Reiko, the Shadow Fox

Disclaimer: Naruto is a product of Masashi Kishimoto, so I don't own him.
Legend: "": quote, "italic": thought, "Bold"Kyuubiitalic: new Japanese word (check glossary), underline: techniques.

Prologue This is a Naruto Alternative Universe fan fiction that starts during the Sasuke-Naruto Battle 2 during the Sasuke Rescue post chapter 227-228. In the story, Naruto becomes a missing-nin after a squad of ANBU tries to kill him. He leaves Konoha behind, and begins his own journey. He becomes powerful nukenin after an encounter with a sword smith, from whom he receives a sword. He then changes his name and works as a mercenary for many underworld organizations such as Akatsuki. Paring: NarutoTemari & many more. People involved: The usual caste along with the Akatsuki.

Chapter 1: The death of Uzumaki Naruto

The battle between the two friends ended as Sasuke leaves Naruto drowning on his own blood. He had impaled trough the blond boy's right lung with his chidori. Believing that he had finally killed his best friends, the Uchiha runs off to meet Orochimaru so he can become stronger and fulfill his vengeance.
Meanwhile an ANBU team arrives at the battle site. Seeing the carrier of Kyuubi near death they smile. They had come here to finish the monster off; they had been waiting for this chance.

"What we have here, looks like the demon is dieing, I got to give my thanks to the last Uchiha after all it seems. This time we will finish what was supposed to be done13 years ago", smiled Shintaro.

"Yes we will. I waited so long for this vengeance… " said the second ANBU.

They knew what their mission was, they thought about it as soon as they heard that the boy was on a mission without Kakashi or Jiraya. They knew that killing this monster would turn them into nukenins, but the price was worth it. To assure their survival in the underworlds of shinobis they stole the scroll of forbidden seals of Yondaime. With this scroll they would gain the power needed to avoid their hunters. They would gain fame in the eyes of the villagers. They knew that the Hokage would have their head for their actions, but they were ready for that sacrifice if it meant they would avenge their lost families to this monster.

"We'll become legend in the eyes of the villagers even thought we will become missing-nins. It's time to pay for killing our families you damn fox", said the third.

The ANBU, brings his katana close to the boys heart, as he is about to give the deathblow, the boy begins to glow. His eyes turn red, his nails grows into claws and

Kyuubi Naruto awakes. The ANBU panics as the boy blocks his blade. Naruto then grabs the man by his neck as he strangles him to death. The others panic as they rush to kill the boy. They notice red chikara forming around the boy's body healing his injuries.

"He's healing, quickly Shintaro-kun we must kill him now that demon must die", says ANBU number two as he quickly forms a seal and unleashes a massive katon goukakyuu.

To his horror, the boy deflects the fire with his chikara and launches straight at him. Then slashes him with his claws shredding his metal armor.

"Why, why do you people are always after me. Isn't making my life a living hell enough to satisfy you? What makes you think I killed your families? WHY ARE YOU JUDGING ME FOR SOMETHING I HAVE NO CONTROL OVER", roared the angry boy.

"A life of suffering? A monster like you only deserves DEATH. You killed our families; you will never be forgiven KYUUBI!" yelled the man as he launches an all-out assault of kunai and shuriken.

"Fool! What makes you think, you can kill me with those", says the boy, as he slashes the man again with his claws slicing his body into two.

Now only the leader Shintaro remains. The man launches multiple assaults of katon goukakyuu and katon hidamaryuu, but Naruto deflects alls of them with his chikara. Seeing that he was not powerful enough to counter this monster, Shintaro beings to laugh hysterically.

"What makes you think you will live trough after this? You have killed two ANBU and you will probably kill me too, but then where will you go? Do you think you can go back to Konoha with our blood in your hands? By killing us you have branded yourself as a criminal. ALL SHINOBIS OF KONOHA WILL HUNT YOU DOWN. WE WILL BECOMES MARTYRS BUT YOU WILL STILL DIE", said the man as he laughed.

Naruto stopped his assault. That ANBU was right, now he cannot go back to Konoha. The people would not believe him, even if he were assaulted. It would simply give another reason for them to get his skin. He knew his position already, although he has connection with powerful people in the village, they would openly revolt to kill him. He falls on the ground, as he feels his doom is imminent, he is now a murderer, and he will be hunted like a dog, nowhere to go and nowhere to hide.

Shintaro notices that the boy has calmed down, it was now or never. He strapped some explosion tags on himself and jumped on him. If he has to die, the least he can do is take the monster with him. As soon as they made contact he ignited the explosives causing Naruto to fly back hard. Kyuubi was vigilant enough to cover the boy with his own chikara preventing him from any injuries.

Naruto remained in that position for a few minutes as he was lost in his thoughts.

"Foolish boy, what the hell were you thinking", said the Fox in his thoughts.

"Shut the hell up you damn FOX, what's the point of living now, if we will have the whole village on our tails?" screamed Naruto.

"You are acting like it's the end of the world. You are a missing-nin now so what? It's not like your life has terribly changed, the villagers have chased you all your life. The only difference now is that it will be more deadly. Haven't you given them enough reason to believe in you? You just practically gave your life away for a pathetic gay that doesn't care about himself, who joined the village's worst enemy and still people considered you worst. Trust me, you don't need this village there are plenty of other places where you can live happily. Sure you will lose your precious people, but you will gain new, life goes on", said the fox.

"How will I be happy if I have to run away for the rest of my life…" said the boy.

"You look at the negative sides to much, look on the bright side, you get to travel around the world and be your own master", smirked Kyuubi.

"But… my promise to Sakura…" mumbled Naruto.

"You think she will think about it, when she learns that you are my container? Even if she was nice, I am sure the villagers will spoil her to hate you. As for your promise, you did your part; you almost gave your life for it. Besides if you go, you will more likely expose yourself in there. These people hold grudges personally, they will simply blame you for the departure of that brat", spat the great demon Fox.

Naruto knew the fox was right, he was the victim, but he knew he had no support in the village, this would just gave them a chance to kill him and they won't back down from that intention. The only way for him to live would be to runaway, to fake his death and runaway as far as he could. He would have to become a nukenin. The only problem was he did not know how to stage his own death and even less what to do when he becomes a nukenin.

"We can worry about what to do with our lives later, let's fake your death get out of here first", said the monster.

"How? From what I see I only have 2 ANBU bodies and their equipment", asked Naruto.

"You forgot the scroll of the forbidden seals that they stole", laughed Kyuubi

"Man, I sure am lucky, they were really thinking of becoming nukenins weren't they? To bad I'll just replace them. How do we proceed this staging?" laughed the blond haired boy.

"First, switch your cloths with the first ANBU; take away his intact sword and other equipments. Make him wear all your costumes. Then write left-handed suicide note in the name of Shintaro, declaring that they killed you and disposed you along with their own because they did not want their action to be considered shameful to Konoha but heroic, don't forget to write that they also burned the scroll of forbidden seals and regretted steeling it, burn the first spell of the scroll and leave it near the suicide scroll. Burn the bodies, then drip some of your blood near the area", said the ingenious fox.

Naruto obeyed, he was amazed by the fox's knowledge this might really work. He began swiping cloths with his first victim to cover his body smell and to leave indications that it was he who was burned. He then wrote the suicide note, under Shintaro's name. Took out the equipments that could be useful to him which were a lot. He now had a ninjato, an extra pouch and holster with shuriken kunais and explosion tags. These would help him to defend himself in the future. He pilled the bodies together and put his headband on top. He will use the one Sasuke left he guessed. These should give them sufficient proof to think that he actually was dead. He then just remembered that the fox forgot one thing on his plan, Naruto did not know any fire spells yet.

"Erm, Kyuubi we got a problem, I don't know any fire spells… how am I going to cremate their body?" asked the boy.

"Simple use the following seals, and you can use my katon kitsune kaenhoushaki", said the fox as he gave the seal images into Naruto's head.

Naruto performed the seal for the katon kitsune kaenhoushaki and sure enough he breathed a giant flamethrower attack with Kyuubi's face and set the bodies he piled up in fire. He then added a trap of his own, he set 2 exploding tags around the bodies, and linked the trap to the suicide note which he place future back. This way, when someone pulls the note the explosion will wipe out any evidence if the body had not fully burned by then.

He left a piece of scroll of forbidden seals, with its side burned, it was the part that contained the first spell he knew already kage bunshin. A few steps behind the suicide note, which he placed in front towards Konoha, that way it will be found first. He then looked behind his work of art and mumbled some words.

"I guess this is good bye Konoha… as of today Uzumaki Naruto is dead", he said as he jumped on the river and followed its stream eastwards, with the scroll of forbidden seals strapped on his back along with his new ninjato. He ran towards the east, hoping to get out of fire country as quickly as possible.

After 5 hours, Kakashi came to the location of the crime. By then the body had been cremated and the rain had washed away all smell. It took him this long to find the place as Pakkun could not smell his students' signatures thanks to the rain. As Pakkun neared the suicide scroll he called Kakashi, he accidentally triggered the explosion that puffed most of the evidence into smoke. Kakashi's worst fear had realized as he read the note.

He felt the signs of bad omens, as he arrived from a mission to hear that Sasuke had run away and that Naruto was in hot pursuit. Things even got more complicated when he heard that some of the villagers knew about and that three ANBU had stolen the scroll of the forbidden seals. He knew what that meant, the villagers were still looking for ways to kill Naruto and him being alone in a mission without him or Jiraya gave them the perfect opportunity. They had succeeded; they finally got what they wanted, as he noticed the few patches of Orange cloths and the boy's headband in the cremated rubble.

The news reached Konoha by the night. Shikamaru's group had been transported to the ER rooms in the hospital earlier in the day. He had one death, which was Uzumaki Naruto. The villagers were saddened by the loss of the last Uchiha, especially his fan girls. However, hearing that the demon boy was finally dead, they rejoiced.

This shocked the people who Naruto considered precious, especially Gaara who was about to go into his kill mode if his siblings and Kakashi had not held him. Meanwhile, Hinata and Sakura sobbed. Sakura felt guilty forcing the boy for her own cause.

At her office, Tsunade had locked her door. She would not speak for the next few days. She had lost another of her precious people. She was enraged at herself for sending him in such a mission. She was also enraged at the village, but she knew she could not do a thing as they were more numerous and most of her own shinobis were also celebrating along. A week passed, as the celebration continued. Tsunade decided to finally reveal the reason of his death, which took the genins into another shock, yet deep down they knew that even if he was the container of the monster, he was not Kyuubi as they all seen his compassion.

Meanwhile, Naruto was now at the border of Wave country. It's been a week since his runaway from Konoha at the borders of Fire and Sound country. He had been taking difficult terrains to cover his escape, avoiding main roads and avoiding human contacts. He slept and ate in the forest like a savage. He knew this was his new life.

He still needed to think what to do. He did not know if his plan had succeeded, so he chose to come to Wave first as he knew that there was no shinobi village in the country. So he was partially safe till he could figure out what to do with his life. For beginners, even if Kyuubi was a great help in the forest, neither of them knew how nukenins worked, they also did not have any contact with the shinobi underworld.

The only missing-nins Naruto knew were already dead. He decided to visit their gravesite first. After all, it's not like he could go anywhere else. By becoming a criminal and faking his death, he became a no name. He had lost all his former contacts. As he reached the location, he looked at the sky night began already.

It was a full moon night. He began by setting some prayers for his fallen comrades. He then looked at his own headband, which was now scratched at the leaf symbol. He looked at his outfit and possessions; he knew they would draw attention, considering he was in ANBU armors on him. He knew he had no money to change his identity, he hasn't even figured out a name for himself.

He decided to spend the night at the gravesite. He was sure that almost none visited here, as the flowers had still remained in the place since when they buried Zabuza and Haku here. So he was safe he also had Kyuubi on guard in case, things went wrong. He had sufficiently zigzagged his path to fool hunter-nins, at least for a day.

As he slept under the stars, he gazed at them wondering how his life would have been, if those ANBU had not intervene.

End of chapter 1

Please review the chapter and tell me how you liked it. Next chapter I will introduce the sword smith Arai Shakkuu, as well as Naruto's new blade: mikazuki kaze setsudanki.

Glossary

Shintaro: The leader of the ANBU group that tried to kill Naruto. OC character.

Muramasa Shakkuu/Arai Shakkuu: The famous black smith from Mist country. He is the one who build the 7 swords for the Mist's seven Swordsman. He will become Naruto's trainer and father figure. If you have noticed I picked the name Arai Shakkuu from Rurouni Kenshin. Since he was the sword smith who made Kenshin's sakabattou. OC character.

Muramasa Reiko/Uzumaki Naruto: Container of the demon fox Kyuubi, he had been always hated by the village of Leaf. At the age of 13, he became a nukenin, after a failed assassination attempt on his life. Thought dead, he became Muramasa Reiko the Shadow Fox, an s-ranked nukenin. He is considered one of the most dangerous shinobis in the underworld. He wields a muramasa sword known as mikazuki kaze setsudanki. He is somewhat affiliated with Akatsuki.

Mikazuki Kaze Setsudanki: A Muramasa sword that measures 150 cm. its name means, "crescent moon wind cutter", as it is known to use the Reiko's chikara as forms of wind waves; a worthy sword for its master the Shadow Fox, Muramasa Reiko.

Nukenin: Missing-nin.

Ninjato: Katana made for Ninjas.

Scroll of the forbidden seals: The scroll contains the skills used by the Forth Hokage of Konoha, and some of them are considered forbidden.

Techniques

Chidori / Thousand birds: A high ranked assassination ninjutsu. The favorites move of Uchiha Sasuke. The user creates a lightning like chikara around his hands and charges at his opponent to impale them. The hand becomes a stabbing weapon. User : Uchiha Sasuke, Hatake Kakashi.

Kage bunshin / Shadow clone: A ninjutsu where the user creates shadow clones of himself. User: Reiko, Itachi, Kakashi and Orochimaru.

Katon goukakyuu / Fire element grand fireball: A ninjutsu where the user unleashes wide spread flamethrower attack. User: Shintaro, ANBU, Sasuke.

Katon hidamaryuu / Fire element dragon fireball: A ninjutsu known as a strong fireball attack, which hits the target like a spear. User: Reiko, Shintaro.

Katon kitsune kaenhoushaki / Fire element Fox Flamethrower: A fox fire flamethrower ninjutsu attack at the same power as the goukakyuu but this one has a fox mask in front. User: Reiko, Kyuubi.