Treading the Shadows

Act I: In The Beginning

Prologue: The Asura

Asuras are considered malevolent deities who are generally more powerful than normal deities. They exist to pursue their goals, using violence and rage to fulfill their desires. Asuras are considered the embodiment of negative emotions, or sins including but not limited to greed, rage, lust. Different religions view asuras differently, some considered them great and venered, some considered them weak and hated.

It doesn't matter, all that matters is one thing. Asuras are born to bring destruction.

The situation was desperate, their strongest laid on the ground, broken, the others were exhausted after barely defeating their own opponents. The rain continued to precipitate, as if signaling their defeat, the slight tapping of individual drops hitting the round, an everlasting rhythm signaling their eventual death.

They could not move, their bodies debilitated, drained of all energy, they could not resist. They no longer had any spirit, their courage broken by the slow rhythm of the dropping rain.

There was a creaking sound, the sound of iron and wood, slowly but surely approaching the wearied people. The scratching sound of iron being dragged across the wooden floor. Ever so slowly, yet ever so surely.

There was no hope. Their strongest was defeated, he too laid on the ground, his allies spread out around him, unable to contain the akuma that they warred against.

The demon tread towards the fallen heroes, slowly but steadily, his cleaver in his hand. He was wounded yes, his enemy had come close to defeating the demon, however, being close and actually defeating him was two extremely different things.

He got close to the masked man, raising his blade, intent on ending his adversary's life. Then he swung with his remaining strength, trying to end this fight once and for all.

He aimed to kill, to slay.

But he was denied.

"What?" He exclaimed, his surprise unmasked, his eyes widened as his sword was deflected, deflected by a single blade.

In front of him stood a man, a man cloaked in black with red clouds. His new foe had on a straw hat, a rice farmer's straw hat with cloth dangling from the rim obscuring his identity. His black cloak with red clouds seemingly moving, yet not moving at the same time. In his hand held a black blade, a tsurugi, a straight blade with no guard. The enemy had no signs of distress as he singlehandedly guarded against the huge Kubukiribocho, unflinching and unwavering.

"You" He cried in alarm, "You."

"Me, yes me." The unrecognizable man said in amusement. "You make a horrible conversationalist you know, Momochi Zabuza. Very boring if you only know how to say the same word."

"You." He said a third time.

"Me, yes, me" By now the man identified as Momochi Zabuza had jumped back several meters, suddenly vigilant of his surroundings. "I thought we already established me. But of course, I could be wrong."

The straw hat with cloth protruding the rim covered the upper portion of the new assailant's face, failing to cover the grin this newcomer had on."Yes me. How very tragic, I wanted a fight, but it seems that my opponent's had mental damage and has become a rabid dog to be put down." Despite his hostile remarks the newcomer had yet to make a move, still standing in his original position with his much shorter blade drawn in a defensive manner in front of his chest.

"Momochi Zabuza, also known as Demon of the Hidden Mist, A-rank missing-nin. How very fascinated, how do you do? It seems that you're wounded, do you need some time off? I really want a good fight, but matching my skills against a wounded mutt really isn't fun."

"Who are you?"

"Wouldn't you like to know." The anonymous man replied mockingly. "I really would tell you, but then I would have to kill you." He snickered a bit at his own little joke. "But then again, I think I will kill you anyways, just for the shits and giggles, and the fact you almost broke a very valuable asset to my organization. You see, my organization doesn't take kindly to those who act against us, whether intentional or not."

"Asset?" The masked man on the ground asked mostly to himself, but loud enough for the newcomer to hear.

"Ah yes, you are here. Hatake Kakashi. Moniker Sharingan no Kakashi, Copy Ninja Kakashi. A-rank shinobi from Konohagakure no Sato. Formerly 'Inu' of Anbu." The man recited, looking directly at the new revealed Kakashi turning his back to Zabuza. "It seems you've lost your touch, or is it old age? I heard old age is a shinobi's greatest enemy, but then again, I'm not really afraid of it being young and all, and there are ways to circumvent that inconvenience. Or was it your students you had to dedicate some attention to. Interesting. You are too naive. Too weak. If you dedicated your full attention to this scrimmage I'm sure .you would have come out on top. But you had bonds, bonds make you weak, they make you worry, they make you unable to give it your all. How very weak, but very interesting."

"Who are you, how did you know me. That information should be classified. Impossible."

"Are you guys friends or something?" He paused waiting for a reply, but none came. "Asking the same questions, you sure are close. But you Kakashi, let me tell you something. Confidential just means more troubling to get, not impossible, no, no, definitely not impossible. Just harder, nothing more, nothing less.

He turned back to the demon. His head slightly tilted forward allowing the cloth dangling from his hat to obscure more of his facial features. Now to you. You tried to kill an asset, for that you have to die. I'd like to fight you at full strength, but you know the saying, 'the strongest beast is one driven to a corner'. I have driven you to a corner haven't I, Mr. Momochi. Now fight me, show me your desperation, show me your strength, then I shall permit you to die. Now come."

Zabuza had no choice. Despite his body being broken, he raised his sword once more. His proud blade again brought out to seek death. He readied himself, slowly inhaling and exhaling.

"You need a moment? Take your time, please don't die from a heart attack. It'd be very anticlimactic."

Kakashi sweatdropped.

Under his own mask Zabuza smiled, this man, despite his obvious strength was an amateur. Allowing him to gather his breath, to coordinate his breathing, to reestablish his rhythm will be this arrogant kid's last mistake.

He inhaled, then exhaled, slowly building oxygen back into his body. Then he inhaled, and didn't exhale. Then he charged.

He swung his blade rapidly in succession, cleaving forward with unnerving speed, fluidly yet choppy at the same time, a dance of death. But none his strikes ever met the mark, his rapid slashes meeting nothing but air. He attacked in every direction, every angle, using his large physique as a platform for nearly inhuman attack angles. Yet they all failed to meet their mark. His every slash, fluid and strong, each slash targeting a different part of his assailant's body none of them struck, it was a dance of death for both of them, with Zabuza swinging his blade in confusing yet precise strokes and his enemy avoiding every attempt with minimal movements nearly brushing against every attack.

At around one minute there were twenty three strikes and twenty three misses, but the engine only started, by two minutes there were sixty five strikes and sixty five misses, by the third minute there were a hundred and four strikes, but they all missed. At the end of the fourth minute with one hundred and fifty seven misses Zabuza jumped back to catch his breath unable to continue.

"Interesting. How very interesting. To move so fluidly, so fast, no friction. Yes, yes, I've figured out your trick Mr. Demon. A very interesting trick, so simple yet so complicated. Yes, yes. How nice. Your trick was interesting demon, however, also very lacking."

Zabuza was huffing, his dance was completely wasted, his fluid movements, each attack leading to the next without stop. All missing. Even against Sharingan no Kakashi with his predictive abilities he had been able to strike him. But this man, he was dangerous, so very dangerous.

"Impossible. How could you."

"Impossible? No, not quite so, possible, but improbable, your technique was good, it's just." In a single moment he was next to Zabuza with a kunai to his throat. "I'm better." Widening his eye in shock Zabuza reacted shifting his body's center of gravity and attempting to tackle his enemy, but just like how he got there, his enemy had long since gone out of his range. The lack of contact made Zabuza stumble, almost falling if not for his blade planted into the ground to support him.

"Close, but not that close."

"You could have killed me right there."

"Indeed."

"Why didn't you."

The man had no presence, but suddenly that also changed. In a moment nothing became everything. The killing intent he shoved towards everyone thickened the air, in that moment everyone felt death even though they had not yet died. The presence was so strong even Zabuza, a connoisseur of using his intent as a weapon flinched under the strength of the expelled pressure,even he felt death.

"I let you live little demon, little akuma, yes, I let you live. I let you live not from the goodness of my heart. No, no little one. I let you live so you can see."

The pressure and chakra emitted by the cloaked figure only intensified. His intent mixed with the abundance of ambient energy slowly forming into a shape. A figure of a man with multiple faces, with multiple hands, a being so inhuman, a being that was impossible. One of the faces glared, but was serene, an almost impossible combination, yet the figure made it work, another was angry, angry for blood, the last was laughing, as if enjoying a good joke. The figure towered above all others, a golden ring appearing behind it, it was inhuman, it was unnatural. The man's voice changed from cheerful to downright murderous. "Now who's the devil."

Zabuza responded by flaring his own killer intent forming the shape a skull like apparatus hanging in the air above him, then he charged again, imbuing chakra into his blade giving it a bluish hue. "I'm the devil" he screamed as he aimed to slashed, a wave of energy decimating everything in his path.

But then all was silent.

"No, I am." It was said quietly, almost as if it was a whisper carried in the wind. The unknown enemy was already behind the self proclaimed devil, his spike like apparatus stuffed straight into the middle of the demon's neck. Blood slowly dripped from the straight edge, each individual drop hitting the ground alongside the rain.

"Gurggg" Zabuza choked with a blade down the middle of his windpipe. Gurgling, unable to make any other voice as a spike was stabbed painfully from behind his neck.

He stayed there, almost as if magnetized to the metal weapon, defying gravity, but then the silence was broken as the blade was swiftly removed and Zabuza fell to the ground, his eyes lifeless, his body unmoving.

There was another moment of silence as the rest of the people on the bridge could not comprehend what just happened. An enemy they struggled so hard with was killed. Put down like a rabid dog just like the stranger had said. But the silence was broken, "Zabuza-sama" Haku cried as tears dropped from his face washed away by the dropping rainfall. "Zabuza-sama, No, Zabuza-sama." The he too was silenced.

A kunai flew straight from the sky whistling before it split through Haku's skull, breaking his head apart and then hitting the ground again.

"What the...:"

The stranger motioned as if pulling something towards him and the kunai immediately removed itself from the ground and flew back into his hand. "And he strikes, and he scores," he cried out enthusiastically as the others present on the bridge were stunned at such brutal death and display of skills. "Ah, and don't worry about Gato, I already took care of him, can't be too careful these days, give a man a bit of power, they think they're god. But then again, there's a true god in the midst." He half talked to the rest of the people and half rambled to himself, no one truly understanding the underlying words he had spoken. "There's a god in the midst, raining from the skies, he is strong, so very strong, but he hides in the rain, hides in the rain." He made a strange rhyme as he took one last look at the five people left alive on the bridge.

"Chow, see you later, alligator." He was cheerful once more. Then he was serious, "Little sister, stay alive, I'll see you again."

"What, no, it can't be, Naruto!." The blonde girl on the ground screamed as the now revealed Naruto looked at her, his eyes hidden by the fabric rimming his hat.

"Bye bye, little imouto-can, I'll be seeing you, I promise."

"No don't go, please, come back. I know you are innocent, no, come back, come back to me nii-chan"

He tilted his head, his eyes still hidden, "Now why would I do that?" By now he stood at the rail of the finished bridge, he waved once more and let himself fall down, down into the raging rivers separating the Land of Waves and the Land of Fire. He fell down, but just as he fell, just for a fraction of a second, there was a red glow where his eyes should be. Then he disappeared.

"No, Nii-chan, nii-chan, no, nii-chan, come back." The blonde haired girl cried out, tears falling from onto her cheeks. "No, nii-chan, come back."

But he was no longer there.

The raven haired girl in the team had only one thought. 'So that's what a devil looks like. That's Naruto Namikaze, former S-rank shinobi of Kohonagakure no Sato, son of the Fourth Hokage, killer of her traitorous clan excluding herself, her brother, and her mother. He was once a traitor and she once hated him, but when the hokage revealed the truth to a small group of people that her family were planning to revolt, she had forgiven him, even though she's never told him. He was exonerated of his crimes officially, but he remains a missing-nin, not returning home. No one knew what he was doing until he appeared in the bingo book years after his exile, appearing as a S-rank shinobi known as 'Jisatsu no Asura', also known simply as 'The Asura'. So that was a real devil' she thought to herself.

The last pink haired girl of the team had already passed out at the display of killing intent thrown around during the fight.

Kakashi only sighed to himself, a three girl cell, already troubling despite their apparently friendship and teamwork, now he has to appear, giving him only more work. He knew the rhyme Naruto had said before the end was more than a rhyme. There was a meaning, and Kakashi could somewhat guess at the meaning. A god, living in rain, Amegakure no Sato, strong, even he said the 'god' was strong, so they have to be careful, and he's in rain. 'Better report that to the Hokage', he thought to himself before he passed out into blissful sleep.

Two man both donning black oversized coats with red clouds slowly walked down the road. They wore identical straw hats, however, their heights were far from the same, one approached two meters in height and other only roughly a hundred and seventy. They walked forward, ever so slowly, their clothing pushed around by the gentle breeze.

"You showed yourself to them." After a long silence, the taller one finally spoke.

The shorter one didn't reply, not for a long while, "It was inevitable, the kyuubi might have gotten killed. You know our orders Kisame. Kyuubi must be kept alive."

"So the fact your sister was about to get killed had nothing to do with it?"

Naruto giggled, "Maybe, maybe not, not like you could do anything, or maybe, mister tough guy, maybe you want to fight?"

There was a quiet sigh, "Fighting with you is bad for my health, Aside from leader-sama I doubt anyone could beat you, not with those eyes."

Another giggle, "Leader-sama,Leader-sama, wherever you are, he's strong isn't he, Kisame, soon, yes, soon, the new world order will arise, and we'll watch it burn all again."

"I don't get you most of the time, and I've been following you for years already." The swordsman muttered to himself at his companions insanity.

"Ah, I should have gotten the body, I heard one of the legendary swords fetch a pretty high price in the market. And they bounty on their heads, dammit, why god, why, the money I could have made, what a shame, Kisame, why didn't you grab their bodies?"

"You told me to stay hidden."

"Well, use your common sense sometimes, I can't think of everything every time you know."

Kisame sighed again. 'I just don't get him.'

"So where are we heading to?" Kisame asked after a few minutes of walking with no obvious destination.

"I wonder."

"Don't I wonder me Naruto, god dammit."

"You shouldn't insult god you know, Leader-sama just might hear you."

Another deep sigh.

Naruto continued walking, in front of Kisame this time, "Anyways, we're heading to your home."

"Kiri? Why"

"Whelp, we got a job to do, people to kill, and monsters to hunt. Sometimes I hate working as a mercenary, it's so much work."

"Word. So what are we doing there?"

"The current Mizukage is a jinchuuriki, the Sanbi to be exact. We're gonna hunt him, then trap him, then keep him with us."

"Leader-sama didn't order us to do this Namikaze."

"True, but he will when he decides to actually put his plan into fruition, we do this now we have less work later." Naruto nodded as if his words were sagely.

Kisame thought about it for a few seconds before shrugging, he didn't really care.

"Kiri it is."

Naruto nodded again, "I hope you know the way, cause I have no idea where we're going."

Kisame let out a deep sigh again, before proceeding to walk in front of Naruto and lead him towards their destination.

"You mentioned meeting Naruto in your mission report?" The blonde man with a triangular straw hat with the kanji for fire on it asked Kakashi.

Kakashi nodded in affirmation, "Indeed, he was the one that killed Zabuza and Haku, saving me, my team, and my client."

"Interesting." Minato Namikaze looked down at his report. "So he mentioned some sort of god?"

Another nod, "Yes he did, if I may Hokage-sama, why did Naruto-kun not come back home after his exoneration?"

Minato sighed, "He said he had a mission to do, a personal one. I met with him only once these past six years, it was during the Hyuuga Incident, he was here in Konoha. How he got in I wouldn't know, but he was an ANBU here, he probably knows more than anyone else. I told him to come home, he had a family that loves him, a sister that misses him dearly. But he told me no." By now Minato Namikaze's eyes were full of sadness. "He told me he had a mission, something he had to do, and that to accomplish his mission he would tread the shadows."

"What does that even mean?"

"I don't know. I done fucked up you know, Naruto was such a bright child in the past. Instead, I brought him up to be a monster, and he did that very well. He's strong isn't he, I read your report, to kill Zabuza is no small feat, to play with him before he killed him is nothing short of miraculous. I failed him, I failed my own son. He could have been the light of Konoha."

"It's not your fault sensei."

"It is. I pushed him away, Kushina and I, we pushed him away, we pushed away our baby son, and by the time we realized it and wanted him back, it was too late. Way too late. There's nothing we can do now, nothing to take back what we had done."

"It's not your fault sensei."

Minato sighed, "Everyone says that, but deep down," he pointed at his chest, his heart, "Deep down here, I know the truth. I failed him, I failed my own son.

A/N:

Jisatsu no Asura= Suicidal Asura

Asuras are considered differently in Buddhism and Hinduism. In Buddhism asuras are considered weak and just slighly above human beingsin strength. However, in Hinduism asuras are considered very powerful with strength matching or sometimes even overwhelming that of a deva. An asura is described with multiple heads or faces, and multiple arms.

Sasuke is female because I'm sick of Sasuke syndrome. If he's a guy, he'd be like, oh that motherfucker, killed my family, gotta kill him back even though he wasn't technically doing the wrong thing. I believe females to be more understanding, especially with Itachi and her mother I thing she'd be capable of forgiving, and it has been six years.

The prologue is more like an epilogue to the first act, the story will explore Naruto's childhood and why he's become essentially a psychopathic killer who's really strong. He's basically taking the place of Itachi in Akatsuki except more Konoha friendly, cause the important people knows he's innocent, well, not really, but like he was just doing he's mission, he's not exactly innocent cause he did kill the Uchiha family.

About FuD, I'll be continuing that story, I'll probably be able to post something in a week or two, I have an idea but I've never had to expand on it. So let's pray I get to finish a chapter or two :)

Peace out

-Wiltheavatar

PS I need betas for both stories :) Anyone interested can PM me