I found this softcover in this Little Free Library in Dracut MA while dropping off some books of my own, and was glad of another release copy.

I enjoyed the humor and the team-building, even though the ninja-type stories aren't among my favorite sub-genre. I have enjoyed many episodes of the anime, so I have some idea where the characters are going; interesting to compare them to the beginnings.

This volume introduces the title character, a young boy without a family, who's an outcast in his village because of the Nine-Tailed Beast that was sealed inside him at his birth. He's also quite a rascal, cheerfully vandalizing the great carved faces of the previous Hokages and generally raising hell, all by way of trying to get some kind of attention. He - like pretty much everybody else in the village, as far as I can tell - is in training to become a ninja, but can't concentrate on studies very well, and is having a pretty tough time, until his teacher Iruka recognizes the lonely child inside the mischievous exterior and manages to connect with him.

This doesn't solve all of Naruto's problems with training, and in his eagerness to learn faster he falls prey to a devious scheme by an older ninja, from which Iruka's barely able to rescue him.

Later on he winds up partnered with Sakura, a young girl whose ninja skills are centered on healing arts at first, and Sasuke, a prodigy with a mysterious past and scornful demeanor. [This enrages Naruto, but makes all the girls in the village swoon. Of course. {grin}] The fledgling team is put under the training of Kakashi, a very skilled ninja whose face is always masked - and who expresses his disdain for his new charges' abilities by calmly continuing to read his favorite erotic novels while the young ninjas attack him.

Lots of wacky humor, some rather startling violence, hints of back-story and a peek at budding alliances, friendships, and rivalries...

[The series has been running for a long time, and has quite a presence on the entertaining TV Tropes site; see its main page here.]

I left this book in the Little Free Library at Roby Park in Nashua; hope the finder enjoys it!

[See other recent releases in NH here.]

*** Released for the 2019 TV Series release challenge. ***