umm watch the cartoon, untill episode 135 which is the awesome climactic battle of rivals....
then read the manga, cos whilst naruto goes through sum major plot reconstruction and tonnes of useless filler episodes, the manga goes off on one and completely Kicks ANBU A$$ as far as i'm concerned....
currently on chapter 323, where naruto learns his ace ultimate wind technique... (no its not the Kage-shitgust-no-jutsu
)...
Manga rocks but anime's got more pazazzz to it, especially the battle scenes and when shikamaru thinks (his music rocks)... oh and rock Lee's and Sasuke's and Orochimaru's (organ music)