Naruto: Longest Arcs In The Manga, Ranked

There’s no denying that Masashi Kishimoto’s Naruto is one of the most important, iconic & influential shōnen manga in the industry. This can be chalked up to multiple reasons, and one of them is its extensive length. The story of the titular young ninja was told across 700 chapters and 15 years of serialization, which resulted in numerous story arcs that are also quite long themselves.

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Both parts of Naruto (with the second one being better known as Naruto Shippuden due to the anime adaptation) are made up of really large arcs that feature a lot of characters, battles, events and more. But only the following ones became infamous for being the longest ones in the entirety of this world-changing manga series.

8 Prologue/Land Of Waves

33 Chapters

Zabuza, Haku and Naruto in the cover of Volume 4.

Curiously enough, the very first story arc in all of Naruto is also one of its longest, something that is quite uncommon in this medium. But it makes sense when considering that the Prologue/Land of Waves Arc is divided in two halves: The first one is all about the introduction of Naruto as a character, his relationships with his classmates and the rest of the inhabitants of Konoha and the fateful night on which he obtained his signature Multiple Shadow Clone Technique.

The second, and most prominent, part of this arc is about the titular Land of Waves and the conflict against Zabuza & Haku, which slowly develops the politics and geography of this world. However, these antagonists are very complex, and their fate is quite emotional, making the conclusion of this arc surprisingly dark for this early on in the series.

7 Kazekage Rescue Mission

36 Chapters

Naruto and various members of Akatsuki in the cover of Volume 31.

Just like Part 1, the very first arc of Part 2 is also one of its lengthiest. After all, the Kazekage Rescue Mission Arc sees the return of Naruto to Konoha after training with Jiraiya for two and a half years, so both he and the readers need to be caught up with everything that happened during that time. Although this reintroduction of the main character is fairly brief.

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This arc is mainly about Akatsuki and their mission to capture all the Tailed Beasts and their respective Jinchuriki, including Naruto and his friend, Gaara. This group of evil shinobi is the main antagonists for most of Part 2, so Kishimoto used this first arc to show off how smart and dangerous they can truly be. Because of this narrative element, the battles against Kisame, Deidara and especially Sasori are covered throughout a good number of chapters.

6 Birth Of The Ten-Tails’ Jinchuriki

37 Chapters

Naruto and Minato fight Obito in the cover of Volume 67.

Part 2 of Naruto is mostly centered on two major events: The Fourth Great Ninja War and the prospective rebirth of the infamous Ten-Tails. So, when Obito Uchiha managed to become the Jinchuriki of this fabled beast in the middle of the Great Ninja War, it inevitably resulted in a really extensive arc.

A lot of important fan-favorite moments happen during the Birth of the Ten-Tails’ Jinchuriki Arc, like the heated battles against both Obito and Madara, Naruto teaming up with his father, all the Tailed Beasts cooperating together in order to defeat their superior version and the legendary clash between Might Guy and Madara. Unfortunately, this arc concludes with the sudden appearance of Kaguya, a moment that is immensely disliked by most Naruto fans.

5 Pain’s Assault

40 Chapters

Naruto and Fukusaku fight the six paths of Pain in the cover of Volume 45.

This is what most of Naruto Part 2 was slowly building towards: The infamous attack of Pain, the leader of the Akatsuki, on all of Konoha. In these 40 chapters, readers witness how the people of Konoha are trying to survive the titular assault and, since Pain himself was aided by his Six Paths, each one of them had their own unique abilities that they used to fight different important characters, like Sakura or Kakashi.

But the reason that the Pain’s Assault Arc is this long is because the climactic battle between Naruto and Pain is quite long in and of itself. After all, they both have multiple powerful techniques that they wield in battle, not to mention that Naruto is even forced to go into his eight-tailed transformation in the middle of the fight. Lastly, this arc concludes with Nagato’s tragic flashback, which adds a few more chapters to its final length.

4 Fourth Great Ninja War: Confrontation

43 Chapters

Naruto fighting the revived forms of Deidara, Sasori, Zabuza and Haku in the cover of Volume 55.

The event known as the Fourth Great Ninja War is the climax of the entire story of Naruto, and this war is extremely long in itself. However, it is actually divided into 3 different story arcs: Countdown, Confrontation and Climax, with its middle part being one of the longest arcs in the manga.

The Fourth Great Ninja War: Confrontation Arc is where the titular conflict truly kicks off, with a lot of huge battles featuring multiple important characters happening simultaneously, and even Naruto himself needs to divide himself across different battlefields with his Shadow Clones. This is a packed, albeit very fun arc, and it’s ultimately closed off with one of the most shocking moments in all of Naruto: The sudden revival of Madara Uchiha.

3 Sasuke Recovery Mission

66 Chapters

Naruto and Sasuke fighting in the cover of Volume 20.

The extensive length of the Sasuke Recovery Mission Arc is completely justified by the fact this is the final story arc of the first part of Naruto, so it’s meant to close off multiple threads at the same time. The mission to prevent Sasuke from joining Orochimaru’s forces is an intense one, and Naruto even needed the assistance of most of his classmates in order to rescue his best friend.

This arc works so well because almost every important character from Naruto’s class – like Neji, Choji, Shikamaru, Kiba and Rock Lee – gets their own individual fights in which they get their chance to show off their character development and their most complex ninja techniques. To top it all off, there’s the climactic encounter between Naruto and Sasuke, which would immediately become one of the best and most popular in the series. Even though the plot of Naruto continued on in Part 2, the Sasuke Recovery Mission Arc is so great that it could’ve easily worked as the conclusion of the manga.

2 Fourth Great Ninja War: Climax

79 Chapters

Naruto, Hinata, Neji and the entire Shinobi Allied Forces fight against the Ten Tails in the cover of Volume 64.

The Fourth Great Ninja War is so infamously long because of the length of its third and final part: Climax. The return of Madara Uchiha is one of the most crucial events in all of Naruto, and he’s such a powerful combatant that he immediately engages in battle against the Five Kage and even manages to overpower them. And this intense encounter is just the beginning of this ambitious arc.

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The scope of the Fourth Great Ninja War: Climax Arc leads to a lot of characters being involved and a lot of plot threads being resolved within it, something that took Kishimoto a great number of chapters to write. There’s the return of characters like Itachi & Minato thanks to the Edo Tensei technique, the emotional clash between Kakashi and Obito, Naruto meeting the other Tailed Beasts, the Allied Shinobi Forces teaming up in a gigantic war against the villains and much more. All happening within one big & exciting story arc.

1 Chunin Exams

81 Chapters

Sasuke, Naruto and Gaara in the cover of Volume 13.

The longest arcs of most shonen manga are usually written during the final years of their serialization. But Naruto is completely different from its contemporaries, because its second story arc, the Chunin Exams Arc, is made up of more chapters than any other in the series. Despite how shocking this may seem at first, it makes complete sense when all the characters, relationships, abilities and plot threads that were introduced in it are taken into account.

The Chunin Exams are of huge importance, because this is where most of the iconic and popular characters were properly introduced, from the inspiring Rock Lee, to the intimidating Gaara. On top of that, this arc follows the structure of its titular exam, so readers have to slowly read through the different phases that make it up. Luckily, the Chunin Exams Arc is where most Naruto fans fell in love with the series, and it wouldn’t have worked so well if Kishimoto hadn’t taken his time to develop it across these 81 chapters of shōnen manga greatness.