Honestly, when you get past the agonizing journey it's been, the series sort of is. Kishimoto sets up a past series of events that begin to tie in with Naruto's generation and essentially makes what Naruto has to do to succeed with Kakashi, the Fourth, Jiraiya, etc. all failed to do. If Kishimoto didn't suck as pacing I'd say readers wouldn't be as blind as they are to the more intricate plotting he's done.
I suppose when you read all the volumes in Viz's second Naruto Nation all together one's eyes are opened.