 1. Five Kage Summit, 197-214
   2. Fourth Shinobi World War: Countdown, 215-222
   3. Paradise Life on a Boat, 223-242 — filler
   4. Fourth Shinobi World War: Confrontation, 261-270; 272-289; 296-310; 312-321
   5. Power, 290-295 — filler
   6. Fourth Shinobi World War: Climax, 322-348; 362-375
   7. Kakashi’s Anbu Arc: The Shinobi That Lives in the Darkness, 349-361
   8. Birth of the Ten-Tails’ Jinkchuriki, 378-388; 391-393; 414-421; 424-431
   9. Jiraiya Shinobi Handbook: The Tale of Naruto the Hero, 432-450
   10. Kaguya Otsutsuki Strikes, 451-455; 458-468; 470-479
   11. Itachi Shinden Book: Light and Darkness, 453-458
   12. Childhood, 480-483 — filler
   13. Sasuke Shinden: Book of Sunrise, 484-488
   14. Shikamaru Hiden: A Cloud Drifting in Silent Darkness, 489-493
   15. Konoha Hiden: The Perfect Day for a Wedding, 494-500

All Shippuden filler arcs and episodes

• Episodes 57-71, most of the Twelve Guardian Ninja arc
• Episodes 91-112, most of the Three-Tails’ Appearance arc
• Episodes 144-151, Six-Tails Unleashed
• Episodes 170-171, The Quest for the Fourth Hokage’s Legacy
• Episodes 176-196, The Locus of Konoha
• Episodes 223-242, Paradise Life on a Boat
• Episodes 257-260
• Episode 271, Road to Sakura — based on to the Road to Ninja movie
• Episodes 279-281
• Episodes 284-295 — inclues the Power arc 
• Episiodes 303-320
• Episodes 347-361 — Kakashi’s Anbu Arc
• Episodes 376-377
• Episodes 388-390
• Episodes 394-413
• Episodes 416-417
• Episodes 427-450
• Episodes 464-468
• Episodes 480-483 — Childhood arc
• Episode 469, A Special Mission — omake

All Boruto Story Arcs

If we go just by the manga, Boruto has a ridiculous amount of filler. However, quite a few of these “filler” episodes are actually considered  “anime canon.”  These episodes either reflect established canon, or they have Kishimoto’s approval, and are marked as such.

1. Academy Entrance, 1-18 — filler, anime canon
2. Sarada Uchiha, 19-24
3. School Trip, 25-34 — filler, anime canon
4. Graduation Exams, 35-39 — filler, anime canon
5. Genin Mission, 40-42 — filler
6. Byakuya Gang, 43-52 — filler, anime canon
7. Versus Momoshiki/ Chunin Exam, 53-66
8. Chocho, 67-71 — filler
9. Mitsuki’s DIsappearance, 72-92 — filler, anime canon
10. Parent and Child Day/ Naruto Shinden, 93-97
11. Jugo/ Curse Mark, 98-105 — filler, anime canon
12. Konoha Shinden/ Steam Ninja Schools, 106-115
13. Konohamaru and Remon/ Konohamaru’s Love, 116-119 — filler
14. One-Tail Escort Mission, 120-127 — filler, anime canon
15. Time Slip, 128-140 — filler, anime canon
16. Mujina Bandits, 141-156 — filler; 148-151 is manga canon
17. Kara Actuation, 157-175 — filler, anime canon
18. Ao/ Vessel, 178-187 — filler, 181-187 is canon 
19. Kawaki Arcs: Kara Clash, 188-205; Otsutsuki Awakening, 206-220
20. Chunin Re-examination, 221-227 — filler
21. Great Sea Battle of Kirigakure, 228-260 — filler, anime canon
22. Kawaki and Himawari Academy, 261-273 — filler, anime canon
23. Labyrinth Game, 274-281 — filler, anime canon
24. Sasuke Retsuden, 282-286
25. Code’s Assault, 287-293

All Boruto Filler (Neither Manga nor Anime Canon)

• Episodes 16-17
• Episodes 40-41
• Episodes 48-50
• Episodes 67-69
• Episodes 96-97
• Episodes 112-119
• Episodes 138-140
• Episodes 152-156
• Episodes 231-232
• Episodes 256-258

Final Thoughts

If you’ve been avoiding Naruto because of the number of episodes, this guide should help. 

Naruto is, in many ways, the quintessential shonen series (fun adventure, an underdog hero, etc.). While not every episode is a masterpiece, the series is definitely worth watching.

I hope you enjoyed this Naruto filler guide. If you want to start watching the series now, here is where you can watch Naruto online, and places to watch Boruto online today.