Naruto: Days of Old

Episode 1: Return of the dead

Summary: A shinobi from the original rookie squads that graduated from the academy with Neji, TenTen. and Rock Lee returns to the leaf village after being presumed to be dead, but he seems to be different from what he was like and is somehow more powerful than he was back then, just what changed him and how did it change him.

(Note: This story will have sword styles that I create and some that I will borrow from other anime shows, the names and descriptions of all techniques will be at the bottom of each chapter)

Dark clouds surrounded the area around and inside the leaf village, as the rain pours down all around the leaf village and people ran through the streets to get to wherever they need to go and get back home, while others stood under roof edges and inside buildings to wait to see if the rain would stop. Everyone was too busy trying to get out of the rain, that no one noticed the strangely dressed man that was walking down the road with the straw conical hat over his head that hid his eyes and face and began to head towards the pathway that went up to the top of the Hokage mountain. The strangely dressed man had almost made it to the pathway, when he saw a blockade in front of him, with a few shinobi standing near it as well, to which he kept walking towards it until he was told to stop by a shinobi.

"You might want to avoid taking this path, sir" The shinobi said, "This path is dangerous due to the recent weather we've been having of late"

"Does this mean that this path is off limits?" the strangely dressed man asked

"No, you can take it if you want, just be careful" the shinobi said

The strangely dressed man nodded and began to walk up the pathway until he had reached the top and stopped there, as he saw another person walking up to the top from another pathway and watched as the other man kept walking on up the path until he reached the top as well and kept walking until he stopped to look at the strangely dressed man.

"You're gonna catch a cold up here if you keep standing up here" the man said, "Is there a reason why you're up here during this bad weather"

"Actually, there is a reason" the strangely dressed man said, "but you won't live long enough to care"

"What!!" the man said, as he watched the man draw out a strangely curved rosewood staff and after placing his hands on the sides of it, revealed it to be a Shirasaya Katana

"I am a Shadow Assassin that was sent here to kill you because of your betrayal to Feudal Lord Kanzer" the strangely dressed man said, "You, Nanzu Takaido, gave info to the leaf village to help in their attempt to assassinate his son in return for protection from the Feudal lord, himself"

"I had no other option" Nanzu said, "His son was going to kill several innocent people for crimes that they didn't commit"

"That is of no concern of mine, I just do as I am told" the Shadow Assassion said, "It is time for you to die"

Nanzu turned to run, but he wasn't quick enough and was suddenly slashed across his back and then stabbed him through the chest, before kicking him off the mountain edge and down to the bottom of the Hokage mountain, where he crashed into the ground and caught the attention of the shinobi that were at the bottom. The Shadow Assassin suddenly jumped off the edge of the mountain and held his arms tightly at his sides, going down the mountain quicker and when he nearly reached the bottom, he suddenly stuck his hands out and landed on them and did a flip onto his feet, before beginning to run towards the entrance. An alarm suddenly rang throughout the village and people began to run into buildings, allowing him a clear path to the exit out of the leaf village, which was now closing and having several shinobi gathering in front of it. The Shadow Assassin suddenly jumped back, as about six shuriken suddenly collided with the ground and he looked up to see a group of shinobi standing on a bridge that overlooked the road and he got an idea on how to slow down the shinobi chasing him from behind. He suddenly jumped onto the side of a building on the left, then jumped up higher onto a building on the right, then finally jumped up to right under the bridge and with a spinning cut, he cut through the supports under the bridge and caused it to collapse onto the road and into the streets, blocking the road somewhat and slowing down the shinobi that were chasing after him, but there was a price for what he did and that price was now he wouldn't make it in time before the gate closed and had to find another way out of the village. He suddenly jabbed his sword into the ground and ripped it up rapidly, bringing up lots of dirt and dust into the air, allowing him to run to the left of the gate, heading for the western gate of the leaf village. The strangely clothed man kept running towards the left, but suddenly jumped into a dark alley and pressed his back against the wall of a building and held his breath, as some shinobi ran by and stopped only a few feet away.

"We have to hurry, he was last spotted heading this direction to reach the western gate" one shinobi, a female with brown hair and red marks on her face said, "Kiba said he was going to meet us up there, Hana, so let's hurry"

"I'm hurrying as fast as I can, mom" the girl, Hana said, "I still can't believe that someone could just walk into the village and just kill someone then expect to get out so easily"

"We're not dealing with any ordinary person, Hana" the mom said, "from the intel I was given, before his target died, he revealed that the man was a Shadow Assassin"

"A Shadow Assassin! That's a name I haven't heard in a while" A voice said, but besides the two there, the only ones left were dogs, "I thought that they were all wiped out long ago"

"Many people did, Kuromaru, They were supposibly wiped out during the Great Purge" the mom said, "enough talk, we have to hurry up and get there"

'These people must be of the Inuzuka clan, a clan that specializes in breeding and using ninja dogs' the strangely dressed man though, 'It would be bad if one of them picked up any scent of me, I'd better lose them quick'

The strangely dressed man moved slowly up the dark alleyway and up the streets until he reached the river that went through the village and after making sure that the area was clear, he slowly lowered himself into the water and began to swim down the river towards the western exit and when he noticed a tunnel big enough for him to move through that went towards the western exit, he pulled himself into it and began to slowly crawl down it, until it finally went into an underground water canal that he could stand in and began to run towards the western exit, until he heard voices near a grate and stopped to listen into them.

"Are all of the entrances to the village shut down?" a male voice asked

"Yes, they are all closed tightly and every possible exit from the village is now sealed off" another male voice said, "There's no chance of him getting out of the village, now all we have to do is search the entire village and not even leave a small area unsearched until we find that assassin"

'Heh...you believe that I'd be stupid enough to try and use the main gates and any obvious exit from the village' the strangely dressed man thought, 'I'd better get moving before someone decides to check down here and find me'

"Halt!!" A voice shouted from behind him, as he stopped and turned his head to see Hana and her mom, along with the a dog that looked like a wolf and had an eyepatch over his left eye that stood behind him and the two female shinobi each held a kunai in their hands.

"Were you two allowing me to believe that you didn't notice me in that alleyway?" the strangely dressed man asked

"Of course" Hana said, "We needed to follow you to see how you were gonna get out of the village"

"I see" the strangely dressed man said, "Mind if I know the names of the beautiful captors?"

"...Hana" Hana said, "and this is my mother, Tsume and our dog, Kuromaru"

"Hana!" Kuromaru said, sighing, "now that you know our names, care to tell us yours?"

"My name...it's been a while since anyone has asked me that and I've nearly forgotten it" the strangely dressed man said, "My name is Zyden Kinidi"

"I see, now that we're better acquainted, how about you turn around and drop any weapons that you have" Tsume said, "We can talk this over with the Hokage and maybe you'll be able to get off easy"

"I'm afraid I can't do that, but I appreciate that offer" Zyden said, as he dipped a finger into a container of ink near his chest and began to draw something on his right hand palm, "I am one of the last members of the Shadow Assassins and I can't lose it all just yet"

Zyden suddenly turned around and rose his right hand towards Hana and Tsume which now had a strange symbol written on it that was glowing with a dark purple light, causing Hana and Tsume to get into a defensive stance and Kuromaru got into a attacking stance.

"What is that?" Hana said, as she kept up her defensive position

"Dark Arts!" Kuromaru said, "The mystical powers of the Shadow Assassins"

"Correct, these powers are mainly used as last resorts to attempt to escape" Zyden said

"Kuromaru, let's go!" Tsume said, "Hana, stay back!"

Tsume suddenly took off towards Zyden and threw her kunai at him, but he turned and using his left hand, drew out his Shirasaya, sheath and all and knocked the Kunai away from him, but Kuromaru suddenly sprang and bit onto his right arm and jerked the glowing seal away from Tsume, but also accidentally made him fire a black ball with dark lightning around it towards Hana. Zyden saw this and after kicking Kuromaru in the head, ran over towards Hana and jumped in front of her, taking the full force of the black ball. A huge explosion occurred and it destroyed the ground above them and also attracted the attention of every shinobi in the village around them, but when they arrived, they were surprised to see Hana leaning against the ground in the hole and Zyden on the ground with purple smoke coming off of his body, while Tsume and Kuromaru stand on the street and wait for everyone to get there.

"What happened?" A female shinobi asked

"Kurenai...we found the assassin" Tsume said, pointing at Zyden "That's him in the hole"

"Him? he doesn't even look old enough to be an assassin" Kurenai said, "He looks like a Genin"

"I was surprised when we saw how he looked, but he is a Shadow Assassin because he was able to use Dark Arts" Tsume said, "That's what caused the explosion"

"I take it that it backfired on him" Kurenai said

"No...I went after him to try and stop him and Kuromaru managed to get his arm, but it made him fire it at Hana" Tsume said, "He...He went and jumped in front of the blast to protect Hana"

"What? He jumped in the way of the blast to protect Hana?" Kurenai said, confused, "I would've thought he'd use that time to get away"

"We'll take care of him from here" An ANBU member said, as he jumped down into the hole, "Why don't you take Hana down to the Hospital to see if she has any injuries"

"I'm fine" Hana said, getting up, "He took the full force of the blast"

The ANBU member nodded and lifted up Zyden onto his shoulder and immediately jumped up onto the roof of a building and began to head towards the ANBU headquarters and once he reached it, he immediately walked in and down to the detention center and threw Zyden into a cell and shut the door, locking it shut and then had his weapons sent to the weapons lockup. Zyden slowly sturred and began to sit up, when he suddenly coughed up some blood and began to recollect on what had happened.

'I remember now...I jumped in front of that Dark blast to protect that girl...damn dog, if he hadn't bit my hand, I would've never fired off the Dark Blast at her and had to jump in its way' Zyden thought 'Damn...I think I broke some ribs because of that attack and these bite marks on my hand hurt like a bitch'

The door suddenly opened and Four people walked into the room, one was a purple haired women with a tan trenchcoat on, another was a man with a headband covering his entire head and wore a black trenchcoat, the third one was another women with black hair and wearing a purple or dark blue like kimono looking clothing and the fourth person was a blonde haired women with huge 'assets', wearing a green jacket and blue pants.

"Shizune, check his wounds and bandage them up" the blonde said to the black haired lady, "This is the assassin that killed Nanzu Takaido?"

"It's hard to believe, Lady Tsunade" Shizune said to the blonde haired lady, "But according to the people, he was the one that was found where the explosion occurred""

"he looks so familiar, like I've seen him before" the purple haired girl said, "It's hard to believe that a kid of his age would be an Assassin, even more to be one of the Shadow Assassins"

"Instead of talking about me like I'm unconscious" Zyden said, "How about we just get this over and ask your questions"

"Very well, We already know your name and all that, now why did you kill Nanzu Takaido?" Tsunade asked

"I was payed to kill him by Fire Lord Kanzer" Zyden said, "He betrayed him by relaying info that lead to his son's death"

"but why did you only go after him, not after the shinobi that killed his son" Anko asked

"Nanzu Takaido was one of the council of Fire Lord Kanzer and he betrayed him" Zyden said, "And you all should know that betraying a Feudal Lord is only punishable by Death"

"He never informed us that he was part of the council of the Fire Lord Kanzer" Tsunade said, "and what about you? How is a kid of your age a member of one of the most deadly assassins guild in the entire world"

"Do you really want to know the story?" Zyden said, closing his eyes, "I can promise you, it will not be easy for you to hear"

"Tell us" The man said

"Very well, Ibiki Morino" Zyden said, surprising everyone, "The story will start with this one sentence: Before I became a Shadow Assassin, I was actually a Genin of this very village"

Items and events said in the story

Dark Arts: The Dark Arts are powerful skills that are used by the Shadow Assassins and are similar to Jutsu used by Shinobi, except that Shinobi use handsigns and the Shadow Assassins use ink to draw seals on the palms of their hands to use these powers.

Shadow Assassins: A guild that was created during the early years, before the creation of Shinobi villages, they were a guild that specialized in Assassinations of any level, from simple farmers to the highest Feudal Lord of a Country, they were praised for being the best at their skills.

The Great Purge: An incident caused by several Feudal Lords that feared the Shadow Assassins were becoming too powerful and ordered that they all be killed, to which armies of Soldiers and shinobi attacked the many headquarters of the Shadow Assassins and eliminated almost all of them, leaving very few alive.

Dark Blast: One of the many 'Dark Art' skills of the Shadow Assassins, This ability has the user build up a massive amount of energy and fire it into a ball of Dark power that heads towards an opponent which can cause extreme amounts of damage and even possibly kill a person.