The operation to find a missing person goes awry when Kakashi Hatake falls victim to a suspicious trap and gets separated from his students Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, and Sakura Haruno. To make matters worse, the trio is ambushed by mysterious ninjas who capture Sakura, prompting Naruto and Sasuke to give chase.

As the two boys engage in a dangerous battle, not even Sasuke's troubling discovery about the mission can deter them from their endeavor to reunite the team and accomplish their task.

Celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Naruto manga serialization, the spin-off premiered at the 2009 Jump Festa Anime Tour. It used the same CGI graphics as featured in the Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm game.

Although the OVA's story takes place as early as Naruto's episode 19, it also contains a scene set in between two of Naruto: Shippuden's arcs: the end of "Fated Battle Between Brothers" and the beginning of "Five Kage Summit," or from episodes 144 to 197 respectively.