So, I've been thinking for a while about what made Naruto stick like it did for me. I've narrowed it down to one thing that made me want to watch another episode. 

You ready for this? 

Kakashi doing the kawarimi.
[url]https://youtu.be/Evshmzosgqg[/url]

This guy does the best replacements ever, I've been looking for a compilation of all his kawarimis but I could only find this one. Basically, Kakashi cheats death in almost every encounter during the first arcs and he makes it look so good. There is even one against Zabuza where you can see the silhouette of Kakashi being chopped in two by Zabuzas giant sword. The kawarimi no jutsu is the one technique which made this series worth it to me. It just signals that anything can happen and that even if something does happen you shouldn't be so sure about the consequences.