Story Summary (source: wikipedia)

Twelve years before the events at the focus of the series, the Kyūbi (Nine-Tails Demon Fox) attacked Konohagakure, the Village Hidden in the Leaves. It was a powerful demon indeed; a swing of the tails of the Kyūbi would raise tsunamis and flatten mountains. It raised chaos and slaughtered the people, until the leader of Konoha – the Fourth Hokage – defeated it by sacrificing his own life to seal the demon inside a newly-born child whose origins are yet unknown. That child's name was Uzumaki Naruto.

The Fourth Hokage was celebrated as a hero for sealing the Kyūbi away. He wanted Naruto to be respected in a similar light by being the vessel of containment for the demon fox. The village he grew up in, however, had mostly contempt for Naruto; they regarded him as if he were the demon fox itself and mistreated him throughout most of his childhood.

A decree made by the Third Hokage made it so that the other villagers were forbidden to mention the event to anyone, even to their own children. However, this did not stop them from treating Naruto like an outcast. Although their children did not specifically know why their parents treated Naruto the way they did, they learned through example to despise the boy. As result, Naruto grew up as an orphan in a lonesome atmosphere without friends, family or acknowledgment. He could not force people to befriend him, so he sought acknowledgment and attention the only way he knew – through pranks and mischief. But that soon changed after Naruto graduated from the Ninja Academy by using his Tajū Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, or Multiple Shadow Clone Technique, to save his teacher, Umino Iruka, from the renegade ninja Mizuki. That encounter gave Naruto two insights: that he was the container of the Kyubi, and that there was someone (Iruka initially) who actually cared about Naruto. His graduation opened a gateway to the events and people that would change and define his world and his way of the ninja for the rest of his life.

Naruto maintains a balance between drama and comedy, with plenty of action. It follows Naruto and his friends' personal growth and development as ninja, and emphasizes their interactions with each other and the influence of their backgrounds on their personalities. Naruto finds two friends and comrades in Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura, two fellow young ninja who are assigned with him to form a three-man team under a very experienced sensei named Hatake Kakashi. Naruto also confides in other characters as well that he has met through the Chūnin Exam. They learn new abilities, get to know each other and other villagers better, and experience a coming-of-age journey as Naruto dreams of becoming the Hokage of Konoha.

Several major villains came into play as well. At first, Orochimaru wanted to use Sasuke as his new body, since Orochimaru could switch bodies (achieving a semi-immortality), and wanted to get Naruto out of the way so Sasuke will easily come to Orochimaru. Second, an organization called the Akatsuki is after Naruto, or actually after the nine-tailled fox in Naruto.

A key point in the series was Sasuke's defection from Konoha. Constantly feeling inferior to his brother and pressured by Naruto's quick growth as a ninja, Sasuke decided to seek Orochimaru in his quest for power, effectively an act of betrayal against Konoha. However, en route, Sasuke was protected by the Sound Four, so it was extremely difficult for Konoha-nin to even try to persuade Sasuke to change his mind. A Jōnin team was returning to Konoha after completing a misson when they encountered the Sound Five. They were no match for them and were left incapacitated. Konoha sent a Genin team to retrieve Sasuke, unaware that Sasuke had such powerful escorts, and despite the odds, they did a lot more damage than the Jounins. The genin team was forced to split apart and take on the Sound Five one-on-one, and they would have been killed had it not been for the timely arrival of Kankuro, Temari, and Gaara. Naruto was the one who went after Sasuke, but Sasuke refused to return, and the two fought quite a dynamic battle. He was able to shake Sasuke enough that Sasuke would not kill Naruto and attempt to acquire the Mangekyo Sharingan. Sasuke then vows that he will gain power in his own way, and not how his brother Itachi wants him to.

Naruto returned, having failed a mission, and promised Sakura that one day, he will bring Sasuke back.

Naruto vowed to train harder and get stronger, as does Sakura. Thus, they train under Jiraiya and Tsunade. Since Jiraiya is teaching Naruto, Tsunade is teaching Sakura, and Orochimaru is teaching Sasuke, it is very likely that Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke will be the next Legendary Sannin. After a three month period (in which the anime took the liberty of covering with a series of filler arcs) Naruto goes off to train with Jiraiya, supposedly away from civilization.

Naruto went off and trained for two and a half years under Jiraiya. Since nothing spectacular happened with Orochimaru, and the Akatsuki taking a three year break on the hunt for Jinchūriki (those with demons sealed inside of them), this period was not shown in the anime nor the manga, thus creating a time skip. After the time skip, the series goes on to explain how drastically the original characters have changed. The former genin are now older, stronger, and more mature.