It’s been a little bit since I last discussed Naruto aside from my weekly Boruto episode reviews, so today we’re looking at kekkei genkai. And for those of you who don’t know, or just don’t remember, kekkei genkai are what’s known as “bloodline traits.”
This means that in order to have a kekkei genkai, one must first be a member of a particular bloodline, or clan. Some notable examples are the Uchiha Clan’s Sharingan, the Kaguya clan’s Shikotsumyaku (Dead Bone Pulse), and the Senju clan’s Wood Release (though technically only Hashirama could ever use it).
There is a wide variety of kekkei genkai, and perhaps I’ll do a full post on them at some point in the future. But this article is on a specific type of kekkei genkai, the combined elemental chakra natures. These are the natures that you get by combining your basic Fire, Wind, Lightning, Earth, and Water.
The key here is that it doesn’t matter if you can use both Water and Wind-style chakra. If you don’t have the correct kekkei genkai, you will never be able to combine them into the Ice nature. At the same time, you may technically have the kekkei genkai, but if you don’t have both natures needed to use it, you won’t be able to use the combined nature.
Although the typical chakra nature chart only depicts eight kekkei genkai natures, there are actually many more. Some share base natures, such as Wood and Mud both being combinations of Earth and Water. Others are created with yet unknown combinations of basic elemental natures.
However, there are also two kekkei genkai which are noticeably missing from the chart.
Looking at the advanced chakra nature chart depicted below, you’ll notice that there are two kekkei genkai natures missing between Scorch and Magnet Release. The first is a combination of Fire and Lightning styles, and the second is a combination of Wind and Lightning styles.
Advanced Chakra Nature Chart
Even with all the additional kekkei genkai chakra natures that have been revealed over the years, none have filled these two slots. Why is that the case?
The boring answer is that these natures have been left blank because it’s difficult to come up with kekkei genkai which would be combinations of those basic natures. After all, what do you get when you combine Fire and Lightning, or Lightning and Wind?
Of course, there’s always the possibility that these chakra natures exist, but have simply never been mentioned. Just as authors come up with character sheets full of information, much of which is never officially released, the same could be true for chakra natures. Kishimoto might know what those natures are, but for whatever reason never released them.
Then, there comes a third explanation which is simply that it doesn’t matter what the missing kekkei genkai are. Part of good world-building is that there are always a couple of unknowns. After all, it’s impossible to know everything about a world, and it’s the unknown that allows us to theorize and come up with our own conclusions.
So, since there’s literally no information on these missing kekkei genkai chakra natures other than the base natures they’re made of, let’s get to the good part of this article: the theorizing.
Let’s start off with the Fire and Lightning nature because I actually think that one’s the easier of the two. If I had to choose a chakra nature to be paired up with this particular kekkei genkai, I think a Plasma Release would be a good pick.
If you didn’t know, fire and electricity are both actually plasma. So I think simply calling the combination of the two Plasma Release makes the most sense. After all, as I already mentioned, what else would you possibly get by combining Fire and Lightning?
The only problem here is that I have no idea what the jutsu of this nature would be. I guess one of them could involve using the plasma like a blade to cut things. But aside from that, I’m not exactly sure.
Pakura using Scorch Release
The Lightning and Wind kekkei genkai is a bit harder to come up with. The base natures don’t have anything in common, and nothing happens when they’re combined. Also, before you say Thunder Release is a good option, that’s technically already the name of Lightning Release.
So if I were to simply base this new nature on, say, how Scorch Release works, then I guess Static Release is what I would choose. Scorch uses the destructive force of Fire and combines it with the far-reaching effect of Wind. Static would kind of do the same thing.
Rather than having a single bolt of electricity, Static Release would spread the electricity around a vast area using the Wind portion of the combination. And as with the Plasma Release, I have no real idea of what jutsu for this kekkei genkai would look like.
Even though so much of the Naruto world has been revealed over the past 20 years, there are still two kekkei genkai chakra natures unaccounted for. And interestingly, they both include the base Lightning nature. I guess it’s just difficult to come up with ways to combine Lightning with other things.
But what do you think of these missing kekkei genkai? Do you think they’ll ever be revealed at some point in Boruto: Naruto Next Generations? And what do you think these natures would look like? Let me know in the comments.
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Today I’ll be answering a question I came across which asked what the strongest chakra nature in Naruto is. Most of the responses I saw simply stated that there is no best chakra nature due to how each of them is related to each other, but I found that answer to be boring.
So instead of choosing the easy way out and saying that every chakra nature is equal, let’s actually give a definitive answer to this question. And yes, I realize that each nature has its own strengths, weaknesses, and situational uses, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re equal.
I’ll also be giving multiple answers to the question of which nature is best based on specific criteria. For example, the best of the basic natures or the best of the combined natures.
Finally, throughout this post, I won’t only be discussing which of the various chakra natures are best, but I’ll also be discussing which are worst, as well as commenting on the chakra nature charts themselves.
There are seven basic chakra natures which are split into two groups. On one hand, you have the five basic elemental chakra natures, and on the other, you have the two basic non-elemental chakra natures.
As a general rule, the elemental chakra natures are used for ninjutsu, while the non-elemental natures are used for genjutsu and taijutsu. While there are certainly exceptions to this rule, that’s still something we need to keep in mind when deciding which nature is best.
Elemental Chakra Natures
The five elemental natures are Fire, Wind, Lightning, Earth, and Water (pictured below, starting from the top center and moving clockwise). As shown in the diagram below, each of these five natures is strong against one nature and weak against another.
It’s this cycle of strengths and weaknesses that people generally cite when they say that there is no one chakra nature that is stronger than the rest. However, I’m here to explain to you why that’s a false assumption.
The Five Basic Elemental Chakra Natures
Let me start off with some commentary on the chakra nature chart pictured above. While this is indeed the chakra nature diagram used in the Naruto franchise, it doesn’t really make sense if you think about it rationally, specifically the order of Lightning and Earth.
I don’t think many people would argue too strongly against Water being strong against Fire, and Fire being strong against Wind, but from there the chart gets weird. Logic dictates that Earth should be strong against Lightning in the same way Ground-type Pokémon are immune to Electric-type attacks.
Lightning and Earth
However, in the world of Naruto, Lightning is strong against Earth. I’ll explain why that is in a second, but first, this reversal of these two natures messes with the diagram even more. Typically we would also think of Lightning as strong against Water, but in this case, it isn’t, Earth is.
That final part is going to be important for determining which of the five basic elemental natures is the strongest.
Going back to why Lightning and Earth are swapped on this diagram, all we need to do is change our way of thinking and it makes perfect sense. Earth nature represents the material world in which we live and Lightning nature represents the ethereal realm of the divine.
If you want further proof of this, the Japanese word for “thunder” (which is often translated as “lightning” in English) is “kaminari” which means the “sound of the gods.” So, if we see Lightning and Earth natures as representing divine and mortal realms, it makes sense for Lightning to be the stronger of the two.
The Strongest Basic Elemental Chakra Nature
Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, which of the five basic chakra natures is the strongest? Lightning. And, no, it’s not the strongest simply because it represents the divine realm.
You see, Lightning is the strongest basic elemental chakra nature because it’s actually strong against two other natures, and only weak to one. Lightning is strong against Earth as we can see from the diagram, but it’s also strong against Water simply due to the properties of Water and Lightning.
Sasuke Uchiha using the Lighting style (Chidori)
On the flip side, Water is probably the worst basic elemental chakra nature because it’s weak to both Earth and Lightning and only strong against Fire. The only thing I can think of that would make Water a bit stronger is that it can be used for genjutsu occasionally, but I believe Wind can too so that still puts Water at the bottom.
Now, of course, the strongest basic elemental nature, and all natures to an extent, depends on the user and the opponent they’re facing. However, generally Lightning is the strongest because there’s 2x the chance that your opponent will be using a nature weak to Lightning.
So, can the reigning champ, Lightning, stay on top if we introduce the next two contenders? Yin and Yang nature chakra may not be elemental, but they do count as basic chakra natures.
The Yin nature is made up of spiritual and mental energy and is used for things such as genjutsu or ninjutsu such as the Shadow Paralysis Jutsu. The Yang nature is made up of physical energy and is used for things like the Expansion jutsu.
Yin and Yang natures aren’t included on the elemental nature diagram not only because they aren’t element-based, but also because they aren’t affected by any of the other natures. In fact, they aren’t even affected by each other.
While Water was the worst nature of the basic elementals, I’d have to say that Yang is the worst nature of all the basic natures in part because it has no relation to the other basic natures. Sure, it isn’t weak to anything in particular, but at the same time, it isn’t strong against anything either.
The Case Against Yang Chakra
Why am I only saying Yang nature is the weakest and not Yin? It all comes down to the types of jutsu which can be used with each nature. You see, since Yang is the nature of physical energy — it’s primarily used to increase the physical capabilities of its user.
Now, sure, increasing your physical abilities isn’t a bad thing, but if we’re assuming that you can only use one basic chakra nature (as I’m assuming for this section) then Yang isn’t the nature you want to be stuck with. Anyone can increase their physical abilities to an extent without the use of Yang nature jutsu.
For example, Rock Lee can’t use any of the basic chakra nature types, and yet he becomes one of the physically strongest shinobi in the known Naruto universe. This means that if you have an affinity for one of the other chakra natures, you can still train yourself to be physically strong as well without needing to rely on Yang nature.
But, while Yang is the new weakest nature, Yin is the new strongest. Yin isn’t strong against two natures like Lightning is; it isn’t even strong against one nature, but it has no weakness and includes jutsu which are solid, all-around picks for fighting against any of the other natures.
Are you a Yin user fighting against a Lightning user? No problem, just hit them with a genjutsu to stop them in their tracks. The reason Yin nature is so good is simply because it has a good matchup against everything else regardless of strengths or weaknesses.
Alright, so we’ve established that Lightning is the best basic elemental chakra nature and Yin is the best basic nature overall, but the chakra nature diagram is about to get a lot more in-depth. Also, the diagram below doesn’t include all of the known combined natures, just the main ones.
Advanced Chakra Nature Chart
So, as you can see, I wasn’t lying when I said the chakra nature chart was about to get a lot more in-depth. While before we had two different groups of chakra natures, basic elemental and basic non-elemental, there are now an additional three groups, kekkei genkai, kekkei tōta, and Yin-Yang.
Kekkei Genkai Chakra Natures
Let’s first go through the kekkei genkai. These are combinations of two chakra natures which create a new chakra nature if the user belongs to a specific bloodline. The first example of a kekkei genkai we see in Naruto is Haku’s Ice nature which is a combination of Water and Wind.
However, as I mentioned, the user needs to be a member of a specific bloodline for the kekkei genkai to activate, so not everyone who can use both Water and Wind natures can use the Ice nature as well. For example, by the end of Shippūden, Naruto can use all five basic elemental chakra natures, but still can’t use Ice.
The kekkei genkai are shown as the outermost ring of elemental natures in the diagram above. Starting at the top and going clockwise we have Ice, Scorch, unknown, unknown, Magnet, Explosion, Storm, Wood, Lava, and Boil.
There are also some combined natures not featured on this diagram because they either overlap with other entries (such as Wood and Mud) or because we don’t know what combinations of basic elemental natures create them (such as Crystal).
Before I go any further I’d like to make a quick comment on Magnet nature. Why isn’t Lightning used to create Magnet? Magnet is Wind and Earth, but lightning is literally electricity. It’s called electro-magnetism for a reason; electricity and magnetism are intertwined.
With the exception of Magnet, and potentially Explosion, the rest of the kekkei genkai combined natures seem to make sense.
Kekkei Genkai Relationships
But, there’s one more thing I need to bring your attention to before I can explain which kekkei genkai combined nature is the strongest, and that is the fact that they aren’t related to each other. While the basic elemental natures had a cycle showing strengths and weaknesses, the combined natures do not.
If the combined natures followed the same pattern as the basic natures then Magnet would be strong against Explosion just as Lightning is strong against Earth, but that isn’t the case here. All of these kekkei genkai are, in theory, equal.
Because of this, I actually have to rely on the lore of the Naruto universe to choose which kekkei genkai is the strongest, even though I don’t necessarily agree with the lore. But, before I go into that, it’s assumed that any kekkei genkai nature is stronger than any basic elemental nature simply because it includes two of them.
That said, I still think the Yin nature would be able to compete with most of the kekkei genkai natures simply because of how good it is in every situation.
The Strongest Kekkei Genkai Chakra Nature
So, although I don’t necessarily agree with the reasoning for it, Wood nature is the strongest of the kekkei genkai combined natures. I know, Explosion, Lava, Scorch, and even Fire should be able to defeat Wood, but apparently, that isn’t the case.
You see, Wood in the Naruto universe is essentially diamond but turned up to 11. I can’t really explain why this is, but it likely has something to do with trees being considered sacred in one or all of the various Eastern religions on which Naruto is based.
So, while I’d like to say that Wood is one of the weakest combined chakra natures, the fact of the matter is that it’s actually the strongest kekkei genkai nature simply due to the in-universe lore.
Sure, kekkei genkai are cool and all, but what if you combine three basic elemental chakra natures instead of only two? Well, dear reader, you get what’s known as a kekkei tōta. Unlike kekkei genkai, it’s not yet known if kekkei tōta require the user to be from a specific bloodline.
There are only two known kekkei tōta users, and they aren’t from the same family, but it was instead stated that one passed the technique down to the other. This implies it’s not hereditary, but the name “kekkei tōta” does imply it’s hereditary because it means “bloodline selection.”
There’s also only one confirmed kekkei tōta to date, but hopefully, we’ll learn of a second one at some point in Boruto. So, by default, Dust nature is the strongest kekkei tōta, but just how does it stack up against all of the natures I’ve mentioned previously?
Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki using the Dust (Particle) style
Dust, or Particle, nature is a combination of Earth, Wind, and Fire (that can’t possibly be a coincidence). This nature is the most destructive of any I’ve talked about so far simply because it completely annihilates anything it comes in contact with.
I could argue that it’s technically no stronger in a one-on-one battle than any of the other natures (except Yang, which would lose), but the fact that it’s a combination of three basic elemental natures and has the power to destroy anything kind of puts it in a class of its own.
Sure, you could use Yin nature against it, but if someone has the ability to use Dust nature, then they probably won’t fall for your genjutsu or other Yin jutsu anyway.
Yin-Yang Chakra Nature
The final chakra nature is Yin-Yang, and as the name suggests it’s the combination of Yin and Yang chakra natures. Despite being a combination of the two non-elemental natures, Yin-Yang shows signs of being a kekkei genkai, although it’s never been officially labeled as such.
The reason I believe it should be considered a kekkei genkai is that there are only three known users of Yin-Yang outside of the Ōtsutsuki clan. Those are Madara Uchiha, Obito Uchiha, and Naruto Uzumaki.
Now, the fact that there are any known users outside the Ōtsutsuki clan would normally imply that Yin-Yang isn’t a kekkei genkai, but we need to take a look at how exactly Madara, Obito, and Naruto acquired this nature to begin with. None of these characters developed this nature on their own.
In Madara and Obito’s case, they acquired Yin-Yang after becoming jinchuriki of the Ten-Tails, which holds the chakra of the divine tree, which in turn is the sacred tree of the Ōtsutsuki clan. Naruto, on the other hand, received Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki’s chakra directly and then acquired Yin-Yang.
Because of how these characters developed the ability to use this special nature, it can be assumed that Yin-Yang is actually a kekkei genkai of the Ōtsutsuki clan. These three were able to obtain it through either stealing the power in the form of the Ten-Tails, or being given the power as Naruto was.
I also feel the need to point out that there are plenty of other shinobi who can use both Yin and Yang natures separately, but not Yin-Yang. Sakura is one such example, and this further leads me to say it’s a kekkei genkai.
Yin-Yang Vs. The Rest
Even if it is a kekkei genkai, Yin-Yang still deserves to be in its own group simply because it’s the only combined chakra nature within the non-elemental branch. So, how does this final chakra nature compare to all those that came before it?
Needless to say, it’s better than the seven basic natures since Yin is the best of those and this one includes Yin. So the real question is how does it stand up against the kekkei genkai and kekkei tōta natures?
I’d like to say that it’s hard to decide whether Yin-Yang or Dust is the strongest nature, but honestly, it isn’t. Yin-Yang is the best chakra nature there is, despite how powerful Dust is. And no, it isn’t because of genjutsu in the same way Yin was stronger than the other basic natures.
It’s actually because Yin-Yang is able to completely cancel out all other ninjutsu. This means that the previous winners, Lightning, Yin, Wood, and Dust all can’t touch Yin-Yang. Yes, Yin can still use genjutsu, but so can Yin-Yang since Yin is a part of it. And, yes, Yin-Yang users can still be proficient in taijutsu as well.
So what have we learned today? Lightning is the best basic elemental nature. Yin is the best overall basic nature. Wood is the best combined elemental nature (kekkei genkai). Dust is the best overall combined elemental nature. Yin-Yang is the best overall nature, combined or otherwise.
Let me know in the comments if you disagree with any of my picks or if there’s an aspect of chakra natures you think I left out.
And, if you’re interested in which characters in Boruto know which chakra natures, I have a new article out that dives into that. There, I discuss everything we know about the chakra natures used by 13 major characters.
If you enjoyed this article, click the like button down below and follow me on Twitter @DoubleSama. I tweet out every time a new post goes live, so it’s the best way to stay up to date.
Want to see how I ranked all 23 chakra natures (some of which aren’t included in this article) on a tier list? Check out the Naruto Chakra Nature Tier List article.
The Akatsuki are a major terrorist organization which have been in all three parts of the Naruto franchise so far (Naruto, Shippūden, and Boruto). The organization was introduced in Naruto, and was briefly revived in Boruto, but served as the main antagonist group for most of Shippūden.
While the organization does have one “official” goal, each member of the Akatsuki has their own personal goals they wish to accomplish, as well as their own reasons for joining. These individual goals and reasons for joining are mainly what I’ll be discussing today.
For simplicity’s sake, I’ll only be going over the 10 primary members of the Akatsuki present in Shippūden. These are Nagato, Konan, Obito, Zetsu, Itachi, Kisame, Sasori, Deidara, Hidan, and Kakuzu.
The organization is also split up into teams of two, with each pair of members having something in common such as goals, reasons for joining, or even abilities. Because of this, I’ll be going through each pair instead of each member individually.
The Akatsuki Logo
Nagato/Konan
Nagato and Konan are the two original members of the Akatsuki who remain. Originally they founded the organization alongside their friend, Yahiko, but he was killed by the then-leader of the Hidden Rain village, Hanzo the Salamander.
They both joined (founded) the Akatsuki in order to bring an end to the shinobi world wars which were ravaging their small nation. The Hidden Rain village lies in the middle of three of the great nations, and so was a constant battlefield for a war in which they weren’t even involved (initially).
Their goal, and the “official” goal of the Akatsuki, is to gather all of the tailed beasts and use them to destroy the five great nations. While this would undoubtedly kill a lot of people, they believe this is the only way to create a world in which there is no more wars. A war to end all wars, as it were.
From their perspective, the Akatsuki isn’t a terrorist organization, but rather an organization fighting for justice, the same as it did back when they were a small group of rebels fighting against the larger nations during the third shinobi war.
Nagato is an Uzumaki, and so has access to all of the Uzumaki clan’s various abilities, but that’s not actually what makes him special. What makes him so powerful, and the leader of the Akatsuki, is his Rinnegan. The Rinnegan are the most powerful of the three great dōjutsu, and make their wielder a god on Earth.
Konan simply serves as Nagato’s right hand. She’s the only female member of the Akatsuki, and like Nagato, doesn’t often go off on missions for the organization. Instead, she mainly seems to manage the Hidden Rain village. While Nagato is the leader of the village in private, Konan is the more public leader who the people refer to as an angel.
Her jutsu involves paper since she likes origami. She uses origami weapons, and can also turn her body into a mass of paper. The reason the people of the Hidden Rain refer to her as an angel is because she often has large, paper wings when she’s in public.
Obito/Zetsu
While Nagato and Konan are the founders of the Akatsuki, Obito and Zetsu lead the organization from behind the scenes. It was actually Obito who gave the Rinnegan to Nagato, as well as gave him the idea of collecting all of the tailed beasts.
However, what Nagato didn’t know is that Obito never intended for the tailed beasts to be used to destroy the five great nations and bring about an era of peace. Instead, he was working for his mentor, Madara Uchiha, and planned to cast the Infinite Tsukuyomi jutsu, putting everyone on Earth in a dream-like fantasy.
While it could be argued that this would in turn bring about world peace, which is kind of why Madara was doing it, Obito was simply doing it for his own selfish gain. He wanted to be reunited with his crush, Rin, who died when they were teenagers.
But what about Zetsu? Zetsu is actually made up of two halves, White and Black Zetsu. White Zetsu is the name for a seemingly infinite number of clones created from the first Hokage’s cells, while Black Zetsu was a being created by Kaguya Ōtsutsuki.
I covered all of this in my Naruto: Shippūden review, but basically, while Obito was simply using Nagato, Zetsu was simply using Obito in return. By having Obito cast the Infinite Tsukuyomi, he could revive Kaguya.
As a side note, the reason Zetsu has a plant-like appearance when he’s in his combined form is because of the White Zetsu half. It’s a clone created from the first Hokage, who was a master of Wood-style jutsu, aka plant jutsu.
Itachi/Kisame
Nagato and Konan were the founders, and Obito and Zetsu were the leaders from the shadows, but Itachi and Kisame are our first pair of regular members. The thing linking these two together is the fact that they both killed their comrades for the good of their villages.
Itachi wiped out the Uchiha clan before they were able to revolt against the Hidden Leaf, and Kisame killed his superior and comrades because they were selling off secrets of the Hidden Mist. However, while they both committed similar acts, these two joined for different reasons.
Kisame already knew Obito and decided to join him after he was invited into the organization when he became a rogue ninja. After killing his comrades, Kisame was fed up with the lies and deceit in the shinobi world, and Obito promised him a world without lies.
Itachi, on the other hand, joined the Akatsuki as a way to keep an eye on the movements of the organization and protect the Leaf from them from the inside. He made a point to be the one assigned to capturing the nine-tails because he didn’t want any of the other members to go on a rampage and destroy the Hidden Leaf, or kill his brother.
However, despite their differing reasons for joining the group, the two are actually more similar than you might expect. We later learn that Itachi was actually a good guy, but it’s easy to forget we learn the same thing about Kisame.
They were both haunted by the memory of killing their comrades, but at the same time they both understood that it needed to be done to save their respective villages. Also, despite seeming to love destruction and death, Kisame doesn’t really hate anyone and kill for fun, he just follows orders.
This pair is also potentially the most powerful in the organization. With Itachi’s Mangekyō Sharingan, and Kisame’s Samehada and vast chakra reserves, it’s likely the two of them could even defeat Nagato and Konan, or Obito and Zetsu if they had really wanted to.
If Itachi had ever actually decided to go against the Akatsuki, I find it likely that Kisame would have followed him. The pair came to understand each other over their years working together and Kisame appears to always follow Itachi’s orders because he respects him.
Obito even worried that Kisame would leave the Akatsuki once Itachi died, but in the end, Kisame stuck around until it was just him, Obito, and Zetsu left.
Sasori/Deidara
While Kisame was one of the longest lasting members of the organization, Sasori was the first of these 10 members to die. That’s right, best girl Sakura helped take down the first Akatsuki member. His partner, Deidara, was also the newest member of the group.
Unlike Itachi and Kisame, Sasori and Deidara seem to hate each other. The reason they’re paired together is because they’re both “artists,” although they constantly argue over what true art is. They also both joined the group because they were rogue ninja whose abilities the Akatsuki wanted.
Sasori was a rogue ninja because he created puppets out of people he killed, such as the third Kazekage. Deidara was a rogue ninja because he used his detonation clay jutsu to blow up various buildings as a rebel terrorist. In both cases, their art is what made them rogues.
For Sasori, art is something that lasts forever. This is why he takes human bodies and turns them into puppets so that they can live on. However, Deidara believes art is something that’s over in an instant, which is why he creates clay animals that explode moments later.
Of all the Akatsuki members, these are the two who work together the least. In fact, rather than working as a pair as the Akatsuki usually do, these two seem to prefer dividing up their tasks so that they don’t have to deal with each other.
Sasori and Deidara were also both killed by their own art, which is another thing they have in common. Sasori was stabbed through the heart by the puppets of his own parents, and Deidara blew himself up by turning his body into a bomb.
Hidan/Kakuzu
The final pair of the Akatsuki are the immortals, Hidan and Kakuzu. The fact that these two are both immortal is really the only thing linking them together as a pair, but at the same time, it’s also the most important.
Before Hidan was recruited, Kakuzu had a habit of killing his teammates for various reasons. Sometimes he would stab through them to kill an opponent on the other side, and other times he killed them simply because they annoyed him. However, Hidan solves that problem.
Since Hidan is also immortal, Kakuzu can’t kill him even if he tries.
However, their immortality comes from different places. Hidan’s immortality appears to come from his god, Jashin. He kills people in a ritualistic fashion and offers them to Jashin. In return for these sacrifices, Jashin has rewarded Hidan with true immortality, unlike that of his partner.
Kakuzu’s immortality is actually just caused by his jutsu, and so he can be killed if his jutsu is figured out. He’s able to steal the souls of his opponents and sew them into his body, thus granting him the remaining years of their lives. If he’s killed, he simply swaps to the next soul’s lifespan to continue living.
The reason this means he isn’t truly immortal is because he would die if he didn’t continue to collect souls, but also because he can only store four spares at a time. If he’s killed four times without acquiring any new souls, he’ll run out and die for real.
So why would two immortals feel the need to join an organization like the Akatsuki?
Hidan joins because the Akatsuki’s missions give him access to all the sacrifices he could ever want, but also the group gives him protection from being captured. Although Hidan is immortal, that doesn’t mean he can’t be captured and confined for the rest of eternity, which is exactly what happens to him.
Kakuzu, on the other hand, simply wants money. He sees joining the Akatsuki as a good way to make a lot of money, although what he spends it all on is unknown. It’s because of his love for money that he’s made the treasurer of the organization.
Conclusion
So in the Akatsuki we have five very different pairs of 10 members. There are the founders, the leaders, the betrayers, the artists, and the immortals. Each member has their own individual goal and reason for joining the organization, and yet they all work together.
So who’s your favorite Akatsuki pair? I know that Itachi/Kisame are probably the favorite for most, or Nagato/Konan, but I have a soft spot for Hidan/Kakuzu. I enjoy their relationship in which they both hate each other, but can’t actually kill each other.
I also find them to be the most interesting of the group because I feel they had the least backstory. I would have enjoyed to learn a lot more about exactly how Hidan’s immortality worked, or just anything about Kakuzu other than the fact he loves money.
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There are two main reasons I decided to make a separate post about time abilities specifically for the Naruto universe. The first is that there aren’t really any time-altering abilities, and the second is that Naruto/Boruto content is the most popular on my website (you’re welcome).
Teleportation
Now, I know I just said that there aren’t any time-altering abilities in the Naruto universe, but that isn’t exactly true. Technically speaking, the Teleportation Jutsu would be considered a time jutsu, but it doesn’t work in the way we tend to think about time abilities in general.
The first thing I should mention is that there are a number of different types of Teleportation Jutsu within the series. Clearly none of these jutsu are realistic for a human, but in theory they could work. That said, I’ll mainly be focusing on Minato Namikaze’s Teleportation Jutsu because it’s the most straightforward.
But before that, let’s briefly take a look at two other types of Teleportation Jutsu. The first is where the user, or something else the user picks, is teleported to another dimension. This is mostly seen used by Obito Uchiha and Kakashi Hatake in the form of their Sharingan Kamui.
The second type is Sasuke Uchiha’s Rinnegan Teleportation which swaps his body (or whatever else he chooses) with something else. I feel like he uses his teleportation without swapping out anything once during his fight against Kaguya Ōtsutsuki in Shippūden, but every other time, the positions of two objects are swapped.
Now back to Minato’s Teleportation Jutsu. Minato’s works in a more straightforward manner, he can “teleport” to wherever his specially marked kunai are. But, as I hinted at before, Teleportation Jutsu is technically just a Time Jutsu.
Hold onto your forehead protectors because we’re about to jump into some basic physics for this one.
When an object (or person) approaches the speed of light, time slows down for it (them), because time is relative. If said object travels at the speed of light, then time stands still for that object.
So all that’s really happening is Minato is travelling at or near the speed of light, which is too fast for anyone to see, thus it appears that he’s teleporting. The reason for his specially marked kunai is that he uses the chakra markings as a beacon to direct him, probably since it’s difficult to navigate at that speed.
So, by this logic, since Minato is travelling at or near the speed of light, he’s distorting the flow of time for himself, thus making his Teleportation Jutsu technically, a time jutsu.
Minato preparing to use his Teleportation Jutsu
Time Style
However, if we don’t do some shinobi grade mental gymnastics, there really aren’t any jutsu within the Naruto universe that can be considered proper Time Jutsu. Now, you could argue that it’s because you can’t make “time” out of any of the five chakra natures, but it’s Naruto, it’s all magic anyway.
If you’re telling me you can make Magnet Style Jutsu without using Lightning Style (Magnet style is Earth and Wind apparently) then there’s clearly no logic behind anything and therefore no reason you couldn’t have a Time Style Jutsu. Time Style could have been Lightning and Earth if Explosion style wasn’t already made using that combination.
They could even ignore all the styles of jutsu and just make up a character with the ability to control time, like how the Rinnegan is needed to use the Planetary Devastation Jutsu instead of Earth Style. And yet, there’s still no time-altering jutsu in Naruto.
Looking back at the two major types of time abilities from my The Power of Time post, we see that there are no shinobi who can either stop time, or reset time. I get that these abilities are overpowered, but power scaling doesn’t really seem to be a concern in Naruto anyway.
Conclusion
So why are there no Time Jutsu in Naruto, Shippūden, or Boruto? Unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be a concrete reason. There just aren’t any. Technically I could argue that Planetary Devastation is also a Time Jutsu because gravity affects time, but we know that’s not really a Time Jutsu at this point.
Can you think of any Time Jutsu that I may have missed? Also, if you could make up a Time Jutsu (preferably not one that’s completely overpowered) what would it be? I think altering the speed of time within a specified radius of the user would be interesting.
This Nendoroid released in April 2018 so if you’re looking to get her for yourself, I’d suggest doing so before the price increases (although I don’t think the price of Sakura will actually increase much).
From the front of the box we see the the number of the figure in the Nendoroid collection as usual, which is 833 for Sakura. The front of the box also features a pink and white marble-like pattern which is unique to this side of the packaging.
Sakura Haruno Nendoroid Packaging (back)
The back, sides, top, and bottom of the box are all in a matte crimson, which is different from the other boxes I have (those are all glossy). This box also doesn’t feature any circular windows on the sides like those for the KonoSuba Nendoroids did.
This box was also smaller than those for my previous three Nendoroids, most likely due to Sakura not coming with as many large accessories. It’s shorter than all the others, but just as wide and deep as they are.
The box also features a couple images of different assembly options (confident, shy, and angry/action), as well as an image of the Katsuyu (Sakura’s slug summon) backdrop piece.
Sakura Haruno Nendoroid Pieces
Speaking of the Katsuyu backdrop piece, it can be found behind the cardboard liner and the back of the box, much like the explosion graphic which came with Megumin. I actually prefer the Katsuyu, because it doesn’t necessarily cover a portion of the figure in the same way Megumin‘s explosion does.
The interchangeable parts that come with Sakura are two extra faces, three extra arms, and two extra legs. Unlike the other figures I have, she doesn’t come with any handheld accessories (I still wish Megumin came with a Chomusuke).
Sakura Haruno Nendoroid Assembled with Katsuyu
It was extremely tempting to set Sakura up in the mid-air action pose (and I may still do that at some point), but for now I decided on the more standard pose since it matched the rest of my figures better. Katsuyu was only set up for the sake of taking a picture, and then placed back in the box.
The only reason I feel anyone should choose the shy setup of Sakura is if they’re pairing it with the Sasuke Uchiha Nendoroid, but that one’s pretty expensive and Sasuke isn’t a girl so why even bother getting him?
My only real complaint about this Nendoroid is that it didn’t come with a face with Sakura’s Strength of a Hundred Seal on her forehead and an extra arm/hand which is using some kind of medical jutsu. Other than those two things, I don’t really see anything more that should have been added.
Finally, I can’t remember if the box liners for my other Nendoroids had a graphic printed onto them, but I thought the Hidden Leaf emblem on the back was a nice touch.
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