Naruto: What We Know About the Nine-Tail's Suicide Form

The latest chapter of Boruto: Naruto Next Generations saw Naruto make a dark deal with Nine Tails (Spoilers): they will sacrifice themselves to unleash a level of power they've never tapped into before, in order to defeat the latest Otsutsuki threat. Naruto's new power has only been teased so far (in the final pages of Boruto chapter 51), but already fans have a lot of questions. Given how much history went into building up the relationship between Naruto and Kurama, this new turn is certainly a surprise. So what do we know about Naruto's new Nine-Tails 'Suicide Form?' Let's break it down!

Boruto Manga SPOILERS Follow!

Kurama is one of the nine-tailed beasts that were created when one of the Otsutsuki's Ten-Tails beasts was split into nine different bodies. Kurama was sealed in Naruto at a young age, and a major theme of Naruto's journey was learning to tame the ferocious beast inside him, while simultaneously softening Kurama's heart and making the beast more heroic. By the end of Naruto: Shippuden, Naruto, and Kurama had struck a balance of partnership unlike any the Nine-Tails has had.

That's important to understand when looking at the scene in Boruto 51, where Kurama reveals to Naruto that there is a power that he can access to defeat Isshiki Otsutsuki. It's important to note that it's only when (and because of the fact that) Naruto already commits to making the ultimate sacrifice, that Kurama reveals the following:

"Naruto... You're really prepared to die?... There might be a way. It's a do or die, last stand, ace-up-you-sleeve thing. Only worth trying since you're expecting to get killed anyway."

Naruto asks Kurama the questions that we're all wondering: "If you had such a thing, why didn't you say so sooner?!"

Well, there's actually a good reason that Kurama has kept this particular power under his nine-tailed hat this whole time: because it's a one-time use opportunity: "Because you'll die. Do this and it's over."

It's well established that the Nine-Tails is capable of tapping into ridiculously deep and powerful wells of chakra - in fact, the danger of Kurama having a power overload has always been one of the beasts' main flaws. When you consider all that foreshadowing in Kurama's character arc, it should be no surprise that the Nine-Tails has a secret form that could give his host a massive surge in power, at the cost of overload.

In terms of appearance: the teaser images of Naruto's new form make it look like Kurama Mode taken to a whole new level. In essence, it looks like this form lets Nine-Tails achieve even greater fusion with Naruto's human form - which could be exactly what will cost Naruto his life.

What do you think about Naruto's new form? Let us know in the comments!

You and read Boruto's latest manga HERE. The anime has resumed streaming on Funimation and Hulu.