Kekkei genkai are unique abilities utilized by a select few in Naruto Shippuden. Typically passed down through a clan's bloodline, these one-of-a-kind techniques make kekkei genkai one of the most fearsome and highly coveted abilities in the Naruto universe.
These inherited abilities typically present themselves in one of three ways: a visual dojutsu, body manipulation techniques, or two combined nature transformations which form a unique Elemental Release style. Those lucky enough to possess kekkei genkai do so with deadly precision and oftentimes invent various techniques to utilize the best of their unique and powerful jutsu.
10 Haku's Ice Release Created Inescapable Ice Prisons
Once prominent in the Land of Water, the Yuki Clan used their Ice Release kekkei genkai to defend their country during its civil war. This deadly combination of the Water and Wind elements made the Yuki Clan feared throughout the Land of Water, forcing many of them to go into hiding or face persecution from their peers.
As one of the Yuki Clan's last surviving members, Haku mastered Ice Release at an early age while under Zabuza Momochi's care. Haku created the Crystal Ice Mirrors, which ensnared opponents in a large dome by surrounding them with identical mirrors. From within them, Haku could move at lightning speed, attacking his enemies from any vantage point with a barrage of deadly senbon.
9 The Uchiha's Sharingan Stole Countless Jutsu
The Uchiha are one of three clans who inherited the Sharingan, a dojutsu kekkei genkai. Revered for their battle technique and visual prowess, the Sharingan granted them the ability to predict and control their enemy's movements while enhancing their proficiency with genjutsu.
The Sharingan's unique and versatile abilities made them as much feared within Konohagakure as they were outside it: by simply observing someone, the Sharingan could perfectly replicate any technique. Thousands of the most complicated jutsu were within the grasp of any Sharingan user, making them the target for Konohagakure's betrayal and the clan's subsequent massacre.
8 The Mangekyo's Kamui Made Its User Invincible
Upon experiencing intense trauma, an Uchiha's Sharingan gains additional abilities once the eye has transitioned to its next form: the Mangekyo Sharingan. This visual dojutsu kekkei genkai gains two new abilities, one for each eye, while maintaining all the powers of the user's original Sharingan.
One of the Mangekyo's strongest techniques belonged to Obito Uchiha. Kamui was a space-time ninjutsu that allowed Obito to transport people and objects to an alternate dimension. Offensively, Kamui could forcibly remove opponent's limbs, transport foes, and absorb attacks. Defensively, it could be used to escape while its user was in peril. By applying Kamui on himself, Obito became intangible to avoid assault, capture, or injury.
7 The Rinnegan Overpowered Everything With Almighty Push
The Mangekyo Sharingan evolves into its final form upon receiving Hagoromo's chakra. Regarded as the greatest of all dojutsu, the Rinnegan grants the power of a God of Creation or God of Destruction; some of the Rinnegan's abilities include mechanical body alterations, soul extraction, and chakra absorption.
Its single strongest technique, Almighty Push, came from its Deva Path. By creating attractive and repulsive forces, the user could keep enemies at bay while using attractive forces to draw defenseless foes forward. Almighty Push was strong enough to turn household nails into high-pressured projectiles and destroy Konohagakure in a single, decisive attack.
6 Magnet Release: Iron Sand Matched Gaara's Impenetrable Sand Defense
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The Third Kazekage created Magnet Release: Iron Sand by studying Shukaku's sand manipulation ability. A combination of Wind and Earth, Magnet Release generates magnetic force that can be applied to objects. Iron Sand can be used to create armor, form weapons, or sprout wings; as a result, it became one of Sunagakure's most feared and prized kekkei genkai.
Magnet Release: Iron Sand was strong enough to match Gaara's Ultimate Sand Defense technique. It shielded its user from most attacks, moved fluidly around the battlefield, and afforded its user various tools and weapons at their preference. Wings enabled flight while also firing homing-missile feathers at enemies; by lacing Iron Sand with poison, any victim it touched subsequently fell ill and died.
5 Hinata's Twin Lion Fists Made A Deadly Combination With Her Byakugan
The Hyuga are one of Konohagakure's strongest clans due to their inheritance of the Byakugan. This visual dojutsu allows them to see an opponent's chakra network and expel their own chakra at will; by shutting off their opponent's chakra points, the Hyuga remove their enemy's ability to use jutsu while dealing direct damage to their internal organs.
The Byakugan's strongest ability, Gentle Step: Twin Lion Fists, was developed by the clan's heiress Hinata. Through a change in chakra form, two chakra-lion heads emerged from her fists, consuming the chakra of any opponent they touched. As a severe loss in chakra resulted in death, the Twin Lion Fist was a deadly ability that required intense mastery to learn and maintain.
4 Wood Release: Deep Forest Emergence Created Konohagakure
The Senju clan, known as the "clan of 1,000 jutsu," developed techniques in every major jutsu school without distinction. Hashirama Senju was heir to the clan and the sole possessor of its unique kekkei genkai: Wood Release. He used the Wood Release: Deep Forest Emergence to create Konohagakure and defend it from the Nine-Tailed Fox.
A combination of Earth and Water Release, it converted a user's chakra into a life source. Wood constructs like cages or villages could be created in an instant. Wood Release could be manipulated, used to suppress or absorb a target's chakra, or sap them of their life force. It was strong enough to allow Hashirama's subdual of the Tailed Beasts before he distributed them among the Five Great Nations.
3 Mei Temuri's Boil Release: Corrosive Vapor Destroyed All Matter On Contact
Mostly inherited by villagers within Kirigakure, Boil Release is a kekkei genkai that combines the Fire and Water elements. While most kekkei genkai typically display themselves similarly amongst their inheritors, Boil Release takes on a unique form depending on each individual user.
Its most prodigious user, Mei Terumi, inherited Boil Release: Corrosive Vapor. Mei created a cloud of acid vapor to rapidly fill confined areas, melting any objects or people it touched without distinction. No kekkei genkai, healing jutsu, or armor could save its victim from death once they'd make contact with Mei's Corrosive vapor, leading to massive casualties for any unlucky enough to be on its receiving end.
2 The Dark Release: Chimera Technique Stole Other People's Kekkei Genkai
Dark Release is a kekkei genkai that combines multiple Elemental Release types. Granting its user the ability to absorb and manipulate a target's chakra, Hiruko used Dark Release in an attempt to gain immortality.
To achieve this goal, Hiruko created the Dark Release: Chimera Technique; this allowed him to absorb the bodies of other kekkei genkai users to steal their abilities. While meeting the jutsu's specifications, the Chimera Technique created a mass of blue liquid capable of keeping enemies at bay and victims confined until the human sacrifices were absorbed and the technique completed.
1 Kaguya's All-Killing Ash Bone Jutsu Was Shikotsumyaku's Certain-Kill Technique
The Shikotsumyaku kekkei genkai grants its user the ability to manipulate and weaponize their bone structure; as descendants of its original users, Kaguya Otsotsuki, the Kaguya Clan maintained this unique kekkei genkai and used it to cause havoc in Kirigakure. Upon the clan's extinction, Kaguya Otsotsuki became the only living being to possess Shikotsumyaku.
Kaguya's ultimate technique, the All-Killing Ash Bone jutsu, was the single strongest ninjutsu ever created. After hardening their bones into small bullets, the user ejects them at high velocity toward their opponents. The bones deteriorate the cells of all living organisms on impact, reducing them to ash on a molecular level. As All-Killing Ash Bone is a certain-kill technique, its victim bears no possibility of survival once they're struck.