Different Ways to Defeat the Edo Tensei

Summoning: Impure World Reincarnation, more commonly known as Edo Tensei, is one of the most fascinating and dangerous jutsu in Naruto. This jutsu allows its users to temporarily resurrect and control dead people. This jutsu was developed by the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, and perfected by Orochimaru and Kabuto.

Kabuto uses this jutsu to bring back powerful ninjas from beyond the grave to fight for his side during the 4th Great Ninja War. While that alone is already extremely impressive, the greatest thing about Edo Tensei is the fact that it is a relatively easy jutsu to execute and it will continue to be active until the user personally releases the Jutsu. This means killing the user won’t stop the Edo Tensei. So, is there no way to stop the Edo Tensei? Well, as it turns out, there are a couple of ways to counter this jutsu.

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Forcefully Removing the Soul from the Body

Seal the Soul, Stop the Zombie

The most straightforward way to deal with the 4th Great Ninja War’s zombie infestation problem is by sealing their souls. At its core, the Edo Tensei is simply a jutsu that binds the soul of a dead person into the body of a living person. That means if you can seal their soul, the body will immediately stop functioning as well.

This is the solution the Third Hokage used during Orochimaru’s invasion of Konoha, when Orochimaru summoned the three previous Hokage to fight for him. At the time, the Third Hokage sacrificed himself and used thwhat doe Dead Demon Consuming Seal, the most powerful sealing jutsu from the Uzumaki clan, to seal the souls of the previous Hokages. Likewise, Itachi also uses his Blade of Totsuka to seal Nagato’s soul.

Since this is the most reliable solution against Kabuto’s zombies, the Ninja Alliance creates a Sealing Squad and assigns its members to every team fighting on the frontline. Needless to say, before you can seal them, you have to stop them first, which is extremely difficult against these top-class zombie ninjas. But once you can jump over that hurdle, it shouldn’t be difficult to seal the zombies away. That’s why the Sealing Squad is undoubtedly the unsung heroes of the 4th Great Ninja War.

Giving Closure to the Soul

Letting the Soul Pass on to the Afterlife

Another way to counter the Edo Tensei is to genuinely talk to the reincarnated ninjas and give them some closure. A reincarnated ninja has no control over their actions, but unless Kabuto purposely shuts their minds down, these ninja zombies can think and communicate just like a living human. In fact, they still retain their memories and personalities.

But just like any warriors who fell on the battlefield, they have guilts and regrets that bound their souls to the world of the living. By talking to them and giving them some proper closure, their hearts can let go of those feelings of guilt and regrets behind, allowing them to pass on to the afterlife in peace.

The best example of this is when Sasori talks to Kankurou. He helps Sasori realize that the way to achieve true immortality is through the puppets and the technique that he has passed on to the next generation. As long as his techniques and his puppets are still being used, Sasori’s name will live on forever. Thanks to Kankurou’s words, Sasori finally receives a proper closure and is ready to move on to the afterlife. This strong feeling severed Kabuto’s binding on his soul and forcefully released the Edo Tensei.

Using Genjutsu to force the User to Release Edo Tensei

Control the User, Control the Jutsu

As mentioned earlier, only the user can fully release the Edo Tense and send the soul back to the underworld. This means if the user dies before he gets the chance to release the jutsu, the Edo Tensei will be active forever. Since there’s no way somebody like Kabuto would release his greatest weapon willingly, the obvious solution is to control Kabuto through genjutsu and make him release the Jutsu.

That is precisely what Itachi intends to do when he fights Kabuto near the end of the 4th Great Ninja War. Unfortunately, Kabuto’s sage mode allows him to move and fight without having to open his eyes, which renders Itachi’s sharingan useless. Or at least that’s what Kabuto thinks.

In the middle of their fight, Itachi activates one of Uchiha’s clan’s forbidden jutsu, the Izanami. Izanami traps Kabuto’s mind in a loop, which renders his body motionless. Now that Kabuto has lost access to his body, Itachi simply uses the sharingan on Kabuto and tells him to release the Edo Tensei. And that’s how the battlefield is finally free from the zombie ninjas.

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Using Genjutsu to Overwrite the User’s Commands

Taking Over Control From the User

As mentioned above, Kabuto can fully control the zombies’ movement while still letting them think and communicate freely with others. In this state, the only thing that prevents them from going rogue or attacking Kabuto is the talisman that he puts inside their body. Think of it as a new set of rules and commands that they have to follow no matter what.

So technically speaking, if you can somehow overwrite those rules and commands, you can break the zombie free from Kabuto. And that is precisely what Itachi has done. He overwrites Kabuto’s talisman with a new command using Uchiha Shisui’s Mangekyou Sharingan. This legendary sharingan activates a genjutsu that compels Itachi to protect Konoha. Thanks to this, Itachi is free from Kabuto. While this method seems quite straightforward, only powerful genjutsu like Shishui’s Mangekyou Sharingan can pull off such a feat.

The Reanimated Corpse Revoking the Contract

Only Work if You are Uchiha Madara

Last but not least, is a method that is just as crazy if not crazier than using Shishui’s Mangekyou Sharingan. This method allows the zombies themselves to sever Kabuto’s control and gain their independence. The only one who manages to pull off this unbelievable trick is none other than Madara.

According to Madara, as long as one knows the signs to weave and the method behind the Edo Tensei, then the reincarnated ninja can sever the contract from their end. And that is precisely what he has done. In fact, this is the method that allows zombie Madara to stay in the human realm even after Kabuto has released the Edo Tensei. That being said, considering that even the Second Hokage, the one who created Edo Tensei, couldn’t pull this off, there’s likely more to this method than Madara has let on.

Itachi once said that every jutsu has a weakness. No matter how powerful or complex it may be, if you analyze it carefully, there will always be a loophole that you can exploit. The same thing can be said about the seemingly undefeated Edo Tensei. Sure, some of the methods mentioned above can only be executed by certain people or rely heavily on certain conditions, but it doesn’t change the fact that there are five different methods that can be used to break Edo Tensei.

Naruto is available to stream on Crunchyroll.

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