Darude and the Sandstorm [Solo]

Ryuza stood at the gates of Sunagakure, waiting for the man named Darude’s arrival, now, he didn’t know much about his escortee other than the fact he was a traveler who came from the far land of Kumogakure and had come here to trade herbs with the hospital of the sandy desert. Now, herbs were not that common around these parts but a medic that was both skilled and an expert in the art could easily make use of them. Ryuza pondered on the fact of why he chose to don some warrior attire when he was assigned such an easy task but as he thought of his previous mission it certainly was not delightful running into those sand spiders and sand hawks. Those things were monsters and he could not imagine them resting their fangs in your skin, only thinking of the situation made him shiver out of fear.

Despite being a loud and flashy individual, Ryūza’s choice of attire was relatively simple. The most distinguishable part of his clothing was the hood he stitched on to his current attire which was the hood of his dad. The rest of his attire was symbolic of his warrior heritage. A black vest being the only cloth to cover his torso, the bulk of his chest is exposed revealing a toned physique. His pant legs were tucked nicely into his sandals, generating a billowing effect at his ankles while his arms were protected beneath steel forearm guards. A black sash usually spending a blade is always present while a thick wrap rests around his forehead as a headband. Sunagakure’s insignia was embroidered along such a headband in the form of a hitai-ate. Lastly, draped loosely, though affectionately around his neck, Ryūza donned a sallow white scarf.

The young salamander had no need to wear all this clothing in order to look strong, if he were to walk around Sunagakure shirtless, one could read his body like a well written fairytale which was packed with detail and was riddled with tales from his previous battles. It was not until around fifteen minutes after when Darude had arrived and he was nowhere near to how Ryuza envisioned him to be.

Ryuza thought that Darude would be an old hag but in-fact he was a small boy the age of an academy student and he wondered why would Kumogakure send a boy of his age to exchange herbs with another village when nasty beings of all sorts lurked outside the walls of each and every village. As he approached Ryuza, he started to read him from head to toe like a book. Like most his age, Darude didn't present a slight chance of muscles throughout the entirety of his body. Being only around the ripe age of eight years old, he was very scrawny and slim in nature. His most notable trait was his white hair, with red tips which was quite odd but looked cool. His hair fell no further than his neck, and was naturally wavy and flowed wherever it pleased.

Next up would be the child's red eyes. His crimson-red eyes sparkled brightly when in contact with sun rays and they were identical in color to his red ends. As stated before, the boy was very small in stature and, as a result, his weight is the same. He didn't weigh more than sixty pounds. His complexion was of a light coloration, with his facial appearance being near flawless. Ryuza smiled, he did not want to scare off the boy and he then extended his hand, presuming the boy would also extend his which he did. When their hands met, Ryuza felt a cold wind surge through him which was awkward but he was sure it was just his body.

“Name’s Ryuza, you’re Darude, right?”

The boy simply nodded and then Ryuza motioned for him to follow Ryuza outside of the gates of Sunagakure. As soon as the gates open a strong wind hit their faces with massive force and seemed to blow the scrawny boy a few feet away, as he shielded his eye’s from the sand he quickly looked up and noticed there was a huge sandstorm happening outside the walls of Sunagakure. This was the worst day to escort somebody back to their homeland which was so far away from his own homeland. He quickly looked back at the boy and he was in great condition but he was using Ryuza as a shield against the sand.

“Hop on my back, it’ll be easier for you.” Lowering his back and angling it towards Darude, the boy quickly hopped on his back and held on with all his might. Ryuza then took his first two steps outside of Sunagakure. For miles and miles, the arid and raging desert was the only thing Ryuza could see. His feet dug deep into the treacherous sand as he rushed amidst a sandstorm, a shadowy figure running not so far up ahead. His brown coloured eye’s, although squinted, had a clear lock on the target, and even if the tiny golden pebbles swatted his eyelashes, he swore he would not lose the creature in midst of the sandstorm. Of course the wind was harsh and furious, lifting up tonnes and handfuls of sand as it roared by. But this creature was familiar to the likes of Ryuza, after a couple seconds he had finally realized it was a sand spider and his suspicions were also confirmed by a scream let out by the small boy on his back. The spider heard the scream and despite the sandstorm, it headed straight for Ryuza. Now this spider was faster and bigger than what Ryuza had observed of them in his past journeys in the desert. Had this spider lifted weights and climbed mountains just to avenge his fallen brothers and destroy Ryuza? It was a possibility to Ryuza but he didn’t care, that spider would not be able to avenge his friends this day. As the two charged for one another, Ryuza quickly drew a kunai from his pocket and threw it straight for the spider in an attempt to halt its movements. His plan had worked and as he approached the spider he did a quick flip over it and while in the air he threw a kunai straight for the spider.

However, he didn’t see what happened afterwards since another figure came into play and tackled Ryuza into the sand and when he opened his eye’s he noticed it was another spider. This spider was definitely smaller in physical size compared to its kin but they worked together. The spider bore its fangs to Ryuza and it attempted to bite him but he quickly dodged the bite with a quick move of his neck to the side. He then quickly riled up his fist and drove it straight at the spider's face, forcing it to jump off of him. When he shifted his gaze to the other spider he noticed it was charging straight for Darude and he stood still in shock. Now, it was his task to guard the boy back to Kumogakure even if it meant his life. Quickly drawing a kunai, he aimed and then threw it at the spider. After that he charged towards Darude since he wasn’t sure if his plan would work. He matched the spider’s every move and in seconds he was closer to Darude than the spider was but a sudden burst of speed was all it took for the spider to stand a mere meter away from Darude. He lunged towards Darude and jumped, tackling the spider into the sand and unleashing his fist into the spider's face and then cupping a pile of sand and planting it in the spider’s face. The spider’s face was burned and it let out a screech you really would not want to hear but this was a regular occurrence for a shinobi of Sunagakure. A few seconds after he planted his sandal and squished the spider’s face, he then started to think of the festival he had attended not too long ago which took place in Konoha. Konoha’s animals were so peaceful and loving compared to the ones of Sunagakure.

He then ran up to the boy and shielded him from the other spider but the other one had seemed to disappear until it and another friend decided to start charging out of nowhere straight for the little boy. Shielding him, Ryuza performed a couple quick handseals and unleashed an orb of fire chakra which soon transformed into a dragon of great stature and it let out a roar and then came crashing down onto the two spiders, burning the whole area around them along with themselves. Panting, he kneeled down on one knee, he had lost a bunch of chakra due to the dragon he had unleashed a few seconds ago, he turned his head to look at the boy and he was trembling in fear. Ryuza planted one of his hands on his shoulder which again sent a chill through his body. He smiled at the boy and then told the boy everything was alright, the boy nodded briefly and his tremors started to ease. Ryuza stared at all three burned bodies of the now deceased spiders and decided to extract two sacks of venom from two of the three spiders, Sunagakure was in need of some of these to create antibiotics to fight specific diseases and sicknesses, maybe he would get paid some extra money by the Kazekage for this. Smiling, he turned back and the boy had vanished.

Ryuza quickly stood up and looked all around himself and when it seemed like all hope was gone he spotted the boy screaming and a sand hawk was carrying him. Now, a normal hawk would not be able to carry the boy even though he was very lean but sand hawks were different. They were at least six times the size of a regular hawk and an added one hundred fifty pounds, matching the weight of tall adult. Even though he was tired he tracked the sand hawk and it seemed the hawk had not sensed his presence yet. He quickly pulled out a shuriken from his back pocket while he was running and unleashed it on the hawk. It curved due to the raging sandstorm and clipped the hawk’s wings, the hawk let out a scream and the boy was spent spiralling down to the sandy bed awaiting him. Even though the sand was soft if you fell that high from the sky you would break a couple bones if you met the sand. He accelerated, utilizing whatever energy he had left and he dived in the sand, catching the boy at the last second.

“You alright?!”

“I-I think..”, when Ryuza turned to face the sand hawk it was frozen and caved in a block of ice. Ice wasn’t common anywhere near the land of Sunagakure and so this must have been a phenomenon of some sort, there was no way this could happen, he put the boy down and observed the hawk. He touched the ice and it sent a cold shiver down his spine which he had felt earlier and it was from the boy. “Did you do this..?” He asked the boy, even though it was highly unlikely and the boy simply nodded. The boy possessed the rare kekkai genkai of Hyouton. He was amazed that a boy of his age could manipulate a kekkai genkai with such effectiveness however it might have been an accident and it was usually the first step to knowing if you possessed a kekkai genkai or not. He shifted his focus back to the hawk and lifted his heel and brought it down on the ice, cracking and then breaking it. He then plucked four of its feathers from the hawk, Sunagakure was also in need of those. Placing the feathers in his backpack he carried around, he placed the body back on his shoulder and continued to guide him all the way to Kumogakure. They traveled miles and miles for what seemed like hours until they reached Kumogakure and the gates were in sight. Dropping the boy off, they exchanged their farewells and Ryuza gave the small boy a goodbye hug and headed back for Sunagakure.

It took hours and hours once again to reach Sunagakure and by the time he got there it was midnight, the sandstorm had passed and it was once again peaceful in the streets of Sunagakure. Once he reached the hospital, he entered and exchanged the two sacks of venom along with the four feathers and headed back to the Kazekage’s Office to collect his rewards.

Jutsu Used

SPOILER: Click to show

Fire Release - Great Dragon Technique x1.