Tailed Beast

In the Naruto universe there are at least nine demons called the Tailed Beasts (尾獣, bijū) that inhabit the planet. The organization Akatsuki, has a plan that involves the capture of the tailed beasts.

History

It seems that the tailed beasts were around before the First Great Ninja War. The shinobi nations first involved these demons by attempting to capture them and harnessing their powers to defeat their enemies. The attempt was impossible as no nation was able to control such power. Instead, the nations moved to capture the beasts and seal them in a human, a jinchūriki (人柱力, lit. Power of Human Sacrifice). This method worked and by the time period of the series, the only known tailed beast to have not been sealed was the Three Tails.

Jinchūriki

A jinchūriki is a person inside whom a tailed beast has been sealed. Such a process is done so that the power of a tailed beast might be harnessed and utilized. For this sole purpose, all jinchūriki are intended to be tools of war.

Only one technique to seal a bijū into a host has been identified, although more techniques most likely exist. This technique is none other than the Dead Demon Consuming Seal, and the specific case was the sealing of the Kyubi into Naruto.

The jinchūriki, or host, has access to extraordinary powers as a direct result of the beast. The implanting of the beasts results in some cases in a stronger than the sole beast, but only for the fact that a human intelligence is present to guide the creature's power. As is seen with Naruto, Gaara, and Yugido, releasing all of the bijū's power and allowing the creature to actually take its natural form is much more powerful than anything that can be done while restrained in the human form.

According to Akatsuki, the hosts tend to be lonely people who loathe humanity, which was proven true when the first two beasts sealed by the organizaiton was done with almost little effort from their respective ninja villages. According to Deidara, there were some people glad to be rid of the jinchūriki. Clearly, hosts of the bijū, while possessing immense powers, in most cases lack friendship and even acceptance. As Godaime Hokage Tsunade even stated, "The only person capable of truly understanding a jinchūriki is another jinchūriki." As can be observed in the case of Naruto, jinchūriki are involuntarily driven to loneliness by the fact that the beast that resides within is viewed more as a curse than a blessing. Alternatively, in the case of Gaara, the bijū may even have a negative influence on the host's personality. For the other jinchūriki to be hated so, either of the two cases may be possible, or the generic case that Chiyo mentioned: all jinchūriki are created as a weapon of war. Which, in a time of peace, means that they become feared and rejected.

Naruto and Gaara, which happen to be the best examples of jinchūriki in the manga, since they are main characters, show one other curious development. The bijū, though possibly apathetic or loathing of their hosts, will protect his or her life. This is due to their realization that extermination of the host would lead to the death of the beast as well. Each tailed beast will respond in a different way, according to its powers; as for Naruto, the Kyubi's chakra will rapidly heal from within. Also, in times of fear, anger, or other intense emotion, excess chakra will exude from the beast directly to Naruto. If Naruto is in a sufficient state, the chakra can even form a shield to protect him or dispel projectiles with just a shout. Shukaku will likewise protect Gaara; a shield of sand from the beast itself prevented Gaara perfectly from any injury until the time of the Chūnin exam.

Conversely, if the tailed beast is ever removed from the host, the host dies as a consequence. The only witnessed technique to extract a tailed beast is Akatsuki's Illusionary Dragon Nine Consuming Seals, a jutsu that can require up to three days to complete. However, Chiyo mentioned that the two previous hosts of Shukaku to Gaara had the beast extracted forcibly. In order to draw out the bijū, an amount of chakra equal to that of the tailed beast itself must be produced. The chakra will be forced into the host, thereby "pushing" the tailed beast out. An item must be on hand into which the beast can immediately be sealed, without allowing it physical form. For example, Shukaku was sealed into a kettle; Akatsuki seals them into a statue serving as a large container.

Known Tailed Beasts

One-Tailed Shukaku

Main article: One-Tailed Shukaku

• Name: One-Tailed Shukaku (一尾の守鶴 Ichibi No Shukaku) or Shukaku of the Sand (砂の守鶴 Suna no Shukaku)
• Creature Type: Tanuki (racoon-dog, native only to Japan and other Asian countries)
• Host: None, formerly Gaara and previously two unknown Sunagakure citizens.
• Unique traits: Ability to spit concentrated balls of wind mixed with chakra
• Status: Captured, extracted, and sealed by Akatsuki

The One-Tailed Shukaku was the tailed beasts that inhabited the Land of Wind prior to the start of the series. Its only known host was Gaara, but was later captured and sealed by the Akatsuki.

Two-Tailed Demon Cat

• Name: Two-Tailed Demon Cat ニ尾の猫俣 Nibi no Nekomata
• Creature type: Nekomata (magical, two-tailed cat)
• Host: None, formerly Yugito Nii
• Unique traits: Fire-breathing
• Status: Captured, extracted, and sealed by Akatsuki

The two-tailed demon cat is a fire-breathing, flaming cat sealed within Yugito Nii of Kumogakure. Soon after her introduction Yugito is captured by Akatsuki members Hidan and Kakuzu, though it is unknown which was specifically assigned to capture her. Despite luring her two pursuers into a closed space, sealing the exits, and transforming herself into the demon cat, Yugito was overpowered and rendered unconscious by the two Akatsuki members. Zetsu later arrives to take her off their hands, and she later dies as a result of having the beast extracted from her.

Three-Tails

• Name: Three Tails 三尾 Sanbi
• Creature Type: Unknown (turtle-like creature)
• Host: None
• Unique traits: Unknown
• Status: Captured, and sealed by Akatsuki.

The three-tailed beast is a gigantic, turtle-like demon that Akatsuki assigns Tobi (with the help of Deidara) to capture. This creature may be based on the Genbu or the Kappa.

What abilities this creature possesses remains unclear, as it did little to actually attack the two in its short appearance. It is clearly quite fast despite its size, as evidenced by its ability to keep up with Tobi, who was running on the water at the time. With the three-tails distracted, Deidara molded an explosive clay fish in an attempt to capture it. It's unclear if this marked the end of the battle, as the remainder of the battle goes unseen. As the two towed the beast to the Akatsuki lair after the battle, Tobi gloated of bringing the three-tails down with his special jutsu, but Deidara thought otherwise. It is later sealed in the sealing statue.

Unlike the other tailed beasts seen thus far, the three-tails lacked a host. According to Deidara, lacking a host made the beast weaker because it wasn't intelligent enough to control its own strength.

Four-Tails

• Name: Four Tails (四尾 Yonbi)
• Creature type: Unknown
• Host: None, formerly an unnamed elderly man
• Unique traits: Access to many types of elemental chakra
• Status: Captured, extracted, and sealed by Akatsuki

The four-tails jinchūriki is an elderly man of unknown origin who was eventually captured by Kisame Hoshigaki. Reportedly, it was a difficult battle for Kisame, who had to face many elemental fusions, rarely seen outside of kekkei genkai. The four-tailed beast is sealed before the end of the next chapter, leading to the old man's death.

Nine-Tailed Demon Fox

Main article: Nine-Tailed Demon Fox

• Name: Nine-tailed Demon Fox (九尾の妖狐 Kyūbi no Yōkō)
• Creature type: Kitsune (Magical many tailed fox)
• Host: Naruto Uzumaki
• Unique Traits: Near limitless chakra, massive strength
• Status: Active, sealed in host.

The nine-tailed demon fox is a truly powerful beast; a single swipe of one of its nine tails can raise tsunamis and flatten mountains. The demon fox would appear as a natural disaster in an area where human malice festered. After the demon fox attacked Konohagakure, the Fourth Hokage sealed it into the newborn Naruto by using the Dead Demon Consuming Seal, sacrificing his own life to do so. It is said however that Madara Uchiha had the power to summon the demon fox, and he was the one behind the attack on Konohagakure.

Legend of the Tailed Beasts

According to some fans, the "Legend of the Tailed Beasts" is an epic story from Japanese folklore which Naruto author Masashi Kishimoto draws from to create the tailed beasts in his work. However it is an example of internet-based fakelore which originated on Chinese websites, some suspect this chinese site.

The veracity of the legend breaks when it is cross-referenced with non-fandom sources on Japanese folklore. For example, the isonade, which is held to be the three-tailed beast in this account, is in fact equipped with only one large, hook-covered tail, and the "houkou" which is actually a Chinese creature called penghou, named as the five-tailed beast, has no tail at all. The badger was said to be the lord of all these beasts in the original legend, and Naruto fans have claimed certain Bijuu to be a badger instead of it's true form which was a tanuki for Ichibi no Shukaku and a bat for Shichibi no Makumore)

Additionally the author of the story admitted it was not a true legend, unfortunately it has gone largely unnoticed by most fans of the story.