At one point during the time of the formation of the shinobi villages, the Gold and Silver Brothers of Kumogakure were assigned to capture Kurama, but were both swallowed whole by the fox. However, the two brothers managed to survive and gain some of its power by eating the flesh 

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Minato rescues Kushina.

Years later, after they graduated and became ninja, Kushina was kidnapped by Kumogakure forces. Konoha mobilised its ninja to retrieve her, but only Minato noticed the strands of red hair Kushina left behind to mark their path. Minato, acting alone, rescued her from her captors.^[11] On their way back to Konoha, Minato confessed his admiration for her hair and her strength,^[12] causing Kushina – who had previously believed Minato "unreliable" and even "girly"^[13] – to fall in love with him.

Konoha's Yellow Flash

Team Minato.

Minato and Kushina were a couple from the time that he rescued her, and with his love, Kushina was able to keep the Nine-Tails sealed within her at bay. They eventually married. From observing a Tailed Beast Ball, Minato began a three year process of creating the Rasengan, the height of shape transformation. He would spend the rest of his life trying to combine it with his ow

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).^[5]

Mito comforting Kushina.

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.^[6] 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.^[7]

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Minato rescuing Kushina.

When she was around 12 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.^[8] 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, one of her former classmates that Kushina 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, accepted her, and liked the one thing she 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.^[9] Ultimately, Minato's reciprocated feelings helped her with overcoming the Nine-Tails.^[10]

As she grew up, Kushina became renowned for her beauty and unique ninjutsu style,^[11] including the fūinjutsuof her clan.^[12] At some point, Kushina married Minato. She was later present to witness her husband's reign as Fourth Hokage, being very excited for him when first learning of it.^[13] During her ten-month jinchūriki-influenced pregnancy, she was secretly kept guarded by Minato's top student Kakashi Hatake under Minato's order.^[14]Midway through the pregnancy, the expecting 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 came up with whilst eating a bowl of ramen one day, Kushina said that it was a beautiful name. They even approved of Jiraiya to be Naruto's godfather.^[15] Kushina also hoped that her son and her best friend Mikoto Uchiha's youngest son Sasuke would become friends in the future.^[16]

The Nine-Tails sealed within Kushina.