Board Thread:Naruto Discussions/@comment-26127155-20150609131529

I have seen a lot of people completely disregard genjutsu in recent forums and I am wondering what are people's general consensus on its use? I for one, believe it is a brilliant tactical weapon and is my preferred style of 'combat' compared to ninjutsu and taijutsu, as it is able to defeat/immobilize enemies even if you have less destructive power.

Just because is doesn't destroy countries doesn't mean it is not useful. People have asked why there were not more genjutsu users in the 4th shinobi war, and the truth is that there was only one genjutsu specialist (Itachi) and most of the Uchiha (majority of people who use genjutsu) are dead and were not revived.

Genjutsu must be a very hard skill to learn as even Jiraiya (one of the most talented ninja in the world, as well as ninja Jesus "Naruto" were not able to efficiently learn genjutsu), and having a sharingan must dramatically help one learn and use genjutsu in battle.

The real reason why genjutsu was not used as much was due to plot and having 'cool' looking battles with giant explosions. Itachi died to his illness and he never wanted to fight anyone (his genjutsu & totsuka blade combo is devastating). Madara could (and should) of used genjutsu more often in order to give himself more time to land critical blows on Naruto (although he is more of a ninjutsu type fighter). Kakashi used his genjutsu sparingly (generally tried to conserve his sharingan for chidori/kamui) and he is also renowned for his ninjutsu style combat. Sasuke is another ninjutsu fighter although he used genjutsu more than Kakashi, Obito, and Madara and he was very deadly combining both his genjutsu and ninjutsu together. Obito was proficient but just didn't use it (plot).

Itachi (ninja batman) was able to fight everyone he faced because he didn't rely on physical power or durability but instead relied on his tactical ability and genjutsu prowess in order to: misdirect, immobilize, and fool his opponent which gives him time to complete his win condition (totsuka blade/Izanami). This allowed for characters who can fight stronger enemies without having to go from city busters to country/moon/planet busters and keeps the ninja feel to the manga as genjutsu is all about misdirection. 