Kishimoto Kept Naruto From One Shadow Clone Technique That Would Have Made Him Unstoppable

There is one Itachi Uchiha move that, if Naruto had ever picked it up, would have turned the series into a five-episode miniseries. Not because Naruto is secretly weak, but because pairing that technique with his whole clone spam playbook would have been game over for basically everyone.

The cheat code Naruto never learned

I am talking about the Exploding Shadow Clone Technique, aka Bunshin Daibakuha. It shows up with Itachi in early Part I and it is exactly what it sounds like: a shadow clone that fights like a normal Kage Bunshin until the user decides it is time to detonate. The twist is nasty because the clone walks, talks, punches, and distracts just like the real thing. Then it turns into a bomb.

For clarity: a standard shadow clone pops into harmless smoke when it is dispelled. An exploding shadow clone is the A-rank version where that poof becomes a lethal blast. The user can trigger it manually or let the clone blow when it takes enough damage. Anyone in the radius who is not lucky or very fast is in trouble.

Itachi made it terrifying

Itachi introduces this trick during his debut run in the first series. He uses it on Kakashi, who only avoids getting turned into confetti because his Sharingan gives him just enough warning to bail out. Even then, Kakashi is rattled. The whole point of the jutsu is misdirection: you think you are trading with a clone, then boom. It is subtle, efficient, and built for an assassin who wins with precision.

Now picture Naruto with it

Naruto's default strategy is already overwhelming: hundreds of clones from every angle, constant improvisation, chaos as a weapon. If every one of those bodies could explode on command, the difficulty slider breaks. Kishimoto pretty clearly drew a boundary here: multi clones, fine; an army of living bombs, absolutely not. Because if he had gone there, so many iconic fights turn into instant splatter reels.

• Neji closing in for taijutsu? He tags the wrong body and gets a face full of detonation.
• Gaara's sand wall? First wave of clones self-destructs and punches right through it.
• Orochimaru moving on Tsunade? Line the path with bomb clones and let physics do the rest.
• Sasuke's exit from the village? Good luck breaking through a hallway of explosives that look like your best friend.

Scale that up and it just gets sillier. Zabuza, the Akatsuki, even Pain would be forced to retreat or die unless they had a very specific counter. Obito with Kamui intangibility might be the lone consistent escape artist. Otherwise, every battle turns into a blockbuster explosion reel. Fun, sure. Story-killing, absolutely.

Why it fits Itachi, not Naruto

This is one of those craft choices that looks like a power nerf on the surface and a character decision underneath. Bunshin Daibakuha is perfect for Itachi: low-key, tricky, efficient, one-move checkmate energy. Naruto, on the other hand, wins with stubbornness, creativity, and heart. His big moments are about outlasting and outsmarting, not pressing a red button and vaporizing the board. Handing him exploding clones would bulldoze the arcs that define him.

The bottom line

Exploding Shadow Clone is one of the nastiest A-rank tricks in the series, and giving it to a guy who already spams clones by the thousand would have broken the whole game. Keeping that toy in Itachi's toolbox and out of Naruto's was the right call for the story, even if the pyrotechnics would have been spectacular.

Naruto is currently available to watch on Crunchyroll.