Naruto Shippuden Movies in Release Order: All Seven Films Explained

The seven Naruto Shippuden movies in release order

The order is Naruto Shippuden the Movie (2007), Bonds (2008), The Will of Fire (2009), The Lost Tower (2010), Blood Prison (2011), Road to Ninja (2012), and The Last: Naruto the Movie (2014). VIZ groups the same seven films in its Naruto Shippuden movie catalog.

This list does not include the three movies released during the original Naruto series. It also stops before Boruto: Naruto the Movie, which shifts attention to the next generation. Use the broader Naruto movies watch-order page when you want every theatrical release across the franchise.

First-time viewers can save the first six Shippuden films for a later movie pass. The Last belongs near the end of the TV route because it connects the postwar period to the wedding episodes.

Release order is safer than forcing an exact episode slot

The first six films use characters and abilities associated with different stretches of Shippuden, but they are written as self-contained theatrical missions. Assigning each one a rigid episode number can create contradictions with travel, injuries, team composition, or conflicts happening in the television story.

Release order avoids that problem. It preserves how audiences originally encountered new techniques and relationships without pretending every side mission fits neatly between two broadcasts. If spoilers are your main concern, finish a substantial TV arc before watching the film released during that era, or complete Shippuden first and return to the movies.

The Last is handled differently because its postwar setting and relationship story connect directly to the final television stretch. Its placement is discussed below rather than being buried in a speculative timeline.

1. Naruto Shippuden the Movie (2007)

The first Shippuden film gives Naruto a mission centered on Shion, a priestess who can seal a destructive spirit. Shion predicts that Naruto will die if he continues protecting her. Naruto responds in character: instead of leaving her to save himself, he challenges the prediction and stays with the mission.

Start a Shippuden film marathon here. The story does not require knowledge of later war revelations or Naruto's late-series abilities. It brings the older cast into a theatrical mission and keeps the conflict outside the TV arc spine.

Watch it first among the Shippuden movies. New viewers should at least meet the post-timeskip Team Kakashi in the television series before opening it, since the film assumes that character setup rather than repeating it.

2. Bonds (2008)

Bonds opens with flying ninja from the Land of Sky attacking the Hidden Leaf. Naruto and his friends leave to stop the threat, and the mission brings Naruto into contact with Sasuke during the period when Sasuke has separated from the village.

That encounter is the film's main draw. It lets the former teammates operate inside the same crisis without resolving the conflict that drives the TV series. Viewers who have not reached Shippuden's first Sasuke reunion should delay Bonds, because Sasuke's status and abilities are part of the premise.

In a release-order marathon, Bonds follows the 2007 film. In a first TV watch, it works better after the series has established where Sasuke is and why Naruto cannot simply treat the meeting as a reunion.

3. The Will of Fire (2009)

The Will of Fire begins after kekkei genkai shinobi from four villages disappear. Suspicion falls on the Land of Fire, and the threat of another war grows while Tsunade tries to uncover who is responsible. Naruto and his friends then learn that Kakashi has left the village.

The film uses Kakashi's relationship with his students as its emotional center. That makes it a strong companion to a Kakashi-focused rewatch, especially after the original series has shown his rule about protecting comrades. It also gives the wider Leaf cast more room than a mission centered only on Naruto.

Keep it third in the film sequence. Its themes connect to the same inheritance Naruto receives from his teachers, but the movie remains its own release and should not replace any TV arc in a canon-only route.

4. The Lost Tower (2010)

The Lost Tower sends Naruto into the past after rogue ninja Mukade draws power from the Ryumyaku, an underground chakra source. Naruto reaches the city of Loran and encounters Minato Namikaze during a secret mission, years before Minato becomes the Fourth Hokage.

The time-travel setup lets the film place Naruto beside his father without turning the meeting into an ordinary family reunion. Sara, the queen of Loran, has her own conflict with Mukade, which keeps the story wider than a Minato showcase.

Watch it fourth. It lands better after Shippuden has given Minato a clear place in Naruto's history, but viewers should not use the movie as a substitute for the television episodes that reveal Naruto's parents and the Nine Tails attack.

5. Blood Prison (2011)

Blood Prison begins with Naruto convicted of a crime he did not commit and sent to Hozuki Castle. The warden, Mui, seals Naruto's chakra, forcing him to investigate the prison and plan an escape without relying on his usual freedom or full fighting style.

Ryuzetsu and the other prisoners give the movie a cast largely removed from the familiar Hidden Leaf structure. The setting creates a different rhythm from village defense or escort missions: Naruto has to determine who framed him, who can be trusted, and what the prison is hiding.

Place Blood Prison fifth in release order. Its accusation premise should be treated as the setup of a standalone film, not as an event that changes Naruto's standing across later TV episodes.

6. Road to Ninja: Naruto the Movie (2012)

Road to Ninja confronts Naruto with the family life he never had. A masked shinobi traps Naruto and Sakura in an altered version of their world, where familiar people behave differently and Naruto can experience a home with parents. The wish is powerful precisely because the audience knows what Minato and Kushina mean to him.

Sakura receives a parallel lesson when the alternate world changes her own family situation. The film uses reversals for comedy, but the central conflict is not a catalog of swapped personalities. It asks what Naruto would choose if grief could be replaced by a convincing imitation of the life he wanted.

Watch Road to Ninja after the series has explained Naruto's parents. Release order places it sixth, and that is also the point where its emotional premise has enough context to work.

7. The Last: Naruto the Movie (2014)

The Last takes place after the Fourth Great Ninja War. The moon is moving toward Earth, Toneri Otsutsuki abducts Hanabi Hyuga, and Kakashi sends Naruto, Hinata, Sakura, Shikamaru, and Sai on the rescue mission. The external crisis runs beside Naruto's changing understanding of Hinata.

Unlike the first six films, The Last belongs inside the postwar viewing path. It advances relationships that the wedding story assumes and shows Kakashi serving as Sixth Hokage. Saving it for a detached movie marathon weakens that bridge.

Watch The Last after Naruto Shippuden episode 493 and before episode 494. Episodes 494-500 then carry the story into Naruto and Hinata's wedding. Do not watch it immediately after the other six if you have not reached the war's conclusion.

Which Naruto Shippuden movies are required?

You can follow the television series without inserting the first six Shippuden films. They add villains, locations, team combinations, and alternate situations, but the TV plot does not depend on their outcomes. That makes them good material for a completionist pass or breaks between major arcs.

The Last deserves different treatment. Its postwar setting, Naruto and Hinata story, and direct lead into the wedding period give it a role in the ending route. Viewers following only the central conflict can finish episode 479, but viewers continuing through episode 500 should include The Last before the wedding block.

Required is therefore a viewing-goal question. For the war plot alone, none of the movies resolves the main conflict. For the full Shippuden ending and relationship transition, include The Last.

A spoiler-conscious first-watch route

If you want the films during your first Shippuden watch, use release order but wait until the cast state makes sense. See Team Kakashi after the time skip before the 2007 movie. Reach Sasuke's Shippuden status before Bonds. Learn Kakashi and Minato's histories before using The Will of Fire and The Lost Tower as character companions.

Blood Prison can follow once Naruto's broader standing in the shinobi world is familiar. Road to Ninja should wait until Minato and Kushina's story has been revealed. The Last must wait until the war has ended and the postwar material has begun.

The simpler option is to watch the TV story through episode 493, insert The Last, finish episodes 494-500, and then run the first six films in release order. That route removes most spoiler anxiety without turning the movies into fake numbered episodes.

A completionist Naruto movie route

For every Naruto-era theatrical release, start with the three original-series films: Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow, Legend of the Stone of Gelel, and Guardians of the Crescent Moon Kingdom. Then continue through the seven films on this page.

After The Last, Boruto: Naruto the Movie moves the focus toward Naruto's son and the next generation. Viewers planning to watch the Boruto television series should decide whether they want the movie version of that story, the expanded TV adaptation, or both.

Keep every film as its own release page. Posters, release years, summaries, and sources belong to the movie, while the Naruto and Naruto Shippuden episode lists retain their official numbering.

Why movie pages stay separate from episode guides

A film is not an oversized episode. It has a theatrical title, release year, runtime, production identity, and distribution history. Folding it into an episode list damages both the official TV numbering and the film's own identity.

AnimeAnchor links each movie to the Naruto franchise and surfaces those releases from the series pages. That relationship gives readers one route across the franchise without claiming that a film is episode 221 of Naruto or an unnumbered Shippuden installment.

The same rule also protects alternate and overlapping stories. A movie can resemble a television-era adventure without being merged into the arc that happened to air near its release.

What comes after The Last

Finish Naruto Shippuden episodes 494-500 after The Last if you want the wedding conclusion. Boruto: Naruto the Movie then moves forward to Naruto's adult life and his relationship with Boruto, but it is outside the seven-film Shippuden run.

Do not jump to Boruto only because it is the next theatrical release. Complete the Shippuden ending first. The wedding block closes the television series, while Boruto opens a different generational conflict.

Final recommendation

Use release order for a Naruto Shippuden movie marathon: 2007, Bonds, The Will of Fire, The Lost Tower, Blood Prison, Road to Ninja, and The Last. The progression is easy to follow, and each film keeps its release identity.

For a first trip through the TV series, prioritize the episodes and save the first six movies until you want side stories. Insert The Last after episode 493, then finish episodes 494-500. That route preserves the war ending, gives the postwar relationship story room to land, and avoids invented episode placements.