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Was The Baryon Mode Necessary To Defeat Isshiki?

This article is made in collaboration with our team’s The Inverted Mind.

In the recent episode of Boruto, the fandom witnessed the death of Kurama, one of the central characters of the series. Posts about the Nine-Tailed Fox flooded social media sites as people mourned over his death. Making us wonder, can Sasuke and Naruto defeat Isshiki without Baryon Mode?

Countless fans were frustrated with this. To them, this nerf seems unreasonable, even with what was at stake. The fans argued about the vast unused abilities of the protagonist duo which could have been able to turn the tide of the battle. More in particular about unused abilities from Sasuke’s vast arsenal especially those granted to him by his Rinnegan.

So, we’re here to delve into this topic as well! Could Naruto and Sasuke defeat Isshiki without using the Baryon Mode? Let’s find out!

However, first, brush up on your memory regarding the abilities a Rinnegan grants its user.

Now that you’ve read up on the rinnegan abilities, you must have noticed that Sasuke barely used his rinnegan to the fullest. This makes us wonder how the proper use of his rinnegan could have helped Sasuke and Naruto defeat Isshiki without Baryon Mode.

How and which Rinnegan Abilities could have Sasuke used to beat Isshiki?

So the following speculation is based on the assumption that Sasuke and Naruto are fighting side by side and are not distracted by Boruto’s presence during the fight.

Battle Scenario:

Now we all know that amongst Naruto and Sasuke, Sasuke has the highest battle intellect. Which even the likes of Isshiki acknowledged. So Sasuke at his best could have been able to come up with strategies that would let him get close to Isshiki. A safe position from where the alien couldn’t land a hit on him.

This would grant Sasuke the opportunity to use one of the deadliest abilities of rinnegan, the human path. The human path grants the user the ability to suck out souls from any individual.

Human Path Naruto
Pain using the Human Path
Also as shown during the 4th great ninja war when Obito possesses Kakashi, the latter is granted all of the former’s abilities and chakra. Thus, denoting that souls in fact are nothing but chakra.

And as we know one of the basic abilities of Rinnegan is to absorb chakra. Hence, Sasuke could have simply absorbed the chakra himself or fed it to the King Of Hell statue that comes with the Human path ability.

Hence, using Naruto as a shield and using Sasuke as the sword, the duo could have been able to chip away some of Isshiki’s life span, without using Baryon mode.

Some of you may disagree saying that Naruto isn’t strong enough to pin down Isshiki and Sasuke is too slow against the alien. To which we say that Sasuke’s rinnegan grants him another broken ability of Almighty Pull. We saw Sasuke use it against Naruto during his fight at the valley.

With this ability, Sasuke could have pulled Isshiki towards him while Naruto keeps Isshiki’s hands busy. We saw this happen in the anime when Sasuke went after Isshiki with his Chidori whereas Naruto kept him busy. Just prior to Isshiki dropping the huge squares on them.

So instead of using Chidori, if only Sasuke had used his Almighty Pull and use Human path in conjunction, he could have been able to chip away more than few hours of time off of Isshiki.

The only prerequisite for this to work is that Sasuke and Naruto have impeccable synchronization and can exchange ideas without speaking. Which they do.

Not to forget that Mah Boy Naruto, being the most unpredictable ninja in history, could have come up with some strategy alongside Sasuke to distract Isshiki.

So does, this mean that,

Baryon Mode was unnecessary?

Naruto in Baryon Mode

Although, the previous scenarios make total sense to us as fans who have printed every detail of the Naruto-verse into their brains. We also tend to forget that, Isshiki is undoubtedly the strongest opponent the duo has ever faced. Other Otsutsukis like Kaguya and Momoshiki pale in comparison to this high-ranking Otsutsuki.

Naruto could’ve used Nature transformations alongside Sasuke’s Rinnegan’s abilities, hence making deadly combinations. However, these wouldn’t have been that useful given the fact the Isshiki can absorb chakra using his Karma.

This is the reason why we barely saw the duo use any fancy attacks unless they needed a distraction.

However, we tend to underestimate Isshiki’s shrinking ability. The ability makes him extremely hard to catch.

In addition, Isshiki could also attack in his shrunken form and his chakra rods are too fast to be visible for a trained and powerful Sharingan of Sasuke.

Thus, making the above battle scenario look pointless. It leaves us with the only option of Naruto using Baryon mode and Isshiki’s arrogance.

Naruto using Baryon Mode against Isshiki

When Naruto unleashed his Baryon mode, Isshiki was shocked to see the sudden hike in Naruto’s power. He decided to kill Naruto in that dimension itself as he deemed Baryon Mode Naruto to be very dangerous. Using this arrogance and foolishness of Isshiki as their best opportunity, Sasuke could have joined Naruto in the battle. The duo could have used Baryon mode and Human Path in conjunction to destroy Isshiki.

Thus, allowing Naruto to use less amount of Kurama’s chakra. Also, as we all know that Kurama is a beast made of pure chakra, so even a sliver of his chakra left would be enough for him to regain his former strength over the years.

This would also mean that Kurama didn’t have to die and yet weaken Naruto exponentially.

Also, Sasuke wouldn’t have to worry about the return trip as he was already ready to die and also Boruto being present there. Boruto brought Isshiki here in the first place, hence he can take them back too!

Jigen vs Sasuke and Naruto
Sasuke using Amenotejikara

Some might think what if Isshiki starts fighting out of rage and frustration?

Then his actions obviously wouldn’t have the same reasoning and manner, causing him to swing wider for example.

With Otsutsuki’s arrogance and time constraints, this is bound to bring him one step closer to the edge. However, it’ll be a problem if he ends up simply overwhelming them. The duo has to survive somehow if that happens.

Coming back to the scenario, we know that baryon mode Naruto lands a critical hit. Now, Sasuke has to instantly activate the Human Path extract the soul. While this wouldn’t really be a problem generally, we’re dealing with Isshiki here.

We haven’t seen the effectiveness of this jutsu against the Otsutsukis. While we believe that it works just fine, due to the fact that souls are chakra, extracting the soul of an Otsutsuki is something we have never seen. Although, now since rinnegan is no more, the chances of us seeing that is next to zero.

On the other hand, there’s a possibility that Isshiki’s soul might be easier to extract since it doesn’t have a proper vessel! A person’s soul is compatible with their physical body, which isn’t the case for Isshiki here.

His soul is already extinguishing, so it might be easier to extract as well!

Nonetheless, let’s assume that it poses the same difficulty for humans and celestial beings since we don’t have any concrete evidence to back our speculations.

There’s a good chance that he might be able to overpower Sasuke and Naruto as soon as he realizes what they’re up to. All this time, the duo could only pressure him by being unpredictable.

However, they’re almost like sitting ducks right now. Naruto’s going to be out of position and Sasuke is stuck as well. If this were to happen, then the two will have to resort to Naruto’s final form.

Other ways of defeating Isshiki without Baryon Mode:

As I mentioned before, we don’t have a lot of options. A lot of these are variations of the method used above, but there’s one exception. Let’s take a look!

Momoshiki:

If you remember what Momoshiki said after stabbing Sasuke’s Rinnegan, then you know what I’m talking about. He stated that he didn’t expect the duo to be strong enough to take down Isshiki.

Obviously, he won’t become a sacrifice for Isshiki. Hence, he would’ve stepped up if things got worse. We’ve seen him possess Boruto before, and he was quite formidable.

Boruto's Otsutsuki Manifestation

While his powers will not turn the tides instantly, an alliance with the ninja duo will take things up a notch.

It’s annoying to deal with the duo in the first place, adding someone of Momoshiki’s caliber to the mix would be annoying for Isshiki to deal with at the very least. They’ll have more chances of creating openings and can capitalize on them.

The Variations in the Human Path Strategy:

Using Baryon Mode from the start:

Here, the two will go all out from the very start, to create a shock factor of sorts. The first one might be riskier than this one since Naruto can consistently pressure Isshiki.

However, the downside is that Kurama’s life force will be extinguished heavily. We can expect only 20% of Kurama or so to be left after the battle. However, it has higher chances of succeeding.

Bigger distractions:

While this one might increase the chances of winning, there’s no guarantee. Here, Sasuke will keep a reserve to use the Human Path and will use every Jutsu he knows to attack Isshiki. This includes Chibaku Tensei, and the Almighty Push and Pull as well.

As we know that Sasuke’s Chibaku Tensei makes the target’s body the source to pull all the rubble to it, it’ll prove a major distraction for Isshiki. It can also keep Isshiki’s hands busy that he can’t use his chakra rods since he’ll be busy trying to get the rubble off of his body.

Sasuke creating multiple Chibaku Tensei
Sasuke creating multiple Chibaku Tensei

If feasible, then he should utilize the summons from the Animal Path as well. This is because they’re extremely hard to kill and will serve as an amazing nuisance for Isshiki.

Final Thoughts:

With this, we’ve finally gone through the way through which Naruto and Sasuke could defeat Isshiki without killing Kurama! However, do remember that these are simply speculations.

All of this is possible if things go well for the duo. If things went south, which honestly, is quite likely, then the duo will have to resort to the Baryon Mode.

All things considered, we do think that Naruto and Sasuke could defeat Isshiki without Kurama’s sacrifice. After all, this wouldn’t be the first time for the duo to win against the odds. Nonetheless, a nerf to Naruto and Sasuke was necessary. While both Naruto and Sasuke are way weaker now, the nerf would’ve felt more natural as Naruto and Sasuke would’ve returned to their “original” selves that all of the fans love and appreciate while getting nerfed as well!

So, what do you think? Do you think that this is plausible, or do you have any other ideas? Make sure to let us know!

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3 thoughts on “Was The Baryon Mode Necessary To Defeat Isshiki?”

  1. The only reason, they made the baryon mode, and had Borushiki destroy Sasukes Rinnegan, was to weaken Naruto and Sasuke.

    Isshiki was the strongest foe in the whole sequel series. So they had to weaken Naruto and Sasuke, so that it makes more sense, when Boruto defeats strong enemies, after they beaten up Naruto and Sasuke, because the Differnece in Power is not so overhelming anymore.

    (Like with Momoshiki. After his Absorbing ability was destroyed, they didn’t need Borutos Vanishing Rasengan. A Rasenshuriken (be it a normal one or the Lava-Realease one) would have been enough to destroy Momoshiki.)

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  2. Isshiki is faster than lighting!!! Sasuke is lighting and Isshiki face planted our boy in a chapter page turn!!! Point is there’s no way Sasukes fast enough to use any of these other abilities. That’s why the instant swap was really the only useful ability of the rinnegan. Stooopid! Also what justsu can he do that isshiki can’t shrink. Also animal path, cmon dude you saw how nine tails and susanoo got handled. Stoopid!

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  3. They can defeat him without Baryon mode.

    Isshiki can shrink Jutsus, but they could have created a gap, that Sasuke with his teleport could have used, to stab his sword in Isshikis Chest from behind and kill him.

    Also the whole Fight is only STory convenience. If i were Isshiki, i would had unleashed the ten-tails in Konoha. While Naruto and Sasuke would have to fight the ten-tails to prevent Konohas destruction, isshiki could have searched for Kawaki.

    Also, after he had beaten Sasuke and broke Borutos Arm…well if it were me, i would have teleported back to Konoha and search Kawaki, or a suitable Host to replace him.
    No one can tell me, that a species which reincarntes themselves with the Karma, doesn’t have a way or method to find a suitable host, with Byakugan.

    And the fight was unneeded. How i understood it, it was like this: Isshiki could decide if he reincarneted in Jigen or not, since he was physically still alive. So: If he had let Jigen die, instead to reincarnate in him, then he would have won in the long run. He knew Boruto was a vessel, and that Boruto became one, after Kawaki. Meaning: He would have been reincarnted before Momoshiki.

    Isshiki is one of these villians, that could have won, if they just had thought a bit and swallowed their pride.

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