practicality

Dear Intarwebs,
So, I've been kind of intrigued by the screencaps of Naruto Shippuden. However, I'm a lazy bastard, and there is no way anybody is going to get me to watch all two hundred-whatever episodes of the first series. Is it necessary for the other, or not? And yeah, I know. I said I would never ever watch Naruto (or Bleach, or One Piece, etc).
Love,
Me

(PS: There is a story behind the subject line, I promise)