Board Thread:Naruto Discussions/@comment-26403664-20160228225013/@comment-26773508-20160417010301

Tengen Toppa Ita-Sasuke wrote: What was this thread about before this argument started exactly? Well the title says "Debunking how strong Itachi is." And calling out on people when they overhype the Yata Mirror pretty neatly falls within the topic at hand.

@Sayian: There are a lot of problems when it comes to the Yata Mirror. I'll list them so as to make the argument clearer:

1) The definition is very very ambiguous

What does a spiritual weapon mean? What does ethereal exactly mean in the context of the Narutoverse? What does changing any property to protect from any attack really mean? These words are very very vague, and hence we can't make definite conclusions about the Mirror's powers in many cases, such as this one. The vague definition also leads some people to come up with far-fetched ideas about the power of the mirror.

An example is MIGshinobi's claim that the Yata Mirror can give 360 degree protection to Itachi's Susanoo. What's his rationale for that? Apparently, a DB3 translation on the Yata Mirror's property that says that the Yata Mirror can change any of its properties to block attacks. That phrase led MIGshinobi to conclude that the Yata Mirror can turn into the Yata Sphere or the Yata Cylinder in case Itachi is attacked from all sides. Of course, most of us aren't convinced because nothing of the sort has been shown in the manga.

The same goes for the TSBs. There is no indication whatsoever that the Yata Mirror can withstand TSBs. The Yata Mirror changes its elemental nature to combat most of the incoming attack. Maybe it changes a few of its physical properties such as its size to a certain extent as well. But the very fact that the Yata Mirror has the 5 basic elements alone shows that ninjutsu is a vital component of the Yata Mirror.

Also, the definition is not at all clear on whether all these natures can be combined by the mirror at the level TSBs can. In case you've forgotten, TSBs not only combine the 5 basic elements, but they also have Yin-Yang Release. This is the same Yin-Yang Release Naruto used to create a new eye for Kakashi, and he also used it to save Might Guy. Hagoromo also used Yin-Yang Release to create the 9 Bijuu out of thin air. Of course, the Yin-Yang release of TSBs are probably far less powerful. But it was powerful enough to kill off Edo Zombies. On the other hand, it is entirely unknown whether the Yata-Mirror has Yin-Yang release.

Also, having both Yin Release and Yang Release does not necessarily give the user Yin-Yang Release. The first 3 Hokages could use both Yin Release and Yang Release, but none of them had Yin-Yang Release. The only ones who had Yin-Yang Release are Kaguya, Hagoromo, Hamura, Ashura, Juubito, Juubidara, Hagoromo-powered Naruto and Hagoromo-powered Sasuke.

So even if the Yata Mirror could use Yin Release to shield Itachi from genjutsu, and use Yang Release to counter against attacks based on Yang Release, it is still not clear whether the Yata Mirror can combine Yin-Yang release.

So if the Yata Mirror doesn't have Yin-Yang release, then full-powered TSBs are going to nullify all the elemental defenses of the Yata Mirror, because that is exactly what a Yin-Yang-enhanced TSB does. Unless further clarifications regarding the Yata Mirror's powers are made public, the default position is to assume that the Yata Mirror can't block TSBs for the simple reason that the Mirror has not been specified to have Yin-Yang Release.

2) The Yata Mirror has no notable feats. TSBs have plenty of feats

One of the most important unspoken VS thread rules is Feats>>Hype. Since the Yata Mirror has only hype in the form of a very ambiguous definition, with no supporting feats for its tall claims, then we must not jump to conclusions based on our liberal interpretations of an ambiguous definition. The TSBs, on the other hand, can kill off Edo Zombies. TSBs also have the impressive feat of protecting Juubito from the 4 Bijuu Dama that were fired at the Shinobi Alliance from those giant flowers. The Yata Mirror, on the other hand, has blocked Oro's giant snakes, a few paper bombs, and Sasuke's sword. Nothing impressive there.

So given these lack of feats, we must be suspicious of the claims made on behalf of the mirror. Which brings to the third point:

3) Over-hyping the Yata Mirror ignores subtle contexts in the manga

I've said this thing many times in this thread and other threads related to Itachi. And I'll say it again. Yata Mirror's ambiguous definition coupled with its lack of feat suggest that Kishi hyped the Yata Mirror and Itachi's abilities to generate and boost fan interest in the manga. Kishi has deliberately hyped things up and has given all sorts of misinformation and half-truths in the past. The main intent is to maintain and generate fan interest in the manga, as well as to make the plot more complex and less predictable. This is a crucial context some people forget when they use ambiguous Databook entries to make claims about characters and objects with no feats.

Examples of half-truths and misinformation in the manga include Gaara's "Ultimate" Defence; Kakashi being the "strongest" Jonin present in Konoha in the beginning of Part 1 (despite Guy already being there), Hiruzen being the "Strongest Hokage EVER"; Shukaku being "the vengeful spirit of an ancient Sunagakure priest"; Itachi claiming that one needs to "kill one's best friend" in order to unlock the Mangekyo; the claim that Madara "killed" Izuna to obtain EMS; the claim that Madara became an "immortal" after obtaining the EMS; Juubito's exaggerated claims about the Sword of Nonoboku (which was easily broken by a Senjutsu-enhanced Kurama-Susanoo); the popular perception about Hagoromo being the most powerful person to have ever lived in the Narutoverse (turns out his mommy was more powerful), etc.

Personally, a lot of these half-truths and misinformation made me so hooked into Naruto that waiting 7 days for a new manga chapter was literally painful. And even though many of these claims turned out to be false, they added a layer of complexity and excitement to the manga. Hyping up a character to the point of exaggeration does the trick in generating fan interest.

So the lesson here is that we must take ambiguous and unsubstantiated hype about the Yata Mirror with a pinch of salt. This isn't the first time Kishi made ambiguous claims to hype things up. To make matters worse, Yata Mirror has no feats while TSBs have a ton of feats. Ignoring feats in favour of ambiguous databook entries is a big mistake, because you're ignoring the context in which the Yata Mirror was introduced. And the context is that Kishi intended to hype up Itachi to portray him as this super-strong tragic hero, who had to use his enormous power and genius in the most tragic way imaginable.