Board Thread:Naruto Discussions/@comment-732150-20160706212412

Through the entire series, something about how shadow jutsu works always bothered me to some extent. Their main limitation was logical: you can reshape the shadow, but there's only so much you can stretch it. That made the actions used to increase their range make sense. Better positioning of light sources, and use of other shadows to extend their range.

However, there's one case that always puzzled me. In near or complete darkness, like an unlit moon, or during night time, shadow jutsu were essentially useless. That never quite made sense to me, since those cases the user is essentially in a big shadow, which in theory should make any shadow jutsu completely OP. That is not the case. They'd always need a light source to make a shadow, for example moonlight.

I think I figured out a reason for that. I believe that when using shadow jutsu, the user takes control over the entire shadow. They can't "partially" control a shadow. That way, it makes sense why they wouldn't work in near or complete darkness. In those conditions, there's just too much shadow for the jutsu to work. Their chakra would just spread too thin to be of use. We know that use against stronger opponents is more taxing. For example, Shikamaru struggled against Tayuya. It makes sense that to take control over a bigger shadow, you'd need more chakra. When Shikamaru fought Temari in the Chunin Exams, even when using the shadow of the stadium to extend his range, his chakra burned out quickly. Not only because great chakra pools were never hinted to be a thing with Nara clan members, but because that was an enormous shadow. The greatest feat of shadow jutsu happened only when several Nara clan members where enhanced by Naruto with Kurama's chakra. Restraining the Ten-Tails would be extremely chakra-taxing because it's both super strong, and because of its size, its shadow is also gigantic. What do you think? 