The world of Naruto dazzled us with countless strange and powerful jutsu. There’s something simple like disguising yourself as other people, but there’s also something shocking like jutsu that can turn its users into a giant. There’s a jutsu that can boost your inner strength during a one-on-one martial arts combat, and there’s also one that can shatter the earth and swallow a whole army.
From a jutsu that is specific to a certain lineage to a jutsu that can be used to form a blood contract with mythical beasts, there are truly so many different kinds of jutsu in Naruto. That being said, the majority of them can be classified into four main types of jutsu, which is Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, Genjutsu, and finally Senjutsu. The following sections are brief explanations about all of them.
A Brief Introduction to Chakra
In order to better understand the different types of jutsu, we have to talk about something called “Chakra” first. There’s a deep and elaborate explanation about the origin of chakra that goes back all the way to the days of Sage of the Six Path, but for the sake of clarity and brevity, we’ll go by the simplest and easiest to understand explanation instead. So here it is.
Chakra is basically a unique energy that exists within every living being. Similar to DNA, every person also has a different chakra signature that is unique to them. That being said, the chakra of people who come from the same family or clan tend to have some similarities that make them different to the other families/clans. By combining their chakra with their innate physical and spiritual energy, one can perform a jutsu.
One thing worth mentioning, however, is the fact that different people have different capacities of chakra. That amount may increase as that person grows older, but after a certain age, that amount will be the utmost limit of their chakra. If the chakra is depleted, then you can feel all kinds of adverse effects, ranging from passing out to even loss of life. So in a way, Chakra is actually quite similar to the concept of “Mana” in an RPG game.
Ninjutsu
Now that we’ve touched on chakra, it’s time to talk about the most common type of jutsu on the planet, ninjutsu. Ninjutsu is the art of manipulating the chakra, along with physical and spiritual energy, in order to perform something that can affect, or even bend, reality to some degree. Other than a mastery of chakra, the overwhelming majority of ninjutsu also requires hand seals. Needless to say, different ninjutsu require different kinds of hand seals.
The application of ninjutsu is practically limitless. As a matter of fact, if you can imagine the kind of effects that you want to achieve, then it is highly likely that you can create a ninjutsu for it. That is why ninjutsu can be used for something as simple as walking on top of water, to produce a giant ball of flame from your mouth. You can even raise the dead from hell with ninjutsu. Additionally, ninjutsu can also be used as a means to heal wounds by a medic ninja, or to look into someone’s mind by a sensor ninja.
Taijutsu
In the simplest terms, Taijutsu is basically martial arts. A ninja cannot depend on their ninjutsu alone. They also need to have the ability to take on the enemy through close quarter combat. That is why ninjutsu and taijutsu are the two basic jutsu that every aspiring ninja should master before they can become a proper ninja. Some people might wonder why a ninja needs taijutsu when they can shoot lightning out of their fingertips with ninjutsu. Well, there is one main reason for that. Speed.
As mentioned above, the overwhelming majority of ninjutsu requires a series of hand seals, which takes several seconds to execute. A taijutsu master can exploit that split seconds to close the distance and attack, therefore forcing the opponents to engage in a taijutsu combat. This is a strategy that taijutsu masters like Guy and Rock Lee often used. Additionally, there are also times when using taijutsu is faster than casting an elaborate ninjutsu, such as during a high speed chase or fighting against opponents with weapons.
Genjutsu
If Taijutsu is all about the body, then Genjutsu is all about the minds. Genjutsu is basically an illusionary jutsu. A Genjutsu user has the ability to affect the flow of chakra in their opponent’s brain or the nervous system in order to manipulate the senses of their target. It goes without saying that unlike ninjutsu, genjutsu cannot affect reality, only the mind of the target. However, a powerful genjutsu can send its target into such a devastating shock that it may lead to death.
A regular genjutsu user may be able to affect one or two senses at the same time, such as the eyes and the ears. However, a genjutsu specialist can affect all senses at the same time in order to create a truly life-like illusion. Some genjutsu masters can even manipulate its target without them ever realizing that they have been under the effect of genjutsu this whole time. Out of the three basic jutsu that are taught in the ninja academy, genjutsu is usually the hardest to master. That being said, some people naturally gravitate towards this jutsu, such as those who come from the Uchiha clan.
Senjutsu
Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, and Genjutsu can be said to be the three basic jutsu that every ninja should be able to use. However, there is one other jutsu that most ninja don't even know existed, much less know how to use it. And that is Senjutsu. Unlike the previous jutsus that require the use of chakra that comes from within, senjutsu uses the natural energy that comes from nature itself. So in a way, the user pulls out the energy from the outside world into themselves.
Senjutsu is extremely hard to master. Because taking that energy from nature requires a very intricate process, such as staying perfectly still for a certain amount of time. Failing to do so can lead to death. The effect of senjutsu itself is basically boosting the overall ability of its users. Once a user activates their senjutsu, their physical, analytical, and sensor ability will be boosted enormously to the point where they can destroy a hill in one punch or sense the well-being of other people who are miles away from them.
As if that’s not impressive enough, the effects of their other jutsu will also increase tremendously. For example, a fire jutsu will be bigger and hotter, while the genjutsu will be much more potent. One thing worth mentioning, however, is the fact that senjutsu is not permanent. One can only absorb a certain amount of natural energy and use it for a certain amount of time. After that, that energy will be spent and the users will need to start the whole process again.
Those are the four main types of jutsu in Naruto. There are several other types of jutsu in the series, such as dojutsu or juinjutsu, but all of them can be boiled down back to either ninjutsu, taijutsu, genjutsu, or senjutsu.