The story of the Naruto anime is divided into two halves with the first one, also known as Part 1, covering the events until Naruto sets off on his training with Jiraiya, and Shippuden, which sees him return stronger after a two and a half year time-skip.
While both are essentially the same story, there are quite a lot of differences between the two parts. The author, Masashi Kishimoto ensured that Naruto Part 1 and Shippuden excelled in different fields while keeping true to the essence of the story and there certainly are plenty of reasons to believe that one is better than the other.
10 Part 1: Has Better Plot
Naruto's story starts off in the most engaging of ways and instantly gives the fans something to look forward to. As the story progresses, the plot gets even better. Every arc in the first part of Naruto is written cohesively and delivers when it comes to storytelling.
The same cannot be said for Naruto Shippuden as it was plagued with questionable writing, especially towards the last few arcs of the story. While it isn't bad per se, it certainly isn't nearly as good as the first part.
9 Naruto Shippuden: Has Better Fights
There are some incredibly well animated and choreographed fights in both the first part of Naruto and Shippuden. Having some of the animation industry's greatest such as Atsushi Wakabayashi, Norio Matsumoto, Hiroyuki Yamashita, etc. working on the show, it goes without saying that the fights in the story are absolutely incredible to watch.
Shippuden, however, has much better fights and has one of the best episodes in the history of anime itself in Naruto Shippuden episode 168.
8 Part 1: Makes Better Use Of Side Characters
One of the glaring weaknesses of Naruto as a whole is its cast. The story has some of the most interesting characters, without a doubt, however, Masashi Kishimoto hardly utilized them.
This was especially apparent in Naruto Shippuden where most of the story was central to Naruto and Sasuke only. The first part of the story fleshed out side characters in a much better way.
7 Naruto Shippuden: Better At Wrapping Plot Threads
The first part of Naruto set up quite a lot of events, such as Naruto Uzumaki's inevitable fight against Sasuke Uchiha, Sasuke's battle against his brother, and Orochimaru's revenge among many other things.
Although Naruto Shippuden might not have been the story that fans had hoped it would be, it certainly did a great job at wrapping up these events and did so in quite a fashionable manner, leaving everyone satisfied.
6 Part 1: Has Less Filler
The entirety of the Naruto anime has a huge filler percentage which often takes away a lot from the enjoyment of the story. When it comes to the first part, the number of filler episodes is slightly fewer than that in Shippuden.
Most of the fillers in part 1 take place after 99% of the story is wrapped up already, which makes things far better when compared to the second half of the story.
5 Naruto Shippuden: Is Much More Darker
Throughout the second part of Naruto, the story gets darker with each passing arc. Shippuden does a great job of depicting the horrors of war and pain caused by the loss of those you love.
This aspect of storytelling makes it starkly different from the first part of Naruto, which didn't delve into these themes as much. Undoubtedly, this is one of the many great qualities of Naruto Shippuden.
4 Part 1: Is Far More Consistent
When it comes to consistency, the first part of the series outshines the second one quite easily. It wouldn't be a stretch to say that Naruto part 1 kept getting better with each passing arc and peaked with the end.
Meanwhile, Naruto Shippuden had quite a lot of ups and downs and the end of the story felt way too rushed and forced. There's no denying that it has some of the best moments in the entire story, however, it also has some of the lowest lows.
3 Naruto Shippuden: Has Much Higher Stakes
For the fans who love higher stakes and a gritty story, Naruto Shippuden is clearly the way to go. Masashi Kishimoto made sure to raise the stakes by quite a lot during the second part of the story.
Right from the get-go, the evil Akatsuki was made central to the plot and the main characters were killed off, making things much more interesting in the process. Naruto part 1 went easier on the stakes comparatively.
2 Part 1: Has A Better Ending
Naruto Part 1 has a much better ending as it sees Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha fight at the Valley of Death. Once the fighting wraps up and Sasuke emerges victorious, the story sets up a great deal of events which are later tackled by Shippuden.
Naruto Shippuden's ending was not handled in the best of ways as characters like Kaguya Otsutsuki entered the war out of nowhere. While Naruto and Sasuke's final fight was well-done, the ending felt quite forced.
1 Shippuden: Has Better Villains
One of the biggest strengths of the Naruto series is the villains. Masashi Kishimoto made sure to write tremendous characters with great depth to them that people could actually relate to.
Shippuden certainly does have the bulk of the good villains since it deals with most of the Akatsuki and the legends such as Madara Uchiha himself. While Naruto part 1 does have some of the most fearsome villains, it's nowhere near what fans were treated with in Shippuden.