Masashi Kishimoto's Naruto series is packed with interesting jutsus and abilities, and that's one of the reasons why we adore the show.
Who doesn't love badass fireballs, towering mud walls, and darkly forbidden abilities that can raise the dead, summon meteors, or create a thousand clones of yourself? Not to mention the iconic hand seals used to mold one's chakra for different abilities.
Naruto has given us some of the coolest fight scenes in anime, and a lot of those come from the character motivations that collide in conflict, but they're always capped off by the awesome abilities on display.
Here are my picks for the coolest jutsus and abilities featured in the Naruto series and why they're so awesome.
25. Lion Combo
Lion Combo is Sasuke's version of Rock Lee's Front Lotus Technique. It's a taijutsu-based move comprised of a combination of attacks.
When Sasuke used this move, he sent Yoroi up into the air with a kick, rendering him defenseless. After a few more strikes, he ended the Lion Combo with a mid-body axe kick, crushing him into the ground.
Naruto later took inspiration from the Lion Combo and came up with his own version called the Naruto Uzumaki Combo, in which he conjured Shadow Clones to set up his target for a similar axe kick combo.
24. Shadow Clone Technique
One of the very first jutsus showcased in Naruto became the most iconic ability of the entire series.
The Shadow Clone Technique is conceptually similar to the basic Clone Technique, except the Clone Technique only creates an image without substance while the Shadow Clone Technique creates material copies that can attack and inflict damage.
When using the Shadow Clone Technique, the user's chakra is equally divided between each clone, making it more powerful than other cloning techniques that only share a little bit of chakra to each clone.
Since it quickly depletes the user's chakra reserves, the Shadow Clone Technique is considered dangerous and therefore forbidden.
23. Human Puppetry
Puppetry techniques are most prominent among the Sand ninjas, but Akatsuki member Sasori developed a puppetry technique that's unique... and grotesque. He uses human corpses as his puppets, which he preserves to prevent decomposition.
Unlike normal puppets, human puppets retain their chakra attributes and thus grant the puppeteer access to the puppets' techniques—like the Third Kazekage's Magnet Release: Iron Sand.
The human puppetry technique employed by Sasori made him a deadly rogue ninja, not to mention his signature Red Secret Technique: Performance of the Hundred Puppets.
22. Chidori
Chidori is the signature move of Kakashi Hatake, which he taught to Sasuke Uchiha. The Chidori technique came about as a result of Kakashi trying to add his Lightning Release to a basic Rasengan.
It concentrates the user's lightning-based chakra into the hands, which creates a lethal elemental weapon. While Rasengan blows an enemy away with raw chakra, Chidori pierces the enemy with precision.
21. Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire
Sasuke starts off with the impressive but basic Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique that incinerates everything with a huge ball of flame.
Later on, Sasuke breaks out the evolved form in Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique, which spits out multiple fireballs that can be aimed at a target. It's a more refined and efficient use of chakra that can precisely burn targets rather than letting it burn wildly.
Sasuke's brother Itachi also used this technique, except he hid shurikens inside the fireballs to make them even more dangerous.
20. Rasengan
Rasengan is a technique developed by the Fourth Hokage, passed down to Jiraiya, and then taught to Naruto. After the Shadow Clone Technique, Rasengan became Naruto's signature move of the series.
The Rasengan was meant to be a training tool for chakra control, as the necessary chakra control to perform a Rasengan is an effective stepping stone to more powerful techniques.
However, the Rasengan's violent rotation of concentrated raw chakra itself can be deadly in the hands of a skilled user.
19. Summoning Technique
The Summoning Technique allows a user to instantly summon animals with whom they've made a blood contract. To perform the summon, the user needs to smear the blood with which they signed the contract.
Notable animal summons include Gamabunta (Jiraiya and Naruto), Aoda (Sasuke), Manda (Orochimaru), and Katsuyu (Tsunade). The Summoning Technique can also be used to summon humans, like Shima's Reverse Summoning and the Rinnegan's Animal Path.
18. Edo Tensei (Reanimation Technique)
The Reanimation Technique was created by the Second Hokage, but was utilized for battle by both Orochimaru and Kabuto. Due to its grotesque nature, it's tagged as a forbidden jutsu.
The Reanimation Technique summons a soul from the afterlife and binds it into a living sacrifice, but requires a part of the summoned dead in order to be successful. The worst part is that this technique can only be undone by the caster, and can't be undone if the caster dies.
The reanimated beings are perfect killing machines because they can't die while reanimated, even if their bodies are torn apart.
17. Susanoo
When an Uchiha's eyes evolve to the Mangekyō Sharingan, they can form their chakra into a huge, humanoid figure called a Susanoo.
It's one of the many techniques unique to the Uchiha clan, and it's known for its impenetrable defense and ability to deal massive damage.
There are only a few Susanoo users featured in the series, and every time it appears on screen, you know it's going to be a badass fight.
16. Amaterasu
Amaterasu produces a jet-black flame that can burn anything and can't be put out until the target is completely burned. The flames of Amaterasu can burn even fire itself.
We've only seen this used by Itachi and Sasuke, who can release Amaterasu from their Sharingan without using the hand seals of their traditional fire release techniques. Instead, the black flames appear at the focal point of their vision.
Sasuke later created a variation of Amaterasu by combining it with Naruto's Wind Release: Rasen Shuriken, forming a swirling black projectile at incredible speeds that burns away anything it touches.
15. Jinchūriki (Sealed Tailed Beast)
Jinchūriki are people who have Tailed Beasts sealed within them, but that doesn't mean it's easy for them to access their Tailed Beasts' powers. Most of the time, it only happens after the person befriends the Tailed Beast within them and they agree to worth together as one.
Once they have control, a Jinchūriki can access the unique chakra of their Tailed Beast to unlock superhuman strength and reflexes. The notable feature of a Jinchūriki in Tailed Beast Mode is the thick, dark-red chakra that engulfs them—or even morphing into the Tailed Beast itself.
14. Shinra Tensei (Almighty Push)
Shinra Tensei (more commonly known as "Almighty Push" among dubbed anime viewers) is a technique of Rinnegan users, derived from the Deva Path of the Six Paths. It creates a repulsive force that can immediately push anything away from the user.
To demonstrate his power to the world, Pain used Shinra Tensei to completely flatten the Hidden Leaf Village in an instant.
13. Tengai Shinsei
While the Shinra Tensei of Pain was able to destroy the Hidden Leaf Village, Madara Uchiha's Tengai Shinsei is able to bring humanity's extinction. While clad in his Susanoo, Madara and his Susanoo perform hand seals that call forth a meteor from outer space.
It's a clear demonstration of the power level that the Allied Shinobi Force is up against. And even when Ōnoki is able to stall that meteor, Madara mocks his resolve—by summoning a second one.
12. Tsukuyomi
Genjutsu generally isn't as flashy as ninjutsu or taijutsu, but Itachi Uchiha's Tsukuyomi is an exception.
Imagine being tortured for days upon days while trapped in the illusory world of the Tsukuyomi, only to come out of it and realize that it all occured in under a split second. And yet, the pain and damage felt real, often resulting in heavy emotional and psychological damage.
Later on, Madara casts a large-scale version called the Infinite Tsukuyomi, which effectively traps an entire population in a "peaceful" dream world from which there is no escape.
11. Senjutsu (Sage Mode)
Contrary to ninjutsu, which relies on principles of chakra manipulation, senjutsu relies on the manipulation of natural energy around the user. It's one of the hardest techniques to master because there's great risk if you lose concentration for even a second.
Those who master senjutsu are called Sages, and there are only a few known Sages throughout Naruto. Sages can imbue their own chakra with nature energy to make it more powerful and create senjutsu-based techniques, like the Wind Release: Rasen Shuriken.
10. The Eight Gates
The Eight Gates are the body's chakra points that limit a person's flow and access to chakra. Removing these limiters—or "opening the gates"—floods the user with extraordinary human strength, far beyond what's normally capable with the human body.
These limiters are there for a reason, though: they protect the body from overworking itself and causing itself harm. The more gates opened, the more the body breaks down—torn muscles, broken bones, and in the case of opening the last gate, death.
It's a very useful last resort ability when the right time comes, like when Guy opened up his final gate in his fight against Madara.
9. Flying Thunder God
The Flying Thunder God was originally created by the Second Hokage (Tobirama Senju). The Fourth Hokage (Minato Namikaze) later learns to use the Flying Thunder God technique and becomes the fastest ninja in the world, earning the alias "Yellow Flash of the Leaf."
The technique works by first placing seals at a certain location or on certain objects, and then being able to instantly teleport to any location or object that's been marked by the seal.
There are other fast ninjas—such as the Raikages—but they have to physically move from one point to another (and can be blocked) whereas Minato and Tobirama literally disappear from one point and reappear at another point, making them effectively unblockable.
8. Particle Style: Atomic Dismantling Technique
The Third Tsuchikage's Particle Style: Atomic Dismantling Technique is an underrated yet very powerful technique. It's an advanced bloodline ability ("kekkei tota") that utilizes the combination of three chakra transformations: Earth, Wind, and Fire.
This technique is extremely destructive, able to disintegrate targets down to the atomic level. Simply put, when a target is hit, they're obliterated into nothingness. It was also one of the techniques that broke the defenses of Madara Uchiha's Susanoo.
This technique comes in three known variants: the first is shaped like a cylinder (Mu) and the second is shaped like a cone (Ōnoki), with both fired like a cannon of dense chakra. The third is a cubic variation that traps its target and focuses the blast with the cube.
7. Night Guy
Might Guy's unrivaled power after opening the Eight Gates doesn't end in a boost of physical strength. It also allows Guy to perform powerful taijutsu-based techniques that even Madara in his Ten Tails Jinchūriki form can't escape.
His final move, called Night Guy, is so powerful that it almost defeated Madara on its own, causing immense damage greater than what the Five Kages had done to Madara in base form.
In this move, Guy releases a massive amount of his "Blood Steam," creating an image of a red dragon. He then charges with incredible speed, enabling him to bend the space around him and deliver a devastating blow to his target.
6. Shikotsumyaku
Kimimaro of the now-extinct Kaguya Clan (who were descendants of Otsutsuki Kaguya) possesses a very unique bloodline ability called the Shikotsumyaku ("Dead Bone Pulse").
This ability allows its user to manipulate his own bones, from altering the structure, density, and formation to pulling them out altogether and creating bone weapons.
Orochimaru's Cursed Seal further intensifies its capabilities once activated, allowing Kimimaro to become a more powerful bone monster.
5. Kotoamatsukami
Every Sharingan user possesses a distinct ocular ability. While Itachi has his Tsukuyomi, Shisui Uchiha has a unique one called Kotoamatsukami (which was only used a few times in the entire series).
Kotoamatsuki allows the user to perform total mind control over a target without them noticing. Shisui planned to use this ocular ability at the Uchiha meeting in order to stop a coup within the village.
The last usage of the Kotoamatsukami was during Naruto's encounter with the reanimated Itachi and Nagato. This technique released Itachi from the control of Kabuto and allowed him to move of his own will.
4. Wood Release
Wood Release is a bloodline ability that combines earth and water chakra transformations. This allows the user to transform their chakra into lifeforms in the form of trees and wood, which can be used in techniques like Deep Forest Emergence and Wood Dragon Technique.
Wood Release was exclusive to the First Hokage (Senju Hashirama), but due to the inhuman experiments of Orochimaru, several ninjas later gained access to this powerful chakra transformation.
Captain Yamato was the sole survivor of the initial experiment, making him the second-ever user of Wood Release.
What makes Wood Release a special chakra nature is that it can subdue creatures of massive chakra, including Tailed Beasts and Susanoo. It's so powerful that many individuals try to get their hands on Hashirama cells, which is the only source of the Wood Release ability.
3. Izanagi/Izanami
I'll be combining both of these ocular abilities because they're similar in how they work and almost considered to be sister abilities. Izanagi and Izanami are ocular abilities exclusive to Sharingan users.
Izanagi allows the user to alter reality, to change their fate, and even to escape death. When activated, the real body becomes an illusion and the real one appears elsewhere unscathed.
Because of this, many Uchiha clan members abused the use of this overpowered ability and stirred up a power struggle among members who could use Izanagi. That's when Izanami comes into play.
Izanami allows the user to trap its target in an infinite loop, and this loop has only one way out: the target must accept his/her fate.
Both of these ocular abilities are overpowered, which is why they come with a huge cost: the eye used to perform them ends up blind.
2. Indra's Arrow
Before his final clash with Naruto, Sasuke casted a genjutsu on the Tailed Beasts and sealed them in the Planetary Devastation Technique. He later absorbed the sealed chakra to power up his Susanoo and his strongest technique at the time: Indra's Arrow.
Indra's Arrow resembles his Susanoo's bow and arrow ability, but here it's made up of massive chakra that's more powerful. This is his final attack, meant to kill his childhood best friend.
1. Six Paths: Ultra-Big Ball Rasenshuriken
In response to the overwhelming power of Sasuke, Naruto gathered up massive amounts of nature energy. With this, he created Six Paths: Ultra-Big Ball Rasenshuriken—two giant Rasenshurikens infused with nature energy and powered by Kurama's chakra.
This technique is seen to be as equally destructive as Indra's Arrow. The collision of both Naruto and Sasuke's final techniques resulted in a massive explosion that was felt even from a distance.
This technique wasn't named in the manga or anime, but the game Naruto Shippuden: Ninja Storm 4 eventually coined this one.
