The new Naruto sequel, Sasuke's Story, exposes one big, unrevealed weakness of the powerful Tailed Beasts and their hosts, the Jinchuriki. Apparently, having a Tailed Beast sealed inside one's body will cause a disruption in the person's chakra channels, leading to sickness and, eventually, death. This means that, no matter how good the relationship between a Tailed Beast and its host can be, the latter is destined to die at some point.
In Naruto, Jinchuriki are people chosen to hold powerful and savage Tailed Beasts, creatures created by the Sage of the Six Paths, Hagoromo Otsutsuki. The First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, captured the Tailed Beasts and distributed them among the shinobi villages to create a superweapons-based balance of power among the major countries. Each village chooses a Jinchuriki for each generation, to hold a Tailed Beast inside their body and try to control their power. Naruto is the most famous Jinchuriki of the series, who became the host of the powerful Nine Tails, Kurama. Over the course of the series, Naruto's relationship with Kurama changes drastically. In the beginning, the boy hates the Nine-Tails because it killed his parents and many other villagers during a rampage, making Naruto feared and loathed as a monster. Slowly but surely, Naruto proves his worth to the village and, in the process, also comes to understand the creature sealed in his body. The two become friends and grow more powerful together.
However, there is a major drawback in the Jinchuriki status that the series did not reveal. In Sasuke's Story - The Uchiha And The Heavenly Stardust, Sasuke has traveled to the land of Redaku, looking for a cure for a mysterious illness affecting Naruto, who is now the Seventh Hokage. In chapter #3, Sakura, who has come to Redaku to join her husband in his mission, reveals to Sasuke that Naruto's illness is a malfunctioning in his chakra channels, caused by the presence of a Tailed Beast inside his body. The Sage of the Six Paths, who was the first Jinchuriki, also suffered from the same illness, and he cured it using meteor fragments that he found in Redaku.
Kurama Was Destined To Kill Naruto, Regardless Of Their Friendship
It is quite surprising for Naruto fans to learn about this major weakness of the Tailed Beasts and their hosts. During the original series, this was never touched upon, and neither Naruto nor the other Jinchuriki ever showed any signs of this illness, including those who had been the hosts of a Tailed Beast for many years, such as Killer B. In fact, the series focused a lot more on the psychological harmful effects of being a Jinchuriki. Considered by their villages as living weapons, Jinchuriki usually lived secluded lives, hated and feared by everyone because of the difficulty in controlling the power of a Tailed Beast. Naruto changed all this forever, freeing all Tailed Beasts at the end of the Fourth Shinobi World War. However, it is now revealed that, despite all his efforts to make things better, Naruto would have still died because of the presence of Kurama inside his body.
Jinchuriki and Tailed Beasts are a fundamental part of Naruto's lore. They are all tragic characters who are used by the author Masashi Kishimoto to convey his powerful message of pacifism and tolerance. Sasuke's Story adds a new, important piece to the history of Tailed Beasts and Jinchuriki, and at the same time, it reveals a new, tragic detail of Naruto and Kurama's relationship.
The latest chapter of Sasuke's Story - The Uchiha And The Heavenly Stardust is available through Viz Media.