Road to Ninja: Naruto the Movie

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Road to Ninja: Naruto the Movie is a 2012 Japanese animated film based on Masashi Kishimoto's manga and anime series. It was released in Japan on July 28, 2012. The band Asian Kung-Fu Generation performed the theme song "Sore de wa, Mata Ashita" (それでは、また明日, lit. "Well Then, See You Tomorrow").

Synopsis

Naruto and the leaf ninja drive off a group of White Zetsu posing as fallen Akatsuki members, Naruto feeling lonely over seeing his friends' impressed families while finding Sakura Haruno arguing with her parents. When Sakura later uses Naruto as an excuse to avoid her parents after he got into an argument with Iruka Umino, the two are confronted by Tobi who subjects them to a limited version of the Infinite Tsukuyomi: The Limited Tsukuyomi (限定月読, Gentei Tsukuyomi). Naruto and Sakura end up in a genjutsu-based reality filled with polar opposites of their friends which reflect their desires: namely a version of Sasuke Uchiha who remained in the village and Naruto's parents are alive while Sakura's have been dead for years.

While Naruto was more focused on returning to their reality before deciding to take in having a family, Sakura enjoyed being an orphan until the loneliness starts getting to her along with the antics of the reality's Sasuke. The village is then attacked by the masked ninja, revealed to have allied himself with Tobi, who has used an incorporeal form to enter the genjutsu reality, as he abducts Sakura to hold ransom for the Red Moon Scroll. Realizing the genjutsu parents, though highly similar, are not like his own, Naruto takes the Red Moon Scroll while running to save Sakura and face the masked ninja. Naruto is overpowered by the masked ninja and his Nine Masked Beasts, when he is saved by the Genjutsu version of Itachi and Akatsuki. While the Akatsuki dispatch the Masked Beasts, Naruto battles against the masked ninja who is revealed to be his Genjutsu world counterpart: Menma (メンマ). Menma absorbs the defeated masked beasts to manifest the Black Nine-Tails, with the Nine-Tails making a temporary truce with Naruto to defeat its counterpart. But this all played to Tobi's plan as he possesses Menma so he can personally extract the weakened Nine-Tails while completely wiping Naruto's mind. Sakura saves Naruto before the Nine-Tails is extracted from him, and Naruto is inadvertently reminded of a memory, that allows him to regain the rest of his memories in time to save Sakura, and he then manages to force Tobi out of Menma and undo the Limited Tsukuyomi.

Once back in their reality, after informing Tsunade of their ordeal, Sakura reunites with her parents while Naruto makes amends with Iruka and realizes he already has a family in his friends.

Cast

Film Crew

Reception

Trivia

  • Naruto manga creator Masashi Kishimoto personally conceived the all-new story and designed the characters for this movie.

Nomenclature

Names in Other Languages

Language Name Meaning

Gallery

References