Reanimation Jutsu is one of the most powerful and also dangerous jutsu in the Naruto Series. The Reanimation Jutsu literally changed the Naruto story in many ways some of them are it is the reason for Hiruzen Sarutobi Death, For the tough fight with Obito in the 4th Great Ninja war, Backstory of Itachi Uchiha and in a good way it is the reason for the return of all the Leaf Village Hokage int he 4th Great Ninja war.
So Reanimation Jutsu played a major role in the Narutoverse but there are a few questions for some of the fans about the Reanimation Jutsu let’s clear them up today and also let’s rewind the story of Reanimation Jutsu in the Narutoverse. So without any delay let us dive into it.
- What is the Reanimation Jutsu?
- How Does the Reanimation Jutsu Work?
- How to do Reanimation Jutsu Hand Signs
- In Which Episode Kabuto uses Reanimation Jutsu?
- Why did Tobirama Create Reanimation Jutsu?
- In Naruto are Reanimated Characters as Strong as when they were Alive?
- Does Reanimation Jutsu have any Flaws?
- How did Itachi get out of the Reanimation Jutsu?
- What is Kotoamatsukami?
- How to Stop Reanimation Jutsu
- Dominant Reanimated Naruto Characters in 4th Great Ninja War
What is the Reanimation Jutsu?

Reanimation Jutsu is one of the strongest Jutsu in Naruto and it is also a forbidden jutsu. It is created by the 1st Hokage of the Hidden leaf village Tobirama Senju, and this jutsu is one of the most dangerous jutsu in the Narutverse. Other than Tobirama this jutsu is used and mastered by Orochimaru and Kabuto.
But we can also assume that Madara Uchiha can perform the Reanimation Jutsu because he knows the real drawbacks of the Reanimation Jutsu which even Kabuto and Orochimaru don’t know. He was also able to perform the contract cancel technique and got rid of the control of Kabuto and also the Reanimation Jutsu seal. So we can assume that Madara was also able to use this jutsu but we never get to see it in the Naruto series. But How does Reanimation Jutsu work?
How Does the Reanimation Jutsu Work?

Reanimation Jutsu is a forbidden jutsu and it is also a dangerous jutsu that changed the outcome of the 4th Great Ninja War. The Reanimation Jutsu working is based on the Life Force and chakra of Shinobi. Using this Jutsu the user can summon shinobi from the afterworld and the Shinobi who are brought back to life are immortal but the thing is, To summon shinobi from the after world the user should sacrifice a living being for the exchange of dead Shinobi’s soul. In short, we can say it is a jutsu that brings back people from the dead by exchanging one of the living being’s life force or soul for the dead shinobi soul.
To perform the Reanimation jutsu the jutsu caster needs a living being as the vessel for the dead shinobi soul and flesh or DNA of the Dead shinobi who we wanted to revive and only shinobi who are in the afterworld can be summoned to the living but the shinobi who are sealed cannot be summoned like Minato got sealed in the Reaper Death so he cannot be revived using the Reanimation jutsu.
But this jutsu is altered by both Kabuto and Orochimaru, the Reanimation Jutsu is created for summoning dead people there is no denying it. But the original Reanimation Jutsu created by Tobirama didn’t have any control over the summoned shinobi from the after-world.
The summoned Shinobi have free will it is up to them if they wanna take orders from the summoner or take full control of their body like Madara. But Orochimaru altered this jutsu by adding a new feature to the Reanimation Jutsu which is to control the dead shinobi using specific sealed Tags.
How to do Reanimation Jutsu Hand Signs
Actually, there are no Hand Signs for the Reanimation Jutsu. Orochimaru doesn’t use any hand signs for performing reanimation Jutsu all he uses is a gathering chakra hand sign by closing his hands. But Kabuto uses a Chakra gathering and Chakra release hand sign to release the Jutsu and both are very basic hand signs and every Shinobi uses those Handsigns for several Jutsu. So we can consider that Reanimation doesn’t need any complex hand signs at all.
In Which Episode Kabuto uses Reanimation Jutsu?

In Episode 264 of Naruto Shippuden Kabuto uses Reanimation Jutsu which is Titled as ” Secrets of the Reanimation Jutsu “and in Naruto Manga 520 Chapter Titled ” Secrets of the Edo Tensei “. Kabuto also uses the reanimation jutsu in some fillers of Naruto which is in the Power Arc of the Naruto series. But if we are talking about the main story then he used it in 264 Ep in Anime and 520 chapter in Naruto Manga.
Why did Tobirama Create Reanimation Jutsu?

Tobirama created Reanimation Jutsu to reduce the deaths of the Leaf Shinobi in Ninja Wars. By using this jutsu the dead people can be revived and we all know that they are immortal no matter how powerful the jutsu is used they won’t return to the afterworld or even get harmed that the specialty of Reanimation Jutsu.
So by using this jutsu Tobirama surely reduced the death of shinobi but he later realized that it is not a good thing to summon dead people who are finally rested. And he also doesn’t want to sacrifice shinobi so he made the Reanimation Jutsu as a forbidden jutsu.
Fan–Theory
But some fan theories suggest that Tobirama created and used this jutsu only to be able to fight with Uchiha clan members because we all know that Uchiha clan members are overpowered and it will be a challenging fight to defeat them but with the Tobirama jutsu, there is still a chance for normal shinobi to win against Uchiha clan. So some fans think that Tobirama created it to control the Uchiha clan.
In Naruto are Reanimated Characters as Strong as when they were Alive?

No, The Reanimated characters are not as powerful as they were when they are alive. Even though they can use all types of Ninjutsu and Genjutsu even when Reanimated, they still can’t fight like when they are alive because no matter what jutsu is used to bring back people from the dead they are still only Reanimated.
The main reason for this is, the body they reincarnated doesn’t match with their original body and they can’t use the reincarnated body to the full extent. So the Physical abilities and Ninjutsu are reduced when they get reincarnated into a new body but the gap between when they are alive and after Reanimation power levels won’t be too big of a difference. But that small difference is enough for shinobi like Madara to defeat Hashirama and Tobirama in the 4th Great Ninja War.
That’s the reason why Madara purposely wanted to be completely alive using the Edo Tensei. Even leaving the power of Hashirama Senju in his reincarnated body because he knows that the reincarnated body can’t keep up with his abilities and chakra. Madara mentioned this flaw in the 4th Great Ninja War that no matter how powerful we are when we are alive, we are still reanimated and we can’t use our full abilities.
Does Reanimation Jutsu have any Flaws?

Yeah, the Reanimation jutsu has some dangerous flaws. Even though Kabuto and Orochimaru thought that they were no drawbacks it turns out this jutsu also has a few drawbacks. One of them is the summoned shinobi from the after-world can cancel the contract whenever they want and can be free just like Madara did in the 4th Great Ninja war.
Madara did exactly that in the 4th Great Ninja War he canceled the contract between Kabuto and him. So the Reanimation jutsu no longer works on him. The next Drawback of this jutsu is to perform Reanimation jutsu the user should sacrifice a living being. Well, to shinobi like Orochimaru and Kabuto, it is nothing they really don’t care for other people but for other shinobi, it is one of the major drawbacks.
The last Drawback of this jutsu is not really a drawback but when we include the strongest shinobi of Naruoverse to reanimation as Itachi then it becomes a major drawback. If a summoned Shinobi is powerful as Itachi they can use their Genjutsu and can be freed from the Reanimation jutsu and come after the Caster of the jutsu and kill them.
How did Itachi get out of the Reanimation Jutsu?

Itachi is one of the legendary characters in the Naruto series who is a genius from the start of the Series. Itachi used a powerful Genjutsu Kotoamatsukami which he saved for Sasuke, But due to the 4th Great Ninja war, he used it on himself and broke the control of Kabuto. And Itachi didn’t really break from the Reanimation Jutsu he was just freed from the control of Kabuto using the Kotoamatsukami. So Let’s get a little deep so we absorb the full story and intelligence of Itachi.
Itachi is super intelligent and he planned everything before his death for his brother Sasuke. Itachi knew that Sasuke will go Rogue and he wants to destroy the Hidden Leaf Village after knowing the truth. So he altered the Shisui Eye ( Strongest Genjutsu user in Narutoverse ) in his Crow and hid it in Naruto’s stomach which is a great place to hide something as powerful as that.
Itachi altered the Shisui Eye in such a way that if Sasuke tries to destroy the Hidden leaf village then Itachi Crow senses it and automatically uses the powerful Kotoamatsukami Genjutsu on Sasuke and makes him withdraw the idea of destroying the village. But things didn’t turn out well like Itachi want and there was a bigger threat to the Shinobi world than Sasuke so Itachi used the Crow and used the Kotoamatsukami on him. Which made him relieved from the control of Kabuto but is Kotoamatsukami really that powerful?
What is Kotoamatsukami?

Kotoamatsukami is a special Mangekyo ability of Shisui Uchiha. Shisui is known as the strongest Genjutsu user in the whole Narutoverse he got the Kotoamatsukami ability after awakening the Mangekyo Sharingan. The Kotoamatsukami jutsu is a special Mangekyo Sharingan Ability that Shisui has.
Just like the Obito Mangekyo ability Kamui technique the Kotoamatsukami is also a unique Mangekyo ability of Shisui. This technique is so powerful that Hiruzen ordered Shisui to use this technique, if Uchiha Clan members in the Uchiha meeting decide to attack the hidden leaf village then Shisui was ordered to use the Kotoamatsukami on all the Uchiha Clan members and change their thoughts about attacking the Hidden leaf village.
How to Stop Reanimation Jutsu

There are not many ways to stop Reanimation Jutsu there is only one way to stop a Reanimation jutsu. Which is to make the caster of the jutsu release the jutsu. Or we can seal all the reanimated shinobi who got reanimated but this takes a lot of work we have seen the whole Shinobi alliance struggling hard to seal them. So the easiest way is to make the caster release jutu like Itachi did and the hardest way is to seal every reanimated shinobi with a powerful sealing jutsu.
Dominant Reanimated Naruto Characters in 4th Great Ninja War
There are many Reanimated shinobi in the 4th Great Ninja War but we filtered the top 10 dominant reanimated shinobi and made this list. Let’s get into it
- 10. 3rd Raikage
- 9. Gengestu Hozuki
- 8. MU
- 7. Hiruzen Sarutobi
- 6. Tobirama Senju
- 5. Itachi Uchiha
- 4. Nagato Uzumaki
- 3. Hashirama Senju
- 2. Minato Namikaze
- 1. Madara Uchiha