The country’s favorite anime character, Uzumaki Naruto and his fellow Leaf Ninja friends comes back  in the big screen in “Road to Ninja: Naruto the Movie” as part of the Naruto Shippuden franchise’s sixth film or the ninth overall Original Video Animation (OVA) of the hit manga and anime series.

The movie which was originally released in Japan back in July 2012, finally made its way to Philippine Cinemas last April 9. Hardcore fans of Naruto may have already found other means of watching the movie even before it was made available in our country, however for fans who still anticipate what the movie is all about, Road to Ninja is the story of Naruto’s past, his roots to becoming the ninja he is, and the road to which he chooses to bear.

“A ramen without Naruto fish cake is not even a ramen!” –No, that is not the first rule to being a ninja! Rather, that was the movie’s emotional turning point to which Naruto’s lonely side is showed. Being parentless after his father Minato Namikaze (aka Fourth Hokage) and Kushina Uzumaki (Red Blood Sea) defended Konoha from the invasion of the Kyuubi (Nine Tailed Fox), Naruto has relied on himself or to the likes of his mentors—Kakashi Hatake and Iruka Umino, or to his closest friends who has supported him all the way. As Naruto is clouded with hopes of having a real family to go home to, the undying Tobi of Akatsuki shows up and brings Naruto and Sakura to an alternate world where everything looks the same, except it’s not.

In the other world, the Naruto known as the son of the heroes does not exist because his deepest desire is true to the flesh—his family is alive and fights with him side by side. They face  a masked enemy threatening to destroy Konoha aside from Tobi’s agenda of gaining Naruto’s sleeping Kyuubi. As Naruto finally feels what it’s like to have a family, he is faced with a heart breaking decision… choose to remain in the make up world and be with his father and mother, or go back to his real world where only memories of his family serve as his daily comfort.

This movie shows a new side to the story where the assertive and happy Naruto is keeping himself from dying inside while wishing that he is just as normal as everybody else. Without being too dramatic, the story is able to make fans feel for Naruto and still enjoy where the rest of the plot is going. Bu the most important part of the movie is when it was finally revealed how Naruto’s parents gave him the virtues he needs to become the greatest Ninja—have friends he can trust, believe in his self and be steadfast in all that life has to throw at him.

Also like the anime, there are unnecessary “filler scenes” which could have honestly been removed since it did not help with any part of the movie, but was placed nonetheless to give some camio for the other characters of the movie such as Team Guy, Team 8 and 10, Akatsuki group and the surprising Sasuke Uchiha. And probably the best fight scene you can watch out for is seeing two Kyuubis go head to head… that only happens in this movie!

Although Road to Ninja is still currently running in selected SM Cinemas, there is no guarantee as to how long this movie will remain running. However fans can still watch this fun installment of the Naruto franchise in online websites such as Youtube or Crunchyroll.