Five Elements Seal[1]
Name
Kanji	五行封印
Rōmaji	Gogyō Fūin
Literal English	Five Elements Seal
English TV	Five Pronged Seal
Debut
Manga	Chapter #49
Anime	Naruto Episode #29
Game	Naruto: Clash of Ninja 2
Appears in	Anime, Manga and Game
Data
Classification	Fūinjutsu
Rank	A-rank
Class	Supplementary
Range	Short-range
Hand seals	Technique specific seal
Other jutsu
Related jutsu Five Elements Unseal
Users Orochimaru

This technique produces a powerful seal that is used to block or disturb the flow of chakra in a target. Once the seal is completed, the target will become unconscious and unable to fight for a short time. Orochimaru performed this technique to tamper with Naruto Uzumaki's seal. The original seal allowed a small amount of the Nine-Tails' chakra to always mix into Naruto's, but the additional seal disturbs this, preventing Naruto from using the Nine-Tails' chakra or even controlling his own chakra properly. This is because an odd-numbered seal creates an imbalance when placed on top of an even-numbered seal. When Orochimaru later notices that the seal has been removed, he remarks that there are very few ninja capable of doing so, like Jiraiya.

Trivia

• The "Five Elements" referred to in the name of this technique are the Chinese Five Elements, the Five Movements (五行, Japanese: Gogyō, Chinese: Wǔxíng):

• Metal (金, Chinese: jīn),
• Wood (木, Chinese: mù),
• Water (水, Chinese: shuǐ),
• Fire (火, Chinese: huǒ),
• and Earth (土, Chinese: tǔ),

instead of the five chakra elements used in most other techniques, the Five Greats" (五大, Godai):

• Earth (土, tsuchi),
• Water (水, mizu),
• Fire (火, hi),
• Wind (風, kaze),
• and Lightning (雷, kaminari).

This suggests the elements are merely symbolic.

References

1. ↑ First Databook, page 183