How to watch ‘Naruto’ in order (including the movies)

Based on Masashi Kishimoto’s long-running manga series, Naruto follows a misunderstood adolescent ninja working to clear his name and polish his powers. First hitting screens in 2002, the series has since become a cottage industry. Throughout the 220-episode first half, fans came to identify with Naruto’s themes of perseverance and redemption. When American audiences discovered the series in 2005, it found a wealth of new viewers and fervent fans.

In the years since, there have been two spinoffs (Naruto: Shippuden and Boruto: Naruto Next Generations) and 11 feature films continuing the Naruto arc. With 1,013 episodes to date, Naruto is an expansive coming-of-age portrait, melding high fantasy and authentic interpersonal drama. We’ve lived with these characters for so many years, the franchise as a whole now lands with uncommon emotional weight.

If you’re new to the Naruto party and hankering for a new streaming obsession, here’s how to watch the entire franchise in order.

What is Naruto about?

Naruto Uzumaki (Junko Takeuchi) is an adolescent, orphaned ninja born with the Nine-Tailed Fox Demon inside of him. The powerful entity attacked Naruto’s home, the Hidden Tree Village, before his birth, and the boy’s father used his newborn son as a vessel to trap the demon.

As a result, Naruto has been practically shunned by the rest of the town. He dreams of clearing his name and purifying himself in the eyes of his peers by becoming a great ninja who will then be worthy of being the “Hokage,” the leader of his village.

After earning the trust of a wizened teacher, Naruto becomes a ninja and works alongside Sasuke Uchiha (Noriaki Sugiyama) and Sakura Haruno (Chie Nakamura) under sensei Kakashi Hatake (Kazuhiko Inoue). Together they form Team 7, which takes on a wide range of tasks for the villagers, from laundry to political assassinations.

Naruto’s enhanced position in the community elevates his reputation, and he’s soon allowed to take his so-called ninja exams to qualify for more dangerous, albeit respectable, work. But twists of fate drive a tragic wedge between Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura, who ultimately have to take separate paths.

How do I watch Naruto in order?

Watching Naruto in order is a pretty straightforward task once you come to terms with the massive amount of content. The original series includes 220 episodes — 135 adapted from Masashi’s manga and a further 85 that are new material.

The best way to view Naruto is to intersperse the episodes with the first several Naruto movies. Thankfully, the films were released in chronological order along with the series.

Naruto’s first 101 episodes work as one large narrative chunk, at which point you’d watch the first movie (2004’s Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow) and then oscillate between the series and features.

There is some debate among the fandom about where the second movie, The Legend Stone of Gelelslots into the timeline. Some insist it canonically takes place between episodes 147 and 148, while others say it’s best watched after episode 160.

1. Naruto episodes 1–101
2. Naruto The Movie: Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow (2004)
3. Naruto episodes 102–147
4. Naruto The Movie: The Legend Stone of Gelel (2005)
5. Naruto episodes 148–196
6. Naruto The Movie: Guardians of the Crescent Moon Kingdom (2006)
7. Naruto episodes 197–220

How do I watch Naruto: Shippuden in order?

Naruto: Shippudena direct adaptation of the manga’s second part, picks up where Naruto left off.

Somewhat darker and more mature than its predecessor, Shippuden follows Naruto in his teenage years as he and Team 7 reconcile with world-threatening dangers that, by comparison, make their original missions appear tame. Similar to the original series, Shippuden’s staggering block of 500 episodes is best enjoyed interspersed with the feature films.

1. Naruto: Shippuden episodes 1–32
2. Naruto Shippuden: The Movie (2007)
3. Naruto: Shippuden episodes 33–71
4. Naruto Shippuden the Movie: Bonds (2008)
5. Naruto: Shippuden episodes 72–126
6. Naruto Shippuden the Movie: The Will of Fire (2009)
7. Naruto: Shippuden episodes 127–143
8. Naruto Shippuden: The Lost Tower (2010)
9. Naruto: Shippuden episodes 144–196
10. Naruto Shippuden the Movie: Blood Prison (2011)
11. Naruto: Shippuden episodes 197–251
12. Road to Ninja: Naruto the Movie (2012)
13. Naruto: Shippuden episodes 252–493
14. The Last: Naruto the Movie (2014)
15. Naruto: Shippuden episodes 494–500

How do I watch Boruto: Naruto Next Generations in order?

Boruto: Naruto Next Generations follows Naruto’s eponymous son. Beginning life as a lighter, more kid-friendly spinoff before transforming into something more melancholic and thoughtful than its parent series, Boruto is also broken into two distinct halves. However, since its manga counterpart only hit shelves last year, fans aren’t expecting to see the second part for a few more years.

With Borutoit’s advisable to start with the first chunk of part one’s 293 episodes (released in 2017). Then, you should watch the 2015 film, which covers some of the same events depicted in the subsequent anime installments, which continue with episode 53.

1. Boruto: Naruto Next Generations episodes 1–52
2. Boruto: Naruto the Movie (2015)
3. Boruto: Naruto Next Generations episodes 53–293

Do I need to watch the Naruto movies?

In short, yes.

If you’ve invested time in the 1,013 episodes of Naruto, Shippudenand Borutoyou’ve likely seen each of the films previously mentioned. If not, one might question your allegiance to the series.

One could argue that certain sections of the middle-period Naruto movies aren’t required viewing; there was a time when the series felt compelled to reiterate elements from the movies, perhaps a necessary factor before streaming made them more readily available.

But that rare double-dipping aside, the Naruto movies function as vital extensions of the series. It’s hard to imagine not watching them alongside the shows if you intend to grasp the full context of Naruto’s brilliantly layered world. You could probably glean most of what you need from the small-screen adventures, but if you’ve come this far into the Naruto fold, what do you have to lose by going all the way?

Where can I watch Naruto?

Take your pick! Naruto is streaming just about everywhere. The easiest answer is Crunchyroll, which boasts all nine seasons of the original series, as well as 17 of Shippuden’s 22 seasons and the entire first part of Boruto. Unfortunately, Crunchyroll does not have any of the Naruto movies in its streaming library.

Netflix also has all nine seasons of Naruto (but not the Shippuden or Boruto series, sorry) in addition to several of the films, including Naruto The Movie: Shippuden and Boruto: Naruto the Movie. Otherwise, you can find the rest of the movies on Amazon Prime, where they’re available to rent.

Hulu offers four seasons of Naruto, nine seasons of Shippudenand one season of Borutowith episodes varying between English dubs and original Japanese with subtitles. None of the Naruto films are streaming on Hulu.