When it comes to ninja, Naruto has some of the most impressive fighters. Many of the main cast become some of the strongest shinobi in the world. They not only are great offensive heroes, but also healers, supports, and wild cards in battle. Fans fell in love with the large cast of characters, which is no surprise. At the core of their greatness, of course, are their abilities. Naruto and Sasuke are just as iconic as the Rasengan and Chidori. Their personalities bleed seamlessly into the way they fight. Each character is like this, and it makes them all the more fascinating. The more unique, strange, and impressive, the better.
Sometimes, though, even great characters have a few pretty lame abilities. Or, conversely, characters that fans love to hate have fantastic abilities. It all just depends on what their skill set is or what point of their ninja journey they’re at.
Updated on May 10th, 2022 by Amanda Bruce: Though shinobi have a lot of skills that might as well be magic, there is a huge range in those skills. Some are incredibly powerful, giving a single person the potential to destroy the world, while others are definitely not. That huge range means fans might not understand the lack of power behind some skills, and that other shinobi, like Naruto Uzumaki himself, can be seen as severely overpowered.
Most Powerful Attacks In Naruto
Limbo
There’s no doubt that Madara Uchiha is one of the most powerful villains in the entire Naruto franchise. He’s behind many of the catastrophes in the original series. One of his most interesting methods of attacking others, however, is something more out of science fiction than shonen anime.
With Limbo, Madara is able to create clones of himself, not unlike shadow clones, that exist in a dimension parallel to the one in which he exists. These clones have access to all of the same abilities as the original. It’s difficult to combat because only a shinobi who has the Sage of Sixth Paths skills or the Rinnegan can even see the clones created in Limbo.
Kotoamatsukami
This particular jutsu isn’t used often in the Naruto franchise because there are very few shinobi capable of using Kotoamatsukami. One of those who can is Shisui Uchiha.
The jutsu, like many of the Uchiha clan specialties, is a result of power in the eye. It allows the shinobi to control the mind of anyone in their field of vision. It’s more insidious than simple control though. The shinobi is also able to plant false experiences in the minds of their targets, giving the illusion that they are making decisions of their own free will. It’s not as flashy of an attack as some of the others, but very dangerous. That kind of power comes with a price though. It can only be used once in a decade.
Kirin
Kirin is a very powerful technique that can be used by those shinobi who favor Lightning Release and is initially created by Sasuke Uchiha.
The shinobi doesn’t create the lightning used here, but instead, pulls lightning right out of a gathering storm, controlling it with their own chakra. It’s powerful enough to destroy a Susanoo – or a mountain. Of course, once the shinobi has actually gathered the lightning, the thunder clouds of the storm will dissipate, only allowing this particular attack to be used once in a fight unless the shinobi wants to take the time to make themselves more thunder clouds.
Amenominaka
This particular jutsu is an interesting one in the world of Naruto because it’s not strictly a method of attack – but can be used as one. It’s also more like a genjutsu than a ninjtusu, though it’s classified as the latter. Only one adversary in the franchise has used it so far as well: Kaguya Otsutsuki.
Amenominaka actually allows Kaguya to summon new terrain to her. That means the surroundings, or the battlefield itself, are changed on her enemies. That means that she’s able to give herself the literal high ground in a battle if she wants, or make the terrain particularly dangerous to an opponent.
Baryon Mode
Like many of the most powerful jutsu in Naruto, this one is only available to one shinobi. It’s specifically only available to the jinchuriki of the nine-tailed fox. For the run of the series, that’s Naruto. This mode of attack only appears in the Boruto series as Naruto doesn’t learn of its existence until Kurama allows him to use it.
It’s essentially a power-up rather than an actual attack. It boosts reflexes, speed, healing, and more to make Naruto almost completely invulnerable to attacks. It also allows him literal chakra arms to battle with. The downside is that it burns through the nine-tails chakra during its use, essentially destroying Kurama when it’s used.
Perfect Susanoo
There is a reason why the Uchiha clan is one of the most frighteningly powerful. The Sharingan is already tremendous, but its next level, the Mangekyo Sharingan, is horrifying.
One of the most powerful aspects of the Mangekyo Sharingan is the ability to summon a Susanoo, a gigantic humanoid avatar made of chakra. They will fight on behalf of their creator. Furthermore, each Susanoo draws upon the power of its summoner. In turn, that means they use attacks and act accordingly to the ninja’s will. The creation of this chakra giant is an attack in itself, preparing them for battle. Understandably, some cower at the mere sight of one.
Rasengan
The Rasengan is a powerful attack only known by a few shinobi. It was created by Minato Namikaze to mimic the tremendous attacks of the Tailed Beasts. At quite a young age, Naruto, his son, learned to use the ability. The chakra ball that packs a punch became one of his signature moves.
Naruto learned the move to counter Sasuke’s Chidori, but he made it even stronger. With the use of his shadow clones, he can collect and condense more chakra to pack an even larger punch. Getting hit with it would easily defeat most enemies.
Amaterasu
Once Sasuke Uchiha gained the Mangekyo Sharingan, his power rose to an alarming level. After all, the higher-tier Sharingan not only gives strength, but allows new, more horrifying abilities. One of its strongest is the Amaterasu. It’s the black fire, the highest level of fire release, and only its creator can stop it.
Moreover, the fire can be used in various moves to combine with a Susanoo, impale attackers, and combine with allies’ abilities. It’s dangerous on its own, but it becomes even more dangerous when it is used in tandem with other tremendous powers. One of the most intimidating is the Kagutsuchi attack, creating a black fire sword for a Susanoo.
Reanimation Jutsu
Shown early in Naruto by Orochimaru and his followers, Reanimation Jutsu is a dangerous and powerful ability. After all, this power can bring a ninja back from the afterlife as is seen with many of the deceased hokage in the war in Naruto. Moreover, it’s dangerous on a different level because a sacrifice is needed for someone to be reanimated.
While not a direct attack, an army of the reanimated is a daunting accomplishment. Because of this, any ninja that knows this jutsu is a possible necromancer to be feared. Furthermore, their abilities only make them harder to stop if they become evil. Overall, this ability helped stop the world from ending. That doesn’t negate the powerful danger it poses, though.
Creation Rebirth
Created by Lady Tsunade and adopted by Sakura Hurano, Creation Rebirth is considered the pinnacle of medical ninjutsu. In the past, Tsunade developed it to keep herself and her comrades healthy on the battlefield. A master medic-nin can use the chakra in their body to encourage cell growth, healing wounds and damage before it effects the user.
Effectively, as long as their chakra is still strong and flowing, a powerful user of this move cannot be slain. While not an attack, a Creation Rebirth user can attack indefinitely as long as their chakra holds up. That’s a tremendously powerful attack against a foe.
Izanagi
In Naruto, many of the most dangerous and powerful attacks come from the cursed Uchiha clan. Their Sharingan are extremely effective. While most of its powers are based on reading others’ motions and copying moves, the Sharingan can also create illusions.
However, unlike most abilities, the illusion isn’t applied just to the enemy. The illusion is applied to reality itself. It gives the Sharingan ninja the ability to do things like apply the illusion to themselves and then have all damage transfer to an illusion instead of their real bodies. Does it sound confusing and complicated? It is. There’s a reason why bending reality is so effective.
Chibaku Tensei
There are traps, and then there’s the Chibaku Tensei. Able to immobilize nearly anyone, a ninja creates a black sphere with their hands to start it. Then, they send the sphere into the air and use their chakra to attract objects, people, and more. It’s a great tool to trap enemies, as it can even crush them in the rubble.
Nagato used this to trap Naruto. Consequently, Naruto became the first and only person to find a way to break out of its hold. However, not everyone is Naruto, so it can cause a lot of damage. The fact that it could affect far more than just one ninja makes it all the more dangerous and powerful.
Space-Time Migration
Manipulating space and time is impressive in any dimension, and that’s no different in the world of Naruto. As if the Magekyo Sharingan wasn’t already powerful enough, the eye can also look beyond and manipulate space, time, and other dimensions.
Sasuke uses this ability in Boruto to explore and protect Konohagakure better. However, in Naruto, Obito is the first to use the ability. He uses it to move objects and people from one dimension to another, called Kamui. With this, the most advanced members of the Uchiha clan are all the more powerful. If they can slip in between space and time, they can cause even more damage. Luckily, the only Uchiha alive capable of such things is Sasuke, whose evil deeds are far behind him.
Reaper Death Seal
The Reaper Death Seal is very important in the Naruto world, as it’s what took out Naruto’s father. In an effort to save Konohagakure, Minato used this seal to put a part of the Nine-Tailed Beast within himself and stop its rampage. However, the seal has a catch: it’s only so effective because the user calls upon Shinigami, the God of Death, for assistance. The Shinigami then takes both the sealed soul and the user’s soul.
While ultimately fatal for the user, the Reaper Death Seal is powerful because of its cost. It can even seal parts of the Tailed Beasts, which are some of the most powerful beings on the planet.
Wind Style: Rasenshuriken
Inventive as he is, Naruto created the Rasenshiruken as an upgraded version of the Rasengan. While the Rasengan is already very powerful, Naruto used his personal skill set to make it even stronger.
With the help of at least two shadow clones, he collects the chakra needed for the Rasengan. Then, he uses a shape transformation to give it four points. Naruto has made up to three Rasenshurikens. Not only does this show Naruto’s power, but it’s also an impressive and useful attack. It gives the user an immense edge over their opponent. After all, one Rasengan is enough to deal with, let alone three Rasenshurikens.
Infinite Tsukoyomi
One of the most mentally frightening genjutsu is the Infinite Tsukuyomi. This ability encases the entire world in an illusion, making everyone who witnesses it immobile, trapping them in a dream state. This is done in order to feed off their chakra. Only three people are known to wield it: Madara Uchiha, Obito Uchiha, and Kaguya Otsutsuki, the world-eater and mother of chakra.
This power does have very distinct rules, however. The user must have the proper strength and their Rinne Sharingan must reflect off of the moon. Other Rinnegan users are the only ones capable of stopping it and saving others from their waking dreams.
The Eight Gates
The Eight Gates refer to the different gates in a person’s chakra system. Opening gates is a difficult task, and few talented ninja know how to do it. Opening a gate floods more chakra into a person’s system, allowing them to be more powerful than their base chakra would allow.
Each gate has a different name, and each user can open up a different amount of gates. Kakashi can open at least one, Rock Lee can open seven, and Might Guy can open all eight. However, if all eight gates are open, a normal human will perish. Only Might Guy has opened all gates and not lost his life.
Tengai Shinsei
Naruto is full of endless rivalries and continuous cycles. A lot of it, though, seems to lead back to two people: Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha. Once friends, the two later became enemies. Madara comes back to wreak havoc on the world in the later parts of Naruto, bringing with him his terrible, immense strength.
One of his most intimidating moves is the Tengai Shinsei, an ability that casually brings meteors down to crash into the earth. These meteors cause major damage wherever they crash and, even worse, have a large area of effect. Naruto and Sasuke had to join forces, despite their disagreements, in order to stop him. With such powerful attacks, there was no other way.
Indra’s Arrow
Throughout the show, fans learn much about Sasuke’s abilities and his preferences. He tends to favor using his Sharingan, fire, and lightning. When using his Susanoo, all of those come together to create his ultimate form. Furthermore, one of his Susanoo/lightning hybrid attacks, Indra’s Arrow, is his strongest offensive attack.
To achieve such a powerful attack, Sasuke has to absorb chakra from the Nine-Tailed Beasts. Only then can he collect them, create a lightning infused bow and arrow, and fire a dangerously strong attack. This attack is said to be even stronger than Naruto’s Rasenshuriken ability.
Tailed Beast Bomb
The Tailed Beasts are some of the most intimidating monsters in the Naruto universe. While sealed within their hosts, they aren’t too much of a danger. However, once released, or when a host is transformed, they are able to unleash their full power.
When in beast form, they can create an immensely powerful attack called the Tailed Beast Bomb. The Beasts must collect chakra in their mouths and perfect a ratio between positive and negative chakra. Then, once the black chakra is ready, they release it in a devastating attack. Beasts or hosts can fire the ball as is or turn it into a beam. Tailed Beasts are tremendously powerful creatures that people shouldn’t trifle with.
Most Worthless Attacks In Naruto
Roof Tile Shuriken
The ninja of Naruto are trained to use a variety of dangerous weapons, like the kunai, katana, or the ever popular shuriken. However, they don’t always have these tools on them in a fight. That’s when a shinobi must get crafty, with varying levels of success.
When Konohagakure was attacked by Orochimaru, Hokage Hiruzen was desperate to save his people. Using the roof tiles around him, he pressurized them to attack the snake monster that was once his student. Though clever, the roof tile shurikens were hardly effective and didn’t help Hiruzen save the town, or himself, from Orochimaru’s attacks.
Whac-A-Mole Technique
While most techniques have practical use on the battlefield, others seem to be made simply to annoy people. One of the most egregious examples of this is the Whack-A-Mole Technique used by Obito Uchiha, the point is for the user to pop underground, then spring above ground, and whack a foe with a stick.
The ability neither accomplishes much nor follow the proper rules of Whack-A-Mole. At best, it just causes confusion, frustration, and hatred. However, it could be modified to be more useful in battle, but otherwise its more like a useless prank attack.
Hidden Lotus
When Naruto fans first meet Rock Lee, they are dazzled by his fighting abilities. Over time, however, it becomes apparent that his early attacks may not have been as strong as they seemed.
For example, his first battle involves him trying to use Hidden Lotus on Sasuke. While it didn’t quite follow through, it’s impressive nonetheless. As time goes on, however, fans never see the move work out. For one reason or another, it never hits and it never helps Rock Lee fight. For a move so powerful that it takes all of his energy and can only be used once a day, it isn’t very effective. Until proven otherwise, Hidden Lotus has been pretty worthless.
Soap Bubble Ninjutsu
Despite being used by the Six Tailed Beast, Saiken, Soap Bubble Ninjutsu isn’t the strongest of styles. Even worse, though, is that most humans using Soap Bubble Ninjutsu cannot use the technique effectively without a bubble pipe. In theory, if a person broke the bubble pipe, those users would be greatly weakened.
Though worthless might not be the best word, as the technique does have its places, it is a fairly passive way of fighting and can be overpowered easily by strong blades. Soap bubbles just aren’t a very great way to attack people.
Twin Rising Dragons
Ten Ten is a highly skilled marksman. Most of her abilities based around throwing knives, scrolls, and agility. However, in a world where most everyone is a trained ninja with great blocking abilities, Ten Ten’s powers unfortunately tend to fall short.
One of her earliest moves, the Twin Rising Dragons, was a twirling funnel of two scrolls from which she summoned weapons and attacked her opponent. Overall, the move was dazzling. Her knives barely touched her opponent, though. While impressive, it was far too easy for her foe to swat her weapons away. Twin Rising Dragons is made moot by the powerful, unique abilities of others.
Dynamic Entry
Much like their students, many teachers in Naruto have signature moves or styles. Two of the most similar student/teacher combos, though, are Rock Lee and Might Guy. The duo may be immeasurably close, but Might Guy does have a few unique attacks up his sleeve. One of his most impressive ones is the Dynamic Entry.
Much like it sounds, Might Guy uses the Dynamic Entry to make a dramatic entrance by flying in on a powerful kick. The kick is hardly weak, though, as it has been known to disarm even highly-skilled characters like Jiraiya. Its strengths end there, though. At best, it’s a disarming kick that starts a fight. It’s worthless in the grand scheme of a battle.
Fart
During the Chunin Exams, Naruto was told that he would never win against Kiba. When they fought, he struggled to keep up. Kiba understood his powers and how to use them far better than Naruto. However, Naruto wouldn’t go down without a fight, and because of this, he started to get creative.
Knowing the strength of Kiba and Akamaru’s noses, he used it against them. Naruto farted at them to disarm them, upsetting their strong senses of smell, and then used that against them. From then on, Naruto uses it as his go to against Kiba. While it’s clever against a dog-nosed ninja, farting isn’t exactly a powerful or useful ninjutsu. In any other situation, it’s worthless.
Water Release: Water Shuriken
Making shurikens out of anything is generally not a very powerful skill. While it makes a ninja more versatile, if those shurikens are not made out of solid objects, they rely a lot on the power of a ninja. If the user is disrupted, the shuriken might fall apart just as easily. Ninja already know how to easily defend themselves from real shurikens. Water ones, which are even easier to repel, pose little threat.
Water Release: Water Shuriken is versatile and handy in a pinch, but it’s not an impressive attack. In a battle against any competent shinobi, it’ll most likely be useless.
One Thousand Years Of Death
Though it sounds fatal, the One Thousand Years of Death attack is actually just a melodramatic way of saying a ninja embarrassed/discomforted another one by poking their buttocks. Yes, really.
Every person this technique is used on acts dramatically in response, rushing away, acting uncomfortable and embarrassed. Between all of the serious moments of ninja battles and revenge plots, sometimes absurd humor is appreciated. However, that doesn’t mean that the move is a good fighting technique. In a real life-endangering situation, it’s worthless.
Naruto’s Special Jutsu
In all of the seriousness of dramatic, dangerous ninja battles, Naruto works very hard to include light-hearted comedy. One of the most consistent sources of this comedy is Naruto himself and all of his unconventional antics. One of his most infamous, wild antics is his inappropriate, gender-bending jutsu.
To make himself laugh and to shock potential victims, such as Jiraiya, Naruto occasionally transforms into a young woman, leaving nothing to the imagination. It really takes any opponent by surprise. However, other than a few uncomfortable laughs, it has little practical value and is basically worthless — at least, when it comes to battling.