Naruto Shippuden the Movie: The Lost Tower is the seventh overall Naruto film and the fourth in the Shippuden series.
Team 7 is dispatched to the ruins of the once-glorious city of Rōran to capture Mukade, a rogue ninja who intends to tap into the mystical Ryūmyaku beneath the city to Take Over the World. While in the process of tapping into the Ryūmyaku, Mukade opens up a time rift and sucks himself, Naruto and Yamato twenty years into the past, when Rōran was still a thriving metropolis. Upon awakening and getting his bearings, Naruto as well as Yamato teams up with Sāra, the young queen of Rōran, and Minato Namikaze, who has been dispatched to the city on a mission and yet to have become the Fourth Hokage, to uncover a Government Conspiracy that appears to revolve around Anrokuzan, the minister of Rōran...
The Lost Tower features the following tropes (Beware of spoilers):
- Action Dress Rip: Sāra performs one while preparing to help Naruto. Using Naruto's chakra blade, no less.
- Anti-Magic: During the final battle, Anrokuzan traps Naruto in a giant puppet that siphons his chakra and keeps him immobilized. However, while it works at first, it's not nearly enough when Naruto calls on the Nine Tails.
- Apologetic Attacker: After Naruto arrives to protect Sāra from a mob of citizens, said citizens drop the threatening and politely apologize to Sāra for their approach, having been unable to think of any other way to talk to her.
- Arm Cannon: Several of Mukade's puppet soldiers feature this.
- As You Know: Sakura explains the chakra blade crucial in fighting puppets. Justified in that Naruto had forgotten.
- The Atoner: When Sāra discovers that she had been a Puppet Queen for Anrokuzan, she quickly takes it upon herself to help Naruto defeat her traitorous advisor and atone for her mistakes.
- Babies Ever After: Sometime after Anrokuzan is defeated, Sāra gives birth to a daughter, whom Naruto and his team meet briefly after Naruto and Yamato return to the present.
- Badass Boast: When Naruto and Sāra confront Anrokuzan and realize he's Mukade, he has this to say:Naruto: "As long as you admit that you're Mukade, I'm not letting you get away!"Anrokuzan: "Mukade, huh? I put that hoodlum's name behind me long ago. I am now Lord Minister Anrokuzan of Rōran and I control this city!"
- Big Bad: Mukade.
- Big Damn Heroes:
- Minato and his squad first make themselves known to Naruto when they rescue him from being killed by an army of weaponized puppet soldiers. Likewise, near the end of the film, they show up to save Naruto and Sāra from being killed by Mukade/Anrokuzan after he goes One-Winged Angel.
- Naruto himself also does one, saving Sāra from falling to her death, as well as stopping her from being choked to death by Mukade's chakra strings.
- Body Horror: During his time in Rōran, Mukade/Anrokuzan modifies himself into a living puppet, as shown when Naruto punches him and shatters his face.
- Combination Attack: Naruto and Minato combine their Rasengan to create the Supreme Ultimate Rasengan.
- Complaining About Rescues They Don't Like: After he saves her life, Sāra initially assumes Naruto to be a villain and attacks him while demanding that he let her go, but she calms down and thanks him after he points out that he just saved her life.
- Continuity Nod:
- The film takes place at some point in between Jiraiya's demise and Pain's attack on Konoha, as Naruto recalls the former while comforting Sāra over her mother.
- The young Kakashi lacks his Sharingan, having not gained it yet.
- Demoted to Extra: Sakura and Sai serve a small role in this movie, only appearing at the beginning and end.
- Diving Save: Naruto is first properly introduced to Sāra when she is pushed off of a high balcony and he saves her.
- Dramatic Unmask: When Minato unmasks himself to Naruto.
- Evil Chancellor: Anrokuzan, or Mukade, if you prefer. He even has a Beard of Evil.
- Evil Is Visceral: Anrokuzan is seen at one point sitting on an organic throne in a Womb Level-like chamber.
- Exotic Eye Designs: Sāra has violet eyes with a small ripple-like pattern that bares a passing resemblance to Pain's Rinnegan.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: Mukade/Anrokuzan goes from being a simple small-time rogue ninja to an Evil Chancellor who controls Rōran from behind the scenes.
- Futureshadowing: Before Naruto returns to his time, Minato hopes that he has a son just like Naruto in the future. It's left ambiguous as to whether or not he figured it out...
- God Save Us from the Queen!: Due to her Puppet Queen status, Sāra is not very popular with the citizens of Rōran until the film's final act.
- Government Conspiracy: Big time.
- Heroic BSoD: Sāra undergoes one when she discovers that Anrokuzan really was using her for his schemes and that he was responsible for her mother's death.
- Horrible Judge of Character: Sāra firmly trusts Anrokuzan at first, adamantly refusing to believe Naruto and Minato's assessments that he's evil, only to be horrified and guilt-ridden when they turn out to be right about him.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Sāra's mother died after Mukade/Anrokuzan telekinetically flung a knife into her back.
- I Own This Town: Anrokuzan boasts to Naruto and Sāra that he "controls this city."
- Kid from the Future: Naruto becomes this when he's sent back in time and meets his father, Minato.
- Lack of Empathy: During the final confrontation, not only does Mukade/Anrokuzan reveal that he killed Sāra's mother, he actually mocks Sāra for not figuring it out sooner.
- Lap Pillow: The first flashback concerning Sāra's mother features her playing a harp and singing while a young Sāra rests her head in her lap.
- Leitmotif: Sāra sings the song "Hikari ni Wa" ("To Light" in the English dub) at different points during the film, typically as a Song of Solace and/or Grief Song when thinking of her mother.
- Lost in Translation: The Ryūmyaku is referred to simply as a "Ley Line" in the English dub.
- Magitek: All of the technology in Rōran, including Mukade's puppet soldiers, is powered by the chakra from the Ryūmyaku.
- Mecha-Mooks: Mukade's puppets fit this trope to a degree.
- Memory-Wiping Crew: When Naruto and Yamato are going back to the future, Minato uses a jutsu to erase his own, those of this team, the young Kakashi, Naruto, Yamato, and Sāra's memories of the event to ensure that the future remains unchanged. However, both Naruto and Sāra vaguely remember the events, believing them to be All Just a Dream.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: By inadvertently drawing Naruto back in time with him, Mukade ends up putting Naruto in the position to give Sāra the confidence to stand up to him and ultimately thwart his Evil Plan.
- No Ontological Inertia: Immediately after Anrokuzan/Mukade is killed, Naruto is returned to the future.
- Not Even Human: During the final confrontation, Mukade/Anrokuzan reveals himself to be a living puppet himself.
- One-Winged Angel: Mukade/Anrokuzan assumes the form of a giant
Demonic Spider puppet during the final fight. It's only after Naruto and Minato form the Supreme Ultimate Rasengan that he goes down. - Parental Abandonment: Sāra's mother, Serāmu, is dead by the time Naruto ends up in the past; Sāra finds out that she was murdered by Mukade/Anrokuzan. No mention is made of her father whatsoever.
- Precision F-Strike: Naruto's response to the Badass Boast above:Naruto: "Minister, my ass!"
- Puppet Queen: Sāra serves as one for Anrokuzan before Naruto shows up, to the extent that the citizens of Rōran explicitly call her the "Puppet Princess." He even has a literal puppet of her.
- Rank Scales with Asskicking: Thanks to his body modifications and puppet prowess, Lord Minister Anrokuzan aka Mukade proves no slouch in battle against Naruto Uzumaki.
- Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: Sāra's mother.
- Schizo Tech: Upon arriving in the past, Mukade convinces Sāra's mother's to use the Ryūmyaku's power to convert Rōran into a big modernized city.
- Slasher Smile: Anrokuzan gives one to Naruto during his Badass Boast.
- So Proud of You: Subtlety done, but as Naruto and Yamato are about to return to the present and Naruto tries to speak to Minato, it begins dawning on him that the 4th may be his father. Before Naruto could finish asking, Minato informs Naruto that if he has a son, he hopes to grow up to be a shinobi like him. Naruto'e eyes widened before he tears up as he realizes what Minato was really saying and the melacholic look on Minato's face seals it.
- Take Me Instead: As Mukade has Sāra at his mercy, Naruto insists that he is Mukade's enemy and demands that he focus on him and leave Sāra alone.
- That Man Is Dead: Anrokuzan refers to his former identity of Mukade as if they were two separate people ("I put that hoodlum's name behind me long ago"). Of course, that doesn't stop Naruto from exclusively referring to him as such.
- Time Travel for Fun and Profit: Mukade's plan, which would have succeeded had he not ended up dragging Naruto back with him.
- Torches and Pitchforks: More like Garden Implements, but the basic principle is the same. A citizen mob confronts Sāra to demand what they want from her, but when Naruto shows up, they drop the threatening and opt for the more peaceful approach.
- Ungrateful Bitch: Sāra is this to Naruto at first. After the Diving Save moment mentioned above, she promptly slaps him silly and elbows him in the face while demanding that he let her go. However, after Naruto reminds her that he just saved her life, Sāra calms down enough to realize how silly she's acting and politely thanks him for the save.
- What the Hell Are You?: When attacked by a group of puppet soldiers soon after awakening in the past, Naruto asks aloud "What the hell are these things?!"
- What the Hell, Hero?:
- Naruto is quick to call Sāra out for her Ungrateful Bitch moment. Bonus points for having Naruto explicitly say "What the hell?!"
- Likewise, Sāra chews Naruto out for calling Rōran a "wreck" and a "ruin." In Naruto's defense, however, he had come from the future, where Rōran was indeed nothing but ruins, and didn't know that he was in Trapped in the Past at the time.
- You Are Too Late: Though Naruto and Sāra successfully shut down Anrokuzan's factory where he's manufacturing his puppet soldiers, they fail to do so before he's completed his army.
- You Can't Fight Fate: Minato is adamant to Naruto that he not do anything that might change the past and alter the future, to the extent that he mind-wipes everyone before Naruto and Yamato go back to the future to ensure that it doesn't happen.
- You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Naruto's word for word reaction when he sees another three puppet soldiers join the fray to make a total of six against one.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Mukade/Anrokuzan killed Sāra's mother when she realized his scheme and refused to help him anymore, and attempted to do the same to Sāra herself.
- You Killed My Mother: As Sāra finds out, her mother's death was no accident or of natural causes.
