Road to Ninja: Naruto the Movie is the 9th overall Naruto movie and the 6th Naruto Shippuden movie. The movie is supervised by series creator Masashi Kishimoto; it takes place in a parallel world created by Tobi's Limited Tsukoyomi.
Because of Tobi's Limited Tsukoyomi, Naruto and Sakura are transported in a parallel world created by the desires of the both of them. Sakura's father is now the Fourth Hokage who sacrificed his life to save Konoha, and Naruto's parents are still alive. To make matters worse, a mysterious Masked Man is causing quite a problem in this parallel world and the only way to stop him is to fulfill a prophecy, which can only happen during a red full moon. Can Naruto and Sakura return to their world and defeat this mysterious Masked Man?
What makes Road to Ninja different from the other Naruto movies is that this movie is more than just a glorified anime filler episode like most Naruto movies. It is all thanks to Naruto creator Masashi Kishimoto's input when it comes to the movie's story. Since Kisihimoto technically made this movie, the first question that comes to my mind when I watched this movie is when does this movie take place? Based on the events in the movie, it's kinda confusing, especially if you read the manga in a weekly basis. Guess the best conclusion is that it takes place somewhere in the series wherein the conditions are: Naruto has the Sage Mode, already met Killer Bee and that Tsunade is not on a coma.
Next is when it comes to animation, even though this is a movie, the quality of the animation is similar to that of your average Naruto anime episode. To put it simply, there are moments of bad to mediocre animation frame quality, which I can't ignore because I watched the freakin' movie in my local cinema! Even if that is the case, the best part of the movie is the music; it's so good that it properly sets the mood on a specific scene. It's so good that I even cried on some scenes!
Now that I am done with the technical stuff, it is time for the story. Since the 3/4 of the movie takes place in a parallel world, some of the characters we know and love now have different personalities. Sasuke is now a playboy, Hinata is more aggressive, Shino hates bugs and my personal favorite, Sai is one bad artist. I like how this parallel world twisted their personalities, and to top it all off, Tobi has no idea on how this parallel world will shape up! Even if that is the case, there are some traits from the original world that are retained. My only disappointment I have with these parallel world characters is that they only appeared so briefly that they barely contribute anything to the movie.
The movie is more of Naruto's desire to actually be with his parents. It is also the same desire Naruto's parents have when they sealed Nine Tails prior to the start of the series. The flashback scenes used in the movie also helped to set up the overall tone of the movie. This is not about Naruto and Sakura's adventures in the parallel world; it is more of Naruto's search of the feeling of having a complete family. Even if Naruto tries to say to himself that his parents are just illusions made by this world, he ends up getting into his desire of having a complete family.
During the course of the movie, Naruto slowly realized that even if the Minato and Kushina in this world is like the Minato and Kushina in his world, there are still some differences like the rest of the characters in the parallel world. When Naruto realized that these two are not like his parents, he finally understands the true meaning of family. It doesn't matter if you are together with them, just as long as you remember how much they love and trust you, something that the Minato and Kushina of Naruto's home world have. They trusted Naruto that is why they sealed the Nine Tails in his body.
While Naruto is having that kind of luxury of having a complete family, it's the opposite in Sakura's case. Her parents are dead and they are considered to be the heroes of Konoha because of their actions years ago. The movie served as a proper character development story for Sakura, considering that she barely has any character development in the manga and in the anime. Because of her experience in this world, she now understands Naruto quite better, and I think to some extent, Sasuke's feelings of being the lone survivor of his clan. But alas, even if the character development she had, she ends up becoming the movie's damsel in distress during the film's climax scene.
Speaking of which, during the course of the movie, we are introduced to a mysterious Masked Man who is becomes Tobi's ally during the duration of the movie. For some reason, he is collecting all the Tailed Beasts for his own desires, and for some odd reason, his voice sounds really familiar. What are interesting are his moves, it's similar to some of Naruto's skills that even before they did the big reveal about his identity, I already figured it out. To put it simply, the buildup for the Masked Man is too bland and predictable.
Even if that is the case, the big battle that this movie has probably caught me off guard because of its surprises. Seeing all members of Akatsuki in the big battle is one big surprise, especially because Deidara and Itachi have the most speaking lines and that they are sided with the good guys! I am not sure if this is Kishimoto's personal preference or is it because these two are the most popular members of Akatsuki? Another big surprise is the 9 Masked Beasts that the Masked Man summoned, aside from their fight with the Akatsuki members, the revelation that these 9 monsters is actually a single being. This then lead us the movie's final battle.
Pokémon Battle!
The movie's final battle is surprisingly good. The battle between Naruto and the Masked Man is really well done, but what caught me off guard is how the Masked Man summoned his own version of the Nine Tails. I guess you now have an idea on who is this Masked Man. Because the Masked Man summoned his own Nine Tails, Naruto also summons his own Nine Tails! The first thing that came in my mind while watching this scene is a Pokémon battle. No seriously, that's how the battle felt like, especially on how Naruto summoned the Nine Tails!
At the end, the Masked Man is defeated and that Tobi finally enters the stage as he attempts to steal the Nine Tails out of Naruto by entering the Masked Man's body. The fight between the two feels too predictable, especially when Minato and Kushina arrived just in time to help. The final move Naruto did to defeat Tobi is something that I expected. Tobi leaves and lucky enough, Naruto hit the crystal that created the Limited Tsukoyomi, causing Naruto and Sakura to leave the parallel world after Naruto bid farewell to the parallel world's Minato and Kushina.
In the real world, after our heroes reported what happened to the parallel world, they returned to their homes, bringing the lessons that they learned from that parallel world. In Naruto case, he realized that even if he doesn't have his real parents with him, there are still people who think of him as a family. In this case, it is Iruka. So why the movie is called Road to Ninja? Even if the movie is more about family, I guess the reason why it is called Road to Ninja is because it explores what makes a ninja, a ninja.
Overall, Road to Ninja is the closest thing we have for a good Naruto movie. After watching the third Naruto movie, I said to myself that the next movies are not worth watching because it is just like your average anime episode except that it lasted for more at least 1 hour and 30 minutes. Road to Ninja came and it exceeded my expectations. The way how the movie handled its flashbacks made this movie more fascinating, it contributed to the plot and made the movie self-contained, especially to those Naruto fans that stopped watching the anime or barely reads the manga.
If I will compare it to the first Naruto movie, this movie is better in a lot of aspect. Granted, the movie didn't resolve some of the major plots of the anime, the fan service, especially with the Akatsuki and the fact that this movie has Kishimoto's input made this new ninja adventure worth watching. So if this movie is available in your local theatres, or in DVD & Blu-ray (which will be released this April 24) watch it, it is worth every cent.
Writer's Note: Went with Tobi instead of Madara thanks to the recent events that happened in the anime and in the manga's current story arc.
