As one of the top best-selling manga series in the whole of history (fourth, to be exact), it’s no doubt that most kids will have heard of the popular anime or manga growing up.
Naruto has a complicated storyline, and it can be easy to be overwhelmed by the vast amount of eyes within the Naruto universe.
Whether you’ve always watched it or you’ve only just started, if you want a rundown of which eyes within Naruto are the strongest, and which ones are the weakest, you’ve come to the right place!
It’s hard to talk about the eyes within Naruto without first explaining what a dōjutsu is.
Dōjutsu is a Japanese word for ‘eye techniques’. Within Naruto, any jutsu (a ninja ability that requires the use of chakra) that involves the eyes is called a dōjutsu.
Each clan has its own special class of ability - these classes are each a type of ‘kekkei genkai’ (which directly translates as ‘bloodline limit’). The most powerful dōjutsus come from kekkei genkai.
Kekkei genkai is passed down through a clan’s DNA and allows them to perform unique jutsu’s. These unique jutsu’s are called kekkei mōra, which means ‘bloodline encompassing’.
Kekkei mōra refers to advanced eye techniques that only the direct bloodline of Kaguya Ōtsutsuki can possess - Kaguya Ōtsutsuki was the first being to harness the power of chakra after eating the fruit of the God Tree, long before the Hidden Villages were first founded.
Not all ninjas have a kekkei genkai - this makes members of clans, such as the Uchiha clan, who possess the Sharingan (illusion) eyes, a very powerful and valuable asset on the battlefield.
Some dōjutsu can be present when the child is born, whereas others require specific conditions to awaken, such as pain or high stress.
Dōjutsus can be given to members outside the clan by physically transferring the eye to the other person - however, if successfully transplanted, the user may struggle to utilize it to its full potential without having the DNA present.
The Three Great Dōjutsu
The ‘Three Great Dōjutsu’ are comprised of three eyes: the Sharingan, Byakugan, and Rinnegan. This is because the origins of the Sharingan, Byakugan and Rinnegan can be traced back to Kayuga Ōtsutsuki.
Within the Naruto universe, Kayuga Ōtsutsuki was the first person on Earth to wield chakra. She discovered that she was able to do this after she ate some fruit from the God Tree.
The God Tree is particularly important to the Naruto storyline, as it produces the chakra fruit that members of the Ōtsutsuki clan harvest - thus also gaining all of the chakra from the fruit and becoming more powerful.
The chakra fruit is only produced once every thousand years, and gives the harvester a longer life, as well as enabling them to stay young for longer.
After eating the fruit, Kayuga’s Byakugan combined with the chakra and subsequently awakened the Rinne Sharingan in the middle of her forehead. After gaining the Rinne Sharingan, Kayuga had two sons, who each inherited her chakra.
They were both twins, however, they each inherited different eyes; Hagoromo inherited the Rinne Sharingan and Hamaru received the Byakugan.
Kayugga wanted to summon the Ten-Tails, the ten-tailed monster that acts as a seed to the God Tree, to gain all of the chakra. This is because she was jealous of her sons and power-hungry.
As a result, the eye was later passed down to the Jinchūriki of the Ten-Tails when Kayuga merges with the God Tree to summon Ten-Tails - the Ten-Tails chakra became linked with Kayuga’s Rinne Sharingan.
This meant that when the Jinchūriki of the Ten-Tails has the Ten-Tails implanted inside of him, he also gained the Rinne Sharingan. When Madara gains the Ten-Tails, we also see him gain the Rinne Sharingan - this is why!
The Rinne Sharingan is split for the first time when Hagoromo is forced to defeat his brother in battle, thus gaining both the Mangekyō Sharingan and the Rinnegan. Hagaromo, like his mother, has two sons - Indura and Asura.
Indra inherits the Sharingan, creating the Uchiha clan, whilst Asura inherits the Byakugan, thus marking the beginning of the Senju clan. Both clans inherit each of their founder’s respective eyes.
The Five Strongest Eyes In Naruto
Now we’ll talk about the five strongest eyes within the Naruto franchise.
Sharingan Eyes
The Sharingan eyes are the most famous amongst fans. The Uchiha clan are the only ones that can be born with Sharingan eyes and activate them, however many attempt to steal the eyes once they are activated, meaning that they can be hard to hold onto.
A member of the Uchiha clan must train very hard and the Sharingan can take a long time to activate - an Uchiha clan member could start training when they are young, and it will still take them until adulthood to gain them.
There have also been some circumstances within the Naruto franchise where a tremendous amount of pain of suffering has awakened the Sharingan.
Once the Sharingan has been activated, the user can cast an illusion (also known as a genjutsu, a name for any illusionary technique) upon their opponent - they also can learn and master any jutsu that they see, as well as read their opponent’s mind and see their chakras.
This makes the Uchiha renowned as a formidable clan!
Mangekyō Sharingan Eyes
This is the second stage of the Sharingan. The Mangekyō Sharingan is only awakened if someone has had to go through the trauma of a loved one dying. The Mangekyō Sharingan is very powerful - but that initial power is not permanent.
The only way to truly obtain these eyes permanently is if the Mangekyō Sharingan eyes are taken out of an initial owner who has already obtained them and given to that original owner’s sibling (as they have the DNA) - they can be transferred to other people, but they would struggle to harness the Mangekyō Sharingan’s power without the DNA.
This means that they are especially hard to obtain. The power of the Mangekyō Sharingan allows the user to summon an aura known as the Susano aura that protects the user.
It also gives them the ability to control other people’s minds, as well as the power of teleportation.
Rinne Sharingan
The Rinne Sharingan is easier to understand if you think of the Sharingan and the Rinnegan as two different halves of the Rinne Sharingan.
The only two people to have ever possessed the Rinne Sharingan have each been the Jinchūriki of the Ten-Tails.
Both Madara and Kaguya possessed the Ten-Tails - this allows them to harness the Rinne Sharingan, which appeared via a third eye on their foreheads.
When this eye is opened, the user can cast the infinite Tsukuyomi genjutsu - this is extremely powerful, as it grants the user the ability to trap the whole world in an illusion, or even allow them to use Kaguya Amenominaka which grants the ability to jump between two dimensions.
Rinnegan
This powerful eye can only be used by people with chakras of the Ōtsutsuki clan - or by combining the Sharingan with one of Harishama’s cells (Harishama was a very powerful ninja, and possessing one of his cells can give you incredible powers, such as healing broken bones).
Rinnegan manifests different powers in different people. Pain, Madara and Sasuke all had Rinnegan eyes, and they all possessed different abilities when it was awakened.
Often a Rinnegan means that many users could produce Black Receivers - these are rods that they create from their bodies and are closely linked to their abilities.
Tenseigan
Tenseigan is the most powerful eye in the naruto franchise. ‘Tenseigan’ means ‘Reincarnation eye’. The eye is blue.
When an Ōtsutsuki clan member obtains a Byakugan from a Hyūga clan member and implants it, the Tenseigan eye is created - this is because the chakras of the Hyūga and the Ōtsutsuki clans merge, creating this super powerful eye.
The Tenseigan eye allows the user to control gravity, which means that if they so wished, they could choose to crash the moon into the earth. This might just be the scariest eye of them all!
Someone with a Tenseigan eye can control gravity, enabling them to both attract things to them and push them away, as well as granting them the ability to fly. This is extremely powerful, as they could use their hold over gravity to even crash something as big as the moon into the earth.
The Tenseigan also allows the user to enter into something called the ‘Tenseigan chakra mode’ - entering into this enhanced state gives them a boost in strength and speed, which can come in extremely handy during combat.
The Five Weakest Eyes In Naruto
Here is a rundown of what we consider to be the five weakest eyes within Naruto.
Ketsuryugan
‘Ketsuryugan’ translates to ‘blood dragon eye’.These eyes can be used by the Chinoike clan, and as their name would suggest, they are red in color.
Ketsuryugan allows the user control of blood, meaning that they’re able to explode veins, and even control bodies. Whilst this is still able to do some damage, it pales in comparison to the powers of more superior eyes, such as the Tenseigan.
Byakugan
The word ‘Byakugan’ means ‘white eye’. The Byakugan is a genjutsu used by the Hyūga and Ōtsutsuki Clans.
This eye quite literally gives the user better eyes - they grant the ability to see in 360 degrees (although they have a blind spot that they can’t see from - the back of their neck), detail from long distances and through surfaces.
Characters in possession of this eye can also see someone’s chakra flow - this gives them a slight advantage, as they have a bit of a warning as to what their opponent will do next.
Considering that these eyes are nowhere near as impressive as some of the others, they’re even more unreliable than you’d think - the Byakugan is powered by emotion, and can only be activated when the user is stressed.
Jogan
The Jogan is the most mysterious eye on this list. Not much is known about this eye, but it is believed to be linked to the Ōtsutsuki clan. Unlike most other eyes, this eye seems to be available to anyone, no matter their clan, and it can be activated without needing a trigger.
It grants powers similar to that of the Byakugan. Boruto has used this eye, however at the time of writing, the character hasn’t seemed to have perfected his abilities, so we don’t know the full extent of its powers just yet.
Shion’s Dōjutsu
In Naruto Shippuden the Movie, Shion, a priestess from the land of demons, can use a dōjutsu that allows her to see into the future and witness a person’s death. If she is about to die, her dōjutsu also allows her to travel back in time so she can inform her past self of the event.
This means that she has the opportunity to change the course of events so that she survives. Shion displayed great power at an early age.
Her mother was fearful of this power and what she may become, so she forbid Shion from training and developing her powers.
This lack of experience meant that Shion doesn’t have much in the way of offensive abilities but lends her chakra to Naruto to help defeat Moryo in the finale of the movie.
Ranmaru's Kekkei Genkai
Ranmaru appeared in episode 152 of Naruto. He possessed a special set of eyes, which, once activated, would glow red allowing hypnotic powers similar to the Ketsuryugan. These eyes also gave him enhanced vision, like that of the Byakugan.
However, his eye lacks any offensive abilities and purely helps with protection.
When fighting Naruto and his friends he displayed abilities such as being invisible to the Byakugan, being able to see through solid objects, and the ability to track targets by sensing their chakra.
