‘Naruto‘ is one of the most popular anime of all time. Not just in the shonen genre, but in general as well. The anime has an amazing plot, well-written characters, and unusual and unique powers for most characters. Whilst some jutsus are the same for everyone to use, the way how each person uses them is unique to them.
One such jutsu is the forbidden shadow Clone jutsu which quite happens to be one of Naruto’s major jutsus. Let’s find out what exactly is it and why is it forbidden in Konoha.
What Is The Shadow Clone Jutsu?
The shadow clone jutsu was invented by Tobirama Senju, who is the younger brother of the first Hokage of Konoha, Hashirama. He invented a jutsu in which he could split his body into various clones using chakra. Each clone would have the chakra divided equally among them. For instance, if there were two clones, then the chakra of the user would be divided into two.
This implies that the more clones a person creates, the less amount of chakra each clone possesses. If a person were to use excessive numbers of clones, they could potentially die to their chakra reserves being depleted.
Why Was The Chakra Forbidden?
As mentioned above, excessive clones could lead to a person’s death. This jutsu could only be used by someone who has high chakra reserves, otherwise, they would die. Kakashi once mentioned that creating and maintaining four clones was a difficult task for even the most skilled Jonins.
Since the jutsu causes the chakra to be split equally among the clones, each clone has a small fraction of the total chakra reserve. Moreover, maintaining the clones also depletes the chakra quickly.
This jutsu was only supposed to be used by the Senju as they have high chakra reserves and the Uzumakis. However, due to the dangerous nature of the jutsu, it was then decided by the Hokage to place the jutsu in the Konoha village’s list of forbidden jutsu.
This is from where Naruto learned the jutsu. The reason why Naruto is easily able to use the jutsu as he pleases is due to his Uzumaki lineage. In addition to that, he is a Jinchuriki, which means that he can access the nine-tailed beast’s chakra and not die.
Read more: Was Neji Hyuga’s Death Necessary In ‘Naruto’? Why Did He Sacrifice Himself?
