▪	RELEASED BY:		MANGA ENTERTAINMENT
		▪	ASPECT RATIO:		4:3 FULL SCREEN
		▪	AUDIO:		ENGLISH AND JAPANESE DD  5.1 & 2.0
		▪	RUNNING TIME:		569 MIN
		▪	RATING:		12
		▪	RELEASE DATE:		09/03/2007
		▪	REVIEW DATE:		09/29/2007
		▪	REVIEWED BY:		SANDRA SCHOLES

"Twelve years ago a nine-tailed fox suddenly appeared. Its tails lashed out smashing mountains and sending tidal waves crashing to the shores. The ninja rose up to defend their villages. One shinobi faced the nine-tailed fox in mortal combat. He sacrificed his life to capture the beast and had it sealed in a human body. This ninja was known as the fourth Hokage."

Orphan Naruto Uzumaki is a fun-loving and energetic young boy who dreams of becoming the next Hokage, but needs to first fulfil his duty to the school he is being educated in to be a model student and pass all the tests and exams he is given.

He keeps failing those tests in the village school the (Konoha Gakure Hidden Leaf village) and he is tired of looking foolish and useless wishing he could be respected by his tutors and peers alike, though through his own mischief he fails at becoming a ninja using the jutsu techniques.

Iruka, Naruto's sensei sees potential in him, even if he is young, so Mizuki informs him one time while they talk about the training. He says Iruka is especially hard on him as he senses he will complete the programme and graduate just as the other students if he concentrates enough. Mizuki also tells the impressionable young boy something else, which Naruto finds unbelievable. Iruka sensei is also an orphan just like him, and wants him to do well as he sees much of himself in Naruto. He goes so far as to tell him another secret about the scrolls the village seek to protect as they are valuable, and they contain ancient magic that if it falls into the wrong hands could potentially throw the entire village into ruin.

Naruto steals the scroll of sealing, and sits in a forest unfolding and reading the jutsu techniques, finding that there is more to learn than he first thought. He notices he shall be tested on one of his most feared ninja technique, the multi-shadow clone jutsu. Iruka finds Naruto near a hut and tells him he has been discovered with the scrolls on him, while Naruto says quite boldly that he has been studying it closely and learned one of the tests as Mizuki told him that if he learned one of them he would graduate.

Iruka thinks Mizuki has used Naruto to get the scroll so he can have it for himself. Naruto has to fight Mizuki in order to help out Iruka who is injured from his trying to stop Mizuki hurting Naruto. Naruto fights Mizuki later, and remembers how to use one of the jutsu techniques to defeat him. Iruka is more than pleased that Naruto has won in battle against him and proved himself worthy of becoming a ninja, and gets to have the honour of wearing a headband like the others in the school who graduate.

While Naruto has become a ninja, he also incurs the wrath of other students at the school such as Konohamaru the godson or lord Hokage, and wants to be as respected and to be the next Hokage as he thinks this is his birthright. Naruto has to combat the boy, and Konohamaru makes a strange request of him he never thought he would hear him say.

This first volume has all the fun, energy, laughs and a mixture of heart-warming characters who have real traits older children can identify to.There is the right amount of humour and action to set the mood as well as parts of the story, which are primed to tug at the heart in an emotional way.

EXTRAS:
There are a bountiful array of special features in this box set including, 4x3 presentation, Unleashed English language episodes1-3, Unleashed Japanese language episodes 1-3, English and Japanese 5.1, English and Japanese DTS, English subtitles, textless opening and closing credits, storyboard booklet and Anime to Manga trailers.

IN SUMMARY:
Boundless action and fun characters. Naruto proves it is one of the best!