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Reikishirushi | |||
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Name | |||
| Kanji | 靈器印 | ||
| Rōmaji | Reikishirushi | ||
| Literal English | Spiritual Tool Seal | ||
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Data | |||
| Clan |  Shinshō Clan
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| Classification | Kekkei Genkai, Fūinjutsu | ||
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Overview
While it is possible to be manifested on both palms, Reikishirushi is usually found on the dominant palm only. Like many non-dōjutsu kekkei genkai, it has no special characteristic until it is being activated. While active, the manifested palm will radiate large amount of visible chakra.
Reikishirushi is said to be equivalent to Wood Release. Like its counterpart, this kekkei genkai has high activation requirement. Earlier generations were able to activate it with ease. However, as the bloodline dilutes over time, the difficulty to activate it increases. This phenomena can also be seen in Senju clan near the end of warring states period; only Hashirama Senju could activate Wood Release out of all of his clan members.
To avoid losing their kekkei genkai, Shinshō clan practiced strict endogamy. Despite engaging to intermarriage frequently to retain their pure bloodline, the amount of users still dropped significantly as time passed. During warring states period, it took roughly a decade to find one who was able to activate the kekkei genkai. Whenever they were discovered, they will be nurtured with utmost care and trained to be the next clan leader.
Abilities
This rare hereditary ability grants it users the abilities to extract and seal the soul of living beings into non-living objects. Extraction is not lethal unless all soul and consciousness are extracted from the body. At first glance, it seems to be a powerful offensive technique comparable to Absorption Soul Technique but it is not. The sealing is limited to only those who were willing to be sealed or mentally weakened people, for example, suicidal or people who gave in to torture.
However, it has its own merit and uniqueness. The object used to store the soul will gain consciousness and become sentient. All abilities the soul once possessed may be retained and accessed by its wielder, including chakra and kekkei genkai. The degree of the retention depends heavily on the quality of the craft, skills of the Reikishirushi user and quantity of soul sealed.
Theoretically, a perfect object with perfect sealer will produce a perfect Artifact which retain every skills, kekkei genkai and chakra the soul once possessed. In reality, however, mistakes and imperfections are inevitable. Samehada, one of the highly regarded Artifact made out of Reikishirushi, is actually full of flaws. Most of its intelligence and consciousness were lost during the sealing process.
Codes of Reikishirushi
Shinshō clan may not be a righteous and honorable clan but they had a set of strict codes on usage of Reikishirushi. Apparently it was passed down by their ancestor, Hamura Ōtsutsuki, the codes outlines the rules and responsibilities of the wielders and usage of the kekkei genkai. One of the most important rules is that wielders must have permission from a person before sealing his or her soul into an object. It is believed that failure of compliance will lead to Hamura punishing the rule breaker to eternal suffering when they passed onward to afterlife.
Due to this, most Shinshō only sealed and created one to three weapons in their whole life. After all, there were not many people willing to be sealed and live forever as an object. There were only a few known extreme outliers, namely Ikarusu (井下留守) and Tengen. Coincidentally, both of them died at a young age.
Code Breakers
Ikarusu was born as the only son of the legendary craftsman Daidarusu (代堕留守). He was recorded to have created approximately one hundred weapons with Reikishirushi. Most of his "resources" were acquired through black market and contracts with the poor. He was described as a manipulative person; tricking people into giving up their lives with sweet talks.
Tengen, one of the greatest Shinshō of all time, was said to have created at least five hundreds weapons via Reikishirushi. He was probably the most cunning, ruthless and ambitious Shinshō in the history. Unlike Ikarusu, he acquired "resources" by brute forces. Those who were unwilling to be sealed will be tortured or have their families tortured until they break down and give in.
Variants
Human Sealing Technique
Main article: Human Sealing Technique Tengen Shinshō created the Hiden which works similarly to Reikishirushi, with Living Dead Embalming as base technique. The Hiden involves creating powerful weapons using organs of dead people. The difference between both abilities is this Hiden does not seal the soul of a person. As a result, the weapons created are classified as Human Weapons.
While not sealing the consciousness of a person seems to be a failure, it was actually what Tengen wanted in the first place. He wanted to fully utilize the dead bodies that are not sealed by the kekkei genkai. Also, the weapons created this way can be controlled with ease compared to Soul Weapons which contains consciousness. Most of his Soul Weapons were created by force, hence he had a very hard time in controlling them.
He eventually abandoned and labelled this technique as failure as it failed to produce weapons with similar quality as those created with Reikishirushi. Ironically, the Hiden was passed down and regarded as one of the signature technique of Shinshō clan. The Hiden was taught, practiced and widely used by the clan as most Shinshō could not activate the kekkei genkai, thus had no choice but to practice this inferior alternative technique of Reikishirushi.
Human Puppetfication Technique
Main article: Unnamed Hiden of Sasori Upon discovering the Human Sealing Technique in the ancient tome of Shinshō, Sasori managed to create a new Hiden with similar abiliyy. Instead of creating powerful weapons, the Hiden allows Sasori to create powerful puppets that retain most abilities the host once had, barring consciousness. The products are known as Human Puppets.
Trivia
- Souls that are sealed by this ability cannot be revived or summoned by Edo Tensei.
- The seal does not break easily but if it does, the soul will be immediately sent back to the afterlife.
