» Volume 001 Summary «

The mighty demon fox Nine Tails was a threat to Hidden Leaf Town. To fight it, the people assembled the shinobi. The strongest fighter of Hidden Leaf Town, the fourth Hokage, succeeded in sealing up the demon fox, but paid for it with his life.

Uzumaki Naruto is a prankster who frequently plays truant. He is a student of the ninja academy, and has bad grades. He pulls out pranks to draw attention to him. He has been ignored by the Leaf Town people for all his life. He failed the last two exams to graduate. His sensei, Iruka, forces Naruto to clean up after vandalizing the Hokage monument. Naruto says that doesn't matter to him, since he has no one to come home to anyway. Iruka feels pity for him. His parents were killed by Nine Tails twelve years ago and he has also been very lonely.

The next day Iruka tells the students that performing Bunshin no Jutsu (Clone Skill) will be the exam. This is Naruto's worst skill. He is able to create one clone, but it's a terrible failure. Everyone else is able to create three perfect clones. Another sensei, Mizuki, says Naruto actually did create a clone this time, but Iruka can't let him pass. Because Naruto really wants to pass the exam, Mizuki tells him a secret. That night Naruto creeps into the house of the third Hokage and steals a scroll.

When Naruto is found by Iruka, he already learned one forbidden skill from the stolen scroll, Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Skill). Naruto tells him that according to Mizuki he would graduate if he would show this skill to him. Mizuki shows up and tells Naruto that he has Nine Tails sealed inside of him, but no one was allowed to tell that to him. That is why everyone hated and ignored Naruto. He had never been acknowledged, and so he started to pull out pranks to get attention.

When Mizuki tells this a shuriken (ninja star) is thrown to Naruto but Iruka saves him by jumping in-between. Naruto runs away from the scene. Though Nine Tails (Naruto) killed Iruka's parents, Iruka protects Naruto with his life. He does acknowledge Naruto. Mizuki strikes to kill Iruka but Naruto stops him. Naruto is greatly enraged and the energyof Nine Tails is flowing through his body. He uses Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. With the chakra of Nine Tails and is able to create a thousand shadow clones. He defeats Mizuki. Naruto graduates by showing this technique.

The third Hokage explains to Iruka that the fourth Hokage had meant the people of the village to threat Naruto as a hero. But only the people who fought Nine Tails twelve years ago knew that the demon had been sealed up inside Naruto. These people were afraid of Naruto and hated him. This feeling passed on to the unknowing children.

The next day Naruto goes to the academy. Iruka has divided the students that graduated into groups of three students, guided by a Jounin (upper ninja). Naruto is in team #7 with Sakura and Sasuke. Naruto was the worst and Sasuke the best student. They've been put together to keep the teams equal. The team meets Hatake Kakashi. Naruto tells the team his dream is to surpass Hokage. Sasuke tells his ambition is to kill a certain man. Kakashi tells duties will start the next day. Their first duty is survival training. They are said to skip breakfast.

The next day at the forest Kakashi has brought two bells. The team must take the bells before noon. The persons who gain a bell, can have breakfast at noon. The persons that don't have a bell will be tied to a tree and Kakashi will eat in front of them. Kakashi tells them that those that cannot get a bell will not become a genin (lower ninja). He insults Naruto, who immediately reacts by attacking Kakashi. He stops Naruto so fast they couldn't even see it. Powered by his eternal dream to become Hokage, Naruto uses Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. When one clone attacks Kakashi, he hits another clone.

Naruto thinks Kakashi had quickly used Henge no Jutsu (Transformation Skill) to look like a Naruto clone and then had attacked Naruto. Naruto is greatly confused. Kakashi used Kawarimi no Jutsu (Body Substitute Skill) to quickly replace his body with a Naruto clone that is close. When Sasuke explains this to Naruto, Naruto suddenly sees a bell lying on the ground. He tries to grab it, and activates a trap. Naruto is disabled. Because Naruto falls for such a simple trap Kakashi tells him a ninja must be able to read underneath the underneath. Suddenly Sasuke uses the created opening to attack Kakashi, but Kakashi is too fast and he fails. Kakashi uses Genjutsu (hallucinatory hypnotism) to fool Sakura, who flees in panic. Sasuke feels superior his team members, because he wouldn't fall for such simple traps and they did.

Sasuke uses shuriken and knifes to attack Kakashi, but he can dodge every attack. Sasuke uses some techniques most genins won't even have the chakra (energy) for. Kakashi is impressed. It is noon and they all didn't succeed. Kakashi tells them all to quit as ninjas. He sees no reason why they should continue.