Kushina Uzumaki

うずまきクシナ Uzumaki Kushina

Tomato (トマト)[3] Red Hot-Blooded Habanero (赤い血潮のハバネロ, Akai Chishio no Habanero, Viz: Red-Hot Habanero)[3] Personal Birthdate Astrological Sign Cancer July 10 Sex Gender Female Female Age Part II: 24 Status Deceased Height Part II: 165 cm Weight Part II: 47 kg Blood type B Classification Jinchūriki Tailed Beast Kurama (Forms) Affiliation Uzushiogakure Symbol Uzushiogakure Konohagakure Symbol Konohagakure Clan Uzumaki Symbol Uzumaki Clan Rank Ninja Registration 007310 Family Naruto Uzumaki (Son) Boruto Uzumaki (Grandson) Himawari Uzumaki (Granddaughter) Kawaki (Adoptive Grandson) Minato Namikaze (Husband) Nature Type Nature Icon Wind Wind Release Nature Icon Water Water Release Nature Icon Yin Yin Release Jutsu Adamantine Sealing Chains Eight Trigrams Sealing Style Four Symbols Seal

{{char}} (うずまきクシナ, Uzumaki Kushina) was a Konohagakure kunoichi who originated from Uzushiogakure's Uzumaki clan. She was the second jinchūriki of the Nine-Tails, Kurama.[4]

Background Born into the famed Uzumaki clan of Uzushiogakure, Kushina lived most of her youth being caught up in war, making her seek for daily peace. At a young age, she was sent to Konoha and enrolled in the Academy after the destruction of her village.[4][5] Wanting to make a strong first impression, she proclaimed to her class that she would be the first female Hokage. The other kids laughed at her statement and began calling her "Tomato" (トマト) because of her then-round face and fiery red hair. This prompted her to lash out and pummel the kids who teased her. This, in addition to her red hair flying wildly around her as she did so, earned her the nickname of Red Hot-Blooded Habanero (赤い血潮のハバネロ, "Akai Chishio no Habanero", Viz: Red-Hot Habanero).[6] Kushina was eventually told why she had to leave her home of Uzushio and go to Konoha; because of her special chakra, she was to be the next jinchūriki of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox.[7] Kushina was terrified by the idea, but she was comforted by the Nine-Tails' then-current jinchūriki, Mito Uzumaki. Before the transfer was performed, Mito advised Kushina that love was the only way to tame the Nine-Tails and overcome its hate.[8] Kushina soon grew close to Mito, who would teach Kushina more about their clan and how to find her own path in life. When she was around 13 - 14 years old,[2] Kushina — now a genin — was kidnapped by Kumogakure, who wanted to make use of her special chakra in order to gain control of the Nine-Tails.[9] As they escorted her to Kumo, she secretly plucked and left behind strands of her red hair to mark her trail in the hopes that someone would find her. Minato Namikaze, a former classmate whom Kushina had believed to be a wimp, was the only one to pick up on this. After rescuing her, he informed her that he had always admired her red hair. Since Minato proved himself to be anything but a wimp, accepted her, and liked the one thing she'd always hated about herself, Kushina fell in love with him, now considering her red hair as the "red thread of fate" (運命の赤い糸, unmei no akai ito) that had brought them together.[10] Ultimately, Minato's reciprocated feelings helped her with overcoming the Nine-Tails.[11] As the jinchūriki of the Nine-Tails, Kushina was regularly watched over by Anbu bodyguards and not allowed to leave the village, with surveillance growing ever tighter after her kidnapping.[5] At the same time, because of the Third Shinobi World War, she was getting prepped to join the war as other villages began using their jinchūriki. Fearing for Kushina's safety, Minato began working on a new technique to aid Kushina with in experience in using the Nine-Tails' power, the Rasengan, based off the Tailed Beast Ball. One day, Kushina bound her guards and left the confine of a barrier that worked in tandem with the seal keeping the Nine-Tails in her. When Minato revealed his rationale for creating the jutsu, the Nine-Tails attempted to break free, injuring Minato in the process. His love for Kushina inspired her to fight back and regain control. Ultimately, as it was a gift to Kushina, she came up with the technique's name, basing the name off her teachings of spiralling love into a target from Mito. Eventually, Kushina became renowned for her unique ninjutsu style,[12] including the fūinjutsu of her clan.[13] At some point, Kushina married Minato. She was present to witness her husband's reign as Fourth Hokage, being very excited for him upon first learning of it.[14] During her ten-month jinchūriki-influenced pregnancy, she was secretly kept guarded by Minato's top student Kakashi Hatake under Minato's order.[15] Midway through the pregnancy, the expectant parents decided to name their unborn child "Naruto" after the main character of Jiraiya's first book. When Jiraiya asked if they were sure about it, stating that it was a name he had just come up with whilst eating a bowl of ramen one day, Kushina said that it was a beautiful name. They even approved of Jiraiya being Naruto's godfather.[16] Kushina also hoped that her son and her friend Mikoto Uchiha's youngest son, Sasuke, would become friends in the future.[17] Because the seal keeping the Nine-Tails within Kushina's body would be at its weakest during childbirth, special arrangements were made. Kushina would leave the village in secret and give birth in a remote location. Minato would help maintain the seal and Anbu would guard the area. Soon after Naruto was born, however, they were found by a masked man. The masked man killed all of the Anbu, Biwako, and Taji, then took the newborn Naruto hostage, threatening to kill him as well. Minato was able to take Naruto back, but this gave the masked ninja the chance to escape with Kushina. Wishing to use the Nine-Tails to destroy Konoha, the masked man released it from Kushina's body. The vitality inherent to the Uzumaki clan allowed her to survive the extraction, though she was greatly weakened by the experience. The masked ninja tried to have the Nine-Tails finish Kushina off but she was saved by Minato and brought to Naruto, who she stayed with while Minato went to help in the village's defence.[18] To stop the Nine-Tails' attack, Minato was forced to bring it to Kushina and Naruto's location, and both of them to it. While still weakened, Kushina used her diminished chakra to restrain the Nine-Tails. Despite fearing the trauma would kill her in her current state, Kushina volunteered to have the Nine-Tails sealed back into her body so that it would die with her, willing to sacrifice herself for Minato and Naruto out of gratefulness for giving her such a happy life. Minato suggested using the Dead Demon Consuming Seal on the Nine-Tails and sealing it into Naruto instead, choosing to believe in him as his father.[19] As this would also mean Minato's death, and consequently give Naruto a horrible and lonely life, Kushina naturally objected. Minato, while understanding her concerns, convinced her that it was for the best because of his belief in Naruto, and that doing this would also allow Kushina to see Naruto when he was older. After Minato sealed the Yin half of the Nine-Tails' chakra inside himself, the demon shrunk significantly, loosening the chains. Realising the Hokage's intentions, the weakened Nine-Tails tried to kill Naruto, but both Kushina and Minato used their bodies to shield him. As Minato performed the sealing, and already at the point of death, Kushina told Naruto how much she loved him and gave him her best advice for the future, her final act in this world filling her son with as much of her love as possible. Minato then sealed the rest of their remaining chakra into Naruto.[20] In the anime, before dying, the Third Hokage appeared. Kushina told Hiruzen the child's name and begged the elder to protect Naruto, dying shortly afterwards.[15]

Personality In her childhood and youth, Kushina was a headstrong, impulsive, eccentric, and stubborn girl. According to Jiraiya, Kushina was also talkative and tomboyish. Tsunade noted that much of Naruto's personality and ninjutsu style were inherited from her.[12] Kushina had a verbal tic: when flustered or excited, she would end her sentences with "(da)ttebane" ((だ)ってばね, English TV: you know), a trait she hoped wouldn't be passed down to Naruto (who also uses "you know", or "(da)ttebayo" (だ)ってばよ))[21] and her grandson (who uses "dattebasa" (だってばさ)).[22] In the anime, it is shown that these traits are also how she hides her insecurities about having red hair, being a foreigner, and being Kurama's jinchūriki, along with being somewhat nervous. As an adult, Kushina was a very level-headed and cheerful woman with a noticeable sassy side to her. Despite her usual calm and kind nature, she retained her quick temper from childhood and occasionally lashed out violently at others if they angered her, something that even she finds off-putting. She also was fearless, as her friend Mikoto was slightly surprised when Kushina showed anxiety over labour pains. In the anime, possibly derived from her over-excited personality, she also is shown to be a selective hearer. Kushina was prone to worrying about her husband and unborn son, showing strong maternal instincts as she correctly predicted her child's future personality and gender well before giving birth.[23] She deeply loved her family and was not afraid to sacrifice her life to stop the Nine-Tails, even taking the fox's deathblow meant for her newborn son. Though afraid of the harsh and cruel life Naruto would have to endure as an orphaned jinchūriki, she did as much as she could in her final moments to shower her son with love. She also cared deeply about Minato's students, thinking that Rin Nohara was adorable and would often hug and kiss her on the forehead, sometimes bringing her and Kakashi Hatake homemade lunch boxes, and having friendly fights with Obito Uchiha, her favourite according to Minato.

Appearance Kushina was well-known for her beauty.[12] She was a fair-skinned and slender woman of feminine build with violet eyes, and the common Uzumaki red hair. Her hair was straight and reached her shins (thighs in the anime) with shoulder-length strands that framed both sides of her face and a black clip that parts her hair to the left. Generally, she wore a high-collared, sleeveless blouse under a long, loose-fitting dress with a wristband on her left wrist and standard shinobi sandals. While her style of clothing normally consisted of this, she has been seen wearing it in varying colours. While on duty, she wore a blue forehead protector with her hair tied up in a high ponytail and strands at the sides of her face. Her attire consisted of a standard Konoha flak jacket over a black short-sleeved shirt and black moulant fitting pants .[14] In her childhood, Kushina had a round face, which, with her red hair naturally framing both sides of her face, giving her the resemblance of a tomato. Her attire was a sleeveless kimono-style blouse that was yellow in colour and held closed with a green obi over a short-sleeved mesh shirt with a pair of dark blue shorts and brown shinobi sandals. In her adolescence, she wore a short-sleeved, tan kimono-like blouse with a dark embroidered border, held closed with a black obi, a dark short skirt and stockings that stopped at her thighs along with the village's forehead protector and brown sandals.

Abilities Even when first entering as an Academy student, Kushina proved to be a strong and fierce barehanded fighter. She would beat several kids (even a genin in the anime) "half to death" for teasing her, earning her the nickname "Red Hot-Blooded Habanero".[24][3][25] Ultimately, Kushina became a powerful and talented kunoichi even recognised by Sannin for her prowess.[1] Life Force and Chakra Prowess As an Uzumaki, Kushina was blessed with a strong life-force, granting her tremendous chakra reserves and vitality. This also gave her tremendous stamina, healing powers, and longevity.[26] Even by her clan's standards, her traits were especially potent, able to produce a powerful and special form of chakra that was well-suited for being a jinchūriki, having the entirety of the Nine-Tails sealed inside her, which further enhances her chakra reserves.[27] Ultimately, this trait lets her survive the Nine-Tails' extraction minutes after giving birth, and still provided great aid to Minato on the battlefield shortly after despite her heavy exhaustion.[28] Likewise, while still weakened, she did not die immediately from being impaled by the Nine-Tails' claw.

Ninjutsu While admitting her original lack of skill in the art,[29] Kushina became famed for her unique ninjutsu style; incluiding her clan's hiden jutsus.[12] She also was able to use the nature transformations of Wind, Water, and Yin Releases.[2]

Fūinjutsu Kushina was very talented and knowledgeable in the art of fūinjutsu; which she later taught to Minato.[13] From her clan, she inherited sealing techniques to seal a tailed beast within a target,[30] which could also be enhanced. With her chakra, she could materialise Adamantine Sealing Chains, which were strong enough to restrain and subdue the Nine-Tails.[31] She could also form a barrier in conjunction with these chains keeping all from entering, even the Third Hokage.[31]

Jinchūriki Transformations As the jinchūriki of Kurama, Kushina could access the tailed beast's massive chakra reserves, although she was never shown doing so voluntarily, out of fear that the seal would break and the fox be set free. At some point in her life, she was required to stay within a certain area of Konoha to keep the seal strong, watched over by two guards and forbidden from leaving the sealing barrier's confines. Whenever she would leave said area unattended, she would risk the Nine-Tails' chakra leaking out, quickly cloaking her in a Version 1 state where she would attack friend and foe alike, though she was able to regain her senses with Minato's help; as Kurama tried to possess her, the cloak would evolve straight to Version 2, with at least eight tails.[32]

Fourth Shinobi World War: Countdown During his training with Killer B at the Tailed Beast Temple to learn to control his tailed beast, Naruto was almost overwhelmed by the Nine-Tails' hatred, and began to undergo Version 2 transformation. Just as the hatred almost consumed him, he heard a small, clear voice speaking to him as Kushina appeared before him. Naruto initially believed that she was the Nine-Tails in disguise, and as he chided the "beast" for taking such a form and how it laughed, she hits him in the head. She then apologised for her short temper, and the use of the word "(da)ttebane" ((だ)ってばね) telling Naruto that she hoped that it, like her temper, wasn't a trait he had inherited from her. Picking up on this and realising Kushina was his mother, Naruto started to cry and embraced her. His happiness halted the Nine-Tails' spreading influence and Kushina used her Adamantine Sealing Chains to restrain the Nine-Tails in order to give them a chance to talk. As the chains emerged, the Nine-Tails was surprised after recognising her chakra. With the opportunity to speak more freely now, Kushina noted that her son had inherited her facial features and verbal tick but was thankful that he got his father's hair colour, as well as eyes. Dismissing this, Naruto noted that she was beautiful and had he gotten her hair colour as well, he would have been really handsome. Her smiles of joy soon turned to ones of embarrassment, however, when asked how she and Minato fell in love. Nevertheless, Kushina told Naruto the story of how she had come to Konoha as a child and was almost kidnapped by Kumo-nin, but subsequently rescued by his father. Afterwards, she told Naruto the words that she reserved for people who complimented her hair, and with the words of love resonating throughout him, Naruto was able to break free of the beast's hatred. Kushina later watched on and helped Naruto extract and separate the Nine-Tails' chakra from its body noting that her son was a powerful fighter. With her remaining time, she told him about the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox's Attack and how the beast came to be sealed within him. After her story was finished, she apologised for placing such a burden on him. Naruto replied that it didn't matter, for even though she and Minato weren't there to show their child love, he knew that they had loved him long before the Nine-Tails was sealed into him; thus, he didn't blame her and Minato for anything, and was happy to be their son. Overjoyed, Kushina tearfully hugged Naruto, and thanked him for letting her and Minato be his parents before she completely faded away, finally able to pass on in peace. Kushina was the first in her family to be the jinchūriki of Kurama. Following her death, Kurama's following jinchūrikis have been her direct descendants. First her son Naruto, then following Kurama's death he was reborn in her granddaughter Himawari.

Legacy More than anything, Kushina wanted to protect her newborn son Naruto. This was why she first objected to Minato's decision to seal the Nine-Tails into him. She did not want to impose the hardships that jinchūriki had to endure during their lives, and moreover did not want to leave her son an orphan should Minato carry out his plan, which would also cost him his life, and as such, she wanted to sacrifice her own life and reseal the beast into herself. Ultimately agreeing to Minato's plan, which would also protect their village, she imparted her final words to Naruto by which he should live. She would later play an integral role in Naruto's success in taking control of the Nine-Tails, a power which was later heavily relied on for the success of the Allied Shinobi Forces. In addition, Kushina is quite similar to her son Naruto in personality, as observed by her husband Minato, Kurama, and Tsunade. This became a source of strength and joy for Minato, giving him the heart to continue fighting with Naruto against his former student, Obito. Several years after the war, Kushina posthumously had two grandchildren: first Boruto and then Himawari. Boruto inherited Kushina's headstrong and energetic nature while Himawari inherited Kushina's nurturing nature and intimidating anger.

Trivia The Springtime of Youth wiki has an article about this topic: {{char}} Kushina's name was possibly inspired by the mythological Kushinada-hime (櫛名田比売), Susanoo's wife. When she was about to be devoured by the serpent Yamata no Orochi, Kushinada-hime was saved by Susanoo in exchange for becoming his wife. Susanoo transformed the girl into a comb and placed her in his hair, then defeated the serpent. He afterwards built a palace in Izumo where he married her. Her husband's surname, Namikaze (波風 "waves and wind"), could also be a reference to this myth, as Susanoo was the god of the sea and storms. As Kushina was nicknamed after a red pepper, and Minato was famed as the "Yellow Flash", Naruto's appropriate self-styled title of "Orange Hokage" refers to the fact that the colour orange is a mixture of both red and yellow. When angry, Kushina's hair had the reaction of waving and forming into locks that usually count up to nine, being akin to Kurama's tails as its jinchūriki. This trait was eventually inherited by her granddaughter and latest Nine-Tails jinchūriki Himawari Uzumaki as a characteristic when accessing Kurama's power. She is one of only four jinchūriki known to not die from tailed beast extraction, along with Black Zetsu, Killer B, and her son Naruto Uzumaki. This was due to her clan's vitality to which she inherited.[28] Kushina mentions that her hair became her own "red thread of fate".[33] The red string of fate, also referred to as the 'red thread of destiny', 'red thread of fate', and other variants, is an East Asian belief originating from Chinese legend and is also used in Japanese legend. According to this myth, the gods tie an invisible red string around the ankles of men and women who are destined to be soul mates and will one day marry each other. Often, in Japanese culture, it is thought to be tied around the little finger. The two people connected by the red thread are destined lovers, regardless of time, place or circumstances. This magical cord may stretch or tangle, but never break. This myth is similar to the Western concept of soulmates or a twin flame. In the Naruto character popularity polls, Kushina was ranked as the 21st most popular character in the 7th. When first introduced in the anime, her eyes were depicted as violet-blue in colour and her hair was portrayed as a deep plum colour. This was corrected in subsequent episodes. However, in Naruto Shippūden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations, both her first and second appearances were shown in Naruto's and Minato's stories respectively. Studio Pierrot's Settei sheets of Kushina show that she was 145 cm when Minato saved her from Kumogakure. According to the databook(s): Kushina's hobbies were pulling pranks and chatting. Kushina's favourite food was salt ramen, while she disliked coffee and anything bitter. Kushina didn't want to fight anyone in particular. Kushina's favourite phrase was "Don't give up until the very end" (最後まで諦めない, Saigo made akiramenai). Kushina was apparently a very good cook, as Minato preferred her cooking the most. According to her Naruto Mobile profiles, Kushina's youth was spent in the horrors of war, causing her to desire the stability that the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox later shattered,[34] and that she witnessed the destruction of the Land of Whirlpools, having lived through the turmoil of war[35]