Naruto Shippuden Filler Worth Watching: The Complete List
Around 41% of the 500 episodes in Naruto Shippuden are fillers. If you’ve ever had to sit through the entire duration of a filler, you’ll know why they’re classified as not so great. Of course, there are exceptions to this rule in Naruto Shippuden, and some fillers are pretty good.
Naruto Shippuden Fillers to Watch
With a total of 205 Naruto Shippuden episodes being fillers, it’s almost impossible for all of them to be fillers. Surprisingly, there are many filler episodes in Naruto Shippuden worth watching.
Here is a list of some fillers from Naruto Shippuden that aren’t a waste of time:
1. Revenge of the Shadow Clones
While the Naruto story already has a healthy proportion of comedy, some filler episodes take this to the extreme. Episode 230 of the anime goes the extra length of showing what Naruto’s shadow clones can do with autonomy.
While Naruto’s shadow clones always aid him during combat, they decided to take up individual minds in this episode. Sick of Naruto ordering them around, they decided to plan revenge where they took Naruto hostage. After tying him up and threatening to kill him, Naruto realizes it was all a dream of one of his clones.
2. A Special Mission
One of the first things you should know as a true Naruto fan is the appearance of Kakashi. Kakashi always wears an odd mask that covers his iconic Sharingan and the bulk of his face. As usual, Naruto developed the idea that Kakashi has something hidden under his mask, and he set out to find out what it is.
After successfully convincing Sasuke and Sakura to join in the mission, the trio employed the help of Sukea, a photographer. The photographer offered to help capture Kakashi’s face while eating, a plan that ultimately failed.
Following many failed attempts, the team gave up. It turns out that Sukea, the photographer that offered to help, was Kakashi in disguise. While this episode isn’t wholly a filler, it’s one you can skip without missing any part of the story.
3. Kakashi’s Anbu Arc
Naruto storytellers often narrate the backstories of some fan-favorite characters using fillers. If you’re a fan of Kakashi-sensei, you won’t want to miss the Kakashi Anbu arc, spanning episodes 349 to 361.
While fans know Kakashi as the lovable sensei for Team 7, the Kakashi Anbu arc explores his backstory. It seems like Kakashi didn’t always care about teammates as he does now. The Kakashi Anbu arc is the closest to manga canon that a filler can get.
4. Konoha Hiden: The Perfect Day for a Wedding Arc
After over 700 episodes of non-stop action in the Naruto anime, it was finally wedding time for the main character. Covering episodes 494 to 500, this arc only focuses on the wedding between Naruto Uzumaki and Hinata Hyuga.
The arc was almost all about recording a congratulatory message for Naruto on his wedding. It also covers the decisions that members of the Konoha 11 made while trying to get a gift for Naruto. In the end, Teuchi ended up giving him the best gift: a free ramen pass forever.
5. The Appearance of Strange Visitors
To steal some of the secrets of Konoha, two individuals poorly disguised as Lee and Guy infiltrated the village. Since their disguise is ridiculous, everyone in the village saw through it easily, except for our titular knucklehead: Naruto.
To teach the impostors a lesson, Tsunade decided to overload them with missions. While everyone watched them complete every task stupidly, Naruto helps them, thinking it was part of their training. Though this episode doesn’t move the story forward, it reinforces the main character’s silly nature.
6. Itachi Shinden Book: Light and Darkness arc
While Itachi was almost universally hated earlier in the series, everything changed after his fight with Sasuke. The arc lasted 8 episodes, detailing Itachi’s life and backstory and the buildup to the downfall of the Uchiha clan.
If you’re a fan of Itachi Uchiha, you don’t want to miss this arc. It’s still one of the most-watched filler arcs in the entire Naruto franchise, eclipsing some cannon episodes.
7. Sasuke Shinden: Book of Sunrise Arc
If you’ve read the light novel already, you can skip the anime adaptation without missing anything. Since it’s very unlikely that you’ll read the novel before watching the anime, these episodes are worth a watch. The Sasuke Shinden arc starts from episode 484 and ends at episode 488.
While this is part of the Naruto Shippuden story, it’s not canon because Masashi Kishimoto didn’t write the story. However, it offers a unique view of the main character’s life free of the original author’s idea.
If you’re into headcanons, you may want to check out these episodes. However, in my opinion, the Sasuke Shinden arc is one of the only novel adaptations that you should consider watching.
8. Ghosts from the Past Arc
If you enjoyed the Sound Ninja Four arc, you might want to learn how much the kids have grown. In this mini-arc of three episodes, the members of the Sound Four were reincarnated against the Allied Forces. With the power of teamwork, the Sound Four were sealed off by the Allied Forces, aided by Naruto.
9. Laughing Shino
If you’ve seen Shino from the original Naruto anime, you’ll understand how calm and collected he is. This episode shows something close to the opposite of Shino, where, instead of being composed and standoffish, he’s laughing uncontrollably.
In this episode, Naruto and Shino are on a mission to help a man claim his inheritance. The rule was that he would lose the whole inheritance if he laughed during the funeral. To avoid breaking this rule, he sought the assistance of Shinobi from Konoha, hence the presence of Naruto and Shino.
After eating food poisoned by the man’s greedy sister, Shino began to laugh. He laughed so hard that he couldn’t stand-in for the man during the funeral, and Naruto took his place instead. While it later ended that the funeral was staged, it introduced fans to another side of Shino.