Naruto/Transformation Technique

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Transformation Technique (変化の術, Henge no Jutsu), the Transformation Jutsu of the English anime,^[1] is a basic ninjutsu — a ninja technique — in Naruto. It lets the user take on the appearance of another person, an animal or an object. Every Academy student in the Village Hidden in the Leaves learns it, the official guidebooks grade it E-rank, and it stays in use at every level of the ninja world, from classroom tests to wars.^[2] It is also the first technique the series ever puts on the page, and the raw material for Naruto Uzumaki's own invention, the Sexy Technique.^[3]

The ninja forms a hand sign, chakra — the energy behind every technique — rises, and a cloud of white smoke swallows them. When the smoke clears they are wearing a new shape, and the disguise holds for as long as the user keeps feeding it chakra. What it does not do is turn the user into that thing. Only the appearance changes, never the body underneath, so a ninja disguised as a stronger enemy is no stronger, and a ninja disguised as a rock is still a ninja. The disguise is also fragile, because releasing it, taking a hard hit or losing concentration undoes it in the same puff of smoke.

That combination of cheapness and fragility defines how the technique is used. It costs so little chakra that it can be held for hours, which makes it the ninja world's standard tool for infiltration, ambush and escape. It behaves like an extremely good costume rather than a real power to change shape. Even the strongest ninja in the series keep it in rotation, usually as one small component of a far more dangerous plan.

The series opens on this technique. Chapter 1's first classroom scene is a transformation test, retaken by the whole class as punishment for Naruto's graffiti, and one by one the students produce clean copies of their instructor Iruka Umino.^[3] Naruto's turn produces the Sexy Technique instead, and the scene quietly establishes something the graduation exam later appears to contradict: his transformation is flawless. The technique that defeats him is the Clone Technique, and the difference between the two, raw energy against fine control, is the first clue to how his abilities actually work.^[3]

Beyond the Academy the technique is the ninja world's standard disguise: a trusted face for infiltration, an object for an ambush, a decoy shape in the middle of a fight. Within a few volumes the manga is using it for battlefield tricks rather than jokes, in the form of transformed weapons and transformed teammates. It pairs naturally with the Shadow Clone Technique, because solid clones can each wear a different shape. For Naruto it stays personal to the end. The Sexy Technique he built on it is the first thing he ever invented, the first thing he ever taught, and a joke the series retells all the way into its final battles.^[5]

• Sexy Technique
• Clone Technique
• Shadow Clone Technique
• Naruto Uzumaki
• Ninjutsu

1. Naruto, episode 1: "Enter: Naruto Uzumaki!" English-language broadcast (VIZ Media, 2005).
2. Naruto: Hiden — Rin no Sho, Character Official Data Book (Shueisha, 2002).
3. Naruto, chapter 1: "Uzumaki Naruto!!" (Shueisha, Weekly Shōnen Jump, 1999).
4. "Enter: Naruto Uzumaki." NARUTO OFFICIAL SITE (official). naruto-official.com/en/anime/naruto1/list/01_225. Retrieved July 2026.
5. Naruto, vol. 71 (Shueisha / VIZ Media).