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.

## **Appearance**

Kurama has both a human form and a fox form. In his human form, he appears as a young man with a well-built figure and red-orange hair with red eyes.

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.

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

## **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 jealously 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 Seven Great Beasts, knew full well they was not opponents to be underestimated, even when they 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. Kurama's manner of speech was often harsh, but deep down it had a supportive disposition, as the fox expressed concern about its allies.

## **History**

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' power 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 past, before his journey, 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 World of Shinto. 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.

## **Power & Abilities**

**Immense Strength:** Kurama is extremely powerful stated to be in the Top 10 Universal Beings and being able to defeat his siblings with no effort.

Despite being split in half, he states that his power is comparable if not stronger to Shiva.

**Immense Speed:** Kurama is extremely fast being able to keep up with Akali

Immense Durability:

**Transformation:** Kurama has the ability to change between his human form and his giant nine-tailed fox form. He is also able to sprout and hide his nine fox tails and ears whenever he chooses appear human in public.

**Youjutsu:** Kurama is well-versed in

## **Quotes**

* (To Shukaku) "That's rich coming from a weaking like you baka-tanuki!"

## **Trivia**

* "Kurama" (九喇嘛) literally means "nine lama".
* Kurama is stated to be within the "*Top 10 Strongest Universal Beings*".
* Kitsune (狐, *fox*) are popular animal yōkai in Japanese folklore, and are very well-known to be cunning tricksters with shape-shifting abilities, to which on occasions, use to transform themselves into beautiful women in order to seduce men. They are also said to be rivals to the tanuki, which created an old Japanese proverb: "A fox and a tanuki matching their cleverness" (狐と狸の化かし合い, *kitsune to tanuki no bakashi ai*), which meant the two sly characters trying to outsmart one another. However, kitsune are known to keep their promises, a trait Naruto has. Stories often depict kitsune growing additional tails as they age, which increases their magical power; once a kitsune reaches 1,000 years of age and grows their ninth and final tail, their fur turns gold and becomes a tenko (天狐, *celestial fox*), making themselves equivalent to a kami.