[FFML] [Naruto] Memories Lie chapters 3-4

[Aaron Nowack]

Juho Saarikko wrote:
> Coming to think of it, if Naruto tranformed into a dog and a shuriken, 
> then I answered my own earlier question: neither mass nor basic shape 
> are conserved. So either the transformation is purely an illusion - so 
> turning into a hawk wouldn't give Naruto an ability to fly - or he 
> simply didn't think of it.

Oh boy!  Jutsu-babble time!  I love jutsu-babble  :)

With the lack of limitations shown in canon, an "actual complete
physical shapeshift" answer to "what exactly does Henge do?" makes that
jutsu obscenely powerful, to the point that it really does harm the
coherence of the setting.  (After all, it's supposed to be one of the
three simplest and easiest jutsu...)

It is classified as a ninjutsu, and not a genjutsu, so it isn't just an
illusion.  (And, more importantly, IIRC there's a couple of instances
where we do see henge-d things interact physically in ways their "real"
forms wouldn't be able to.)

So, basically, it's one of several areas that it doesn't seem Kishimoto
thought through all the way.

Since most of the cases where we see "weird stuff" get done with Henge
are from Naruto, we can limit it a bit by postulating that it takes
obscene amounts of chakra to do that sort of thing.  Although canon
doesn't really support this, it doesn't contradict this either.

(In One Hundred Days, the primary limitation I used was that any sort of
physical stress - of which flying would definitely count - would dispel
the transformation.)

-- 
           Aaron Nowack
"Never let reality get in the way of a good hypothesis."
http://www.mimiru.net/