The power to create and manipulate miniature satellites is not to be taken lightly, due to the devastating effect such an act can have in any sort of combat situation. In Masashi Kishimoto's Naruto, one such technique is available to those in possession of the Rinnegan, made possible by the dojutsu's Deva Path which controls attractive and repulsive forces. This ability, titled Chibaku Tensei, which can be translated as "Planetary Devastation," allows users to create enormous masses of earth that can be used to confine objects or opponents, and even be used as projectiles that most enemies will be unable to defend against. The sheer scale of this technique makes it one of the most formidable jutsu in the arsenal of a Rinnegan user, even in spite of its chakra-taxing nature.
First seen during Pain's assault on Konohagakure, Chibaku Tensei is the pinnacle of the Deva Path's control of attractive forces, creating extremely powerful gravity spheres that draw anything and everything in its vicinity towards it. Over the course of Naruto, three other Rinnegan users have been shown using it and its variants, each of them counted among the most powerful shinobi of all time, possessing power akin to that of a god. To understand the nature of Chibaku Tensei, its variations, and the diverse range of applications it has in the hands of different users, it is vital to understand the mechanics of the technique and examine its roots in the Deva Path.
What Is Chibaku Tensei?
In its simplest form, Chibaku Tensei allows a Rinnegan user to creature a massive body of rock and earth which they can manipulate at will. They do this by first creating a black sphere and hurling it into the air. The sphere acts as a gravitational source, generating strong attractive forces that draw in all the matter surrounding it, until it reaches a certain size which is determined by the Rinnegan user themselves, as per the scale of the sphere and the attractive force it is capable of producing. Chibaku Tensei takes the Deva Path's control of attractive forces through Bansho Ten'in to its zenith. For larger, more devastating applications, the technique can be used to create multiple satellites or celestial bodies as large as the moon itself. These bodies can then be used as projectiles to take down large numbers of opponents, or against adversaries capable of creating large constructs with their chakra.
More often than not, Chibaku Tensei is used as a means to subdue extremely powerful foes, as seen in the case of the tailed beasts. This is made possible by drawing them towards the black sphere as the satellite is created, and then holding them down with the rubble that accumulates around it. During the Akatsuki's mission of collecting the chakra of all nine tailed beasts, they referred to these uses of Chibaku Tensei as "Tailed Beast Sealing Stones." Apart from one noteworthy exception, no tailed beast ever managed to break free from a Chibaku Tensei, illuminating the incredible power of this jutsu, which is able to contain even the titanic chakra of the beasts.
The only exception here was Naruto Uzumaki, jinchuriki of the Nine Tailed Fox Kurama, who was able to break free from during his fight with Pain by entering a near Tailed Beast Mode. Naruto had to manifest eight of Kurama's nine tails, and the only thing that prevented his seal from breaking completely was the intervention of his father, Minato, whose chakra was embedded into the seal to prevent his transformation from escalating further. Aside from this, Chibaku Tensei has been used in a number of ways, each for different purposes.
How Has It Been Applied By Different Rinnegan Users?
When Pain used the technique, he primarily employed it as a means to retrain the tailed beasts, even going so far as to create one to trap Naruto in his Version 2 Tailed Beast Transformation. Nagato had to draw the Deva Path closer to his own main body in order to implement this technique due to how much it drained his chakra, which was already split among the other five Paths of Pain. He also created the black sphere that acts as the center of the satellite in each case. In the face of this, it is worth noting that Nagato, both as Pain and in his youth, was unable to draw on the full power of the Rinnegan as he was not the one who originally awakened it. The eyes in fact, belonged to none other than Madara Uchiha, who was able to showcase the full potential of this ocular power at the time of the Fourth Shinobi World War.
In the hands of Madara, Chibaku Tensei was employed to create massive projectiles, one after another, to be dropped down on the Allied Shinobi Forces. He was shown creating multiple, extremely large masses at a time, and never used them to restrain any of his adversaries. Sasuke is the last one shown using Chibaku Tensei at the conclusion of Naruto, where he utilized it to capture all the tailed beasts and extract their chakra to power up his Susanoo during his fight against Naruto at the Valley of the End. By virtue of his Six Paths Powers, Sasuke did not create the black spheres that initiate the technique and instead gathered rubble around his targets.
This bore a number of similarities to the Six Paths - Chibaku Tensei, which was first used by Hagoromo and Hamura Otsutsuki to seal their mother Kaguya, to create the moon. Activating this variant of Chibaku Tensei requires the users of the Six Paths Yin and Yang Powers to place their hands on a target at once, making them the center of attraction. Centuries, later, this technique was once again used by Naruto and Sasuke who sealed Kaguya after her revival by Black Zetsu. The only known counter to this technique is for a Rinnegan user to summon the target to a point outside the satellite. A testament to the even greater power of this technique is evident in how it is able to seal Kaguya's Rinne Sharingan, and even forcibly extract her chakra, making it the most powerful sealing jutsu shown in the series.