For those who have seen the anime before reading the manga, you guys are missing out on the better part of Naruto. Not to say that the anime is bad, though, I really liked the anime, although some people may not, sadly. They cast great seiyuus and I actually kinda like the OP and ED although it takes some time getting used to. The animation from the manga and the anime shows the most obvious distinction in my opinion though.

Naruto is a reincarnated boy of the nine-tails fox who once attacked his village - the fox was "sealed" in him rather, but people still hate him because of the incident of the attack. Naruto's an orphan, and the seclusion from "normal" people doesn't really help. The only one he can really relate with is probably Iruka-sensei, his teacher in the ninja institute. Iruka-sensei might be pushing Naruto to be doing better in his ninja skills, but he really cares about Naruto because he used to be like Naruto too - an orphan who wants attention by doing pranks and such. It was hard for Naruto to earn recognition from anybody for who he really is though. People just regard him as the nine-tail fox demon who once attacked the village and destroyed everything, which is also at risk of reappearing if Naruto's seal is broken.

That's only an introduction to the manga! It develops into a much powerful storyline (which have lots of ninja fights for those of you who enjoyed that) and you just find yourself so enveloped in the manga that you're beginning to miss your meal xD You will also be introduced to great new characters, which includes Sakura, Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei. Along the way, there are also going to be lots of new ninjas which will be a little hard to memorize in your head - but they'll all be so cool you'll remember all of their names. In other words: Read it.

Art
Masashi-san's art may turn some people off from the manga, and that's the totally wrong thing to do! I really like the art even at first sight, because it looked pretty unique in a good way. (Sometimes unique is too much and it becomes a bad thing.) If you don't like the art and decided not to buy Naruto because of that, you're doing the wrong thing! Turn back, buy it! Buy it!

Overall
I love Naruto - it may not have one of the freshest storylines and for shoujo lovers, you're probably going "Ehh, it's just some ninja fighting, what's up with that?" Well, it may come of as surprising to you that even shounen manga now have characters with somewhat deep personalities and their relationships are sometimes explained (romance, however, may be too much to hope for.) It's a really great manga with great storylines, and I think everyone should check it out. (Err, matured readers preferred) Don't be put off with Naruto just because some of their fans or some of their haters irk you.