Kurama (Naruto)

"I suppose I can't kill you, can I? After all, you die, I die. Your courage is impressive, little boy… Very well, as a reward for making it this far, I will loan you my chakra!"

- To Naruto Uzumaki

Kurama the Nine-Tails is a character in the Naruto series, and one of the Tailed Beasts, currently sealed inside Naruto Uzumaki, the main character in the Naruto anime and manga series.

Often regarded with fear and hate because of its power, Kurama endured centuries of being sought after and as used as a weapon with many regarding it as a being that had no emotions or feelings. This in turn caused Kurama to develop a strong, undying grudge against humanity and often fight his hosts for control of their bodies.

After being sealed into Naruto following its release from its previous host, Naruto's mother, Kushina Uzumaki, Kurama again sought control of its host, occasionally succeeding in situations where Naruto was driven to the point of anger or rage. This allowed Kurama to manifest itself and gave Naruto the ability to cause incredible damage while under Kurama's influence.

However, in recent times, with Naruto having learnt to control Kurama while treating it with respect, Kurama has overcome its hatred and resolved to help Naruto in regards to the two of them fighting together in the ongoing Fourth Shinobi World War.

Past
Kurama was born towards the end of the Sage of the Six Paths, who used his power to take the Ten-Tails’ chakra from its body and divide it into the nine tailed beasts to ensure that when he was gone, none would ever possess it. Some time afterwards, the Sage told Kurama and the others that they would always be together, even apart. He also said they would one day become one again with new names and forms, when they understood true power. As the centuries passed, Kurama would come to be considered an ancient force of nature, suddenly appearing in places where the darkest aspects of humanity festered and wipe them out.

On one occasion, the Gold & Silver Brothers of Kumogakure were commanded to capture Kurama, only to be swallowed alive. However they survived for two weeks, even taking in some of the fox beast’s power by feeding on its stomach flesh, before Kurama expelled them.

At another point, Madara Uchiha, upon his turning against Konoha, used his Sharingan to enlist Kurama in helping him kill the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju. The battle was titanic, creating a gigantic crater known as the Valley of the End, but Madara was defeated while Kurama was sealed within the body of Hashirama's wife Mito Uzumaki. It would be learned later that the seal keeping Kurama at bay could be weakened while his female Jinchuriki was in child labor.

Eventuallly, when Mito's life was almost spent, Kurama was transfered into Kushina Uzumaki, who later became the wife of the Fourth Hokage Minato Namikaze and pregnant. Taking advantage of her birthing Naruto, Tobi (Obito Uchiha in disguise) made sure Kurama would break free and took control of the Nine-Tails to have him destroy the Hidden Leaf.

Though Minato was able to break Tobi's hold over him, Kurama continued attacking Konoha due to his rage at the village responsible for sealing him away in the first place. Managing to teleport himself and Kurama back his wife's location, Minato resolved to seal the Nine-Tails within the newborn Naruto. However, due to the immense power Kurama had, Minato used the Reaper Death Seal to extract the Yin side of Kurama's being at the cost of his soul.

By then, Kurama realized Minato's intentions and attempted to kill Naruto before the process was complete. However, Minato and Kushina gave their lives to protect him, the parts of their souls absorbed in the process, and Kurama cursed the two as he was trapped in Naruto's body by the time the Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi arrived. Kurama's appearance in the Hidden Leaf had adverse effects that included Itachi Uchiha murdering his family when they plotted to take over after being accused of setting the Nine Tails on the village, his younger brother Sasuke Uchiha eventually becoming an enemy of Konoha upon learning the truth, and Kazuma gathering remains of Kurama's chakra to infuse into his son Sora.

First Encounters with Naruto
Naruto was originally unaware of being Kurama's Jinchuriki, treated as a outcast before learning the reason for it.

It was also while thinking his team mate, Sasuke, was killed by Haku that Naruto subconsciously accessed Kurama's power and used it to defeat the Kirigakure ninja. After Orochimaru used the Five Elements Seal to cut off Naruto’s access to Kurama’s power, Naruto learned of his ability from Jiraiya who taught him to access it on command by placing him a near-death experience in order to summon Gamabunta, the Boss Toad. Seeing Naruto before him, Kurama stated his desire to eat him before giving the defiant Naruto the power he needed to ensure their mutual survival. Since then, Naruto would use Kurama's chakra during his fights with Neji, Gaara, Itachi, and Kisame Hoshigaki.

During Naruto’s battle with Sasuke, Kurama healed the boy's injuries and deemed him weak, before giving him a full ninth of his chakra to assume his one-tailed Stage 1 Jinchuriki state through Naruto still lost to Sasuke when he used his Curse Mark. As revealed when training under Jiraiya, Naruto managed to reach to three tails before Kurama took over his mind and converted him into a four-tailed Jinchuriki form with Jiraiya nearly getting himself killed to snap Naruto out of it.

Struggles for Control
Giving Naruto back to Kakashi, Jiraiya informed him of Kurama's influence and gave him a special seal tag which he used when Naruto's rage over Gaara's death caused him to assume a two-tailed form to fight Deidara. With Kakashi hospitalized, Yamato was assigned to lead Team Kakashi to find out Orochimaru' location. But the reason for Yamato was due to his Wood Style resonating with the First Hokage's necklace and keep Naruto from being consumed by the Nine Tails. In the fight that followed, triggered by Naruto's anger at Orochimaru, Naruto assumed his Three-Tailed form with his mind nearly consumed by the Nine Tails chakra.

Fighting Orochimaru, Naruto's desire to defeat him enabled Kurama to take control have Naruto assume his Four-Tailed form.

In this state, Naruto became a mindless monster as he attacked everything, even his teammate, Sakura Haruno. When Yamato managed to suppress Kurama and Naruto realized he’d hurt Sakura, he swore to never use Kurama's power.

Even after nearly getting him killed by Sasuke, Naruto refused to accept Kurama's help before Sasuke appeared in his subconscious to the shock of Jinchuriki and Tailed Beast. Kurama was impressed by how strong Sasuke had become, noting how similar his chakra was to Madara before being easily suppressed as he warned Sasuke not to kill Naruto or he would regret it. Despite Naruto's refusal for his help, Kurama continued to pester Naruto and even sabotage his training sometimes.

During the invasion of Pain, Kurama took advantage of Naruto's rage over the assumed death of Hinata Hyuga to take control of his Jinchuriki and crush the First Hokage’s necklace as Naruto assumed his six-tailed state which overwhelmed Pain.

As his Jinchuriki began to use eight ninths of his power Kurama continued to influence Naruto into completely breaking the seal so he can free again. However, Minato stopped his son and restored the seal.

When Naruto returned to Mount Myoboku, he received Gerotora and the key to his seal so he could finally tame the Nine Tails in preparation for his battle with Sasuke. With the help of Killer Bee as his mentor, Naruto defeated his dark side and was brought to a room in a secret temple at the Falls of Truth, where he entered his subconscious to fight Kurama. Once Naruto released the seal, Kurama proceeded to battle him and Killer Bee as the former was attempting to siphon the Nine Tails chakra from him. Though Kurama almost took control of Naruto, he was stopped by Kushina who gave her son time to drain the Nine Tails dry of his chakra and trap him in a new seal.

Fourth Great Ninja War
Though Naruto could assume Nine Tails Chakra Mode, Kuruma could use the duration to drain Naruto of his own chakra to the point of killing him if he remained in his form for too long. As Naruto and Killer Bee make their way to the Fourth Great Ninja War, Kurama dragged Naruto into his subconscious where he once more tempted the boy to release him. But seeing Naruto was not for it, Kurama instead scolded him for being naïve for thinking he could end the war and put an end to Sasuke's hated. Taking offense to the latter remark, Naruto pinned the Nine Tails down and told him he already planned out out to solve both issues while shocking the Tailed Beast with the promise to someday help him with his own malice. As a result, Kurama became a bit more compliant from helping Naruto fight Madara to allowing the Jichuriki to use his Nine Tails Chakra Mode for longer periods of time.

Eventually, during the fight with Tobi and his Jinchuriki paths as he reflected on his history, Kurama began to see Naruto was not like the other humans he interacted with and stood back as his Jinchuriki managed to defeat Son Goku, who revealed his name to Naruto. Once Naruto convinced Son Goku that he would save him and the other Tailed Beasts from Tobi, Kurama offered to unite their separate chakras into one. Accepting the offer, having seen that Kurama has changed, Naruto removed the seal completely and acknowledged the Nine Tails as his teammate.

As a result of their new relationship, Kurama regained much of his potency while allowing Naruto to assume Tailed Beast Mode as they battled the other Tailed Beasts. Soon taking Naruto deep within the Tailed Beasts' personal space were Tobi couldn't follow, Kuruma talked with his kin, asking that if they also believed that Naruto was the one that the Sage of the Six Paths had told them about. Eventually, as Tobi resolved to begin Ten Tails's revial by feeding the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path Gyuki's tentacle and the prisons of the reanimated Gold and Silver Brothers, Kurama momentarily took over Naruto's body to explain the resulting doomsday while telling Tobi that Minato sealed him in Naruto to give the boy the power to defeat him.

Personality
Kurama is cynical, proud, foxy, cunning, and manipulative, his ideal he is the most powerful Tailed Beast causing him and the Tailed Beasts to go their separate ways after their creator died. Kurama hates and distrusts humans, a trait shared by the other Tailed Beasts save Gyuki as they were captured and considered nothing more than tools for the humans' fight among themselves.

Despite his malice towards humans, Kurama made two exceptions with the first being the Sage of the Six Paths whose final words to him and the other Tailed Beasts brought him to tears. The second exception was Naruto, whom he had an extremely hostile relationship with due to his boy's role as his prison and making on his need to get strong in hopes to break free. But seeing Naruto's compassion for the Tailed Beasts being abused by Tobi and attempt to save Son Goku convinced Kuruma to aid Naruto while discarding most of his rage and malice.

Rock Lee & His Ninja Pals
Kurama made a minor appearance in the spin-off Rock Lee & His Ninja Pals. Due to that the series features Rock Lee as the main protagonist instead of Naruto, who appeared as a supporting deuteragonist, he had a smaller role. He made his only known appearance in the Episode 23, after Lee & Naruto accidently swapped bodies. While having problems in facing Takigakure shinobi, Kurama used this to take over "Naruto" into accepting his power but was surprised to see Lee instead. Lee referred him to with a honorific "kun" & offered a green bodysuit as a present, to which Kurama instantly rejected it, saying it had no use for it. When Lee brought out a bone for Kurama as a replacement, the fox felt insulted and started to yell at him.

Seeing this, Lee came up with a parody of Nankyoko Monogatari, portraying Kurama as Taro, as his last attempt to try to befriend Kurama, but the irritated fox just simply scoffed it off. Noticing that Naruto and Lee's switched body situation had weakened the seal, Kurama made "Naruto" transform into his two-tailed chakra shroud, but chakra manifested themselves on his eyebrows instead of as tails shocking everyone. Kurama's chakra was soon suppressed by Kakashi with a Sealing Tag.

Powers and Abilities
Kurama is the most powerful of the nine tailed beasts, possessing massive amounts of chakra to unleash mass destruction with his roars and Tailed Beast Balls, powerful energy spheres. Kurama can also sense negative emotions and in the anime, is able to create tornadoes and breath fire. It was first said that a swipe of one of his nine tails can raise tsunamis and flatten mountains. Though he lost the yin side of his being, Kurama was still an authoritative and formidable foe, having incredible strength, speed, and durability. Kurama can be weakened by attacks if caught off guard and can temporarily die if killed while sealed in its host. Because he is sealed in Naruto, Kurama can infuse the boy with his power.

Trivia

 * Kurama’s name translates to “nine lama” and may also come from Mount Kurama, a sacred mountain said to be home of the Tengu, Sojobo, who taught people ninjitsu and other martial arts.
 * Kurama was inspired by the character of the same name from the manga, Yu Yu Hakusho. Like his namesake, Kurama is the based on the nine tailed fox sprit Kitsune from Japanese folklore.
 * Kurama shares his English voice actor, Paul St. Peter, with other antagonists: Xemnas, Yammy Llargo, Apocalymon, and Cherubimon.
 * Kurama shares his Japanese voice actor, Tessho Genda, with other antagonists: Toguro (Younger), Pierrot, and Kratos.
 * Kurama is very similar towards Greed; Both being sealed inside a protagonist who can call on their power and originally have no real alignment, acting on their whims and vices before becoming good guys.
 * He is similar to Lambda from the game "Tales of Graces F" : Both were monsters that were capiable of causing mass destruction. However, after spending time being imprisioned inside the protagonists (Naruto Uzumaki & Asbel Launt), they both grew a softer side for them.
 * Kurama also similar with Satan from O-Parts Hunter due to both are monstrous entities whom imprisoned inside the protagonist (Jio Freed for Satan and Kurama for Naruto) which resulting their hosts shunned by society and granted them immense powers whenever they were in danger. But the difference is, while Kurama was evil as result of being mistreated and the scapegoat of other antagonist that worse than himself as well as finally redeemed himself, Satan is pure evil and had no redeeming qualities.
 * Kurama is also similar to Amon, a character from Devilman: they are both two prisoner demons in the body of the protagonist (Naruto for Kurama, Akira Fudo for Amon) to whom they have given great skills: however, the modes that led the two demons To be merged with the protagonists are different, as Kurama was imprisoned in Naruto's body so he did not continue to cause disasters, while Amon was fused to Akira for the boy to use his powers to fight the invasion of demons. Moreover, Kurama has not always been wicked, and has been brought to it because of his tragic past while Amon is Pure Evil.