Took me 4 years to admit the Naruto filler arcs weren't the problem, the pacing of canon was
I rewatched the Chunin Exams last month and counted 9 episodes of reaction shots before Gaara even moved. People blame filler for the drag, but the real culprit is the manga-to-episode ratio forcing every fight to stall, so which shows do you think actually handle weekly pacing better, One Piece or Bleach?