Body Flicker Technique

This ninjutsu is an high-speed movement technique that makes the ninja move faster than the naked eye can see. As a D-rank, it is typically one of the first techniques a genin will learn after graduating. It supercharges their entire body with chakra to allow them to surpass their top running speed for as long as the techniques is active. The amount of chakra used up depends on the overall distance and elevation between the user and the intended destination. It is usually used to escape from battle or start a battle with a sudden attack.

It is like an extreme type of chakra enhancement, but what makes it a ninjutsu rather than just chakra control is that the technique is a burst of pure speed which essentially pulls the caster from one point to another. They are not consciously running between the locations, the technique is using their body as a vehicle to move them from one to the other.

It is for this reason that someone could start at a standstill and stop at a standstill in a completely different position from what they started in without apparent effort, or even initiate the technique while in mid-air when they would have no surface to run over. Because of that, even ninja who aren’t predisposed towards fast movement can and do make frequent use of this ninjutsu.

A secondary feature of the technique is that the ninja will often disguise their movement with distractions such as falling leaves or flames. In that moment, the enemy loses sight of the ninja so that they cannot detect which direction they escaped from. Different hidden villages are known to have their own variations.

But despite its many uses, it is not without flaws.

The level of speed the technique reaches means that it can blind the ninja to their surroundings when they move as their minds cannot keep up with their enhanced body. It would take incredible reflexes and/or a good set of eyes to frequently use this in combat. Using it for too long or too often can cause a painful strain on the body which is being forced to move beyond its normal limits. And as a ninjutsu it usually uses hand-seals, even if it’s just the seal of confrontation, so a lower level opponent could potentially predict and counter it if used to set up an attack in battle.

Most Famous Users

A (Fourth Raikage) – As renowned as the Raikage of Kumo have always been for their speed, it was the Fourth who surpassed them all. When his lightning chakra armour is raised to his highest level and his body’s boosted by the vitalization of a body flicker, he could move like a lightning bolt when he strikes. Even a fully matured Sharingan would struggle to follow his movements.

Namikaze Minato – He was said to be the fastest man in history. The Flying Thunder God Technique may have been the reason he was called the Yellow Flash but he didn’t need a space-time ninjutsu to outrun every other shinobi in the world. The man could move so fast that most couldn’t tell when he was jumping through subspace or when he was just running to cut down his enemies, genuinely mistaking one technique for another time and time again.

Uchiha Shisui – Shisui was so renowned for his skill with the Body Flicker Technique that he was the only one to have ever been named for it, despite being slower than Minato and A. His sheer skill let him flicker between locations without a single hint of his passing, choose to leave after-images in his wake and seamlessly shift from one Body Flicker to another in an unrelenting dance. He was first known as Shisui of the Mirage as his enemies believed he was hypnotizing him. But when the truth of his fighting style was discovered, he was called Shisui of the Body Flicker as both a sign of respect and a warning.