I've been watching it for 8 years now. I've always said Harry Potter is Naruto with Wizards. All the episodes based on the manga are really good, all the filler episodes are fucking terrible.
I started reading it when I lived in Japan and was like 3. Then I started following up on it again a few years back and I've been pretty into it since.
I liked it when I was younger... I liked bleach a lot when I was younger... not so much now. I like bleach now but really anime takes a lot out of me, 300 plus episodes its really hard to get a good grasp on story.
Keep watching it. It's a slow crawl, but my god the show continues to escalate in impact. Can't wait to hear your reaction for when Naruto reaches total kick-ass mode in 'Naruto - Shippuden '.