Kurama, the Nine-Tailed Fox, was one of the principal characters from Naruto until its death in Boruto. Kurama defined Naruto’s story, and through being intrinsically tied to Naruto, it made a lasting impact on the show and the characters. Kurama wasn’t always the good guy, but it did help Naruto overcome a lot of obstacles over the years. In this article, we are going to focus on that part of their relationship as we reveal how and when Naruto Uzumaki learned how to control Kurama; it wasn’t an easy process so stick with us!
The process of controlling Kurama was a long and difficult one for Naruto, and it consisted of three phases. In the first one, during his training with Killer B, Naruto had to defeat his inner darkness, which he ultimately succeeded in. After that, he had to defeat Kurama himself, which he did with the help of the spirit of his late mother. Finally, he had to free Kurama from his cage. All of this happened during the Fourth Shinobi World War.
As you might have deduced, this article is going to be focused on Kurama and his relationship with Naruto. You’re going to find out what exactly happened to the Nine-Tailed Beast and how Naruto managed to overcome all obstacles and finally earn the respect of the Nine-Tailed Beast. If you’re not fully up-to-date with everything that’s been going on in Naruto, we have to warn you that this article is definitely going to contain spoilers.
How and when does Naruto learn how to control Kurama?
As one of the Tailed-Beasts, Kurama was an extremely aggressive companion to Naruto, and he caused him a lot of problems over the years, despite being quite powerful. Kurama was an exceptionally powerful ally, but like every Tailed-Beast, it wanted its freedom, and since it was forcefully tied to Naruto after losing to his father, it rebelled against Naruto as its host and constantly tried to escape. Naruto, thus, had to prove his worth in order to gain Kurama’s respect and, after that, his friendship. The first thing he had to do was defeat his inner hatred, i.e., the darkness within him.
This was done through training with Killer B. The first place they head to is Falls of Truth, which is a place that possesses the ability to reflect people’s true thoughts. Upon arrival, Naruto stands on the small island in the center, where he begins to hear the voice of someone coming out of the waterfall. There it is revealed that the person who spoke was the hidden truth of Naruto; that is, the ‘I’ inside him.
After the darkness of him claims the stupid things he has done, he begins to attack quickly, but the real Naruto manages to counter them. The fight looks difficult for Naruto since the dark Naruto possesses the same abilities as him, making it impossible for him to defeat him. Therefore, he decides to get out of his mind. After waking up, Motoi explains that it was just an illusion and that he couldn’t master the Kyubi if he didn’t defeat it.
So, Naruto comes up with the idea that if he can talk to Killer B to tell him some tricks. But he refuses since it turns out that, despite admiring the Hachibi, he, at some point in his life, tried to kill him. After hearing about the Killer B incident, Naruto decides to meditate on the words that the other Naruto said, but there the giant squid appears again, but with Motoi trapped. Seeing that, he tries to help, but luckily the octopus man was able to stop him.
By saving him, Motoi and Killer B became friends and partners again. Not only that, B changes his mind and helps Naruto to master his Biju. Upon returning to the waterfall, when he encounters his darkness again, they, instead of fighting, start talking in such a way that Naruto manages to convince the ‘me’ inside of him, causing him to become the Naruto original and disappear. After passing the first test, he enters, together with his teacher, some temples that are behind the waterfall, where B said that “Naruto would face the Kyubi.” This was the second part of his test, as Naruto had to defeat Kurama in battle.
In this temple, they found many headless statues representing all the jinchuriki who couldn’t pass the test, which was to put his head in a statue that has the appearance of a lion. If the person has darkness in his heart, the lion will cut off his head, but if the person manages to overcome it, he will not cut it off. So, Naruto does it and makes it out alive.
Then Killer B claims that he was joking and that there was only one switch and that the statues were broken. Then, at that moment, a door to a room opens, in which Naruto is going to fight the Kyubi. As the challenge begins, Naruto, along with the help of Killer B, enters Naruto’s mind, where Naruto breaks through his seal, and the key unlocks the doors that lock the Bijuu.
The Hachibi tries to help, trapping the demon with its tentacles so Naruto can draw out the beast’s chakra with his own chakra, but to no avail. Killer B’s help was to no avail. Because of that, Naruto still continued to fight the Kyubi, enduring the demon’s attempts to trap his chakra. The fight becomes difficult for Naruto, as the beast is very fast and powerful, causing several of his attempts to defeat them to fail, but after hitting it with his Rasen-Shuriken, he was left weak, thus allowing Naruto to catch the fox chakra At that moment, the Kyubi’s hatred infiltrates Naruto’s trapped chakra, causing part of him to turn back into Dark Naruto.
At the moment when he is about to lose, he is saved by his mother, Kushina Uzumaki, who appears inside his mind. At first, Naruto thought that Kushina was the “nine-tailed true form” but was later beaten up by an angry Kushina, who then apologized and said that she hoped Naruto didn’t get the hot-tempered attitude from her. Naruto then says that Kushina was, in fact, her mother, and he hugged her. With this, Naruto’s transformation stopped, much to the shock of Yamato and Killer B.
Naruto and Kushina started talking, with Naruto asking how Kushina and Minato met. Kushina told the story to Naruto, complimenting her hair, and then told him that she loved him. To Naruto’s surprise. So he was happy. When asked what the result of the union of “Konoha’s Yellow Lightning” and the “Red Hot-Blooded Habanero was,” Naruto proudly replied – Konoha’s Orange Hokage, i.e., him.
Following this, Naruto finally fights once more, except this time he feels happy, and as a result, the dark energy pouring into Naruto changes into light and he begins to use the head connection directly for the Nine-Tails. Kushina tells him that his chakra can’t hold the Nine-Tails much longer and tells Naruto to take out the Nine-Tails. Naruto makes several shadow clones and charges into the Nine-Tails, forming Rasengans as he runs.
The Nine-Tails breaks the chains that had controlled him, and Naruto and his clones attack the Nine-Tails with their Rasengan Barrage. The Nine-Tails hits many clones, making them disappear, but Kushina uses the last chain she has given to the Nine-Tails to pull him back. Naruto and the clones of him then use Sage Mode, and attack with Sage Art: Great Ball Rasengan. Just as he has pushed back, many clones draw out the Nine-Tails’ chakra, just like the original Naruto.
He uses the Wind Style: Rasenshuriken, which eventually defeats the Nine-Tails, as Naruto draws the chakra out of him. When the chakra is fused with Naruto, the seal is in the shape of the Sage of Six Paths. Naruto closes the seal on the cage of the nine tails once more. Naruto then, before leaving his mind, asks Kushina what he is going to do; to which Kushina replies that she is going to head where her father leads. Also, she told him the true story behind the Kyubi’s attack. After hearing the whole truth, her mother apologizes for not being with him to love and care for him, but Naruto replies that she had good times as jinchuriki. This caused her to hug her son for joy.
But it turns out that time had run out, causing Kushina to disappear, causing her tears of happiness to fall on her beloved son. Naruto then happily wakes up and comments that the Kyubi’s chakra is trapped in the side of his mind, and by using it, he takes the form of the Sage of Six Paths. In this form, he gains new abilities. But, this was not the whole deal, as Naruto still had to free Kurama from his cage. And that was the final and last step in getting Kurama to become his ally.
Before Naruto heads into battle, the fox begins to remember Naruto’s growth through the years until the day they fought, when he recognized that he had already managed to do things on his own. After that, Naruto told him that one day he would do something for his hatred, but he replied that he should not be so naive since he is the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox, a living mass of hatred and that no child was going to influence him, but, in the end, Naruto tells him that he is not the boy from before.
Later, when Madara decides to test if the Nine-Tails had been captured, he realizes that Madara is back and decides to support Naruto since, according to him, between Naruto and Madara controlling him again, he prefers Naruto. This is how Naruto’s clone receives the Kyūbi’s chakra to make more clones.
Later, when the real Naruto is facing off against Tobi, the Eight-Tails telepathically talk to the Kyubi. In the conversation, the Hachibi insinuates that the Kyubi has taken a liking to Naruto, and that is why, despite all the copies he has made in Chakra Mode of the Kyubi, he is still not dead since the Kyubi himself has stopped absorbing Naruto’s chakra.
When Naruto is about to be eaten by the Four-Tails, the Nine-Tails refuses to help him, despite the Eight-Tails’ scolding and knowing that Naruto is the only human who has not wanted to control him. Although Naruto, in the end, is eaten by the Four-Tails, Naruto does not die but instead appears in the Yonbi’s subconscious. He talks to Naruto and reveals that the tailed beasts have a proper name, being that of the Kyubi, Kurama.
As Naruto continues to fight, Kurama continues to ponder within his mind, saying that he has seen everything Naruto does and that it doesn’t matter what he says to him or the other Tailed Beasts; he has to convey his true emotions. After seeing his attitude toward trying to free Son Goku, Kurama remembers Naruto’s several fights and important moments, so he says that if Naruto really wants to do something for them, he must do what he always does: show it with his actions of him.
After Naruto managed to get the stake out of the Four Tails, Kurama was very happy. After Tobi used the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, Naruto begins to talk to Kurama, and the latter offers to give him his chakra, but Naruto wants to thank him first for his help during his fight against Madara, and he gets angry. After a while, Kurama puts his hand into a fist in front of Naruto and tells him that he will fuse his chakra with his. Naruto agrees and gives Kurama a fist bump, and they become very proud. This is how Naruto ultimately managed to control Kurama.
