On September 10, 2005, Naruto had its hour-long premiere in the U.S. on Cartoon Network's Toonami. The first episode of Naruto premiered in Canada on YTV on September 16, 2005. In the United Kingdom, Naruto premiered on Jetix on July 22, 2006. In Australia and New Zealand it premiered on Cartoon Network on September 27, 2006. It also began showing on Toasted TV on January 12, 2007, in Australia.

In the US, Naruto maintains a TV-PG rating in every episode. Most usually are rated TV-PG-V for episodes with mild blood/violence, while others (usually associated with Jiraya) are rated TV-PG-D or S.[8] References to alcohol, Japanese cultural differences, mild language, mild sexual situations (which can only be seen in the Naruto: Uncut Box Sets), and even blood and death remain in the English version, though reduced in some instances.[9] Other networks make additional content edits apart from the edits done by Cartoon Network, such as Jetix's more strict censoring of blood, language, smoking and the like. So far, only one episode, the "lost OVA", has received a TV-Y7-FV rating, but this was likely due to Cartoon Network neglecting to update the rating because in the timeslot that this special ran in, TV-Y7-FV programs were typically run. Repeated viewings (such as the on August 8, 2007) have listed the special as TV-PG-V, as did all commercials for the special.