Naruto's Shadow Clone Jutsu remained his signature move throughout the series, but when it was first introduced, it was so overpowered that it needed to be nerfed. While Naruto showcased other powerful jutsu, chiefly the Rasengan, whose creation is detailed in the new Fourth Hokage manga from series creator Masashi Kishimoto, Naruto's first jutsu remained his most popular one, but it was so broken it had to be changed shortly after its introduction.
The Kage Bunshin (Shadow Clone) Jutsu creates duplicates of the user, dividing their charka evenly amongst every clone, which turned out to be the perfect technique for someone with colossal charka reserves like Naruto. While "normal" shinobi usually create and use one shadow clone at a time, Naruto creates a multitude of them, which he then uses for a plethora of creative strategies and techniques. the weakness of this jutsu is that clones are dispelled after they take a hit, but that wasn't always the case.
Naruto's Shadow Clones Could Previously Take A Hit And Stay Around
In chapter #6 of Naruto, during Kakashi's first lesson with the young Team 7, Naruto rushed his teacher in an attempt to claim one of two bells the team was tasked to steal. While his first assault proved utterly in vain, a gang of Naruto's shadow clones surprised Kakashi and restrained him. Naruto forced Kakashi to demonstrate ninjutsu to escape being punched. Instead of hitting his teacher in the mock battle, Naruto was shocked to see that his punch had landed on one of his clones instead. According to the rules later established for this technique, the clone should have dissipated after getting hit, but it did not. This is further confirmed when all the Naruto clones start beating each other up, thinking one of them could be Kakashi using a Transformation Jutsu.
Fans of the series know that, later in the story, Naruto figures out how valuable the Shadow Clone jutsu could be, especially for the purposes of training. Kakashi taught Naruto that any information a Shadow Clone learns is transferred back to its user when it's dispelled, a feature of the ability that enables Naruto to learn and train his abilities multiple times more effectively than anyone else. However, even before that, Shadow Clones allowed Naruto to overcome his opponents in battle, despite the one-hit weakness. If that hadn't been in place, the protagonist could have simply overwhelmed any foe with sheer numbers, thanks to his almost limitless chakra reserve.
Altering The Shadow Clones Rules Benefited The Naruto Series
Naruto's Shadow Clones Jutsu has a deeper meaning for the character and the series' themes. It's the physical representation of the protagonist's loneliness and his desire to have friends. As such, and for the creativeness it allowed in battle scenes, it remains one of the most iconic features of the franchise. However, it's easy to think that Kishimoto quickly realized how broken this technique could have been and so had to nerf it, introducing the "one-hit rule". In the end, changing the rules of how the Shadow Clone Jutsu worked at the beginning of the series benefited Naruto's story by making it more intense and exciting.
Naruto is available from Viz Media.