The tailed beasts are some of the most incredibly powerful forces in all of the Naruto Universe. Each tailed beast and their Jinchuriki have an immense effect on the story and the fate of different Hidden Villages.
Each tailed beast has different abilities and a different theme – usually based upon an animal.
The one we know the best from the beginning of the story is Kurama – or as he is known for a long time – the Nine Tailed Fox. The Nine Tails is integral to the plot because of his relationship with Naruto Uzumaki and is the tailed beast we know the most about.
It could be said that the power levels of the Tailed Beasts are obvious – that number of tails = how powerful they are.
But this just isn’t the case – throughout the series of Naruto and Naruto: Shippuden we begin to learn that the Tailed Beasts are far more varied in their abilities and characteristics; particularly when coupled with their Jinchuriki hosts.
That’s why we’ve written this article! Below is a comprehensive ranking of each of the tailed beasts – their abilities, their Jinchuriki as well as how important they are to the story. Let’s begin and work out who the strongest Tailed Beast is!
The Tailed Beasts are gigantic, earth-shattering beasts that contain great amounts of power (Chakra).
As new readers/watchers to the series, we first come across the Nine Tailed Fox that is trapped inside Naruto, though we don’t learn much more about it until later in the series – that the Nine Tails is just one of many different of these tailed beasts.
But where do the Tailed Beasts come from? This is something that takes some time to be answered and beware of major SPOILERS ahead. Long ago, the Sage of Six Paths sealed the Ten-Tails away and chose to become its Jinchuriki.
This great beast was too powerful to contain, so The Sage of Sixth Paths eventually decided to divide its power into multiple living creates. He chose the Tailed Beasts.
In time, all of these tailed beasts were sealed into their own Jinchurikis because of the great devastation they would cause if left unchecked. Naruto is just one person in a long tradition of Jinchuriki throughout history.
Tailed Beasts Ranked
Now that we’ve defined what exactly the tailed beasts are, we can begin to rank them. It’s not so easy to rank them, because each beast doesn’t get the same screen time as the next, however, we can make a close estimate considering their powers/abilities as well as their connection with their Jinchuriki.
Let’s get started!
Chomei (Seven Tails)
To begin we have Chomei who is the Seven Tails. We’ve put Chomei here mostly because we don’t get to see much of them, and what we do doesn’t seem nearly as powerful as some of the others.
Chomei is the insect tailed beast, and its powers are mostly related to this – including creating a cocoon with immense durability.
It seems to use that Chomei is most powerful in relation to its defensive capabilities, and therefore not as powerful as some of the others. It’s also worth noting that Chomei and their Jinchuriki (Fu) were captured by Kakuzu and Hidan, who are some of the lesser powerful Akatsuki members.
Shukaku (One Tail)
Shukaku is one of the better-known tailed beasts, belonging to Gaara of the Desert. Shukaku has powers in multiple elements, as well as mirroring Gaara in its ability to manipulate sand to do its bidding.
Shukaku and Gaara together made a strong pair, and the pure rage that Gaara felt as a young child was enough to make him a formidable early antagonist to the Naruto Universe.
We’ve ranked Shukaku here because he doesn’t quite have the power levels of later Tailed Beasts like Kurama and Gyuki. Shikaku was also captured and sealed alongside Gaara by Diedera and Sasori, who are some of the weakest Akatsuki.
Kokuo (Five Tails)
Kokuo is another one of the Tailed Beasts that we don’t know so much about. Kokuo is sealed early by the Akatsuki, so we don’t see much of them until they break free during the Fourth Great Ninja War.
Kokuo has the same beast-ball powers as all of the other Tailed Beasts, but also has strong willpower, as they were able to break free from the control of Obito Uchiha during the battle.
Kokuo also has some strong elemental powers, including the ability to combine water and fire chakra to use something called Boil Release. This is a unique form of ninjutsu that allows their Jinchuriki to become super strong through ‘Chakra Steam.’
We’ve mostly placed Kukuo here because we haven’t seen the extent of their power – but from what we do know they can’t be as powerful as some of the later beasts.
Saiken (Six Tails)
Saiken is another Tailed Beast we don’t know all that much about. It’s a slug-like creature who has impressive abilities with liquid and gas – these are able to destroy anything they touch.
The reason we’ve ranked Saiken higher than some of the other Tailed Beasts is that it has great defensive abilities. Because it is a slug, it is difficult to destroy and is seen to be very durable during the battle in the Fourth Great Ninja War.
Saiken is mostly a powerful Tailed Beast because of its unique, trapping abilities as well as its powerful, water-based Ninjutsu. It would be a hard fight for a lot of the Ninja in the series, but it’s definitely not as powerful as later beasts.
Matatabi (Two Tails)
Matatabi is a tailed beast with a lot of offensive power. Because of its fiery exterior, it has an affinity with fire-based ninjutsu and has a lot of devastating attack-based abilities.
It is able to use Fire Release which allows for a whole host of fire ninjutsu. It is also fast and agile despite its crushing size.
Matatabi is a difficult fight for any ninja, but the main reason we haven’t ranked them higher is because of their defeat by Hidan and Kakuzu near the beginning of Naruto: Shippuden.
It’s hard to imagine some of the stronger beasts like Kurama of Gyuzki getting captured by the Akatsuki, so we can safely rank Matatabi lower than them.
Isobu (Three Tails)
Next up we have the Three Tails, or Isobu. Isobu is a Tailed Beast that we get a lot of time with as they were once sealed inside Hidden Leaf Ninja Rin. Isobu is closest to a turtle and has incredible physical powers.
They are able to roll into a great ball and move around with devastating effects. Its shell also offers it great defensive capability.
The main ninjutsu powers that Isobu possesses are crystal-release as well as being able to create shattering shockwaves that can devastate the landscape around it.
The most intriguing thing about Isobu is (in the anime) its ability to use space-time ninjutsu. This is some of the most overpowered Jutsu in all of Naruto, and for this reason, we had to rate Isobu higher than a lot of its siblings.
Son Goku (Four Tails)
Son Goku is the monkey-inspired tailed beast and our personal favorite, even if it’s not the most powerful of the bunch! Son Goku is unique compared to other Tailed Beasts as it has abilities in Taijutsu, being able to fight in hand-to-hand combat.
It is a very strong and agile beast in the same way as Matatabi, and can jump and kick and run.
Son Goku’s main nature affinities are earth and fire, meaning that it can combine them to create Lava Release. Lava Release is a more unique kind of Ninjutsu that gives its users the ability to create volcanoes and other lava-based attacks.
Son Goku and Isobu are quite close in terms of power, and you could probably interchange them depending on what abilities are valued within a specific battle.
Gyuki (Eight Tails)
Although we said before that number of tails does not determine how powerful a Tailed Beast is – when it comes to the final spots, it appears that this rule holds true.
We see this first Gyuki – the octopus/bull-shaped Tailed Beast who belongs to the loveable Jinchuriki Killer B. Gyuki has a long list of powers, including great strength, chakra reserves, resistance against Genjutsu, and regeneration of its tentacles.
It is very fast considering its size and is able to create clones out of ink.
Gyuki also has an incredible connection with Killer B, which allows them to work together without much difficulty. Another thing worth noting is that Gyuki has a lot of battle knowledge and experience, and uses this to aid his Jinchuriki in battle.
The only reason Gyuki isn’t number 2 on this list is because Naruto and Kurama have a better relationship and Kurama is just a tiny bit more powerful.
Kurama (Nine Tails)
Here we have the most well-known Tailed Beast – Kurama or the legendary Nine Tailed Fox. Sealed inside of the young Naruto Uzumaki, this beast is the one that we as the readers or watchers of the show follow as the chapters go by.
Kurama has a lot of powers, including great speed and strength, huge chakra reserves that can be easily shared with others, creating devastating elemental phenomena with its tails, gigantic Beast Balls – as well as wind and fire elemental Jutsu that can be used to create tornadoes and fire-breath.
In some ways it’s unfair to rate Kurama compared with the other Tailed Beasts – eventually, Kurama and Naruto have such a close connection and are so in-tune with one another that Kurama is able to appear outside of Naruto and act as an external force.
It’s very difficult to beat Naruto and Kurama together at the end of the series – and at full power level, Naruto is one of the strongest characters in the entirety of the Naruto Universe.
Juubi (Ten Tails)
It was impossible not to add the Ten Tailed Beast to this list, and to compare them to the others. The Ten Tails is unbeatable when compared as it encompasses the chakra and abilities of all other tailed beasts.
It has the ability to create a Continuous Tailed Beast Ball that is incredibly powerful as well as Ninjutsu that allows it to wreak havoc with natural disasters.
The Juubi has apocalyptic abilities that mean the end of the world, and we only see it for a small period at the end of the story. When it is sealed and becomes a Jinchuriki, the ninja who does so is so powerful that it took Naruto and Sasuke together to defeat them.
We can comfortably rank the Juubi at number one – though in some ways this is unfair as the others don’t even come close.
Final Thoughts
We hope that this article has helped you understand the different rankings of the Tailed Beasts, and given you some understanding of how they look when you begin to compare them.
As with all rankings, it can be difficult to get an accurate picture, especially when many of these Tailed Beasts don’t feature in the manga or anime all that much. However, the top spots are non-negotiable in our view – with Gyuki, Kurama, and the Ten Tails being by far the most powerful.
What do you think about our ranking? Did we get it right? There will always be a debate when it comes to power-level rankings in anime, and it’s no different when it comes to the Tailed Beasts.
Let’s just be thankful that the hero of the story has the Nine Tails and not one of the weaker ones sealed inside him!
