Post by Smyles on Apr 25, 2013 8:34:04 GMT -5
Shukaku
Ichibi
The One-Tailed
[ HOST ] Shinji Tetsu
[ LOCATION ] Sungakure
[ STRENGTH ] 8th
[ CHAKRA ] 9th
Shukaku first came into being in the waning days of the Sage of the Six Paths, who used his Creation of All Things ability to separate the Ten-Tails' chakra from its body and divide it into nine separate constructs in order to ensure that it would never resurface after his death. Some time after being created, the Sage sat down with all the young tailed beasts and told them that they would always be together even when separated, and that one day they would become one entity again with different names as well as forms than they did then when the time came for them to understand what true power is.
Citizens of Sunagakure came to believe that Shukaku was a living ghost (生霊, ikiryō) of a corrupted Suna priest, and was originally sealed inside a tea kettle.
Shukaku had two jinchūriki in the past, one of which inspired the Third Kazekage to create the Iron Sand technique. Shukaku was eventually removed from their bodies, resulting in their deaths.
When Karura became pregnant with Gaara, her husband, the Fourth Kazekage, ordered Chiyo to seal Shukaku into Gaara during his birth. Before Karura died from a premature childbirth, she passionately told her son that she would protect him and her love seeped into the sand. However, Gaara couldn't properly control Shukaku's powers, killing or injuring several of Suna's shinobi and citizens. Deemed a failure, the Fourth Kazekage chose to test his son, ordering Yashamaru to assassinate him and also tell him that his mother never loved him, and that she was used as a human sacrifice for the sealing process. Gaara failed the test, fully releasing the rampaging Shukaku, to which the Fourth eventually used his Gold Dust to subdue the tanuki.
Shukaku is cunning, but also incoherent, giving it the demeanour of a madman. According to Gaara, because of its innate rage and bloodlust, Shukaku relishes the opportunity to kill anyone in sight, even more so during a full moon. Like all tailed beasts, Shukaku has a strong desire to preserve its own life, and as such, will grant its jinchūriki the power to control sand as well as allow them to transform into it in a state of need and bloodlust. Gyūki mentioned that Shukaku hates Kurama for its beliefs that the tailed beasts' strength is measured by the number of tails and, as such, views Shukaku as the weakest.
Shukaku is a sandy-brown coloured tanuki, with black (dark blue in the anime) markings all over its face, body, and tail. It has a jagged, concave mouth and the sclera of its eyes are black, containing yellow irides with pupils that each takes the shape of a black four-pointed star with four black dots around it. During the last remaining days of the Sage of the Six Paths, Shukaku in its youth looked the same as it does presently, only much smaller.
Like all tailed beasts, Shukaku has an enormous supply of chakra. However, it does not have as much as Kurama. Shukaku has the power over wind, in which it uses to perform powerful attacks such as the Wind Release: Drilling Air Bullet; the ability to manipulate sand, using it as an effective weapon; and can perform the Tailed Beast Ball. At fully-released form, Shukaku's body is completely made of sand; as such he can ignore most damage that would otherwise be detrimental, as shown when he had one of his arms chopped off by Gamabunta and was still able to keep on fighting. Whenever Shukaku is sealed into its jinchūriki, it has the ability to eat away its host's personality, and influence him or her with its bloodlust behaviour whenever he or she sleeps, which leads its host to develop insomnia.
As Shukaku's jinchūriki, Gaara has the ability to move and levitate sand at will. Shukaku was at first believed to be the source of the automatic Shield of Sand, however the Fourth Kazekage told Gaara that this was due to his mother's love and will being in the sand, thus using Shukaku's sand manipulation for her own purpose; protecting Gaara from all harm. When angry or in a state of bloodlust, Gaara can use the sand in his gourd to take on the form of a miniature Shukaku, or even create a giant copy of Shukaku's body.