Why Sasuke Rarely Used His Rinnegan Abilities

Key Takeaways

• Sasuke primarily relies on only one Rinnegan technique, Amenotejikara, in battles for space-time ninjutsu.
• Sasuke’s fighting style favors close combat, not long-distance Rinnegan powers.
• Sasuke’s Rinnegan usage was limited to avoid making him overwhelmingly powerful like a god among shinobi.

As the epitome of power in the Naruto series, the Rinnegan is a highly coveted ability that is laced with all sorts of godly techniques. These techniques have been witnessed in the hands of several Rinnegan users, be it Nagato’s Six Paths of Pain or Madara’s flurry of Chibaku Tensei. However, these godlike techniques have rarely been used by one specific Rinnegan user — Sasuke Uchiha.

Sasuke received his Rinnegan during the latter part of the Naruto series. Despite gaining this power during the endgame of the series, Sasuke still managed to utilize the technique quite a few times. However, his usage of the Rinnegan remained limited, as he used merely two techniques throughout his final battles. While the Naruto series has never exactly explained this peculiarity, a few speculations can be made based on the circumstances surrounding his Rinnegan.

Sasuke’s Rinnegan Usage

Sasuke Only Uses One Rinnegan Ability

The Rinnegan is a hotbed of all sorts of god-like techniques, and almost every single user of the Rinnegan has exploited several of these jutsu. Sasuke’s case, however, is rather unique, as he stands as the only Rinnegan user that has primarily relied on only one technique. While it’s true that Sasuke received his Rinnegan in the latter part of Naruto, he still had ample opportunity to utilize the full extent of his Rinnegan’s powers. Whether it was during his battle against Madara Uchiha or the endgame fight with Kaguya Otsutsuki, Sasuke has only relied on one Rinnegan technique, all while using the full extent of his Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan.

Throughout his battles in the latter part of Naruto and most of Boruto, Sasuke has only relied on his Amenotejikara, a space-time ninjutsu capable of switching places between two objects or individuals. During the final battle against Naruto, Sasuke made use of two of the Six Paths of Pain. Apart from this instance, however, Sasuke has never used his Six Paths powers, nor has he employed any other offensive technique.

One has awakened the Six Paths’ Senjutsu… and the other awakened the Rinnegan, huh?

His space-time teleportation technique is another ability that has remained at the forefront of Sasuke’s arsenal. However, this technique merely allows him to jump through dimensions, and it has no applications for offense. Apart from this handful of Rinnegan techniques, Sasuke has never utilized the full extent of his dojutsu’s capabilities, a peculiarity that has never exactly been explained by the Naruto series.

Sasuke Has a Unique Fighting Style

Sasuke’s Fighting Style Doesn’t Require the Rinnegan’s Powers

One in-universe explanation for Sasuke’s lack of Rinnegan usage pertains to his novel fighting style, one that primarily revolves around close combat and his Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan abilities. Throughout Sasuke’s battles in Naruto and Boruto, his fighting style has mostly revolved around distancing the gap between himself and his enemies. This also explains why Sasuke tends to rely quite a bit on his Amenotejikara, as this technique is perfect for closing the gap between him and his opponents.

Most of the Rinnegan’s powers are better-suited for long-distance fighting styles, with the Six Paths of Pain being a prime example of how the dojutsu can be used in battle without the user’s presence. Moreover, the dojutsu’s cataclysmic techniques such as Tengai Shinsei and Chibaku Tensei also require the user to maintain distance with their opponents, making these abilities quite counter-intuitive to Sasuke’s usual fighting style.

Sasuke Became Too Overpowered With the Rinnegan

Sasuke’s Rinnegan Usage Was Purposely Kept Limited

While several in-universe explanations for Sasuke’s lack of Rinnegan usage can be found, none truly explain the exact reasons. This is largely due to the fact that the reason behind his non-existent Rinnegan abilities is simply due to the overpowering nature of his dojutsu. Sasuke was already a force to be reckoned with when he only had his Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan. With the addition of his Rinnegan, however, Sasuke took on the role of a god among shinobi, with none that could rival his prowess other than Naruto.

This obscure power-scaling forced the author to make Sasuke less reliant on his Rinnegan. Otherwise, none could have rivaled Sasuke or his godlike strength within the Naruto universe. Even with Amenotejikara being his sole Rinnegan ability, Sasuke still tends to use the space-time ninjutsu rather sparingly. On the flip side, if he were to use Amenotejikara in every fight, he could simply defeat all of his opponents by teleporting them in front of his attack.

It’s clear that Kishimoto had turned Sasuke into an undefeatable character, and the only solution to reducing his prowess was to limit the abilities in his arsenal. The overpowered nature of the Rinnegan becomes even more evident in Boruto, where the narrative was forced to take his dojutsu out of the equation all together, resulting in the loss of his Rinnegan.

Naruto is available to stream on Prime Video.