Naruto, my opinionated guide to the franchise

• Naruto 2002
  • 1 to 25
  • 26: filler
  • 27 to 96
  • 97: filler
  • 98 to 100
  • 101: filler, but high quality
  • 102 to 106: fillers
  • 107 to 141
  • 142: canon until 09:42, the rest is filler
  • 142 to 215: filler
  • 216 to 220: the end of the original series
• Naruto Shippuden
  • 1 to 55
  • 56: canon until 18:57
  • 56 to 71: fillers
  • 72 to 90
  • 91 to 112
  • 112: one of the many mixed filler/canon episodes, like 90. You can skip to the cannon part by watching from 13:44 to 19:45
  • 113 to 143
  • 114 to 151: fillers
  • 152 to 169
  • 170 and 171: fillers
  • 172 to 175
  • 176: canon until 4:03
  • 176 to 196: fillers
  • 197 to 223
  • 224 to 242: fillers
  • 243 to 256
  • 257 to 260: fillers
  • 261 to 270
  • 271: filler
  • 272 to 278
  • 279 to 281: fillers
  • 282 to 289
  • 290 to 295: fillers
  • 296 to 302
  • 303 to 316: fillers
  • 317 to 319
  • 320 and 320: fillers
  • 321 to 348
  • 349 to 361: fillers
  • 362 to 375
  • 376 and 377: fillers
  • 378 to 387
  • 388: watch until 5:20
  • 389 and 390: fillers
  • 391 to 393
  • 394 to 413: fillers
  • 414 to 421
  • 424 to 426
  • 451 to 458: Itachi story
  • 459 to 479
  • 480 to 483: fillers
  • 484 to 500

After the episode in the list, watch the OVA or the movie.

The Naruto movies were initially meant to be viewed as nonessential viewing. They followed the old philosophy of anime movies, where the purpose wasn't to tell canon stories but rather showcase the studio at its best when it has the time to work on something truly spectacular. However, the anime landscape changed over time; the movie quality was only slightly higher than anime quality, but that was compensated for with canon stories and generally high quality on both fronts. Naruto eventually changed with the times, but only near the end of its run. As such, only two movies can be considered canon. Even then, these movies are only supplementary to the anime; most of their lasting consequences can be inferred from the canon content of the series.

This philosophy makes it a marvel when the older Naruto movies can even fit on the timeline. The movies are supposed to happen in the downtime between significant story events. However, Naruto's story beats are so tightly condensed that there's only time to move from one to the other. Strangely, movies can only fit into the Naruto grand narrative if the filler episodes used to space out the canon events are acknowledged as canon. This makes it fascinating when these movies adhere close enough to the plot to fit into the story. The question isn't which movies are canon, but how canon they can be.

Since Team Seven is still together in the first "Naruto" movie, "Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow," it must take place before Sasuke leaves in Episode 108. It must also occur before the mission that begins in Episode 102, which results in Sasuke's injury. Furthermore, Naruto has the Rasengan, so it has to take place after Episode 96. As Sakura is in Episode 99 and all three are together in Hidden Leaf Village in Episode 101, this would be the perfect place for them to go on their snow mission.

Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow is the Naruto franchise's first major motion picture. It features Team 7 escorting a princess/actress through enemy territory so she can shoot her film and retake her land. This movie would have viewers believe it's set between the Search for Tsunade Arc and the Sasuke Recovery Mission Arc. However, the downtime between these arcs only exists in the anime. The manga has Sasuke treated by Tsunade and challenging Naruto to a fight before being discharged; the anime fixes this by having Sasuke hospitalized for another reason. The movie also contradicts the canon through Kakashi discovering Naruto's Rasengan despite not having seen him use it before the fight with Sasuke. This movie can only be considered canon within the context of the anime's artificial downtime. More specifically, it's set between Episodes 101 and 102, which are also filler.

This is a movie with many unique attributes. For one thing, it brings together Naruto, Sakura, Shikamaru, and Kankuro as a group. For another, it includes battleships sporting big guns and heavily-armored soldiers, neither of which appear in the series proper.

While there are no signposts in the filler episodes that might help identify where the "Naruto" movies fit after Sasuke's departure, there are some fan theories as to their order. One holds that "Stone of Gelel" takes place after Episode 147: The movie originally premiered at the same time as the "Mizuki Strikes Back" arc, which ends at 147. Supporting this is the fact that Naruto and Shikamaru work together during the "Mizuki Strikes Back" arc — it makes sense, then, that they continue that cooperation in this film.

However, some fan resources list "Stone of Gelel" as occurring after Episode 160. Ultimately, it's up to you.

Legend of the Stone of Gelel starts as a mission where Naruto, Sakura, and Shikamaru try to catch a ferret, but it transitions into a quest to find an ancient energy source and the bloodline that controls it. This movie is about as far from the canon as it can get. The story is so detached from Naruto's world and lore that the new characters aren't even familiar with chakra, instead relying on the power the Stone of Gelel grants them. There's a loose connection to the Land of Wind, but it's only there to give the Three Sand Siblings a reason to join the fight. What's more, this movie takes place during the end of the original Naruto, where Jiraiya postponed the end of the story to do more research on the Akatsuki. It's a good movie on it's own, but it won't enrich anyone's understanding of the series.

The final movie of the original "Naruto" series, "Crescent Moon Kingdom" is most notable for replacing Sasuke with Rock Lee and for showing off the team's new warm-weather outfits. "Guardians of the Crescent Moon Kingdom" is placed after Episode 196 because it was released around the same time as that episode. Plus, scenes from the movie made it into the opening of Episodes 197 through 199.

The Guardians of the Crescent Moon Kingdom movie sees Naruto, Kakashi, Sakura, and Rock Lee escort a prince and his son to their homeland. Like Legends of the Stone of Gelel, this is another filler movie that takes place during the many filler arcs between the end of Naruto and the start of Naruto: Shippuden. Some might dismiss this movie because its plot isn't as engaging as the others. If anything, it irks viewers because it involves a subplot about watching over a spoiled rich kid (which one of the Naruto filler episodes from around this time already covered). However, there are a couple of reasons to watch it. It's the only Naruto movie to make its main characters change from their traditional outfits into something new (in this case, summer outfits). A promotional color page was also drawn for Chapter 318. This movie must be watched to understand this reference if nothing else.

Unfortunately, the "Naruto: Shippuden" movies can be even tougher to fit into the right order than the original "Naruto" flicks. Not only are there simply more episodes and arcs to sort through, some of these movies have serious inconsistencies with the canon story. That said, this one is relatively easy to fit.

"Naruto Shippuden the Movie" premiered during the "Kazekage Rescue" arc, which ends at Episode 32. Also, Sai and Yamato don't appear in the movie, but Sai officially joins the crew in Episode 33. In this movie, we see a team made up of Naruto, Sakura, Rock Lee, and Neji Hyuga, Neji being the only person from their class who's reached the elite status of jonin.

The first Naruto Shippuden movie makes things interesting in a few ways. It features Naruto helping a priestess seal away a demonic entity, but the priestess has predicted that Naruto will die. Naruto starts with Sakura, Neji, and Rock Lee as allies, but many others eventually come to his aid. Despite how epic this movie tries to be, it's non-canon. Nothing from this movie is referenced in any other Naruto-related stories (although the English dub was packaged with pre-orders of Clash of Ninja Revolution 3). The concepts it explores, like demonic otherworldly entities and evil chakra, are omitted from other media. Unless Naruto had a secret love child with the priestess after she offered for him to have children with her, this movie will likely be lost to the timeline. With that said, the most appropriate placement would be between the Kazekage Rescue Mission Arc and the Tenchi Bridge Reconnaissance Mission Arc since this was before Naruto met Sai or Yamato.

The most notable elements of "Naruto Shippuden the Movie: Bonds" are its airships, a very advanced technology, and a Zero-Tails — neither of which are ever mentioned before or after this movie. Episodes 70 through 73 feature scenes from the movie in the opening, which helps determine the movie's location in the timeline. Though, since 70 and 71 are non-canon, you can watch this after either of those, before you return to canon storylines at 72. What happens in this flick? Well, Orochimaru is sick and Sasuke is still doing his bidding, which brings him together with Naruto as they take on a man who may have a technique that could help the ailing Orochimaru. This limits the film to happening before Episode 114, when Sasuke and Orochimaru's relationship comes to a head.

Bonds follows Naruto, Sakura, and Hinata as they escort a doctor and his apprentice back to their village. Along the way, they encounter disgraced ninjas from the Land of the Sky, the Zero-Tails, and even Sasuke Uchiha. Any of these things would have made for fascinating additions to the Naruto mythos, but it's all non-canon. The Zero-Tails was debunked as a Tailed Beast by the extended in-story lore about the Ten-Tails and the Sage of Six Paths. The Land of the Sky ninjas were wiped out by the movie's end before anything could be made of them. Sasuke was there to retrieve the doctor so he could help Orochimaru with a certain jutsu, and while he got a scroll out of the deal, the anime gives little indication of how much this helped. However, if one still wanted to watch this movie, it should be done right after the Tenchi Bridge Reconnaissance Mission Arc; it's set after Naruto reunited with Sasuke, but before he learned the Rasenshuriken.

"Will of Fire" is one of the few movies with references to things from the series, which make it clear that it has to take place after the "Kakashi Chronicles" episodes, which end with Episode 120. Also, Naruto, Sai, and Sakura break village rules and follow Kakashi, an act of disobedience Sai would only have been able to commit after some time spent with Team Seven.

In "Will of Fire", shinobi boasting Kekke Genkai abilities have been stolen from everywhere but Hidden Leaf Village, casting suspicion upon the villagers. When Kakashi is compelled to leave the village through a mysterious curse implanted in him, Tsunade allows him to go, as an act of self-sacrifice. But, as previously mentioned, Team Seven follows, joined by other teams in support.

The Will of Fire sees Naruto try to stop his mentor, Kakashi Hatake, from sacrificing himself to the movie's villain to prevent a Fourth Great Shinobi War. He must fight through his allies, who want the plan to succeed, and the movie's antagonists. This movie covers several aspects of the series proper; it contains various characters, locales, running gags, events, and themes covered in the canon story. It feels the most like a canon story out of any movie released by that point. However, the characters and events of this movie have yet to be mentioned since this movie. The only thing that comes back is some recycled character designs; the shinobi kidnapped and killed by the movie's villain had their designs (but not their ninjutsu) reused for some of Kabuto's Reanimated soldiers – Pakura, Toroi, Gari, and Chūkichi. Other than that, this movie takes place after the Akatsuki Suppression Arc.

"Naruto Shippuden the Movie: The Lost Tower" has to occur within a very small window of canon. It happens after the death of a major character, but before that person's killer launches a tragic attack. Naruto discovers this heavy death in Episode 152, helps the village deal with the investigation in Episode 153 and Episode 154, and is transported to a far-off land for secluded training in Episode 155. So, this movie has to happen between 154 and 155.

"The Lost Tower" features an interesting Naruto/Yamato time-travel element, in which our hero comes face-to-face with the ninja the audience now understands to be his father. Moreover, the action scenes and animation are amazing.

The Lost Tower sends Naruto (and Yamato) 20 years into the past to stop a rogue ninja from using an ancient chakra source to take over the Five Great Nations. This movie is notable for teaming Naruto up with Minato Namikaze, who would go on to become the Fourth Hokage and his father. This movie is non-canon and contradicts the main timeline in several ways – Ichiraku Ramen opened 20 years ago rather than the canon 34 years ago, Hiruzen Sarutobi has white hair 20 years ago even though his hair was brown when the Nine-Tails attacked 16 years ago, and the movie is somehow set between Naruto learning of Jiraiya's death and Naruto's training on Mt. Myoboku even though that transition was relatively instantaneous. However, if one can ignore all that, this movie fits well enough into its intended period. If not, the film ends with Minato erasing everyone's memories, so it's as though it never happened.

Of all the movies in the series, this is the toughest to place. In part, that's due to inconsistencies. The Raikage still has both arms, yet Naruto knows Killer Bee, neither of which occur at the same time in the series. Those inconsistencies aside, the fact that Naruto has mastered Sage Mode and knows who his father is places this movie after Pain's attack on Hidden Leaf Village. Plus, it has to happen before the "Five Kage Summit" arc, which starts at Episode 197. So, we're putting "Blood Prison" after Episode 196, with the caveat that this movie is so non-canon it might be impossible to truly pinpoint.

"Blood Prison" is also unique in that Naruto isn't joined by any of his Hidden Leaf Village friends for the majority of the film. As a result, he has to make new allies within the prison where he's wrongly incarcerated.

Though "Road to Ninja: Naruto the Movie" is technically non-canon, it has some relevancy, as it's a depiction of what Tobi's genjutsu world would really look like.

In "Road to Ninja," Naruto and Sakura are transferred to Tobi's Infinite Tsukuyomi world, where Naruto's parents are still alive and Sakura's parents died defending the village. Naruto already met his mom before this in Episode 246, so his ability to identify her in the movie locates it after the end of that arc in Episode 251. Episode 252 begins the run-up to the Shinobi War, with Tobi too busy trying to attain Nagato's Rinnegan to cast the Infinite Tsukuyomi. So, this movie has to happen between Episodes 251 and 252.

Blood Prison frames Naruto for crimes he didn't commit and sends him to the eponymous prison (Hozuki Castle being its real name). This movie frustrates many fans for all its contradictions to the canon story. The Leaf Village is still intact, the Raikage has his arm, and the Fourth Great Shinobi War remains theoretical, which should mean this happened before Pain destroyed the village. However, this movie also has Naruto using Sage Jutsu, throwing his Rasenshuriken, and remembering his father; none of this should have been possible until after Pain destroyed the village. Additionally, Naruto is familiar with the Raikage and Killer B, which shouldn't have happened until after the war was declared and missions were called off. Despite all this, the destruction of Hozuki Castle and its warden Mui are referenced as having been destroyed in a joint operation by the Leaf and Cloud Villages in Kakashi Hiden: Lightning in the Icy Sky. Hozuki Castle is also referenced in other Naruto media, including Boruto: Naruto Next Generations. It's best to view this movie as something shortly after the Pain's Assault Arc; the remaining inconsistencies are largely inconsequential narrative oversights.

"The Last: Naruto the Movie" is the only canon "Naruto" movie. It sets in motion so much that impacts the lives of these characters (and even the characters of "Boruto") that it is absolutely required watching. This movie takes place after the Great Shinobi War and Naruto's showdown with Sasuke, but before the final arc that takes place from Episode 494 through Episode 500. This movie also jumps forward a couple years, bringing Naruto into young manhood (evidenced by his short, well-kept hair). So, between Episodes 493 and 494 it is.

Road to Ninja follows Naruto and Sakura's adventures trapped in a Limited Tsukoyomi, where everyone acts differently from their usual selves, and Naruto and Sakura's parents' roles are reversed. This is one of the closest Naruto movies to being canon without reaching the status. Masashi Kishimoto conceived the story and characters. Furthermore, plenty of promotional material and prologues were spread across various Naruto media. However, this movie could only happen if Naruto had time to return to the Leaf Village after training on the Island Turtle; this is apparent because of his familiarity with his mother, Kushina Uzumaki, and his recreation of Minato's Flying Raijin Level 2 in the final battle. Kishimoto may have initially planned for Naruto to return to the the Village before the War at some point. However, the manga proper eventually sent Naruto straight from the Island Turtle into the Fourth Great Shinobi War. Either way, this movie is best watched after Episode 311, "Prologue of Road to Ninja."

In this movie, Boruto has graduated from the academy and joined Team Konohamaru with Sarada and Mitsuki. The story told here is also explored in the Boruto series, so if you prefer, you can watch Episodes 50 through 65 and check out the movie after, or skip the movie entirely. The movie was actually released before the series, and is an adaptation of the "Boruto" manga, making it canon. Take note:

There are some details of the story that differ between movie to series. Especially the character design of transformed Momoshiki Otsutsuki. Kishimoto's design was used in the movie, and Ikemoto's design was used for the series.

As far as fighting Momoshiki, which had several difference between the movie and anime, The Chuunin Exam's final fight from anime also differs from the movie. Some fights were a bit more expanded like Chou Chou's fight with Shinki.

Some of Boruto's fight scenes are also different from the movie, and most of the scenes from the anime left something more for the people to talk about, especially between Shikadai and Boruto, which is not shown from the movie.

A new Otsutsuki member was also shown in that arc, Urashiki Ōtsutsuki. The fish hook guy, this one did not appear in the movie.

Mitsuki's abilities were not shown too much in the movie as much as the anime did, and Katasuke's part is also slightly different in the anime.

Boruto: Naruto the Movie is the first piece of Naruto media focused on Naruto's son and his contemporaries (as the anime would put it, the next generation). It covers Boruto's first Chunin Exam, his attempts to gain his father's attention, and a fight with two new members of the Otsutsuki clan. The final chapter of Naruto introduced many of Boruto's friends, but this film fleshed them out a little more. It also introduced anime-onlies to Mitsuki, the son of Orochimaru. Many of this film's elements would mold the Boruto anime and manga that followed.

However, some of this movie's content has become dated since Boruto's series started. It used the same scenes and plot points, but some were tweaked and extended to represent the new story being told. This movie can still be considered canon, but those looking to keep up with the current Boruto continuity may be better served by reading the manga or watching the anime.