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Earth Release: Index and middle finger are extended, the other fingers are curled into the palm.Wind Release: Thumb and pinky are extended, the other fingers lie on the palm.Water Release: A flat hand with all fingers extended except the index finger, which is put under the thumb.Fire Release: A flat hand with all fingers extended.Depending on the technique's chakra nature, the user must then form one of five one-handed seals to release the technique. To use an elemental technique through the Kote, one must seal the technique in a scroll and put it inside the device. These hand seals are rarely seen, and can be considered unique to specific techniques. Dog ( 戌, Inu): This hand seal is commonly affiliated with Water Release and the movie-only Ice Release.īesides the twelve basic hand seals, there are unique hand seals used for certain techniques.Bird ( 酉, Tori): This hand seal is commonly affiliated with Wind Release.Snake ( 巳, Mi): This hand seal is commonly affiliated with Earth, Lightning, and Wood Release.Tiger ( 寅, Tora): This hand seal is commonly affiliated with Fire and Earth Release.
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Rat ( 子, Ne): This hand seal is commonly affiliated with the special Shadow Techniques of the Nara clan.There are twelve basic seals, each one named after an animal of the Chinese zodiac. 2.4.16 Tearing Earth Turning Palm Hand Seal.2.4.12 Mangekyō Sharingan Activation Seal.For example, Fire Release often ends with Tiger, Earth and Wood Releases often end with the Snake hand seals. Įven rarer than one-handed hand seals, are shinobi who have abandoned this traditional practice altogether, usually because their fighting style revolve around speed and quick reflexes and have developed techniques that require no hand seals to complement this fighting style.Ĭertain elemental releases often end in the hand seals they are affiliated with. This can happen voluntarily, like when Naruto and Sasuke joined hands to dispel the Infinite Tsukuyomi, or forcefully, such as Anko Mitarashi using Orochimaru's hand for the Twin Snakes Mutual Death Technique, or (in the anime) Obito Uchiha using Kakashi Hatake's for the Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique. It is also possible for shinobi to form hand seals with one of their hands while using the hand of another person as a substitute for the opposite one. Shinobi seen capable of this include Haku, Fudō, Guren, Minato Namikaze, Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, Shojoji, and Kawaki. Īlthough rare, it is possible for a shinobi to be able to do hand seals with just one hand. By reading the hand seals of the opponent, a ninja can predict the nature of the technique to be performed, which is virtually unavoidable if read by the Sharingan. In fact, by Part II, Sasuke Uchiha has managed to master the Chidori to the point of not needing a single hand seal to invoke it and could use Fire Release techniques with only one hand seal. Tobirama Senju, the Second Hokage, only needed to use one hand seal to complete the technique, a testament to his skill. An example of this is the Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique, which requires a total of 44 hand seals to activate.
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While techniques may require a number of hand seals to work, a skilled ninja can use less or even one to perform the same technique. There are different sequences of hand seals for every technique, requiring memorisation.
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Invented by Indra Ōtsutsuki in the anime, they are designed to aid people in properly summoning and moulding chakra necessary to perform a technique. Seals ( 印, In, English TV: Hand Signs) are used to perform many ninjutsu, genjutsu, and other secret arts other than taijutsu.
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