If you know Naruto, you must also be familiar with Kurama. Yes, the nine-tailed beast, Kurama. As much as fans love to see Naruto and other characters, Kurama has successfully built a fanbase of his own.
Have you seen baby Kurama? Adorable!!!
This friendly beast was not always an ally. It took Naruto some effort to finally tame and make friends with him. Before we get into the real deal, let’s know a little more about our Beast.
Who is Kurama?
Most commonly known as the Nine-Tails (九尾, Kyūbi), Kurama was one of the tailed beasts. With immense powers and abilities, Kurama was feared by many and often sought out as a weapon for wars. This made Kurama develop hatred toward humans.
With time, Kurama was sealed into individuals, who were strong enough to hold the overwhelming powers of the tailed beast. Finally, Naruto became the Jinchuriki of Kurama and made friends with him.
How did Kurama come into existence?
It all started with Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki or better known as the Sage of Six Paths. Hagoromo along with his brother, Hamura, defeated their mother, Kaguya, as she was creating havoc in the world with her powers. After the battle, Hagoromo decided to share the powers that he inherited from his mother and traveled across the world. He even taught his sons, Indra and Ashura about the ninshū.
From Ashura, he came to know, that true peace was only obtained when there prevailed love and peace in the world. Inspired by his son, he decided to divide the Ten-Tails chakra within his body. By using the Creation of All Things Technique, he divided the chakra into nine individual beasts.
The tailed beasts are distinguished by the number of tails they had, ranging from one to nine.
- One-Tails: Shukaku
- Two-Tails: Matatabi
- Three-Tails: Isobu
- Four-Tails: Son Goku
- Five-Tails: Kokuo
- Six-Tails: Saiken
- Seven-Tails: Chomei
- Eight-Tails: Gyuki
- Nine-Tails: Kurama
This is how Kuram along with other tailed beasts came into existence. Hagoromo along with his followers built nine temples for the beasts. Before his death, he said that the tailed beasts would unite together someday as one.
How did Naruto get Kurama?
As Hagoromo separated the tailed beasts, they were kept in temples for their safety and protection. However, as time passed by humans got their hands on them, and started using them against each other in wars. Just like another tailed beast, Kurama was kept in a temple, in the region with forests and mountains, which later became the Land of Fire.
The Gold and Silver Brothers
During the early days, Kurama had already gained a reputation of being the mightiest monster. Seeking its power, the shinobi village, Kumogakure, sent The Gold and Silver brothers. However, they were eaten by Kurama. Amazingly, they were surviving on Kurama’s flesh. This led them to obtain a small amount of Kurama’s chakra.
Kurama’s history with the Uzumakis
After Madara gained control of Kurama, he used him against Hashirama, The First Hokage of Konohagakure. However, Madar was defeated in the battle. After the intense fight, Kurama was sealed in Hashirama’s wife, Mito Uzumaki, making her the first Jinchuriki of Kurama.
For the first two Shinobi Wars, Mito was able to keep the beast at bay. During her final years, she decided to pass on the powers to one of her clan members, Kushina Uzumaki. Later she married Minato Namikaze, of the Leaf Village, who later became the Fourth Hokage.
After Kushina, his former and the last Jinchuriki was Naruto Uzumaki.
How did Kurama get sealed in Naruto?
After the end of the Third Shinobi War, when things were just starting to settle down, another misfortune occurred. The seal that kept Kurama inside Kushina, was believed to get weak during childbirth. So, if the seal got weak, there was a high chance that Kurama would get out and destroy the village. So in order to prevent that, The Third Hokage and his wife assured Minato that they would be there for Kushina during childbirth.
However, things didn’t go as planned, as a man named Tobi, infiltrated the place. He took Kushina with him and extracted the tailed beast out of her. He soon got control of Kurama and tried to kill Kushina. Luckily, Minato got there just in time and saved her. Tobi used Kurama and began destroying the Leaf Village.
After his fight with Tobi, Minato freed the tailed beast from Tobi’s control. He quickly teleported to Kushina and their newborn baby, Naruto. Kushina used her remaining chakra to restrain Kurama and planned on taking him with her, after her death. However, Minato knew that it would be of no use, as Kurama was able to survive without a host. So he came up with a plan of his own.
He decided to seal Kurama inside Naruto. But since Naruto was just an infant, Minato believed it would be too much for him. So he used The Dead Demon Consuming Seal to separate the Nine-Tails chakra and seal its Yin half within himself. He then used the Eight Trigrams Seal to seal The Yang Half within Naruto.
Yes, sadly this is the part, where both Minato and Kushina get pierced by Kurama, as they try to shield Naruto from his attack. They both die while protecting their baby.
When did Naruto join forces with Kurama?
For a long time, believed to be a monster, Kurama was always feared and misunderstood. Because Kurama was always sought out as a weapon, he developed a feeling of hate towards humans kind. Over the year, the Jinchurikis never really tried to understand the beast and only tried to get it under control by any means.
In the series, we saw how Kurama was chained to a rock by Kushina. All they ever saw was a beast, nothing more. However, it all changed when Naruto took over.
Naruto and Kurama weren’t always as close as they are now. However, Naruto could relate to Kurama for being misunderstood. He became an outcast and was considered a monster having a tailed beast inside him. So he knew how it felt to be neglected and looked down upon.
In Naruto Shippuden, episode 321, Two Man Team, Naruto finally becomes friends with Kurama. Before that, Naruto always tried his best to understand the beast and tame its power but failed. Nevertheless, seeing the young ninja’s determination and pure intentions, Kurama finally gave in and teamed up with Naruto.
During the Fourth Shinobi War, Naruto along with Killer B and other comrades fought against Tobi. Just when Naruto was running out of his powers, he is transported to the realm, where Kurama is kept. Kurama was inside a cage, with The Eight Trigrams sealed in its gates. After a deep conversation between the two, Kurama agreed to lend Naruto his powers and forged a lifelong friendship with him.
After Naruto got Kurama’s immense powers, Naruto transformed into his Full-tailed beast form. With the newly gained powers, Naruto cloned himself and deflected the tailed beast bombs away from Guy and Kakashi. With the help of his clones, he was able to take out the chakra receivers from the Tailed beasts. In doing so, Naruto was able to meet with all the tailed beasts and receive little of their chakras. However, Naruto’s transformation ended and Tobi resealed the tailed beasts into the statue again.
The Legendary Fist Bump
One of the most legendary scenes from the series has to be the fist bump between Naruto and Kurama. After their conversation, they decide to do a fist bump, entrusting each other with their lives.
And can we talk about the scene where Naruto opens Kurama’s gate? Certainly will go down in history.
Kurama’s Unique Abilities
The Nine-Tails, Kurama is believed to be the strongest Tailed beast after the Ten-Tails.
Being a tailed beast, Kurama possessed a massive amount of chakra. Since it was able to survive without a host, Hashirama and Minato both believed it was a force to be reckoned with. When he joined forces with Naruto, he was able to fight off the five tail-beasts all at once.
Kurama possessed a massive reserve of chakra. He gained the used-up chakra very quickly, even after he used a huge amount of it. Similarly, he was able to use Baryon Mode, in which he used his chakra to create new energy. Being a tailed beast, Kurama was able to create a massive Tailed Beast Bomb. Along with this, he was also able to create destructive shockwaves and massive Rasengan.
Not only did he possess physical strengths and excellent ninjutsu, but he was also very intelligent. He was able to formulate plans on battlefields, proving he was not just some mindless beast.
Does Kurama leave Naruto?
In one of the episodes of Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, Kurama actually dies. Yes, hard to believe, but Kurama does leave Naruto.
In the Boruto series, Naruto fought against Isshiki. In order to save Naruto, Kurama put his own life on the line. Kurama gave all his power to fuel the Bayron mode and saved Naruto. Since all his chakra was used up, he lost his life. But till the end proved his bond with Naruto, protecting him till his last breath.
Fans never imagined that the tailed beasts could even die. Well, turns out they don’t really die but rather disappear when they exceed their chakra limit. So, once enough chakra is collected again they can be resurrected and reincarnation is possible.
Let’s hope we will get to see him again.
Is Naruto weak after losing Kurama?
Naruto might have lost some of his tailed beast powers, after losing Kurama. But let me remind you, he is not weak at all. He still has immense chakra and many powerful jutsus up his sleeve. On top of being a Hokage, Naruto had The Fourth Hokage as his father and a powerful Uzumaki as his mother. Just imagine the strength he got from these two.
Aside from this, Naruto is also able to use some great techniques, such as the Six Paths Sage Mode, The Rasengan, Rashenshuriken, transformation jutsu, summoning jutsu and etc.
So yeah, if you think Naruto is weak, think again.
Well, the bond between Naruto and Kurama certainly did come a long way. From despising to putting lives on line for each other, over time their friendship bloomed.
