Naruto the Movie: Guardians of the Crescent Moon Kingdom

is a 2006 film written and directed by Toshiyuki Tsuru. It is the third Naruto film. It was announced on August 6, 2005 at the opening of Naruto the Movie 2: Legend of the Stone of Gelel. TVTokyo's website states that Guardians of the Crescent Moon Kingdom! was released in DVD format on April 25, 2007. The movie takes place after episode 196, during the anime's filler arcs. Footage of this movie is seen in the opening and ending credits for episodes 197 through 199.

The movie premiered in Japan on August 5, 2006, while the English dubbed version premiered on Cartoon Network on November 8, 2008. It was then released on DVD in America on November 11, 2008.

The first 100,000 people to see the movie in certain theaters were to receive a Naruto themed yo-yo. It has a picture of Naruto on it, and when spun it lights up, to look like a Rasengan.

Plot
Naruto Uzumaki, Kakashi Hatake, Sakura Haruno, and Rock Lee are assigned to protect the prince of the Land of the Moon, Michiru, during his world trip; other escorts had been hired, but quit due to being treated poorly. The Land of the Moon is a very wealthy nation, so Michiru tends to buy whatever he wants, and has a very materialistic worldview. His son, Hikaru, also acts in much the same manner, annoying Naruto.

During the trip, the caravan stops at a circus. When Hikaru takes a liking to a rare saber-toothed tiger, Chamu, featured there, Michiru ends up purchasing not only it, but the whole circus as well, placing it under the team's protection. Hikaru attempts to befriend the tiger, but finds that it dislikes humans. He loses interest in the circus and during a sea voyage, when a storm hits, he appears unconcerned about the animals' well-being, causing Naruto to become disgusted at his lack of value for them. Upset by Naruto's view of him, Hikaru goes out to help Shamu get to safety, and Naruto saves both of them after they wash overboard. The next day, Naruto and Hikaru become friends.

After returning to the Land of the Moon, the team finds that the country has been taken over by Shabadaba, one of the nobles, a former friend of Michiru. Having hired three powerful ninja to assist him, Shabadaba has disposed of the king and plans to do the same with Michiru and Hikaru, the remaining heirs to the throne. He orders the military forces to kill them all, but the team is able to escape with the help of some soldiers still loyal to the king.

Escaping to a hidden cave, Michiru finds that his father is still alive, but Sakura, although able to heal his petrified arm, is only able to keep him alive for a little while. The king revealed that he had suspected that something like this would happen, and arranged for the journey to keep Michiru out of harm's way. Before dying, the king tells Michiru and Hikaru that people are truly important in life, not material goods. During an attempt to escape the country by boat, the three ninja hired by Shabadaba attack, disabling Naruto, Kakashi, Sakura, and Lee with sense-dulling poison that slows their reactions. The prince is captured, but the emergence of Naruto's fox chakra allows him to repel the attacking ninja before the prince's son can be taken.

At the castle, Shabadaba's reasons for taking over the country are revealed to be purely material, the same things Michiru considers important, as he intends to use the nation's wealth for himself rather than the people. Michiru is disgusted by Shadabada's attitude, and realizes the truth of what his father had said. Shabadaba decides to put him to death, by a drawn-out hanging: he has Michiru balance on a board of wood not strong enough to support his weight while wearing a noose, ensuring that sooner or later he will fall and be hanged.

With the help of the circus Michiru purchased earlier, Kakashi's team makes a rescue attempt with Hikaru and the rogue soldiers, infiltrating the palace by disguising as members of the circus. One by one, Kakashi and his team fight individual battles: Kakashi fights the many soldiers in the courtyard while each of the Genin fight one of the ninja. Lee wields a pair of nun-chuks that have the ability to connect to other staffs hidden in his leg weights, creating weapons such as a long staff and a chain whip. He defeats his opponent, Kongō, after some effort by making all but one of the nun-chucks to throw Kongō in the air and the uses them to go higher than his opponent. Then he uses the final nun-chuk to blast Kongō into the ground. Sakura is able to dispatch her poison and genjutsu-using opponent, Karenbana, by shattering a chandelier to locate her by watching where she moves and subsequently defeat her with one punch. Turns out Karebana wears too much perfume (which helped Sakura locate her opponent while in a genjutsu by smelling for the perfume).

Naruto fights against Ishidate, the leader of the three ninja, while helping Hikaru reach his father. Hikaru shoots an arrow, severing the rope around Michiru's neck, and Naruto's shadow clones catch the prince and his father. Ishidate is enraged and attempts to kill Naruto, but Shadabada orders him to deal with Michiru. Ishidate then turns on Shadabada, petrifying him. In the penultimate scene, Naruto, his leg disabled by his opponent's strange petrification jutsu, rides on Michiru's shoulders to attack with his Crescent Moon Rasengan which reflects the light of the moon in such a manner that it grows and takes on a crescent shape. He hits Ishidate with this attack, sending him flying and destroying Shadabada's stone remains.

After Ishidate's defeat, Michiru takes the throne of the country and promises to rule as his father did while starting on a diet and weight training. As Kakashi is immobilized due to overuse of the Sharingan, his team decides to take a vacation in the Moon Country while he recovers.

An English dubbed version of the movie was released on November 8 2008.