Highlights
- Kushina Uzumaki, known as the Red Hot Habanero, played a central role in the Minato one-shot and showcased her incredible prowess with Sealing jutsu and overpowered Nine Tails power.
- Kushina became the second Jinchuriki of Kurama after Mito Uzumaki, the first Jinchuriki. She controlled Kurama to a certain degree but her control seemed to pale in comparison to Naruto's.
- When Kurama weakened Kushina's seal, she manifested a Seven Tails form with tremendous power. Despite this, she fought back against Kurama's control using her willpower and her Adamantine Sealing Chains, ultimately teaming up with Minato to subdue him.
Kushina Uzumaki is one of the most important female characters in the Naruto series. Known as the Red Hot Habanero, Kushina was a fiery personality who aimed to become the Hokage of the village at one point. In the Minato one shot, fans got to see Kushina take a central role and, through her point of view, a lot of the plot points of the story were explored.
While the story was supposed to be based on Minato, the two characters are intertwined together and always work in synergy. Thus, fans also got to see a lot of Kushina in the Minato one-shot. The one-shot highlighted her incredible prowess with Sealing jutsu, and, at the same time, it also showed her tremendously overpowered Nine Tails power. At one point, Kushina even manifested a Seven Tails form, which made her incredibly overpowered.
How Kushina Became A Jinchuriki
Kushina Uzumaki is one of the many Jinchuriki of Kurama seen in Naruto. When excluding the Sage Of Six Paths, the man who created Kurama, Kushina was the second Jinchuriki of this beast. The very first Jinchuriki of Kurama was none other than Mito, the wife of the First Hokage Hashirama Senju. After Hashirama and Madara battled in the Valley of the End, Kurama was freed from the latter's control. To prevent it from rampaging, Mito Uzumaki sealed the beast within herself and became the first Jinchuriki of Kurama. Mito kept Kurama sealed within herself for decades until she reached a point of old age.
The Tailed Beast would then need to be transferred from her to a newer vessel and that is precisely where Kushina came in. At the time, it is believed that Uzushiogakure, the village where Kushina comes from, was at war, and, so it was easy for them to get Kushina to the village.
Immediately after she got to Konoha as a stranger, Kushina met Mito Uzumaki and was afraid of the fact that she is going to have Kurama live within herself. At the same time, she was asked to fill herself with love as that is the only way she could live a happy life with a Tailed Beast inside her. At some point, Kushina had Kurama transferred within her and she ended up becoming the second Jinchuriki of this powerful Tailed Beast, who was believed to be stronger than all the others combined.
Kushina's Control Over Kurama
In the original Naruto series, fans did not get to see much of Kushina as a Jinchuriki. In fact, fans did not get to see much of Kushina at all. The very first instance at which that fans got to see her properly was when Naruto fought against the Nine Tails in order to gain control over its powers. Kushina's chakra manifested from within him and thus, the two met for the very first time. Kushina explained the events of the day when Naruto was born and made him realize how much he was loved and how his parents sacrificed themselves for him.
However, other than that, fans did not get to see much of her. In the Minato One Shot, a lot of attention was given to Kushina Uzumaki, and fans also got to see what level of control she has over the powers of her Tailed Beast. Kushina could control the Tailed Beast to a certain degree, however, when compared to the control that Naruto had over his beast, even before defeating it, Kushina's control seemed to pale in comparison.
Nonetheless, Kushina had special seals drawn around Konoha and these seals reinforced the stability of her control over the Tailed Beast and helped her keep the beast in check. However, as seen in the one shot, she eventually stepped outside these boundaries, which is where Kurama got a chance to weaken the seal and take over her body. Of course, Kushina rose to the occasion and didn't simply let him defeat her, showcasing once again that she was an incredible ninja as well.
Kushina's Seven Tails Form
When stepping out of bounds, Kushina's seal was weakened to a point where Kurama could take control easily. As soon as Kurama started taking over her body, Kushina manifested the chakra cloak associated with Tailed Beast powers. She was able to injure Minato with a single swipe of her hand and manifested several tails. With time, this transformation got even scarier and Kushina continued to grow more tails. Thankfully, Minato was nearby and he helped reinforce her seal by placing another seal of his own on top of it. The seal was one that Minato learned from Kushina herself, since this jutsu was revealed to be a Sealing Jutsu of the Uzumaki Clan and fans know that Kushina taught him several of these techniques, while still possessing some that were far beyond his capabilities.
Despite reinforcing the seal, Kurama's powers were great enough to overwhelm Kushina and she ended up manifesting more tails. Eventually, Kushina got to a point where she had seven of the nine tails manifested, however, her Seven Tails form was starkly different when compared to that of Naruto Uzumaki. In Naruto's case, he developed a skeletal structure at Six Tails. Kushina manifested seven tails yet there was no skeletal structure. However, her powers were incredible enough to rip a hole through Minato's chest and essentially kill him if she so wished. Given that Kurama is the strongest of all Tailed Beasts, Kushina would be, at this point, among the strongest characters in the entire series, with enough power to kill nearly anyone.
How Kushina Suppressed The Nine Tails
Despite manifesting seven tails and having the Nine Tails control her body, Kushina soon showcased that she was, indeed, a shinobi with tremendous willpower as she started fighting back against the beast. To put that into perspective, once Naruto Uzumaki manifested three or more tails, the control he had over his body lessened greatly. In fact, at four tails, Naruto could not differentiate a friend from a foe. In the case of Kushina, however, even after she manifested seven tails, she was able to fight back against the control of the Nine-Tails and, at the same time, even combined with Minato to stop it.
Kushina started fighting back against Kurama from the inside, even though he had asserted enough control over her to manifest seven tails. She used her Adamantine Sealing Chains to restrict the beast to a point where it could not move. Keeping in consideration that Kurama is the strongest of the Tailed Beasts, for a teenage Kushina to restrict him is a massive feat in itself. It was mentioned in the story that Kushina's Adamantine Sealing Chains were growing stronger with each passing year and just when she was a teen, they were strong enough to restrain the strongest Tailed Beast. Kushina tightened her grip around Kurama and give Minato the opportunity to use the Rasengan on the beast to weaken his control. Thankfully, the two combined in a brilliant manner and Kurama was ultimately subdued.
The Minato one shot was special in every way and fans were pleasantly surprised by the fact that Kushina ended up receiving so much attention and all her skills were highlighted in a positive manner. Fans can only hope that Kishimoto delivers something similar in the future.
Naruto is now available to stream on Crunchyroll.