|鞍馬八雲 Kurama Yakumo|
|Anime||Naruto Episode #203|
Yakumo Kurama (鞍馬八雲, Kurama Yakumo) is the last surviving member of the main branch of the Kurama clan, and, as such, the heiress to the clan.
Born with a weak body, she was unable to perform the physical activities required of a ninja. Worried about this development, her father petitioned the Third Hokage to grant Yakumo a special tutor to allow her to become a proper ninja. This tutor was Kurenai Yūhi, who was a genjutsu user like Yakumo. Inspired by the example of Rock Lee, who was unable to use ninjutsu or genjutsu, and his relationship with his sensei Might Guy, Yakumo believed she could become a ninja through simply concentrating upon her genjutsu skills.
But Kurenai lacked Guy's optimism and felt that she was unable to train Yakumo in this regard. She eventually refused to train Yakumo, instructing her to seek another path in life. But Yakumo's refusal forced Kurenai to later seal up the young girl's powers. This was done on the order of the Third Hokage, as he had been made aware of the Ido (イド, id), a sentient and malicious personality within Yakumo's mind, which had been generated from the id part of her psyche. This personality could control her and use her incredible powers for destructive means — with the destruction of Konohagakure foremost in its mind. However, the monster overcame the seal, and cast the illusion of a fire engulfing the Kurama clan's household, which killed Yakumo's parents. Yakumo, however, believed that the fire was started on the order of the Third Hokage, having overheard a conversation that she believed indicated that the Third Hokage was planning to kill her if she became too much of a threat.
Yakumo possesses long brown hair and light brown eyes. Her hair is straight on one side, but on the other side it is in a braid. In addition, she sports a clip with two circular designs. For her outfit she wore a pink kimono held closed by a pink sash with two pockets on the front. She also wore violet baggy pants and red mesh armour underneath her kimono and legs along with sandals that were orange in colour. Her outfit being sealed while training with Kurenai was a series of kimono-like shirts that had long right sleeves and short left sleeves that were held close by a wide pink sash with red mesh armour underneath it all with a light-blue skirt and a brown headband.
She inherited the clan's kekkei genkai in its entirety. Her genjutsu is so powerful that only a person with equivalent genjutsu prowess has any chance of escaping. Furthermore, the genjutsu is powerful enough to literally convince the victim's brain to physically reflect anything that happens to the victim within the genjutsu, to their body, making it possible for her to kill her opponents with genjutsu. She often uses paintings as a conduit to cast these illusions, causing those around her to believe what is on the painting as reality, despite it only being an illusion. Despite the frailty of her body, Yakumo's talent in genjutsu is completely overwhelming and has a wide area of effect, as she was able to put the entire Konohagakure under a powerful illusion. In spite of the enormous threat her genjutsu poses to her opponents, it cannot however, affect certain organisms, such as the kikaichū.
Yakumo Kurama Rescue Mission
Seeking revenge on Konohagakure, and specifically Kurenai, Yakumo escaped from her mountainside manor, which was under constant surveillance by Anbu and medics. She travelled to Konohagakure, and painted a picture of lightning hitting the Hokage's office. As the lighting struck and the building began to burn, she packed up her supplies and left. However, she didn't get very far before a squad of medical ninja and an Anbu intercepted her, knocking her out with a sleep-inducing drug. Naruto Uzumaki, who had been following her after seeing her painting, was warned to stay out of their way before they returned to the manor. A few days later, a group of her clan members, led by her uncle, Unkai Kurama, attacked the manor. Kurenai trapped the clan members in a genjutsu until faced by Unkai. While Kurenai was fighting Unkai, Might Guy came to the spot with the Team 8 members, Sakura Haruno and Naruto. With the assistance of Hinata Hyūga's Byakugan, Naruto managed to defeat Unkai. He swore to get Yakumo back as he fled away. Later, she put the whole of Konoha into a powerful genjutsu that seemed very much like reality, but was soon discovered. She captured Naruto and the others with the genjutsu but at the end only kept Kurenai. When Naruto came into her genjutsu again and told her what Kurenai had been keeping to herself Yakumo remembered what exactly happened, that she had killed her parents. Yakumo tried to kill herself, but was stopped by Ido. She overcomes Ido with the help of Kurenai and realises that her former tutor cared about her.
- As with the other members of the Kurama clan, Yakumo's first name is related to clouds. Yakumo (八雲, Literally meaning: eight clouds) is an archaic word for stratus clouds.
- The Ido monster is likely named for the Id, from Sigumund Freud's model of the psyche, referring to the instinctual and dark part of the human mind, mirroring the destructive impulses of Yakumo's second personality.