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.

## 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. 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.

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.

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.

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.

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. 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.

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. After Neji Hyūga died in Naruto's arms, causing the latter's spirit to become shaken and doubtful, Kurama fiercely reaffirmed Neji's sacrifice, reminding Naruto of his parents's similar sacrifices for him, and how they shouldn't be in vain. 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.