Naruto Fanfic: The Crimson Flash
Summary: In the anime, Naruto had Minato's looks and Kushina's attitude. What if it was the other way around? Growing up in a time period where war is near the doorsteps, will Naruto accept his heritage and forge his own legend?
Chapter 1: The Prodigy
Inquisitive violet eyes scanned over the area as the five year old lumbered over to the Uchiha Clan Compound. The guards in the compound stopped him.
"Halt, what is your business here?" The first uchiha guard asked with his eyes narrowed.
The red head breathed in calmly as he said "Shishui-sensei wanted to meet me here."
"And why would such a venerable person as Shishui want to meet you?" The Uchiha continued with a snarl coming out in the end. The red head was no fool. He knew the guard was referring to his own status as Jinchuriki. Oh, you're surprised that he knows the secret. Well considering they all called him 'Fox Brat' and 'Demon' it was really not too much hard to piece together. The Red head was cut off from his internal ramblings from a familiar voice.
"Now, now guys there is no need to use that tone with my student."
The red head looked upwards to see his sensei, Shishui casually walking towards the guards and himself with a small smile on his face. The uchiha guard looked at Shishui before narrowing his eyes at the red head. He huffed and nodded. Shishui shrugged.
"Naruto, how about we go to train?" Shishui asked with a light jovial tone.
"Yes!" Naruto exclaimed as Shishui simply touched Naruto and the two disappeared.
Reappearing somewhere later in a training area Shishui looked at his student and asked "Did you complete the Tree Walking exercise like I told you?"
"Yes, it was pretty hard at first due to my big chakra reserves for a five year old but in the end I managed to do it." Naruto said stoically.
Shishui nodded as he said "Fine now I want you to run across the training ground ten times within five minutes or no ramen for lunch."
Naruto was immediately off and running. Only ten seconds late from the assigned time Shishui smiled and ruffled his red hair. "Pretty good. Last time we did that you were late by twenty six seconds. A huge improvement. But you can do much better."
Naruto nodded as he panted from slight exhaustion. Shishui looked at his unofficial student before perking up as he felt a chakra signature enter the area. He looked at Naruto who had also perked up. Narrowing his eyes slightly Shishui snapped his head around to see Uchiha Itachi coming towards him.
"Itachi, what's up?" He asked jovially masking his surprise at Naruto's sensory perception.
Itachi looked at Shishui once and then at Naruto once again. "I hope I am not doing anything wrong by intruding."
Shishui laughed as he said "Of course not, I was just starting Naruto's training for the day!"
Itachi nodded as he said "Shishui, the ANBU headquarters are calling."
Shishui's expression immediately became serious as he looked at Naruto and from his pouch took out a scroll and gave it to Naruto. "I will not be here for a week. By the end of the week when I return I expect you to learn the technique written in that scroll."
Naruto eagerly took the scroll as he looked at his sensei and nodded. Itachi disappeared in a murder of crows as Shishui simply disappeared without trace.
Naruto unfurled the scroll as he read the technique's name.
Katon: Goukyaku no Jutsu (Fireball Jutsu)
One of the most basic Fire techniques after the Katon: Kasai Nagare (Fire Release: Fire Stream) technique. But if utilized correctly this technique can be deadly and fatal. Its chakra input requires approximately 12 hectares of chakra and its hand seal sequence is snake-ram-Monkey-Boar-Horse-Tiger. It's key component is saturating the lungs with chakra and then converting it tol fire as soon as it escapes the lips.
Naruto eagerly went through the hand seals in the scroll as he saturated his lungs with chakra and let it out of his mouth. What came out was a small ball of fire the size of a football. Naruto started to cough as he wiped the soot of his mouth.
"This is going to take a while. I think Fire Release is not my affinity….." Naruto muttered as he went through the hand seals again and repeated the process. While the fireball that came out was slightly bigger than before it was nowhere near the perfect fireball that the technique required.
X.X.X.X
A day later Naruto was still going through the hand seals. His fireball had roughly gained half of the size the fireball had to take. He still had some ways to go with the technique. He was sitting down next to a tree drinking water when he heard a voice. "You know it's pretty impressive when you come across a five year old who can use the Goukyaku jutsu."
Naruto looked towards his right to see a Konoha jonin with gravity defying spiky grey hair and a mask that showed only his left eye as the right eye was covered by the headband. Naruto's eyes twitched. What kind of man dresses like that…
"My name is Hatake Kakashi. Nice to meet you." The man introduced. Naruto had heard of this man. One of the strongest shinobi in the village. Along with Sandaime, Senju Tsunade, Jiraiya, Shishui, Itachi, this man was one of the few Kage level shinobi in the village. Naruto could simply feel this man's chakra pressure as he activated and deactivated his chakra sensory perception.
"My name is Uzumaki Naruto. It's nice to meet you as well." He introduced himself.
The man eye-smiled as he said "You're quite infamous around these parts aren't you?"
"Well it's only because of the villager's prejudice against me for some reason."
"A pity." Kakashi said as he looked at Naruto again and said "Now where was I? Ah, yes seeing you practice the Goukyaku Jutsu till it's half size. Very very impressive for a five year old."
Naruto looked at jonin in front of him and asked "Do you know any tips I could use to perfect the technique. I really think I have an affinity that repels fire."
Kakashi chuckled. "Knowing his father, that's not unlikely." "Here's an advice. Thin the chakra before expelling the technique. Belive me it works."
Naruto pondered over the words. Thinning out the chakra…of course! The chakra if thinned would be able to maintain consistently and allow chakra to be used in a beneficial way while saving it and not harming the Chakra System of the body!
Naruto sat upright as he went through the hand seals in genin level speed as he did the technique.
Inhaling air…saturating the lungs and windpipe with chakra while storing chakra in the lungs….bringing it up towards the mouth while using the friction generated to turn it to fire…..compress the chakra into a thin line….and then expel!
A huge fireball erupted from Naruto's mouth as the training post in front of his was charred beyond recognition. Naruto looked at it in awe as he excitedly hugged Kakashi repeatedly saying 'thank you'. Kakashi laughed softly as he said "Just because the majority of the village hates you doesn't mean everyone does Naruto. You need only ask."
Naruto blinked once, twice before slowly nodding. Kakashi eye smiled again before saying "Practice the technique. I am sure Shishui will be surprised when he returns. See you around Naruto. If you ever need help. Just come find me."
Kakashi then disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Naruto looked at the spot Kakashi had been before starting to practice the technique once again.
X.X.X
2 years later
A day before the Uchiha Massacre
Uzumaki Naruto was bored. He had been enrolled into the Academy about a month ago and he had high expectations. Imagine his surprise when he learned that all that they were going to learn in the first year was basic chakra theory and history which he already knew. Naruto simply stared out of the window while a random chunin teacher droned on. The only sensei he really liked in the academy was Umino Iruka and that was because he treated him fairly and he had interesting classes to teach.
The dismissal bell rang out as Naruto used the window beside him to exit the academy. One month into the academy, he along with Itachi's younger brother, Uchiha Sasuke were already known as prodigies. Naruto hated it. The word prodigy was being thrown around it seemed. It left quite the sour taste in his mouth. He was a prodigy because he did not waste years in useless childish endeavors and instead trained like a shinobi should. From what he had seen Itachi had taught Sasuke well but still, using the word prodigy so easily…well like he said, it left a sour taste in his mouth.
Naruto raced past all of the buildings as he leapt from building to building towards his training ground where Shishui should have been waiting for him. Naruto arrived early as he settled down and sat against the wooden post.
He must have dozed off sometime later as when Naruto opened his eyes the sky was slowly darkening. And yet Shishui was still not here. Narrowing his eyes Naruto put his right hand in the Seal of the Confrontation (Half Ram) as he activated his sensory perception.
Naruto scanned over the business District and uchiha compound and found that Shishui was nowhere to be found there. Slowly though, Naruto found him in the forest towards the north of Konoha. Naruto frowned. Shishui's chakra was fluctuating and he was running towards the Naka River Cliff. He was being pursued by ten ANBU level shinobi if their chakra were any means to follow.
Standing up, Naruto took off in pursuit of his sensei. After reaching the Northern Forest Naruto peered around but before he could do anything it was already too late. An ANBU appeared as he drew his tanto and with an uppercut, cut out Naruto's left eye. Naruto stumbled back as he groaned in pain and immediately felt his hand clamp over his left eye socket where warm red blood was flowing about. Naruto's right eye looked at the ANBU and immediately saw that this was no ANBu under the command of the Sandaime. He had a term called 'Ne' written on his mask and did not have the traditional ANBU tattoo. Naruto gulped as he stood up shakily ignoring the blazing pain in his left socket.
He flipped through some hand seals as he said "Katon: Goukyaku no Jutsu!"
A huge roaring fireball erupted from Naruto's mouth as they sped towards the ANBU. The ANBU simply evaded the attack and from his rear tried to slash at Naruto again. Naruto jumped backwards as he asked "Why are you fighting a fellow Konoha shinobi?"
"You are too near and you will know too much. I am simply eliminating a future threat to Danzo-sama." The ANBU said emotionlessly.
Naruto's eyes narrowed as he put his hand on his Kunai pouch and took out a kunai ready to do anything. The ANBu watched him silently before racing towards the red head. Naruto clashed his kunai with his opponent's tanto and could easily feel himself being overwhelmed. Searching for a way out his eyes wavered to a log as Naruto substituted himself with it. The tanto of the ANBU cut right through it. Without wasting second Naruto had thrown a barrage of shuriken and kunai towards the ANBU. The ANBU put his hand on the snake seal and slammed his hand on the ground.
"Doton: Doryuheki!" (Earth Release: Earth Wall)
A huge earth wall rose from the earth as it stopped the projectile weapons from drawing blood. "You are pretty good for a kid. You are actually making me give in an effort." The ANBU said pretty impressed if the impressed tone was anything to go by.
Naruto looked at the ANBU while trying desperately to stop the blood flow coming from his left eye. He put his hands in a cross shape as he said "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" (Shadow Clone Jutsu)
Four clones popped into existence as each went into their own set of hand seals.
"Katon: Goukyaku no Jutsu!" (Fireball Jutsu)
"Futon: Daitoppa!" (Wind Style: Great Breakthrough)
"Ninpo: Kunai Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" (Ninja Art: Kunai Shadow Clones)
"Ninpo: Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." (Ninja Art: Shuriken Shadow Clones)
"Ninpo: Kawarimi no Jutsu!" (Ninja Art: Replacement)
The last one was the original himself as Naruto ran away from the impending explosion. True enough a huge explosion took place merely second later which made Naruto a little wobbly in his legs. The ANBU had no chance of escape. He had died. It was no surprise really. From what Naruto could tell he was only a mid chunin level ninja. Still, for him to have defeated an ANBU nonetheless…..Naruto grew still as he remembered one crucial fact. That ANBU he just killed…he was his first kill.
Naruto's stomach grew rumbly as Naruto puked in the corner. Naruto could almost see the horrified expression of the ANBU before his death. His body started to shiver as Naruto tried to calm himself. Slight apparitions of red chakra protruded from himself as they threatened to let loose.
At the last moment he gathered himself. There was still a task at hand and his eye still needed treatment. It was time to move, and drown in anguish later. Naruto wiped his face as he started to traverse the forest searching for Shishui. He found him by the Naka River Cliff.
When Naruto reached there he saw the back turned form of Shishui who was looking towards the river down below the cliff.
"Naruto…." He heard softly as Shishui turned around. Naruto stumbled backwards as he saw the form of his sensei.
His left eye was missing with blood spurting out and in from his chest with a deep gash across his torso. Blood was pretty much everywhere.
Shishui noticed the lack of one eye in his student as well and asked "What happened Naruto?"
"What happened to me? What happened to you?" Naruto retorted as he tried to think of a logical answer for all of the things that were going on.
"I was attacked."
"Why?"
"Since the Kyuubi attack seven years ago, dissatisfaction amongst the villagers and Uchihas grew. Everyone that night swore that they saw a sharingan pattern in the eyes of the Kyubi and it was a well-known fact that the Kyubi could be controlled by a sharingan. So they grew suspicious ofUchiha. After years of suspicion the Uchiha's snapped. They planned a coup de teat against the village to wrest control. I along with Itachi acted as a double agent for the village against the Uchiha to stop an impending Civil war." Shishui slowly explained as horror dawned on Naruto's face.
"No! The Uchiha clan are honored amongst the villagers, especially so with the civilians!" Naruto exclaimed.
Shishui laughed bitterly. "If only so…"
"What did you do to get into this condition then…..was it the Uchiha….did they find out of you being a double agent?"
"No. They planned to have the coup tomorrow. So I was dispatched by the Sandaime to use this….." Shishui said as his sharingan in his right eye slowly morphed into a four pointed shuriken. "This Naruto, is the Mangekyo Sharingan. Said to awaken when an Uchiha kills his best friend, but in reality awakens any time when a feeling of extreme loss comes over the user. My special technique with my mangekyo is the Kotomatsukami which allows to control someone or a group of people. I was to use this technique to delay the coup, but Danzo…he said that the plan would fail and robbed me of my left sharingan. He then sent these assassins under his control to kill me."
"Whose….Whose Danzo?" Naruto asked shakily.
"An elder of the village. He holds a good amount of power over the village having his own ANBU faction called ROOT. He believes in a pure military ideals and if not for the sandaime, right now you would be a weapon for the village considering the beast that you contain." Shishui answered softly as Naruto shuddered.
"Why are we talking about this?" Naruto asked in anguish. "We need you to get to a hospital, and quick!"
"Don't bother, Naruto…I am already dead….I can feel my life draining away from me….." Shishui laughed bitterly.
"No! I refuse to believe it!" Naruto said as he shook his head furiously. But suddenly Shishui was grabbing him by his shoulders. "Naruto you must do this one favor for me."
"What?" Naruto asked shakily.
"Take my sharingan. It would be an honor for me to continue to see the world through your eyes. And it would also deprive of Danzo getting his hands on my sharingan. I believe it will be in good hands with you." Shishui said softly.
Naruto stepped back as he said "I cannot accept that Shishui! Come on let's get you healed!"
"Promise me! Promise me Uzumaki Naruto that you will follow through with my last wish!" Shishui cut in a steely voice as a tear escaped from his remaining eye.
Naruto's remaining eye also shed some tears as he shakily said "Ye…Yes."
Shishui smiled briefly before he said "Itachi, why don't you do the honors?"
Naruto' head snapped upwards as Itachi suddenly appeared in a murder of crows with a solemn expression on his face. "I will, my dear friend."
Shishui nodded as Itachi's hands erupted green. Using the ANBU medical ninjutsu that he knew Itachi painlessly removed Shishui's remaining eye and placed them in Naruto's left eye socket. Naruto's eyes twitched as Naruto slowly opened his left eye again. He looked at Shishui and from his left eye could easily see his chakra network. Shishui barely had any chakra left at all.
Shishui smiled as he said "Itachi….carry one the legacy of the Uchiha Clan will you? Naruto, try not to be stoic all the time. And remember both of you…I love you both as my own little brothers."
Shishui started to steps backwards towards the cliff as Naruto struggled against Itachi's grasp. Just before Shishui fell Naruto released himself from Itachi and ran forward. But it was too late. Shishui was dead.
Dead.
Naruto's eyes blazed in anger as he turned towards Itachi. "Why didn't you save him! You of all people could Itachi! That would have been the correct choice to have done!"
Itachi's soft voice came towards him as a reply. "People live their lives bound by what they accept as correct and true. That's how they define "reality". But what does it mean to be "correct" or "true"? Merely vague concepts ... their "reality" may all be a mirage. Can we consider them to simply be living in their own world, shaped by their beliefs?"
Naruto looked upwards towards Itachi's face and saw it streaming with tears. Itachi's own sharingan was now a triple pointed shuriken shape. Naruto and Itachi stood in silence as they slowly hugged each other for their fallen brother.
Itachi slowly let go of Naruto and said "I have to go."
"Where?"
"To eliminate my clan."
"I….see….."
"I will leave only my brother alive. Please…take care of him….after all you both are my brothers…." Itachi said softly before disappearing into a cluster of crows.
Naruto's eyes looked upwards towards the sky as his normal violet eye and his new sharingan eye pierced the skies. He fell down unconscious.
X.X.X
Naruto blinked once, twice before he fully opened his eyes. He was greeted by the sight of his surrogate grandfather, the sandaime Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi.
"Naruto-kun, how are you?"
"Jiji…..the uchiha clan are they really?"
"Gone? Yes they are. From my orders." Hiruzen said sadly. Naruto looked upwards in shock. Hiruzen smiled sadly as he said "Itachi told me what happened. You needn't worry. Though I would keep that sharingan hidden if I were you."
Naruto nodded as he took an empty headband and wrapped it around his shraingan eye like Kakashi.
Hiruzen looked at Naruto sadly as he said "I never wanted you to grow up so quickly…..If only I…."
"There's no need to blame yourself jiji…The Uchiha clan should have tried to gain the people's trust instead of resorting to a coup. It was their own fault that they did not accept your peace talks…" Naruto said as he slowly dismissed himself from the hospital room.
Hiruzen smiled sadly as he thought "He looks so much like you Kushina-chan….yet he is so much like you Minato-kun. Whatever it is…..you two would be proud of your son. He has grown up to be a fine young man."
END OF CHAPTER
I HAVE BAD NEWS AND GOOD NEWS. LEGEND OF WIND WAS MERELY MY EXPERIMENT FOR THIS FANFICTION OF MINE SEEING HOW DIFFERENT AREAS OF PLOTS WOULD WORK. I WILL NORMALLY BE UPDATING THIS ONCE PER WEEK UNLESS I HAVE WEEKDAY HOLIDAYS SO YOU EXPECT AN UPDATE THAT DAY AS WELL. NOW PLEASE REVIEW! FLAMES ACCEPTED!