Thread: Efficient Jutsu Use

Is it just me, or do the ninja of Naruto never seem to use their jutsu/abilities to their full potential?

Example #1: Genjutsu.

Widely considered by fans to be useless (with the exception of Tsukuyomi) due to the fact that a person caught in a genjutsu can resist in a number of ways (stop chakra flow, inflicting pain upon self, outside intereference, etc.).

Whereas this can be a significant flaw, note that all these 'escape' methods are only viable if the target realizes they've been 'caught'.

Apparently Naruto ninja have never heard the word "subtlety", and think that all jutsu must be used to directly kill the enemy. Personally, I would have thought the most obvious application of illusion is not to fry your opponent's brain, but to cause them to misjudge their environment (e.g. mess with perception of distances, or cause yourself to appear in a slightly different place than you actually are; whenever the enemy would hit your illusory self, just shift the illusion to a different place, and the enemy would most likely just assume you are damned fast).

As a matter of fact, the only not-obviously-supernatural genjutsu we've seen used was by Kakashi, during the first bell-trial.

Example #2: Byakugan

The basic abilities of the byakugan are a) ability to see through physical obstacles, b) 360 degree field of vision, and c) ability to see chakra.

Which of these has the most obvious combat applications? While the highly specialized combat techniques that c) allows are certainly powerful... for an effortless, no-training-required, out-of-the-box advantage, a) wins hands down.

To put it another way, it is impossible to blind a byakugan user. It is not impossible to blind a normal ninja (via mist, smoke, flares, etc.). Thus, for a byakugan user, it is highly advantageous to introduce some sight-inhibiting element when fighting.

I can understand that it's not always viable in every situation (i.e. when teammates are involved), but why does it seem this is never done, at all?

Example #3: Kagemane no jutsu

Probably the most interesting technique we've seen, kagemane no jutsu is almost never used with direct attacks, presumably because the opponent would mimick and attack the user.

Unfortunately, there isn't really much support for this assumption. Once the kagemane is successful, there is no evidence to suggest the enemy automatically 're-orients' to face the user, thus kagemane used from behind the enemy should effective prevent any retaliation, leaving the user free to stick them full of kunai (as kagemane is not a genjutsu, inflicting pain should not be an issue).

Example #4: Vanilla bunshin

Every ninja knows this technique, yet we almost never see it used. Is it really so useless? I don't think so.

Naruto in particular would benefit greatly from mixing a few regular bunshin with his kage bunshin. Why? Well, while a kage bunshin is solid long enough to absorb the full force of a punch or kick, a normal bunshin is completely immaterial. Hence, an enemy attacking a bunshin expecting actual contact would be very likely to show an opening during the follow-through portion of their attack (i.e. by overextending themselves).

Well, since this is Naruto we're talking about, it's understandable that he might not have given this any thought, but it's still surprising that seemingly no one ever bothers to use this jutsu outside of the ninja academy.

It's true, they don't use all the jutsu efficiently.

I thinl.however, the producers would rather let people watch their favourite character do their signature moves then to have the characters use the same basic shinobi jutsus over and over.

These people in Naruto are supposedly ninja yet half of them act like fighters and warriors. Most of them wouldn't cut it as a ninja in real life, since ninja should use stealth and techniques over outright battle. Naruto is turning into Dragonball Z, where is the stealth element?

I agree that Genjutsu is severely underused and it's probably one of the most powerful jutsu types but since no one bothers practicing it, it's not used often, same for most other jutsu out there.

For Genjutsu, the few seconds needed to break out of a genjutsu would be more than enough to kill someone in real life, but apparently not in Naruto.

in my opinion the byakugan is used to its optimum for now, it has only 1 blind spot and the fights arent about seeing it happen, but dealing with what happens

Originally Posted by Gensoku

These people in Naruto are supposedly ninja yet half of them act like fighters and warriors. Most of them wouldn't cut it as a ninja in real life, since ninja should use stealth and techniques over outright battle. Naruto is turning into Dragonball Z, where is the stealth element?

This isn't real life. In many animes and games, some ninjas are all about combat and not just stealthy movements or lurking in the shadows. Take the various types of enemy ninja seen in Sega's Ninja Gaiden series for example. Its true that stealth is part of Ninpo, but what good is it for a Ninja if he/she ends up engaging combat with another more worthy opponent. In that circumstance they have to dish out their personal fighting skill/style (taijutsu, weaponry skills) to overcome or escape from the enemy and try and carry on with the mission. And I don't know about you, but Naruto wouldnt interesting if it was all about stealth and undercover missions. You still see that stuff in the show and manga occassionally, but the Ninja arts of combat are of course the more entertaining aspects of a story about Ninja imo. With that said, the battles are a bit less intense and shortlived compared to the battles in DBZ, thank the lord.

they have stealth when they do the running and chasing thing

Originally Posted by HFreeman

This isn't real life. In many animes and games, some ninjas are all about combat and not just stealthy movements or lurking in the shadows. Take the various types of enemy ninja seen in Sega's Ninja Gaiden series for example. Its true that stealth is part of Ninpo, but what good is it for a Ninja if he/she ends up engaging combat with another more worthy opponent. In that circumstance they have to dish out their personal fighting skill/style (taijutsu, weaponry skills) to overcome or escape from the enemy and try and carry on with the mission. And I don't know about you, but Naruto wouldnt interesting if it was all about stealth and undercover missions. You still see that stuff in the show and manga occassionally, but the Ninja arts of combat are of course the more entertaining aspects of a story about Ninja imo. With that said, the battles are a bit less intense and shortlived compared to the battles in DBZ, thank the lord.

Maybe just that my take on a ninja is different than yours. When I mean stealth, I mean using it to take on the kill efficiently in hiding while using various techniques to add confusion and tactics, but I agree that you do need to resort to something other than stealth when you are discovered.

Although Naruto isn't as realistic it is an anime I guess and because it is it shouldn't be like real life. If Naruto went DBZ style I'd cry, every episode would be "Who's chakra level is higher! Naruto's chakra level reaches 999999!"

and genjutsu is supposedly difficult to do.but wen ninjas are as pwerful as in the naruto world,stealth isnt that useful,u can just face them and get it over with.

about bunshin no jutsu,naruto cant use that.the others(like sasuke) do.thing is it gets boring if all fights are the same.

Originally Posted by Dante Obscuri

Man this is fiction, please cut the series some slack...

But who enjoys reading a shitty book, right? Why go easy on them for not doing something so strikingly obvious.

Frankly, it's the lack of applications like these that drive so many people away from the series. They have access to all these sorts of things and yet you never see them use their brains. The most complex abilities they use are always just something the Mangaka made up ahead of time that has nothing to do with common sense. Moreover, he ignores all the opportunities that his own ideas and his own setting present him with. Tactical knowledge doesn't just mean setting explosive tags that unsurprisingly happen to be timed just right on places that characters are forced to land on. It can mean a variety of things. The author climbed too high up his own ladder while he wrote this story and he refuses to climb the fuck down and use all the stuff at the lower end because it's not "exciting" enough for his younger demographic. Thus we see the usual neglect and when one basic move would suffice if used creatively, we have the creation of a wide range of 'shocking' and 'amazing' special moves to take its place. Combat that could be action packed and heavily movement oriented without overuse of 'special abilities' over and over turns into the spamming of 3 Special moves over and over again. Can't punch that guy? Use Kage Bunshin. Bunshins keep dieing? Use Rasengan. Rasengan isn't enough? Fire up your new Wind Element.

A truly elite user would have be throwing out every basic justsu in the book every 2 seconds even as he blasts the shit out of you with a range of specials. Why summon an entire lake's worth of water when just one heavy wave does the same work. Use that chakra on all the other shit you should be throwing at him to keep him busy.

Originally Posted by elnino19

about bunshin no jutsu,naruto cant use that.the others(like sasuke) do.thing is it gets boring if all fights are the same.

I'd be pretty excited if I saw some poor bastard attempt to perform a series of combos on someone only to punch through the guy and right into a set of razor sharp footlong spikes. Not everything has to involve large amounts of glowing energy and auras.

And this is exactly what made Shikamaru's early fights so cool - because he beat down his opponents using only his brain and ONE special move. The rest were all basics.

Fights like the one where Sakura cut off her hair during the Chuunin exams were more surprising than pretty much any fight with Naruto in it - it's shocking when you realize she hasn't used kawarimi no jutsu the last time, and not so shocking when you watch Naruto use kagebunshin for the fifty millionth time (especially when you know he can do better than that, and especially now that he seems stuck in a creative rut). Not to mention how cool some of Sasuke's early fights, using only the "basics" were. Man, his taijutsu was neat.

I'm with Kurofune on this one, and in particular the genjutsu. I want to see someone use it the way it's obviously meant to be used, instead of specializing in it to the point where they don't even use it normally anymore. It would definitely have more of an effect if people didn't realize it had been used on them. I mean, come on.

And I want more traps. Traps are cool.