Kekkei Genkai

File:Willow.jpg

Kimimaro using his kekkei genkai: the Shikotsumyaku.

Kekkei genkai (血継限界, literally meaning: a technique limited to inheritance by blood" or "Bloodline Limit) are abilities passed down genetically in specific clans. It's possible for a ninja to have more than one of these abilities. Kekkei genkai abilities that work via the user's eye are called dōjutsu. Other kekkei genkai include mixing one type of elemental chakra with another, creating a new one unique to the users, which is usually impossible for normal ninja.

Kekkei genkai and their related techniques cannot be taught to or copied by others. However, kekkei genkai can be given to others. Dōjutsu, or other kekkei genkai isolated to a single organ, can be transplanted into the body of another, as was done with transferring Obito's Sharingan to Kakashi. Use of these organs requires much more chakra than someone born with the kekkei genkai. Chakra elements can also be passed down to people outside of the clan, such as Yamato going through Orochimaru's DNA re-modification to acquire the Wood Release technique. However, Yamato's skill in using it is not nearly as powerful as the original practitioner, Hashirama Senju.

There is an advanced variant of kekkei genkai known as kekkei tōta.

Trivia

• Kekkei genkai can be preserved through the creation of Human Puppets. This allows them to retain the special traits of the users when they were still alive.
• When a person is brought back to life via the Summoning: Impure World Resurrection technique, they also retain any kekkei genkai they possessed before their death.
• A Kekkei genkai should not be confused with Hiden jutsu. Hiden jutsu are exclusive to a certain person or clan, but only because they have kept others from learning how to perform those jutsu.
• Lava Release, being a kekkei genkai, has several users whereas they have no relation to each other.

List of Kekkei Genkai

	Clan
Boil Release
Byakugan	Hyūga Clan Ōtsutsuki Clan
Crystal Release
Dark Release
Explosion Release
Iburi Clan's Kekkei Genkai	Iburi Clan
Ice Release	Yuki Clan
Isshiki's Dōjutsu	Ōtsutsuki Clan
Jōgan	Ōtsutsuki Clan
Jūgo's Clan's Kekkei Genkai	Jūgo's Clan
Ketsuryūgan	Chinoike Clan
Kurama Clan's Kekkei Genkai	Kurama Clan
Lava Release
Magnet Release	Kazekage Clan
Mangekyō Sharingan	Uchiha Clan Ōtsutsuki Clan
Mud Release
Ranmaru's Kekkei Genkai
Rinha Clan's Kekkei Genkai	Rinha Clan
Rinnegan	Ōtsutsuki Clan
Ryūzetsu's Kekkei Genkai
Sakon and Ukon's Kekkei Genkai
Scorch Release
Senrigan	Ōtsutsuki Clan
Sharingan	Uchiha Clan Ōtsutsuki Clan
Shikotsumyaku	Kaguya Clan
Steel Release
Storm Release
Swift Release
Tenseigan	Ōtsutsuki Clan
Typhoon Release
Wood Release	Ōtsutsuki Clan Senju Clan
Yanaru's Kekkei Genkai

Inspiration

The concept of special ninja techniques limited by bloodline inheritance may have been inspired in part by the works of Futaro Yamada, which strongly influenced later depictions of ninja in fiction. In particular, The Kōga Ninja Scrolls (甲賀忍法帖, Kōga Ninpōchō), published in 1959, featured a pair of warring ninja clans that, through selective breeding, had produced ninja with a variety of deformities, mutations, and special abilities, including even dōjutsu.