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Naruto's Chakra system has Chakra Natures, which means a particular user can control a particular element. Most ninjas only have access to one or two Chakra Natures according to their training, with a scant few having access to all or most of them. Naruto himself can access all of them by the end of the series, for instance.
Some have multiple users and are therefore more common, while others are rare and only have a few users. These Chakra Natures are so vital and widely used throughout Naruto, that the Five Great Shinobi Countries are all named after one of them. This article will go into Naruto's power system and the various Chakra Natures.
This article will contain spoilers for characters that use all the Chakra Natures, and the nature of Chakra itself for Naruto, Naruto: Shippuden, and Boruto. Chakra Nature combinations and subsequent kekkei genkai are listed under their basic nature. The total number of users will go by anime totals (if tied with another nature, will go manga totals), not movies, video games, or the novels.
All of Naruto's Chakra Natures, ranked from the most to least common
6) Water Release
Water Release is a balanced and the most common Chakra Natures, with well over 143 users. It is usually most easily performed using lakes, rivers, and other existing water sources. The ninja of the Hidden Mist Village are usually found using this chakra nature in Naruto and Shippuden, like Zabuza using Water Dragons, Kisame using Sharks, and even some turning their bodies into water to alter their body.
Water can be created with chakra within the body and expelled from the mouth, but that takes Hokage level skill as seen with Second Hokage Tobirama Senju. While typically used offensively, battering from sheer volume or slicing due to high pressure, Water Release has a variety of uses.
It can be used to imprison targets in dense water, ensnared with sticky water, large walls of water for defense and even thick mist and water droplets to obscure vision.
Water is strong against Fire and weak against Earth. The combinations include Wind and Water to churn water and increase damage, Lightning to increase lightning range and/or purifiy water to minimize conductivity, Ice Release to freeze, Earth and Water for the powerful Wood Release, Storm Release with the aforementioned Lighting, and even Mud Release as an offshoot of Water and Earth.
5) Earth Release
Earth Release has around 110 users and encompasses any kind of earthen material from dirt to stone to clay. Simple applications involve changing the terrain via using chakra to alter its form. Common users of this form are found in Naruto's Village Hidden by the Rocks. The Third Tsuchikage Ōnoki is one such user, so is Iwabee Yuino in Boruto: Naruto Next Generations.
Other techniques associated with this technique include summoning rock golems to fight alongside themselves and allies, touching targets to make them too heavy to move, using a mountain's worth of Earth to crush targets, and even breaking up the Earth and Earth Walls for defense.
Earth Release users can also burrow underground to escape harm.
Earth Release is strong against Water Release and weak against Lightning. Combinations include Lava Release with Earth and Fire, Magnet Release with Earth and Wind, Explosion with Earth and Lightning, and the combination of Earth, Wind, and Fire produces the Dust Release.
Mud Release using Earth and Water is also a combination, and Crystal release is suggested to have some element of Earth to it.
4) Fire Release
Fire Chakra Nature is used offensively most of the time, and is arguably one of the most common of the chakra natures seen in Naruto owing to Sasuke Uchiha being a main character. The total number of users are 97 users, at least in the anime.
The style is particularly common amongst Hidden Leaf Ninja like the Uchiha, Jiraiya, and members of the Sarutobi Clan. It is even denoted in the "Will of Fire," which many Hidden Leaf ninjas possess.
Usage of Fire Release involves kneading Chakra into flames that users breathe from their mouths, usually creating a fire stream or bursts of fire. It can be manipulated and shaped into weapons like swords, ash clouds, shields, and even being used through explosive tags. They can also be used in combination with toad oil to increase the flame's head and range.
A more advanced version is the Blaze Release, which Sasuke can use to manipulate Amaterasu's flames.
Fire and Earth combinations make Lava Release, Fire and Water make Boil Release, and Fire and Wind make Scorch Release. The combination of fire, earth, and wind produces the advanced technique Dust Release.
Fire is naturally strong against Wind Release and weak against Water Release, and Fire Release being overused can create ideal conditions for Lightning Release techniques such as Sasuke's Kirin technique.
3) Lightning Release
Lightning Release is where Chakra Natures start to get rarer, as it has 84 users. Lightning users must convert chakra into electricity to use it. It can be channeled into ninja tools to amplify the cutting power or create a numbing effect.
Besides Kakashi and Sasuke using the Lightning Blade and Chidori techniques in the original Naruto, the second half Naruto Shippuden introduces the Hidden Cloud village and Raikage line as well as Killer B who all ultilize lightning techniques.
As far as Lightning uses and techniques, there are a ton of ways to use it. Natural lightning can be used, as Sasuke does for Kirin. It's more common to see lightning used to hit or try to obliterate an opponent, but the Raikage have used it to coat their bodies with electricity, shield themselves from harm, increase speed and physical strength, especially with the Third's Hell Stab.
It can also be split, as in Chidori Senbon and Current, to attack a wide area, albeit with a lessened effect.
Lighting is strong against Earth and weak against Wind. Lighting can also negatively affect Water Release users that are not trained in it. If combined, it creates a powerful Storm Release that can manipulate weather, while Lightning and Earth create powerful explosions with Explosion release.
2) Wind Release
Whilst the anime has Wind Release tied to Lightning for its number of users, the Naruto manga totals users at 64. Of the basic chakra natures, Wind is the rarest of the five. Those who can use it, however, are able to slice through anything.
Users included the posthumous Asuma Sarutobi, who used it to make his chakra blades sharper and to give them better reach, Naruto Uzumaki, who has the Rasengan and Rasenshuriken variant, and Temari, who generates wind by waving a massive folding fan at targets so her summoned Kamatari can slice people apart via wind currents. Hidden Sand ninja are mostly users of this as well.
Wind Release can be used to blow away everything in an area, allow for precision strikes from a user's, and further enhanced by compression and layering. Rasenshuriken can be fused with Wind Release as Naruto did so he could throw it.
Boruto used Wind Release to increase his speed by propelling wind from his feet, though that required Shadow Clone aid.
Wind Release is strong against Lightning and Weak to Fire, but can be fused with fire to create the devastating Scorch Release. Water and Wind can make Ice Release, and Magnet release is achieved with a the combination of Wind and Earth. Never doubt the wind, but don't count out the number 1 entry.
1) Yin Release and Yang Release
The rarest and most powerful of Chakra Natures exists outside the basic natures, and comes courtesy of Sage of the Six Paths himself, Hagoromo Otsutsuki. The Yin Release uses spiritual energy to create form from nothingness, and most genjutsu are based on it with the Nara clan having some limited access.
Sasuke used Yin Six Paths power to fight Kaguya, whereas Minato split Kurama's Yin and Yang. The Yang part is physical energy to grant life to the dead, though the Akimichi clan uses it to increase their bodies, Naruto in Nine Tails mode to grow trees, and the Six Paths power to fight Kaguya.
When combined into Yin-Yang release, Hagoromo was able to create the nine-tailed beasts. When Naruto was given this power, he was able to stabilize Might Guy after he unleased the Eight Gates, restore Kakashi's left eye, and even resuscitate Obito Uchiha from having the 10 tails forcibly ripped from his body.
The combination release has other uses like nullifying ninjutsu, and Truth Seeking Balls can be used as a defense and break through ninjutsu itself.
Yin-Yang Release is the only power able to seal Kaguya Otsutsuki, the progenitor of Chakra, fittingly enough that it came from her sons Hagoromo and Hamura. The combination itself obviously didn't last long after Kaguya was sealed, as Hagoromo took it back after they sealed Kaguya into a new moon alongside Black Zetsu.
It is an exclusive Chakra nature, outside the main five, but is still counting as it was vital to the story and to sealing away Kaguya.
