Yes and no. If he made too many clones then it would mess with the concentration of those gathering natural energy but he wouldn't turn into a toad; it would probably either cause the clones to dispel or prevent them from gathering natural energy. From my understanding, since he's achieved Sage Mode he can't turn into a toad anymore.

 

Thats actually a bit curious. I mean if one SM!clone is dispelled, then Naruto receives all the Natural Energy that clone has been gathering, enough to instantly go to full SM.

We also know that if you take in too much Natural Energy at once, then it will overwhelm your body and you turn into a toad. So does that not suggest that if both of Narutos SM!clones were dispelled simultaneously (by an enemy attack for example), Naruto would suddenly receive twice the NE requires to go to SM, which would obviously be far too much NE for Naruto to handle. Should that not turn him into a toad.

Or has he mastered SM to such a degree that he can just release the extra Natural Energy back into the world quick enough to avoid toadification, and keep only the amount required to achieve the balance required for normal Sage Mode.

Heres another question, could SM be used as a direct weapon. We know that it is possible to inject your own chakra into another person. Thats the whole basis of the Hyuuga clans battle style, and it has repeatedly been said that its possible to break someone from genjutsu by injecting ones own chakra into the victim. Why then, would it not be possible for someone in SM to forcibly push NE into another person. And since that person could not control NE, they would obviously turn into a toadstatue pretty quickly.


Here is another interesting question about shadow clones. During the attack by Orochimaru and his fight with Sarutobi, Sarutobi creates two shadow clones that were able to survive being repeatedly hit with multiple kunai hard enough to draw blood. All of Narutos clones always pop instantly when they take any damage like that. I would say thats just the author not having all the kinks worked out, except by then we have seen a lot of clones from Naruto already and they always pop instantly. So what was up with Sarutobis clones, and why did Orochimaru imply that using them reduced Sarutobis lifespan, which has never even been suggested to happen with Narutos clones.

 

This is probably true, and part of the reason that the NE-gathering clones in the Pein fight remained in at the Mountain, only being summoned in when the main body lost its Sage Mode. We've seen that the clones don't need to dispel themselves in order to transmit data--when Naruto was using mass clones to find Sasuke in the forest, the destruction of one alerted him to Team Hebi's location, so this could indeed be an issue.

While this could work, it would be highly infeasible. One, in order to 'inject' the natural energy, you would have to touch the person in question. At that range, it would be simpler to just ram a rasengan into the target. Two, the person would have to have a smaller chakra supply than yourself, and you would have to have a significant amount of natural energy at the time. To gain Sage Mode, you need a significant chakra capacity to begin with. If your target has a larger capacity, or a large enough one that you cant guarantee that the amount of NE you have gathered wont petrify the target, then you've just wasted your Sage Mode on an attack that is ineffective. Maybe you could do it in bits and pieces, assuming that NE doesn't naturally disperse at a fast rate, but that would require you to stand stock-still in the middle of a battle to regain the energy, and if you are hitting someone that often...well, refer to point one again.

That's because Sarutobi is just that badass.

But he's a retired badass. Forming two shadow clones at his age, in the most chakra-intensive fight he's had in probably decades, is like a 90-year old man trying to out-whore Charlie Sheen. Ain't too good for the ticker.

 

Naruto don't always immediately pop. In the Chuunin Exam, one of the clones took a Juuken strike to the heart and stayed around long enough to deliver a clever quip.

The immediating popping of clones usually only happens when he creates shitload and it's grossly exaggerated in the anime (or was, at any rate). I'd suppose that it depends on how many clones are made and how they or the user is focusing on it.

 

I treat the clones' chakra split pretty seriously. Sure, Naruto has a ton of chakra, but splitting it a hundred times is going to give each one relatively little. Before the Sage Mode shenanigans I liked to think that the chakra returns were not very efficient when dispelling, thus constituting a massive drain with each destroyed clone. One explanation for Sarutobi's clones lasting longer is that each had more chakra than Naruto's spammed doppelgangers, couples with his better control allowed the Hokage's clones to handle destabilization to the construct better. This also explains why bijuu, if they truly are constructs, which I'm unsure of, don't just dissipate with a hard enough hit.

 

The bijuu are chakra constructs given shape and form [highly advanced Kage Bunshin). Your statements are very correct sir; Naruto's Kyuubi and Sage clones, during the war, took some hits, but they have a shit-ton of chakra, so they did not dispel.

 

Three words.

Inverse Ninja Law.

Its the most obvious and literal application probably possible, in this situation. C'mon collective sons. The low hanging fruit was right there, waiting to be plucked.

 

...Sorry, did you say something? Your signature keeps distracting me.

 

The eyes have it.

 

Eyes? What ey-sweetbabyJesus!

Bring the sexy back, Calz.