Barrier Ninjutsu

Barrier ninjutsu ( 結界忍術 , Kekkai Ninjutsu , literally meaning: Barrier Ninja Techniques) are techniques that impose an effect upon a defined space.

The term itself is rarely used in the series and in fact never clearly defined, but several different jutsu are said to create or utilise barriers ( 結界 , Kekkai ), all of which serve one of a few broad purposes:

- Most commonly, barriers are used to limit passage through or access to an area. This can be done to prevent unwanted intrusion, as with Uchiha Flame Formation , which creates a barrier of flames around an area that burns anyone attempting to enter. Alternatively, such barriers can limit escape, as with String Light Formation , which restricts the movements of those within it. These barriers do not need to be active at all times: Barrier Talisman: Armoured Eye only activates when the eye it protects is under threat. These barriers do not even need to affect all individuals: Sealed Iron Wall only blocks entry to those who lack the Gift of the Hermit Group ; the barrier protecting the Naka Shrine can be lifted by performing the correct hand seals . Barriers can be overcome if whatever creates the barrier is neutralized, like removing the sealing talismans that produce the Five-Seal Barrier or attacking those who maintain the Four Violet Flames Formation . Barriers can also be broken through sheer brute force: Naruto Uzumaki and Killer B escape thirty-six layers of a Self-Repairing Barrier by using a Tailed Beast Ball . Space–time ninjutsu can be used to circumvent all barriers such as these.
- Barriers can be used in service to space–time ninjutsu. At times this is done for transportation: Flying Thunder God: Guiding Thunder teleports anything that contacts its barrier to a designated location; the long-range version of Kamui creates a "barrier space", warping anything within that space to Kamui's dimension . Alternatively, barriers can isolate one dimension from another, as is done with certain types of toads : diving toads conceal those stored within its stomach, meaning that only the toad's presence is at risk of detection; gourd toads trap those it pulls into its stomach, cutting them off from allies and subjecting them to the stomach acid and other perils found there.
- Rather than impede or aid traversal, barriers can facilitate sensory ninjutsu within the affected area. Barrier: Canopy Method Formation forms a barrier around the user, helping them detect anything moving within their vicinity. A Sensing Barrier alerts its users to unauthorized entry to an area, though actually tracking intruders after they enter relies on another technique .

There are a few barriers that don't fit neatly into any of the above categories. Barrier Method Formation serves as a sort of booby trap, triggering explosive tags when anyone enters its perimeter. Four Black Fogs Formation places those within it into a sort of stasis, protecting them from outside forces, notably death. Earth Release Barrier traps the user's opponents in a prison, but such physical confines are not ordinarily called a "barrier" elsewhere in the series; the constant absorption of its captives' chakra is perhaps the actual reason it is called a "barrier".

## Trivia [ ]

- The term kekkai ( 結界 , literally meaning: fixed boundary) is of Buddhist origin, originally referring to cordoning off/restricting access to areas that pertain to religious practices (e.g., sacred places within which monks are to be trained), or wooden fences/partitions physically separating a temple's inner and outer sanctums. In contemporary Japanese fantasy fiction, especially manga and anime, the term usually refers to protective, magically or spiritually erected "barriers" or forcefields .

## See Also [ ]

- List of barrier ninjutsu

## Reference [ ]