Shukaku

1. 1
   Born of the Ten-TailsDebut Arc · Chūnin Exams

   Named by the Sage

   Shukaku comes into being when Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki splits the Ten-Tails into nine beasts. The smallest of the nine, it is still given a name and a self of its own.

2. 2
   Bunpuku, the first kind host

   A memory worth keeping

   Shukaku's first jinchūriki is Bunpuku, a monk who treats the One-Tail with gentleness rather than fear. It is a small kindness — and one Shukaku will remember for centuries.

3. 3
   Centuries of mistrust

   Feared, sealed, and used

   After Bunpuku, the kindness ends. Shukaku is passed from host to host, feared and wielded as a weapon — and the warmth of its first host is buried under a long, cold resentment.

4. 4
   Sealed into Gaara

   A terror in a child

   Shukaku is sealed into the newborn Gaara, and the seal is unstable. The One-Tail's bloodlust takes Gaara whenever he sleeps — making a sleepless, isolated terror of the boy's whole childhood.

5. 5
   Gaara's thanks

   Defended, and thanked

   By the Fourth Shinobi World War, Gaara has changed. He fights to keep Shukaku from being sealed by the enemy — and openly thanks the One-Tail for helping him find his path in life.

6. 6
   A bond rekindled

   Bunpuku's kindness, returned

   Moved, Shukaku comes to see Gaara as it once saw Bunpuku — and fights to protect him just as earnestly. The kindness it had remembered for centuries is, at last, given back to it.

Shukaku is the smallest of the nine tailed beasts, but it is the only one to carry a Kekkei Genkai. It combines wind and earth chakra into Magnet Release, commands the sand its jinchūriki Gaara is famed for, and fires wind blasts strong enough to crater the ground. Stranger still, it alone among the beasts can draw cursed seals from its own markings — and fuse them into a Rasengan.

Play today's Narutodle or browse past answers.

• Who is Shukaku?+

  Shukaku is the One-Tail, the smallest of the nine tailed beasts. A sand-brown tanuki, it was last sealed within Gaara of Sunagakure — and is the only tailed beast to possess a Kekkei Genkai of its own.
• What kind of creature is Shukaku?+

  Shukaku takes the form of a tanuki — the Japanese raccoon dog, a creature of folklore known for mischief and shape-shifting. The folklore runs deep: Shukaku was said to have once been sealed inside a tea kettle.
• What is Shukaku's relationship with Gaara?+

  Shukaku was sealed into Gaara as a newborn. The seal was unstable, and for years Shukaku was a sleepless terror to him. By the Fourth Shinobi World War, though, Gaara had earned its trust — and Shukaku came to protect him in turn.
• What is Shukaku's Magnet Release?+

  Shukaku can combine wind and earth chakra into Magnet Release, a Kekkei Genkai. It is the only one of the nine tailed beasts to possess such a bloodline ability, which it passes to its jinchūriki.
• Can Shukaku use the Rasengan?+

  Shukaku alone among the tailed beasts can produce cursed seals from its markings. Fused into a Rasengan, these create the Sage Art: Magnet Release Rasengan — a technique strong enough to restrain the Ten-Tails' jinchūriki.
• Has Shukaku been a Narutodle answer?+

  Shukaku is in the daily answer pool of 210 characters. The Previous Narutodle Appearances list on this page shows every date it was the Classic answer, each linking to a replayable archive puzzle.
• How do you guess Shukaku in Narutodle?+

  Shukaku's Tailed Beast attribute is the giveaway, and it is the only tailed beast with a Kekkei Genkai — Magnet Release. Its Village and Ninja Rank both read None, and its Nature column pairs Wind with Earth.