significance to the story: the main character of the manga (which is most probably why it's called Naruto).
age: 12 years old (this is based on the assumption that he was born after the fox demon Nine Tails was sealed)
likes: eating ramen, when iruka-sensei takes him out for ramen, haruno sakura
dislikes: waiting 3 minutes for the cup ramen to heat up, uchiha sasuke
strength: his unwavering determination
weakness/faults: rushing into things, wearing himself out too fast, picking fights with stronger people, being loud
hobbies: playing pranks
goal in life: surpass the hokage and get the village to acknowledge his strength
short bio: His life has been hard because he doesn't have any parents (and never has) or any friends. Everyone in the village hates him, but he doesn't know why (well, not in the beginning). To get attention, he plays pranks. He learns from Mizuki-sensei that he is actually the reincarnation of the evil fox demon, Nine Tails, who destroyed the village (that's why the villagers hate him) twelve years ago, before being sealed up in the bellybutton of a newborn child (that's Naruto, by the way). Iruka-sensei is the first to acknowledge him, because he understands how hard Naruto's life has been, being orphaned at an early age. He has three lines on each cheek, which kinda look like whiskers. He has a crush on Sakura and he sees Sasuke as his rival.
*spoilers*
i like naruto. but he's a lot cooler when he turns nine tails-ish. it thought it was so cool when he transformed into nine tails when sasuke died (at least, he was in a temporary death state). he got those slitty cat-eyes and the fangs and gets all strong and stuff (wow, i sound so intelligent). i don't think he told anyone that he transformed (maybe he didn't realize the change), so it sucks that no one else knows he's a bad-ass when he gets really mad (well, until vol. 6). he sees sasuke as his rival, so i think that's what sometimes drives him to get stronger. even tho sasuke and naruto act like they hate each other, i think that they've learned to tolerate each other. maybe even think of each other as friends (sorta). i mean, sasuke did risk his life to save naruto and naruto did transform so that he could kill the guy who killed sasuke. naruto seems to have respect for sasuke, at least. when they were in the forest during the second test in the chuunin exam, sasuke was going to give orochimaru the scroll. when naruto saw that, he said that he lost respect for sasuke and soon afterwards turned into his evil nine-tails self to protect the scroll. anyways...haha! proof that naruto respects sasuke! as for naruto and sakura's relationship, well...naruto likes her, but she only has eyes for sasuke (who ignores her). a love triangle. what manga doesn't have one? sakura is mean to naruto and calls him annoying on a regular basis. this doesn't seem to phase him from trying to get with her anyway. she seems to care about him to some degree, because she was willing to fail the chuunin exam so that naruto's dreams wouldn't get crushed. naruto seems to be a lot stronger than he realizes. his potential for chakra (according to kakashi-sensei) is prolly higher than kakashi's or sasuke's. he didn't really seem to pay much attention during class and didn't try very hard while he was still going to the ninja academy place, so that's prolly why he isn't stronger. what naruto lacks in skill, he makes up with determination. he trained day and night to learn how to control his chakra. when he and sasuke finally made it to the tops of their trees, he didn't even have enough energy to move without sasuke's help. a fault of his is to think he's invincible or something. he announces to a room full of tough lookin' people that he wouldn't lose to bastards like them. sakura promptly shuts him up and apologizes to the crowd. hmm, that's all for now.