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.

The squad began their training with Kakashi-sensei, and took part in various low-level missions. Then, soon after the completion of one mission in the Land of Waves that was more than any of them expected, Kakashi-sensei nominated them to take the Chunin exam. Even though some protested, Kakashi felt his students were ready.

The Chunin exam consists of multiple tests. The first was a written exam, for which the proctor was Ibiki (who is in charge of interrogation and black ops). The second test took place in the Forest of Death, and the proctor for that one was Anko. The object for that test was for the squads to each obtain a heaven scroll and earth scroll within five days, and then successfully bring them to the building in the center of the Forest of Death. And that area is rightfully named, as it is quite a deadly place. Normally, after this test the remaining students would move on to the third test, but because so many had passed, some preliminary eliminations were held to reduce the numbers. These were done as one-on-one battles. The rounds went as follows:

1. Sasuke vs. Yoroi (winner: Sasuke)
2. Zaku vs. Shino (winner: Shino)
3. Kankuro vs. Misumi (winner: Kankuro)
4. Sakura vs. Ino (winner: none)
5. Tenten vs. Temari (winner: Temari)
6. Shikamaru vs. Kin (winner: Shikamaru)
7. Naruto vs. Kiba (winner: Naruto)
8. Neji vs. Hinata (winner: Neji)
9. Rock Lee vs. Gaara (winner: Gaara)
10. Choji Akamichi vs. Dosu Kinuta (winner: Dosu Kinuta)

The third part of the chunin exam started a month later. The reason for this delay was so the remaining candidates could recover and work on some new tricks. The Third Hokage tells them that they will be judged by the Hokages of the five shinobi nations. The judges would select either all, some, or none. The only person that doesn't hear this is Sasuke because he's in the hospital, and Kabuto failed to kill him in the hospital.

Shonen's Jump ran a poll in Japan, for subscribers of the magazine, on the popularity of the Naruto characters. Here is the page with the results:

thanks to  Absolute Anime Naruto for description and pictures

There was once a Nine-Tailed Demon Fox who attacked the Hidden Leaf Village of the ninjas. A swipe from one of its nine tails could cause earthquakes and crumble mountains. All the ninjas in the village tried to fight it in vain, until the Fourth Hokage sacrificed his own life to seal the Demon Fox away...within the navel of a newborn baby boy. That boy's name: Naruto Uzumaki.

It is now twelve years later, and Naruto has grown up to be a very mischievous young boy, painting graffiti on the monuments and pulling pranks on everyone. He seems to enjoy bumming around, and is not taking his ninja apprenticeship too seriously. In fact, his teacher, Iruka tells him that he is the only one in the class who hasn't yet passed the final apprenticeship test, and Naruto has already failed the test three times!

But when a devious plan by an ambitious "Chuunin" (middle-level ninja) places Iruka-sensei's life in danger, Naruto's determination manifests itself and he saves his teacher. Naruto passes, and he now begins his journey towards being a true ninja!

thanks to Absolute Anime Naruto for description

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