Ten years before the start of the series, Kurata was a member of the Digital World exploration party, whose task was to investigate the Digital World, as well as search for the lost son of Kevin and Michelle Krier (Kenji and Misuzu Noguchi), Keenan Crier (Ikuto Noguchi). In the Digital World, Kurata reacted with nothing but fear towards the strange monsters that appeared before them like Lynxmon and Ikkakumon, a fact that he was chastised for by another member of the expedition, Spencer Damon (Suguru Daimon), the father of the series' main character, Marcus Damon (Masaru Daimon). According to Sampson and confirmed by Kurata himself, he worked under Spencer as his assistant, but himself believed he could take better choises for making. When referring to this he often says it in a spiteful or contemptous tone.
Eventually, the group became terrorized by SaberLeomon, who chased them to an area of the Digital World that would become known as the Infinite Ice Ridge. There, the frightened Kurata used a sort of make-shift bomb to escape to open a portal to the real world, which he and the rest of the expedition used to escape to the human world while Spencer held SaberLeomon.
His experiences in the Digital World left a lasting effect on Kurata - his fear of them apparently led him to decide that Digimon were a menace and threat to humanity. However, he discovered there are very powerful Digimon he could use on his own to realize his true ambition: Become himself into the ultimate Monarch of the Earth, the Digi-World and the universe, so everyone would kneel down before him.
Kurata led an attack force into the Digital World, and used his Gizumon to ravage the Digital World and exterminate as many Digimon as possible. With the Gizumon's ability to permanently delete a Digimon, these actions resulted in the very permanent death of many Digimon, including Keenan's guardian, Frigimon. Merukimon intervened, believing Spencer and the humans had betrayed him, forcing the fearful Kurata to again escape to the Real World.
