Naruto is a very divisive shonen, to say the least. Whilst many 2000s kids enjoy it and have nostalgia for Naruto, it doesn't tend to go past that. I will be reviewing both halves of Naruto, even though the first half on its own would score around a 9 in each category, the second half will also be counted with it (as an average between the two).

Story - 9
The story of Naruto starts very simple, but gradually builds up as it goes on. It sets a stable foundation and continues to build it safely, to a point at least. I would say the story and it's pacing goes at an absolute low in the last third of Naruto (The 4th Ninja War Arc). This means it can't reach a perfect score of 10, that it definitely had potential for, but couldn't live up to it.

Art - 7
I have to preface by saying, Naruto's art is in no ways bad, but it's lacking compared to the other big three. It doesn't have the natural quality of Bleach's art or the energy and style of One Piece, but it has something. The first half of Naruto did have both these things and had something Bleach and One Piece didn't have, characterization solely based on design. After the time-skip, the character designs became extremely simplistic and lost its quality.

Character - 8
Naruto has a very diverse cast from the gentle but awesome Hinata to the tactical genius Shikamaru. The problem isn't the lack of good characters but their lack of screentime, or in this case panel-time.

Enjoyment - 8
I enjoyed Naruto a lot when the pacing wasn't absolute crap. This mainly speaks for the last 1/3 where everything went downhill.

Overall - 8
I recommend reading Naruto, if you have time to do so, but save your sanity and don't read it all at once.