Ninjutsu is the most extensive and recognizable of all shinobi arts. It is what people imagine when they think of ninjas: fireballs, water dragons, shadow clones, summoning giant toads. Everything where chakra turns into a tangible effect is ninjutsu. It forms the basis of combat for most characters and is one of the three main types of techniques.
Briefly. Ninjutsu — techniques in which a shinobi converts chakra into an external effect: element, clone, summon. Unlike taijutsu and genjutsu, it changes the very world around the fighter.
What is ninjutsu
To use ninjutsu, a shinobi mixes physical and spiritual energy into chakra, forms hand seals, and releases the result. Unlike taijutsu, which relies on the body, ninjutsu affects the outside world — and that is why it provides the most diverse arsenal of weapons.
Ninjutsu is so broad that it is divided into several major branches: elemental, space-time, summoning, and special forbidden techniques.
Elemental ninjutsu
The basis of most techniques is chakra nature, that is, the five elements: Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, and Lightning. Each shinobi gravitates toward their own element and builds an arsenal around it.
Fire — for example, the Great Fireball Technique of the Uchiha clan.
Lightning — the famous Chidori, a piercing lightning hand.
Earth — defensive techniques like the Golem Technique.
Masters combine elements and sometimes merge them into blood limits — kekkei genkai.
Space-time ninjutsu
A separate and very rare branch is techniques that play with space and time. They allow you to instantly teleport over vast distances or pull a target into another dimension. It was this kind of ninjutsu that made Minato the "Yellow Flash of Konoha": he would appear next to the enemy faster than they could blink.
Summonings and special techniques
Ninjutsu also includes very special arts:
Summoning (Kuchiyose) — a contract with giant creatures: toads, snakes, slugs, which shinobi call into battle.
Medical ninjutsu — healing techniques with precise chakra control; their pinnacle — Tsunade.
Forbidden techniques — moves of such power or cost that the village forbids them: resurrection of the dead or Shadow Clone, which made Naruto famous.
Famous ninjutsu
Technique | Type | Bearer |
Chakra sphere | ||
Lightning | ||
Shadow Clone | Forbidden | |
Summoning | Kuchiyose | The Sannin and many others |
Who wields which ninjutsu — see the guide to all Naruto characters and the general breakdown of technique types.
And if you don't want to read about other people's techniques, but want to form the first hand seals yourself and unleash your own ninjutsu — there is a separate roleplay world set in Konoha for that.