The Space–Time Migration[1] is a dōjutsu, originating from the right Mangekyō Sharingan of Tobi, which allows the user to teleport himself, or anything he touches to another location or a pocket dimension; the latter of which is implied to be inescapable.[2] The user is also able to make himself intangible, by transporting portions of his body to the same pocket dimension.[3]
Overview
This technique is a unique and specialised form of space–time ninjutsu that allows Tobi to achieve two very distinct yet closely associated feats – teleportation and "intangibility". Kakashi Hatake likens the characteristics of the technique to those of Minato Namikaze's Flying Thunder God Technique, but notes that it seems to be much more versatile and possibly more advanced as the ability can be used without hand seals or a summoning tattoo.[4]
Teleportation
By creating a swirling, spatial distortion centred upon his right eye, Tobi is able to enter a dimensional void and teleport himself to another location instantaneously, exiting this void in a similar manner to how he entered.[5] During this process, Tobi's chakra becomes untraceable until the teleportation is completed.[4] By his own admission, Tobi can locate anyone and teleport to their current destination regardless of their whereabouts, evidenced by how he immediately found Taka as they were travelling to Konohagakure, as well as Minato Namikaze, who himself had teleported away from Tobi.[6][7]
Tobi ejects multiple shuriken from a separate dimension.
Similar to Kakashi's Mangekyō Sharingan technique, Kamui, Tobi is also capable of teleporting other people or objects to a separate dimension, through the same swirling pattern, centred upon his right eye. However, instead of teleporting the targeted component, this technique's effect acts as an attractive force, both visibly drawing the target inwards and distorting their form until they disappear. After absorbing targets through this process, Tobi is able to eject them at any time of his choosing, with varying degrees of force. In doing so, he is able to attack using weapons of gigantic proportions and/or quantities with relative ease and at a moment's notice, giving opponents little opportunity to react accordingly.[8]
Unlike Kamui, this form of the technique requires Tobi to make direct physical contact with the intended target, leaving him vulnerable as he cannot be intangible when doing so.[9] Despite not always being present, Tobi can keep his targets under genjutsu whilst they are confined inside this pocket dimension and thus, keep them incapacitated for extended durations.[10]
Intangibility
The working principle behind Tobi's intangibility.
Using this technique, Tobi is also able to render himself intangible to allow other objects to pass harmlessly through his own body, which he employs primarily to avoid incurring injury from incoming attacks.[11] In actuality, this is but another extension of space–time ninjutsu, where by Tobi instead teleports any part of his body that occupies the same space as another object to a separate dimension.[3] As the transported portions of his body are always obscured by the other objects, Tobi appears completely whole to those observing him. By overlapping his entire body with a sufficiently large object, such as the ground, he can not only conceal himself from view, but also erase all traces of his chakra. Tobi often exploits this characteristic to ambush his opponents from below.[12]
Though unable to establish any physical contact while intangible, Tobi can still use chakra chains.[13] He also seemingly possesses the capability to extend this intangibility to whatever he's presently touching,[14] as long as he is able to maintain some form of contact with at least part of the desired item.[15]
Drawbacks
Tobi is struck by Naruto's Rasengan, which had been teleported by Kamui.
The primary weakness of this technique is that both aspects cannot be used concurrently, as Tobi must become and remain tangible in order to transport himself or others, providing a small opportunity in which he is unable to pass through objects and thus, is vulnerable to injury. This deficiency means that he must also materialise when ejecting stored items as well, presenting the same vulnerability.[16] According to Konan, Tobi can only maintain his intangibility for approximately five consecutive minutes at a time, after which he is presumably rendered completely solid for a duration. She also reveals that the time it takes him to absorb something is proportional to its mass, and that it takes longer to absorb himself than another person or object.[17]
Additionally, due to the nature of Tobi's intangibility, the sections of his body residing in the other dimension can still interact normally with other objects that are also contained within this dimension, meaning they can be damaged by such items. As both this technique and Kakashi Hatake's Kamui originate from Obito Uchiha's Sharingan, the two share the same dimension when teleporting objects, a characteristic that Kakashi exploited to injure Tobi on multiple occasions during the Fourth Shinobi World War.[18]
See Also
References
- ↑ Naruto chapter 510, page 2
- ↑ Naruto chapter 502, page 10
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Naruto chapter 597, pages 7-8
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Naruto chapter 395, page 10
- ↑ Naruto chapter 453, page 1
- ↑ Naruto chapter 453, page 3
- ↑ Naruto chapter 502, page 11
- ↑ Naruto chapter 598, pages 4-6, 9-12
- ↑ Naruto chapter 502, page 14
- ↑ Naruto chapter 520, page 8
- ↑ Naruto chapter 380, pages 14-15
- ↑ Naruto chapter 475, pages 2-3
- ↑ Naruto chapter 567, page 7
- ↑ Naruto chapter 467, page 6
- ↑ Naruto chapter 595, page 15
- ↑ Naruto chapter 598, page 9
- ↑ Naruto chapter 510, pages 2-3
- ↑ Naruto chapter 597, pages 4-12