Naruto Uzumaki's Jinchūriki Forms

Naruto Uzumaki is the third jinchūriki of Kurama, the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox, and is gifted with its enormous supply of chakra and stamina, to which Kakashi Hatake estimated it to be a hundred times greater than his own when its influence is not suppressed. It also gives Naruto accelerated healing (recovering from minor injuries within a few seconds to major injuries within a day) and depending on the amount of the Nine-Tails's chakra he's using, Naruto is also given an increase in strength, speed, along with an increase in his healing factor to such levels that he recovered from a Chidori strike through his chest in mere seconds. At times, he is also granted a nearly impenetrable, fox-shaped chakra shroud. Naruto had a unique access to the Nine-Tails's chakra, due to the seal that his father, Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage, used on him. Minato stated that he sealed the Nine-Tails's Yang chakra within Naruto because he believed that Naruto would someday control its power to battle Tobi.

Initial Jinchūriki Form
By simply tapping into the Nine-Tails's chakra, Naruto's body begins its initial transformation. His blue eyes become red and pupils become slitted. Following this, his nails and canine teeth grow longer and sharper and his blonde hair will grow longer and spikier, as it stands on end. Naruto's whisker marks will also widen and thicken, adding to his feral appearance. While he can still stand on his own two feet, Naruto can move at greater speeds by manoeuvring on all fours in a manner that looks similar to the Four Legs Technique used by the Inuzuka clan. Depending on how much of the Nine-Tails's chakra was unleashed, it was capable of glowing around his body in an untamed way, similar to fire. Until he achieved the Nine-Tails Chakra Mode, it was the only form which resembled flames.

At first, Naruto could only reach this state through sheer rage or if his life was in imminent danger, but after training with Jiraiya, Naruto learned how to contact the Nine-Tails and demand some of its chakra. Even though this was the weakest state of his jinchūriki forms, it still increased Naruto's physical strength, and its healing rate was able to regenerate wounds that were beyond normal repair. This form also increased his speed to such levels that nothing short of a fully matured Sharingan was able to track his movements. He could also use the chakra as a shock wave, sometimes merely using a roar or thrusting his fist out to send a rush of energy at his opponent.

When Naruto encountered Nagato face to face, he was shown to be able to simultaneously fuse his initial and Sage Mode forms together. His eyes took on the combined appearance of a mixture of them both. The exact capabilities of that form are unknown, but it was enough to completely resist Nagato's control of his Chakra Disruption Blades when it impaled Naruto.

Version 1
During Naruto's battle with Sasuke at the Valley of the End, the Nine-Tails granted Naruto more of its usual chakra, in which it began to envelop Naruto's body as a bubbling chakra-construct, taking on the shape of a one-tailed fox, which Jiraiya referred to as the. Naruto's Version 1 forms had all the initial jinchūriki form's physical traits, but the black rings that surrounded his more berserk-looking eyes were also present. In this form, Naruto could use his elongated, sharpened claws instead of his fists, and run at greater speeds on all fours, making him more like a beast. The chakra itself in this form was noticeably denser than it was in its previous form, going from a gaseous state to a boiling liquid state. This boiling chakra increases in its potency as more tails grow, eventually growing hot enough to melt the ground he is standing on. The chakra produced by these forms was powerful enough to cause the shadow clones Naruto produced to double over in pain.

Unlike jinchūriki who have learned to control their tailed beasts, like Killer B, Naruto's transformations were almost always triggered by his emotional state. The more he was distressed, the easier it was for the Nine-Tails to manipulate him through its chakra; its control over Naruto usually corresponds with the number of tails grown. Naruto was able to reach the third tail of Version 1 and remain in control over his body, but will become highly aggressive and dangerous due the negative influence of the Nine-Tails's chakra.

Naruto's most powerful weapon in that state was the demon fox shroud itself, and it appeared to have a mind of its own; when a strike that was meant for Sasuke missed, the chakra itself stretched off of Naruto's arm and managed to hit the latter before he had time to react. Since the chakra was sentient, it was extremely difficult, if not impossible, to predict, as Naruto was followed with the Sharingan, but the chakra was not. The shroud granted Naruto some measure of protection, as it could endure attacks like the Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique. Naruto could also use the shroud's chakra arms and tail as grappling hooks to either grab onto objects or enemies from great distances, and use it as a shell to help him create a Rasengan without the help of his shadow clones. However, the shroud was not without its drawbacks; after Naruto used his left arm for a number of attacks against Sasuke, it was left numb from overuse and the constant damage of the Nine-Tails's chakra on his body. Despite this, every advantage that the shroud gives Naruto increases in strength with each tail; for example, his roar that simply caused a powerful shock wave in his initial jinchūriki form, created an even more devastating wave of destruction when his third tail grew. In Naruto Shippūden 2: Bonds, while fighting the Zero-Tails, Naruto was able to use the demon fox shroud to mimic arms and wings for semi-flight.

Version 2
During Team Yamato's mission to find Sasuke, the group found and fought Orochimaru, who continually baited Naruto with news of Sasuke. After the three-tailed form was rendered ineffective, Naruto became even more enraged and instantly grew the fourth tail. Within his subconscious, Naruto passed through the gates of the Nine-Tails's cage and into its grasp. Its chakra burns through his skin, forming a black sphere that was mixed with Naruto's own blood until the sphere explodes, leveling the area around him and revealing Version 2. Unlike B, who has shown be be able to enter Version 2 with any number of tails, Naruto cannot achieve this form on his own, instead was forced upon his body by the Nine-Tails through the weakened seal, which allowed the fourth tail to grow. Once the sixth tail grew, the beast's skeleton began to form out of the chakra. Unlike the previous forms where Naruto remained in control, the Nine-Tails had complete control over Naruto's body, making him a mere endoskeleton for its chakra. The chakra's internal support became Naruto's physical mass, with every living thing in its way a target. . Every benefit of the Version 1 was transferred to Version 2 with massive upgrades; a simple wave of his hand was powerful enough to fire shock waves and the chakra wrapped around Naruto's body was so hot that victims were burned and poisoned by the foul chakra. Whenever Naruto was hit, a second body would form out of the chakra to attack instantly, and the Nine-Tails was able to fire a Tailed Beast Ball that was powerful enough to destroy three Rashōmon gates without losing momentum. In the anime, it could generate numerous bodies, almost completely altering its own form into an amorphous blob, with which it was able to attack from all directions, and create a twister with just one slash from its claw. By the six-tailed form, the chakra was so intense that the Nine-Tails was able to resist the seal of the First's necklace and force Pain's Shinra Tensei back on him. Curiously, in the anime, the six-tailed form's demon fox shroud managed to swim through and direct a body of water with its own movement without vaporising it, and also touched the Deva Path without burning him.

In the end, Version 2 was Naruto's greatest downfall. Because the Nine-Tails's chakra was constantly destroying and creating new cells, it shortens Naruto's life, similar to Tsunade's Creation Rebirth. When the four-tailed form was finally repressed, Naruto needed immediate healing, as his skin was completely stripped off. Naruto first slipped into this form when he was on a two-and-a-half year training with Jiraiya, who had used the key to weaken the seal for just a short time. And for that, it allowed enough of the Nine-Tails's influence within its chakra to leak out of the seal and produce the form, in turn almost killing the latter.

Partial Transformation
As the Nine-Tails fought Pain through the six-tailed form, Naruto, within his subconscious, thought of Pain's plans for peace, and pleaded for someone to help him with a response. Through his suffering, 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 and allowing him to go from the six-tailed form to the eight-tailed form.

This form is his largest so far, being about the same size as the Nine-Tails, with muscle tissue beginning to grow on the bones from the six-tailed form. The only things missing from the Nine-Tails are the ninth tail, skin, and fur. This form is so powerful, that it was capable of breaking through Pain's Chibaku Tensei with brute force. In the anime, for the brief time it was unleashed, it breathed a large stream of fire, which burned through the debris of the Chibaku Tensei, making it look like a meteor shower falling down toward the earth.

Full Nine-Tails Form
Unlike some other jinchūriki, Naruto cannot fully transform into his tailed beast, when using the full extent of the Nine-Tails' chakra. This was due to the hostility that existed between Naruto and the fox. When he attempted to transform into his full Nine-Tails form, he instead transforms into a miniature, comical version of the Nine-Tails. It was also shown that Naruto cannot maintain this form for very long, as it drains him of its chakra significantly.

During Naruto's battle with Tobi, Naruto and Kurama melded their chakra, allowing Naruto to complete the tailed beast transformation. In his first full transformation, instead of becoming a replica of the fox, the chakra shroud from the Nine-Tails Chakra Mode forms a coat with the swirl pattern of the fully opened seal. The overall shape of Kurama's body is recreated from the cloak with the same seal as Naruto's reflected on the body. Unlike before this chakra is free of negative emotions and as such does no longer burn anyone it touches.

This state gives Naruto enhanced speed and power, allowing him to redirect five Tailed Beast Balls at point blank range, a powerful roar that can throw the five tailed beasts back and it allows Naruto to produce a Tailed Beast Ball equal in size to a ball formed by combined power of five tailed beasts. However there is one flaw that Kurama notes: because this is their first transformation, they can only keep the form for five minutes.

Nine-Tails Chakra Mode
The is a form that Naruto gained after he separated and sealed the Nine-Tails from its chakra. He can access its chakra directly whenever he needs it without interacting with the beast at all. In doing so, he gains a chakra shroud that resembles the Sage of the Six Paths' silhouette. The colour of his eyes changes from blue to orange when he is in this form and while the demon fox shroud is red and releases chakra as acidic bubbles, this form's shroud is yellow and releases chakra as flickering flames.

With the Nine-Tails's power under his control, Naruto's strength is significantly increased to the point where he can push a fully formed Tailed Beast Ball through a multiple layered barrier. Killer B had trouble determining if Naruto's speed was from the Body Flicker Technique, as all he saw was a "yellow flash" when Naruto attacked Kisame Hoshigaki. and in this form Naruto was able to surpass the speed of a fully charged A, who was the fastest shinobi in the world. Though he can still feel pain, this form's chakra shroud gives Naruto a great amount of protection, regular swords are unable to pierce it, it protects him from extreme heat temperatures and extreme physical attacks do little damage.

The shroud's chakra arms gives Naruto greater range of attacks as well as greater dexterity and manoeuvrability to his fighting style without the use of shadow clones and Naruto have used the chakra arms to create new Rasengan variants, such as the Spiralling Strife Spheres and the Spiralling Absorption Sphere. He is able to use the chakra arms to push himself off a platform and to extend his reach, where he would otherwise create a shadow clone to use as a landing point in mid-air. or to propel him through the air. The power of his techniques have become so great that, unless they already have some inherent durability, such as the Third Raikage, resurrected ninja have a hard time regenerating.

Like his predecessor, Mito Uzumaki, Naruto also gains the Nine-Tails' ability to sense negative emotions, something that not even the best sensor-type ninja can do. and even inside a chakra isolation chamber within the Falls of Truth, Naruto was still capable of sensing intense negative emotions generated by Kinkaku. Due to having the Nine-Tails's Yang chakra in this form, Wood Release techniques will react to the chakra's life-giving properties and mature into full-grown trees within a matter of seconds, either by contact or close range.

However, using the Nine-Tails Chakra Mode is a huge risk. Naruto has to temporarily "shelve" his own chakra in order to use the Nine-Tails' chakra, which allows Kurama to automatically drain Naruto's original chakra. If the Nine-Tails manages to take all of Naruto's chakra, Naruto will die. In addition, the Eight-Tails advised him against the use of the Shadow Clone Technique, as the Nine-Tails would absorb every portion of Naruto's chakra even faster for each clone he makes. Naruto also has to be careful about the amount of time he spends in this mode as the Eight-Tails claims that there is a limit to how much chakra Naruto managed to pull away from the Nine-Tails, implying that the untainted Nine-Tails' chakra will eventually run out. Despite these risks however, once Naruto was on the battlefield, he deployed several of his shadow clones while in this mode to the different divisions to confront the enemy White Zetsu, indicating that the risks associated with this form are not instantaneous. Naruto was able to stay in this form for an entire night and most of the morning during the Fourth Shinobi World War and the Eight-Tails notes that at some point Kurama had purposely stopped eating Naruto's chakra.

After merging with Kurama's unrestrained chakra, Naruto's shroud drastically changes form. The shroud itself parts down the middle and opens into a large full-length coat, revealing a black undergarment with magatama near his neck, whilst the Torii Seal's numerous swirl-patterns that were located all over his body, open out into complete, dark circles. Naruto also gains slit pupils and his whisker-markings become much thicker, with his overall appearance now bearing an even greater resemblance to the Sage of the Six Paths' silhouette. While in this form, his speed and power are dramatically enhanced, to such an extent that he is seemingly able to redirect five Tailed Beast Balls at point blank range with great ease.

Trivia

 * Naruto's failed full nine-tailed form resembles his true form from the Naruto Manga Pilot.
 * When first observing Naruto's enhanced Nine-Tails Chakra Mode from behind, Kakashi momentarily mistook Naruto for his former teacher, Minato Namikaze.