Warning: Spoilers for Jujutsu Kaisen’s endingJujutsu Kaisenis a revolutionary franchise that made its name by overturning the precedents set by shōnen giants likeNaruto, and Gege Akutami’s masterpiece even subtly challengedNaruto’s most controversial twist.Jujutsu Kaisenhas always targetedNarutoas a rival,structuring Yuji and Sukuna as a parallel to Naruto and Kurama. It’s no surprise, then, thatJujutsu Kaisenwould take the most controversial card fromNaruto’s deck just to show how it can play the card differently.
The card in question isNaruto’s controversial reincarnation twist, where Naruto and Sasuke were revealed to be the reincarnation of two brothers, Ashura and Indra.Jujutsu Kaisenwould mirror this twist by having Yuji be the son of Sukuna’s reincarnated twin brother, with Sukuna being the closest thing to a Sasuke-type rival thatJujutsu Kaisenoffers Yuji. The wayJujutsu Kaisenimplements this twist seems to be tailored to the criticism ofNaruto’s own reincarnation twist, so although it’s often underappreciated, it’sone of the most interesting examples of the two series' strange relationship.
Naruto’s Reincarnation Twist Was Controversial For A Good Reason
Redefining The Entire Story At The End, Naruto’s Reincarnation Plot Undermines Its Narrative
Naruto’s Ashura and Indra twist was controversial because it essentially retconned the entire series, and it overrodeNaruto’s most important themes while it was at it. The story goes that Ashura and Indra were brothers andthe children of Kaguya Otsutsukiwho, feuding,initiated a chain of rebirth that would beget the Senju, Uzumaki, and Uchiha clans. The souls of Ashura and Indra would apparently pick blood descendants mirroring their own traits. In the process, through reincarnations like Hashirama and Madara, it would also birth the entire shinobi world.
Jujutsu Kaisen’s Controversial Ending Confirms Who Had the Most Development on the Series, & It’s Not Yuji
Yuji Itadori grew a lot during the story, but another character evolved the most and encapsulated the main theme in Jujutsu Kaisen in the end.
Conveniently, through Naruto and Sasuke, this reincarnation chain would also birth the entire plot ofNaruto. While the premise itself plays out well in action, it didn’t sit well with many fans. Firstly, it came at a point in the story when things had started to feel resolved—the Kaguya twist itself is very controversial. Secondly,Narutohad spent so long constructing itself as the story of an underdog outcast who, through hard work and determination,could become the leader of the village that had scorned him. Making Naruto a fated reincarnation of a pseudo-mythological figure challengedNaruto’s purportedly egalitarian foundations.
How Jujutsu Kaisen’s Reincarnation Twist Was Different
A More Localized Approach Was Less Disruptive For the Story
If the reception ofNaruto’s reincarnation storyline shows anything, it’s that the value of a twist generally has an inversely proportional relationship to its explanatory power, and a good twist requires an unspoken commitment to some overarching theme. In a pivotal moment during Yuji and Sukuna’s final showdown,the narrative bomb is dropped in chapter #257. While the timing is similar toNaruto’s own, coming only 14 chapters beforeJujutsu Kaisen’s conclusion, fans had been speculating that Sukuna and Yuji were related (and twins, even) for a long time prior.
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Naruto’s Pain dilemma was so tough that creator and author Masashi Kishimoto lost no small amount of sleep and suffered no shortage of anxiety.
There was also narrative room for it, sinceYuji always had a mysterious and ill-defined background. On top of that, the fact that Yuji and Sukuna share a soul had already been explored before through Mai and Maki Zenin. The fact that the twist was part of Kenjaku’s grander plan to produce a fitting vessel for Sukuna does have a conspiratorial air likeNaruto’s reincarnation twist, but there are two key differences.
Firstly, the Sukuna and Yuji twist is simply less significant thanNaruto’s Ashura and Indra twist. WhileJujutsu Kaisen’s twist really only has implications for Kenjaku’s plan and for Yuji’s origins and potential,Naruto’s twist holds the fate of the entire shinobi world in its hands. There’s a similar fatalism to both twists—for example, the acknowledgment that the cycle of curses will continue for Sukuna and Yuji as long as both are alive—butNaruto’s scope is obviously much larger.
Secondly, the Sukuna/Yuji reincarnation twist plays elegantly intoJujutsu Kaisen’s themes without undermining them.Narutogave what was essentially a deterministic “divine right” justification for the order of its entire universe after several hundreds of chapters/episodes that build up the concept of willpower, interventions with peace, and the ability to decide one’s fate.Jujutsu Kaisen, on the other hand, has always placed focus on the roles people play, the way fate can determine someone’s life, and (most importantly) the way willpower offers the opportunity to overwrite both.
Jujutsu Kaisen TookNaruto’s Biggest Twist And Made It Better
Although Not Necessarily Intentional, Jujutsu Kaisen Builds On Naruto’s Most Divisive Decision
To address the obvious:Jujutsu Kaisen’s reincarnation twist is partly inspired by an urban legend, whileNaruto’s is inspired by Japanese Buddhism (although Buddhism is also a major influence forJujutsu Kaisen). The mere presence of reincarnation in both stories doesn’t indicate thatJujutsu Kaisenwas intentionally building onNaruto’s use of the concept. Intentional or not, though, it’s noteworthy howJujutsu Kaisen’s implementation of a similar twistdidn’t attract anywhere near the same level of controversy, and if nothing else, it speaks to the twist’s scope and execution inJujutsu Kaisencompared toNaruto.
Both are enjoyable twists in the moment while suffering from problems upon sustained reflection. Admittedly,Jujutsu Kaisen’s reincarnation twist undermines an otherwise excellent narrative thread concerning the interplay of chance, fate, and willpower. By making Yuji’s birth a deliberate effort on Kenjaku’s part, it reaches the level of, say, Madara’s intentional interventions to ensure his eventual reincarnation and his undying feud with Konoha and the Senju clan.Jujutsu Kaisenstill doesn’t reachNaruto’s level of unnecessary retconning, though.
Jujutsu KaisenlocalizedNaruto’s global implications and brought its version of the reincarnation twist close to home, fitting it gingerly into the narrative and thematic crevices it had carved out for a long time. By contrast,Naruto’s reincarnation twist always felt like a flashy, but ultimately unnecessary, addition to a story and world that didn’t need it. PerhapsJujutsu Kaisenhas always fashioned itself as the Ashura toNaruto’s straight-laced Indra; here,Ashura comes out on top.
Jujutsu Kaisen
Jujutsu Kaisenis a Japanese anime and manga series created by Gege Akutami. The story is set in a world where Cursed Spirits, born from negative human emotions, prey on humanity. It follows high school student Yuji Itadori as he becomes entangled in the world of Jujutsu Sorcery after swallowing a cursed talisman—Ryomen Sukuna’s finger—and becomes the host for one of the most powerful curses. Yuji joins the Tokyo Metropolitan Magic Technical College to learn how to combat curses while searching for the remaining fingers of Sukuna to exorcise him permanently.
Naruto
Naruto is a franchise spawned from the manga series penned by Masashi Kishimoto that began in 1999. Generating several tv series, games, movies, and more, Naruto follows the exploits of a young outcast ninja harboring the spirit of a demon fox who seeks to become the Hokage, the leader of his ninja village, to break the stigma against him. Upon the conclusion of the initial series, Naruto expanded into Boruto, following many series protagonists' children and returning faces.
