Like I said before,
Naruto Shippuden: Dragon Blade Chronicles isn't a fighter. Instead, it's a 3rd person action game where you dungeon crawl around a mysterious mountain in order to complete a mission that is somewhat tied to the actual
Naruto storyline.
Actually, most of the game doesn't take place in the Naruto storyline at all. Based on the characters available and the state of events, it takes place just after Sasuke has killed Orochimaru and formed his own squad, Hebi, with the intent of hunting down Itachi and finally getting his vengeance. Where the story breaks away from the standard series of events is that instead of Jiraiya tracking the Akatsuki leader, Pain, back to his home city and confronting him and starting off the series of events that lead to Naruto taking up Jiraiya's mission, Konoha is attacked by a huge rock dragon. When a young girl named Akari appears and explains that this dragon is one of five, she hands Naruto a sword called the Dragon Blade. This blade is the only thing that can take down one of these elemental dragons, and once defeated, use that dragon's powers in combat.
Akari then explains that she and her brother are the last decedents of a clan of ninja that were cast out many generations before. When her brother learned of the dragons, called Genryu, he set out to free them and seek revenge against the entire ninja world. Naruto, Sakura, Sai, Kakashi and Yamato then set out with Akari at their side to go to the dragons' home and stop the misguided brother before he accomplishes his goal.
Meanwhile, the Akatsuki have learned of these mysterious beasts and have decided to find out whatever they can about them. Itachi and Kisame are dispatched to Mount Koryu, the home of the creatures, in order to capture them for further study. They aren't alone though; Deidara and the newest Akatsuki member, Tobi, decide to head out as well and see what they can do.
The last group to converge on Mount Koryu is Sasuke and his team, consisting of former Orochimaru students Jugo, Karin and Suigetsu. They are heading that way because they have learned of the Akatsuki's interest, and Sasuke is willing to do whatever he can in order to get a bead on his brother's whereabouts.
The game is pretty much split into two stories, those following Naruto and those following Sasuke. Naruto's plot has him taking on dragon after dragon in hopes of collecting all of the elemental orbs for his Dragon Blade so he can get into the inner circles of Mount Koryu and stop Akari's brother. Sasuke's path also has him trekking through the mountain, but his boss battles are typically against more recognizable characters like Deidara.
Either way, the game plays the same. As either Naruto or Sasuke, you will dungeon crawl your way through room after room and be confronted by various protectors (aka enemies). Sometimes, you will be locked in a room and have to clear away several waves of bad guys before you are allowed to progress, and other times, you will just have to cross the magical invisible barrier that makes the current set of foes disappear and a new set poof into existence.
Throughout your journey, you will not only collect new scrolls in order to increase the variety of attacks you can use, but you will also change out various supporting characters that can help you in the middle of a fight. For Naruto, these are characters like Sakura who can heal you, or Neji who can cause the enemies to light up while you are in a particularly dark part of the mountain. Sasuke's support characters are the other members of Hebi and give you abilities like Jugo's ability to all but clear the screen with a massive punch.
Eventually you will fight your way through enough rooms to find yourself in a boss battle room. Again, you will either fight one of the five dragons, or actually progress the original story some (sort of) as Sasuke encounters various Akatsuki members in order to hunt down Itachi.
These bursts of action are typically punctuated by long cut-scenes involving a lot of dialogue and, while helpful to the overall story, really break up the action. I guess that isn't too much of a bad thing though, because without it, Naruto Shippuden: Dragon Blade Chronicles would be a much shorter game, and its already a pretty quick run-through as it is.
