Naruto

Then again, these people only use it to undo their deaths, while what it's supposed to do is to mess with the border between reality and illusion, therefore achieving Reality Warping. Given what it's supposed to do, it's basically "Omnipotence, the Jutsu" and they're all too stupid to use it that way (or a way smarter Uchiha already used it to make it so no Uchiha can ever figure out how to use it for anything other than self resurrection).

That or it doesn't do any of that at all, and can only be used to cheat death.

So sometimes you take what they say literally, and other times you don't. That's hella convenient, ain't it?

It is said to "cast a genjutsu on the user itself."

And Obito used it to warp behind Konan.

It has to have more uses than just rewriting a user's death. I'm sure there are set limits though, but still. More creative uses of the technique would've been nice to see.

Not that bringing yourself back to life isn't cool.

edited 25th Oct '16 6:07:59 PM by hardcorefakes

Having it be your +1 life is probably best, given how dangerous their lives are and using an eye up for something less would be a waste.

Though it depends on if you can use an eye up to give yourself a huge, across the board stat boost. That might be worth it.

If you could use it to win the fight instantly, it's useful as a trump card, but as mentioned, it's a Death or Glory Attack. In most cases where the user has gotten to the point of needing to use a last resort, using it to save your life or make yourself temporarily invincible is going to take priority over using it offensively. Of course, Danzo's just an idiot, because he had a whole arm full of Sharingans that he could have used offensively against Sasuke, but then again, Danzo's not an Uchiha, and the only people who could have taught him alternative uses for the Izanagi were dead by the time he gained his Sharingan collection.

If you can use it to instantly kill your target, then why not do so?

Furthermore, if your target was able to kill you once, then it's entirely possible they might be able to do it again. It's a major gamble to store it as a 1 Up, especially because it seems like you need an actual setup to use it and it doesn't automatically trigger upon your death. Keeping it as an extra life doesn't do much if you get surprise instashanked.

'If'

Yeah, if, that might also be worth it depending on who you're fighting. But considering we never see that happen we have no idea if it's possible.

See, you can use it to instakill your target even if it does not have that function, by using yourself as a suicide bomber... because you'll come back to life with Izanagi anyway. So do some sort of uber jutsu that involves suicide, kill your enemy, then undo your own death with Izanagi. There, that's an offensive use for it.

I...kind of think the person using it needs to be mostly whole, seeing as how they kind of need an eye to sacrifice in order to use the damn thing.

Can't very well use it if your head has been completely vaporized now can you?

Well, no, because you'd be revived whole again. So your head is fine afterwards.

The real problem is that if you're fighting someone who's pushed you to the brink of using Izanagi, chances are they more than likely have ways to counter said "uber explosion." That plan's success relies entirely on the competency level of the opponent. And this opponent has apparently enough skill to cause you to use Izanagi, so they must be fairly competent.

If it fails, you now only have one eye left to use, and chances are that same trick just isn't viable anymore. So it had better work the first time, because after that they'd be ready for it...and you'd be completely blind and powerless afterwards (should you try it again for some reason).

Yeah, we've never seen it used like that before. Maybe it's possible? Or maybe Kishi intended for it to have limits.

edited 25th Oct '16 8:43:27 PM by hardcorefakes

Also, as Madara demonstrated, using it to save your life can also give you the opportunity to escape. That could be quite useful when facing an opponent stronger than you.

...so you don't think that a jutsu that specifically requires the sacrifice of an eye, wouldn't be useless if both eyes were destroyed before the person casted it? Like, it seems more like you need to be dying, not dead, for it to actually work. The only reason Madara got it to work is because he set it on a time-release seal that would activate after death.

edited 25th Oct '16 9:08:02 PM by Ssj3Gojira

You can only use it if your opponent is only strong enough to kill you once. If your opponent is to strong, then you'll become Danzo. If your opponent is weaker or equal to you, then you wasted your powerful magic eye.

I think the point was that you use Izanagi to turn yourself into a bomb, then have yourself revived afterwards. So you sacrifice the eye beforehand, and revive with one blind one. And the other one should be fine.

During Danzo's and Sasuke's fight, Sasuke was hitting Danzo with instant-kill moves, and he still revived every time. So he wasn't in the "process" of dying, but instead just ending up dying instantly. And the technique still worked. Although, maybe Danzo was using that "timed Izanagi" nonsense too though.

Good point. If they can manage to kill you again, then you never had a chance to begin with. If they were weaker than you from the start, then you've rendered yourself partially blind needlessly.

edited 25th Oct '16 9:17:43 PM by hardcorefakes

You say that, but a) you'd have to use both eyes to pull something like that off, which as we saw with Danzo don't come back ever, and b) we saw Itachi use Izanami and he lost an eye from it; he was also an Edo Tensei zombie who had regenerative powers, and he was still blind in one eye. It honestly seems like the only way to get your eye back is to get a Rinnegan.

Why would you need two eyes to pull that off though? You don't need the second one to revive yourself afterwards. The one eye accomplishes both tasks. I mean, at least it should. Turning yourself into a bomb and reviving using only one eye isn't outside the bounds of reason here.

But who knows, you might actually need two eyes to do that. Izanagi is just not really all that fleshed out.

edited 25th Oct '16 9:28:32 PM by hardcorefakes

Except the eye is used up after the first use. If it actually worked like that, do you think Danzo would have to spam so many eyes, or would he have been able to do multiple revives with one eye?

Good point, perhaps Izanagi is one action == one eye. So no "multiple" uses per one eye.

But then I'd have to ask why Kishi would present Izanagi in such a way as to call it "making illusions/imagination reality." Because there are plenty of ways to abuse such a technique, especially knowing how versatile genjutsu can be.

Think a watered-down version of Gremmy. That's the potential here.

edited 25th Oct '16 9:43:00 PM by hardcorefakes

Izanagi works on a time limit, not a usage. Danzo had to extend his to about a minute a-piece.

edited 25th Oct '16 10:59:44 PM by Lightysnake

Well, we don't know if it must use a timer of sorts. Obito didn't seem to operate under such a rule. He just went ahead and used it.

edited 26th Oct '16 1:49:45 AM by hardcorefakes

Gee, it's almost as if Izanagi was invented with arbitrary rules just to save Obito's bacon after Kishimoto accidentally wrote himself into a corner with the exploding tags.

edited 26th Oct '16 3:08:16 AM by IAmNotCreativeEnough

@IANCE Izanagi was actually created before that with Danzo versus Sasuke and that was before Tobi fought Konan.

Obito definitely ran on a timer with Izanagi. His 'perfect' one just had more time on it.

Which makes me question: Why didn't Kishimoto just make Danzo a credible threat to Sasuke instead of giving him the Sharingarm and Izanagi?