Hello, follow Naruto fan fiction aficionados! Welcome to this story, Naruto, nephew to Whirlpool's Red Demon. This is essentially a "want-of-a-nail" story, with an added OC being said nail.
Update (From a week after publishing chapter 3): I think it would be good that I mention why I am writing this, so here it is: While I like Naruto in general, I don't like the direction the story took. I think a lot of people feel like I do, if the gigaton of fanfic just on that subject is any indication. What spoil my groove the most is the Naruto/Sasuke angle, and how much Naruto can't give up on Sasuke "PermaFrown" Uchia. Holy crap! Another thing that highly bugs me is the apparent indecision from the author whether Naruto should end with Hinata, or Sakura. In fact, I feel as if the author's has been trolling us for years on that front. Also highly depressing is the complete abandonment Naruto went throught form every single person who should have cared about him (yes, that includes the Third, and is not the only slight the old goat has in my book. No one is perfect, but come on!)
So here is how THIS is going to go down: This will NOT turn into an "OMG! Naruto has to bring back his douche-bag emo best-friend who shat on his village and tried to kill him several time!" story, like a majority of the anime/manga was. That doesn't mean I'm going to kill off Sasuke, or something, au contraire. Hint: prepare to read a lot of Uzumaki/Uchia bro-powered badassery. Sakura is going to get blasted in the background, lets hope she likes dog smell and bugs, and she gets used to bowl cuts(I'm of the opinion Lee is far more than she deserves). That said, wanna bet who's going to take her place as the heroine? This jewel from Narutopedia will give you a hint: "During a 2010 interview, Kishimoto stated that many who work with him have told him Hinata would have made a better heroine than Sakura." Nuff' said. Ho, and you can Expect Orochimaru's horor-orgy to be cut pretty damn short, but we'll be keeping the Akatsuki/Obito/Madara triad of antagonists. That abouts covers it up.
Be aware that this story will be very light hearted. After all, I'm dealing with the Naruto universe here. It will also contain a lot of swearing. Also, off the top of my head, I can say that this story will include the following with dead set certainty: An eccentric, perverted and highly badass red-haired woman who's leet with both blade and sealing techniques, her crazy, talking and (unfortunately) sentient sword, a handful of people who died in cannon who won't be biting the dust this time, unhealthy amounts of alcohol and tobacco usage, mentions of written pornography galore and… Pandas. Lots and lots of pandas.
So here is goes for a synopsis: Akane "Akaoni (Red Demon)" Uzumaki is Kushina Uzumaki's older sister and aunt to Naruto. Following the death of her little sister, and the destruction the Kyuubi caused to Konoha the night of Naruto's birth, Akane decides to retire, settle down in her adoptive village, and raise her nephew the best she can. With a semblance of family, and someone in whom he can fully trust and who will protect him while growing up, how will it turn out for Naruto? And what of Konoha? Well, let's find out, shall we?
Note: I've put my previous story for the Narutoverse on indefinite hold. I've kind of lost interest in it. Sorry. As for those who've been following me for my Code Geass stories and wondering what the hell I'm doing, have no fear, I'll also working on the next chapter for that too.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor do I seek to claim ownership of if or any of its related material. If by some odd miracle I make anything off of this, anything with measurable monetary value will be donated to the first panda protection group I can find.
So, without further ado, let's roll!
Chapter 1: That Fateful Night
Three weeks ago, late night, Konoha, Hokage's office.
"I've received a message from Jiraya-sensei, and it would seem these rumors of a village made up of refugees from the land of Whirlpools in the Easternmost part of the Land of Hot Water are well founded. He says you should go check it out. So, what about it?"
"If my perverted uncle says it's worth checking, I will. But will it be alright? Kushina is due within the month."
"I've already taken measures to ensure the seal won't break during her labor. I can assure you it won't, not as long as I'm present. So don't worry."
Don't worry…don't worry…
Present day, over the forests of Fire-Country, a little under a hundred miles north-east of Konoha.
"Looking back, I should have worried a whole lot more" Akane thought as she held on for dear life onto Kaze-kun's back as the giant wind avatar in panda-form flew with extraordinary speed towards Konoha. Her spiky, bright red hair that was tied at the nape of her neck into a ponytail reaching the middle of her back was completely thrown back by the force of the wind. This revealed the large black eye-patch that covered most of the left half of her face. Her one exposed eye, one with a vivid orange iris, was squinting as she looked over Kaze-kun's head with it.
She was wearing black, front laced battle boots, black cargo pants, and a black flak vest over a burgundy long sleeved shirt with the sleeves folded up to under her elbows. She had black fingerless gloves that extended to the middle of her forearms. She had a large, katana-like sword on her back, with the hilt over her left shoulder, and this was attached to a wide, brown weapon's belt she wore diagonally from her left shoulder to her right hip. Over the sword was a long, cylindrical black case, three quarters the length of the sheath. On the part of he belt over her shoulder there was a Leaf headband plate attached, across the front side were numerous pouches, and on the right hip rested a large, earthenware jug. In her lower right earlobe was a single gold earring.
A couple hours ago, she had been about to cross into the Land of Hot Water when she had felt it: that burning, hateful and unmistakable chakra. She had felt it only once before, when she had assisted in transferring that thing from Lady Mito into her little sister. Back then it had been subdued, controlled with a complex set of seals. But now, it was flaring up free and unrestricted, so much that even a thousand miles away she could feel it distinctly. If she had needed another clue as to what it meant, which she didn't, the earthquake that soon followed would have been it.
She was almost there. But now, somehow, even thought they were supposed to get closer to its source, she could feel the Kyuubi's chakra quickly fading. It meant two thing: Either the beast was running away from them faster than Kaze-kun could fly, or it had somehow been… subdued.
"Damn it!" She swore. "If you're still alive, Minato, I'm going to beat you to an inch of your life!"
Shortly after, her adoptive village came into view, and Kaze-kun quickly decelerated.
"You could still have gone for a little while." Akane said, understandably anxious to get to the Village. The giant, black clothed panda pointed right under them, and said, in his booming and even avatar voice "Your pandarean side-kick is in the clearing under us. He seems exhausted, and in very low spirits. Highly unusual. There are also lots of people with noticeable chakra signatures all around the clearing."
Akane peered over Kaze-kun's right shoulder. They were about five hundred feet in the air, but she could clearly see a huge clearing that had been recently made amongst the trees, as well as the trail of destruction leading to it, starting roughly in Konoha's direction. Indeed, she saw a large pandarean, wearing a conical straw hat and green clothes, who was sitting in the middle of the clearing, next to a very large tree stump and…something the size of an average adult woman that was completely covered with a rectangular white blanket. A feeling of dread began to fill Akane.
"Kaze-kun," She said, her voice trembling slightly, "Take me down."
"Right in the middle, or outside the ridge?" Kaze-kun asked, "The ninja are on high alert, and might attack us if-"
"I DON'T CARE!" Akane yelled, "DO WHAT YOU WANT, JUST GET US DOWN!"
Silently, Kaze-kun did so, gliding down in a spiral movement, reaching the ground just beyond the edge of the clearing at the point furthest from Konoha. There, Akane jumped off his back.
"Thank you, Kaze-kun." She said, not looking at him, "I'd be grateful if you could stay here just for a little while. I might need you soon."
"Very well, Aka-sama." Kaze-kun said.
Akane moved forward, towards the center of the clearing, as if in a trance. Her eye was locked right on it. When she came out of the trees, a ninja wearing the uniform of the Konoha ANBU appeared right next to her, grabbing hold of her right arm.
"I'm sorry, Uzumaki-san, but the Third as given us strict orders not to let-"
That was as far as the man got, because it's hard to speak when you get your nose broken by a chakra enhanced hit. Akane had never even glance towards his direction.
"I don't give a damn fuck what the Third says right now." She said in a steely, even, and strangely calm tone, eyes still fixed forward, "If anymore ANBU try to stop me, they're dead." This was meant for the colleagues of the man crouching on the ground and holding his hand over his bleeding nostrils.
They all took her seriously, preferring to face the Third later than the "Akaoni" now, and no other shinobi tried to stop her as she made her way towards the large tree stump and the sitting pandarean. She didn't know how long it really took her to get there, but it felt to her like hours. As she got closer, the pandarean, who was hunched against the stump, holding a long bamboo stick stuck vertically in the ground, turned his large head toward her. Akane's orange eye locked with his black rimmed green ones.
"Liu," She said, "where is Kushina?" She didn't look at the white blanket.
"I'm sorry, Akane-chan." The pandarean said sadly, "She's right here. They've taken Minato away. He didn't make it either. They said they'd be coming back for her, so I stayed to watch over her."
"You've got to be kidding me." She whispered, looking at the form under the white blanket. She slowly walked over next to it, and let herself fall on her knees. With a trembling hand, she raised the blanket at the point that was over the form's head. She choked on her breath as she did so, looking at the now lifeless face of her little sister. She let the brim of the blanket go, and her arms hung limply to her sides.
"What the hell kind of sick joke is this?" Akane said, tears welling up in her good eye. "Didn't you promise you'd help me re-establish the Uzumaki clan?" The tears fell down her right cheek. "Didn't we swore we'd both live until we'd be all old and wrinkly, imouto?"
Kushina, of course, didn't answer. Akane, still crying, stared at her little sister's face, which wore just a bit of a sad smile. Akane then put at hand were Kushina's belly was. It was flat.
"Liu." She said, not looking at him. "Where is it?"
"Huh?" the pandarean looked up.
She turned her head towards him, a fierce look in her eye.
"Where. Is. Her. CHILD?"
Shortly after, Konoha, Council's Chamber *
"Is that thing… really sealed into this child, Lord Third?"
The question was asked by one of Konoha's civilian council members, and was directed towards Hiruzen Sarutobi, Third Hokage, who has been forced out of retirement by the sudden and unexpected death of his successor in defense of Konoha. The aging shinobi was standing in the middle of the floor, next to the crying infant who was the focus of the current meeting, and he was smoking his trademark pipe.
Hiruzen let out a puff of smoke, "Yes, it would seem so. The Fourth sealed the Kyuubi inside of this infant, losing his life in the process, but safeguarding our village from most certain destruction."
"A damn shame he had to die for it." Another member of the council said. "So young, too."
"What should be done with the child?" The first council member asked.
"Do you even have to ask?" Another said, "We can't let Minato's sacrifice be in vain. We have to insure that demon never again threatens our village. We must kill it!"
"It?" Hiruzen raised an eyebrow at the councilor, "You mean 'him'. While the Kyuubi has indeed been sealed inside of him, this child still remains as human as me and all of you."
"How can you be so certain, Sarutobi-sama?" another member of the council asked.
"Simply because I am." The Third said. "I am familiar with the method the fourth used to seal the beast, and he himself assured me that the child would be able to live a normal life while keeping the Kyuubi in check and protecting us from it."
This, of course, was a bluff. Minato never had the time to fully explain to his predecessor what he intended to do, but Sarutobi was certain the Fourth would never had sealed the Kyuubi inside of his own child if he didn't at least believe all he just said was true.
Hiruzen's old teammate, Danzo, then spoke up.
"If I may, I think the council is looking at this the wrong way." The bandaged man said. "Yes, the boy carried a beast of immense power, and we all witnessed it. But instead of fearing it, I think we should use it!"
"You think anyone can control such power?" Another council member said, "Sorry if I don't share your optimism, Danzo. And what he third said about the Fourth's plan might be true, but while I am no professional in the matter, isn't it true that all seal can, in one way or another, be broken? If that were to happen, what then?"
Hiruzen let out another puff of smoke, "I won't lie to you, I also think that possibility exist."
The tension in the room skyrocketed.
"Then that's decided," The same councilor who had brought up the infanticide, "we have to kill the child in order to-"
"However!" The Third cut the councilor, his voice booming across the room, "I must tell you who this child's mother is before any more of you call for his death."
"What this has to do with anything?"
"It has to with a LOT of things." The Third said. "Most importantly the life expectancy of all of us should this child be killed."
"Very well, then." Another councilor said, "Enlighten us: who is the child's mother?"
The Third let out another puff of smoke, "This child's mother, is Uzumaki Kushina." He said slowly.
Understanding dawned on the people present, who except for a few, had no idea of this.
"T-then," the first councilor said, now quite nervous, "That means this child's aunt is…"
"ME!" A voice boomed form outside, just before the chamber's doors exploded inwardly into a million splinters of wood. In stepped one very pissed Akane. Hey orange eye was glowing, and an ominous red glow was somehow shinning through her eye patch.
"Yes, you." Hiruzen said flatly. Members of his personal guard ANBU started moving towards the woman. The Third signaled them to stop, just in time. He didn't need to lose more men like is, not when he could talk down the woman. Probably.
"W-what is the meaning of this!" An outraged council member mustered the courage to speak up, "This is an official, and urgent, council meeting! And how did you get past the guards?
"Sorry, that wasn't written on the door. As for the guards outside, they are all under a little paralysis seal." Akane said offhandedly, then turned back to Sarutobi, "Lord Third." She said. "And all of you respected council members," She added, a falsely serene smile making his way on her lips, "While I understand you have a lot to do with what happened tonight, I have come here to make a simple request." The smile disappeared, replaced by an angry mouth full of pointy teeth, this accompanied by a shadow falling on her face, and the appearance of a horn on her right forehead. "GIVE. ME. MY. NEPHEW!"
"You've improved your 'demon head' jutsu, I see." Hiruzen mused.
"You can't just barge in here and start requesting something like this." A council member said, and went on, apparently forgetting he person he was talking to had taken out a dozen ANBU like hey were rent-a-cop. "Especially since we haven't finished deciding of what to do with the child!"
"Excuse me?" Akane said slowly, raising an eyebrow, "You think you've got ANY right whatsoever to decide what's going to happen to my barely a day old, newborn, orphan nephew while I LIVE AND BREATHE!?"
"Of course we have that right!" another council member said, "You must have seen yourself the destruction caused by that beast! I'm sorry for the lost of your sister, but she's not the only one who lost her life tonight, and the child is a real threat to this village! The third himself said there is a risk the demon may break out!"
"I. Don't. Fucking. Believe this!" She turned toward the Third.
"Now, now." Hiruzen said, "Please calm down, Akane, and listen." She nodded, and calmed a little bit, but still eyed the room with the outmost suspicions,"That goes for all of you also, by the way!" He said to all the people in the room, "Hum hum." He cleared his throat, "While I did indeed say that yes, there is a risk that the Kyuubi breaks out of his cage, I was going to add, just before you barged in missy, that if the child were to be put in the care of a knowledgeable seal master, one that would recognize any signs of the seal breaking, the risks would be virtually nullified."
"Huh, when you say 'sealmaster', you mean me, right?" Akane asked, pointing towards herself.
"Who else?" Hiruzen said. "And I have in my possession one of two original copies of Uzumaki Kushina's legal will, the other one being in miss Akane's possession, the states that, should anything happen to her, her son's legal guardian would be her sister, Akane Uzumaki. Thus, the matter of what happens to the boy is settled. In fact this meeting was to inform you of this and the burden the boy will carry, because I believe it was you right to know about it as representatives of the village's people. Not actually to discuss what to do with him. Anyone has anything to add?"
Only one did, and it was none other than Danzo.
"Do you intend to stay in the village and raise the boy here, Miss Akane?"
"Yes." She said. "Were else would I go? There's a price on my head almost everywhere else. Besides, I was born and mostly raised here. I consider this my home too. I was actually planning to settle in more permanently."
"Then that settle this mater." Hiruzen said. "I believe it worth mentioning that the Fourth strongly hoped that this child would be considered a hero by the people of the village. I realize, following the outburst of some of you, that this might be harder that he believed. As for my part, I at least hope none of you will be so unwise as to take any form of, lets say, extreme measures against this child. Not as much for the boy's safety, but for yours and the rest of the shinobi of this village's! If you still have any misgiving, just keep in mind that miss Akane here is the one who killed the Third Raikage, a man who fought to a standstill ten thousand shinobi for two whole days."
"Yeah" Akane thought, "Never mind the fact that the man was already greatly weakened, and I came this close to dying myself. Great example."
"Now then," the Third said, and then took a blanket out of his robes, picked up the boy and wrapped him in it. "Here." He said as he handed him to Akane.
"Thank you." She said.
"Swing by my office tomorrow morning." He told her. "I'm going to be busy, but I'll make time for you, there are things we need to discuss."
"Very well." She turned and started towards the door, then stopped, "Say, did all of the group who was staying at my mom's old place got out alright? I heard it got blown up."
"I believe all of Zhao-san's kin probably made it out alright." Hiruzen said, "Not only did they make it, they helped evacuate a lot of people. I saw Honoka earlier, but I'm not sure for Toshiro and Shinn, however."
"I see." Akane said, exiting the room, "I'll see you tomorrow, then."
A few minutes later, far western side of Konoha, street leading to the former site of Akane's mother's house.
Akane made her way through the ruined streets of her adoptive village. The sheer amount of destruction and deaths was staggering. Looking down at her now sleeping nephew, she felt a pang of guilt. It caused her to recall a similar scene, thought much worse, so, so long ago it seemed now.
"Damn it!" She thought, "If only I hadn't gone off on that goose chase." She looked up straight ahead, where the home she was born in used to be. It had been surrounded by trees, but already she could see that a large area around the site had been cleared right off. "You better be alright, Tosh." She thought, "I think I'm gonna break down if you also died. "
As she entered the clearing, she realized what probably made it: A humongus tail swipe. All the debris, a mix of building rubbles, shattered trees, rocks and earth, were all in the same area in a wide pile as if pushed there by a giant broom.
Staring at the desolation, she felt her legs becoming weak. She wasn't especially tired physically, but she was a mess mentally. She was about to let herself fall down when she heard a familiar voice to her left.
"Hey there, Aka-chan."
Akane turned around to face the owner of the voice. It belonged to a man, six feet tall, his short, spiky hair a deep red, thought not quite as vivid as Akane's. He looked to be in his mid twenties, thought his real age was almost twice that. His eyes, which normally had large, circular glasses before them, were a deep vermillion. He had a large, medium length goatee, that was usually neatly combed, but was now a mess, as was the rest of him: His clothes were torn, one of his baggy trouser leg's having been half ripped off, and his shirt's hem half hung out of his pants. He was holding himself up with a cane he held with his right hand, and her had a limp on the leg of that side as he walked towards her.
"Toshiro…" Akane said.
"That furball did one hell of a mess." Toshiro said with a sad smile, "I- I'm sorry about Kushina. I don't really know what to say."
Akane stepped towards Toshiro, and leaned against his front, their cheek touching, Akane being a inch taller than him.
"Then don't say anything, baka, and just hold me." She said.
So that's what he did for a minute, doing the best he could to hold her with one hand while balancing his weight on his cane. Eventually, she pulled away slightly, and started hammering her right fist on his chest, saying "Damnit! Damnit! Damnit!".
Although thankful Akane didn't use the same, chakra enhanced strength she used while fighting, he still winced.
She sniffed, "This is so messed up!"
"Y-yeah, I know." Toshiro said, then he looked down at the now stirring bundle Akane still held with her left arm. "Hmm, Is that…?"
Akane pulled away fully from Toshiro, and nodded. "Ys, that's Kushina's son."
"Not even a day old, and losing both his parents" Toshiro said, scratching e back of his head. "Like you said, this is messed-up. So, you intend to raise him?"
Akane nodded again, "I don't know how good a parent-figure I can be, but I'll do my best to take care of him. I owe Kushina at least that. He's family."
"That he is." Tosh said, "So, does he already have a name?"
Akane thought for a moment, then remembered a discussing she had had with the boy's parents and her uncle.
"He does." She said. "His name is Naruto."
End of chapter 1
So yeah, that stuff just flew right out of my head. Next chapter shouldn't take too long.
If you liked the chapter, please leave a review!
* Anyone know if there are any actual scene in the anime/manga in which we see the Konoha council deciding Naruto's fate? I've been looking for one, but I can't find it .
Until next time, keep it real, folks!