The story of Naruto follows young Uzumaki Naruto on his journey through the ninja world. Naruto grows up with quite a burden to carry as he soon learns he is the container or Jinchuuriki of one of the Tailed Beasts - the Nine Tailed Demon Fox. The reason, as I understand at least, for Naruto being the container was that when the Fox attacked the village, the village's leader, called the Hokage, who we now know was Naruto's father, had to seal the Fox in order to save the village of Konoha. It seems logical that Yondaime (the Hokage) would choose his own son to seal the Fox within for reasons which I won't go into here. Unfortunately this act of sealing the Fox cost Yondaime his life and so far we are unsure of how Naruto's mother died.
As a result of being the container of the Fox who many years ago wreaked havoc in Konoha and killed dozens of ninja, Naruto grows up being hated throughout the village and ends up being a bit of a troublemaker in an attempt to get attention from others. In the long run though, we see that this gives Naruto unbelievable mental strength and his attitude to never give up often shows up in the storyline. Had Naruto not been hated in his childhood, which his father had obviously wished against, he might not have turned out to be the exceptional individual we see in the Manga at present.
