Reiko, the Shadow Fox
Disclaimer:
Naruto is a product of Masashi Kishimoto, so I don't own him.
Legend: "": quote, "italic": thought, "Bold": Kyuubi,
italic: new Japanese word (check glossary), underline:
techniques.
Chapter 2: A new believer, a new hope
As the sun rose from the horizon Naruto was sleeping like a baby. He hadn't slept so good in a while, he did not know why, maybe it was the feeling of being close to people like him that gave this peaceful slumber. Well by the time the solar flares reached the blond shinobi's eyes it was already 11AM. When he woke up, he was up for a surprise.
In fact, he woke up he flipped out. Kyuubi had forgot to warn him of an intruder that was standing in front of him. He quickly pulled his ninjato and sets himself in a defensive position.
"Who are you and what are you doing here?" he asked the man.
"Hi, I see woke up, me I am a simple wanderer. I was passing near this village when I heard that one of the legendary seven swordsman of Mist village was buried here so I came to pay my respect and who might you be?" said the man.
Naruto looked at the man carefully, while cursing Kyuubi for not keeping him on guard. The man was old, around his late 40s. He had a civilian outfit however he carried a sword. Naruto figured must be a samurai of some sort.
"I guess I must give you a better introduction, to have your name then nukenin. I am Arai Shakkuu, a sword smith; actually I am the creator of that sword you see on Zabuza's grave kubikiri houcho, along with the 6 other blades of the 7 Mist swordsmen. As you can guess I am from Kirigakure. You do not need to fear me, I have no quarrel with you, and I would just like to know your relations to Momochi Zabuza. Last time I checked he did not have any contacts with Konoha", said the man politely.
"I am no name, it's not that I don't want to give you my name, it's because I have given up that name and I haven't found a new one yet. I was one of the last ones who Zabuza fought before he died. Although we were enemies at first, we became friends in the end", said Naruto keeping his ninjato pointed at the swords smith.
"Ah I see, very well, I wonder what you did to end up a nukenin. By the way, you should put that ninjato back at its sheath; you do not know how to wield it. Do not worry; I have worked for many nukenins, so you are in no danger. I have been here for two hours now; if I wanted your death I would have done it way earlier. Can I sit beside you?" asked Arai.
Naruto knew the man got to the point, he must have been very skilled to know that he was unskilled and besides, he would have been dead two hours ago, if Shakkuu wanted to. The man sat besides him, he looked at the boy, determining his age not to be more then 14.
"Now, tell me why have you left your village? You seem to be 13 to 14. That's a very young age to become a criminal. By the looks of it, it seems you have no idea what to do or how to process in the underworld of shinobis either", asked Shakkuu.
"I have left, my village because everyone hated me. They wanted my death and even when I did nothing wrong they would blame me. So I decided that I did not need such village. I was on a mission of rescuing my best friend who also betrayed me, some villagers tried to kill me during the mission, but I got lucky and killed them instead. I fled afterwards knowing that none would believe me. I came here because I wanted to think about what I wanted to do now. You are right, I am lost, I just wish to find a way to survive", said Naruto.
"A sad story indeed… I guess people are the same wherever you go; they always take on the defenseless. Tell you what, why don't you come with me? My workshop is in a few villages away from here. You can stay there while you make your decisions. I can also teach you how to wield a sword. If you want you can even learn sword making from me, it will give you an optional job", said the man.
"Why would you help me? I have nothing to give? Are you interested on the scroll on my back?" asked the boy.
"Nah, I am not a shinobi, I don't use spells, especially not from Fire country. I want to help you, because I want to help you. You have chosen a rough path, the world of nukenin is a world of death and endless fighting, always being hunted, I will help you prepare for it. I want to help you because, I know you are not a bad person, I hate when people like you must become missing-nins because society cannot accept for who you are. I guess it is my way of looking for redemption for all the swords I make that end so many lives. I'll even make a special sword for you", smiled Shakkuu.
"You will make me a sword? But I have no money? Besides why would I need a sword when I have this ninjato?" asked the confused blond boy.
"That weapon is no good, if you face one of the swords I made, they will be torn in too. Besides, wouldn't you want to have a Muramasa, specially made by the great Muramasa Arai Shakkuu? It will make you quiet popular. You can work for me in my shop till you can pay for it I guess. I warn you though, I am a though trainer. Come along, let us reach home, your outfit is too suspicious. Wouldn't want to face a hunter-nin on our way now would we?" said Shakkuu as he began to walk towards his home.
Naruto joined in, after all what did he have to lose, this man was offering him a place to live and will teach him how to wield a sword and give him insights about the underworld which is now his new home. It was his lucky day, he guessed, as he ran towards the man.
"Hey wait up, can I have a request for the dimension of the sword? I don't want one of those big swords that Zabuza-san carries. By the way, what kind of sword techniques can you teach me?" asked the excited boy.
"Don't worry, I have a perfect sword in mind for you, you will love it when you see it, it's not ready yet though… As for what I will teach you, let's see almost all the different styles of sword combats I know and water spells, I guess…" said the man.
"Wait? That means you are a shinobi? So are you a nukenin also?" questioned the boy.
"Nope, you see unlike you I was brilliant, I knew that I had become a ninja, I would be forced to follow their harsh world of obedience. So I intentionally failed my academy exams. That way I would not have to be controlled and since I could learn the spells from my friends later or get them to steal me some scrolls for services, I learned water jutsus on my own", laughed Shakkuu.
"Damn, you are right, why didn't I think of that when I was young… Oh yeah now I remember I wanted to get acknowledged by the village and become Hokage. I guess that dream is over now…" said the sad Naruto.
"Yeah, I guess that is surely over, I haven't heard a nukenin ever becoming Hokage or any kage for that matter. But don't you worry, you can still get acknowledged though it will be a harder terrain, but you sound promising to me", said the man as he rubbed the boys head to calm his sorrow.
It took them a day to reach Arai's current resident. He had moved to Wave country about 15 years ago. He was renown for his swords so he had a lot of customer and a lot were missing-nins, so he moved in this small village so he could keep doing his usual business. He used to make swords for active shinobis also, so visit from them was not uncommon either. Naruto had finally figured a name for himself with the help of Kyuubi. Since he was now a bad boy they decided that Reiko would suit him fine, named after the dark fox spirits.
Shakkuu was right about his training being hard. The man applied the rough training methods of the Mist village. Early morning sword fighting, learning the art of sword making during daybreak followed by taijutsu training at the evening and to finish up ninjutsu training at night. The first month was painful for Reiko, but he soon adjusted to the ways of his master. The man might have been in his late forties but he had the endurance of a man 15 year younger then himself. The blond boy also began to master the jutsus that were in the scroll of the forbidden seals along with learning water jutsus from his new master.
The forbidden seals jutsus were harder to master however, as the boy soon found out that the skills were called to cover-up their true values. The scroll contained all the jutsus used by the Forth Hokage and all though some were forbidden most were simply high leveled and very tough to master without increasing the users natural speed. For that reason, the first month was mostly spent on increasing the young boys speed by traditional methods. This meant weights and if Kakashi thought that Gai was harsh on Lee, he would say that Shakkuu was the god of pain. Not only did he force the boy to carry weights during all times even his sleep, he would constantly attack the boy during all ours of the day.
Shakkuu called it, building the nukenin instinct. Unlike a normal shinobi a nukenin fights at every second of his life. Shakkuu soon found out about Kyuubi also, by the middle of the month he had realized the boys extreme endurance and Reiko now fully trusting his new sensei, spilled it out. To the poor boys horror his sensei increased the rate of his random attacks. Note his random attacks included even throwing red-hot irons.
By the end of the month, Reiko's new sword was complete also. Like Shakkuu told him, he was not displeased of his new sword. It was a 150 cm or 59 inch Muramasa sword. Its blade had been made out of titanium mixed with diamond, making the blade unbreakable and yet extremely sharp. After learning about Kyuubi, Shakkuu added some new elements to the blade, which included ability to be used with Kyuubi chikara, at which case the blade would be covered with a bloody red aura. With this addition the sword could now cut trough the wind, as Kyuubi chikara would form its own wind. The Muramasa was now truly Muramasa Arai Shakkuu's greatest creation. It was given the name mikazuki kaze setsudanki muramasa, which translated as crescent moon wind cutter muramasa. It was called crescent moon because unlike all other blade, this one reflected the white moonlight of the moon, making it glow in the dark.
Now the sword was great but the user still had a lot to learn, this sword was much heavier then his previous ninjato and it was much longer. It would take Reiko two years to master the sword.
A few months had passed already, when the missing shinobi all most came face to face with Anko from Konoha. Luckily he had mastered kage bunshin and had created his own version called eizou, which used his clones but in a much advanced and chikara efficient way along making them much more dangerous. He managed to slip away with the help of his eizou, as the snake mistress came to visit Shakkuu for a new sword. By now Reiko had learned how to mask his chikara fully thanks to Kyuubi, so Anko did not suspect his presence.
Arai Shakkuu knew that the boy would like to retrieve some information about the current situation of the village and if he's plan had worked or not, so he began to ask about the current conditions of the village.
"How is the Hokage now? I heard Godaime is the legendary Hime Tsunade of slugs", asked the old man.
"She is doing a great job as a Hokage in politics and foreign affairs, inside the village is a different matter. She is having hard time coping with the death of Uzumaki Naruto. His loss has caused her great grief. She considered the demon fox boy as her own little brother. She is emotionally unstable and highly unsocial to the villagers. She abandoned her role as the chief medical officer of the village. She is constantly working at her office now and almost never gets out. She even ignores her own students. She believes that it was because of her that he is death. She has become very strict, in her job", informed the snake mistress.
"Ah, I see. Who is this Uzumaki Naruto anyway?" asked Shakkuu showing concerns.
"Uzumaki Naruto was the container of Kyuubi the demon fox that had attacked the village 14 years ago. Although Yondaime Hokage had wanted him to be considered as the hero, the villagers took him as the demon and kept trying to find ways to dispose of him. The villagers had tormented the boy for the last 13 years, till they finally succeeded killing him 6 months ago", replied Anko.
"Ah I see, he must have been a very precious person to her", said Shakkuu.
"He is, what the villagers did not know was that Uzumaki Naruto was the main reason Tsunade-sama returned to Konoha. Both Jiraya-sama and Tsunade-sama consider the boy as their own kin. With his loss, Jiraya-sama also resigned his position in the village and has exiled himself from the village. With him gone, Tsunade-sama lost even more hope", replied Anko.
"How has this boy died?" asked Shakkuu.
"The boy was sent to rescue his best friend, Uchiha Sasuke, the last of the Uchiha, who betrayed Konoha and gone to Orochimaru for power. According to the suicide note left behind his murderers, they found the boy bleeding to death due to the Uchiha and ended his life by burning him alive with two of their own men, then the last ANBU look his own life", replied Anko sadly.
"I guess they were considered as heroes then…" laughed the old man.
"That's what started the problem. The villagers took the 3 ANBU as heroes and wished to add their name in the memorial while voting to not put Naruto's name in it. That threw the Hokage in a temper tantrum, she not only rejected their proposal but declared that anyone who would dare spell the name of the 3 ANBU would face immediate execution from her own hands. Ever since that they, her relation with the villagers mainly the Hyuuga clan and supporters of the Uchiha clans has been unfriendly", replied Anko.
"This looks like another repeat of the Mist village's case", said the old man.
"Not really, the Hokage-sama is not blind. She simply ignores any calls from the Hyuuga adults as well as any supporter of the traitor. The biggest problem is that the situation has affected Naruto's teammates and friends, greatly. They had great hopes, many of them now resent the villagers and this is not good for the future", sighed the snake mistress.
"I guess that's a good sign. This means there is still hope for these people after all. Refusing to accept their parents beliefs will make sure that future orphans are not mistreated", smiled the old man.
"I guess you are right about that, personally I feel guilty at the loss of the boy also. If I could have managed to kill Orochimaru-sama then Sasuke would not run to him for power and Naruto would not have to leave on a mission unguarded. That man must die, now only has he taken away our Hokage, he also took out two of our bright hopefuls, for this I need that sword, Muramasa-sama. I need something that can take the blows from his Kusanagi", pleaded Anko.
"There is a sword that can over power it, but it has been given to one of his bitter enemies already. However, I will make one that will allow you to be on par with that sword. Come see me in two months", smiled Shakkuu.
"Ah? May we know who this enemy is? We are still looking for allies to fight against him", asked Anko.
"He won't ally with you, he is a nukenin, but when he does finds the snake man, he told he that he will personally chop him to bits", said the sword smith with a grin.
Anko thanked for the service in advanced and promised to come and collect her sword in two months. After she left, the blond shinobi got out of his hideout. He heard all he wanted to know.
"It seems your fake-death worked perfectly. They consider you dead now, however it seems your loss has caused them great trouble, greater then they ever imagined. Although, I see that if you had changed your decision it would have not mattered much either. You shouldn't blame your self for the current state of the two Sannin. By running away, you have prevented an uprising. If you wish to fix this matter, I suggest you start getting stronger. You have a snake to hunt", said swords smith.
"How can I hunt that snake as a nukenin? I would need an army to take him out", replied Reiko quietly, lost in his thought.
"Nope, you will have a better chance of hunting him, via the underground, but to do so, you must first master your skills. At your current rate, I think two year should be sufficient for you to master all those jutsus you have as well as mastering the muramasa Then lets say two more years to work your way to the high-positions in the underground. Then you can start slicing the snake", smiled Shakkuu.
"Isn't that a bit to long?" asked the boy.
"Not really, I never said you couldn't do missions, I just said you can't take assassination missions till the next 2 years because that's were you will get most recognition. I am sure within a year you can start doing small dirty jobs such as stealing scrolls and stuff, unless you can learn even faster. It seems if you wish to play the invisible justice, you better avoid missions in Konoha", said the sword smith as he started making a new sword.
"Yeah, it seems so, can't kill people that supported me now can we?" thought Naruto. Pupil and master began to make the new sword as they performed the art of sword making.
End of Chapter 2
Please review the chapter and tell me how you liked it. Next chapter is the first encounter with Akatsuki. Itachi has a daunting mission for Reiko, as the payment is very rewarding.
Daniel: Erm
althought the plot looks like "Never Cut Twice" from
shadowmaster62. It's not the same, I already e-mailed him once. Don't
worry we'll be both making our story diffrently . The reason for
leaving that part of the scroll is to prove that it was burned with
them. Konoha already knew who stole it.
Meep: Thanks meep even if my best firend always says that i won't believe it till Kishimoto hires me.(please please do)
Licth: Reiko is the name given to ghost fox spirites so that's why he
took that name.As for the paring at the moment it looks like
NaruTemari, the reason is I need a wild girl for Naruto here and Temari
seems to be wild enough to follow him to the world of nukenin. Besides I am sure we are all fed up with the usual NarutoHina (to much), and NaruSaku(okay but dosn't fit this context).
Glossary
kubikiri houcho: Head chopping cleaver. Zabuza's big bad sword.
Kusanagi no tsurugi: Orochimaru's legendary snake sword.
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
Eizou style / Silhouette style: A ninjutsu style developed by Uzumaki Naruto based on the Kage bunshin. However, the Eizou style is more advanced as it uses holograms and shadow clones mixed with some of the Suisou techniques he sore Haku perform. It's a technique style where the user sheds one or more reflections of himself in his own place and movements, these reflections then act the exact way the user acts and performs the move. They are used in many ways, making the style one of the most feared in shinobi land. User: Muramasa Reiko.
Kage bunshin / Shadow clone: A ninjutsu where the user creates shadow clones of himself. User: Reiko, Itachi, Kakashi and Orochimaru.
