When the Clock Stops: Could Ultra Instinct Keep Up With a Perfected Hit?
My thoughts on the ultimate rematch between the Assassin of Universe 6 and the Saiyan who mastered instinct itself.
UI vs Timeskip?
Every now and then, a “what if” in Dragon Ball sticks in my head like a stubborn tune. One of those questions is this: if Hit truly mastered his Time-Skip to near-infinite speed, would even Ultra Instinct Goku be able to anticipate his attacks?
This isn’t just some random fan matchup for me — this is one of those scenarios that forces us to think about how far the series’ powers can evolve. Hit’s entire arsenal is built around breaking the normal rules of a fight, while Ultra Instinct is designed to break the rules of reaction time. Putting those two in a rematch — with both at their peak — is like watching a chess match between a time traveler and a mind-reader.
Why Hit’s Time-Skip Is So Dangerous
When Hit first debuted in the Tournament of Destroyers, his Time-Skip wasn’t just about speed — it was about control over the moment. By freezing time for 0.1 seconds, he created a window where only he could act. Against opponents who rely on reading movements or predicting patterns, that’s devastating. The crazy part? By the Tournament of Power, he had already expanded it beyond that fraction of a second and mixed it with parallel techniques like time cages and phantom afterimages.
Now imagine that same assassin, but his skip isn’t fractions of a second — it’s effectively limitless. He could throw ten punches, move behind you, adjust his position, and be sipping tea before the “present” even catches up to you.
The Ultra Instinct Factor
Ultra Instinct isn’t simply about being “fast.” It’s about removing hesitation, letting the body respond automatically without waiting for conscious thought. We’ve seen Goku dodge hits from fighters who are faster than he can process mentally, because his body makes the choice before his mind does.
But here’s the thing — Ultra Instinct still requires a signal to react to. If Hit’s perfected Time-Skip means that attacks happen entirely outside the window of present perception, then there’s nothing for Ultra Instinct to dodge. You can’t react to an attack that, in your reality, has already landed. That’s where the matchup gets scary.
Can Instinct Predict the Future?
Some might argue that Goku’s battle sense — combined with Ultra Instinct — could evolve to read an opponent so deeply that he “feels” the attack before it manifests. We’ve seen small traces of this in the Moro arc, where Goku’s defensive Ultra Instinct seemed to almost anticipate incoming blows. But that’s not the same as true foresight.
For Goku to beat a near-infinite Time-Skip, his Ultra Instinct would have to blend with something like what Whis has hinted — anticipating multiple possibilities in advance. Otherwise, the gap between reaction and reality might be too wide to close.
Why This Fight Would Be Legendary
Beyond the mechanics, I just love the idea of this rematch because it flips the script. In their first fight, Goku was the one closing the gap on Hit’s technique. If Hit had mastered his ability to such an absurd degree, Goku would be the one under extreme pressure this time — constantly searching for a weakness in an opponent who can vanish between moments.
It’s not about raw power; it’s about skill meeting skill, where the smallest error is the difference between victory and defeat. And honestly, those are my favorite kinds of Dragon Ball battles.
Final Thoughts – The Match That Tests Limits
If I had to bet, I’d say Ultra Instinct would hold up against a highly advanced Time-Skip for a while — but if Hit pushed it to true near-infinite levels, even Goku would eventually be caught off guard. The only way he’d overcome it is by evolving Ultra Instinct into something more — maybe a form that combines his instinctive defense with some degree of preemptive offense.
And that’s why this matchup lives rent-free in my head: it’s a battle where we wouldn’t just learn who’s stronger — we’d learn if reaction can ever truly beat perfect anticipation.
And this is why you're my wife😭😭❤️
That being said, we kinda saw a match-up of this in the ToP. Pure speed vs Mastery of Time. Dyspo vs Hit. Yes Ultra Instinct is much more than just "speed" but this is the closest thing we have to this what-if matchup.
When you talked about Goku "feeling" Hit about to strike, it immediately brought my mind to Hit and Dyspo's fight. At first, Hit had the upper hand and every hit (hehe) was unanswered by Dyspo. He was making no ground and just like that, his tremendous speed was rendered almost useless. It was crazy to see. Dyspo, renowned as the speedster of the DB cosmos, slowed down by the speed limit that was Hit.
But this is where things get shaken up a little: speed isn't Dyspo's only game. As a member of his species who possess quite long ears (reminds me of Piccolo) Dyspo also relies on his high intuition, courtesy of his enhanced hearing. Remember when you said Goku could theoretically anticipate the unanticipated? Well Dyspo did something not unlike that. AIn the midst of the throes of battle, Dyspo made quite the valuable discovery. That Hit sort of makes a "sound" right before he time-skips! And just like that the tables had turned RIGHT around and the battle was highly in Dyspo's favour! Now Dyspo could effectively PREDICT the UNPREDICTABLE! Almost like a "get out of jail free" card, he was unstoppable now! The prisoner had become the prisonee (is that even a word?😭) and it was now HIT that was on the back foot! It was Hit who couldn't make a move without it being punished and countered to hell, Dyspo was reading this man like a book! Time-skip? Denied! Lemme try agai- Nu-uh! How about now- Not this time! One more tim- Not gonna happen, sir!
Every window was shut and every opening, closed.
It was now the ability HIT relied on that was rendered useless. If you can't even use your main ability then what hope do you have of victory? You might as well give up. And Dyspo, though it came across as cocky, was technically justified reasoning like this...
But now, here is where this story, once again, TWISTS fate. Hit, too, has more than just time-skipping up his purple sleeves. A highly skilled, pin-point, sharpshooter assassin who has lived for over a millenium, this man is the embodiment of experience, innovation and instinct, trained to perfection.
Being a stealthy mercenary, Hit is so much more than being adept with his physical abilities. The countless situations he's been in over the course of his life has forged him into a master of manipulation, perception and psychological warfare. He's not the only one with heightened intuition in this battle... far from it.
What happens from here on out is the average chessplayer playing against a master of chequers. Hit begins playing mind games with his opponents. Dyspo thinks he has found the key, the antidote, the Holy Grail against Hit's time-skip. And it's this same key that will lead to his own unlocking. Hit uses this against him by making the noise Dyspo has become accustomed to, on PURPOSE. Dyspo thinks he has it, he lunges, thinking his attack will land, like usual. But this time...no. He miscalculated? Hit, you didn't skip? Why didn't he skip?
Hit is not obliged to do anything! He knows. Now Dyspo has to account for his NOT skipping. And then Hit skips. Dyspo loses his momentum and control of the battle once again, and once again the battle has shifted in Hit's favour. Since he knows that Dyspo "knows" he's going to skip. Why not...NOT skip? And then when he "knows" he's not going to skip...he skips. The perfect counter! To skip or not to skip? Who knows? Make your lucky guess...
At the end of the day, if you're being read like a book, you take the pen and rewrite your chapters.
I think Goku would have to push ultra instinct to its absolute limits in order to beat a perfected time skip because I think being able to stop time is one of the scariest moves not just in dragon Ball but in all of anime because if you can't figure out how to stop it you are cooked but this would definitely be the ultimate chess match watching Goku and hit go back and forth just to see who would get the first hit in no pun intended this something I would definitely love to see a true battle of pure concentration but this fight is definitely in my top five of what ifs fights and thank you for another amazing article keep making great bangers and happy birthday queen of DBZ