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primnroses · 7 months

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— Explaining Konohagakure’s Barrier Team from Naruto to Boruto:

The information presented in this post has been checked and revised. My aim is not to hate or to discredit any of the characters mentioned. Please read about me for further information.

This post will contain evidence in picture format directly from the manga Naruto (1999 - 2014) created by Masashi Kishimoto and published by Shueisha in 1999. I will also use information from the official databooks.

This informative post will explain the role and utility of the Barrier Team from its debut in Naruto to its role in Boruto. I will use information present in the novels and the Boruto manga because it includes character development within canon compliance.

This meta will be crossposted in AO3.

I give my permission to use or share this thread with informative purposes as long as you credit me.

I do not support the anime or the work of Studio Pierrot in regards to Naruto because I consider it over exaggerated and beyond biased. Furthermore, these fillers include some actions that these characters are unable to do in the canon according to official sources and they also generate unnecessary debate.

This meta does contain anime scenes from Boruto because it is a monthly manga draft that depends heavily on anime for context.

Please, take this into consideration.

This meta will include a small discussion from my own point of view about the Barrier Team and its members. There will be criticism and complaints, comparisons with other characters, previous leaders, etc.

HISTORY

The Barrier Team (結界班, Kekkai-Han) is an organization formed by sensor-type shinobi and regular shinobi in charge of maintaining the Sensing Barrier, a giant sphere surrounding Konohagakure and its outskirts, which detects any foreign chakra that crosses the border of the village. Many years after the Fourth Shinobi World War, it has been mechanized and transformed into an automated sensing system composed of a few sensor-type shinobi and led by members of the Yamanaka clan.

It is unknown for how long this team has existed, but the Barrier Team debuted in chapter 415 of Naruto. Based on its development, Konoha has kept a Konoha-wide exclusive sensing technique through the ages and, among their ranks, they count with sensor-type shinobi like Hyūga clan members.

This team also has their own unique crest in the shape of an inverted triangle with three circles inside, worn by their members in their clothes in armbands or hats.

Sensing Barrier and Sensing Water Sphere according to the fourth databook.

Naruto:

During the era of the Fifth Hokage, the Barrier Team was a rather small team located inside a room (most likely inside the Hokage Residence) where the large Sensing Water Sphere was guarded and monitored by three sensor-type wearing Shinto robes. According to the fourth databook, Kakoi, one of the sensor-type Shinto priests, was the leader at the time of debut.

The Sensing Water Sphere represents the invisible Sensing Barrier around Konoha, and the role of the Shinto priests was to inform of any unfamiliar chakra signature that crossed this barrier. When someone or something charged with chakra bypassed the barrier, the Sensing Water Sphere rippled around the area where the aura had been detected; a team of stationary chūnin were automatically sent to the location of the disturbance to investigate the threat.

Unofficially, the Barrier Team used to be divided in two groups:

The Detection was the division formed by the sensor-type Shinto priests.

The Interception was the division formed by chūnin, with Izumo Kamizuki and Kotetsu Hagane among these shinobi, in charge of investigating the threat and fighting the intruders.

The Barrier Team headquarters and both divisions.

The Sensing Barrier extends from the small portion of forest before the very entrance and walls of the A-Un gate, to the portion of land behind the Hokage Rock, according to the view the manga offers, from the right side. This means that anyone entering the barrier will be detected before they reach the proper gates of Konoha, but not if they halt before the start of the barrier itself. Only Pain could come undetected to the very limit of the barrier due to the visibility his Rinnegan granted him; however, it is to assume the exact spot of the barrier is unknown to non-Konoha shinobi.

According to Pain, it is revealed that the Barrier Team has a special jutsu to get through the barrier without being noticed applicable to ANBU and probably Konoha shinobi, which allowed Kisame Hoshigaki to enter with Itachi Uchiha without alarm.

The view of the full sensing dome from the right angle (Hokage Monument to the right, A-Un Gate to the left).

The Sensing Water Sphere, the Sensing Barrier and the sensor-type Shinto priests, or more specifically Kakoi, and all the staff members in the Detection group in the current era, are symbiotically connected with each other. This means that Kakoi’s sensory range and the rest of the staff, only correspond to the range of the Sensing Barrier and not farther, just confirmed by the presence of Pain and his summons by the limit, undetected. This detail also applies to future leaders who are currently replacing Kakoi.

Kakoi's symbiosis with the Sensing Barrier when he only detects Chikushodo (Animal Path) upon bypassing.

The role of the Barrier Team has remained the same through the eras, meaning that their job is to sense disturbances detected by the Water Sensing Sphere and inform shinobi teams to attack the possible threats. The Sensing Barrier has always remained Konoha–wide too.

Although the Barrier Team does not appear again until the Blank Period and Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, we could see a similar version of it during the global conflict but on a greater scale.

Ao, a former ANBU and outstanding sensor-type from Kirigakure, was appointed the captain of the Sensor Division during the conflict. Alone, he could detect the presence of the reincarnated shinobi among the hundreds of White Zetsu clones in every division of the Allied Shinobi Forces through his Sensing Water Sphere, including natural energy which only a few selected sensors can perceive.

Ao maintaining the Sensing Water Sphere and sensing the White Zetsu army.

Blank Period

The next time the Barrier Team appears is in the Sasuke Shinden and Sakura Hiden novels:

According to Sasuke Shinden, after Pain’s attack, Konoha set up a more powerful barrier. However, the exploding humans could bypass the Sensing Sphere because they were Konoha shinobi, and thus, they are not considered intruders. The novel also confirms that the Interception group still exists and they also send messenger shinobi to alert the Hokage.

In Sakura Hiden, we notice a few modernizations. After Sakura Haruno defeated Kido Tsumiki, Kakashi arrived at the scene but was shortly cut by an instant Mind Body Transmission message from the Barrier Team alerting him of ANBU leaving the village.

Sasuke Shinden (above) and Sakura Hiden (below).

This detail is key to the development of the Barrier Team in Boruto, as telepathy via Chakra Transmission Communication Device becomes one of the most used tools by the team.

Boruto

By the era of the Seventh Hokage, the Barrier Team has continued to function the same was as before, with the exception of a few changes:

Although there are not any significant changes in headquarters, the Hokage Residence was reconstructed after Pain's invasion and so was the Barrier Team chamber. The location of the team has been confirmed in the anime inside the Hokage Residence.

The room has decreased in size and the area for the Interception Team has been replaced, in favor of a new Detection Team about the same size as the previous one and with the same amount of people monitoring the Sensing Barrier, although instead of Shinto priests, the staff is composed of regular chūnin.

In the manga, the room only takes a corner of an unknown location in the Hokage Residence. The automated sensing sphere has been replaced by monitors instead.

The Barrier Team headquarters in the anime and the manga.

According to Kashin Koji, Konoha used to have a Sensory Team led by members of the Yamanaka clan. However, this information is false.

Kashin Koji explaining the "role" of the Yamanaka clan.

The Yamanaka clan, or at least the only member of the clan in Konoha (apart from Ino) was Inoichi Yamanaka, who was in charge of the Analysis Team by performing Psycho Mind Transmission on targets that could not be interrogated by Ibiki Morino. There are no Yamanaka clan members aside from those two in Konoha, as Inoichi’s subordinates in the Analysis Team are all shinobi of other origins such as Mawashi Dokuraku, Tonbo Tobitake and Aoba Yamashiro. The latter being the only person other than Inoichi capable of performing Psycho Mind Transmission as seen in chapter 507 and Sasuke Shinden.

(I personally want to remind you that the Yamanaka are not known to be sensors of that calibre. They use Yin Release to control other people or even animals to take advantage of their senses. Masashi Kishimoto described this as a form of sensing in the third databook. By using Mind Body Switch, Ino controlled a bird to find the Akatsuki members Hidan and Kakuzu even though they were nearby, meaning she does not have sensing skills past her surroundings. Mind Body Transmission does not use sensory skills to connect people either as it is a telepathy area like Bluetooth. Telepathy works by sharing their chakra with others as stated by Inoichi.)

Ino's sensing through controlling other species and the Mind Body Transmission range.

Moreover, the people in charge of the Barrier Team were Kakoi and his team of Shinto priests. This information was fixed in the anime, acknowledging the presence of the Shinto priests and Kakoi after Ukyō Kodachi rewrote the history of Konoha.

Kakoi described as a predecessor of the Barrier Team.

Ukyō Kodachi has renamed this team as Sensory Team or Sensory Unit, although it is still called by its original name, Barrier Team, in manga and anime.

To shed more context into the new era, according to Ino Yamanaka, the Barrier Team has been mechanized and modernized to replace sensor-types with an automated sensing. The Sensing Water Sphere has been replaced by a Scientific Ninja Tools sphere that detects intruders automatically and sends an alarm to the headquarters of the team.

In the manga, the Sensing Water Sphere has been replaced by screens and the area only takes about a room corner.

The new automated system also includes a database with the imprint of Konoha shinobi memorized in it, so anyone not registered within the system will be spotted.

Ino Yamanaka explains the new sensing system made by Katasuke Tōnō.

The range of the Sensing Barrier has decreased drastically, to the point of only covering from the gates to the Hokage Monument, instead of adding the portion of forest like previously established.

This is confirmed by Delta and Kashin Koji speaking on a tree branch by the A-Un Gate and passing undetected by anyone, even though they were within the previous range established by Kakoi in the Pain Arc. As soon as Delta crossed the walls, she was detected, but not before.

The new Barrier Team did not think about erasing the chakra signature of the deceased Jiraiya either, therefore, Kashin Koji, a Jiraiya clone, is able to come and go in and out of the village undetected.

Delta and Kashin Koji (to the left) right by Konoha's main gate, A-Un, undetected.

Led by Ino Yamanaka herself, the Barrier Team only counts with the Detection group, formed by three chūnin in charge of sensing, or rather, looking at the screens for any intruder and informing anyone they must. According to Shikadai Nara, the Interception group has been disbanded, now only informing Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha of danger so they can take care of it themselves.

The new Detection group informs via telepathy using the Chakra Communication Device, a tool used by the Allied Shinobi Forces to connect each division scattered across the map with each other. This device can cover greater distances than Inoichi or any Yamanaka, therefore we see him, as well as his assistants from the Intelligence Division and other members of each division, wear it. We also see Ino wear it during The Last: Naruto the Movie to receive messages from other villages, clearly outside her range.

The new Chakra Communication Device from the Barrier Team is a much more modern version of the previous one used by the Alliance. Moreover, all communications performed by the Barrier Team, the content of all mind transmissions, are stored in their own database in order to be analyzed or monitored. The Chakra Communication Device is connected the the rest of the automated sensing system to save all images, chakra prints and telepathy relays.

The telepathy device has a stationary version and two portable versions. Ino using it in the Blank Period and the modern version used by Barrier Team.

As aforementioned, the role of the Barrier Team continues to be that of detecting unfamiliar chakra signatures and informing teams to go and investigate. This time, as soon as someone is detected, Ino contacts headquarters to ask them if the presence is registered by the database, and, if not, she will contact Naruto and Sasuke to investigate.

Moreover, they can only detect things charged up with chakra, but not objects like Delta’s drones or shinobi erasing their chakra. This is pointed out by Kawaki, who can fool the Barrier Team by erasing his chakra signature and complains that they are “incompetent” and “only rely on sensing chakra”. This hinders Konoha's protection.

Delta sneaking a drone in Konoha to search for Kawaki. Kawaki complaining about Konoha's sensing system.

It seems that the new modernized version has not only decreased the sensory range of the Sensing Barrier of Kakoi’s time, but it also appears to be unable to deploy a boosting sensing system. In fact, Boruto was flaring his chakra on purpose while he was still inside the village. However, nobody in the Barrier Team was able to pick this up.

Not only does this inaptitude make it impossible to predict upcoming danger before bypassing the A-Un Gate, but it also makes it an impossible task to follow enemies when they have fled away from the borders.

Ino explains they are unable to trace anything beyond the gates or erased chakra.

For this same reason, Naruto Uzumaki had to step in and track Kawaki and Boruto by himself with Sage Mode.

When Kawaki and Boruto Uzumaki left the village, the Barrier Team could not detect them 40 kilometers outside Konoha because they were too far away from their limits. However, Naruto could finish what Ino or headquarters could not, even despite not having Kurama’s power for the extra boost.

Boruto flares his chakra to no response. Naruto detects Boruto in the battlefield against Code around 40 kilometers away with his sensing skills.

One of the most interesting details about the new Barrier Team is that they are self sufficient and automated because they possess technology to detect chakra imprints without the use of sensor-types, as well as being able to perform telepathy via Mind Body Transmission thanks to their Chakra Transmission Communication Device without the need of any member of the Yamanaka clan.

This clearly makes the role of their leader very questionable.

We have already witnessed the Barrier Team function perfectly without Ino Yamanaka. Not only during Kakoi’s time, whose job and abilities are the same and above the current Barrier Team, but also during this era.

During the cohabitation mission with Team 7 and the cyborgs Eida and Deimon, as well as during Code’s invasion, the automated sensing and the staff detected (or undetected Kawaki) chakra signatures using their alarms and their screens, and also contacted Shikamaru Nara through telepathy using their Chakra Transmission Communication Devices.

As of chapters 77 and 81 of Boruto, Ino Yamanaka is deemed not necessary for the Barrier Team, her role taken over by the staff wearing telepathy devices and monitoring the sensing screens at all times.

One worker of the Barrier Team detecting the Grimes and Boruto and alerting Shikamaru Nara. Other worker also contacts Shikamaru about Kawaki erasing his chakra.

How does the Barrier Team work and what is their role?

Detect chakra signatures that bypass the Sensing Barrier.

Inform the Interception group and send them to investigate. In the new era, inform Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha telepathically.

DISCUSSION

How important is the Barrier Team?

The Barrier Team has experienced a surge of utility in Boruto compared to Naruto. However, being written into the story does not equal being more important.

Originally, they were introduced quite late in the story. Konoha has experienced invasions since Orochimaru infiltrated during the Chūnin Exams disguised as the Kazekage, although their role during Pain’s invasion was decisive to demonstrate that Konoha has countermeasures against enemies looking to enter the village.

Masashi Kishimoto created a group of shinobi exclusively to lead the Barrier Team. This was neglected by Ukyō Kodachi, and he also made it that any sensor-type could replace Kakoi and company.

The equivalent of Konoha's Barrier Team was the Sensor Division. They worked in tandem with Mukta Aburame to discover that the enemy possessed an army of White Zetsu ready, and their captain, Ao, was also responsible of discerning the reincarnated Edo Tensei from the White Zetsu and informing Darui that Ginkaku and Kinkaku were among the ranks.

Ao senses the White Zetsu among the Edo Tensei and the presence of the twins.

So, the Barrier Team is essential to safeguard Konoha from the inside. Detecting anyone on the spot that has entered is one of the first steps to keep its villagers safe.

In Boruto, the Barrier Team suffered a downgrade compared to the previous appearance. Also counting 15 years of technological advancements that could have been implemented within their ranks, but have not happened. Because of Kara’s interests in Kawaki, who is currently protected by Konoha, they must maintain their Sensing Barrier in top condition to detect enemies.

A mistake made by Ukyō Kodachi, who made the Yamanaka clan, or rather, Ino, the leader or responsible of this team, is that he made someone without sensing feats in Naruto, a representative of sensor-types in Boruto. Choosing someone that cannot at least equal, maybe not surpass because it is impossible, Naruto’s sensing techniques granted by Sage Mode even after “nerfing” him, leaves much to be desired about Konoha’s resources and their range of sensor-types.

The failures of the Barrier Team

One of the reasons behind the surge of importance of the Barrier Team is due to Kara’s interests in Kawaki and Code’s desire to destroy Konoha. However, they also shine for their lack of resources and skills; and their lack of applying experience to reforming the new system learning by previous mistakes.

After fighting a large scale global conflict with reincarnated bodies and White Zetsu able to imitate shinobi chakra signatures (i.e White Zetsu impersonating Neji Hyūga to assassinate Sakura Haruno), Konoha’s new automated database and sensing system has not flagged chakra imprints from deceased shinobi like Jiraiya, prompting Kashin Koji to walk into the village as he pleases.

Sakura Haruno discovers White Zetsu's way of copying unique chakra imprints to fool sensor-types.

Moreover, they rely solely on detecting chakra, making shinobi like Kawaki and Boruto, who can erase their chakra flare thanks to their Karma, and Karin, who can erase her chakra at discretion, to be able to enter or escape the village without being detected by the system or lookouts who are extremely apathetic. Not to mention none of the gates have lookouts like the ones in the War or use other sensing methods like Inuzuka clan, Hyūga clan (who used to be members) or Aburame clan alternative sensing skills that do not require sensing chakra.

Hyūga with their eyes, Inuzuka with their noses and Aburame with their beetles being pivotal in tracking and sensing.

The sensors working for the Barrier Team are very limited to sensing only what is inside the Barrier, making their sensory feats only Konoha-wide or Sensing Barrier-wide. This sensing symbiosis with the Sensing Barrier is a problem, which means that sensors' skills scale to a machine rather than having abilities of their own. This problem results in them only sensing people when they have already entered Konoha, but not their approach, thus not preventing anything. If the enemy masks their chakra, these efforts are useless because they will not be detected.

This is more apparent for Ino Yamanaka, who was made into the leader of a sensing team and given prominence as someone that can potentially have above average sensing skills, but has failed to compel.

After having no sensing feats in Naruto, she is given a Konoha-wide sensing range equal to the Sensing Barrier’s Konoha-wide sensory to increase her importance. This way, her sensing power scales to a machine. However, after she debuts being able to sense Delta enter Konoha like a competent Konoha sensor, she gets gradually worse when it is discovered that she could not sense Delta plotting her entrance with Kashin Koji a few meters from the A-Un Gate to trying to sense Kawaki and Boruto knowing she cannot detect anything beyond the gates of Konoha or even being unable to sense Code’s ear on Shikamaru despite being a body part charged with chakra.

The writing made the Yamanaka clan into a sensory clan instead of sticking to their original role (or Inoichi’s role because he was the only member in Konoha like aforementioned) as mind interrogators to gather intel, which was scrapped and the whole family rewritten. This inclusion makes it all the more forced and nonsensical.

Inoichi Yamanaka and the Analysis Team using Psycho Mind Transmission.

Her lack of skills and Naruto’s necessity to use Sage Mode to do the job of the Barrier Team, has led the writers to dispose of Ino and keep writing their failures without her, as she really makes no difference in or out of the team. This means that any sensor, even Moegi Kazamatsuri who according to Ukyō Kodachi in her character trivia, got perfect sensing skills to replace her; just like Kakoi was serving the same purpose and was replaced.

Ino’s skills as a sensor and telepathist are easily replaceable by the Barrier Team’s automated sensing and Chakra Transmission Communication Devices. So her accomplishments could be replaced or she could be removed from the story (like she already has been) because she is fulfilling a role that should not be hers while also failing to do it decently. Connecting Eida, Shikamaru and Amado could be performed by headquarters with their telepathy devices and sensing is performed by a machine.

Could they be redeemed?

The greatest disadvantage of the Barrier Team is their small sensing range and their inability to rely on other sensing methods than chakra perception.

After exposing the main problems related to not erasing deceased people’s chakra imprints from their database and failing to boost their system in case of emergency, there are a few points to make in order to make the Barrier Team a competent and compelled facility:

Keep Ino away from their ranks as she makes no difference, while maintaining the automated system which includes alarms, visual screens and instant telepathy.

Reuse Kakoi’s greater Sensing Barrier to track Konoha’s forest area before the A-Un Gate.

Use other sensory and perception techniques from other clans like Aburame’s beetles, Hyūga’s Byakugan and Inuzuka’s ninken/sense of smell to counter shinobi’s ability to erase their chakra signature.

Put the Akimichi clan in the lookout by every gate like they used to guard the Logistical Support & Medical Division during the Fourth Shinobi World War, this way being able to see approaching danger and fighting them before their entrance to give Konoha time to elaborate a plan.

Considered the most powerful shinobi village, using past experiences and the full power of Konoha's shinobi forces, their clans and their technology, could prevent infiltrations; as well as giving each member of a clan their deserved time to show their abilities.

Note: The Fourth Shinobi World W4r has been replaced by global conflict to avoid mature content flags.

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