The first forty minutes are genuinely boring filler that test your patience before the movie remembers it has a plot. Once it does, the animation becomes obscenely good, Lee and Sakura get their moment to shine in ways the series never gives them, and the fight choreography justifies the runtime with pure spectacle. It's a movie for people who wanted more Naruto and didn't care if the story was thin, as long as the action sequences looked like they cost money.

Kakashi Hatake leads Naruto, Sakura and Rock Lee on an escort mission: bring the lavish Prince Michiru and his spoiled son Hikaru safely home to the wealthy Land of Moon after a long journey abroad. The job turns chaotic when the prince buys an entire circus along the way, largely because Hikaru wants the saber-toothed tiger from its show. Now the team must keep watch over a troupe of animals as well as two royals who rarely listen. When the convoy finally reaches the Land of Moon, the greedy Chief Minister Shabadaba has taken over the country with the backing of mysterious, powerful ninjas. Kakashi's squad fights back by any means it can, while the two princes are pushed by hardship toward a new outlook on life.