Chương 41: Chapter 41: Blue Star Canyon

In a land of wind and sand, where the blistering heat of the day and the near freezing cold of the night was a show of nature's power and beauty. Where the sky was always clear and the stars always bright. Amidst the shifting dune and flowing sands, a silent cloaked figure moved swifty, yet not a single fluter of the clock nor the footprint on the sand could be seen. The figure could just as easily pass by someone and would be considered nothing but another desert mirage, afterall, many secrets and mysteries laid buried beneath the sand.

The figure soon reached a city made entirely of sand, hidden in plain sight and yet invisible to all who didn't know what to look at. The figure slowly started to sink into the sand and disappeared in the dead hour of the night and when it appeared again it held a sleeping child in his embrace.

The Figure disappeared from the spot and reappeared in a far away place, yet no one could ever hope to tell the difference, afterall the desert changed it the whims of the wind and not even man could tame this natural wonder.

The figure placed the sleeping child in the middle of an inked ground, strange rune and symbols were drawn about, connected with the characters to create a strange tapestry of magic.

The figure moved a few steps back, clearing the drawn symbols before making a hand gesture as the inked symbols and words lifted off the ground and approached the boy, stabbing into him as he started to groan as pain assaulted him until he cried out in his sleep, yet the pain did not stop but only grew as sand started to flow out of him.

The sand soon started to pile up into a hill as the painful groans of the child finally came to a stop, along with his heart. The figure quickly moved to the small boy, his hands glowing gold as he put them over the boy's chest and color returned to the boy's cheeks.

After he was done, the figure looked at the hill of sand that had started to take form as strange powers showed him the mysteries hidden within the forming sand.

[Name: Shikaku

Title: OneTailed Beast/ The Racoon/ Sand Demon/ Incarnation of Sand

Age: ??

Level: 170

Notice: The Target's chakra is constantly being regenerated.]

A smile crept up on his face as he observed the giant sand colored racoon with black symbols all over its body and as soon as it had fully formed, "EeeeeeYeHaaa! I'm finally free! Here I come Baby! Yaaa!" The roar of the racoon echoed throughout the desert as it relished in his new found freedom before looking downwards at his liberator, "Aoi little brat, you set me free? Well, just for that I'm not gonna kill ya! YEhaaa! I'm free baby!"

The figure smiled as his eyes turned red, "I wouldn't say free… more like, under new management." The raccoon looked down at the figure in surprise and just as he did, his eyes also shifted to match the red eye of the figure. As soon as the raccoon's eyes shifted, the figure made a hand sign and the ink flew up to the sand spirit and wrapped around him, boring into him and dragging him into the figure as the donut shaped tattoo on his stomach gained a ring around it,the four flames that surrounded it doubled to 8.

The figure panted, "1 down, 8 more to go. But for now, I should be a good host and entertain my guests." He looked into the distance and could feel numerous individuals zeroing in on him. He straightened up and removed his clock, taking out a bamboo stick that arced with lightning as he pointed it to the sky and.

*KRAKOOOM!*

............…

In the distance, Rasa saw the lightning behind the rocky mountains that obscured their view and his heart tightened, "We Have to hurry!" He commanded his followers as he sped up, speeding ahead of the rest as he prayed in his heart, 'Gara, please be safe.'

The man had always cared about his children but after his wife died due to his decisions, he could never give them the love and care they deserved, mostly of all his youngest was a source of pain for him since his beloved wife died giving birth to him. Nonetheless, he was still his son and even in a place where water was worth more than gold, blood remained thicker.

Rasa climbed over the rocky mountain and came upon an open canyon and in the middle lay a small child and a grown man with a fat belly standing close by, the ground around them charred and cracked. His expression twisted as he burst forth with great speed, raising sand along with him and sending sand shurikens at the fat man.

The fat man jumped back, creating distance between Rasa and himself before coming to a stop around 30 meters away. Rasa glanced down at his son and was filled with relife, 'He is still breathing.' Having assured his son's safety, the kage now looked at the man that had somehow snuck past all their defenses and kidnapped the jinchuriki right under their noses.

'We wouldn't have known anything if it weren't for the monster's roar… his roar! Where is he!?' Realization dawned on him as he looked at the charred land around him, mirroring the bright stars in the sky above; the high temperatures of the lightning had created crystals all around him. With suspicion, he looked at the fat man in front of him.

*Swish Swish*

As more and more ninja appeared in the canyon, the fat man became the center of attention. He was wearing a loose dirty white shirt with ripped sleeves, revealing his thick muscular arms. He also wore a dirty blue trouser and no shoes. On his head was a red bandana and a bamboo shoot in his hand that reached the same length as him.

Under the scrutinizing gazes of the Jonins around him, the man smirked, "This is quite the welcome, Good! Good! I'd expect nothing less for me! Gahahahah!" The fat man's laughter echoed off the wall of the canyon as the ninjas surrounding him got tense. Any man that could be so casual while facing off so many ninja was either a fool or a powerful opponent and considering the happenings of the night, the sand ninja were willing to bet on the latter.

As the laughter died out, the kage spoke up, "Who are you? And where is the Sand demon?" The fat man smiled, "The sand demon is gone." gasps of surprise and denial sounded around him as Rasa's expression became dimmer, afterall his son was asleep and the sand demon was nowhere to be seen. This left only a few possibilities and he didn't like any of them, but now was not the time for him to ponder such things as the fat man continued unbothered by the feelings of those around him.

The fat man continued in a bold and boisterous tone, "As for who I am?" he paused for effect, "I am the great master of the Panda Style! The greatest warrior this world will ever see! I shall prove it by battling the greatest monsters of the world! So Witness! WITNESS ME!!!" the man roared as the sand ninja looked at him with confused expressions.

The fat man breathed heavily as he continued, "The sand demon was strong, but I am curious to fight the man that could subdue him so easily!" He raised his bamboo shoot and took a fighting stance, "Prepare yourself!"

Rasa had one of his men take Gara back to the village as he slammed his hands on the ground, he wasn't going to let such a big threat leave so easily and had planned to detain him anyways.

Sand rose from the ground in layers as it surrounded the fat man in the middle before closing up like a dome but just as it closed up, the fat man struck a palm in the air, creating a shockwave that blasted the sand away. The fat man ran at the kage with surprising agility, dodging the suddenly rising sand spikes that rose from the ground, trying to impale him.

The fat man raised his bamboo staff and slammed it down at the kage who swiftly backed away but as he did, the bamboo struck the ground and electrified everything around it, turning sand into glass. 'That bamboo is a chakra weapon!?' he was surprised but that didn't stop his fight as sand started to raise around the fat man once more, the fat man jumped towards Rasa once more, his every swing of the bamboo leaving arcing lightning in the air and the ground but the kage dodged every strike with great precision until the bamboo suddenly grew twice as long and struck Rasa in the shoulder. The sudden current blasted him backwards as he lost all feeling in his arm and his men yelled in worry and surrounded the fat man.

As the sand ninja circled the fat man, he suddenly jumped high into the air and brought the shrinking bamboo shoot close to his mouth while yelling, "Bamboo style: Electrified Air Bullets!" He breathed in deep and shot out air bullets that became charged as they traveled through the bamboo shoot and struck down with blinding speed.

*Bzzt Bzzt Bzzt*

Most of the Jonin could not dodge the high speed attack as the air bullets hit them, breaking the bones on impact and causing burns from the lightning that was carried by the air bullets.

At this point, Rasa had recovered from the pain and seeing his jonin so helpless he decided to go all out, 'We can't afford to lose any Jonin.' The gourd on his back burst open as golden dust spread in the surrounding air and a tidal wave of golden sand descended upon the recently fallen fat man.

Seeing the gold sand coming at him, the fat man laughed, "Yes! This is it! Only This level of power is worthy of me. Now Allow me to return the favor! Witness the power of the Master of the Panda Style! WITNESS ME!!!" The man roared as the bamboo in his hand started to glow blue from the shree lightning that appeared on it and the fat man once more jumped high into the air.

Looking at the fat man that was glowing blue, Rasa's thoughts went back to the lightning strike he had seen earlier as his expression became grim and he yelled at his men, "GATHER!" He then engulfed them in layers of golden sand as the voice of the flying fat man entered their ears.

"Bamboo style: Thunderstruck Bamboo!"

*KRAKHOOOM!*

Rasa left the force as his control over the golden sand disappeared and it blasted away. Luckily they sand ninjas were able to survive and as they dug out of the now glass filled sand, they emerged into a hellscape.

Molten sand laid about the canyon as shimmering sand created a galaxy of stars on earth. "What a monster!" a sand ninja involuntarily muttered. The entire canyon had been cracked and blackened, the only place that hadn't was now a pool of molten lava. The sand ninja looked around but their assailant had disappeared. Instead of pursuing him, Rasa commanded his men to return to the village.

The lightning that had just fell was seen and heard for miles, a brilliant blue light that rivaled the brightness of the sun. Many elders had fallen to their knees, thinking that the sky was falling and the end of the world was upon them. For many years since then, this canyon would be known as the blue star canyon, on account of the blue lightning that created it and the numerous stars that could be found in it.