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Hello everyone!
I've been teasing that I wanted to revise Amaterasu for months now, and well.......here we are. The moment of truth!So without further ado........
What is Amaterasu and how does it work?
Amaterasu is a Mangekyō Sharingan Jutsu that allows the user to conjure black flames at the focal point of their gaze. The caster only needs to visually perceive their target, and the flames will simply spawn right on target. The black flames will never extinguish until they have reduced their target to ash, even other flames. The flames won't even die out after being completely submerged in water.How can we accurately rate it?
The main goal of this CRT is to accurately rate Amaterasu based on its showings. Currently, this is how it's treated on the profiles:So, let's examine all of Amaterasu's relevant showings in order to determine if it's really inconsistent.
The feats:
- Itachi quickly incinerated the flameproof innards of a Rock Toad that specializes in spewing flames using Amaterasu. This is extremely consistent with Amaterasu being far above regular flames, which have temperatures ranging from 600-1100° Celsius
- Zetsu states that Amaterasu is the most powerful physical attack possessed by the Mangekyo, which is consistent with other statements made about Amaterasu that we'll go over soon.
- Upon beginning to lose to Sasuke in their Katon clash, Itachi used Amaterasu to completely overpower and snuff out Sasuke's Katon by burning it. This definitely proves that Amaterasu is at least far greater than the user's regular Jutsu, but more on that later.
- Amaterasu is so hot that it contributed greatly to the formation of a Cumulonimbus.
- Upon being hit with Amaterasu, Gyūki begins to burn, squirm, and squeal in pain.He then prompted to use a clone and escape, leaving the remaining clone to burn.
- When Suigetsu questioned whether they'll obtain the Bijuu's power, Sasuke said that they no longer need to rely on such methods, while thinking to himself that he's obtained enough power to destroy Konoha. On its own this would not mean much, but in context it could be a decent piece of support. Sasuke is almost exclusively talking about Amaterasu here because he had not unlocked the Susano'o yet. He also just witnessed the power of a Bijuu first hand, so his declaration is quite telling under this context.
- This is made even more consistent through Killer B stating that Sasuke is the toughest opponent he's ever fought, period. This would include the likes of Minato Namikaze and the 4th Raikage, both of whom were known for trading blows with each other many times during the 3rd Great Ninja War, making them all somewhat comparable to each other. B was again definitely talking about Amaterasu here, as he was outclassing Sasuke at every turn prior to him using Amaterasu.
- This is further supported when Sasuke actually managed to burn the Raikage's arm to the point of no repair, which forced him to sever his own arm to prevent the flames from spreading further. Gaara even mentioned that he would've been further injured by the flames had he not stepped in.
- C, upon witnessing Sasuke's performance against the Raikage and what his MS abilities are capable of, says that perhaps Bee truly was captured by Sasuke. As in, this level of power/ability should be enough to defeat Bee, according to C, which is again rather consistent with everything we've seen so far.
- KCM Naruto warns B that if either Amaterasu or Tsukuyomi hit them, they'll be done for. This is obviously still consistent with everything we went over so far.
- Itachi incapacitated the Rinnegan Dog summon with Amaterasu, even though it had previously withstood KCM Naruto's Rasenshuriken through its ability. He then proceeded to target Edo Nagato with the technique, which badly burned him.
- Kabuto calls it the greatest offensive ocular Jutsu, even though he's fully aware of the Susano'o's power, having witnessed it both first and second hand. It should also be noted that he made a conscious effort to avoid getting hit with the technique, even though he recklessly charged in otherwise, even when they had their Susano'o active. He also mentioned that Amaterasu's sheer heat was enough to turn the cave back into a "cave".
- When magnified in scale by KCM Naruto's FRS, Sasuke's Amaterasu was capable of burning the Juubi and causing it to shriek in pain, even forcing it to detach a portion of itself that was on caught on fire.
- Sasuke was able to cut through Kaguya's Ice with his Amaterasu Flame Control, even though SPSM Naruto wasn't able to break out of it himself.
- Sasuke simply vaporized two of Shin's steel daggers with Amaterasu almost instantly. This is interesting because vaporizing steel, which is what I'm assuming these blades to be made out of, requires temperatures in the 4000K range (3726.85°C). This might be relevant for my next point. EDIT: In the anime, Sasuke vaporized an even larger blade instantly with Amaterasu.
- It's minor to this topic in the grand scheme of things, but the Databook claimed that Amaterasu is as hot as the sun. Now the surface of the sun has a temperature of 10,000 degrees F (5810.928K/5537.778°C), which isn't really all that far off from the figures above, making it all somewhat consistent. Again, it's not terribly relevant, but I thought I'd bring it up anyway.
- Finally, I'd like to point out that Amaterasu is consistently portrayed as something above the user's regular Jutsu. Sasuke consistently used it against characters who are factually stronger than him such as Obito, Madara, Kaguya, and Jigen. In almost all of these cases, it's been absorbed with urgency, which lends further credence to the idea that it's something that can potentially harm them if left unchecked. The fact that Sasuke even attempted to use it against Jigen, especially after his supposed strongest Jutsu (The Perfect Susano'o) had failed miserably against him, heavily implies that it is indeed his most powerful offensive Jutsu as the previous statements have implied. Now, it's definitely not the strongest Jutsu in terms of DC obviously, but it's incredible potency is where its true effectiveness lies.
The proposal:
I hope all of this has managed to sway your mind on Amaterasu being portrayed inconsistently. I believe it has some of the best portrayals in the series, in fact, and has only failed to claim certain victims simply due to PIS or certain technicalities. I believe it's consistently portrayed as significantly above it's user's paygrade, and as such I believe it should be treated as partial or full on Durability Negation via heat/fire damage. The alternative would seemingly be giving it 6-C or 6-A+ ratings for the Gyūki and Juubi feats respectively, but I don't believe that fits all the cases I've presented quite as well as Durability Negation.
Amaterasu should also qualify for Non-Physical Interaction due to its ability to burn and destroy flames.
So all in all, I believe the justification for Amaterasu on the P&A sections of Sasuke Uchiha (Part II), Sasuke Uchiha (New Era), and Itachi Uchiha should look something like this:
Amaterasu should also qualify for Non-Physical Interaction due to its ability to burn and destroy flames.
So all in all, I believe the justification for Amaterasu on the P&A sections of Sasuke Uchiha (Part II), Sasuke Uchiha (New Era), and Itachi Uchiha should look something like this:
- Fire Manipulation and Non-Physical Interaction with Amaterasu (The user spawns inextinguishable black flames on their target as long as it's in their line of sight. The flames give off incredible heat that's capable of harming much stronger opponents, and will continue to burn until their target is turned to ash, even when completely submerged in water. The flames are also capable of burning other flames)
- Can ignore conventional durability to an extent with Amaterasu
Addressing the "Anti-Feats"
Here I'll be debunking the most contentious aspect about Amaterasu, other character "tanking" it. Nobody has actually withstood Amaterasu head on without some caveat making the feat invalid for said character. I'll also attempt to clear up a certain misconception about how it functions at the end. I'll go over every single example and properly address it here, hopefully putting them all to rest.- Sasuke:
- Obito:
- Kaguya:
- Sasuke never withstood Itachi's Amaterasu. It overpowered his Katon quite easily, and once it made contact with his wing it started to burn him, and he was forced to quickly use the Body Replacement Technique in order to escape with his life. (Let's also not forget that Itachi turned it off almost immediately, because.....y'know, he didn't actually want to kill Sasuke for obvious reasons)
- Karin also didn't truly withstand the flames for any meaningful amount of time. She caught on fire, and Sasuke immediately started attempting to put out the flames, which he did shortly after. Karin was aflame for a few seconds at most before Sasuke put out the flames, and her cloak still burned off which caused her to suffer some burns on her back. Interestingly enough, human bodies aren't actually especially flammable, and has high water content. Surely the fire would be doused rather quickly even if the body did manage to catch fire. That's why it takes flames of around 1600 degrees Fahrenheit over two hours or more to cremate human remains. So if a regular human body wouldn't be incinerated immediately, I think it's fair to say that an Uzumaki, a clan known for their endurance and survivability, would be able to somewhat withstand a flame for a few seconds at most. Not to mention, Karin can also regenerate, adding further to her chances.
- This situation is somewhat similar to Karin's, in the sense that the guy was not caught aflame for a significant period of time. Additionally, only his armor was caught on fire, not even his own body. This makes things even more murky, because we have no way of knowing what that armor's made of or how durable it is, as far as I am aware. The Samurai was hit with Amaterasu at the end of chapter 463, but he was rescued very quickly a few pages later in the same scene during the first few pages of chapter 464, so I just don't see how this is a relevant anti-feat in all honesty. The whole sequence took place during a fight involving two of the fastest characters in the series upto that point, so it definitely did not take as long as it may seem for Temari and Kankuro to rescue him.
- There's many factors at play here that most people tend to ignore. First of all, the Raikage is an especially durable individual known for his tough constitution. He also has insane pain tolerance, given the fact that he did not even flinch when he cut off his own arm. All this is to say that someone with such superhuman durability and pain tolerance withstanding the heat of the flames is not such a ridiculous prospect. Also, it should be noted that when he was caught with Amaterasu he had his Raiton Armor covering his body and skin, and as far as I am aware Raiton chakra is not necessarily flammable. This is very relevant because if you look carefully at the bottom right panel here, you'll notice that the flames only started to spread over his arm once he chopped it off and it was no longer protected by the Raiton Armor. Chakra Cloaks in general have shown great tolerance towards flames, as we've repeatedly seen with Naruto's cloaks, so that could possibly be why. Chakra might just not be flammable. It should also be noted that everyone there treated the Raikage's "injury" (as per Gaara's words) very seriously, including the Raikage himself who went as far as to chop off his own arm to prevent the flames from spreading later on (because he obviously can't keep that Chakra Mode active forever), so it was clearly a hopeless case for that arm. With that being said, he still withstood the heat given off by Amaterasu for an decent period of time, so he should get Resistance to Extreme Heat.
- Obito:
- Obito is probably the only legitimate example of someone truly tanking Amaterasu, but as we all know this was solely due to his immunity towards Ninjutsu. He should still be awared Resistance to Extreme Heat though, because while he's immune to the Jutsu itself, that doesn't necessarily apply to the passive physical phenomenon surrounding it such as the heat it gives off. For example, if someone threw a Water Jutsu at him, he will be completely unharmed, but he'll still get wet.
- Madara did not really tank Amaterasu, he absorbed it as Naruto pointed out. If you look closely, you'll notice that the initial amount of Amaterasu that was conjured on Madara is much more than the amount of flames we see after Madara undresses (Why did he undress then? This answer may not satisfy everyone, but let's face it, it was solely so he can show Hashirama how he took his cells, and for the audience to get a visual representation of him attaining Sage Mode). Similarly to the Raikage, though for a shorter period of time, Madara was also unbothered by the heat produced by the black flames, so he should also get Resistance to Extreme Heat.
- Kaguya:
- This is the exact same situation as Madara, she simply absorbed it. Nothing else to say, really. She was also completely unfazed by the heat, so so she should also get Resistance to Extreme Heat.
- Naruto provides us with another example of a chakra cloak being used to momentarily defend against the technique. Here, Naruto simply covers his arm in his Kyuubi chakra cloak, and then quickly detaches it in order to save himself. He did not physically tank it for any meaningful period of time, like all the others on this list. Still, like all the previous examples, his CHAKRA CLOAK'S Fire Resistance should be changed to Resistance to Extreme Heat because you logically shouldn't get resistance to Fire by putting something that's likely inflammable between yourself and the fire. The heat is fair game, though.
- He is the exact same case as Kaguya and Madara. He simply absorbed it very quickly. He should also get Resistance to Extreme Heat.
Finally, I'd like to clear up and address a minor point that was brought up before on a few VS threads in the past about Amaterasu being a "projectile", It's not. It quite blatantly spawns at the focal point of the user's gaze. I'll prove why this is consistent with every instance of Amaterasu being avoided.
- Here, Amaterasu is not traveling to Sasuke, but rather Sasuke is outrunning Itachi's vision. Itachi is sick, exhausted, and nearly blind at this point, so it makes sense for the much fresher Sasuke to be able to outrun him briefly. (It's also possible that Itachi was just acting here, and didn't immediately burn Sasuke since he doesn't want to kill him, but still pressured him with his head movement to keep up the act)
- Here, the Raikage simply went FTE for Sasuke in order to avoid Amaterasu at the last second, essentially blitzing him. The flames then spawned on the Samurai who was behind the Raikage because that's what was on the focal point of Sasuke's vision now that the Raikage was no longer there.
- Here, Obito sees Amaterasu coming by seeing the chakra getting built up in Sasuke's eye, then puts up a TSO shield at the last second in order to block Sasuke's line of sight. This was fascilitated by Obito being much faster than Sasuke, and having the perks of the Sharingan himself.
- Here, Borushiki was able to, in a similar manner to Obito, see the chakra getting built up via his Byakugan and block Sasuke's line of sight with a clone.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand that about does it. I know this is a touchy subject for some, and has been quite controversial over the years, so hopefully we can reach an accurate, amicable, and satisfactory conclusion with this CRT regarding how we should handle Amaterasu.
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