Here’s How and When Kurama & Naruto Became Best Friends

After many years of not knowing why everyone in the Konoha village ignores him, Naruto gradually finds out the truth behind his past. The reason why everyone indirectly blamed him was that he was carrying the Nine-tailed fox demon inside of him. The fox almost destroyed the village, everyone lost someone close to them during that time. So in the beginning Naruto and Kurama hated each other, Kurama hated Naruto because he represented a prison he was locked inside, and Naruto hated Kurama for what he did to his village. Without further ado, let’s take a look at how and when Kurama and Naruto became best friends.

How and when do Kurama and Naruto become best friends?

Naruto had a really lonely childhood, the only thing he knew about his parents was that they died protecting him. He didn’t know anything more than that, which was difficult for him trying to navigate through life. Having no one around to show him how to take care of himself, he had to learn on his own. He was constantly surrounded by his peers who had their parents taking care of them, and picking them up after school and he was always the odd one out.

Somehow his determination to earn everyone’s respect never waivered, it became stronger after the time Iruka sensei saved him from getting killed by an assassin. This was one of the first times he felt cared for by someone in a parental way. On his path, he met all kinds of people but his network of friends and professors began to grow and he slowly felt recognized and loved by many.

As we’ve mentioned earlier, Kurama and Naruto’s relationship was difficult in the beginning. They would often fight, and Naruto had to learn how to co-exist with him, but also try and extract power from him. Kurama was sealed against his will, by Naruto’s parents, initially, Kurama’s Jinchuriki was Kushina. Naruto’s mother was a part of the Uzumaki clan whose specialty was sealing techniques.

They were the perfect candidates for holding Tailed Beasts, and so it was her duty in a way that she had to fulfill. The burden then fell on to Naruto, but he always felt like he could trust his parents’ decisions and he took over the duty without complaint. When Naruto met Killer B, the Eight-Tail Jinchuriki, it was his first time seeing a Tailed beast and their host get along with each other. When their chakra training started, Killer B showed him how to control Kurama when he opened his seal.

Naruto managed to get control over Kurama after that, but something started to change between them. Kurama saw when Naruto had the realization about how badly the Tailed Beasts were treated, and he started to understand them better. Kurama then slowly started to warm up to Naruto and little by little, especially during the Fourth Shinobi War the two of them grew much closer.

Did Kurama care about Naruto?

We can assume it was difficult for him not to care about Naruto. Especially since the only thing that Kurama can do is watch how Naruto lives his life. He could see his daily challenges but of course, it was also hard for him to get over what Naruto’s parents did to him.

From Kurama’s perspective, as the strongest Tailes beast, he was tricked and trapped by mere humans. Since he and his brothers and sisters were treated badly by the humans, used nuclear weapons for their own personal wars. They were toyed with and enslaved which is understandably hard to get over.

Interestingly, just like a Tailed beast, Naruto was isolated and looked down upon, the same way the Tailed beasts are. The villagers didn’t see the difference between Naruto and Kurama. This was also something that Kurama saw and slowly over time he started to care about the boy. Again, it’s hard not to since he would watch him constantly.

Naruto couldn’t hide who he was from Kurama, so what he would see was the unfiltered version of Naruto as a person. We could probably say that Kurama cared more about Naruto than the other way around. Either way, the two became even stronger when they started working together. Kurama would lend his powers to Naruto whenever he needed them.

How did Naruto control Kurama?

In the beginning, Kushina’s seal helped seal away most of Kurama’s power. However, Kurama knew since Naruto was just a child whose strength wasn’t at the level of a full-fledged shinobi, he could use that to his advantage. Little by little he would let out an ounce of his power through the seal, as much as he could get out of the cage and into Naruto’s pool of chakra.

This would help him crack the „door“ open, so he would eventually try to get more of his power out which would have an effect on Naruto. Kurama wanted Naruto to start relying on his power, so he would want to take more each time. It was the easier way to gain strength in a short amount of time when he would face different enemies.

Fortunately for Naruto, his teacher Jiraya showed him how to test the limits of Kurama’s power but also not let it consume him. There was, of course, a lot of trial and error that happened along the way but eventually, Naruto could understand his limits. The only option to control Kurama was not to rely on his power, and only use it when it was really necessary.

Later on, with Killer B he learned how to control chakra and manipulate it where he needs it to go. His training for the Sage Mode helped him a lot when he was learning with Killer B. Sine Sage Mode requires a lot of concentration and control because of the immense natural energy flow that starts to flood in when the user is trying to use it.

Can Naruto heal without Kurama?

Naruto can’t heal himself without Kurama. Naruto could handle a lot of damage, more than the average shinobi. When he’s using Kurama’s power it also heals him if he were to get hurt. This is another reason why someone could easily rely on a Tailed Beasts power since it comes with so many perks.

Naruto was able to heal and protect all of the shinobi soldiers in the Great Shinobi War this way. However, we would argue that he wouldn’t be able to do that if prior to everything he didn’t learn the Shadow Cone jutsu. The way he managed to channel his and Kurama’s power and then send it to everyone there was quite amazing. It is not a surprise that Kurama and Naruto have such a perfect blend of powers, and Naruto’s independent training helped with that.

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