Naruto: Can Goku from Dragon Ball get caught in a Genjutsu?

Fandom battles are oftentimes a site to behold, especially when it comes to some of the more popular anime like Naruto, Dragon Ball, One Piece, and Bleach. The community enjoys pitting one character against another across multiple series, frequently taking to social media to debate who can beat whom and why.

One such debate that has raged for years across multiple anime fandoms is whether Goku from Dragon Ball is capable of being caught in and defeated by a powerful Genjutsu user from Naruto.

As with any great fandom debate, there are two sides to the argument this time. While some members of the community believe that Goku can be vanquished by powerful Genjutsu, the majority believe that he will not be affected, and even if he is, he will only be trapped inside the technique for a short time.

Today’s article will, therefore, go over some of the arguments surrounding the issue and try to establish why Genjutsu will never be able to affect Goku.

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Will Naruto’s most potent Genjutsu have an effect on Goku?

It’s highly unlikely that Genjutsu will have any effect on Goku, or even if it does, the effect will be too short-lived for the user to have any sort of significant impact on him.

One of the two things that govern the effectiveness of a Genjutsu on a victim is Chakra, and the other is mental fortitude.

Hence, today's arguments will in particular be based on these two different points.

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Chakra vs Ki

While the Naruto universe is governed by something called Chakra, the Dragon Ball universe, on the other hand, has something called Chi or Ki. While they might feel like the same concept with a different name, that is most definitely not the case.

Ki or Chi is the energy that flows through all living entities in the Dragon Ball universe. It’s life energy itself that has no defined source of origin. It exists along with life and is said to die out with life as well.

However, Chakra is not simply life energy that flows through all living things; it has a definite point of origin, which was later explained in Naruto: Shippuden.

Hence, the concepts are not exactly interchangeable, which is one of the primary reasons why many in the community feel that Goku will not be affected by a Genjutsu. The technique itself requires the disruption of Chakra flow; more specifically, it requires the disruption of the Yin spiritual part of the energy.

If Chakra and Ki are both considered to be the same concept by some, then Goku possesses both Yin and Yang, spiritual and physical energies. Moreover, he has complete mastery of Ki, and it’s known that one of the best ways of breaking Genjutsu in Naruto is to completely stop the flow of Chakra, and Goku is very easily capable of manipulating the Ki in his body at will.

So, if Genjutsu does affect him, in a world where Chakra and Ki are interchangeable constructs, then it will only be for a moment.

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Mental Fortitude and Image Training

Goku himself has been fighting illusions since the time he hit his teens. He had to face a lot of Genjutsu-like abilities growing up. Even later on in Dragon Ball Z, fans get to see a lot of powerful techniques from both Chiaotzu and Bibidi, where their attacks look to control the minds of those they affect, i.e., Majin Vegeta.

Goku has developed a strong mental fortitude against illusions, and it’s highly unlikely that he or any other sayan in the series will be affected by Genjutsu.

Moreover, Image Training is another concept that Dragon Ball introduces as a part of the characters’ daily training. Here, the characters are made to use their minds to play out how a battle would go.

During the Namek arc, audiences were shown how Gohan and Krillin put Image Training to the test. Bulma was cluelessly observing them as both the characters duelled it out with their minds, thereby training both their mental fortitude and techniques.

Image Training is something that Goku has been using as a form of training for years, and because of this, it’s highly unlikely that he will be bothered much by even the strongest of Genjutsus in Naruto, may it be the Infinite Tsukuyomi or even the Kotoamatsukami.