Long-running shonen series often end up with the issue of recurring plot holes and incongruities, forcing authors to make a few crucial amends to the storyline for the sake of consistency. With exactly 720 episodes under its belt, the Naruto series is one of the longest-running series in anime history, meaning plot holes are naturally bound to arise.
One glaring plot hole that Kishimoto had to cover up was that of the Reaper Death Seal, the strongest sealing jutsu in the entire Naruto series. The technique has been used in a few instances, each one leaving a lasting impact with the Shinigami’s appearance. The technique was initially depicted as a permanent sealing jutsu, though a massive retcon negated this aspect, taking away much of the Reaper Death Seal’s value.
What Is the Reaper Death Seal?
The Reaper Death Seal has been at the center of some of Naruto’s most significant battles, used as a last resort to curb the antagonists’ rampage. The technique is the Uzumaki Clan’s strongest sealing jutsu, though its usage comes with a grave consequence. The Reaper Death Seal summons a Shinigami that sucks the soul of the target. However, the target’s soul must first pass through the caster’s body, in-turn sealing both of their souls.
Successfully casting the technique results in the caster losing their life as well, deeming this technique a forbidden jutsu. Since the souls taken by the Shinigami are stored in its stomach, they cannot enter the Pure land and are barred from entering the cycle of purification. Moreover, this restricts these souls from being resurrected by the Reanimation Jutsu, since it can only summon souls that are either lingering in the Impure world or those that have entered the Pure lands.
The Reaper Death Seal Retcon
The Reaper Death Seal was initially cemented as a permanent sealing technique, with no workaround to bring back the souls from the Shinigami’s stomach. This painted the death of all four Hokage as a done-deal, with no hopes of bringing these characters back. Doing so depicted the technique as a fearsome jutsu that can only be used in dire situations, as seen in the case of its previous two usages. However, this changed when the author wanted to bring back all four Hokage with the Reanimation Jutsu.
Simply reanimating each Hokage directly would have become a major plot hole for the series, as it would have negated the entire narrative of the Reaper Death Seal entirely. This forced Kishimoto to introduce a new concept into the series in the form of the Shinigami Mask. The Shinigami Mask can be found in an abandoned shrine of the Uzumaki Clan, with the mask being the key to negating the Reaper Death Seal.
For the souls to be brought back from the Shinigami’s stomach, a person must wear the Shinigami Mask and slice open their own stomach. Doing so would release the souls from the Shinigami’s stomach, in-turn killing the mask wearer. Since it was Orochimaru wearing the mask, he was able to cleverly slither away into another vessel, escaping the Shinigami Mask’s consequence. While it was necessary to retract the Reaper Death Seal’s permanence for the sake of the plot, the retcon severely reduced the technique to nothing more than a plot device with little to no significance.
Other Inconsistencies With the Reaper Death Seal
The retcon isn’t the only inconsistency with the Reaper Death Seal as another instance pertaining to this jutsu has been the cause of confusion among the series’ fanbase. In the fight between Orochimaru and the Third Hokage during the Konoha Crush, Orochimaru summons the past Hokage via the Reanimation Jutsu. He initially summons the First and Second Hokage, with a third coffin later emerging from the ground. However, Hiruzen is able to successfully avert the third one from being summoned.
While it was never revealed who was inside the third coffin, it is heavily implied that it was the Fourth Hokage’s resurrection. This is backed by the fact that the coffin had the kanji for ‘Four’ etched on to it, indicating it was indeed the Fourth Hokage. However, this is incongruous with the story since Minato’s soul was stuck inside the Shinigami’s stomach, meaning even the appearance of a coffin is discrepant with the entire concept.
Many fans have pointed out that the reanimation failed due to Minato’s soul being sealed and not because of Hiruzen’s attempts to bar the coffin from being summoned. However, this notion is incongruous with the workings of the Reanimation technique as the caster can’t reanimate a shinobi directly in battle, rather one has to find a vessel first and devise the proper set up for resurrecting a soul. This indicates that the appearance of the third coffin was indeed a plot hole, becoming another incongruity associated with the Reaper Death Seal and its workings.