Many fans of Naruto are familiar with the main character's infamous Talk no Jutsu. It's not an official power, but his ability to persuade people to do good is so powerful that it might as well be. With that said, there is a character in Naruto who has the canonical power to turn bad guys good with his words.
Talk no Jutsu has become a reality thanks to Hitoshi Shins of My Hero Academia fame's Brainwashing Quirk. It's only temporary and somewhat immoral in its operation, but the end result is the same. If Shins so desires, he can persuade villains to change their ways and do good for the world.
What Is the Relationship Between Talk No Jutsu and Brainwashing?
According to Naruto fans, Naruto has a ridiculous ability to talk his enemies out of their negative worldviews after they've been beaten. He's managed to convince Zabuza, Neji, Gaara, Nagato, Kurama, Obito, and Sasuke to all be better people. Not only do these enemies give up on their wrongdoings but they even end up helping Naruto at some point in the future. For how often this has happened throughout the series, fans have jokingly deemed it a special power of his called "Talk no Jutsu."
Shinsō's Brainwashing can theoretically be used to accomplish the same thing. His power works by getting his opponents to respond to something he says. Once this condition is met, he can gain control of them and issue basic commands for them to follow without question. Therefore, if he were to use this power against a villain, he could force them to do something to benefit people rather than harm them.
This has been showcased at the end of Chapter 382, "Don't Let Him Go." Apparently, Shinsō had used his literal powers of persuasion to force Gigantomachia, All For One's strongest and most loyal underling, to turn on his master and attack him. He likely did this with his Quirk and may have used his voice modulator to sound like All For One and get Machia to respond. In any case, Machia is now helping the Heroes because Shinsō told him to.
It's also worth noting that this particular instance of Brainwashing being used to turn a villain into a Hero may last longer than usual. Under normal circumstances, brainwashing can be reversed by inflicting enough pain on the target. However, because Machia has the Pain Blocker Quirk, this method of waking him up is out of the question. There is no time limit for Brainwashing, so the behemoth could be trapped as Shins' meat puppet indefinitely. It sounds almost villainous, but it's preferable to allowing him to demolish cities on All For One's orders.
In most cases, however, Shinsō's Brainwashing would only be a temporary solution. In most cases, the ideal way to get someone to think and act differently is to talk to them and help them find a better way. This is why Naruto's enemies changed their ways and stayed on the right path. In any case, one should never underestimate the power of words.
