Tanuki Rampage

Suzaku Ryuga was born in Sunagakure to a young Shinobi couple roughly ten years ago. The couple shared a strong love for each other but more importantly and deeply for their young son. Unfortunately they would perish together in a mission when Suzaku was seven years old. With no other family members willing to take him in, he was forced to live by himself in his family's apartment. While all of his daily expenses were being covered by the Kazekage Office, he lacked the warmth of a family. As such every night he would wander aimlessly through the streets of Suna alone. Doing so in order to avoid being home alone by himself, sadly this hardly made the sadness go away.

Following in his parents footsteps and as a way to repay the village for their investment in him, Suzaku strived to excel in the Academy. His hard work along with dazzling performances earned him countless praise from all of his instructors. However, while his instructors celebrated his successes, several classmates held a deep sense of envy towards him. It would be this treatment by his peers that led Suzaku to isolate himself and grow distant from everyone around him.

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Late in the afternoon, a tan-skinned boy of significant height, with black, slicked back hair and sharp gray eyes made his way through the village's center plaza. He wore a large maroon collared jacket with the Suna crest on the back and a pair of black baggy pants.

Having grown accustomed to this sort of late night walks, Suzaku strolled through the tightly packed streets passing through countless ships and stalls. However, he would rarely stop and when he finally did he would gaze over a specific item before walking away. Eventually he would reach a scarcely populated area with several benches where he would sit down and stare up at the starry night sky. Looking up at the bright stars he reminisced of the brief memories he recalled of his parents. At some point he loudly cursed them for leaving him all alone, before shedding tears filled with a deep anguish.

" I hate being alone… I hate that empty and cold apartment… I hate the envious stares from my classmates… I hate the impossible expectations my instructors place on me… I hate having to endure. I hate being weak."

Suzaku's words, while delivered emotionally were entirely correct, the main reason he suffered and endured was because in the grand scheme of things he was weak. Sure he may be talented for someone his age, but that meant nothing in front of true power. If he wielded such power he wouldn't have to endure anymore, he would be free to do whatever he wanted and most importantly wouldn't have to be ostracized by other weaklings. Suzaku would routinely walk around before seating in one of the nearby benches and dream of obtaining such power. Unfortunately, whether due to the situation regarding his parents, lack of resources or simply bad luck his chances of actually obtaining power were extremely bleak. A literal miracle would have to occur for Suzaku to become something more than a minor side character to those born with great destinies.

*BOOM*

A massive explosion seemingly detonated as the earth violently shook, sending buildings much less people flying through the air. Thankfully, Suzaku was in a secluded and open area and more importantly quite some way from the explosion zone.

" What the hell was that?!"

Several people hysterically shouted as they got back on their feet, as for the question on everyone's that was quickly answered. With the sudden appearance of a massive figure near the outskirts of the Village. With its size it easily towered all of the buildings in the village, then as the uplifted sand settled down everyone knew exactly what caused the earthquake.

" Shukaku…"

A slightly startled Suzaku muttered under his breath before all of the people around him ran for cover. After a few breaths, he too began to run away however rather than running away from the monster's rampage he ran towards it. Eventually getting up to a high rise rooftop from where he could witness what exactly was going on.

Not long after Suzaku reached the rooftop, he was able to make out a lone figure rushing towards the "Monster Tanuki". While he wasn't initially certain of their identity the minute they unleashed an attack he knew who they were.

" Magnet Style: Gold Dust Imperial Funeral!"

Suzaku watched in awe as an enormous wave of glittering gold slammed against Shukaku's massive body. The wave of gold crashed against the enormous creature with a tremendous amount of force managing to pin it against some nearby buildings.

Back at his own rooftop, Suzaku instinctively clenched both of his hands into fists, in an attempt to control his own jealousy.

" Heh, the Kazekage possesses one of the most powerful Kekkei Genkai in the entire country. In comparison, what exactly do I have other than delirious daydreams of grandeur?"

While he was busy being self-deprecating, Shukaku began its retaliation against the Kazekage.

" Wind Style: Air Drilling-Bullet!!!"

The monstrous Tanuki, beat its large stomach with its right arm, producing a loud sound. The external pressure produced a ball of wind from its gaping mouth, which it fired towards the Kazekage.

" Magnet Style: Gold Dust Wall!"

A thick barricade of gold dust immediately formed around the Kazekage blocking the incoming cannonball.

At this point, Suzaku was beginning to doubt his own safety as Shukaku began to recklessly fire those wind cannonballs. Thankfully for the village, it seemed that almost every capable ninja was helping in Shukaku's subjugation. With lower ranked Chūnin going around rescuing the civilian populace while the jōnin and anbu surrounded Shukaku in an attempt to restrain its movements.

Being high up, Suzaku watched on as they were all doing their part to help. However, at this point a certain thought popped into his head.

' If everyone is here… who's guarding the Kazekage's Office? Surely someone will be standing guard, right? They wouldn't leave a place looming with secrets and possibly secret techniques and Jutsus unguarded… Surely.'

Unable to shake the immense amount of curiosity, Suzaku decided to go and have a look, nothing more than that, just a small peek.

Getting down from the rooftop, he utilized the empty alleyways to head towards the Kazekage's Office. On his way there he had to make sure to not be seen while simultaneously dodging falling debris from the ongoing battle.

Upon reaching the building, he took a moment to stake it out first just in case there was anyone around. Surprisingly there wasn't anyone, at least not any that he could see in the office lobby. Believing that his guess might actually be correct he ran back into the alleyway, after which a bearded middle aged man walked out from the same alleyway.

Having changed his appearance with the transformation technique, Suzaku entered the office building. Walking inside he was caught off guard by the lack of security as he easily made his way inside and soon enough walked up towards the Kazekage's Office. Believing that he might actually be able to pull this off,he instinctively became lax. Unfortunately, that proved to be a grave mistake as a masked figure suddenly appeared out of nowhere blocking his path.

" Hold! Don't move! Who are you!?"

The man wore a turban that covered his face, with the only part visible being the lower portion of a mask. Stunned by his stupidity to actually think this could possibly have worked. Suzaku mindlessly stood there unable to utter a single word in his defense. Seeing this the masked individual slowly and very cautiously made his way towards the frozen Suzaku.

' WHAT DO I DO!? DO I TRY AND RUN AWAY!? NO, THATS STUPID! HE'S OBVIOUSLY ANBU, I'D NEVER BE ABLE TO OUTRUN SOMEONE LIKE HIM… My life's over.'

Just then the most insane thing possible occurred, the wall closest to the Anbu collapsed from a shockwave and the debris crushed him to the ground.

" What the actual fuck…"

Those were the only words that came to Suzaku's mind as he watched the Anbu be crushed by the debris. Without taking a closer look or inspecting the scene, he had some idea as to what happened.

" Shukaku, you might be a demonic beast but today you've become my eternal savior. Thank you!"

Sure enough, Suzaku's guess proved correct as it was one of Shukaku's deflected attacks that resulted in the Anbu's death. That said he was far too terrified by almost getting caught that he ran as fast as he could towards the office's top floor.

' I've come too far to turn back empty handed, I'll get as much as I can carry before fleeing the scene.'

Entering the Kazekages office he immediately began to stuff his pockets with anything found on the Kazekage's desk. Then moved on to the contents of its drawers and rummaged through some of the cabinets in the room. After he couldn't carry anything more he ran downstairs trying to not drop any of the items he was carrying.

Once outside he again made his way through the alleyways in an effort to go unnoticed by civilians and Shinobi alike. Since it wouldn't take that long for someone to figure out what happened at the office. Suzaku couldn't take the stolen goods back to his own apartment, instead he decided to hide them somewhere for the meantime. Upon selecting a favorable location he sneaked through the village, using the alleyways as cover to reach his hiding place.

Sometime later, after Shukaku had been successfully subjugated by the Kazekage. One of the surveilling Shinobi caught sight of a boy nonchalantly walking through the destroyed roads and fallen debris. However, what was odd about this particular scene was that the boy was shirtless.

" HEY, BOY!"

He shouted as he descended right in front of the now shirtless Suzaku.

" What are you doing?"

" Heading home, sir."

" Where do you live?"

Not trying to attract any unwanted attention to himself, Suzaku gave the man his address. After confirming that he did in fact live in that direction, the man couldn't help but ask what was in his mind.

" Why are you walking around shirtless?"

" Oh, my shirt got stuck on some loose metal wires from the falling debris, and ripped apart when I tried to free myself. If that's everything you wanted to know, can I go home now, it's pretty cold outside."

" Yeah, go ahead."

The man was a bit skeptical, but seeing as it at least sounded plausible let Suzaku go.

When he finally got home, Suzaku immediately went to bed although he wasn't able to get much sleep. Since he knew what was to come from his raid of the Kazekage's Office. Sure enough around midnight the Kazekage ordered martial law and an immediate search of all residences in the village. Being in the outskirts of the village, his apartment wouldn't be searched until morning so Suzaku tried to rest as much as he possibly could until then.

" Let's see what happens next…"