Originally posted by: hiten mitsurugi

But to answer your question. It was never stated how old you had to be in order to join the academy. Naruto didn't have any parents so the best form of daycare would probably be at the academy. Naruto might of been there two years earlier than the genin group that he graduated with. Neji did recognize Naruto and I believe that Kiba did too.
Yeah Naruto was in the same class as Kiba was, but can you point out where Neji recognizes Naruto?