Highlights
- The tailed beasts in Naruto were originally created by the Sage of the Six Paths and were used by shinobi villages as weapons of mass destruction.
- Shinobi villages sought to gain control over the tailed beasts' power through finding jinchuriki who could safely harness their chakra.
- In the Cold War era of the Naruto world, the possession of a tailed beast became crucial to prevent other nations from starting a major war, resulting in a mutually assured destruction scenario.
Eons ago, back when the concept of ninjutsu and shinobi hadn’t been invented yet, the Sage of the Six Path, Hagoromo Otsutsuki, separated the calamity-bringer beast, the Ten-Tails, into nine Tailed-Beasts, each with a different number of tails. And just as the Sage of the Six Paths intended, these sentient intelligent beasts would freely roam the earth, away from the human population, or at least that is the case for most of them.
Centuries went by, and humanity finally got around to mastering the art of ninjutsu, becoming a proper shinobi, creating numerous shinobi villages, and waging war against each other. It didn’t take a long time until they realized that every tailed beast was basically a massive bundle of chakra and power. So began a race to hunt, seal, and exploit the beasts for military purposes. That was the moment when the Tailed-Beasts took on a unique and horrifying role in the world of Naruto.
As A Weapon of Mass Destruction
As soon as humanity realized that they could take advantage of the tailed beast's massive power to turn the tide of battle in their favor, the race was on. Every shinobi village did whatever they could to capture a tailed beast. Countless lives were lost during this hunt, but over time the shinobi villages eventually got better and better at capturing and sealing the tailed beasts. There were even individuals popping up all over the world who were strong enough to subdue a tailed beast alone, such as Uchiha Madara or Hashirama Senju.
So what did those villages use their newly captured tailed beast for? Well, the answer is they used them as weapons of mass destruction. Once captured, a tailed beast was usually sealed in a jar-like container first before it was sealed again inside a human jinchuriki. We can see this process in Gaara and Killer B’s flashback. However, sealing a tailed beast into a shinobi didn’t mean the human would automatically have total control over the beast. On the contrary, the beast could force through its human vessel and manifest its real body whenever the jinchuriki is weakened.
While a massive yet uncontrollable power was certainly a problem, the shinobi of the past realized that there was an advantage in having such a rampaging beast. The jinchuriki simply need to infiltrate the enemy’s base and unleash the full might of the beast there and all of its pent-up rage. The sheer physical power of these massive beasts alone can cause untold amounts of damage to any kind of human settlement. If you add the beasts’ bijuu bombs into the mix, then we get a weapon that is capable of wiping out even the most powerful shinobi village in one night. A Weapon of Mass Destruction.
As A Means To Gain A Competitive Advantage During Combat
Although attacking the enemy with the rampaging beast could yield a pretty good result, what the shinobi villages ultimately wanted was total control over the beasts’ massive power. Every shinobi village, big and small, seemed to share the same sentiment. So began another race to find a jinchuriki that could perfectly control the power of the tailed beast.
Every village came up with their own unique solutions. Some villages, such as the Kumogakure, simply focused on finding the right individual for the Jinchuriki. Some villages experimented with creating a child that was compatible with the tailed beast, which was what the people at Sunagakure did. Some villages put their time and effort into creating a much more powerful seal that would allow the jinchuriki to safely take the beast’s chakra, which was the preferred approach of the Uzumaki clan of Konohagakure.
Although these villages found different solutions, most of them managed to arrive at the same destination, which was using the tailed beast to gain a competitive advantage during combat. From then on, the jinchuriki would be an essential part of the front line of any battlefield. There, they will be able to cause lots of damage and kill countless people without the risk of losing control and attacking their own people. As we’ve seen in Minato’s flashback story, this kind of strategy was quite widely implemented during the Second and Third Shinobi Wars.
As A Means To Ensure A Mutually Assured Destruction
After the end of the Third Shinobi War, the five major shinobi villages, along with numerous small ones, sort of agreed to not attack each other. After all, everybody who was involved in the war ended up losing precious human lives and resources. So the period of the Cold War and Proxy War officially began.
Rather than engaging with the enemy directly on their soil, the conflict happened in smaller nations, such as Amagakure. Not only that, these superpowers sometimes even use shinobi from other nations or even mercenaries like the Akatsuki to fight their war, which was the preferred strategy of Iwagakure at the time.
So what about the tailed beasts? Did the shinobi villages no longer care about them? Unfortunately, that is not the case. On the contrary, the race to obtain a tailed beast was even more prevalent in those days. Because once a village finds out that their enemy or even their neighboring villages managed to get their hand on a tailed beast, they will try even harder to get one for themselves.
After all, everybody realized that an exchange of blows between two nations that possess tailed beasts would mean the destruction of both parties. This means owning one is the same as having a deterrent that will prevent anybody from starting a massive war. So it is crucial for a shinobi village to own a tailed beast. All in the name of protection. Or to be more precise, to ensure a Mutually Assured Destruction.
So in a way, the tailed-beasts are akin to nuclear weapons. That is their unique and horrifying role in the world of Naruto.
Naruto is available to stream on Crunchyroll.