Naruto Shippūden the Movie

Naruto: Shippūden the Movie (劇場版ＮＡＲＵＴＯ−ナルト− 疾風伝), is a 2007 film directed by Hajime Kamegaki and written by Junki Takegami. It is the fourth movie in the Naruto movie series. It was released in DVD in Japan on April 23, 2008.

Plot summary
The opening scene of the movie shows Naruto fighting a monster, only to be slain by it. The setting then goes back to a few days previous, where a man named Yomi (the word meaning the Japanese underworld) attacks a shrine to retrieve the spirit of Mouryou, a demon who attempted to take over the world and create his "Thousand Year Kingdom". Since he is lacking a body, Yomi offers his as a temporary substitute until they can retrieve Mouryou's original one.

The only threat to Mouryou's plan is a priestess known as Shion, who can seal his spirit away once more. He raises a stone army from their slumber to attack the rest of the world while his four subordinates go to kill Shion. They are given special chakra creatures to enhance their strength.

To deal with the threat, Konohagakure sends out many advance teams to stall the stone army. Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno, Neji Hyuga and Rock Lee are sent to guard Shion and deliver her to the shrine where Mouryou's body is kept. They fend off her four would-be assassins, who exhaust themselves in a failed attempt to kill Naruto. Shion tells Naruto of his upcoming death; while initially skeptical, her assistant Taruho explains that Shion can see the future, and all 100 predictions she has made have come true. As they head for the shrine, the group is ambushed once again and split into two teams. Lee kills one of his opponents, while Naruto is kept busy by his. Neji tells Sakura to escape with Shion, unaware that his two opponents are actually just one man and a puppet. Sakura is disabled by the remaining ninja and Shion is killed.

This turns out to be a ruse: the dead "Shion" is actually Taruho, who transformed himself into a copy of Shion to trick them into thinking they killed the real one. Shion explains that her power works by allowing her spirit to jump back in time at the moment of her death, thereby allowing her to avoid it by having someone die in her place. Naruto insists that he will not die, and likewise will keep Shion safe.

Thanks to Lee, Neji realizes that the remaining three ninja must keep replenishing their chakra to battle effectively. Naruto is sent on ahead with Shion, while Sakura and Lee trick their opponents into wasting their chakra on futile attacks. When it comes time to replenish their chakra, Neji disables the final ninja, who was providing it, leaving the other two powerless against Lee and Sakura.

At the mountain temple where Mouryou's body is kept, Naruto and Shion find the stone army waiting. Naruto holds the army back while Shion heads inside to begin the sealing ritual. Yomi is already inside, and tricks Shion into beginning the technique with him inside the barrier, allowing Mouryou's spirit to reunite with his body. Naruto comes to rescue her. About to see her prediction of his death come true, she uses her power to change Naruto's fate, intending to kill herself and Mouryou to save him. Naruto stops her seconds before her death, and creates a Rasengan with her chakra to destroy Mouryou. With Mouryou gone, Naruto asks Shion what she intends to do now. She replies that Mouryou was a demon caused by the dark thoughts of men, and that there is bound to be another Mouryou someday. Because of this, she says that she must continue the line of priestesses that will supress demons like Mouryou. Then she asks Naruto if he will help (indirectly asking if he will father her child), which an ignorant Naruto happily agrees to.

Production
The movie was produced by Aniplex, Bandai Co., Ltd., Dentsu Inc., Pierrot, Shueisha, and TV Tokyo.

Reception
In its opening weekend Naruto: Shippūden the Movie came in at number six. In its second week the movie dropped to number eight and stayed there in its third week.