Susanoo

Susanoo, also known as the, is the third ability granted by the Mangekyō Sharingan to those who awaken the abilities Tsukuyomi — which symbolises the "darkness of the spiritual world" and Amaterasu — which denotes the "light of the material world". It creates a gigantic, humanoid being that surrounds the user. As one of the strongest techniques granted to those that have acquired the Mangekyō Sharingan, it is the user's guardian deity, but at the same time, it consumes the user's life.

Overview
According to Tobi, for a Sharingan user to activate the Susanoo is a rarity. Like the other techniques granted by the Mangekyō Sharingan, the user's eyes and body are strained while using Susanoo because it consumes a large amount of their chakra. Sasuke described it as feeling pain in every cell in his body which only grew from prolonged use. Susanoo is formed through the materialisation of the user's chakra and as such differs in appearance as well as colour between users. Even though it envelopes the user, they can move around within Susanoo freely and use techniques from inside of it, as well as manifest parts of Susanoo — if the situation calls for it.

Despite Susanoo's impressive defensive capabilities, the protection it grants its user is not absolute. The user can be thrown out of the upper half of Susanoo by an enemy manipulating the substance underneath Susanoo. This was seen when Gaara used his sand to pull Madara out of his Susanoo. Also, a sufficiently powerful attack will still result in damage, especially during the technique's developmental stages after which the user is left open for attack. The only known ways to attack the user while Susanoo is active is either to draw the wielder out of the technique and then attack, bind and restrict its movements, or to break the defence with overwhelming force. Susanoo users are also vulnerable to attacks which don't actually deal physical damage to it, such as strong lights and sounds, that can also impair their ability to sustain Susanoo. The users are also still succeptible to such things as sound-based genjutsu.

Development
Each Susanoo goes through several different forms, which the user can switch between at will or even leave in a state between forms. The development of these forms was best demonstrated while Sasuke was learning how to use the technique, gaining additional forms as his control over it increased. In its earliest form, users can only manifest some of Susanoo's skeleton. A smaller version of Susanoo's ribcage is generally produced first which, while providing a good defence, can still be fractured or even melted. An arm can also be formed, which is sometimes connected to this ribcage, and can then be used to interact with the surroundings. It is also possible to utilise one of Susanoo's weapons using said arm and change its size as needed. When first forming, Susanoo manifests around the user like an aura.

As users gain additional control, musculature and skin begins to appear atop of its bones, which progressively complete the full skeletal structure. It is only when Susanoo's growth is fully matured and thus, the user is completely surrounded, and the vulnerabilities of the skeletal form finally eliminated. However, it should be noted that Susanoo can also appear behind the user, instead of just surrounding them. The user can also change the size of it, depending on their skill, to fit the current situation. Eventually, Susanoo develops into a "complete" warrior-like form, where its skin, armour and final arsenal of weapons are manifested in their entirety. At this stage, it can anchor the user to the ground, preventing opponents from forcibly moving them unless they can get through Susanoo's various layers. In its final form, this fully humanoid shape is further surrounded by a secondary layer of armour that causes Susanoo to resemble a yamabushi.

Itachi's Version
Itachi's Susanoo is yellow in the manga, while it is depicted as red in the anime. Of all the known Susanoo, Itachi's looks the most humanoid. When seen in its complete form, it has a normal face with what resembles locks of hair framing it. The only oddity that Itachi's Susanoo displays is an appendage on its chin reminiscent of a Pharaoh's false beard. Itachi's Susanoo has two sets of arms, which are conjoined at the elbow; the secondary arms are manifested as required. When in its final form, the armour that surrounds Itachi's Susanoo resembles a long-nosed tengu which wears a pair of magatama earrings.

In its primary left hand, Itachi's Susanoo wields the Yata Mirror, a shield which is endowed with all five nature transformations, allowing it to change its own characteristics depending on the the attack it receives, and thus, nullify it. With its right hands it wields the Sword of Totsuka. The sword is a variant of the Sword of Kusanagi, also known as the, and is wielded by Susanoo's primary right hand and sheathed in a sake jar held by its second right hand. It is an ethereal weapon with an enchanted blade capable of sealing anyone it pierces, and also can cut through opponents and objects like a normal blade. Victims of the sword are trapped in a genjutsu-like "world of drunken dreams" for all eternity. Zetsu said that the Sword of Totsuka combined with the Yata Mirror essentially made Itachi's Susanoo invincible.

For longer-ranged attacks, Itachi is able to use the powerful Yasaka Magatama, which can be used as three chakra tomoe bound together by a single, circular thread and fired as a projectile or several tomoe strung out on a chakra string, which detach themselves and fire off individually. Itachi's Susanoo is also able to wield a sword resembling a curved dagger while in its incomplete form.

Sasuke's Version
Sasuke's Susanoo is blue-grey in the manga. While in the anime, the colour of Sasuke's Susanoo is purple. Sasuke's development of Susanoo is marked by intense feelings of hatred; whenever angered by the words or actions of his opponents, Susanoo grows in power. His Susanoo is, accordingly, noted to be much darker in composition compared to Itachi's. In both its incomplete and complete forms, it has a more demonic appearance in contrast to Itachi's, which have a more "normal" human-like appearance, possessing horns, a long appendage on its chin and a malevolent grin. Much like Itachi's variation, Sasuke's Susanoo has two right arms, which are conjoined at the elbow, and one left arm, although it is also able to form a second left arm as needed. In its final form, Sasuke's Susanoo is surrounded by a tengu-like layer of armour with jagged teeth around its hood, as opposed to the straight teeth of Itachi's Susanoo, and wears magatama earrings.

Since first entering its incomplete form, Sasuke's Susanoo is able to manifest a sword, which it wields in its left hand. After entering its complete form, Susanoo wields a bow in its left hand and an orb that is able to produce arrows for use with said bow in its second right hand. In its final stage, Susanoo's orb is made up of the black flames of Amaterasu, which Sasuke is able to manipulate into various forms using Blaze Release: Kagutsuchi, and its bow grows in size and takes on a more shield-like appearance. Sasuke's Susanoo has demonstrated the ability to wield its orb of black flames regardless of which stage it is in.

After Sasuke gained the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan, the layer of armour worn by Susanoo's final form changed in appearance. The mouth of the armour took on a beak-like shape, giving it an even more menacing appearance. The skin on the right arm and right hand gained additional plating, which gives the appearance of the skin peeling off, and the armour itself became more ghastly in appearance. Sasuke has since demonstrated several uses for his Susanoo's orb of black flames, including forming a blade in Susanoo's primary right hand, which can be used to stab his targets and set them ablaze, and forming arrows which can be utilised with Susanoo's bow. Sasuke can also produce tomoe-shaped projectiles from the orb to set his opponents on fire from a distance.

Madara's Version
One of the first two amongst the Uchiha to awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan, Madara awakened a Susanoo of his own after awakening the abilities in both of his eyes and is also able to use it while having his Rinnegan activated. It is blue in colour.

Unseen in others' versions, Madara's Susanoo is able to manifest a complete body, including a lower half and legs which can emerge from the ground, and possesses two entirely different sides that are conjoined along their spine, each with a distinct pair of arms and a unique face. One of these faces has elongated canine teeth in its lower jaw bracket and two tusks growing from said jaw. The other has similarly elongated canine teeth in its upper jaw bracket instead, as well as a single horn protruding from its forehead. When emerged from the ground, its feet, which have six toes each, face towards the side with the elongated lower teeth. Madara has also demonstrated the ability to float inside of Susanoo when it is fully emerged from the ground.

The right hand of each side wields an undulating blade, whereas in the anime Susanoo is capable of manifesting up to four blades, with one being wielded by each of its arms. Susanoo itself appears to be capable of contributing towards some of Madara's techniques, as it was seen forming hand seals when he drew down two meteorites. It is also able to use the powerful Yasaka Magatama as a ranged attack, creating a string of magatama that Madara can fire at his opponents. Madara has also shown the ability to combine this technique with the Multiple Wood Release Clone Technique to create a multitude of these ethereal warriors.

The final form of Madara's Susanoo is an enormous construct with its mouth obscured and a body similar to its full body form. The outer armour, which only remotely resembles the usual tengu-like armour with the trademark pillbox hat like adornment on the forehead, is split down the middle from the beak downwards where the normal Susanoo underneath is revealed. Along this armour, which seems much more fluid than that of other known Susanoo, are holes at the end. It also has four plated arms, two of which wield its undulating blades.

Once the final form's chakra is stabilised, the eye-holes that were there before become more accentuated, with lines running upwards at the side. It gains the traditional long, tengu nose, with Madara's being more angular when compared to that of Itachi or Sasuke's. The mouth is also carved out, with two lines running down to the chin area, and it wears robes, pointed shoes and body armour on its shoulders and waist. Madara's Susanoo also possesses "hair" in this form, which is tied up at the sides. Its back set of arms, which are still plated, extend upwards like wings and its front set of arms, which lose their plating, are somewhat smaller than the plated arms. The undulating blades are replaced with straight katana, which are kept sheathed inside the palms of Susanoo's back arms and wielded by its forearms. According to Madara, the offensive power of his Susanoo is comparable to that of a tailed beast. Madara has also displayed a unique use of Susanoo: equipping it onto Kurama to increase the fox's offensive and defensive capabilities while keeping it safe from Hashirama's Wood Release suppression techniques.

Weaponry
As users gain more control over Susanoo, they are able to extend their power by forming weapons. Like Susanoo itself, the appearance and abilities of the manifested weapons vary between individuals. Additionally, as Susanoo becomes more powerful, its weapons do so as well.

Sword
All known users of Susanoo are able to manifest at least one sword for the ethereal warrior to wield. Despite their variations, each sword is extremely effective, and in the case of some users, the swords evolve along with Susanoo.


 * Itachi's Susanoo wielded a blade which was curved in nature and resembled a dagger or tantō rather than a sword. Itachi also demonstrated the ability to manifest this blade while only forming his Susanoo's ribcage and arms. With it, he was able to cut through Kimimaro's bones, which were stated to be harder than tempered steel.
 * Sasuke's Susanoo is capable of utilising a blade resembling a sabre, wielded by its primary left arm. Sasuke was able to use it to cut through several stone pillars with ease.
 * Upon reaching its final form, the composition of the chakra orb held by the secondary right arm of Sasuke's Susanoo changed to that of Amaterasu's black flames, from which Sasuke is able to forge a blade that his Susanoo's primary right arm wields. This orb of black flames, as well as the blade it is used to produce, could later be wielded even in his Susanoo's previous forms.
 * Madara's Susanoo possessed two distinct, undulating blades, which resembled kris. The blades were held by the right arm of both sides of his Susanoo in its incomplete and complete forms, and Madara could also materialise one while only surrounded by his Susanoo's aura. In the anime, Madara could manifest swords in all four of Susanoo's arms; the blades left traces of blue fire in the ground after impacting and could unleash tremendous shock waves capable of obliterating hundreds of shinobi in a single strike. When Madara's Susanoo entered its final form, the blades dramatically increased in size and were wielded by its primary right arm and primary left arm. They were shown to be strong enough to block a caught Tailed Beast Ball being pushed against them by Hashirama Senju's wood golem.
 * When Madara stabilised his Susanoo's final form, the blades more closely resembled traditional katana, complete with sheaths. Said sheaths were held with his Susanoo's back, plated arms, while the swords themselves were held by its front arms. Madara could use these to cut through a range of mountains in the distance with a single swing. The blades could also be partitioned to a Tailed Beast Ball during its formation, giving it cutting power. Madara did so to prevent Hashirama Senju from grabbing Tailed Beast Balls with his Wood Release: Wood Human Technique.

Bow
In its completed state, Sasuke's Susanoo is capable of wielding an unusually shaped bow, which manifests on its left arm. In its second right hand, his Susanoo holds an orb capable of creating arrows which can be grabbed by Susanoo's front right hand and fired through the bow at such a speed that evading them is nearly impossible. The bow can also double as a shield strong enough to withstand attacks capable of shaving away at the terrain in Susanoo's immediate vicinity. The arrows, which are seemingly made with variable thickness based on the user's discretion, travel at a very high velocity and possess considerable piercing power; enough to easily breach a tree created by Wood Release. Even Kakashi Hatake, a ninja noted for his speed supplemented by the Sharingan's keen perception, was unable to dodge the arrows and was instead forced to use Kamui to warp them away. Only Kabuto Yakushi, while utilising the extrasensory capabilities of Sage Mode, has been able to successfully avoid one of these arrows thus far.

When Sasuke's Susanoo enters its final stage, the bow gains a notable increase in size, more closely resembling a shield. Upon first entering this stage, Sasuke also gained access to an orb made up of black flames, which can be manifested in any of his Susanoo's forms; Sasuke later demonstrated the ability to produce arrows made up of black flames from said orb, which can also be used with Susanoo's bow.

Influence

 * Similar to other Mangekyō Sharingan abilities, Susanoo was taken from Japanese mythology: Susanoo is the wild god of sea and storms, brother to Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi. He was born from Izanagi washing his nose. Susanoo inherited his father's sword Totsuka no Tsurugi, which Izanagi used to kill his newborn son, Kagu-Tsuchi after his birth burned his mother, Izanami, to death. After his exile for his relentless harassment of Amaterasu, Susanoo redeemed himself when he used Totsuka to slay the serpent Yamata no Orochi and obtained the Sword of Kusanagi from the monster's corpse. He later gave the acquired blade to Amaterasu as a peace offering.
 * Susanoo's designs are based on, well known yokai that are associated with the ascetic practice of shugendō. In their final forms, the Susanoo are garbed in the attire of shugendō practioners, known as yamabushi, and wear hoods that resemble tengu masks, with Itachi's and Madara's appearing as long-nosed Hanataka Tengu and Sasuke's as a crow-billed Karasu Tengu. In Japanese myth, Susanoo produced the fiend Amanozako who is said to have been the progenitor of the Tengu.
 * The is one of the, together with the Sword of Kusanagi and the.

Trivia

 * In the anime, the final form of Sasuke's Susanoo has a few minor changes: aside from having five fingers instead of six, and having straight teeth, it was also shown wielding a gourd in the secondary right hand instead of an orb, making it look similar to Itachi's final Susanoo.
 * Itachi and Sasuke's Susanoo are depicted as different colours in the anime than in the manga. In Itachi's case, his Susanoo was illustrated in the anime before being coloured in the manga.
 * Prior to the completion of Sasuke's Susanoo, its completed form was glimpsed as a shadowy figure in a genjutsu that Sasuke placed C under.
 * Sasuke's bow-wielding form of Susanoo bears a great resemblance to Raideen the Brave, one of a number of Yoshiyuki Tomino references in the series (another being the Gundam-derived names of Kakuzu's techniques).
 * Both Itachi and Sasuke's final form of Susanoo's mouth area always appear to face to the right, but the mouth area of Sasuke's new version faces to the left side instead.
 * The Totsuka Sword wielded by Itachi's Susanoo is considered to be a "Sword of Kusanagi", although this has been popularly mistranslated as it being the perfect counter to the Sword of Kusanagi.
 * Itachi's Susanoo carries the Sword of Totsuka in a gourd. An ethereal weapon inside a gourd could be a reference to the hyōtan-kozō, a gourd spirit from Japanese folklore.
 * During the Sasuke vs. Itachi boss battle in Naruto Shippūden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2, Susanoo doesn't appear around Itachi, but behind him. However, during his "awakening", Susanoo appears around him in a much smaller form.
 * In Naruto Shippūden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3, Madara's Susanoo's swords are capable of spinning, giving them a drill-like ability.
 * When it was first shown, Itachi's Susanoo had five fingers on its hands. After that, however, instead of five, it has a total of six fingers per hand, like all other known Susanoo.
 * Both Itachi and Sasuke's Susanoo were illustrated earlier with only a secondary right hand. However, in chapter 579 they were both depicted as also having secondary left hands whilst in their incomplete forms.
 * Members of the clan have been noted to access Susanoo without having their Mangekyō Sharingan activated.