Every Immortal in Naruto, Ranked Weakest to Strongest

Immortality is not a new theme in the Naruto-verse. Let's explore all the characters in the series who Kishimoto has written as such.

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When it comes to Naruto, no extreme power-ups in the narrative are impossible thanks to Masashi Kishimoto’s creative thinking and writing genius. From devastating planetary-level attacks to resurrections, it’s no surprise that a few characters might flex even immortality.

While many other series constrict the “immortal” criteria to just 1-2 characters, Kishimoto has a handful throughout his most popular anime and manga series, and in more than one creative way than you can think of. Here is a compiled rank list of all the immortal characters from Naruto, albeit with limitations still in play.

8 White Zetsu’s Plant-Based Regeneration Thanks to Hashirama Cells

White Zetsu’s “immortality” stems from his ability to replicate himself thanks to the Hashirama Cells he was cultivated from. He isn’t really a human, more like a plant-based creature who can multiply and create thousands of clones of himself.

While he has no aging and high survivability, he can still be killed with sufficient force. However, his trick with immortality is when he replicates himself to be killed in the traditional sense; even if someone manages to kill a White Zetsu, surely another one is lurking somewhere in the world.

7 Hidan Could Not Die of Wounds or Aging in Naruto

Hidan’s immortality is a bit of a controversial topic in the Naruto-verse. On paper, he is truly immortal; he cannot die from blood loss, impalement, decapitation, or aging. This comes with the clause that he must receive a sufficient amount of nutrients to stay alive. In other words, death from malnutrition is not out of discussion.

Furthermore, a few more discrepancies are coming in the way of his true immortality. For instance, he does not actually regenerate despite being an “immortal”. Moreover, he can be decapitated and can be immobilized permanently, which actually happened in the anime. Yet, despite these limitations, Hidan’s “immortality” is intriguing.

6 Sasori’s Puppet Body Prevented Death Unless the Core Is Found

The former prodigy of the Hidden Sand Village and a core member of the Akatsuki, Sasori’s immortality comes from his transforming his entire body into a puppet. This completely stopped his aging and other natural human limitations as it became more of an inanimate object.

However, Kishimoto had to leave a loophole to his immortality; he would have become one of the main villains otherwise. Even though he turned his body into a puppet, he preserved the living core (his heart container). If the core was destroyed, he’s a goner; otherwise, he was pretty indestructible.

5 Kakuzu Was a 5-Hearted Monster Who Refused to Die

The oldest member of the infamous Akatsuki group in Naruto, Kakuzu, cannot actually be called traditionally immortal, mostly because of his unconventional way of being hard to kill. He used a forbidden technique called Earth Grudge Fear that allowed him to steal other people’s hearts and implant them – he can store upto 5 hearts.

To kill Kakuzu, all the 5 hearts must be destroyed at once, or he just keeps coming back, sacrificing a heart every time he receives a fatal blow. Furthermore, he also gained the elemental nature of each heart, giving him the elemental mastery of all five Chakra natures, making it even trickier to kill him.

4 Orochimaru Became Immortal With the Cursed Mark Resurrection

Being the mad scientific genius he is, Orochimaru‘s one goal in life was to attain immortality, and he sacrificed anyone who came in the way of his ultimate feat. He ingeniously found quite a few ways to avoid being wiped out of existence – the Body Transfer, Cursed Mark, and White Snake Physiology.

Through the Body Transfer, he could transfer his soul into a new host body, resetting aging and repeating the process indefinitely. Orochimaru left fragments of his chakra inside Curse Mark users, from which he can resurrect himself. Additionally, the White Snake Physiology provides him with high regeneration and skin shedding to bypass fatal injuries.

3 Obito Could Only Be Harmed by Senjutsu or Six Paths Chakra

Just to be clear, we are talking about the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki Obito Uchiha over here and not his Akatsuki or Hidden Leaf Village days. After becoming the Jinchuriki, he transformed into one of the most powerful beings in Naruto with Six Paths power, god-tier durability, and near-immortality.

After receiving the massive surge of power, he gained extreme regeneration, near-limitless chakra, and immunity from almost every ninjutsu technique in the book. The only limitation is that only Senjutsu (Sage Chakra) and Six-Paths powers could truly damage him; then again, that’s another limited list in the narrative.

2 Madara Was Only Killed Because of Naruto’s Plot Device

On the topic of Madara Uchiha, he was pretty invincible and truly deserving of the final boss status in the anime and manga series, until Kishimoto decided not to make him. After stealing the Ten-Tails and absorbing the God Tree, Madara reached his ultimate state, a being with Six Paths Sage Mode, a Rinne Sharingan, and power rivaling a literal deity. In other words, he became a God.

As the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki, Madara gained almost instant regeneration, near-limitless chakra, and Truth Seeking Orbs that can erase even matter. Furthermore, he can absorb Chakra globally with the God Tree absorption. Similar to Obito, only Sage Chakra, Six-Paths powers, and extremely high-level sealing techniques could really touch him; he was impossible to kill in practical combat.

But then he was struck by the plot device planted in the narrative. Black Zetsu betrayed Madara, and Kaguya sealed him to take his position as the main antagonist. Nevertheless, he reached a point of immortality where it would have been impossible to kill, without Kaguya’s intervention.

1 The Otsutsuki Are a Clan of Immortals Who Can Barely Be Killed

The Otsutsuki Clan doesn’t rely on one type of immortality; they use multiple-layered methods to cheat death, transcend biology, and even overwrite reality itself. Each clan member has their own way of reaching the “immortal” status.

Shibai Otsutsuki gained Chakra-Transcendence immortality by consuming countless chakra fruits and ascended to a higher-dimensional existence. Kaguya fused with the God Tree to possess near-infinite chakra and can only be sealed and not killed. While Hagoromo and Hamura were not traditionally unkillable, their Chakra survived beyond physical death.

While Isshiki and Momoshiki Otsutsuki are not pure-blood clan members in the series, they have also exhibited ways of retaining a near-immortal state. The Karma Resurrection is one of the most reliable immortality systems in the series. The Otsutsuki implants a Karma seal on a host, which gradually overwrites the host with time. After death, the Clan members can resurrect themselves from the bodies of these hosts.

What are your thoughts on the list of immortals from the Naruto anime and manga series? Let us know your opinions in the comments below.

All episodes of the anime series are available to watch on Crunchyroll, Netflix, and Hulu.

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