KURAMA 

Kurama (九喇嘛), more commonly known as the Nine-Tails (九尾, Kyūbi), was one of the nine tailed beasts. Centuries of being regarded as a mindless monster and sought after as a tool for war caused Kurama to hate humans. After being sealed into Naruto Uzumaki, Kurama attempts to maintain its cynical perspective about the world, but with Naruto's insistence on treating it with respect, the fox overturns its hatred and willingly strives to use its power for the world's salvation. 

Personal

Species

Kitsune

Status

Deceased

Classification

• Tailed Beast

• Sensor Type

• Sage

Jinchūriki

• Mito Uzumaki

• Kushina Uzumaki

• Minato Namikaze (Yin half)

• Naruto Uzumaki

• Black Zetsu (Yin half)

• Obito Uchiha (Yin half)

Affiliation

•  Konohagakure

•  Allied Shinobi Forces

Family

• Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki (Creator)

• Shukaku (Sibling)

• Matatabi (Sibling)

• Isobu (Sibling)

• Son Gokū (Sibling)

• Kokuō (Sibling)

• Saiken (Sibling)

• Chōmei (Sibling)

• Gyūki (Sibling)

Nature Type

•  Fire Release (Anime only)

•  Wind Release (Anime only)

Unique Traits

• Detects negative emotions

Jutsu

• Baryon Mode

• Chakra Transfer Technique

• Continuous Tailed Beast Balls

• Negative Emotions Sensing

• Nine-Tails Beam (Anime only)

• Nine-Tails Chakra Mode

• Nine-Tails Twister (Anime only)

• Sensing Technique

• Tailed Beast Ball

• Tailed Beast Chakra Arms

• Tailed Beast Full Charge

• Tailed Beast Shockwave

• Tailed Beast Telepathy

Background

Kurama and the tailed beasts first came into being in the waning days of Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki, who used his Creation of All Things Technique to divide the Ten-Tails' chakra into nine separate bodies and giving them each a name. Some time after being created, the Sage explained to the young tailed beasts that a link existed between them despite their separation. He also foretold of a day when they would be brought together again - though not as they were - and that at that time someone would emerge to show them what true power is.[6][7] In the anime, before his death, Hagoromo sent Kurama to live in a temple built for the purpose of protecting it in a forest region with mountains that would later become part of the Land of Fire. Over time, Kurama gained a fearsome reputation as a natural disaster that can desolate areas where the darkest aspects of human nature collect and fester.

During the time of the founding of the shinobi villages, the Gold and Silver Brothers of Kumogakure were assigned to capture Kurama, but were both swallowed whole by the fox. However, the two brothers survived and gained some of its power by eating the flesh of its stomach for two weeks, forcing Kurama to regurgitate them.

Kurama and Madara vs. Hashirama.

After Madara Uchiha's defection from Konohagakure, he found Kurama and used his Sharingan to control it, forcing the fox to help him fight against Hashirama Senju, the First Hokage. The epic battle left a colossal scar in the earth that would come to be called the Valley of the End. After his victory over Madara, Hashirama's wife Mito Uzumaki sealed the fox within herself, becoming its first jinchūriki.

Over the period of time which included the first two Shinobi World Wars, Mito kept Kurama at bay except when the seal nearly broke when she was going through childbirth. Towards the final years of Mito's life, it was decided that a new jinchūriki would have to be found, and that was another member of her clan, Kushina Uzumaki. Although Kushina was terrified when she learned of it, Mito comforted her young successor by telling her that by filling herself with love, Kushina would overcome the fox's hatred. This was shown years later that despite Kurama's constant attempts to destroy her hope for happiness as its jinchūriki and coerce her to break the seal, Kushina's love for Minato Namikaze and his love for her were proven to be strong enough to contain the fox.

Kurama, extracted from Kushina.

Soon after the end of the Third Shinobi World War, the Third Hokage made special arrangements for Minato to ensure that Kurama would remain sealed inside Kushina while she gave birth to Naruto on the night of October 10. However, despite keeping the childbirth a secret, a masked man called Tobi tracked down their location, killed their escorts, and held Naruto hostage, forcing Minato to quickly rescue him and teleport him to safety. Right after Tobi captured Kushina, he extracted and seized control of Kurama, and tried to have the fox kill its barely surviving jinchūriki, but Minato made it in time to save her. Soon afterwards, the masked man summoned Kurama into Konoha and ordered it to destroy the village.

Kurama attacks Konoha.

While Kurama was rampaging in the village, Minato fought against Tobi and soon managed to place a Contract Seal on him, which freed the fox from his control. Despite that, Kurama still harboured resentment against Konoha for sealing it away and continued decimating the shinobi forces that tried to repel it. As it prepared a Tailed Beast Ball, Minato summoned Gamabunta on top of the fox, and quickly teleported it to Kushina and Naruto's location, letting its Tailed Beast Ball detonate away from the village. Already dying from the extraction, Kushina used her remaining strength to restrain Kurama, planning to seal the fox back inside her so it would die with her. However, knowing that Kurama would revive without a host and how great a threat Tobi was, Minato instead came up with a plan to give his son the means to combat the masked man in the future.

Yang-Kurama, moments after being sealed within Naruto.

Because Kurama's chakra was too immense to be sealed within an infant, Minato first used the Dead Demon Consuming Seal to separate and seal its Yin half within himself, and then prepared the Eight Trigrams Seal to imprison the Yang half within Naruto. Realising what they were planning, Kurama attempted to kill Naruto, but both of the parents used themselves as shields and completed the sealing. Later, upon awakening within Naruto's subconscious and learning the reason behind Minato's intention, Yang-Kurama, though frustrated of being sealed again, decided to wait for the time to come when it would influence Naruto as much as it can to use its power to break the seal. Throughout the years, Kurama weakened the seal through the cracks of its formation by constantly leaking out small portions of its chakra, which had positive side-effects on Naruto such as amplifying his naturally large chakra reserves and healing ability, being able to heal from minor wounds within seconds to major injuries within a day.

In the anime, it was revealed that Kurama had left behind large amounts of its chakra during the attack. Kazuma, a former member of the Twelve Guardian Ninja, collected and sealed the chakra within his son, Sora, hoping to make use of its power for his own agenda.

Personality

Kurama was characterised as a snarky and shrewd individual. It used "washi" (ワシ) when referring to itself, which is generally used by older men. Kurama expressed great pride in its power, believing itself to be the strongest of the tailed beasts due to its belief that their strength is determined by their number of tails, which earned Kurama nothing but disapproval from its brethren, especially Shukaku. The fox would also react out of jealousy whenever Naruto was not using its power. Conversely, Kurama openly acknowledged the fact that it alone doesn't stand a chance against the Ten-Tails, and from its past experience with Madara, knew full well he was not an opponent to be underestimated, even when he was seemingly pushed into a corner. Kurama held great respect to Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki, as it was shown during the tailed beasts' youth that the fox shed tears after the Sage had imparted his final words to them.[7] Kurama's manner of speech was often harsh, but deep down it had a supportive disposition, as the fox expressed concern about its allies, and gave some words of encouragement to Kawaki.

The change in dynamics between Naruto and Kurama.

Centuries of receiving humanity's negative treatment caused Kurama to develop intense hostility and distrust against them, even going as far as proclaiming itself to be the living embodiment of hatred. Ever since its sealing within Naruto, Kurama plotted to use his dependence on its power to break free from the seal. Eventually, after Naruto managed to best Kurama in combat, the young shinobi then told the fox that he hoped to resolve its hatred someday. Despite audibly reproaching him for making such a claim, Kurama nevertheless had developed a level of respect for Naruto and his determination, even noting that he was different from the humans it had previously encountered, therefore allowing its jinchūriki to utilise the Nine-Tails Chakra Mode without consequence during the early stages of the Fourth Shinobi World War. Later on, as Naruto told Son Gokū of his desire to save the tailed beasts and become friends with Kurama, the fox — having witnessed all of the hardships and deeds Naruto had in his life — stood by to see if he could truly aid its brethren through his actions. When Naruto successfully freed Son Gokū from Obito's control, Kurama finally became convinced of Naruto's word and offered to meld its chakra with his as a coalition, to which Naruto then removed the seal that restrained it and happily acknowledged the fox as his teammate and a member of Konoha.

Ultimately, Kurama formed a strong bond with Naruto; the fox would proudly declare itself as his friend and able to laugh with the boy, and admit that it had the utmost faith in Naruto's ability to carry on the legacy Minato and Jiraiya had left him, therefore abandoning its grudge against Minato for sealing it. The two expressed trust in one another that Naruto would even allow Kurama to take control of his body and switch back without conflict. It was later shown that despite its Yang half being freed from its seal in Naruto, the fox willingly complied to Hagoromo's request for it to return to Naruto. Over time, it came to care for Naruto's family, finding them entertaining to be around. Its concern for Naruto was even shown when revealing the Baryon Mode, hiding the great risk of its own life if Naruto used the power because Kurama knew that he would oppose using the power if he knew the truth, showing that it would even go as far to sacrifice itself for him. In addition, thanks to its exploits during Fourth Shinobi World War and working alongside with Naruto, Kurama's peaceful existence expanded to the Five Great Shinobi Countries, as it would talk directly to the other Kage and assist over important matters.

Kurama also had a comical side of itself; the fox brazenly teased Naruto about his first kiss with Sasuke, argued with him about each other's stubbornness, and nervously lashed out at a joyful Naruto after the tailed beasts were freed from Kaguya Ōtsutsuki while flipping him off. In the anime, Kurama came to fear Himawari after being incapacitated by a Gentle Fist attack used by her during an incident where Naruto had to shield Boruto from Himawari, who attacked him in anger for damaging her plushy.

Appearance

• A young Kurama.

1/3

Kurama was a red-orange coloured kitsune with black fur around its red eyes that stretch up to its ears, and nine long swiping tails. It also had an upper-body structure of a human, complete with opposable thumbs on its clawed hands. During the last remaining days of Hagoromo, Kurama in its youth was much smaller in size, yet still towering over an adult, with leaner and softer while less-defined in shape with a rounder face, akin to a fox cub.[7]

Over time, Kurama's size grew to roughly equaling the Hokage Rock, and Gamabunta being only the size of Kurama's torso. Its pupil alone was bigger than a tall human. When Minato separated Kurama's Yin chakra and Yang chakra, it was split into two entities, both of which were shrunken more than half its original size, yet still roughly the size of other massive tailed beasts. While the two were basically identical to the other, Yang-Kurama retained its original colouring while Yin-Kurama was darker coloured.

While manifesting its Nine-Tails Chakra Mode, the fox's entire body took on a transparent golden colour, its whiskers were much thicker, and black circular markings appeared on its shoulders, stomach, as well as the front and back of its paws. Black lines also ran the length of its spine, arms, legs and tails. Additionally, while Naruto is in Sage Mode, Kurama gained similar thick dark patches circling around its eyes.[50] Upon gaining Naruto's Six Paths Chakra, Kurama's Tailed Beast Mode avatar grew to tremendous proportions, roughly the same size as Sasuke Uchiha's Six Paths Chakra-enhanced Complete Body — Susanoo, with its tails becoming bushier.

After both halves of Kurama were reunited, the fox grew even larger than ever before, to the point it was towering over a stump of a God Tree.

Abilities

See also: Jinchūriki Forms, Nine-Tails Chakra Mode, and Baryon Mode

Kurama's destructive power.

Kurama was widely known as the strongest of the nine tailed beasts.[ Hashirama Senju, who could subdue the fox, viewed it as too powerful and dangerous to be left roaming free. Even with only half its power, Kurama remained strong enough to defeat five other tailed beasts at the same time. After the Fourth Shinobi World War, Kurama's full power was restored once its two halves reunited inside Naruto, allowing it to defeat Toneri's giant golem and Momoshiki Ōtsutsuki's elemental construct. The absolute peak of its power allowed it to even decisively overwhelm Isshiki Ōtsutsuki. Kurama later became able to manifest itself outside of Naruto, allowing the two to fight independently and away from each other.

Chakra and Physical Prowess

Kurama's chakra is enough to power up an entire shinobi army.

Kurama possessed vast and powerful chakra, the most of the nine tailed beasts alongside Gyūki, and was required to be sealed last into the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path to avoid overloading it. It could also accumulate a huge amount of chakra shortly after it has used up most of its own, enough to be passed on to the entire Allied Shinobi Forces and be felt countries away by non-sensors. Due to Naruto's compatibility with Kurama's chakra, any chakra it possessed is limited for its jinchūriki alone, unless it was moulded to fit the recipient's unique chakra signature.

When used by others, the chakra became dense enough to be seen as a visible shroud than can further protect the wearer. Using its chakra, Kurama could shroud itself within its Nine-Tails Chakra Mode to increase its power. As a last-ditch ability, Kurama could enter Baryon Mode. In this state, similar to nuclear fusion, Kurama's chakra was consumed as raw materials to produce a new type of energy. When in use, it dramatically boosted Kurama's reflexes, raw might, and chakra to extreme levels. Because all chakra is connected, the same power that is produced from bits of their lives also works to reduce the lifespan of opponents on contact. Due to its extreme energy consumption, Kurama must remain focused and not waste energy of extraneous thoughts and actions, to maximise the amount of time Baryon Mode can be maintained.

Kurama had a great deal of brute force, reputedly able to raise tsunamis and flatten mountains with just a single swipe of a tail. Even with half its strength, it could overpower Obito's controlled tailed beasts, smash Madara's senjutsu-enhanced Susanoo with a tail, and with the Six Paths Chakra, battle Sasuke's Tailed Beast-enhanced Complete Body — Susanoo. Kurama was deceptively quite fast, able to catch Naruto in Sage Mode. The fox was also durable enough to withstand several senjutsu-enhanced attacks, and block a Tailed Beast Ball from the Ten-Tails' initial form.

Ninjutsu

Kurama supercharges a Tailed Beast Ball even on low chakra.

As a tailed beast, Kurama could create a Tailed Beast Ball, and was able to fire it as a beam or rapid blast of spheres. Unlike most tailed beasts, Kurama could supercharge it, creating one many times its own size for much greater power, even on wisps of chakra. One of these was powerful enough to counter a collaborated Tailed Beast Ball from five tailed beasts. At full power, Kurama's Tailed Beast Ball could blast Toneri's giant golem through the moon and into orbit.

Kurama accumulating natural energy.

Kurama could create destructive shockwaves, capable of dispersing a massive Rasengan, knocking back five tailed beasts at once, and destroying entire city blocks as shown when he used it against Konoha. Even when limited through Naruto's Version 1 and 2 states, they were strong enough to destroy an entire bridge and repel Pain's Shinra Tensei respectively. Kurama also had adept sensor skills, able to detect chakra from great distances and uniquely able to sense negative emotions, as well as natural energy, which it could accumulate and transfer to Naruto to create senjutsu chakra. In the anime, it is shown using Wind and Fire Release nature transformations, being able to generate twisters and breathe fire.

Intelligence

Kurama was very cunning and could formulate strategies in the midst of battle. Through Naruto's body, the fox tricked Obito into using Kamui to absorb Kakashi into Kamui's dimension, only for Obito to become vulnerable to Kakashi's attacks as he phased through Naruto's punch. Kurama had also shown remarkable leadership skills, being able to calmly and effectively instruct its allies on how best to engage the Ten-Tails. In the anime, it had enough knowledge of fūinjutsu to determine the natures and weaknesses of the Eight Trigrams Seal that bound it inside Naruto. In addition, Kurama had an advanced understanding of nuclear physics, particularly the nuclear fusion that occurs within the Sun.