Kurama

, more commonly known as the, is a tailed beast currently sealed within Naruto Uzumaki of Konohagakure. The fox was first sealed into Mito Uzumaki after the battle at the Valley of the End, then into Kushina Uzumaki after Mito's death.

Background
Kurama first came into being in the waning days of the Sage of the Six Paths, who used his Creation of All Things ability to separate the Ten-Tails' chakra from its body and divide it into nine separate constructs that would come to be known as tailed beasts in order to ensure that it would never resurface after his death. Some time after being created, the Sage sat down with all the young tailed beasts and told them that they would always be together even when separated, and that one day they would become one entity again with different names as well as forms than they did then when the time came for them to understand what true power is. Over the centuries, Kurama has gained a reputation as an age-old natural disaster, appearing suddenly out of nowhere to attack areas that have breeding grounds for the darkest aspects of human nature.

At one point during the time of the formation of the shinobi villages, the Gold and Silver Brothers of Kumogakure were assigned to capture Kurama, but they were both swallowed whole by the fox. However, the two brothers managed to survive and gain some of its power by eating the flesh of its stomach for two weeks, which caused Kurama to regurgitate them.

After that event, when Madara Uchiha defected from Konoha, he used his Sharingan to control and use Kurama to help him fight against Hashirama Senju, the First Hokage, to exact his revenge. During their battle, Madara combined his Susanoo with Kurama to increase the latter's offensive and defensive capabilities. However, Hashirama was able to remove Susanoo from Kurama and released it from Madara's control as well as subduing it. Hashirama deemed Kurama too dangerous to be allowed to walk free and 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 for one occasion when the seal had weakened as she was going through childbirth. Toward the end of her life, Mito passed on this status and responsibility to another member of her clan, Kushina Uzumaki, who later became the wife of Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage. Although Kushina was terrified with the responsibility of containing Kurama, Mito assured her successor that the fox's hatred was powerless against her love.

Twelve years before the start of the series, after the end of the Third Shinobi World War, the Third Hokage and his wife made preparations to ensure that Kurama would remain sealed within Kushina as she gave birth to Naruto. However, despite keeping her childbirth a secret, Obito Uchiha discovered Kushina's location, killed her escorts and managed to break the seal, seizing control of Kurama. Since Kushina survived the extraction, Obito tried to have Kurama kill her before Minato got her and their son to safety. Soon afterwards, Obito summoned Kurama into Konoha and ordered it to destroy the village.

While Kurama was rampaging in the village and decimating the shinobi forces that tried to repel it, Minato managed to place a Contract Seal on Obito during their fight to free the fox from the masked man's control. Despite no longer being in Obito's control, Kurama still harbored a deep hatred for Konoha for viewing it as nothing but a mindless beast and sealing it away for decades and resolved to destroy the village without orders from Obito. Before Kurama could annihilate Konoha, Minato summoned Gamabunta on top of the fox, and later teleported it to Kushina and Naruto's location, while letting its Tailed Beast Ball detonate away from the village. Soon afterwards, Kushina used her chakra chains to subdue Kurama, planning to seal it back inside her before she dies. However, Minato, knowing that Kurama would revive without a host and a threat the masked man still was to the village, came up with a different plan to give Konoha the means to combat him if he should ever attack the village again.

Since Minato himself couldn't fully seal Kurama as it was, he used the Dead Demon Consuming Seal to seal its Yin chakra within the death god and then prepared the Eight Trigrams Seal to imprison the fox, along with its Yang chakra, within Naruto. Kurama realised Minato's intention and attempted to stop the process by killing Naruto while Kushina was weakened, but both the parents sacrificed themselves to protect their newborn child and completed the sealing, with Kurama cursing the pair during its last moments of freedom.

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

Personality
Kurama is a cynical and shrewd individual, along with a somewhat twisted sense of humour. It uses when referring to itself, which is generally used by older men. Kurama also has remarkable leadership skills, being able to stay completely composed even when being overwhelmed by the Ten-Tails and effectively tell its new team-mates on how best to handle the mighty tailed beast. Kurama is also shown to be very prideful as when Kakashi told the fox it was acting like a captain, Kurama immediately replied if he had any problems with that. In a flashback, it is revealed that Kurama cares greatly about the Sage of the Six Paths, viewing him with great respect for the way he treated the tailed beasts and even shed tears after the Sage had imparted his final words to them. However, this sentiment was not extended to its brethren, as Gyūki mentioned that they, especially Shukaku, really disliked Kurama for its belief that their strength is determined by their number of tails. Kurama even told Naruto that he should be ashamed for having Gyūki help him in their battle over its chakra.

Having intense hatred and distrust against humans, Kurama plotted to use Naruto's dependence on its power to gain control over the youth and eventually break free from the seal, before it was bested in combat and stripped of most of its chakra. However, their relationship soon began to change during the Fourth Shinobi World War, when Naruto himself told Kurama that he hoped to resolve its hatred someday. Despite the fox reproaching him for making such a claim, it nevertheless showed Kurama that Naruto was different from the humans it had previously encountered, eventually allowing him to utilise the Nine-Tails Chakra Mode without it consuming any more of his chakra. Later, 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 challenges and endeavours Naruto had in his life — silently told the young man that if he truly intended to help them, he would have to prove it 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 team-mate from Konoha.

Within that short space of time, the two had begun to express trust in one another, even to the point where Naruto would allow Kurama to take control of his body without worry, and switch back without hesitation. Kurama later admitted that it had the utmost faith in Naruto being able to defeat Obito and to carry on the legacy Minato and Jiraiya had left him, which also means that it no longer holds a grudge against Minato for sealing it inside of Naruto. Kurama is also shown to be more caring about its comrades now as it put itself in harms way to save B and Gyūki.

Appearance
Although Kurama is a kitsune with red-orange fur and red eyes, it possesses the upper-body structure of a human, complete with opposable thumbs on its clawed hands. During the last remaining days of the Sage of the Six Paths, Kurama was a young kitsune much smaller than its present-day self, but was still much larger than the Sage. As time passed, Kurama's size increased to be around the same height, if not taller, as the Hokage Monument. When captured by Madara Uchiha, Kurama had achieved a size larger than a massive plateau, and small mountain it was standing in front of. Later, despite shrinking a lot after having its Yin chakra sealed away, it still remained a massive entity and towered above most structures. When Naruto separated Kurama from its chakra, its entire physique became visibly emaciated, but it later regained its healthy look after consuming Naruto's chakra while he was using its own.

After having its cage opened by Naruto — who had assumed a new form — this is also reflected on Kurama, when Naruto transforms into it. In this form, the fox's whiskers become much thicker, and circular markings appear on its shoulders, stomach, as well as the front and back of its paws. Lines also run down its spine, arms, legs and tails. Its size was comparable to that of the other tailed beasts, standing a little taller than Gyūki when standing alongside it.

Abilities
The self-proclaimed strongest of the nine tailed beasts, it is said that Kurama can create tsunamis and flatten mountains with just a single swipe from one of its tails. With its massive supply of chakra, it can create powerful shockwaves that can repel, and destroy almost anything within its radius. Kurama also has the ability to sense negative emotions, and used this in the past to prey on its victims such as its host Naruto Uzumaki. In the anime, it was also shown to be able to create twisters and breathe fire.

During its battle with Naruto within his subconscious, Kurama showed a great deal of brute physical strength and was effortlessly able to block Naruto's Sage Art: Ultra-Big Ball Rasengan with its tails, and — with Gyūki's assistance — fight and defeat five tailed beasts. It was also able to stave of the Eight-Tails' attempts to render assistance to Naruto during this time. Naruto also noted that it was extremely fast despite its massive size. In addition, it was shown that even when most of its chakra was taken by Naruto during their battle in his subconscious, Kurama still had enough to create a large-scale Tailed Beast Ball. Despite all this, Kurama is well aware of its own limitations and even acknowledged the fact that it alone doesn't stand a chance against the Ten-Tails.

Kurama is shown to be extremely durable, only to be stunned by attacks that deal with massive physical impacts (such as Naruto's senjutsu-enhanced Wind Release: Rasenshuriken and Sage Art: Many Ultra-Big Ball Spiralling Serial Spheres). Even though its final Susanoo armour was stripped off by Hashirama's Top Transformed Buddha barrage, Kurama was undamaged. While as Naruto's Tailed Beast Mode, it was also strong enough to block a Tailed Beast Ball from the Ten-Tails' initial form with minimum damage. Kurama is also very clever, which though was normally put to conniving use in the past, it showed itself to be a master tactician, both of which it was able to put to good use on the battlefield during the Fourth Shinobi World War.

Activity inside Naruto
As Kurama's jinchūriki, Naruto is gifted with its enormous supply of chakra, to which Kakashi Hatake estimated it to be a hundred times greater than his own when its influence is not suppressed. Depending on the amount of Kurama's chakra he's using, Naruto is given an increase in strength, speed, and his healing factor are pushed to such levels that he completely recovered from a Chidori through his chest in mere moments with no lingering signs of injury. At times, he is also granted a fox-shaped chakra shroud with massive invulnerability, being able to resist being pierced by Orochimaru's Sword of Kusanagi, a sword known as being able to cut through adamantine, and is completely undamaged by the alkali substance excreted by Saiken, which was able to damage Gyūki and disintegrate its surroundings rapidly. Kurama was also believed to be played a role in enhancing the Uzumaki clan's healing ability that Naruto inherited from his mother.

Land of Waves Arc
Naruto first made use of the Nine-Tails' chakra during his battle with Haku. Believing Haku to have killed Sasuke, Naruto gave into his anger and entered his initial jinchūriki form in order to defeat Haku.

Chūnin Exam Arc
During the Second Stage of the the Chūnin Exams, the Nine-Tails' chakra emerged again while Naruto battled with a disguised Orochimaru in the Forest of Death. Although Naruto's strength abilities increased, Orochimaru recognised the Nine-Tails' power, and countered it with the Five Elements Seal. The seal blocked Naruto's access to the fox's chakra and rendered him unconscious.

Jiraiya, who removed Orochimaru's seal, later explained to Naruto that he possessed two types of chakra. Naruto didn't realise that he was talking about the Nine-Tails until he was taught to take advantage of it. In order to induce Naruto to use the fox's chakra, Jiraiya pushed Naruto off a cliff. In a desperate act to save his own life, Naruto entered his subconscious and met with the Nine-Tails for the first time. The fox expressed immediate desire to kill and devour the boy, but Naruto, even though he knew the power of what he faced, bravely demanded he be given chakra as a form of "rent" for living in his body. Realising that Naruto's death would result in its own, the intrigued Nine-Tails complied, giving Naruto enough chakra to summon Gamabunta.

The Nine-Tails kept quiet until Naruto faced Neji Hyūga in the first match of the final rounds of the Chūnin Exams. After Neji used his Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms technique to block Naruto's chakra points, Naruto called upon the Nine-Tails for assistance. Without hesitating, it gave Naruto enough chakra to force his chakra points open and defeat Neji.

Invasion of Konoha Arc
During Sunagakure and Otogakure's Invasion of Konoha, Naruto and Gamabunta both did a Combination Transformation technique to take the form of a giant fox (the Nine-Tails itself in the anime), to battle against Gaara in his full Shukaku form. As the battle was near to its conclusion, Naruto once again called upon the Nine-Tails for chakra in order to defeat Gaara, and it complied again without hesitation.

Search for Tsunade Arc
While on his search for Tsunade with Jiraiya, Naruto was confronted by Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki of Akatsuki. Naruto tried to use the Nine-Tails' chakra to help him fight against them, but Kisame quickly used his Samehada sword to absorb it all and attempted to cut off Naruto's arms. Luckily, Jiraiya arrived in time to block Kisame's attack with his toad summon and was able to force both Akatsuki members to retreat.

Later, before Naruto defeated Kabuto Yakushi with a completed Rasengan, Kabuto severed Naruto's heart muscles, and his neighbouring chakra system, to which the Nine-Tails was unable to heal its host. While Tsunade desperately tried to save Naruto, the Nine-Tails noticed that its power was fading as its surroundings grew darker and darker. It, like Naruto, had a near death experience, something it was slow to recognise. Fortunately, Naruto and the Nine-Tails were able to survive this encounter through the help of Tsunade and her medical ninjutsu.

Sasuke Retrieval Arc
During the first stage of Naruto's battle with Sasuke at the Valley of the End, Sasuke, in his first level of the Cursed Seal of Heaven, pierced a fatal wound in Naruto's right shoulder with his Chidori. Fortunately, the Nine-Tails quickly gave Naruto enough chakra to heal his large wound almost instantly and entered his initial jinchūriki form. However, as the fight continued, Sasuke was able to predict and overcome Naruto's attacks with his then fully matured Sharingan. The Nine-Tails condemned the unconscious Naruto for being too weak and gave him more of its usual chakra to attain the one-tailed form, something the fox indicated that he should be grateful for.

Land of the Sea Arc
In the anime, Naruto fought against Amachi in the Land of the Sea after he discovered that the scientist became a monster by utilising the same research he used on Isaribi. Naruto was overwhelmed by Amachi's power at first, but as his desire to keep Isaribi from becoming a monster grew, the Nine-Tails immediately gave Naruto enough chakra to enter his initial jinchūriki form, and he quickly defeated Amachi.

Kazekage Rescue Arc
During the conclusion of his battle against the Akatsuki member Deidara, which turned out to be a clay clone, Naruto slipped into his two-tailed form out of anger about Gaara's death. Immediately, Kakashi placed Jiraiya's special seal tag on Naruto's forehead, restoring him back to normal.

Sasuke and Sai Arc
When his three-tailed form was proven insufficient in his fight against Orochimaru, Naruto gave into the Nine-Tails and entered his four-tailed form. The Nine-Tails took control of his senses and began to attack everything that was around him, including both Orochimaru and Sakura Haruno. After its influence was suppressed by Yamato, he told Naruto that he was the cause of Sakura's injury, which greatly shocked Naruto and resolved not to rely on the Nine-Tails' power again.

Soon afterwards, when Naruto encountered Sasuke again for the first time in almost three years, the Nine-Tails began to offer Naruto its chakra, but he firmly rejected its assistance. The fox became contemptuous at Naruto, mocking him that if it wasn't for its power, he would be nothing. It then tempted Naruto to break the seal so it can "grant" him all of its power, but he still refused. However, before their quarrel could escalate any further, Sasuke, with his active Sharingan, suddenly appeared within Naruto's subconscious, which surprised both Naruto and the Nine-Tails. The Nine-Tails became impressed with Sasuke's growth and ability, but as it stated that Sasuke's chakra was similar to Madara Uchiha, Sasuke effortlessly suppressed the fox's residual chakra with his Sharingan. Although angrily shocked by the display of his power, the Nine-Tails concluded that this might be its last meeting with Sasuke, so it warned him not to kill Naruto, because he would only end up regretting it.

Twelve Guardian Ninja Arc
In the anime, the Nine-Tails reacted to its leftover chakra that was stored within Sora. When Naruto in his three-tailed form battled Sora in his four-tailed form, the Nine-Tails started to force Naruto to accept its power, but he was able to keep it from taking control of his body as he threatened the fox to back off. The Nine-Tails begrudgingly pulled back, but it soon managed to absorb back all of its chakra from Sora.

Hidan and Kakuzu Arc
During Naruto's nature transformation training, the Nine-Tails' chakra was surfacing within some of his shadow clones that had grown very frustrated with combining the Rasengan with his wind element. Fortunately, Yamato was able to suppress the chakra before it could cause serious damage.

Invasion of Pain Arc
During Naruto's training at Mount Myōboku, the Nine-Tails prevented Fukasaku from fusing with Naruto, making it impossible for him to mould senjutsu chakra for Naruto.

Later, during Naruto's battle with Pain, he slipped into his six-tailed form right after Pain appeared to have killed Hinata Hyūga. Despite the necklace's attempts to suppress it, the Nine-Tails quickly seized the necklace and crushed it. When Naruto was soon contained by Pain's Chibaku Tensei technique, the Nine-Tails tempted Naruto to entrust his heart to it so that it could destroy everything that was causing Naruto pain, thus distorting the seal to the point where the eight-tailed form was released. Before it could convince him to completely remove the seal, the spirit of Minato appeared in Naruto's subconscious and stopped him. Enraged, the Nine-Tails tried to dare Minato to come closer so it could rip him to shreds, but Minato simply ignored it and restored the seal to its original strength.

Chikara Arc
In the anime, Kabuto Yakushi implanted a swarm of his special snakes into Naruto by accident during his mission at The Hole. The Nine-Tails attempted to purge the foreign entities from Naruto's body, but the snakes took in a portion of its chakra, and when Naruto vomited them out, they formed into a savage clone of him in the Version 2 form. Seemingly amused by the situation, the Nine-Tails willingly allowed the clone to siphon out more its chakra from Naruto's body, causing the clone to transform into a large replica of the fox and destroy great portions of Hachō Village, before returning back to its original size and being captured by one of Kabuto's snakes.

Later, while Naruto was held within Tonika Village's underground hall, the Nine-Tails attempted to control the youth before Dokku's interference snapped Naruto to his senses.

After the clone was empowered by the Ama no Hoko, Naruto, who had been given chakra by the Nine-Tails to prevent the clone from killing him, attempted to control the chakra and briefly entered an incomplete version of his Tailed Beast Mode to battle the clone. The battle continued as the Nine-Tails' will overtook Naruto and he entered a seven-tailed Version 2 form, with the two devastating the nearby surroundings. Ultimately, Naruto was able to destroy the clone with an incomplete Tailed Beast Rasengan upon overcoming the Nine-Tails' influence and entering an incomplete Nine-Tails Chakra Mode.

Confining the Jinchūriki Arc
When Naruto was summoned back to Mount Myōboku, the Great Toad Sage gave Naruto Gerotora, along with the key to the seal. From this, Naruto was on a task to find a way to control the Nine-Tails' power, in order to fight a fated battle with Sasuke.

Later, at a remote island in the Land of Lightning, after Naruto completed the first step at the Falls of Truth, Killer B then lead Naruto to a special room within the secret temple behind the waterfall, where Naruto would fight the Nine-Tails. When Naruto entered his subconscious, the Nine-Tails expressed surprise as it could no longer sense any hatred within him, and questioned Naruto about where the "real him" was, to which Naruto replied that the real him was right in front of it. After Naruto used the key to completely unlock the seal, the Nine-Tails pushed the cage's doors and fired a Tailed Beast Ball at him, but Killer B used the remaining bit of the Eight-Tails power to contain the attack. While in Sage Mode, Naruto was able to weaken the Nine-Tails with the Wind Release: Rasenshuriken and started to drain out its chakra. However, the Nine-Tails planted its hatred within its drained chakra, and it suddenly began to consume Naruto, making him lose the control and forcing him out of Sage Mode. Just before Naruto was completely succumbed, his mother Kushina Uzumaki appeared, halted his transformation, and used her chakra chains to subdue the Nine-Tails, to which the fox reacted in anger and shock when it recognised her chakra.

After being comforted by Kushina, Naruto's positive emotions depleted the Nine-Tails' hatred within its drained chakra, and he made a large number of shadow clones, forming multiple Rasengan as they charged at the Nine-Tails. After the Nine-Tails broke most of the chakra chains, Kushina immediately used the last chain that was attached on the fox's leg to make it trip, giving Naruto's shadow clones enough time to enter Sage Mode and bombard it with the Sage Art: Many Ultra-Big Ball Spiralling Serial Spheres. As the Nine-Tails was pushed back from the impact, one of Naruto's shadow clones immediately used the Rasenshuriken to weaken the Nine-Tails further and completely separate it from its chakra. When the chakra merged with Naruto, the enraged the Nine-Tails attempted to fire a much larger Tailed Beast Ball, but its attack was ultimately dissipated as Naruto used a new, stronger seal to imprison the fox once again. As the Nine-Tails disappeared into the darkness, it told Naruto that it would never forget this defeat.

Shinobi World War Arc
While Naruto and Killer B continued their way to the battlefield, the Nine-Tails pulled its jinchūriki into his subconscious, berating him for squandering its chakra. Calling Naruto naive for thinking he could stop the war and bear the hatred by himself, the Nine-Tails tried once again to tempt him with power, but to no avail, earning Naruto some recognition. After the Nine-Tails reminded Naruto about the day he met Sasuke and how he was consumed by hate even then, it claimed that the boy's attempt to put an end to hatred is futile. In retaliation, Naruto pinned the fox down with a torii while exclaiming with great confidence that he already planned on how to stop both Sasuke and the war. As the Nine-Tails recalled Naruto's growth, it then condescendingly complimented him for finally learning how to stand up for himself before being unnerved by the boy's promise to someday resolve the fox's own malice.

Later, after the reincarnated Madara Uchiha was fighting against one of Naruto's shadow clones and the Fourth Division, he attempted to summon the Nine-Tails. Even though the summoning failed, the fox angrily recognised Madara's chakra calling for it and resolved to lend Naruto its chakra. Naruto at first thought that it was going to attempt to take over his body like it used to, but the Nine-Tails explained that it would rather help Naruto than be manipulated by Madara again. The Nine-Tails then spurred Naruto on as he countered the Uchiha's attack.

As Killer B and the real Naruto were fighting against Tobi and the reincarnated jinchūriki, the Nine-Tails proceeded to feign sleep while it purposely stopped consuming Naruto's chakra, deciding to let the young man fight on his own against the Four-Tails. The Eight-Tails tried to convince the Nine-Tails to continue its much needed support, but the fox replied that it would not cooperate with its jinchūriki as easily as the Eight-Tails does. As the Nine-Tails remembered the words that Madara, Hashirama, Mito, and Kushina had said to it in the past, the fox concluded that no matter how the humans said it, it would always come down to the same thing, with the exception of Naruto, a thought which silenced it. The Nine-Tails quietly watched on as Naruto was speaking with Son Gokū, only expressing annoyance when its name was revealed to Naruto.

While thinking back on the events in Naruto's life and watching the proceeds, Kurama silently noted that Naruto of all people should know that no matter what he said to the tailed beasts, his true intentions would only reach them through his own actions. After Naruto successfully removed Tobi's control over Son Gokū, Kurama silently celebrated the small victory and offered to lend him more of its chakra. Before accepting however, Naruto thanked Kurama for its help during his encounter with Madara, to which the fox rebuffed him before offering to meld their chakra together. Accepting this proposal, Naruto opened the seal's gate that held Kurama back and acknowledged it as his team-mate from Konoha. As a result, Kurama enabled Naruto to enter a new form, in order to stop the other tailed beasts that were bearing down on Might Guy and Kakashi.

However, as this was their first time transforming into this mode, Kurama warned Naruto that they only had five minutes. They first started by grabbing Chōmei in mid-flight to pile-drive it into Isobu, but it rolled out of the way to counterattack after Saiken quickly swallowed Kurama's hand prior to Gyūki joining the fray. When Matatabi attempted to pounce on Naruto and Kurama from behind, they fiercely swung Saiken right into the monster cat, throwing the two away from a distance. As the other tailed beasts gathered and performed a collaborative Tailed Beast Ball, Naruto and Kurama performed one of their own and cancelled the attack. Right after that, Naruto entered a deeper level of Kurama's subconscious, where he meets the other five tailed beasts and their jinchūriki, to which Kurama explained that this was somewhere not even Tobi could enter. As it remembered the Sage of the Six Paths, Kurama asked its brethren if they too believed that Naruto was the one the Sage had spoken of so long ago, to which they agreed before being resealed into the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path.

Ten-Tails Revival Arc
While they were fighting against the Demonic Statue, Tobi summoned both the Benihisago and the Kohaku no Jōhei which contained the reincarnated Gold and Silver Brothers, who possessed a portion of Kurama's chakra. Right after the masked man made the giant statue devour them, Kurama, who had sensed its own chakra signature within those two items, requested Naruto to switch with it so it could explain the situation to the others, as well as about the Ten-Tails and what its revival would mean. Kurama also echoed Kakashi's words that something needed to be done before the Ten-Tails' revival was completed, afterwhich, on Naruto's request, Kurama switched back with him. Kurama was later seen smiling when Naruto opposed Tobi's ideals and told him that he was who he was today because he had heroes to look up to and to show him the way. After a brief fight, Tobi tried to instil doubt into Naruto by telling him what would Jiraiya and Minato say if he ended up neglecting the legacy they left him. Kurama, recalling what Minato said to Naruto during his battle with Nagato, requested Naruto to switch again and directly told Tobi that Naruto would never follow his ideals and that Minato sealed it into Naruto so that he could defeat Tobi. After melding their chakra together once more, Naruto entered his Tailed Beast Mode and Naruto began his assault on Tobi after being assured by Kurama that he would not fail.

As the battle raged on with Madara suddenly entering the fray, the reincarnated Uchiha summoned Hashirama's giant wooden dragon in order to restrain Naruto. While Naruto instantly manifested Kurama's body to fight against it, the wooden dragon eventually managed to bind Naruto and started draining Kurama's chakra, forcing his tailed beast form to falter. However, Naruto was able to quickly escape from its coils before it could absorb any more of Kurama's chakra and created a shadow clone to protect Kakashi from Obito. When Kurama noticed that Kakashi was low on chakra, it told Naruto to switch places with it, and, through Naruto's body, tossed Kakashi at Obito, who used Kamui to absorb him into Kamui's dimension. Despite Naruto initially berating it for what it did, Kurama assured him that he could now fight without worry. Naruto attacked Obito again and phased through him, but surprisingly Obito coughed up blood. Kurama revealed that it transferred some of its chakra to Kakashi, allowing him to attack Obito in the other world and come back to the real world with Kamui. Elsewhere, the original Naruto entered the full Tailed Beast Mode to create a giant Tailed Beast Ball with B and Gyūki and fired it at the Demonic Statue. This was all done in vain however, as after the resulting explosion, the Ten-Tails had been revived.

While Naruto noted that he could not sense anything from it, Kurama explained that the Ten-Tails was void of thought and feelings, and was more akin to a natural force of energy. As Kurama began restoring Kakashi and Guy's respective chakra, the Ten-Tails attacked, quickly overwhelming it and Gyūki before they could finish devising a strategy. Kurama and Gyūki then quickly fired a barrage of Tailed Beast Balls at the Ten-Tails, who easily deflected them with a single blast of its own. Kurama and Naruto were able to withstand the attack (losing six of its tails in exchange) and threw Kakashi and Naruto's Sage Mode shadow clone above the Ten-Tails, where Kakashi teleported Gyūki who prepared to launch a Tailed Beast Ball from the beast's blind-spot. After the Ten-Tails flicked the attack right back at Gyūki, Kurama was able to rescue Gyūki and Killer B before the Tailed Beast Mode was deactivated. With this, Kurama noted to Naruto that it needed time to generate more chakra.

Later echoing Hinata Hyūga's sentiments that Naruto's life was not his own, the fox reminded him that it was also here and that his parents had also died in a similar manner to protect him. After the words finally get through to the young man, Naruto once again entered Tailed Beast Mode, and with Kurama's instruction, created shadow clones to distribute its chakra to the other remaining shinobi to help empower their respective abilities. Kurama then silently praised Naruto's ability to distribute his chakra to others despite how different they were, the fox notes that Naruto had surpassed his father, and mother.

Continuing the attack on the Ten-Tails, Kurama warned Naruto to be careful using so much chakra, as Naruto reverted to his Nine-Tails Chakra Mode, and that the Ten-Tails is gathering up chakra. Kurama also warned Naruto that the Ten-Tails is preparing its devastating attack, the Tenpenchii.

Naruto the Movie: Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow
During the fight between Naruto and Dotō Kazahana, he managed to knock Naruto, who was at the disadvantage due to having the Chakra Negator on him, though the ice of the lake they were standing on, causing him to sink beneath the waters. However, as Naruto called upon Kurama for its chakra, which helped break the Chakra Negator, it allowed him to recover quickly and summon his shadow clones to overwhelm Dotō.

Naruto the Movie 3: Guardians of the Crescent Moon Kingdom
During an attempt to escape the Land of the Moon, the three ninja hired by Shabadaba attacked, disabling Naruto, Kakashi, Sakura, and Lee with poison mists that slowed their reactions. The prince Michiru Tsuki was captured, but the emergence of Kurama's chakra allowed Naruto to repel the attacking ninja before the prince's son could be taken.

Naruto Shippūden 2: Bonds
When Naruto fought against the Zero-Tails to free Amaru from its influence, the malevolent spirit sensed Kurama within Naruto and expressed desire to obtain its power. The Zero-Tails then taunted Naruto and coaxed him into using Kurama's power by saying that he cannot save anyone without it. This made Naruto remember his failure in saving Sasuke, and became emotionally unstable, which caused him to eventually enter his four-tailed form. After fighting with the spirit for a while, he turned back to normal when a seal on Naruto given by Jiraiya came off and reminded him of how the tailed beast chakra hurt his friends in which he immediately turned back to normal.

Later, when Shinnō grabbed hold of both Naruto and Sasuke and began draining their chakra to empower the Zero-Tails, Sasuke activated the first level of his cursed seal, releasing its evil chakra, and Naruto, who had understood Sasuke's plan, sent a large amount of Kurama's chakra into the Zero-Tails, which was too much for the spirit to handle. They managed to break free and Naruto used the Tornado Rasengan to defeat it.

Naruto 6: Road to Ninja
In the alternate world that Naruto and Sakura ended up in, Kurama has a counterpart called the, who is sealed within the body of Naruto's alternate self, Menma. Menma's hatred has allowed him to bond with the Black Nine-Tails, and he is able to create and control living entities composed of its chakra, which are known as the Nine Masked Beasts. He doesn't display any kind of tailed beast transformations during the film, but he is able to completely unleash the black fox, using it in a manner similar to a summon.

At the climax of the film, Menma restored and summoned the Black Nine-Tails so he could finish Naruto off. When Naruto was overwhelmed, Kurama berated Naruto for being beaten by a fake, however, not wanting to be trapped into a world controlled by Tobi, it offered a truce with Naruto to work together. Having no other choice, Naruto opened the seal to summon Kurama in a similar matter to do battle with its opposite. In the battle Naruto was barely able to win, but Tobi revealed that this was his plan, to have Naruto and Menma fight, as doing so would cause the two foxes to fight and weaken Kurama. As he possessed Menma, Kurama warned Naruto if he looked into Menma's Sharingan, it would be all over for Tobi planned to extract Kurama out of Naruto the same way he extracted it from Kushina.

Video Games
Kurama has some minor roles in some of the Naruto video games. In Naruto Shippūden: Dragon Blade Chronicles, Kurama appears as a boss when it tries to take control of Naruto. In Naruto Shippūden: Kizuna Drive, Gensui Amagiri creates a fake Naruto, who transforms into Kurama, "kills" Gensui and destroys Yumegakure, all to pin the blame on Konoha and the real Naruto. Gensui later transforms Ryuka Tenro into a false replication of Kurama, but Konoha 11 soon defeated her. Kurama also appears as a boss twice and a playable character in the story mode of Naruto Shippūden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3.

Trivia

 * literally means 'nine lama'. Kishimoto was mainly inspired to create Kurama based on the character with the same name from the manga series Yū Yū Hakusho. . The name may also reference, the sacred mountain said to be the home of the Tengu Sōjōbō who taught people ninjutsu and other Japanese martial arts.
 * A is a popular figure in Japanese folklore, and is the influence to many other reincarnations in modern Japanese culture. Kitsune are very well-known to be cunning and mischievous creatures with shape-shifting abilities, to which on occasions, use to transform themselves into beautiful women in order to seduce men (possibly the inspiration for the Sexy Technique). They are also said be rivals to the tanuki, which created an old Japanese proverb:, meaning as much as two sly characters trying to outsmart one another. However, kitsune are known to keep their promises, a trait Naruto has; his ninja way is to "never go back on his word". It is also noted that every time Naruto becomes overwhelmed by Kurama's power, he gains another 'tail' of chakra, which stems from the belief that the more tails a kitsune has, the more powerful it is, with nine being the limit.
 * Kurama can "die" with its jinchūriki, if it is still sealed within them at the time of its host's death, but the fox itself will be revived later.
 * Based on its reaction, Naruto almost dying at the hands of Kabuto was the only time Kurama was close to death, or to that matter, suffered any injury it could not simply heal through.
 * All of Kurama's jinchūriki have come from the Uzumaki clan.

Quotes

 * (To 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) "You runt, you really are weak! You better be grateful to me… and to your beloved Fourth Hokage, who sealed me inside a twerp like you!"
 * (To Sasuke) "With that vision of yours and chakra more ominous than my own… You're the spitting image of Madara Uchiha from the elder days…"
 * (To Naruto) "Destroy everything… Erase everything that hurts you… Entrust your heart to me… I will save you from your pain…"
 * (To Naruto) "You don't have what it takes to control my power! You're nothing more than a mere fragment of my hatred!"
 * (To Naruto) "Are you stupid!? I am the Nine-Tails! I haven't fallen so far that a little child can influence me! I am hatred incarnate!"
 * (To Naruto) "No… I will give you my chakra and it alone! I dislike Madara… if the alternative is being controlled by him… I choose you!"
 * (About Naruto) "Naruto… If you really want to do something for us… then do what you've always done… Prove it to us with your actions! That's who you are!"
 * (To Obito) "Sorry but… this guy doesn't suit your words. The Fourth Hokage entrusted me to Naruto… We became friends and now he's able to use my chakra!! The Fourth sealed me into Naruto… to take you down!!"