Susanoo

Susanoo is a gigantic, humanoid avatar made of the user's chakra which surrounds them and fights on their behalf. It is the strongest ability available to those who have awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan in both eyes.

Attributes
When activated, Susanoo forms around the user and becomes an extension of their will, acting and attacking on their behalf. By default, Susanoo is anchored to its user and they to it: in its less developed forms it will move around with the user; in its more completed forms the user will be suspended within Susanoo, being brought with it as it moves around. This connection allows Susanoo to shield against physical attacks, one that becomes more difficult to penetrate as it is manifested more fully.

Although Susanoo is quite effective as a defence, it is able to distinguish in what it blocks. For example, the user can still perform jutsu while within Susanoo and the attacks will pass through it without complications. Others can be brought within Susanoo with the user's permission, and users can likewise choose to leave Susanoo's protective structure. The latter characteristic can be used against the user; if an opponent can bypass Susanoo, however slightly and latch onto them, they can be pulled out of Susanoo. With continued mastery, Susanoo can have increased defensive capabilities even at its ribcage stage, as seen when A was able to crack a rib of Sasuke's Susanoo, but conversely, could not crack Madara's. If it is damaged, Susanoo does not regenerate and it can only be repaired either by advancing it to the next developmental stage or by dispersing it and then forming it anew. Also, Susanoo is also only able to defend against physical attacks, so they are still vulnerable to visual or auditory attacks for example. Additionally, unless the legs of the Susanoo are fully manifested, the user's still vulnerable to attacks from below.

Susanoo draws on the user's chakra in large amounts so long as it is active. Sasuke Uchiha describes the sensation of using Susanoo as feeling pain in every cell in his body, which only increases over time of usage as well as at higher developmental stages. Being a Mangekyō Sharingan-based ability, it also places a strain on the user's eyes the more it is used, however, it is not actually necessary for one's Mangekyō Sharingan to be active while using Susanoo; in fact, Madara Uchiha is able to use it without any eyes at all.

Development
As seen with Sasuke's learning how to use it, Susanoo has several developmental stages. Practised users go through all the stages every time they manifest it, layering more advanced stages over earlier ones or stripping them away as is needed; they can choose to stop at any developmental stage. At its simplest level, users only manifest aspects of Susanoo's skeletal structure, such as a ribcage for basic defence or an arm for interacting with the surroundings. Once a full skeleton is made, musculature and, later, skin forms until finally a complete humanoid is shaped. In these early stages, typically only the upper half of Susanoo is materialised, with legs becoming common once it reaches its full humanoid form; however, not all Susanoo users can accomplish the latter feat.

In its next stage, armour forms around the humanoid for further protection, causing it to resemble a yamabushi. In its final stage, users stabilise the chakra that comprises Susanoo to create a colossal form known as the, the ultimate ability of the Mangekyō Sharingan. In this state, Susanoo gains a tengu-like nose, wings for flight, and is clad with robes and ornate armour. This form possesses power comparable to that of a tailed beast, capable of levelling giant mountains and, when enhanced by Six Paths Chakra, small planetoids with ease. Users can also channel their own techniques into their Perfect Susanoo, as well as being able to manifest and shape their Susanoo around the Nine-Tails to improve its offensive and defensive capabilities.

Users are able to mingle the chakra that makes Susanoo with chakra from other sources. Sasuke uses the chakra from Jūgo's Sage Transformation to make a, with markings reminiscent of the Cursed Seal of Heaven spreading across it. He later stores the chakra of the nine tailed beasts within his Susanoo, drastically improving its strength and causing lightning to emanate from its back.

Versions
Susanoo differs between users, in terms of colour, design, and weaponry. Some features are consistent, however, all Susanoo constructs are deviations of the Japanese tengu, they also have two sets of arms — one of which can form wings as part of its Complete Body form or Perfect Susanoo — and six fingers on each of its hands. All Susanoo wield at least one sword.

Itachi Uchiha
Itachi Uchiha's Susanoo was yellow in the manga; in the anime, its skeletal and armoured forms were red and its humanoid form was orange. In its humanoid form, its face is framed by locks of hair, with an appendage on its chin reminiscent of a Pharaoh's false beard. When its armour is formed, Itachi's Susanoo resembled a long-nosed tengu and it wears a pair of magatama earrings.

Itachi's Susanoo possessed a curved blade that resembled a dagger or tantō. He rarely used this, as he preferred using his Sword of Totsuka that was wielded in its primary right hand and sheathed in a sake jar held by its second right hand. The Sword of Totsuka is an ethereal weapon - an enchanted blade, in addition to standard cutting, it is also able to seal anyone it pierces, trapping them in a genjutsu-like "world of drunken dreams" for all eternity. In its primary left hand, Itachi's Susanoo wielded the Yata Mirror, a shield that was able to change its nature depending on the attack it received, thus nullifying it. According to Black Zetsu, the simultaneous use of the Sword of Totsuka and the Yata Mirror made Itachi essentially invincible. For long-range attacks, Itachi used Susanoo to perform Yasaka Magatama. In Naruto Shippūden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4, Itachi has an exclusive Perfect Susanoo form that retains the traits of his previous forms, including a retractable version of the Yata Mirror, and a broadsword version of the Sword of Totsuka.

Sasuke Uchiha
Sasuke Uchiha is able to manifest his own Susanoo after he had awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan. His Susanoo was initially depicted as a dark shade of blue in the manga, however it is purple in all other medias. Since Sasuke's chakra and power development in Part I and Part II was often marked by intense feelings of hatred, thus his Susanoo has a much darker composition compared to Itachi's. Itachi's humanoid Susanoo appeared to be relatively "normal", whereas Sasuke's humanoid Susanoo possesses demonic horns, a long appendage on its chin, and a malevolent grin. Its armoured form initially appears largely the same as Itachi's armoured Susanoo with jagged teeth protruding from its hood. After Sasuke had awakened the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan, the appearance of his armoured Susanoo also changed, the armour's mouth taking on a beak-like shape and it became more ghastly-looking.

In its Perfect Susanoo form, Sasuke's Susanoo has a helmet that features a long tengu nose, two spikes over each eye, a slit stretching across its mouth, three gaps on each of its cheeks and one additional gap on its chin. Sasuke is able to use the wings of his Perfect Susanoo to block out the light of the Infinite Tsukuyomi after he had awakened the Rinnegan in his left eye. Sasuke is also capable of using the Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique and the Chidori with his Perfect Susanoo in the anime. When Sasuke drew on the power of the tailed beasts that were trapped inside his Chibaku Tensei, he had his Perfect Susanoo become a vessel for the tailed beasts chakra the same way the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path had. After having merged the tailed beasts chakra inside Sasuke's Perfect Susanoo, the armour of his Perfect Susanoo became somewhat reduced, as it exposed the tailed beasts' chakra infused humanoid that was within. Ultimately, Sasuke's Perfect Susanoo then emerged as ". In this form, it was shown that Sasuke was able to channel and use his Chidori lightning as a sword and a bow and arrow. Furthermore, Indra Susanoo was also capable of generating a sword out of thin air instead of having it formed alongside the Perfect Susanoo, thereby enabling Sasuke to catch his opponents off guard.

Sasuke's Susanoo has a blade in all its forms: a sabre in its developmental forms; an Ōdachi in its humanoid form, wielded with its second right hand; a pair of katana in its Complete Body form. Its primary weapon, though, is a bow, manifested on the wrist of its left arm; the bow can double as a shield, a function that becomes more visually apparent in its armoured form. Arrows are drawn from an orb held by its primary right hand and can be fired very quickly, such that only Kabuto Yakushi, while utilising Sage Mode, has been able to avoid one. The arrow's properties can be augmented, either with black flames in its armoured form or lightning in its Perfect and Indra Susanoo form.

Madara Uchiha
Madara Uchiha's Susanoo was solid blue in colour. His Susanoo was made up of two entirely different sides that are conjoined along their spine, both of which have a distinct face: the front face has elongated canine teeth in its lower jaw bracket and two tusks growing from said jaw, while the back face has similarly elongated canine teeth in its upper jaw bracket and a single horn protruding from its forehead. In its armoured form, the usual tengu-like armour splits from its forehead down, revealing Susanoo's eyes while obscuring the rest of its face. Curiously, his armoured Susanoo appears to always form the Tiger hand seal with its front hands, and is the largest of its variation. In its Perfect Susanoo form, its head gains a long tengu nose and two lines running down from its mouth to its chin area, as well as hair which is tied up at the sides.

Madara's Susanoo wielded distinct, undulating blades that resemble kris, held in the right hand of each side. His Susanoo was also able to throw the blades as guided projectiles. In the anime, Madara was able to manifest swords in all four of Susanoo's arms; the blades left traces of blue, fire-like chakra in the ground after impacting and could unleash shockwaves capable of obliterating numerous shinobi in a single strike. In its Perfect Susanoo form, the swords closely resemble traditional katana, complete with sheaths held in the secondary arms. These swords could cut through mountains across great distances. For long-range attacks, Madara was able to use Susanoo to perform Yasaka Magatama.

Indra Ōtsutsuki
Indra Ōtsutsuki's Susanoo, named, was purple in colour. In its Perfect Susanoo form, it had accentuated eye-holes, a long tengu nose, a spike over each eye, a slit across its mouth and three gaps on each of its cheeks. In the anime, the skeletal form of Indra's Susanoo was also shown. Indra's Susanoo bore striking resemblance to Sasuke Uchiha's Susanoo, as one could argue that the reason for this similarity in the appearance of their Susanoo is due to Sasuke being the reincarnate of Indra. However, there is one notable difference between the two's Susanoo, which is the number of spikes over each of its eyes. Indra's Perfect Susanoo had one spike over each of its eyes, while Sasuke's Perfect Susanoo has two spikes over each of its eyes.

Shisui Uchiha
In Ultimate Ninja Storm Revolution, Shisui Uchiha was able to manifest a green-coloured Susanoo, even after Danzō stole his right eye. It had blade-like appendages on its shoulders, the side of its face, and along its forearms. Its right arm wielded a drill-like lance that Shisui can coat with fire to create a vortex of flames. It was also able to unleash a barrage of chakra needles. In Naruto Shippūden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4, Shisui has an exclusive Perfect Susanoo form, complete with a second pair of wing-shaped arms, tengu like features, and wielding a large drill-like sword.

Kakashi Hatake
Kakashi Hatake's Susanoo was light blue in colour. His Susanoo had only ever been seen in Perfect Susanoo form. It had the characteristic tengu nose, a forehead protector-like plating on its head, two locks of hair falling on either side of its face, a hole in its chin, and a vertical mark extending across its left eye, similar to Kakashi's own signature scar across his own left eye. Kakashi's Susanoo wielded a katana, but its most notable weaponry were the Mangekyō-shaped shuriken that could warp away targets on contact.

Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki
In the anime, Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki showed a light blue Susanoo capable of entering its Perfect Susanoo form and it was able to utilise chakra blades. Two locks of hair fell on each side of the face and a single horn protruded from the chin, which resembled Hagoromo's facial hair. It possessed a sharp tengu-like nose and a jagged mouth, which gave it a demonic appearance. His Susanoo was noticeably much larger than other users, reaching a size comparable to the Ten-Tails. Hagomoro's Perfect Susanoo was probably the largest Susanoo ever formed in Shinobi history.

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.
 * Madara's Susanoo design may be influenced by, a human-like being described in the as having one body with two faces back-to-back, each with its own set of arms and legs.
 * The is one of the, together with the Sword of Kusanagi and the.
 * 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.

Trivia

 * In the anime, Sasuke's armoured Susanoo is depicted identical to Itachi's, even wielding weapons identical to the Sword of Totsuka and Yata Mirror. Its appearance and weapons were changed to match the manga in subsequent appearances.
 * Although the third databook states that the user must first unlock Tsukuyomi and Amaterasu before they can gain Susanoo, it appears that this was only the case for Itachi. According to the fourth databook, acquiring this technique is done through the user simply manifesting the Mangekyō Sharingan in both eyes.
 * Prior to the completion of Sasuke's Susanoo, its humanoid form was glimpsed as a shadowy figure in a genjutsu he used.
 * Sasuke's humanoid 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).
 * Shisui's Susanoo resembles the eponymous mecha from the anime Steel Jeeg.
 * Despite Madara, Indra, Sasuke and Kakashi all being shown to manifest a stabilised Susanoo in the manga, only Madara is listed as a user of the Complete Body — Susanoo in the fourth databook.
 * In Ultimate Ninja Storm 3, Madara's Susanoo swords are capable of spinning, giving them a drill-like ability.
 * In Ultimate Ninja Storm 4, Itachi and Shisui's Susanoo are given Complete Body — Susanoo forms, designed by Kishimoto himself, making it so all known Susanoo users have access to its highest form across different media. Also in the game, Madara's Limbo clones possess the ability to use Susanoo, while Madara himself, empowered as the Ten-Tails jinchūriki, was shown using a larger form of the Complete Body — Susanoo. For an Ultimate Jutsu, The Last Sasuke manifests a Susanoo arm in the place of his own missing arm.
 * Indra's Susanoo was given its unique name in Naruto: Shinobi Collection Shippū Ranbu.