Ninja teammates Naruto Uzumaki and Sakura Haruno are reunited after their two and a half years of training with the goal of retrieving their friend Sasuke Uchiha, who defected from their village to hunt down his brother. The path of reaching Sasuke holds many obstacles for the young ninja and their friends, however, when they must face off against a criminal organization: the Akatsuki, of whom Itachi Uchiha is a part of. Made up of nine criminal ninja led by Pain, the Akatsuki has made it their goal to attain world domination by capturing the numerous tailed beasts from the jinchūriki, humans who hold the beasts sealed within them. One of these happens to be Naruto, the holder of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox, making him a primary target of the organization. Meanwhile, Sasuke forms a team of capable ninja to track down and kill his brother, Itachi. Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 is a game based on the Naruto: Shippuden anime, including nine chapters which cover the story from the first episode to the 175th. The story progresses through a series of one-on-one or team battles. Battles are fought between ninja who charge chakra to perform attack jutsu. Items can be used in battle by setting them to one of the directional buttons beforehand. Support characters can be called upon to perform jutsu, falling under three categories: Defense, Attack, and Balanced. The Support Drive is built up after enough summons of the support characters, in which case a Team Ultimate Jutsu can be performed, consuming a large amount of the player character's chakra and causing much damage to the opponent in the process. In addition to battles is a free-roaming segment, where the player character can travel between accurate representations of the various locations shown in the anime, completing side-quests, collecting materials, and purchasing items from shops.