Naruto is one of the most successful anime and manga franchises that has dominated both the Japanese and Western markets for years — and for good reason. It's funny, full of drama and action, and the shinobi world is full of excitement and wonder.
"Jutsu" refers to the mystical arts that a shinobi can utilize in battle. To use these jutsu, a shinobi must manipulate their chakra and use hand seals to create the desired outcome. In Naruto, there are many powerful jutsu, like the Rasenshuriken, but there are also some useless jutsu. With some improvements, though, even these subpar techniques could be made more effective.
10 Useless: Rope Escape Jutsu Isn't Worth The Effort
A shinobi needs to be able to escape from any bad situation. This is why the first jutsu taught to shinobi at the Academy in the Hidden Leaf Village is the Rope Escape jutsu. Shinobi are taught from a young age that if they are bound, they need to find any way to get free.
This could mean undoing the knots or dislocating joints and fingers to slip from their bonds. Even though it’s an E-rank jutsu, and a very basic one at that, it's actually very complicated to perform.
9 How To Improve: Allow The User To Escape From Any Form Of Confinement
When using the Rope Escape jutsu, a shinobi can only escape from the ropes by undoing the knots or hurting themselves. In addition, it's a very complicated jutsu to perform for such a basic ability. In order to improve this jutsu, a few changes could be made
There should be two versions of this jutsu: a complicated one and a simplified one. The simplified version would be used for escaping ropes, while the more complicated version could be used to get out of more sophisticated forms of confinement, like Kankuro's Iron Maiden.
8 Useless: Roof Tile Shuriken Jutsu Could Be Much Stronger
The Roof Tile Shuriken jutsu is an offensive form of ninjutsu that a shinobi can use to levitate roof tiles and use them as projectiles in combat. Once levitated, they can be controlled and manipulated to the shinobi's will. For example, they can be hurled in any direction to attack an opponent.
What's interesting about this jutsu is that a shinobi can pressurize the tiles with chakra. This means that the roof tile shuriken becomes much stronger than regular roof tiles. The only person to use this jutsu in the series was Hiruzen Sarutobi.
7 How To Improve: The Tiles Should Join Together To Make Larger And Stronger Shuriken
In episode 69 of Naruto, Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Hokage at the time, uses the Roof Tile Shuriken jutsu against Orochimaru. As useful as being able to use the surrounding infrastructure as weapons with this jutsu seems, it was virtually ineffective against Orochimaru.
To make this jutsu more useful, Hiruzen could have joined the tiles together to form a much larger and stronger shuriken. Much like how Naruto was able to turn the Rasengan into a Giant Rasengan, having more power behind the Roof Tile Shuriken jutsu would have made it more effective and damaging — especially if the tiles were strengthened with his chakra.
6 Useless: Hidden Lotus Jutsu Overwhelms The User
The Hidden Lotus jutsu, also known as the Reverse Lotus, occurs when a shinobi opens a minimum of three of the Eight Gates. The Eight Gates are used to limit the flow of chakra within a ninja's body in order to protect them from physical and mental harm. When these gates are opened, they are given access to more of their body's chakra. But normally, a person can only withstand 20% of their full potential.
When the third gate is opened, the user becomes incredibly fast and is capable of striking very hard — if their attacks can land. The downside is that this state puts an enormous toll on the body and doesn't last very long.
5 How To Improve: Increase Stamina And The Length That The Gates Can Remain Open
When used, the Hidden Lotus jutsu can be quite effective, but only if the attacks land. With how much stamina it takes to maintain it and how short of a time the gates can remain open, the Hidden Lotus can end up being useless in practice
To make this jutsu more useful, it would be helpful if the length of time in which the gates remained opened could be increased. It would also be beneficial if the user's stamina could be increased, but this might only be possible if the amount of chakra that's accessed is reduced slightly. It would mean that their attacks wouldn’t be as strong, but the user would be able to wear their opponent down both mentally and physically if they could keep the gates open for longer.
4 Useless: The Frill-Necked Lizard Jutsu Is Just Silly
Tobi, later revealed to be a disguised Obito Uchiha, is one of the main antagonists of the series. While under the guide of Tobi, he's goofy and likes to joke around. He enjoys making fun of his superiors and gets a kick out of antagonizing people.
With this in mind, when he performed the Frill-Necked Lizard jutsu, many fans believed it was just for comedic purposes — and they were right. This jutsu doesn't do anything, unless shocking an already dumbfounded shinobi counts. Otherwise, it's virtually useless.
3 How To Improve: When Frills Are Open, The User's Speed And Evasiveness Should Increase
In order for Tobi to perform the Frill-Necked Lizard jutsu, he needs to be upside down, and he needs a cape to flow around him to act as his frills. Even though this jutsu is useless, it could be improved. Frill-necked lizards open their frills as a way to warn off predators, and they're also incredibly fast.
In the same way that the lizard does, the Frill-Necked Lizard jutsu could be turned into a form of genjutsu. This would allow the user to either escape or help increase their speed and evasiveness.
2 Useless: The Transformation Technique Won't Fool Everyone
The Transformation Technique, or Henge no Jutsu, is allows a shinobi to change their appearance to resemble someone else. This mode of deception can be quite useful in certain circumstances.
However, the Transformation Technique only changes the physical appearance of a shinobi. It doesn't disguise their scent or chakra. If any type of sensory ninja were around, they would be able to detect the jutsu user immediately, and on stealth missions, this form of jutsu would be rendered useless.
1 How To Improve: Transform And Disguise Chakra And Scents, Not Just Appearance
Even though the Transformation Technique has many good qualities, the fact that a shinobi can be detected because of their chakra and scent is a huge drawback. To make this jutsu more useful, it would be beneficial to have two varieties: a basic Transformation jutsu and a more advanced Transformation jutsu.
The basic jutsu would stay the same, while the advanced jutsu would not only disguise a shinobi's appearance but also disguise their chakra and their scent. This would make them virtually undetectable. It would make this jutsu more complicated to perform, but the added benefits would be worth the effort.