Earth Release in Naruto Shippuden is quite underrated when compared to Fire or Lightning. But it probably has the highest number of combined nature transformations.
You have Lava, Magnet, Dust, Explosion, and Wood Release, which can prove immensely powerful, as you will see below.
Here is a list of the top 15 strongest earth users in Naruto. Let’s rock-and-roll.
15Iwabee
Iwabee is a medical genin ninja affiliated with the Konoha Team 5. He has an Earth Release nature type and is pretty proficient with the earth-style nature transformation.
He is also skilled with other ninjutsu techniques like Body Replacement Technique and Chakra Transfer Technique.
He uses his wooden staff or jo to augment his Earth Release – or vice versa. With the joined power of staff and Earth Release, he is strong enough to split the ground and easily fend off enemies.
Even Kakashi was impressed by Iwabee’s talent. He can use two techniques simultaneously, like building an earthen wall for defense and creating weapons using his jo.
14Tie: Victor and Hiruko
Here we have a tie between a Kara and Allied Shinobi Forces member and a missing-nin who wanted to conquer the world after plunging it into war. Victor and Hiroku both had some cool Earth Release abilities.
In the anime, we’ve seen Victor tear up the earth with his palm before growing multiple arms using his regenerative abilities. He could also rustle up a massive storm of dust.
Hiruko was the creepy red-eyed guy covered in bandages who had kekkei genkai and used the Chimera Technique.
He had absorbed earth energy from Konoha Anbu and could perform the Earth Release: Devouring Earth technique in the Will of Fire Naruto Shippuden movie.
13Jirobo
Jirobo was from the hidden village of Otogakure, the Land of Sound, and was a member of the Sound Four.
He was chosen for reincarnation by Kabuto, who later used Jirobo’s DNA for his Earth Release: Earth Shore Return – a technique that saved him from the black fire Amaterasu.
This jutsu was a specialty of Jirobo’s, who had strength enough to create a near-impenetrable wall of earth that could shield him against projectiles and attacks.
Jirobo was all about physical prowess. He could lift and throw a mountain of earth at his opponents. He also had a cursed seal that increased his power tenfold.
12Yamato
Yamato is probably best known for subbing for Kakashi when Team Kakashi or the Kazekage Rescue Team returns from Sunagakure, and Kakashi has to take some bedrest.
Yamato is extremely strong – he possesses the same DNA as the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju. Like Senju, he also has the kekkei genkai of Wood Release, a combination of Earth and Water Release.
He uses Wood Release as the main proponent of his fighting style, making wooden domes and shields and crushing his enemies with thick coiling branches.
His Wood Release also suppresses Kisame’s chakra after his capture. I should also mention that Yamato can contain Naruto’s four and six-tailed beasts.
11Orochimaru
One of the great 3 legendary sannin, Orochimaru, is a powerhouse. I mean, he was Sasuke’s teacher. After his reincarnation, Orochimaru gets several body modifications – so much so that his true form becomes a huge white snake.
There’s very little that Orochimaru cannot do. He has access to space-time ninjutsu, shadow clone techniques, chakra absorption techniques, as well as medical ninjutsu.
Using his cursed seal, he developed his own method to change into a mode as powerful as Sage Transformation.
Although perhaps his most powerful technique is the Eight Branches snake technique, he can create mud clones using Earth Release. He can hide and travel underground and jump and attack his opponents.
10Kakashi
I know; it’s weird for me too – having characters like Kakashi and Orochimaru so low on the list. But let’s not forget, we’re looking at Earth Release users here.
So Kakashi, even with his Mangekyo Sharingan and Sharingan that he can use better than Sasuke himself, stays as #10.
He can use all 7 nature transformations. With Earth Release, he can create multiple walls of mud as a layered defense move. He can also move around underground using the Earth Release: Hiding Like A Mole Technique.
Kakashi can transform earth into quartz and is probably the only person who can do this in the Naruto universe.
It improves the strength of his Earth Release techniques and also negates their natural weakness against Lightning Release jutsus.
9Jiraiya
Jiraiya was Hiruzen Sarutobi’s student and teacher to Naruto.
I love the fact that he was offered to become Hokage three whole times but never accepted it till the end. He had enough chakra to summon the giant toad Gamabunta and use senjutsu.
He might have been nicknamed the Toad Sage, but Jiraiya’s ninjutsu capabilities were not limited to Gamabunta. He could use 6 nature transformations.
His Earth Release techniques were pretty potent: His Dark Swamp technique could appear out of nowhere – above or below – and trap or drown his enemies.
Jiraiya had Rasengan, and you can bet he knew how to use it. He was as good as Minato was, and Minato was the one who created Rasengan. He can also enter Sage Mode.
8Akatsuchi
The first character from Iwagakure – the hidden village of the Land of Earth – has entered the list! Akatsuchi acts as the “shield” or bodyguard to the Third Tsuchikage Onoki, and is partners with the Fourth Tsuchikage, Kurotsuchi.
Being from Iwagakure, Akatsuchi has a natural affiliation to earth-style techniques. He’s a jonin and is quite the tough guy.
His best Earth Release jutsu has got to be the Rock Golem Technique, where he can release a large rock humanoid from his mouth that is capable of tearing through a White Zetsu clone.
He also uses a host of other Earth Release jutsus like the Fist Rock and Sandwich techniques. His Reverse Antlion can harden the earth around the target and immobilize them.
7Deidara
Deidara was an S-rank mercenary missing ninja with insane strength. He could fight one-on-one with Sasuke and defeat the Fifth Kazekage Gara, the jinchuriki of the one-tailed beast.
Deidara has the Explosion Release kekkei genkai, which is a combination of Earth and Lightning Release.
His Explosive Clay techniques are bombastic as hell – he could mold clay in whatever size and shape – including clones – and detonate them with a single command.
It’s not just power; it’s his intelligence and ability to adapt that set him apart. He could create a large flying clay dragon that could spit out smaller minions that acted as autonomous missiles.
Deidara could also turn himself into a bomb with a colossal explosion radius. He called this technique the Ultimate Art, and it was the highest form of his Explosive Release.
6Hiruzen
Hiruzen of the Sarutobi clan, the Third Hokage, and a God of Shinobi, could use all 7 nature transformations. He had such powerful chakra that he could crack stone – even in his old age.
He was known as the Professor and had wisdom and skill enough to master several Hiden techniques.
He could sense people, view them from afar, and create a strong enough barrier to contain the ten-tailed beast. He could also perform the Dead Demon Consuming Seal that could seal away a target’s soul.
He was very proficient with Earth Release, and we’ve seen him use at least 5 Earth Release jutsus, including the Earth Dragon Bullet and the Double Suicide Decapitation Technique.
5Kurotsuchi
Kurotsuchi is the Fourth Tsuchikage. She’s a direct descendant of the First Tsuchikage and the granddaughter of the Third Tsuchikage. She’s strong enough to defeat several White Zetsu Clones.
With Earth Release, she can create a shelter made of rock that can endure projectiles, move underground and create sharp spears out of the earth to impale her enemies.
Her best moves are when she uses Lava Release, which is a combination of Earth and Fire Release. She once combines a Lava Release technique with Water Release to increase the range of the attack.
4Kitsuchi
Kitsuchi is the father of Kurotsuchi, our number 5. He’s from Iwagakure too but doesn’t become a Tsuchikage. He stays Commander of the Second Division of the Allied Shinobi Forces.
He is skilled enough to stand up against a whole White Zetsu army, and using his taijutsu techniques, he makes two of the White Zetsu clones submit to him.
Along with Kurotsuchi, he splits the earth and raises the underground surface upon which the White Zetsu army was traveling.
With his Great Moving Earth Core Technique, he traps Ten-Tails in a gigantic trench. He can encase his fist within rock to deliver exceptionally hard punches.
But his strongest jutsu is the Sandwich Technique, where he can create tall, heavy walls that can easily crush targets between them.
3Hashirama
The First Hokage of Konohagakure claims his place as number 3 on this list. I’ve been talking about Wood Release throughout this post, and we’ve finally come upon the OG Wood Release user.
He could grow a literal forest with his Secret Earth Jutsu, which later became the foundation of Konoha itself. His Wood Human Technique could produce a giant humanoid that could fight toe-to-toe with Madara in Susanoo form.
His Wood Release could also control multiple tailed beasts by putting them to sleep.
He had senjutsu and could enter Sage Mode as and when he wanted instantaneously. Being in Sage Mode could amplify his Wood Release to the extent that he could strip Nine-Tails from Madara.
He was also the one to carve out a valley with his power, which later became known as the Valley of the End.
2Mu
The Second Tsuchikage comes second on my best earth users list. He acted as a bodyguard to the First Tsuchikage before becoming the Second.
Mu was renowned as the Non-Person because of his camouflaging ability in which he could hide his physical and chakra ability, rendering him effectively invisible to his enemies.
What made him particularly powerful was his kekkei tota, which is the higher form of kekkei genkai.
He could use Dust Release, which is a combination of the earth, wind, and fire nature transformations. Dust Release allowed him to reduce his enemies to dust.
He could also turn his body invisible by making his body weightless using Earth Release, and split himself into identical halves to escape attacks.
He had the power to kill Gengetsu, the Second Mizukage, but Mu did not survive the battle either.
1Onoki
The strongest earth-style user in Naruto is the Third Tsuchikage, Onoki. He had an affinity to 3 natures – earth, fire, and wind, giving him the kekkei tota of Dust Release.
He also had the kekkei genkai of Lava Release. Onoki could stop meteors, manipulate gravity, and fly.
He was a legend who fought some of the most powerful shinobi. He defeated Mu and battled fearlessly against Sasuke with Mangekyo Sharingan and Madara in Susanoo form.
He could turn his opponents to particles using Dust Release and manipulate the earth’s topography by raising and lowering the terrain.
He was also strong enough to lift the ancient turtle Genbu using this Earth Release technique. Onoki destroyed an entire island and a forest with a single attack.
About Naruto
Naruto is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto. Its publication began on September 21, 1999, and continued till November 10, 2014, in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump. The manga has collected 72 volumes in tankōbon format.
Naruto Shippuden is Part II of the anime series, which follows an older Naruto as he attempts to save his friend Sasuke while at the same time – addressing the looming threat of the criminal organization – Akatsuki – who are targeting him for their grander scheme.
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