Is Naruto 1,000 Episodes?

Is Naruto 1,000 Episodes

If you break it down, the heart of the Naruto world is built around two series: Part I, simply called Naruto, and Part II, which is Naruto: Shippūden. Naruto started airing on TV Tokyo on October 3, 2002, and the final episode of that original series came out on February 8, 2007. 

The show had 220 episodes in total. The first 135 followed the original manga closely, while the last 85 were new stories created just for the anime, mostly to let the manga get ahead. Naruto: Shippūden followed next, starting on February 15, 2007, and wrapped up ten years later on March 23, 2017, after giving fans a solid 500 episodes. Altogether, these two series come out to a grand total of 720 episodes, which is widely accepted as the complete epic by fans and most sources.

Expanded Universe: Including Boruto and Spin-Off Series 

Even after the original 720 episodes, the world of Naruto lived on through Boruto: Naruto Next Generations. This next chapter ran from April 5, 2017, to March 26, 2023, with 293 episodes in total. If you also count Rock Lee & His Ninja Pals, the cheerful spin-off that runs for 51 episodes, the world of this franchise suddenly feels a whole lot bigger.

A fan put it quite simply when talking about the whole thing.

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Naruto has 220 episodes. NarutoShippuden has 500 episodes. Boruto currently has 261 episodes… You need to also remember Rock Lee and his Ninja Pals which had 51 episodes. 981+51=1032.”

When you look at it with a wider lens, the total number of episodes crosses the 1,000 mark and actually falls somewhere between 1,013 and 1,032, depending on whether spin-offs like Rock Lee are included.

Industry & Media Perspective: How the Numbers Get Tallied?

You’ll find watching guides on trusted websites and from entertainment reporters that match this overall count. Entertainment Weekly suggests watching all 1,013 episodes and 11 movies from Naruto, Shippūden, and Boruto in a specific order. Lifewire has a handy viewing guide that covers the entire series, movies, and all the spin-offs. It even points out which shows, like Rock Lee & His Ninja Pals, aren’t essential to the main story.

These guides are here to help you understand the world of Naruto, not just the first two shows but everything that came after too. They also guide new viewers when it gets confusing to choose between watching the series in release order or by the timeline of the story.

Filler Episodes: Why the Total Feels Longer Than It Is?

Honestly, the fillers stretch it so much that it feels like the show never ends. That’s why some even think it has over 1,000 episodes. Fillers are those episodes you won’t find in the manga. They’re usually added when the anime needs to buy time so the original manga can get ahead.

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Out of the 700 main episodes, about 41% don’t really move the story forward, according to GamesRadar. In the original Naruto series, there’s a chunk of episodes between 148 and 219 filled with side stories like the Land of Tea and Land of Rice missions. You can totally skip these if you just want to follow the main plot. 

Naruto Shippūden has 500 episodes, and believe it or not, about 203 of them are filler. That’s roughly 41 percent. But to be fair, some like the Kakashi: Shadow of the ANBU arc actually give you a deeper look into the characters. When there are too many filler episodes, binge-watching starts feeling sluggish and overwhelming, especially if you’re not following a proper watchlist.

Personal Viewing Experience

I went through the entire Naruto and Shippūden journey myself, and while it kept me hooked, there were moments it wore me out too. I started with the original series and got so hooked that I’d end up watching ten episodes in one go. Storylines like the Chūnin Exams and the Sasuke Retrieval arc had me completely absorbed. The filler arcs, especially the ones in the later original episodes, kept interrupting the flow again and again.

Even so, it was worth sticking with the show just to witness moments like Pain’s attack and the epic Fourth Great Ninja War. 

Honestly, even after watching 720 episodes, it didn’t feel like a waste because the characters grew, the story stayed strong, and the emotions hit home. Watching Boruto on the side felt like signing up for an extra 300 episodes overnight. At first, I wasn’t too sure about it. But slowly, it brought out a sense of continuity, a wave of nostalgia, and a bunch of new challenges in the world of the shinobi. Watching it all, from the main show to every spin-off, means sitting through over 1,000 episodes. 

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There were days it felt endless and yes, some of it left me drained, but the feeling it left behind was nothing short of soul-touching.

Summary Table: Naruto Episode Counts at a Glance

ScopeContent IncludedEpisode Total
Core SagaNaruto + Shippūden720 episodes
Expanded Universe+ Boruto + Rock Lee & His Ninja Pals~1,032 episodes
Media-Inclusive GuideAs per EW and Lifewire including 11 movies1,013 episodes + 11 films

Whether it’s 1,000 episodes or a bit less really depends on the kind of list you’re looking at and what counts as an episode in that guide.

If your question is only about the total number of Naruto episodes, then it’s 720. That’s the combined number from both Naruto and Naruto Shippūden. If you count the entire anime world including Boruto and fun spin-offs like Rock Lee & His Ninja Pals, the whole franchise adds up to more than 1,000 episodes. To be exact, it comes close to 1,032.