Early Naruto (pre-timeskip) is actually quite good. Shippuden was a complete disaster which contradicted the message in the first series and undermined every good thing the show had done to that point.
I often recommend pre-timeskip Naruto to people looking for a good action show. It's far better than My Hero Academia.
This is the first time I've seen you write quite good. What was the message of Naruto according to you?
The rejection of fate and destiny, and that hard work is worth it, even if it can't always beat talent. A major thing that Naruto did that a lot of other battle shounen did not do is have the good guys lose some of the time. A lot of battle shounen have a small loss, but an overall win later. Naruto didn't do that because things can't always work out.
There were some failures and Pyrrhic victories in Hunter x Hunter, but the good guys won in every arc. Hunter x Hunter is better than Naruto, but Naruto is definitely not a trashy show until after episode 135.
I see what you mean. Naruto starts off with lots of hardships and struggles and thins out to the end in that regard.