This is a world that has seen 4+ world wars in a short period of time, mostly fought by teenagers and children. Pair that with the events of what fox demon did to konohona, and you can understand the sheer loss and battle fatigue that surrounds the generation immediately preceding Naruto's.

Peace between clans is an entirely new concept, and Naruto is growing up in a world that sees him as a monster of the past, an explosion waiting to happen to once again destroy them and their loved ones.

Naruto therefore grew up quite lonely, friendless, parentless, seemingly unloved by his own people, on the fringes of soceity, pushed away for the mere crime of his existence, for reasons that are initially completely unknown to him....

... and yet despite all this, he never gives in to bitterness or despair. He gets pushed over, ridiculed, bullied, shunned, and yet each and every time, he picks himself up and fights to be acknowledged as an equal. Not better, not worse. Equal.

He comes across as stupid and superficial, but this is a kid who understands very well the deep numbing depths of loneliness that can shape one's actions, and seeks to remove it from everyone he meets, friend or foe.

That's why I always root for Naruto. He's an idiot, but he's everyone's idiot.

Well he started off as an underdog, and people like to cheer for someone who has the odds against them. At first he didn't have a lot of skill, the only thing he had going for him was his massive supply of chakra thanks to the kyuubi. But he wasn't good at controlling it and wasn't a good learner. Then he had his rivalry with Sasuke that made him train harder and push himself to new limits. Him defeating the odds was satisfying to watch.

His positive attitude to never give up and never go back on his word, to support his friends no matter what, to succeed against a much stronger enemy, those are admirable traits. Slowly he turns the odds in his favor, and he's always fighting side by side with his comrades. He becomes stronger and stronger until he is no longer considered "talentless" by his peers. Eventually he is the most op character in his universe. Although he did have the "chosen one" privileges, we watched him grow and train to achieve his goal, which made him likable.

i've got no skin in this particular discussion, (I never watched naruto lol) but you might be interested in plague of gripe's plague of gripes on naruto's main character energy that he didn't earn