Naruto Ice Release Naruto

[Knyght]

As I once said in the What You Want To Read In Naruto thread, Naruto being able to use Ice Release is something I'd like to read in a good fanfic. The closest I've encountered is Hurricane Suite where Naruto's mastery of Water Release allows him to lower the water's temperature to freezing point and he can control the result.

These are ideas about how Naruto could acquire Ice Release, develop it and what, if any, story developments could spring from it

Acquiring Ice Release:

Naruto is born with the Ice Release kekkei genkai:

• It was a first-generation kekkei genkai that spontaneously developed rather than inherited; he has no known relation to anyone who could have passed down the kekkei genkai.
• OR: Minato or Kushina were descended from a scion of the Yuki Clan that had escaped the Land of Water where repeated civil wars had created a genocidal prejudice against kekkei genkai clans. Naruto inherited the Ice Release kekkei genkai.
• Either way, due to most kekkei genkai not having a specified 'trigger', Naruto could awaken this at various points in his life: during his childhood prior to graduation, during one of his missions, during major events such as the Chuunin Exams or Konoha Crush or even later in life.

Naruto receives the Ice Release kekkei genkai through unusual circumstances:

• Similar to Karura granting Gaara the Shield of Sand with her death, Haku's will is passed to Naruto as he dies which has permanently changes his chakra/life force to perform Ice Release. This would likely require Haku's death to be in close proximity to Naruto and for his emotions towards Naruto to be strong enough to generate this unique effect.

Naruto trained to recreate Ice Release without the kekkei genkai:

• Using the shadow clone training method and/or possessing an exceptional talent for Wind Release and Water Release, he masters nature transformations for both elements and trains to be able to perform them in sync. This is technically impossible in canon, making it the most difficult option for acquiring Ice Release and would require Naruto to have the initial desire to achieve this result and put in the time and effort it'd require to pull this off.

Using Ice Release:

If Naruto possesses Ice Release kekkei genkai, he can presumably perform wind and water nature transformation for Wind Release and Water Release without the usual training.

Whether Naruto possesses the kekkei genkai or recreated it through training, there is no-one in Konoha that can teach him Ice Release unlike ordinary jutsu. No-one else in Konoha would have the kekkei genkai so their only knowledge would come from accounts of previous battles against the Land of Water and possibly the Land of Frost.

This means that Naruto needs to single-handedly create all of the jutsu for Ice Release like what Hashirama had to do with Wood Release:

• He could (try to) learn the properties of ice, snow and cold to better understand the element.
• He could list ideas of potential Ice Release jutsu that he comes up with and get instruction of making them from teachers.
• He could learn what combinations hand-seals are needed to develop the jutsu he wants (assuming they are required for elemental kekkei genkai which is questionable).
• He could learn shape transformation directly to apply to his ice natured chakra.
• He could base his jutsu off of existing jutsu for the other elements like wind or water.
• He could apply his ice chakra to non-elemental jutsu e.g. Ice Release Shadow Clone Jutsu or Ice Release: Rasengan.
• He could use the Shadow Clone Jutsu (if he possesses it in this scenario) to rapidly develop and master his original jutsu.

Story-wise, possessing Ice Release doesn't have much potential as it doesn't have too much effect outside of how Naruto fights or solves problems.

• If inherited, Naruto shares a common ancestry with Haku which could affect their interaction if they ever meet, though having another ice-user wouldn't be that interesting.
• He could investigate what had happened to the Yuki Clan (and the other kekkei genkai clans) and research their abilities for his own ends.
• If trained, Naruto could earn recognition for achieving something which had always been considered impossible; replicating an elemental kekkei genkai without possessing said kekkei genkai.
• The populace of the Land of Water would likely react negatively to his abilities if they ever witnessed it which could on any missions he takes involving that country, if it was even allowed under the circumstances.
• Orochimaru might take a greater interest in him if he has a kekkei genkai that may otherwise be hard to acquire due to the Yuki Clan's genocide, helping him achieve his desire to learn all jutsu.

Potential Titles:

(In reality, I looked up some interesting words while bored at work and picked up a few related to 'ice'.)

• Hiemal - Of, characteristic of, or occurring in winter.
• Bewinter - To make wintry.
• Niveus - Snow; snowy; snow-white (Latin)
• Glacies - Ice (Latin)
• Hoarfrost - A white coating of ice crystals formed by sublimation of atmospheric water vapor on vegetation or any onject.
• Wreath - A garland or chaplet / Any ringlike, curving, or curling mass or formation / A snowdrift.

 

[Altered Nova]

From the way that combined element chakra natures were explained in the manga, it seems like the user simply transforms a different element in each hand simultaneously and then combines them together to form the new gestalt element. A normal ninja probably can't do this because it's not normally possible to transform chakra into two different natures simultaneously, and two ninja presumably can't replicate these advanced elements with a combination jutsu is because their chakra can't be "merged" due to having different signatures and/or because the chakra control and teamwork required would be astronomically difficult.

Shadow clones seem like they would be a perfect workaround to these problems. Clones clearly can transform different chakra natures from each other simultaneously, you obviously will have the same chakra signature as your own clone, and high level synchronized teamwork would be much easier when your minds are virtually identical.

Of course, you would likely also need to have a high natural affinity for both elements and complete mastery of the nature transformations to even attempt this. Naruto probably has the chakra control and wind affinity/mastery required by the time he could casually perform one-handed Rasenshurikens, but I doubt he has the affinity/mastery needed for any secondary element.

So yeah, I personally don't really think it should it would be plausible for Naruto to ever pull this off through training (at least not anywhere in the early or middle of the timeline), even if I do think it would be theoretically possible.

Here's an interesting fact I noticed that may or not be relevant to this discussion. Kushina's only elemental chakra natures are water and wind.

 

[Knyght]

Truthfully, a story that has Naruto willing to dedicate weeks or months of his life to something theoretically impossible like Ice Release without the kekkei genkai probably wouldn't stop there anyway. Why stop with just one when, if you've proven it's possble, you could potentially recreate all of them with enough time and effort? It'd be more like a story with Naruto as an extreme elemental generalist and Ice Release being one of his skills.

Now to expand on the concept of Naruto acquiring Ice Release from Haku:

The way to do it with minimal divergence would be for Naruto to kill Haku as he'd requested, happening just that bit faster so he doesn't have time to realise the danger Zabuza was in and escape (and then is distracted by the whole 'dying' thing). Despite basically only having two conversations and a fight between them, they had a surprisingly deep bond. Having Naruto kill him as he wished could open up some ninshu-type shenanigans that would trigger this unique change and then using the next couple of weeks they're stuck in Waves to explore it.

A slightly greater divergence would be for the sake of developing Naruto and Haku with further interaction. Like if Naruto encounters Haku more than once during that intervening week or one of them is actually captured by the opposing side somehow which forces them to learn more about the other or that confrontation at the bridge doesn't end up being their last confrontation.

In either case, it has the advantage of Naruto having already seen an Ice Release jutsu first-hand to act as an example of what it can do. And the cause of Naruto acquiring the ability would be so poorly understood that it'd be questionable if he actually received it from Haku or if he'd had the kekkei genkai all along.

Unless you go deep and make it some possession-type angle with Haku practically haunting Naruto but I don't think the kid's interesting or knowledgeable enough to make it worth the effort.