Naruto gets framed for assassination and locked in a prison designed to drain chakra from inmates, forced to fight his way out while the real conspirators close in. The animation during the prison break sequences legitimately stands apart from the show, sharp enough that you forget you're watching a Shippuden movie. A premise this absurd should collapse under its own weight, but the film plants you inside Naruto's helplessness instead of asking you to buy the setup, then spends two hours making him earn his way back to a world that turned on him.

Naruto finds himself locked away in Houzuki Castle, a maximum-security prison built for ninja criminals and known as the Blood Prison. Accused of trying to kill the Raikage and of slaying Jonin from the Mist and Rock villages, he insists he is innocent, but Tsunade sends him there to head off a diplomatic crisis. The warden, Mui, uses a powerful sealing jutsu to suppress his chakra and take power from the inmates. Naruto keeps attempting escapes that go nowhere, while something inside the prison is out to kill him. With help from two fellow prisoners, he uncovers a dark secret about the facility and joins a risky plan that may be his only way out and his only chance to clear his name. The result is an action mystery that strips Naruto of his usual strength.