Man I don't even remember. All I know is that me and my best friend watched Naruto together growing up, and that's how I got hooked. It's also weird because in class (elementary school) Naruto was the most popular thing among us 4th or 5th graders. Literally that and Pokemon/Yu-Gi-Oh.
Funny story. One day at recess we were acting out Naruto characters, and I wanted to be Sasuke so bad because my childhood crush at the time, was a fan girl of Sasuke. Reality hit me and I was cast as Choji instead

lmao). My fat ass smh.
I don't know why I remember that story, but it's just a prominent memory from my childhood in terms of Naruto stuff. Outside of that, I watched every canon episode growing up (most of them anyway). I remember during the final fight, everyone was talking about in class, and during that week I got into serious trouble with my parents, and they wouldn't let me watch TV so I missed it. I also missed the re-run episode too. Thankfully my classmates filled me in, and I didn't get to see the final fight until I discovered YouTube. Good times.
I didn't discover Naruto Shippuden until my 7th grade year, and by that time things were already pretty far. I started reading the Manga for the first time during my Freshman year of High School, when Madara entered the battlefield.
Another cool thing is that my English teacher was a big fan of Naruto, and she talked about it with us (my best friend whom I mentioned earlier who was still my friend up till this time). She was a die hard Madara fan and actually inspired me to read the Manga, and here I am.
Weird how things work out lol.