Chapter 3: Exploits of the Red Death

Chapter Start

2 years into Naruto's training trip

Akeno Madoka(AN: For appearance purposes, think Akeno Himejima for Highschool DXD in her Shrine Priestess outift), the granddaughter of the Fire Daimyo had had a pretty rough life for a noble lady. Her father, who was a General of the Land of Fire Samurai, died in a failed assassination attempt of her uncle, who was to be the next Daimyo, and her mother was immediately betrothed to him, however she held no love for him so she killed him and herself in bed on the wedding night, leaving Akeno an orphan to the Daimyo. The only one left besides her brother to produce pure blood descendants for the Madoka dynasty.

Her grandfather only had maybe 10 years left to live, due to being as old as Hiruzen Sarutobi would have been if alive. Her brother Ikkyu was meant to inherit the throne of the daimyo. Her role in life was to produce future leaders for whoever her political marriage was with. When Iwa's new ambassador, Kurobachi of the famed Kamizuru clan of Iwa expressed his love for her, things have been hectic between her and her Grandfather, he immediately ordered Kurobachi for to be thrown out, Kurobachi offered her to come with him back to Iwa. She had refused, since she had met this cute redhead that interested her, and the day Kurobachi was supposed to return to the Land of Earth, he kidnapped her. Him and his four men kidnapped the princess and were planning on raping her, since Akeno was an exotic beauty.

On the fourth night of her abduction, she heard Kurobachi swear up a storm. She overheard what he was saying and learned that her grandfather requested a mission to get her back home. A part of her just wished the shadow of death would come to claim her. It was preferable to what lay in store for her at Kurobachi's hands.

"We're almost there and soon you will be on your back, begging for my cock you lit-"He was cut off by the blur of red. A man appeared in front of him and his team, his back turned to them. He wore a black sleeveless shirt, fingerless opera-length black gloves wrapped in studded red-brown leather straps, baggy black pants, and red-brown sandals with the same wrapping as his gloves. He wore a black jacket with it's hood up, had a anbu mask on, the KubikiriBocho strapped to his back, and a bloody Kris Blade in his hands.

"Senmaioroshi," The red-haired man said flicked the blood off the blade and resheathed it in the sheath that was horizontally tied on his waist. A hundred lines appeared on the bodies of Kurobachi's comrades and their bodies instantly were shredded into many pieces, producing showers of blood. He turned to reveal a fox mask covering his face. Kurobachi flew into a rage as these had been his pals, and he was planning to let them rape the princess after he was done.

"Y-YOU!" He growled out, rage in his eyes and foam trickled down his mouth.

"YOU MURDERED MY FRIENDS', YOU FUCKING CUNT!" Swarms of angry wasps came out of nowhere viciously attacking the Konoha Nin. The swarms of insects dispersed revealing saw dust from a Substitution.

"Genjutsu: Infinite Darkness," came the voice of the masked man. Black darkness covered everything around Akeno and Kurobachi.

"Where are you?!" He felt something punch him and send him flying into a tree. Ignoring the pain in his jaw, he weaved through hand-signs. Unknown to him, the man had picked up Akeno and took her a safe distance away.

"Thousand stings Jutsu!" The Bees formed a protective Barrier around him and fired their poisoned stingers in every direction shredding the stony mountains of the land of Stone, not really caring that he had probably killed the girl he was planning to rape.

Kurobachi had no time to react as he felt a massive blade pierce his stomach and stab through his spine. He turned to his head as the genjutsu ended to see the fox masked man standing behind him, his hand on the massive cleaver sword. He also noticed that his bee's has been burned to ash.

"You-you're the Red Death. A Hi-igh A-Rank ninja from the Leaf that possesses the K-Kubikiribocho. We were told to fl-flee on site if we saw you. I should-d've listened," Kurobachi choked out.

"Yes," the Red Death said, "You should have." With that, he pulled the blade out and chopped his head off. He then sealed Kurobachi's head into a scroll, and burned the rest of the body.

The Red Death walked back to the clone that was carrying Akeno bridal style. "Thank you for your help, Ninja-san."

"Don't mention it, princess." The Red Death nodded.

"But how to know where to find me? My grandfather only put the bounty out for the bastard for day's ago." She said.

"Because I followed you," the Red Death said as he removed his mask to reveal the whiskered face of Naruto, along with his red hair. Awakening his bloodline had caused his hair to turn permanently red, though he still retained his original eye color.

"N-aruto-kun!?" Akeno said in shock as she realized she had been rescued by the cute ninja from the leaf that she been attracted to since he and his Master Jiraiya were staying in the capital for a while as the Daimyo's esteemed guests.

"Come on, let's get you home." Naruto said as he put his mask on and picked her up bridal style and leapt through the trees.

5 days later

Naruto entered the guest room he was staying and took off his coat, his long opera gloves, and headband and placed it on the table. The Daimyo had been very grateful to him for rescuing his grandsire and had rewarded him most handsomely. The bounty on Kurobachi and his associates had been an S-Rank, due to the profile of the mission, who it concerned, and Kurobachi's own A-rank status. He sat down near the fire places and began reading "The Art of War." Bit of a tedious read, but it was very eye opening for strategy and battle tactics.

He was thinking back on what the Daimyo had said to him earlier that day.

Flashback

Naruto and the Daimyo were sitting across from each other, playing a game of Shogi.

"I wanted to thank you in person for saving my granddaughters life, Naruto-kun." The Daimyo said as he moved a piece on the board.

"It was my pleasure, my lord." Naruto said he took a sip of tea and moved a piece.

"Hmm, so respectful. Just like your parents," The daimyo sighed in nostalagia as he moved another piece.

"You knew my parents, Daimyo-sama?" Naruto asked as he moved another piece.

"Of course," The Daimyo said as he moved another piece, "I knew your parents for the last 10 years of their life. In fact, I helped Minato-Kun get elected as Hokage."

"You did, my lord?" Naruto asked as he went through another move.

"Yes, while the Hokage is still capable of choosing his successor, it is a wise decision politically to be on good terms with the Daimyo of your own country." The Daimyo smiled in knowing matter.

"Besides, I have you to thank for the various trade alliances we now have with the Wave, Spring, Tea, Bird and Vegetable Counties. You see Naruto-kun, whether you realize it or not, you have become a very important political figure in the Land of Fire."

"I believe that is checkmate, Naruto-kun," The Daimyo said, causing Naruto to look and groan as he had been beaten again. "You've gotten better. This time it took 36 moves to beat you. That's nearly double from last time."

"Let's go again, Daimyo-sama," Naruto said with a competitive smirk on his face.

End Flashback

Naruto also wandered off to his special project he had been working on. The restoration of the Uzumaki.

Flashback

6 months ago

Jiraiya and Naruto were in the ruins of the Whirlpool Village. Ever since their initial falling out, Jiraiya had been acting more like an actual teacher and godfather. They were staying within the ruins of the village, which was sealed off, so nobody but Jiraiya and Naruto could enter and exit. Jiraiya had brought him here to learn the greater intricacies of Sealing Jutsu. Naruto had become an Uzumaki Adept-level Seal Master in the 2 years since he first began learning. There were 5 levels to Sealing. Novice, Apprentice, Adept, Expert, and Master. Granted, the quality and actual ability of Master's was not universally the same, since a Uzumaki Master was of a far greater quality than a Master that wasn't an Uzumaki. Uzumaki standards for sealing were far more demanding and difficult.

Jiraiya had also explained after they patched up their falling out what his bloodline was from his mother, Kushina.

The Uzumaki had a body based blood-line that made them in a sense, a pseudo immortal. All Uzumaki, by default, have extremely high chakra reserves and powerful life force that lets them live twice as long as ordinary people and survive biju extraction. Not all Uzumaki unlocked the second part of the bloodline though. His own mother was one such example. She likely did not unlock it because of her becoming the 9 Tails Jinchuriki at a young age. Jiraiya speculated that Naruto unlocked it because of sealing the kyuubi away, preventing any interference from his biju's chakra.

The abilities of the 2nd level were high speed regeneration, increased muscle density and flexibility to give the body unmatched strength, speed, stamina, agility and flexibility, and the bone density is increased to the point that the bones, while still weighing the same as normal bones, become unbreakable and stronger than steel.

They are also immune to all forms of poison, toxins, diseases, and their bodies' immune system can easily identify a new poison that enters the body, breaks it down and turns it into antibodies that can destroy any new substances that enters the body.

Jiraiya explained to Naruto what little he himself knew about the Rinnegan. It was fabled eye of the Sage of the Six Paths, the one that helped him save the world, but details of what had transpired back then have been lost to history. Jiraiya mentioned that he had known one other student, an Uzumaki, back in the 2nd World War that had it. The kid had been a refugee from the Whirlpool Village and ended up in Ame. Naruto wondered if only Uzumaki could awaken the Rinnegan, and Jiraiya, based on what he had seen, could not necessarily refute that claim. Ancient texts that they had uncovered in Naruto's ancestral home seem to suggest that while the Senju had the 'Sage's body' and the Uchiha had the 'Sage's Eyes', the Uzumaki had inherited the 'Sage's Spirit and Mind', which Naruto assumed that meant the Uzumaki inherited the Sage's powerful life-force, and a mind that was capable of understanding the complex art of sealing.

Tonight, it was very late. Jiraiya was already asleep, but Naruto was feeling restless, had been since he got here 3 days ago, and decided to explore. He walked through countless ruined houses, until after an hour of searching, he came the largest building in the entire village, which he realized was the Clan Head's compound. He entered it, to find skeletons with tattered clothing and dried blood. The skeletons varied in size, from adult size, to child size, and even a baby sized one. Naruto looked around the compound and ended up in the library to see bloody headbands from the Hidden Cloud, Stone, Mist, Rain, Grass, Star, Hot Water, Moon, Frost, Valley, and a broken Anbu mask with the Kanji for 'Root'. He growled as he realized his village had been betrayed from within by Danzo. Naruto threw the mask aside and put his hands on a nearby wall in frustration, dragging his hand along the wall and cutting it on a broken piece of wood. Naruto watched the wound instantly close itself, but then looked at the wall and saw a complex sealing array glow white for a moment, before a door appeared on the wall, where there had not been one before.

Curious, Naruto walked through the hidden door to reveal a secret room, filled with the Uzumaki's most prized secrets. Among these scrolls were the detailed records of their many sealing techniques, as well as a large scroll that held the names of all the members of the clan, at least up to when they were killed.

Naruto pondered this. He would need to look into this more. If there were members of his clan still running around, he would find them and bring them under his protection. Naruto didn't think he could rebuild the Hidden Whirlpool Village. There probably wasn't enough members of his clan left to make such a thing viable. But he could reform the clan within the protective boundaries of Konoha. Of course, there was still the matter of Danzo, but he would deal with him when the time came.

He would also need to look further into the Mist village's involvement in the massacre of his clan. Like the Leaf, the island nation had been on good terms with the Mist and Cloud Village, as they made the swords for the Mist that became the staple of the Mist's 7 Ninja Swordsmen and the Hidden Stone village was also really far away, too far away to feel viably threatened by his clan. The more Naruto thought about it, the more he thought there was some kind of shadow conspiracy against his clan. But why? Who, besides Danzo and maybe the 3rd Raikage, wanted his clan destroyed? Was someone planning something big and wanted them out of the way because they thought they were a major threat? That were the question's that needed answered.

Flashback End

2 months later

Earth Country

Naruto stood a few inches from a large rift in the earth called 'Great Divide'. A giant rift that separated the borders of the Land of Stone with other nations. Naruto was here on a mission. The Fang Clan, a group of bandits lead by a rogue ninja from the Hidden Stone Village, if you would believe it, was causing trouble. His bandits had been hitting numerous caravans near the border of the Fire Country recently and the Daimyo wanted it stopped. So, after the Daimyo worked the details over with Tsunade, Naruto was given the A-rank mission to wipe this 'clan' of bandits out.

Naruto applied chakra to his feet and moved towards the bottom, and that was when he heard a soul wrenching scream, Naruto suppressed his chakra to the point where it didn't exist and moved further down to investigate.

He took cover behind a large slab of rock, he looked and saw something utterly revolting. Bandits raping women, the women looking completely broken mentally, like they had given up on resisting their torture, and their limbs completely bound by tight chains that, unless one was a shinobi, you wouldn't be getting out of. Some of these women were so broken that they seemed to be enjoying it.

"Good god, they're nothing more than cock-sleeves, and these bandits made sure of that." Naruto thought. Naruto knew that the bandits in the Land of Stone were utterly cutthroat and revolting, but this? This crossed the line, the bastards made sure that these women had no where to go. Naruto stepped out to wipe these men off the face of the earth.

The Bandits who weren't 'enjoying' themselves quickly spotted Naruto. A tall tanned muscular man with receding brown hair and a long whispy mustache came into view. He had a linear scar going down the middle of his forehead. He wore purple pants tucked into fur boots. He wore fur gauntlets and a fur coat, unbuttoned, which showed off his chest and abs. He wore a headdress with feather on the back, like some kind of crude makeshift crown.

"Who the fuck is you?" one of the bandits yelled. Naruto didn't even respond. He raised his head and glared at the bandit that dared to question him. He did give out an intimidating presence.

"I am Kiba Daio, former Jonin of Iwagakure, the head of the Fang Clan, AROOOOO!" Kiba Daio yellowed passionately.

"AROOOOOO!" The rest of the Bandits echoed too, no longer feeling fear. Naruto remained silent.

"IF YOU WANT TO JOIN US, KNEAL IN FRO- "Kiba Daio was interrupted when Naruto's fist impacted his stomach. "Iron Fist!" He shouted as Kiba Daio was sent flying. His impact caused rubble to fall on top of him. Naruto shouted at the top of his lungs, "None of you scumbags are leaving here alive!"

Naruto used Hidden Mist Jutsu to cover the bottom of the cavern in a thick fog. He applied chakra to a seal on his hand and in a puff of smoke, the Executioner's Blade appeared in his hand. He immediately applied his Silent Killing and began chopping the bandits to bits with Executioner's Blade.

"Adamantine Attacking Chains!" Naruto shouted as two dozen red chakra chains shot from his back when he grew tired of chopping them to bits by hand and skewered more than two dozen on his chains.

"Lightning Style: Yasakani Magatama!" Naruto said as he clapped his hands together and formed a string of 10 magatama the size of his fists, before sending them forward into a cluster of bandits. The various magatama pierced the men, before the lightning magatama discharged so much electricity that it fried their insides.

5 minutes later, everyone except the women were dead.

Naruto used his Minds Eye of Kagura, to sense one more living Chakra.

"Tch, figures," Naruto said when a pile of rubble exploded behind him. He threw a kunai behind him, only for it to bounce off something and break in half.

"That didn't even tickle," Kiba Daio said, coming out of the smoke to reveal himself uninjured and his skin colored black.

Naruto disappeared in burst of speed and appeared behind Kiba Daio, bringing Executioner's Blade down on his head. Only for the blade to break in half. Kiba threw his fist back, and Naruto used his Adamantine Sealing Chains that protruded from his back to pull himself out of the way of the attack while he was still in mid-air. He rolled back to the group with the half of Executioner's Blade that he still has. "Aw man, this sucks. Now I gotta reforge the blade," Naruto complained.

Naruto analyzed the man outloud, "Your an A-Rank missing Ninja from Iwa, and you also possesses the Metal Style bloodline, which is why your flesh is made of metal right now, it's your famous Metal Style: Steel Armor Jutsu."

"You are remarkably well informed." Kiba Daio said," But that is correct! My jutsu makes me invincible! You cannot hurt me!"

'I could easily break though that with my Preta Path or my sealing chains, but I didn't seal away the Nine-Tails just to make my Rinnegan my new crutch. He's all metal now. I can easily get around that.' Naruto thought.

"You would think so," Naruto countered as he appeared right behind Kiba in a Shunshin. Kiba turned and punch behind him, only for Naruto to dodge his attack in circular motion before punching Kiba in the stomach hard. Not one to give up, Kiba tried to punch Naruto three times, which Naruto dodge each time, maneuvering around Kiba like he was circling around the former Iwa Jonin. Kiba tried to grab Naruto, but Naruto jumped up and slammed his knee into Kiba's face, putting him off balance.

Naruto got inside of Kiba's guard and shouted "Thunder King's Fist!". Naruto delivered a barrage of ultra-highspeed punches to Kiba's torso. Attacks which thanks to Naruto enhanced strength and physical body, were able to break through his defense, causing enormous levels of pain to erupt throught the former Stone Jonin's body.

It was then that 3 of Naruto's Shadow Clones appeared with their hands pointed at Kiba. "Water Style: Water Prison Jutsu" they said as they both used the jutsu simultaneously resulting in a version large enough to completely encompass the missing Iwa ninja.

'this will not hold me!' Kiba thought as he slowly began to move inside the jutsu.

'Tch, the bastard's strong. To be able to move at all inside of my Water Prison like this.' Naruto thought in grudging respect.

The real Naruto reappeared in front of he clone's Water Prison and flashed through handsigns for one of his B-Rank Lightning Style Jutsu. "Lightning Style: False Darkness" Naruto emitted a lightning bolt in the shape of a spear from his mouth at the Water Prison. Kiba screamed in pain as his great defensive technique suddenly became a huge weakness.

Kiba came out of the Jutsu, smoking as he suffered severe electrical burns. He had channeled chakra into his organs to protect them from the Lightning Jutsu, but he could no longer keep up his armor and fell to the ground. "You bastard," He growled, "You killed my sons! I kil-"

Naruto cut the man off by literally cutting off his head off, slamming into the dirt and kicking up dust. The sword regenerated completely.

"Well, that was anti-climatic." Naruto commented as the dust cleared.

Naruto turned and walked to the only woman who was not broken yet.

"What happen to you? How did they capture you?" He asked softly. A brunette who looked between the age of nine-teen and twenty-two looked at Naruto.

"T-they captured us." She started, "We were all apart of my f-father's traveling caravan, and that when they ambushed us, t-those scums who lay dead at your feet now, a sight I longed wish to see, killed my father and my brothers, they killed all the men and boy-child while selling all the younger girls, we were kept for their entertainment."

"And if not taking away our loved ones were not enough, they robbed us of our dignity. Please lord Shinobi, I beseech you to take our lives. PLEASE LET US DIE AND REJOIN OUR FAMILY!" She begged as tears cascade down her eyes. Naruto sighed and nodded granting her wish for the mercy killing. The red head weaved through hand-signs and touched the earth, the very earth swallowed the woman and the deceased Bandits, the woman for the very first time since her captured smile and uttered her final words.

"Thank you."

While Naruto was adding prestige to his name and killing off high-ranked missing ninja, the only other former-genin of Team 7 still loyal to Konoha was having revelations of her own.

Leaf Village

"You want to what, now?" Tsunade asked her apprentice in confusion.

"Master, I'd like to see the mission report for the Sasuke Retrieval Mission." Sakura asked respectfully.

"What brought this on?" Tsunade asked curiously while Shizune and Tonton stood off to the side. Tsunade was quite proud of her apprentice. In the 2 years since the Hokage had taken Sakura on, she had mastered everything Tsunade had to teach. Now all Sakura had left was to develop her own Strength of a Hundred Seal and master Creation Rebirth and she will truly be equal to Tsuande, at least as far as Medical Ninjutsu and Summons were concerned.

"Sensei... I've been thinking a lot about that mission lately and about Team 7." she said her eyes never left the Sannin that was in-front of her.

"When I was waiting at the gates for Naruto and his team to come back... Ino asked me something... she asked me who I was waiting for, and I answered Naruto. I was waiting for him and not Sasuke." she continued. Tsunade and Shizune listened intently as Sakura admitted to something very heartfelt.

"I then started thinking about Naruto and all he's ever done for me... I was so cruel to him when he just wanted to be my friend, I berated him when he brought up good idea's and when Sasuke suggested the same thing's, I'd praise him for it and not Naruto. I then remembered his promise to me, I could see he was so hurt when I asked him to bring Sasuke back... I don't know whether he was hurt because he saw me so sad or whether it hurt him because he thought my heart belonged to someone else... but when he put aside his own feelings for my own, I was so happy, happy because he was so selfless and caring... now that I think about it, he never treated me badly."

'Could it be?' Tsunade wondered with some hope, 'Has my prize pupil finally managed to break her ridiculous fangirl obsession with the Uchiha brat?'

"I then remembered a time when we were younger, I was being bullied by these boys who were making fun of my forehead but Naruto came over and defended me. Eventually the boys beat him up and if it wasn't for my mom who came around the corner, they would continue beating him, so she stopped the boys hitting Naruto. But when she saw that it was him, she turned away and took my hand, saying to stay away from him, I was too young to understand maybe I'll never understand. Later on, I became the one who would verbally hurt Naruto and put him down to make myself feel better."

"When we became a genin team I was so happy that I was on Sasuke's team. Later I was sitting alone by myself when I saw Sasuke, he complimented me on the one thing I hated, my forehead. But now when I look back at our time as a team, I realized that Sasuke would never say that to me but it was something that Naruto would say... and now that I look back I figured something out, that the one I truly love... the one that would sacrifice anything for me, even his own happiness, the one that stood by me this whole time is Naruto... I love Naruto... and when he comes back I'll tell him that and then I'll share my feelings with him." she said with pure determination. "I used to think that I knew what love was but it was just some wayward crush... true love is putting ones happiness above your own and that's what Naruto did for me and would do for me in a heartbeat... and I want to be happy with him."

Tsunade and Shizune masked their feelings, but privately, they were proud that Sakura finally gotten over Sasuke.

"But until Naruto-kun comes back in two years, I can't tell him how I feel. And I know only a little bit about what him and the others went through. I need to see for myself, what they went through, all to get a traitor back." Sakura said with determination.

Tsunade, pleased with this development, reached into her desk and pulled out the folder that held the full details of the mission. "Be sure to return that tomorrow. You're dismissed." Sakura bowed respectfully and went home to read the report.

"I believe, Master, you owe me some money now." Shizune said mischievously as both she and Tsunade had a bet going on when Sakura would realize her feelings for Naruto.

"Tch, I was sure I was going to win that," Tsunade grumbled as she handed several thousand ryo to Shizune, who was more than happy to except.

Needless to say, after reading the full mission details, Sakura only saw Sasuke an enemy to kill or capture for the village, and was determined to make sure Naruto didn't try to throw his life away trying to get him back.

Back with Naruto

Naruto made his way back to their camping, where Jiraiya was making dinner.

"Hey brat, you're back." Jiraiya said. "Mission accomplished, I assume."

"Damn right," Naruto said, holding the scroll that now held Kiba Daio's head, "Head's right here."

"Good job," Jiraiya said, as he motioned to the pot over the campfire. "You're all just in time for dinner. I made Seafood Ramen."

As Naruto and the team gathered around the campfire, Naruto had a genuine smile on his face, seeing the happy face of his mentor and feeling the camaraderie that he had missed out on as a Member of Team 7. 'Yeah,' he thought, 'This is much better.'

Chapter End

I'm confirming nothing yet as far as pairings go, but Sakura has a strong running for being with Naruto. I will admit I never liked her in part 1, but she got better in part 2. I've decided to fix Kishimoto's failure's that he made at the end of Naruto by completely undoing Sakura's development, as now there is no way she will ever end up with Sasuke.