20 Powers Fans Didn’t Know Naruto Had (And 10 Weaknesses)

Naruto fans have watched the title character for years on his journey to become a ninja. Whether reading the manga or watching the anime, fans saw him go from a boy who couldn’t master creating shadow clones to one of the most powerful leaders in his village.

Known for his severe determination and a nindo (ninja motto) that involved never looking back or going back on his word, it’s no wonder that Naruto’s hard work paid off.

Naruto became the seventh Hokage (leader of his village) without ever officially finishing his shinobi training, but that doesn’t mean that he’s hurting for abilities. The ninja has a variety of skills that he learned as a result of training in his youth, his own bloodline, and the spirit of a demon fox sealed within his own body.

In fact, many of the abilities specific to Naruto are a result of his relationship with the nine-tailed fox Kurama. Throughout his life, Naruto has learned to use Kurama’s chakra (life force) as his own. He’s also been able to gain access to other tailed beasts, giving him a lot of powers in his arsenal that other shinobi don’t have.

Naruto also has a lot of powers that only made themselves known in the anime, so readers of the manga might not have seen some of them in action.

Naruto’s ninja way might involve never looking back, but we’re going to do just that as we examine some of his more obscure powers stretching all the way back to his childhood.

Here are the 20 Powers Fans Didn’t Know Naruto Had (And 10 Weaknesses).

For a short time, the Anbu ninja codenamed Yamato was assigned to act as the leader for Naruto’s Team 7. Yamato, who was an intelligence officer for the Anbu, had been experimented on as a child and was left with the ability to control tailed beasts.

While Yamato’s control of tailed beasts was limited, it gave him a bit of an edge while training Naruto.

Any time Naruto attempted to access the power of Kurama, especially if he did it by accident, Yamato could put a stop to it.

This meant the temporary sensei acted as a block to some of Naruto’s powers for a while.

When Naruto fans first met Shukaku, the beast wasn’t involved with the title character. Instead, it was sealed within Gaara.

As a sand demon, Shukaku’s abilities are far and wide as long as there is sand present. This particular power doesn’t need sand, though, as it draws on Shukaku’s curse marks instead.

Curse marks can be used in a variety of ways -- to give a person more power or to cause them immense pain, for example.

In the case of Shukaku’s Magnet Release, the curse marks create suction, almost like the act of sealing someone.

Naruto uses the Magnet Release with his rasengan to launch a ball of energy covered in Shukaku’s curse marks.

Pachinko is a Japanese game that is a cross between pinball and a slot machine. It inspired this particular technique, though Naruto can’t do this one alone.

Only appearing in the anime, this technique was born out of necessity.

Naruto and Sasuke had their hands bound together with liquid chakra. Since the liquid chakra was more like Spider-Man’s webbing than actually a liquid, the two were stuck together.

With the duo being stuck for a few days, they had to learn how to fight while still connected. They used the elastic-like chakra as a method of slingshotting materials away from them, and the Pachinko Technique was born.

The art of Genjutsu is a tricky one in the world of Naruto. Those who can master various Genjutsu techniques can create different illusions to fool their enemies. Those who lack the skills, like Naruto, are often easily tricked by their enemy.

Naruto’s teammate Sakura had a natural affinity for Genjutsu, often able to end an illusion as soon as she realized it had been created.

Luckily for Naruto, Sakura was around a lot when he became trapped in one.

Naruto rarely realized that he had been trapped by an illusion until it was already too late. As an adult, this is a skill he developed more.

Only one character performs this technique on their own in the Naruto universe, and it’s not Naruto. Instead, it’s Pakura. This is because it’s an extremely rare ability.

In order for it to work, the user has to combine fire and wind based nature chakras. Most ninjas have an affinity for only one nature chakra. Naruto’s affinity is for wind, but his teammate Sasuke’s is for fire.

During the Fourth Shinobi World War, Sasuke and Naruto teamed up to combine their own fire and wind techniques to create the scorch release.

They had to use equal parts of one another’s chakra in order to evaporate all of the liquid inside an enemy, completely drying them out.

As another skill that required Naruto to work with an ally, this one combined wind technique with a water technique. Also called Hurricane Vortex Jutsu in the English translations of the series, Naruto performed this with the Anbu ninja Yamato.

In order for this particular jutsu to work, a ninja with an affinity for water chakra had to create a “tearing torrent” with their Water Release skills.

Likewise, someone with a wind chakra then had to use their rasengan, which happened to be Naruto’s specialty at the time.

It’s primarily a defensive measure as the combination of the two skills actually creates a spiraling mist barrier, blocking an enemy’s vision.

On the one hand, Naruto uses his emotions to motivate him. His empathy for villains sees him willing to talk instead of fight. The depths of his feelings for his friends makes him intent on avenging their losses.

On the other hand, his emotional state also makes him easy to read in a fight.

Naruto wears his every emotion on his sleeve. He has no poker face, so to speak. If he’s excited because he thinks he’s winning, he gloats, becoming overconfident and giving his enemy an in.

If he’s scared, he gets sloppy and desperate.

When Naruto is angry, he also doesn’t listen to reason, causing him to alienate his own allies as well.

Those who got into the Naruto fandom late in the game might not be familiar with this particular jutsu. Naruto often used it as a kid, but eventually became too mature to play the prank.

This jutsu involved Naruto turning his own body into a female version of himself. Though he wouldn’t transform with clothing, he would be covered up with clouds.

It’s not an battle-ready jutsu, but it was effective. Naruto often used it to distract those around him, making them angry enough, or amused enough, to allow him to get away with other things.

Though Strong Fist is less of a power and more of a style of fighting, it’s not Naruto who is known for this. Instead, it’s his friend Rock Lee who uses this more often in a fight.

Naruto has employed it a time or two in battle, though.

Rock Lee uses the Strong Fist because he isn’t adept at genjutsus, or really any jutsus. He has to rely on his physical prowess instead.

When Naruto has to employ the Strong Fist, it’s usually because he doesn’t see another option.

The Strong Fist is exactly what its name implies. It involves a fighting style where the user employs brute strength to hit his enemies as hard as he can.

Chakra rods are one dangerous weapon in the world of Naruto. The ninja using a chakra rod has to be powerful enough to create one, and if they are, their opponent better watch out.

During the Pain story arc in both the manga and anime, Naruto found this out the hard way.

The rods are infused with the chakra of the ninja who created it. Once their opponent is pinned by the rod, or has the rod pushed into them at all, the ninja in charge can disrupt their chakra.

A chakra disruption makes it more difficult for a ninja to use their abilities, and sometimes, as Naruto discovered, paralyzes them completely.

Negative emotions involve hatred, anger, sadness, etc. Kurama is able to sense these negative emotions. At times, the nine-tailed fox has pinpointed Naruto’s own negative emotions to use against him. It isn’t Naruto who employs this particular power, though.

Instead, it’s a character named Menma. Menma is the alternate reality version of Naruto that exists in the movie Road to Ninja. There, Naruto didn’t lose his parents as an infant because his father never became Hokage.

Menma grew up relying on the fox instead of tamping it down, and as a result, he became adept at using Kurama’s abilities for himself.

He also desired power and wasn’t exactly the hero Naruto was.

As a character with an affinity for toads and frogs, Jiraiya has a variety of abilities linked to the creatures. As one of Naruto’s sensei’s, Jiraiya trained the young ninja in the ways of the Toad Sage.

While Jiraiya could actually change his enemy into a toad, something that he employs as an interrogation technique, that isn’t where this skill comes into play for Naruto.

In fact, it’s more of an effect of Naruto’s Sage Mode instead.

Because Naruto draws his sage power from the toad chakra of the animals he’s bonded with, if another ninja tries to steal his chakra, there are consequences.

The chakra thief gets turned into a frog.

Naruto has the distinction of being the first of the Hokage to never make it beyond genin rank. It’s a dubious honor, as he’s chosen for the job because of his sheer power and his efforts during the Fourth Shinobi World War, but maybe not his skill set.

Some of Naruto’s skills are well beyond genin status.

He masters the art of creating hundreds of shadow clones, and distributing his chakra amongst them, before most of his friends can create more than one.

He, however, never goes back to his official training to take any of the shinobi exams, leaving gaps in his skill set that many of his employees have to fill.

Chakra allows shinobi to use their special abilities, gives them energy in a fight, and is tied to their life force. Their chakra is what they use to survive.

If a ninja is going to transfer their chakra to another, they need plenty to go around.

Thanks to Naruto’s immense chakra reserves, he has a lot of chakra stored up. Not only does Naruto have a huge amount of chakra because of his Uzumaki bloodline, but he can also use Kurama’s chakra.

In order to give his people a fighting chance in the Fourth Shinobi World War, Naruto joined forces with his future wife Hinata to share chakra.

After sharing his with her, the two spread the energy boost amongst their allies.

Everyone in the Naruto universe seems to have some form of chakra detection ability. Just how specific it is depends on how strong their own chakra is and what skill sets they have at their disposal.

For example, Sasuke with his shuriken can detect and identify specific chakra levels. The Hyuga clan members, like Neji and Hinata, are able to use their Byakugan to see chakra as well as specific chakra points in someone’s body.

Naruto’s abilities aren’t quite the same.

Instead, he unconsciously combines Kurama’s ability to sense emotions with his own to sense chakra to be able to identify people based on their chakra signature.

The skill strengthens over time.

Unlike Rock Lee, who is an accidental master of Drunken Fist, Naruto doesn’t have any kind of tolerance for alcohol.

In the world of Naruto, sake is frequently employed as a celebratory drink on special occasions, even though some senseis count drinking as one of the things that a shinobi should never do.

When Naruto was named Hokage, he and several of his friends imbibed in celebration.

Unfortunately for the new Hokage, the sake didn’t exactly agree with him, and those same friends ended up carrying him home to Hinata. His wife wound up taking care of him while he recovered.

Though there are plenty of shinobi with earth chakra in the anime, this isn’t a skill you’ll see Naruto use there. Instead, the Earth Style Wall is only used by Naruto in the manga.

A shinobi who uses this technique can actually harness the power of the earth chakra within themselves and spit out mud to form a wall, or they can manipulate the earth around them to create a wall. (The latter sounds a whole lot easier.)

The wall is resistant to both fire and water, and it can be infused with chakra to make it even stronger.

In the manga, Naruto is able to do this with the help of his Dragon Blade.

Once Naruto reached his full potential channeling Kurama’s chakra, he and the fox became allies instead of enemies. Eventually, his use of Six Paths Sage Mode allowed him access to all of the tailed beasts. It also allowed them access to him.

It seems an even trade if Naruto can draw from their chakra and abilities that the tailed beasts can also use Naruto -- at least to an extent.

The various tailed beasts can actually use Naruto’s mind as a meeting place. With Naruto as a medium, the beasts are able to communicate with one another, no matter where they are.

A growing ninja needs a high calorie count to help replenish their chakra. Just ask Choji, whose Expansion Technique depended on him consuming large amounts of food. Naruto, however, didn’t have that particular ability, but he was certainly always hungry.

His favorite food happened to be ramen, but the series made it clear that he wasn’t that picky.

While training with Jiraiya and searching for Tsunade to inform her she would be the next Hokage, a young Naruto spent almost as much time eating food in markets as he did in training.

In fact, on more than one occasion, he ate so much that he couldn’t bring himself to train.

If you’re at all familiar with Naruto, you know that one of his signature moves is the rasengan. Gathering chakra into a ball of pure energy, Naruto can then use as a destructive force against an opponent in battle.

If it’s so well known, why does it make the list? The way Naruto used the rasengan is unique.

Unlike any other ninja, Naruto used shadow clones to help form the ball of energy so that he didn’t have to devote all of his attention to it or wear himself out.

Divvying up the work between clones allowed him to keep fighting.

In order to access this particular power set, Naruto has to tap into Son Goku’s chakra. Like the Magnet Release, he has to be in Six Paths Sage Mode in order to do it.

Once in his Sage Mode, Naruto can call on the power of the Lava Release to add a bit of an edge to his rasenshuriken.

The center of the ball of energy is actually infused with lava, making it even more dangerous than the usual power unleashed.

Heat from the lava in the center escapes to the edge of the rasenshuriken to create steam. The blades can actually cut right through his opponents.

Once Naruto claimed that he would become Hokage one day, it seemed like nothing could stop him -- except for maybe himself.

Naruto frequently believed that he knew how to win a fight -- or expected to win simply because of his goal to become Hokage.

That ego got him in trouble more than once. He would ignore the instructions of his sensei or teammates in a battle, landing them all in hot water.

He also had a habit of attempting the same attacks over and over again, even though he’s already seen they didn’t work. It wouldn’t just be a waste of his time, but also a waste of his chakra in battle.

Just as Naruto is able to tap into the skills of other tailed beasts while in Sage Mode, he’s also able to partake in Ink Creation.

This ability comes from Gyuki. Gyuki is the only being who can create ink that can be used by shinobi, and so can the ninja bound to him. Prior to Naruto being able to access the ability, Killer B used it.

While Killer B would spit the ink from his mouth at enemies, it’s not clear how Naruto makes it appear.

Whether he spits it or pulls it from thin air hasn’t been determined. He combines the ink with his rasenshuriken to make a formidable weapon.

When a universe consists of ninjas harnessing abilities that may as well be magic, it’s obvious there has to be some sort of super healing. Naruto heals even faster than most.

Those wanting to live the shinobi life train their bodies to push through pain.

Rock Lee spends weeks in the hospital with shrapnel in his spine, and still wants to train, though he’s warned that he might never be a shinobi again. Naruto doesn’t recuperate nearly as long.

This is due in large part to the power of the nine-tailed fox. Naruto usually needs a good night’s sleep after being put through his paces or severely injured, and he’s good to go the next morning.

There’s no denying that Naruto has always been a strong fighter. Even when he hadn’t mastered very many skills, he was the first to be willing to jump into the fray for his people.

Just because you’re willing to give your all in a fight, though, doesn’t mean that you should.

Sometimes, an enemy can’t be overpowered by sheer determination, which is where a logical plan comes into play.

 This is what Naruto was often lacking during his training days. He would rather improvise and hope for the best.

His friends Sasuke and Shikamaru had a much better understanding of logic and strategy than Naruto did as a teenager.

Fans who know their Naruto backstory know that the Uzumaki clan, which Naruto descends from, have a particular knack for sealing techniques.

As a child, Naruto couldn’t master them, but as an adult, he’s more than made up for his shortcomings.

Once Naruto was able to fully access the chakra of the nine-tailed fox within him, the seal binding the fox to him changed, allowing Naruto a “key” to seal and unseal the chakra himself. With the Torii Seal, Naruto can actually separate a portion of Kurama’s chakra from the fox to use for himself.

He can also enter into the internal cage of Kurama and talk without releasing the fox.

According to a fan theory shared online, there’s the possibility that Naruto gained the power to create life itself.

The Creation Of All Things is an ability that used to be held by Hagoromo. Hagoromo split his own powers between Naruto and Sasuke.

While Sasuke ended up with vision enhanced skills to go along with his shuriken, Naruto was able to access the Sage of Six Paths mode.

This theory points out that Naruto’s own power saved Gai during the Fourth Shinobi World War as Gai used a technique that should have destroyed him.

Could this healing power be a result of the Creation of All Things? Perhaps we’ll find out in Boruto.

Fan know that Naruto draws power from Kurama, the nine-tailed fox sealed inside his body. That power comes at a price, though.

When Naruto first begins to allow Kurama to take over his body in a fight, he’s able to level an entire village if he needs to. When Kurama took over, though, Naruto had no control over his actions at all.

Not only could Kurama do whatever he wanted, but Naruto also wouldn’t know what the fox did while using his body.

Naruto would completely black out during the event, leaving him with gaps in his memory.

Absorbing someone else’s chakra isn’t a typical power, and even Naruto can’t do it without a little help.

It’s not something that he was able to do in his teen years in the Naruto and Naruto Shippuden series.

Instead, the idea was introduced in Boruto during a sparring session with Naruto’s son.

At this point in his story, Naruto had been using a prosthetic arm for years. He lost one in battle with Sasuke following the Fourth Shinobi World War.

A new prosthetic developed for him allows him to absorb enemy attacks and chakra without any damage to himself.

Fans used to joke about how Naruto could talk his way out of anything. It just so happens that they weren’t wrong -- it’s actually one of his abilities.

“Talk no Jutsu” is the name given to the ability to talk a villain down from committing a heinous act.

In some cases, this might mean negotiating with a villain to get them at least part of what they want. In Naruto’s case, it’s a little different.

For Naruto, his childhood of loneliness and ridicule made him sympathetic to the plight of the bad guys he faced. He was able to make Gaara understand how love from his friends changed him. Gaara later became a valuable ally.

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Did you know Naruto had all of these abilities and weaknesses? Which is your favorite? Let us know in the comments!

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