Twelve years before the events of the first episode of Naruto, a nine tailed fox demon attacked the Village of the Hidden Leaves. The swinging of its tail could cause massive damage. It killed many people until Yondaime, the fourth Hokage, sacrificed his own life to seal it into a little boy name Naruto. Naruto was shunned as a child; looked at as if he were the demon himself while Yondaime was celebrated as a hero.

The third Hokage said it would be forbidden for the village to mention the event to anyone, including their own kids, but they still treated him like he was worthless and so did their children. He grew up as an orphan without friends or paretns. He made himself recognized by pulling pranks and being a troublemaker. After graduating from the academy for saving his sensei's (Iruka) life by using his Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu against Mizuki. This made Naruto realize two people actually cared about him; the third Hokage and Iruka.After becoming a full-fledged ninja, Naruto makes it his goal to become the next Hokage (the highest ranking of ninja) of the village of Konoha.

During the show, many views of characters' development are shown, mainly focusing on Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura (Team 7) but others are shown to develop as well, including the sensei Kakashi and Guy as well as Jiraiya and other ninja students.

After becoming a stronger ninja, the Akatsuki (a group of villains) try to catch Naruto for the demon fox inside him.