How can I quickly understand the basics of Naruto and the story without watching all 300+ episodes? I would like to start watching Naruto as I have never attempted or tried to get into watching Naruto. The main problem I have is that I don't want to watch all 300+ episodes in Naruto or read the dozens of Mangas to understand what Naruto is about and the many plots that are involved.

I know this might be a really silly question for someone who watches anime and this may sound very far fetched but I havent watched Naruto before. I do not want to read through pages and pages of information from Naruto's Wikia and do not want to go watching through episode through episode of about 300+ to understand Naruto.

Are there any episodes in Naruto that will help me understand the story and key terms/terminology without doing this? In other words I am looking for a short cut.

Think of this scenario: Death Note created two special episodes for those who have not watched it before so they wouldn't have to go through all the episodes to understand the plot. Did Naruto do this? If so that would be extremely helpful.

Please note: I have not watched ever Naruto or Naruto Shippuden and as such have no actual knowledge of anything Naruto.
Although I strongly advise against not watching/reading them, there are some shortcuts to take.


You could read episode summaries.
As one of your main options it gives a good insight on the story, though not specifically into the terms used in the story. But those aren't too hard to catch onto when watching the second season.
Watch the Naruto abridged series.
Shortens a ton of episodes to just a mere 5 minutes, but still covering a bunch of key points. But there is a lot of parody involved, causing it not to be 100% accurate. It also does not cover the key terminology in the series.
Watch the anime without the anime-only arcs.
Just go watch the season without watching all the anime-only arcs. Greatly reducing the episode count, as you can skip the following episodes, which reduces the original 220 episodes with roughly 80 episodes. On the provided site they also have a list for the Shippuuden series, also reducing the non-canon content in there. 


  
  Episodes 102—106: Naruto and Team 7 go to the Land of Tea to help Idate Morino win a race.
  Episodes 136—141: Naruto, Sakura, and Jiraiya, while investigating Orochimaru's whereabouts, encounters the Fūma clan.
  Episodes 142—147: Naruto helps Iruka catch the escaped convict, Mizuki.
  Episodes 148—151: Naruto and Team 8 look for the bikōchū beetle in the hopes that it will lead them to Sasuke Uchiha.
  Episodes 152—157: Naruto and Team Guy deal with Raiga Kurosuki and his Kurosuki family.
  Episodes 159—160: Naruto, Kiba, and Hinata help Sazanami clear his name.
  Episodes 162—167: Naruto, Neji, and Tenten go to the Land of Birds to deal with a mysterious ghost.
  Episodes 169—173: Anko Mitarashi takes Naruto, Ino, and Shino to the Land of the Sea to find information on Orochimaru.
  Episodes 175—176: Naruto is again paired up with Kiba and Hinata in order to improve their teamwork.
  Episodes 178—183: Naruto and Team Guy go to Hoshigakure to help the villagers protect their sacred star.
  Episodes 187—191: Naruto, Hinata, and Chōji go to the Land of Vegetables to protect some peddlers from the Criminal Brothers.
  Episodes 195—196: Guy is forced to deal with Yagura's apparent attempts at revenge.
  Episodes 197—201: The Konoha 11 stop Gennō from destroying Konoha.
  Episodes 203—207: Kurenai temporarily leaves Team 8 to take care of some old business with Yakumo Kurama.
  Episodes 209—212: Naruto, Lee, and Sakura help transfer a member of the Shinobazu to prison.
  Episodes 213—215: Naruto helps Menma regain his memory.
  Episodes 216—220: The Konoha 11 go to Sunagakure to help rescue Matsuri from the Four Celestial Symbols Men. 
  
  
  Source: Naruto Wiki: Naruto Plot

Read full episode summaries as written by fans.
Although this most definitely will take longer then just taking your time and read the manga. you could give Full Naruto Episode Summaries a shot. They describe the episode in details, and also include the key information of the episodes.


I personally think that it would be the best shortcut to just read the manga if you want to have a proper start in the series. The original Naruto is covered in a mere 238 chapters, after all, which for me only took about a week and a half to read, while the episodes took me roughly a year to watch through. Or, you could just go ahead and take the risk and jump in mid-series, just Google or take for granted the terms you do not know yet, and try to get into the story that way. Either way, its all up to you.