Why were the Chidori and Rasengan ever regarded as powerful jutsu?


The hard part about using the Chidori or Rasengan is making contact. If you
make contact, the battle (should) be over.

I don't see how having a Chidori or Rasengan is that much better than just
using a kunai. Sure, a Chidori does more damage; but still, if you stab
somebody with a kunai, the battle (should) be over.




The point of Rasengan and Chidori is not just to make contact, but POWERFUL
contact.

A kunai can never penetrate Gaara's shield or any other strong defences, but
Rasengan and Chidori can. Oodama Rasengan and Rasenshiriken are on even
greater levels because their damages are astronomical.

In the fight with Kakuzu, before Naruto came, it was incredibly hard for the
others to stall out Kakuzu, let alone finish him. But with Rasenshuriken, the
destructibility penetrated and annihilated his charkra system in cellular
level. I don't think you can do that with a kunai.

The power of the Rasengan and Chidori is not limited to just "making contact".
Charkra nature manipulation and shape manipulation comes into great meaning at
this point: Sasuke can turn his Chidori into mini needles, arrows, sword (with
adjustable length), and stream. Naruto can fuse his Sage charkra style into
the Rasenshuriken to make it a flying disk of destruction. This can't be
accomplished with a simple kunai.

