Once, in a small Japanese village, a nine tailed fox demon terrorized the people of the village. Then The 4th Hokage sealed the fox away in an orphan baby named Naruto. Naruto is now 12 years old and training to be a shinobi (ninja).
Naruto is an inept ninja-in-training. He has failed the final ninja academy test three times. He passes, though, when an evil ninja teacher tricked Naruto into stealing a forbidden shinobi scroll. Naruto uses a technique from the scroll, multiple doppelgangars (the art of creating flesh & blood copies of himself), to defeat the evil teacher. He is then passed.
Naruto then moved on to the next leg of training. Naruto meets a girl named Sakura and a very serious ninja-to-be named Sasuke. Then the three meet an elite ninja named Kakashi who is to be their sensei.
