Board Thread:Theories and Speculation/@comment-5407586-20150624095943/@comment-756329-20150627164821

When you boil it all down it's not very hard:

1) Earth Release usually is used to either soften rock or harden things harder than diamond, thus "Steel" appears to be an enhanced form of Earth used in it's "Harden" form akin to what "Blaze" (Black Fire) is to "Fire" and "Black Lightning" is to "Lightning"

2) The Pseudo-Kekkei Tota talk was the combining of Fire-Earth-Steel elements to produce the molten steel.

3) Steel Release is still a kekkei Genkai but just because it says "release" doesn't mean it has to be a combo one, just an advancement