Highlights

The Byakugou Seal originated with Sage of Six Paths and is crucial for the Ninja Art Creation Rebirth Technique invented by Tsunade.
Users can heal any injury and enhance techniques with the Byakugou Seal, but controlling immense chakra is a key barrier for most shinobi.
By breaking medical-nin rules, Tsunade and Sakura can engage in battle directly with the help of the Byakugou Seal's regenerative abilities.

The Byakugou Seal — or the Strength of a Hundred Seal — is a technique whose origins can be traced back to the era of the Sage of Six Paths, Hagoromo Otsutsuki. Requiring immense chakra control to perform, it is a critical component in the Ninja Art Creation Rebirth — Strength of a Hundred Technique, invented by Tsunade, who is regarded as the foremost medical-nin in the world of Masashi Kishimoto's Naruto.

Combined with the Creation Rebirth Technique, which is regarded as the pinnacle of medical ninjutsu in Naruto, this seal allows users to recover from virtually any injury and greatly enhances their techniques. When used by medical-nin, it allows them to circumvent the laws governing their role on the battlefield. So far, this ability has only been mastered by Tsunade herself, and her pupil, Sakura, which begs inquiry into what the Byakugou Seal really is, and what makes it so hard to execute.

Naruto Medical Ninjutsu Tsunade Sakura - Featured

Naruto: Medical Ninjutsu, Explained

Responsible for saving many lives over the course of shinobi history, medical ninjutsu encompasses a wide range of healing techniques.

What Is The Byakugou Seal?

Essentially, the Byakugou Seal is created over time when a user stores large volumes of chakra over lengthy periods of time at a certain point on their body. More often than not, this place is at the center of their forehead, as seen in the case of both Tsunade and Sakura. The physical manifestation of this comes in the form of a rhombus-shaped mark which appears at the point where the chakra is being stored.

A great deal of chakra control is necessary to effectively perform this technique, which represents a significant barrier of entry for most shinobi and medical-nin. For instance, even Tsunade's apprentice Shizune was unable to create the seal as her chakra control was not refined enough, and it took Sakura years to store sufficient chakra for it. The seal itself is necessary to execute the Creation Rebirth Technique, which is activated with Yin Seal: Release. Once activated, the mark of the Byakugou Seal glows pink and produces additional black markings which curve and spread out across the user's body.

With the Byakugou Seal, users can perform extremely chakra-taxing techniques by releasing the chakra within the seal, including the Ninja Art Creation Rebirth — Strength of a Hundred Technique. Furthermore, all their other abilities are also bolstered immensely, as seen in how both Tsunade and Sakura were able to inflict massive amounts of damage to both opponents and their surroundings with their Chakra Enhanced Strength, after using this jutsu. The seal is also symbiotically linked to the slug Katsuyu, and the techniques used after summoning it are directly proportional to the user's remaining chakra reserves.

The Secrets Of The Creation Rebirth Technique

Developed by Tsunade as a measure to protect her comrades in dire situations, the Creation Rebirth Technique allows a user to call on the chakra stored within the Byakugou Seal to heal any and all injuries on their body instantly. This process is triggered by releasing considerable amounts of chakra to stimulate the body's cell division and accelerate mitosis, allowing organs and tissues to be repaired.

Unlike other forms of medical ninjutsu, the Creation Rebirth Technique can heal anything regardless of the severity of the injury, and even wounds that would generally be fatal are not beyond its scope of recovery. Hence, while the technique is active, the user is virtually incapable of dying. That being said, there is a caveat to this incredible ability, as it does not create new cells on its own, but rather, speeds up the division of a user's cells.

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Since there is a limit to how many times a cell can undergo division — termed the Hayflick limit — the user effectively shortens their lifespan with each activation, making it a measure that should only be resorted to in extreme situations. When taken a step further with the Ninja Art Creation Rebirth — Strength of a Hundred Technique, also known as Ninja Art: Mitotic Regeneration: One Hundred Healings, the regenerative effect of the technique is automatic and continuous, without the need for any hand signs or conscious effort to heal wounds. Lastly, the technique's effects can also be transferred to others temporarily in order to heal them.

Bypassing The Limits Of Medical-Nin

Generally, medical-nin are forbidden from participating directly in a battle, going to the front lines of a conflict, or dying before their comrades. This is due to the crucial role they play in healing injured shinobi and saving the lives of those who are on the verge of death. Since the original three laws governing medical-nin were invented by Tsunade herself, she added a fourth law which permitted those who had mastered the One Hundred Healings Jutsu — including herself — to break the rules and engage enemy forces directly on the battlefield.

Aside from the former Fifth Hokage, the sole other medical-nin in history to have mastered this technique is Tsunade's own student, Sakura Haruno, making them the only two people who can actually break the first three rules in necessary situations. During the Fourth Shinobi World War, Tsunade's activation of the technique allowed her to survive being bisected and impaled by the swords of Madara Uchiha's Susanoo. Such a feat elicited praise from the legendary Uchiha clan leader for its similarity to the First Hokage's regenerative abilities.

Tsunade also uses some of the chakra stored by the seal to maintain her transformation technique, which is the source of her eternally youthful appearance. She can recover from almost any injury as long as her chakra reserves remain active, and the technique itself grants a state of temporary immortality. Much like her mentor, Sakura can also perform feats that would otherwise be beyond her after releasing the Byakugou Seal, which took her three years to complete, and required her to devise a method to divert some of her chakra for combat and surgical purposes during that time period.

An Imitation Of The First Hokage's Regeneration

When released completely by Tsunade during the Five Kage's battle against the reanimated Madara Uchiha, the One Hundred Healings Jutsu was compared to Hashirama Senju's own innate vitality, which allowed him to heal any wound without weaving any hand signs. Since Tsunade is the granddaughter of Hashirama, the First Hokage, it is not a stretch to imagine her having inherited some of the regenerative abilities and raw power contained within his cells. That being said, it is not necessary for a user of the Byakugou Seal to possess Hashirama's cells, as seen in the case of Sakura, even if the effects of the Hundred Healings Jutsu and his regenerative abilities are quite similar.

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