I think we should break it down for 'em:
To get started:
1) Read the game rules, first and foremost.
2) Why are you even here? Do you want to RP as a shinobi, a samurai, some dude with a talking sword? If you can't answer this, then at least answer what kind of RP you are looking for:
- Totally fun, always a party
- Super serial (no pun intended) where things are quite real most of the time
- Yolo troll, kind of doing whatever you want no matter what? Is your idea to post some random stuff and see who joins in your way of finding the community niche?
- Not a freaking clue? Well, then I advise you start reading the village boards for inspiration, or just playing the game itself.
2) Please, for the love of Santa Neji, use reasonable grammar. Seriously, text talk is not acceptable here nor will it ever. You don't have to write a novel, and you don't need to have perfect grammar, but it should be readable. If you can't read your own sentence back to youself, you did something very wrong. Reading aloud what you wrote can help too, but mind the timeout, which is about 10 or so minutes.
3) Find another newbie to team up with. It can be hard making friends with the established elite, so maybe one of the newer or lower levelled peoples will be out looking just as much as you are.
4) Learn the "when in Rome" expression. Though there are many basics, each clan/village has some traits about their RP that are sometimes inflexible. They may even outright have their own rules, some of which can be found on narutoprofile wikia or right here on the forum. They can also be found in the clan hall description or MoTD if present.
5) Visit the forum at least twice. Believe it or not, unless you try to from day one declare a revolution and state that all must bow or be beheaded (metaphorically or literally), you will generally not be flamed for questions and the likes.
6) If you can't spell even half as good as American middle schoolers, then please abuse spellcheck. Abuse it to death, get 100 favor with good practice, and revive it, rinse and repeat.
7) The difference between RPing Naruto and writing fanfiction for Naruto, is that in RP, there are generally two or more "authors" who determine the rules of the universe that will be followed and the outcomes of events. As a result, by the time you get to this step, you should have a decent idea on what kind of RP from the site that you like and what kind of RP you don't. Just like with a collab fanfiction, RP flows smoother when the authors can agree on a wide variety of basics.
Once you feel confident enough, check out the zones. Remember that fellow comrade you scoped out earlier? Well, the two of you can attempt to spar each other in the zones, and either get feedback, or just build off of each other. Once you feel confident enough with zoning, try challenging someone a little tougher. Once you hit your "bar" (someone who roflstomps you when they are serious) then try to learn and acquire new skills and tactics from them if possible. Get a teacher if possible.
9) Play the game. Believe it or not, the forest, and what some have deemed "clicking", can actually be enjoyable passers of time when you are waiting for people who are still online to post, or just for leveling up your in-game character. Experiencing everything for the first time can be very exciting.
10) Last but not least, if you throw feces around here, feces will get thrown back at you. Twofold if you mess with the wrong bunch.