Naruto: Why could Obito never use Susanoo? Explained

Credited with being one of the longest-running anime, Naruto is comprised of so many plot holes that eventually annoyed the fans. Though some of the issues were resolved over time, others remain unanswered to date. One of its baffling mysteries is regarding the biggest late bloomer of the series, Obito Uchiha.

Under the tutelage of Madara Uchiha, Obito had the greatest transition from a weak Shinobi to a force to be reckoned with in Naruto. He learned many powerful techniques and also got to know how to utilize his Dojutsu to its maximum potential. Despite being one of the most powerful Uchiha members, he has never used Susanoo in combat, and the reason behind this is much simpler.

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Exploring the reason behind why Obito can’t conjure up Susanoo despite being an Uchiha in Naruto

In Naruto, Susanoo is an enormous humanoid avatar made entirely of the user’s chakra. This translucent avatar surrounds the user like an ultimate defense and moves at the user’s command like a puppet. Not every Uchiha who possesses the Sharingan or has gained mastery over their Dojutsu can conjure up a Susanoo.

To activate Susanoo, a Sharingan wielder must evolve their eyes into Mangekyo Sharingan, which happens only when the user deals with a traumatic incident like witnessing the death of a person they have close ties with. A person who successfully managed to awaken Mangekyo Sharingan in both eyes is capable of conjuring a Susanoo with ease.

In Obito’s case, when half of his body got crushed by a boulder during the Third Great Ninja War, he gave his left eye to Kakashi. Sometime later, they both awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan in each eye after witnessing the death of Rin Nohara. Still, neither of them could conjure up Susanoo as the Dojutsu pair evolved individually into two different bodies.

The only way an individual can activate Susanoo in Naruto is when both of their Dojutsu eyes evolve in one body as a pair. Obito’s Mangekyo Sharingan only granted him and Kakashi a space-time ninjutsu ability called Kamui, which works differently in both eyes.

The right eye being a short-ranged version of Kamui, which granted Obito intangibility and the ability to teleport. The left eye is a long-ranged version of Kamui, using which Kakashi could create a barrier space remotely that can warp the targets into Kamui’s dimension.

Madara Uchiha could activate Susanoo without his eyes since he had awakened the Magekyo Sharingan before any other Uchiha in Naruto. Thus, he became the first ever person to achieve such accomplishments within his clan.

Itachi’s prowess was such that he could manifest two powerful ethereal weapons on top of activating his Susanoo while his Mangekyo Sharingan stayed deactivated and he was in a nearly blind state.

After Obito received his other eye through Madara and replaced it with Rinnegan, the former still couldn’t conjure up a Susanoo because Kakashi awakened the other eye in his body. So technically, as he could never awaken both his eyes together in his own body, he wasn’t able to activate Susanoo.

The only reason Kakashi could activate a full-body Susanoo was due to Obito inhabiting his body with his entire life force, temporarily granting him Mangekyo Sharingan in both eyes. So, in a nutshell, Kakashi’s Susanoo belonged to Obito in the first place.