Much like other popular battle shonen, discourse surrounding Naruto is tarnished by tribalism and insecurity. People view manga/anime like a sports team to root for which is bizarre. This obviously leads to disingenuous viewpoints. Naruto is good, the only point of subjectivity is how good it is. There is no world in which Naruto is bad or 'trash'

(As a sidenote I think the general IQ of a fanbase can influence how you view a story on a subconscious level. Naruto fans are.. yeah)

These are my thoughts soon after finishing it and I don't want to write too much so the structure of this review won't be good and it won't be articulated that well.
(Edit:Reading four years later and the grammar is dog shit. I was a bit harsh on Sakura too)

Naruto part 1:

Really good beginning. The formation of team 7 with each member showing potential, even Sakura. The mc naruto is quite interesting, he doesn't feel generic or overly cliche and his dream is supported by his loneliness and alienation. He is also very lively but in a endearing way which makes him engaging. Sasuke gets better as we learn more about him, Sakura shows promise in her potential ability to go from a superficial, weak and shallow little girl to a more mature, capable and independent individual, obviously this doesn't happen but she was promising at this point.

First arc is good, putting the team into a real dangerous situation in a fish out of water scenario. Showing the harsh realities of shinobi ways vastly different to the romanticised fantasy that team 7 grew up with (except for sasuke I guess) Zabuza is a decent villain who brings forth one of the series biggest themes 'What is a shinobi' We see this through his dynamic with Haku. Then we get then the Chunin exam, the best arc in the series. It's too long to summarise effectively so I'll just summarise the first phase and mention some other things. The written test is exciting and suspenseful, you can feel the psychological torture. I also like how it's purpose was so the candidates would cheat, they all find their own ways of doing it and it fits into the theme of ninja which Kakashi mentioned earlier, which I forgot. Something about deception.

Forest of death I didn't like, it was more generic and lacked the subtlety and finesse of the test. I wanted a brutal survival game with clever twists. Sasuke curse mark stuff also wasn't good, felt too shonen cliche in a series that had been avoiding them or making them feel fresh. In general series had been smarter in its conflict resolution. The fights were good but I can't be bothered making this too long. Simply put, sasuke had good character development in how the story was setting up his decision to join the dark side. Sakura was terrible, like the moment she cuts her hair is just superficial as she still needed to be saved and did nothing. What's funny is that Sakura herself later (in the final arc) acknowledges that this moment was worthless, this is funny because this type of moment is to show how Sakura back then was all talk whereas now she is the real deal, but the truth is she's just as pathetic when she admits this.

Just to touch on Naruto, his final fight vs Neji sucked. One hit being enough to take out Neji was so dumb. Also bad for other reasons but I'm too lazy to explain. Will just skip to the tsunade arc. Good arc but had a underwhelming climax. The main thing is sasukes character development. He gets a reality check vs itachi which acts as a catalyst for his character arc. We saw how sasuke reacted to Naruto defeating Gaara and this sense of inferiority further deepens when itachi is more interested in Naruto than sasuke. This insecurity combined with sasuke needing more hate sets the foundation for his char development.

Sasuke recovery mission is the 2nd best arc in the series. You have some good writing character writing for sasuke and Lee. Sasukes jealousy and bitterness towards Naruto leading to a fight, further heightened when he sees how powerful Narutos attack was. Then his fight vs the sound ninja and their attempt at persuading him to join them. Sasukes turn to the dark side is all executed pretty well, it's believable and a change which has been gradually built up. Chapter 180 with rock lee is a pretty emotional chapter, you can feel lees helplessness. Whereby usually hard work is his way of persevering, this time he's faced with a situation where hard work cannot help him. Sakura being a terrible character part 100:

She states that (even though she has family and friends), if sasuke leaves she will be "very lonely" Beyond this being pathetic and stupid, it's also a complete mockery of what loneliness is, when you compare it to how sasuke, naruto and gaara were lonely. Even someone like rock lee, he lacked the same talent that everyone else had and so he was ostracised, he felt like an outsider. In comparison, Sakura has a completely normal life with no real tragedy, handicap or events invoking great sadness. She has family and friends BUT she will be very lonely if her superficial crush leaves her. Beyond this, wanting to abandon everything for sasuke...she has no self respect for herself.

Some solid character development for Choji. He's generally been one of those side characters who are just there lingering in the background but here Kishimoto fleshes him out quite a bit. Choji is that fat comedic character who people see as a joke, not only is he perceived this way by readers but also the characters in the series. Kishimoto does a good job of actually building that up throughout the series and especially in this arc as we see both naruto and Kiba look down on him. So it's not just sudden character development, the seeds had already been planted. I also like that Naruto thought very little of Choji as that is uncharacteristic of a shonen mc, usually they are the ones who have faith in a character others look down on but here it's shikamaru who takes that role. Considering his relationship to Choji its make far more sense.

His power up however was a bit of an asspull. I mean these pills he's using have just conveniently introduced now and I don't mind them being used to make Choji more powerful but to make him that much more powerful? He states he's 100 times stronger and he manages to defeat a sound 4 in second state with one blow. Its a bit too much, there's need to be dire consequences like with Rock lee.

Speaking of rock lee, didn't like his fight. Now you have naruto fighting kimimaro and he can't win so rock lee comes to save the day. Now this is a great moment because last we saw him he was about to undertake a Shinobi career ending surgery. After he lost to gaara which is the reason he needed the surgery, this is rock Lees redemption moment. It should have been his moment of victory and gratification but instead we get this comedic drunk punching and then gaara comes to save him. Really disappointing and you begin to doubt the direction of rock Lees character arc.. well considering he doesn't win a single fight in part 2 and gets pushed to the sidelines the doubt is correct. Also a point about Naruto, more of a general thing and not just specific to this arc but Naruto has the worst skillset I have seen of any shonen main character. He's so one dimensional, it's shadow clones and rasengan. That's literally all he can do without the nine tail fox. For the main character of the manga that is shockingly limited.

I find it weird that the sand have become allies of Konoha this quickly considering they attacked their village and were involved in the death of their leader. Moreover I find it too convenient they appeared in the nick of time like that when they didn't know exactly where the leaf ninja were. It was just too sudden I feel. No build up or even any hints. Perfect ending to the arc. Naruto vs Sasuke was one of the best fights I have read and sasuke successfully leaving the village was great too. The reason is because its an ambitious writing move, in most manga sasuke would have lost the fight or he would have been persuaded to return but here Kishimoto has the balls to actually go through with this storyline. Having one of your main characters go on his own path and separate himself from the rest of main cast is quite unique and creates a more interesting and unpredictable story. Great character development for Shikamaru, a convo between Naruto and jiraiya where I thought Naruto was annoying and dumb and that's part 1

For part 2 (after the timeskip)I'm just going to mention some good and bad aspects. It's not as good as part 1, it doesn't have a single 9/10 arc for me. But overall it's still pretty good and it isn't significantly worse than part 1.

Naruto: I thought Naruto was a decent mc before the timeskip, but now? One of the worst main characters in Shonen jump. Firstly his combat abilities. This guy trained with Jiraiya for over 2 years, yet when he returns he's basically the same. He doesn't have any new abilities, he has better clone timing and usage apparently, he does a single maneuver which is something he could have done pre timeskip. Nothing special, marginal improvement at best, if at all. Then you have his personality. He's so immature, even after all this time Kakashi still has to lecture him on basic things that any shinobi should know. He's impatient, loud and obnoxious, he can never keep calm and be rational. He has a hero complex, his obsessive one sided need to "save" Sasuke even though Sasuke made his own decision and is walking his own path. He's in love with Sasuke whilst Sasuke is only focused on his own goals. A good example of Naruto being annoying regarding sasuke is his interactions with Sai.

Naruto talks about how Sai can never replace Sasuke even calling him a Sasuke Wannabe. Sai's response is perfect, Naruto forgets that Sasuke is a traitor to his village who abandoned his friends for an evil ninja in search of power. Sasuke is not a good guy and he's not someone that Naruto should be glorifying. Of course we know why Sasuke did it but it doesn't justify his actions.

Although Sai was unnecessarily antagonistic his words are minor at best. Naruto on the other hand is throwing a temper tantrum, refusing to work with a teammate his hokage has commanded him to work with. Not only that but is even willing to attack Sai because he spoke the truth about Sasuke. Naruto might still see Sasuke as a friend but he's incredibly narrow minded and naive if he thinks or expects everyone else to view him in a positive light. Sasuke is a traitor who joined the guy who attacked the village and killed the third hokage. Orochimarus attack led to the death of some Shinobi, so if a relative of those Shinobi spoke badly about sasuke, how would Naruto react? Naruto doesn't have the right to get angry about Konoha ninja who badmouth Sasuke.Narutos entire issue with Sai is clearly centered about Sasuke, thats how obsessed Naruto is with him. Sai has done nothing wrong but tease Naruto a bit and Narutos insecurity about Sai replacing his boyfriend has him throwing a hissy fit
Lastly of all the stuff about Narutos destiny and being the child of prophecy, contradicts his original character. Naruto works hard, he saves the world, becomes Hokage and changes history. Rock Lee works hard...but rock lee doesn't have a grand prophecy so he doesn't get to achieve big things. This manga promotes hard work yet simultaneously makes everything about bloodlines and destiny.

Sakura: Sakura shows an insane level of raw strength, a vast improvement over her former self. She's useful, strong and seems to have moved on from Sasuke. However a few arcs later she regresses back to her usual lame self. Sakura suffers from the same one sided obsession Naruto has with Sasuke. The difference is Sakura has never had a special relationship with Sasuke. Literally in the final arc, both Naruto and Sasuke acknowledge that Sasukes only friend is Naruto. When Sasuke is about to kill Naruto, he mentions how he is finally going to be alone, just showing how unimportant his bond with Sakura is. There's plenty of Lame moments Sakura has which I won't go through, I'll just mention her final scene in chapter 699, when she asks if she can come with sasuke. Sasuke is travelling to discover himself and his place in the world, it's a journey of reflection for him and something he must do alone. But sakura yet again is only thinking about her own selfish desires. There's a parallel to when Sakura asked sasuke if she can come with him at the end of part 1. It would have been better if Sakura simply saw sasuke off with a smile and wished him good luck 1) It would show her growth from part 1. Back then she was just a naive deluded little girl, it would show how she's matured and better understands sasuke. She understands he must do this alone
2) It would show she doesn't NEED to be with sasuke, she has a life outside sasuke and she has no issue waiting for him to return.

Sasuke: Best character in team 7 by far. One reason why is that whilst Naruto and Sakura obsess over him and chase after him, he continues on his own path.Not bothered to type any more so I'll end the review here.