It gets interesting when they leave the village at... episode 4-5 I think. That's when stuff starts happening. Then it gets much less awesome by the end of episode 22 or so, because then it stops being about adult ninjas doing adult ninja things with the kids just being along for the ride, acting as a lens for us to see into their world, and instead focuses on the kids of the various ninja villages.
It's still kinda neat because a lot of the introduced characters are interesting (unlike the actual protags). But then around episode 100 it starts tumbling down, when Naruto's rival goes extremely edgy, and the show starts revolving around Naruto trying to make him not be an edgy cunt, so he can come back home to be his gay lover, because he runs away from home to become the chuuniest character to ever live and join the bad guy.
