Naruto the Movie: Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow

is a 2004 film which was directed by Tensai Okamura and written by Katsuyuki Sumisawa.

The movie was released on DVD on April 28, 2005. The film chronologically took place right after episode 101 "Gotta See! Gotta Know! Kakashi-Sensei's True Face!". The ending song is called Home Sweet Home and is sung by Yuki Isoya. The English version replaced this song with "Never Give Up" by Jeremy Sweet due to licensing restrictions. As a bonus, the short and non-canonical OVA, Konoha Annual Sports Festival!, was included with the Japanese release of the film.

In America, Instead of the OVA included with the Japanese release, the American release included a short featurette entitled "World of Naruto", as well as a behind-the-scenes featurette afterwards with interviews with the main English cast and select members of the main Japanese cast. The OVA did, however, appear in the U.S. DVD release. The DVD was released September 4, 2007.

Plot
The events in this movie took place between the Search for Tsunade and the Land of Tea Escort Mission.

The movie begins with a heroine previously unknown in the Naruto continuity: Princess Fūn (Princess Gale in the US version). Fūn's nemesis, Mao, challenged her group with an army of undead soldiers. His dark intentions seemed to prevail; that is, until Princess Fūn and her cohorts, Shishimaru, Brit, and Tsukuyaku, unleashed the power of the Seven-Colour Chakra upon him. They saved the day, and Naruto, watching from afar, couldn't have been more elated.

As it turned out, Naruto was actually watching the scene in a movie, as was the rest of Team 7. However, the audience of the movie began to throw objects at the team for making so much noise whilst arguing with the cinema manager. Kakashi had sent them to watch it as preparation for their next mission: to escort Yukie Fujikaze, the actress who played Princess Fūn, while she made the next movie in the Land of Snow. As it turned out, Yukie was actually the princess of the Land of Snow, which had been taken over by rogue ninja when she was a child. The leader of the rogue ninja, Dotō Kazahana, wanted Yukie's crystal necklace in order to unlock the Land of Snow's treasure, which Yukie's father had hidden before being assassinated. After various battles between Team 7 and the rogue ninja, resulting in the death of all of the latter and Nadare, their leader, Dotō succeeded in obtaining Yukie's crystal necklace, only to discover that the "treasure" of the Land of Snow is a generator designed to melt the snow and thus bring Spring to the snow country. Dotō was then killed by Naruto with his Rasengan in a manner reminiscent of Princess Fūn's defeat of Mao, involving "rainbow chakra".

With the rogue ninja all gone, Yukie decided to resume her position as the princess of the Land of Snow, which would eventually become the Land of Spring after the technology behind the generator was perfected. Despite being a princess, Yukie intended to continue her role as an actress. At the very end of the movie, Naruto, who had desperately wanted an autograph from the actress, was given an envelope from Sasuke afterwards, who received shocked looks from the other members of Team 7, including Naruto himself. Inside the envelope was a signed photograph from Yukie. The picture was of a bandaged up (and apparently unconscious) Naruto in the hospital, who was receiving a tender kiss on the cheek from the actress.

At the end of the credits, the crew that had made the Princess Fūn movie said cut, and all cheered in unison.

Print Versions
As with many movies in the series, Naruto the Movie: Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow is also available in several print versions:
 * An ani-manga version. It was released in Japan on December 3, 2004 (ISBN 978-4-08-873727-0) and in the US on October 15, 2007 (ISBN 978-1-4215-1868-8).
 * A light novel adaptation written by Masatoshi Kusakabe. It was released in Japan on August 23, 2004 (ISBN 978-4-08-703143-0).

Trivia

 * The characters and setting of "The Adventures of Princess Fūn" paid homage to the Chinese novel, "Journey to the West".
 * Princess Fūn is a take-off of Xuanzang the priest.
 * Tsukuyaku is a take-off of Sun Wukong the monkey.
 * Shishimaru is a take-off of Zhu Bajie the pig-monster.
 * Brit is a take-off of Sha Wujing the water-demon.
 * This movie reinforced the notion that Naruto takes place in a modernised age, due to the existence of a movie theatre and cars.
 * This movie was the only Naruto movie where Sasuke was still an active Konoha ninja and not a rogue.
 * This movie also reveals Kakashi as an Anbu, saving a younger Princess Koyuki from the burning palace.
 * In this movie it is shown that Kakashi sees Naruto use Rasengan. But in episode 108 of the Naruto series, it is shown like Kakashi sees Naruto use the Rasengan for the first time.
 * At the end of the movie, Yukie hints that Jiraiya's novel Icha Icha Paradise will be adapted into film with her playing the lead role.

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