Naruto the Movie: Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow

The franchise's debut on the big screen, a 2004 film directed by Tensai Okamura, opens the movie line with a story of hidden royalty and a country buried in snow. It doubles as an early character piece, revealing Kakashi's past while sending the young Team 7 on their first cinematic adventure.

The picture opens with a film-within-a-film, as the heroine Princess Fuun triumphs over an army of undead using rainbow-hued chakra while a spellbound Team 7 watches from the theater seats. The spell breaks when the actress who plays her, Yukie Fujikaze, gallops past pursued by armored riders. Naruto and his teammates scatter them, only to learn the men are stunt doubles and that Kakashi staged the screening to brief the squad for its next job: guarding Yukie during a shoot in the Land of Snow. Yukie is no ordinary star but Koyuki, princess of that country, whose uncle Doto usurped the throne in her childhood.

Doto craves the crystal pendant Yukie wears, the key to a treasure her assassinated father hid away. He storms the film set by train, mowing down a brigade of samurai, then snatches the princess by airship as Naruto grabs on with a rope. Team 7 regroups at his mansion and battles his rogue ninja, whittling them down until Doto finally claims the necklace, only to discover the fabled treasure is a machine built to melt the endless snow and bring spring. Naruto avenges the carnage by striking the tyrant down with a Rasengan, echoing Princess Fuun's own rainbow-powered finish.

With the usurper gone, Yukie embraces her birthright and reigns over what becomes the Land of Spring once the thawing device is perfected, yet she refuses to give up acting. In a closing gag, Naruto receives a signed photograph from her, revealing a candid shot of his bandaged, unconscious self getting a tender kiss on the cheek from the actress.

Scripted by Katsuyuki Sumisawa and running 82 minutes, the film falls right after episode 101 of the original anime. Its Japanese ending theme, Home Sweet Home by Yuki Isoya, was swapped for Jeremy Sweet's Never Give Up in the English version due to licensing limits. Japan's release bundled the short comedic OVA Konoha Annual Sports Festival, while the American disc added a World of Naruto featurette and cast interviews.

The story leans on the notion that Naruto unfolds in a modernized world, showing off movie theaters and automobiles, and it reveals Kakashi's past as an Anbu who rescued a young Koyuki from a burning palace. The in-universe Princess Fuun serial nods heavily to the classic novel Journey to the West, recasting its pilgrims as the show's characters. Both an ani-manga and a light novel by Masatoshi Kusakabe rounded out the print editions.