Is Jigen Really Isshiki Otsutsuki? Who Is Stronger Isshiki Or Kaguya?

The Boruto series manages to make each following antagonist deadlier than the last, making the series very compelling.

The stakes are always high, and it’s hard to imagine how an antagonist will be dealt with until the actual battle comes to pass.

While Momoshiki Ostsutsuki was comparatively a piece of cake to deal with, the leader of the Kara seems to be a different matter altogether.

The Kara’s true motives have been unknown for much of the series, and things have gotten much more complicated now that their leader’s true identity has come to light.

It seems that the threat of the Otsutsuki is never really gone, and the shinobi of Konoha have a much bigger problem at hand.

In Chapter 46, Amado, the scientist who defected from the Kara, revealed that Jigen is the vessel of Isshiki Otsutsuki. Isshiki took over Jigen’s body after being betrayed and nearly killed by Kaguya, the strongest Ostsutsuki.

1. Why Did Isshiki Choose Jigen?

Isshiki chose Jigen as his vessel because he was on the verge of death after Kaguya turned on him.

Jigen happened to be nearby when Isshiki was weakened, but his body was too weak to be a suitable vessel, so Kawaki was sought out and given the Karma.

Isshiki and Kaguya both came to the planet intending to cultivate the God Tree and obtain the chakra fruit. However, Kaguya turned against Isshiki.

Isshiki was caught off-guard and suffered enough damage that he was on the verge of death. He happened to find a novice monk nearby who happened to be Jigen and took over the monk’s body in a final attempt at self-preservation.

Since Isshiki was incredibly weakened and drained of energy, he couldn’t place a Karma on Jigen. Instead, he shrunk himself using his jutsu Sukunahikona and entered Jigen’s body through his ear.

He slowly absorbed nutrients from Jigen’s body, eventually gaining control over his brain and body completely. He embedded Jigen’s body with a Karma much later.

Jigen’s body was too frail and couldn’t handle Isshiki’s massive chakra. Many of his doujutsu were unavailable while he was still in Jigen’s body, not to mention, he couldn’t use his full power for extended periods without consequences.

Despite having his body modified using scientific ninja technology by Amado, Jigen’s body was too weak for the full might of an Otsutsuki’s powers. His body even cracked during the fights against Naruto and Sasuke, and Kashin Koji.

For this very reason, Isshiki set about looking for another suitable vessel leading to him placing the Karma on Code and Kawaki.

While Code’s body seemingly failed to withstand the Karma but survived, the process was a perfect success with Kawaki. Hence, Isshiki was desperate to retrieve Kawaki from the shinobi.

2. Is Isshiki Stronger Than Kaguya?

Isshiki certainly isn’t the first Otsutsuki to pose a threat to the planet. Kaguya was the final antagonist of the Naruto series and unquestionably one of the strongest so far.

No other antagonist in the franchise has rivalled her, that is until Isshiki Otsutsuki came along.

Recent events in the Boruto series hint that Isshiki reviving himself completely would be fatal. No one would be able to stop him, and the fate of the planet would be doomed. This begs the question of which of the Otsutsuki is stronger.

Isshiki is not stronger than Kaguya. Kaguya nearly killed him before she even ate the chakra fruit. Kaguya was the more challenging opponent to beat, and it took the help of Obito and Kakashi to seal her away.

Kaguya’s feats are more impressive due to her raw chakra. Although Isshiki would have the upper hand in a fight, Kaguya would have a slim chance due to Infinite Tsukuyomi.

I. Kaguya And Isshiki’s History

As Amado revealed in Chapter 51, Otsutsuki travel to planets in pairs. The weaker or lower-ranked one is sacrificed to Ten-Tails to cultivate the God Tree while the other obtains the chakra fruit.

Kaguya was lower ranked than Isshiki and was supposed to be sacrificed to Ten-Tails. But, due to reasons of her own, be it personal enmity or not wanting to die or wanting the chakra fruit for herself, Kaguya turned on Isshiki.

She caught Isshiki off-guard and nearly killed him. The manga reveals the entire bottom half of Isshiki’s body had been torn away and likely fed to Ten-Tails.

Catching Isshiki off-guard would’ve been hard to pull off, considering Isshiki possesses a Byakugan. It even hints that Kaguya had to have been extremely strong even before consuming the chakra fruit to nearly kill Isshiki.

Moreover, Isshiki had no chakra left following his skirmish with Kaguya. He didn’t even have the energy to embed Jigen with a Karma seal, implying he used up a lot of chakra while putting up a fight against Kaguya.

II. Fights Against Naruto And Sasuke

It’s hard to truly compare Kaguya and Isshiki based on how they did against Naruto and Sasuke since Jigen was weakened and Kaguya wasn’t trying to kill them.

Kaguya held back since they reminded her of her sons and grandsons, and she wanted to absorb their chakra. Isshiki, on the other hand, showed no restraint of any sort. His sole goal was to retrieve Kawaki at any cost.

Naruto and Sasuke’s skill and power levels from when they faced Kaguya versus when they faced Isshiki also differ to an extent but can’t be determined for sure.

During the fight against Kaguya, Naruto and Sasuke were legitimately terrified of her, and with good reason. Kaguya was the progenitor of all chakra– all chakra originated from her, and her raw power was unmatched.

At her full strength, Kaguya could face both her sons and kept the fight going for months before it took both of them to seal her away.

It took the might of Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Kakashi, and Obito combined to seal Kaguya away– not kill her, but to simply seal her away. At the time, Naruto and Sasuke were the two strongest shinobi in the Fourth Great Ninja War.

They had the sun and moon seals too, which gave Naruto the ability to summon the truth-seeking orbs. Yet, the duo couldn’t do anything against Kaguya.

Being the final boss of the series, Kaguya was incredibly difficult to defeat.

Team Seven had one hell of a time fighting her. Naruto and Sasuke would’ve died in Kaguya’s gravity dimension if it weren’t for Obito intervening when he did and Kakashi being able to move.

Kakashi’s massive powerup that let him use the full-body Susanoo and the Kamui shuriken also played a significant part in securing the victory over Kaguya. They were by no means close to Kaguya in power.

At the same time, Naruto and Sasuke weren’t confident when facing Isshiki either. They might have underestimated him at first when they didn’t know Jigen was Isshiki but learnt quickly what a grave lapse in judgement that had been.

They admitted they were no match for Isshiki and were ready to lose their lives to stop him, as seen with Naruto.

Yet, it’s important to note that Naruto and Sasuke had a relatively easier time against Isshiki than Kaguya, mainly because Isshiki was already weakened and dying. However, the duo didn’t precisely defeat him but rather just stalled him until his time ran out.

Their main goal was to prevent Isshiki from reviving. Even so, the task came with heavy losses. Naruto lost Kurama by using Baryon Mode to shave off Isshiki’s lifeforce. The duo wouldn’t have lasted very long against a reincarnated Isshiki at full power.

III. Feats

Kaguya’s most impressive feat was creating a truth-seeking orb so massive that it had the potential to reduce an entire dimension to nothingness. Although only described vaguely, this attack was indeed dangerous enough to destroy the planet.

On the other hand, Isshiki’s strongest feat was shattering Sasuke’s Susanoo with a single kick and beating Naruto and Sasuke till they were close to death– a rare feat in the Naruto universe.

However, No matter how many times Isshiki breaks Susanoo, his potential is not greater than wiping out a dimension.

Not to forget, Kaguya has similarly broken through Susanoo several times using ash bones, chakra fists, hair needles and even a headbutt. 

IV. Kaguya Vs Isshiki

Isshiki’s doujutsu Sukunahikona can shrink any object, while Daikokuten lets him store objects he shrinks in another dimension.

While revived, Isshiki could shrink attacks instantaneously, be it a giant Rasengan or Amaterasu. Isshiki also has the ability to absorb chakra and jutsus.

Kaguya’s attacks are all chakra-based. Isshiki could absorb them without a second thought and shrink the other large-scale attacks.

It would be quite a task to land any damage on Isshiki. Neither Kaguya’s ash bones nor the vacuum fists or the Expansive Truth-Seeking Orb would stand much of a chance against Isshiki since he could shrink them all and store them away.

Kaguya may have immense raw power, but against Isshiki, her jutsus are practically useless since he can negate them all. This leaves her with no options for offense except hand to hand combat. However, while Isshiki is skilled at Taijutsu, Kaguya has terrible fighting skills.

Momoshiki, Madara and arguably even Obito are more skilled fighters than Kaguya. In this case, Kaguya’s only chance at victory would be Infinite Tsukuyomi since Isshiki is the rare Ostsutsuki who does not possess a rinnegan.

3. About Boruto: Naruto Next Generations

Boruto: Naruto Next Generations is written and illustrated by Mikio Ikemoto, and supervised by Masashi Kishimoto. It came into serialization in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump in June 2016.

Boruto: Naruto Next Generations is the series that follows the exploits of Naruto’s son, Boruto, during his academy days and further on.

The series follows the character development of Boruto and the looming evil that challenges the fate of him and his loved ones.