Naruto/Shadow Clone Technique

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<div style="color: #dddddd; font-size: 0.82em; letter-spacing: 2px;">NINJUTSU · FORBIDDEN TECHNIQUE</div>
<div style="color: #ffffff; font-weight: bold; font-size: 1.4em; margin: 3px 0 1px 0;">Shadow Clone Technique</div>
<div style="color: #EC7124; font-size: 0.92em;">影分身の術 · <i>Kage Bunshin no Jutsu</i></div>
|- style="border-bottom: 1px solid #f6ddc4;"
! scope="row" style="background: #000; color: #EC7124; text-align: center; width: 36%;" | English
| "Shadow Clone Jutsu"<ref name="ep1dub">''Naruto'', episode 1: "Enter: Naruto Uzumaki!" English-language broadcast (VIZ Media, 2005).</ref>
|- style="border-bottom: 1px solid #f6ddc4;"
! scope="row" style="background: #000; color: #EC7124; text-align: center;" | Classification
| [[Naruto/Ninjutsu|Ninjutsu]] — supplementary
|- style="border-bottom: 1px solid #f6ddc4;"
! scope="row" style="background: #000; color: #EC7124; text-align: center;" | Rank
| <span style="background:#000; color:#EC7124; border:1px solid #EC7124; font-size:0.78em; font-weight:bold; padding:1px 6px;">B-RANK</span> <span style="background:#000; color:#E4574B; border:1px solid #EC7124; font-size:0.78em; font-weight:bold; padding:1px 6px;">FORBIDDEN</span><ref name="databook">''Naruto: Hiden — Rin no Sho, Character Official Data Book'' (Shueisha, 2002).</ref>
|- style="border-bottom: 1px solid #f6ddc4;"
! scope="row" style="background: #000; color: #EC7124; text-align: center;" | Debut
| Manga: chapter 1, "Uzumaki Naruto!!"<ref name="ch1">''Naruto'', chapter 1: "Uzumaki Naruto!!" (Shueisha, ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'', 1999).</ref><br>Anime: episode 1, "Enter: Naruto Uzumaki!"<ref name="ep1site">"Enter: Naruto Uzumaki." ''NARUTO OFFICIAL SITE'' (official). [https://naruto-official.com/en/anime/naruto1/list/01_225 naruto-official.com/en/anime/naruto1/list/01_225]. Retrieved July 2026.</ref>
|- style="border-bottom: 1px solid #f6ddc4;"
! scope="row" style="background: #000; color: #EC7124; text-align: center;" | Known users
| [[Naruto/Naruto Uzumaki|Naruto Uzumaki]] · [[Naruto/Kakashi Hatake|Kakashi Hatake]] · other elite Leaf ninja
|-
! scope="row" style="background: #000; color: #EC7124; text-align: center;" | Variant
| Multi Shadow Clone Technique — <span style="background:#000; color:#EC7124; border:1px solid #EC7124; font-size:0.78em; font-weight:bold; padding:1px 6px;">A-RANK</span> forbidden<ref name="databook" />
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'''Shadow Clone Technique''' (影分身の術, ''Kage Bunshin no Jutsu''), the '''Shadow Clone Jutsu''' of the English-language anime,<ref name="ep1dub" /> is a forbidden [[Naruto/Ninjutsu|ninjutsu]] in ''[[Naruto]]'' that creates real, solid copies of the user.<ref name="ch1" /> Where the Academy's basic [[Naruto/Clone Technique|Clone Technique]] projects empty images, a shadow clone can run, strike, carry out orders and use techniques of its own. It is the signature technique of [[Naruto/Naruto Uzumaki|Naruto Uzumaki]], who teaches it to himself from a stolen scroll on the night of the series' first chapter, and no technique appears more often across the manga's fifteen-year run.

== What it does ==

Each clone is a genuine body, and the user's chakra — the energy behind every technique — is divided evenly among all of them. One clone leaves the user at half strength, and a hundred leave every body, the original included, holding only a sliver.<ref name="ch315">''Naruto'', chapter 315: "Special Training!!" (Shueisha, 2006).</ref> A clone that takes a solid hit vanishes, and the user can dismiss them at will. The technique's most consequential property is that a vanishing clone's experience returns to the original. Whatever it saw, learned or practiced comes home with it, which makes the technique a scouting tool, a training method, and occasionally a source of very unwelcome memories.<ref name="ch315" />

== Origin in the story ==

The technique enters the series through the trap that ends chapter 1. Tricked into stealing the [[Naruto/Scroll of Sealing|Scroll of Sealing]] by the instructor [[Naruto/Mizuki|Mizuki]], the freshly failed Naruto opens it, finds the Shadow Clone Technique listed first, and groans, because clones are the one thing he cannot do.<ref name="ch1" /> He practices in the woods for hours anyway. When Mizuki wounds [[Naruto/Iruka Umino|Iruka Umino]] and moves to kill them both, Naruto produces hundreds of solid, grinning copies of himself and beats his first enemy with a technique he learned that same night.<ref name="ch1" /> Iruka graduates him on the spot, and the stolen skill becomes the foundation of everything Naruto does afterward.

== Why it is forbidden ==

The technique was sealed away for a reason. Splitting chakra evenly means a large batch of clones can drain an ordinary ninja to the point of collapse, so the official guidebooks grade it B-rank and mark it forbidden.<ref name="databook" /> Naruto is the walking exception. The [[Naruto/Nine-Tails|Nine-Tails]] sealed inside him gives him reserves far beyond his age or training, which is how a failed Academy student can safely use an elite-level technique in bulk on his first night.<ref name="ch1" />

== Multi Shadow Clone Technique ==

The '''Multi Shadow Clone Technique''' (多重影分身の術, ''Tajū Kage Bunshin no Jutsu'') is the mass version: hundreds of clones at once instead of a handful, first used against Mizuki.<ref name="ch1" /> Its cost rises with the head-count, which is why the guidebooks set it a step higher, at A-rank among forbidden techniques, and why almost nobody but Naruto treats it as an everyday move.<ref name="databook" />

== Across the series ==

For most ninja shadow clones are an occasional tool, used sparingly and carefully by elites such as [[Naruto/Kakashi Hatake|Kakashi Hatake]]. For Naruto they are a fighting style. Clones open nearly every battle he takes, serve as decoys and scouts, and combine with everything else he learns. Several of his most famous attacks are, in practice, teamwork between Naruto and himself. In Part II his teachers turn the memory-return property into a formal training method, letting a hundred clones compress months of practice into days.<ref name="ch315" /> The technique follows him to the very top. As Seventh Hokage, the adult Naruto still splits himself with clones to cover the busiest job in the village, and the official continuation volume opens with him using them to babysit his own son.<ref name="scarlet">''Naruto: The Seventh Hokage and the Scarlet Spring'' (Shueisha / VIZ Media, 2015). [https://www.viz.com/manga-books/manga/naruto-the-seventh-hokage-and-the-scarlet-spring/product/3787/paperback viz.com]. Retrieved July 2026.</ref>

== See also ==

* [[Naruto/Clone Technique|Clone Technique]]
* [[Naruto/Naruto Uzumaki|Naruto Uzumaki]]
* [[Naruto/Iruka Umino|Iruka Umino]]
* [[Naruto/Mizuki|Mizuki]]
* [[Naruto/Nine-Tails|Nine-Tails]]
* [[Naruto/Scroll of Sealing|Scroll of Sealing]]

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{{ Naruto/Banner }} {| cellpadding="7" style="max-width: 400px; width: 100%; background: #fff; border: 2px solid #EC7124; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0 0 16px 0; font-size: 0.9em;" darkstyle="background-color: var(--wiki-surface);" |- | colspan="2" style="background: #000; text-align: center; padding: 10px 8px 12px 8px; border-bottom: 2px solid #EC7124;" | <div style="color: #dddddd; font-size: 0.82em; letter-spacing: 2px;">NINJUTSU · FORBIDDEN TECHNIQUE</div> <div style="color: #ffffff; font-weight: bold; font-size: 1.4em; margin: 3px 0 1px 0;">Shadow Clone Technique</div> <div style="color: #EC7124; font-size: 0.92em;">影分身の術 · <i>Kage Bunshin no Jutsu</i></div> |- style="border-bottom: 1px solid #f6ddc4;" ! scope="row" style="background: #000; color: #EC7124; text-align: center; width: 36%;" | English | "Shadow Clone Jutsu"<ref name="ep1dub">''Naruto'', episode 1: "Enter: Naruto Uzumaki!" English-language broadcast (VIZ Media, 2005).</ref> |- style="border-bottom: 1px solid #f6ddc4;" ! scope="row" style="background: #000; color: #EC7124; text-align: center;" | Classification | [[Naruto/Ninjutsu|Ninjutsu]] — supplementary |- style="border-bottom: 1px solid #f6ddc4;" ! scope="row" style="background: #000; color: #EC7124; text-align: center;" | Rank | <span style="background:#000; color:#EC7124; border:1px solid #EC7124; font-size:0.78em; font-weight:bold; padding:1px 6px;">B-RANK</span> <span style="background:#000; color:#E4574B; border:1px solid #EC7124; font-size:0.78em; font-weight:bold; padding:1px 6px;">FORBIDDEN</span><ref name="databook">''Naruto: Hiden — Rin no Sho, Character Official Data Book'' (Shueisha, 2002).</ref> |- style="border-bottom: 1px solid #f6ddc4;" ! scope="row" style="background: #000; color: #EC7124; text-align: center;" | Debut | Manga: chapter 1, "Uzumaki Naruto!!"<ref name="ch1">''Naruto'', chapter 1: "Uzumaki Naruto!!" (Shueisha, ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'', 1999).</ref><br>Anime: episode 1, "Enter: Naruto Uzumaki!"<ref name="ep1site">"Enter: Naruto Uzumaki." ''NARUTO OFFICIAL SITE'' (official). [https://naruto-official.com/en/anime/naruto1/list/01_225 naruto-official.com/en/anime/naruto1/list/01_225]. Retrieved July 2026.</ref> |- style="border-bottom: 1px solid #f6ddc4;" ! scope="row" style="background: #000; color: #EC7124; text-align: center;" | Known users | [[Naruto/Naruto Uzumaki|Naruto Uzumaki]] · [[Naruto/Kakashi Hatake|Kakashi Hatake]] · other elite Leaf ninja |- ! scope="row" style="background: #000; color: #EC7124; text-align: center;" | Variant | Multi Shadow Clone Technique — <span style="background:#000; color:#EC7124; border:1px solid #EC7124; font-size:0.78em; font-weight:bold; padding:1px 6px;">A-RANK</span> forbidden<ref name="databook" /> |} '''Shadow Clone Technique''' (影分身の術, ''Kage Bunshin no Jutsu''), the '''Shadow Clone Jutsu''' of the English-language anime,<ref name="ep1dub" /> is a forbidden [[Naruto/Ninjutsu|ninjutsu]] in ''[[Naruto]]'' that creates real, solid copies of the user.<ref name="ch1" /> Where the Academy's basic [[Naruto/Clone Technique|Clone Technique]] projects empty images, a shadow clone can run, strike, carry out orders and use techniques of its own. It is the signature technique of [[Naruto/Naruto Uzumaki|Naruto Uzumaki]], who teaches it to himself from a stolen scroll on the night of the series' first chapter, and no technique appears more often across the manga's fifteen-year run. == What it does == Each clone is a genuine body, and the user's chakra — the energy behind every technique — is divided evenly among all of them. One clone leaves the user at half strength, and a hundred leave every body, the original included, holding only a sliver.<ref name="ch315">''Naruto'', chapter 315: "Special Training!!" (Shueisha, 2006).</ref> A clone that takes a solid hit vanishes, and the user can dismiss them at will. The technique's most consequential property is that a vanishing clone's experience returns to the original. Whatever it saw, learned or practiced comes home with it, which makes the technique a scouting tool, a training method, and occasionally a source of very unwelcome memories.<ref name="ch315" /> == Origin in the story == The technique enters the series through the trap that ends chapter 1. Tricked into stealing the [[Naruto/Scroll of Sealing|Scroll of Sealing]] by the instructor [[Naruto/Mizuki|Mizuki]], the freshly failed Naruto opens it, finds the Shadow Clone Technique listed first, and groans, because clones are the one thing he cannot do.<ref name="ch1" /> He practices in the woods for hours anyway. When Mizuki wounds [[Naruto/Iruka Umino|Iruka Umino]] and moves to kill them both, Naruto produces hundreds of solid, grinning copies of himself and beats his first enemy with a technique he learned that same night.<ref name="ch1" /> Iruka graduates him on the spot, and the stolen skill becomes the foundation of everything Naruto does afterward. == Why it is forbidden == The technique was sealed away for a reason. Splitting chakra evenly means a large batch of clones can drain an ordinary ninja to the point of collapse, so the official guidebooks grade it B-rank and mark it forbidden.<ref name="databook" /> Naruto is the walking exception. The [[Naruto/Nine-Tails|Nine-Tails]] sealed inside him gives him reserves far beyond his age or training, which is how a failed Academy student can safely use an elite-level technique in bulk on his first night.<ref name="ch1" /> == Multi Shadow Clone Technique == The '''Multi Shadow Clone Technique''' (多重影分身の術, ''Tajū Kage Bunshin no Jutsu'') is the mass version: hundreds of clones at once instead of a handful, first used against Mizuki.<ref name="ch1" /> Its cost rises with the head-count, which is why the guidebooks set it a step higher, at A-rank among forbidden techniques, and why almost nobody but Naruto treats it as an everyday move.<ref name="databook" /> == Across the series == For most ninja shadow clones are an occasional tool, used sparingly and carefully by elites such as [[Naruto/Kakashi Hatake|Kakashi Hatake]]. For Naruto they are a fighting style. Clones open nearly every battle he takes, serve as decoys and scouts, and combine with everything else he learns. Several of his most famous attacks are, in practice, teamwork between Naruto and himself. In Part II his teachers turn the memory-return property into a formal training method, letting a hundred clones compress months of practice into days.<ref name="ch315" /> The technique follows him to the very top. As Seventh Hokage, the adult Naruto still splits himself with clones to cover the busiest job in the village, and the official continuation volume opens with him using them to babysit his own son.<ref name="scarlet">''Naruto: The Seventh Hokage and the Scarlet Spring'' (Shueisha / VIZ Media, 2015). [https://www.viz.com/manga-books/manga/naruto-the-seventh-hokage-and-the-scarlet-spring/product/3787/paperback viz.com]. Retrieved July 2026.</ref> == See also == * [[Naruto/Clone Technique|Clone Technique]] * [[Naruto/Naruto Uzumaki|Naruto Uzumaki]] * [[Naruto/Iruka Umino|Iruka Umino]] * [[Naruto/Mizuki|Mizuki]] * [[Naruto/Nine-Tails|Nine-Tails]] * [[Naruto/Scroll of Sealing|Scroll of Sealing]]