Naruto:A New Path

Terror Of The Red Death

Shikamaru was a pretty laid back person, sometimes misunderstood as lazy, he believed. For some time now he had been walking around the desert with his team, looking for any sort of sign of their target. By now he had come to a conclusion, he hated sand. It got into very uncomfortable places and walking on it was a pain in the ass. He couldn't wait to get back to the Leaf and watch the clouds from his favorite spot at his home, a wooden porch on his backyard.
A sigh escaped his lips, thinking about his home just made him hate the sand even more. The sediment kept him from going home and each step he took made him miss home even more. He glanced around at his group and suppressed a groan. Naruto was walking ahead of them with clones miles away from them as scouts, Gaara walked behind the blond Chunin with his arms closed, while Sasuke was as far away from the group as possible. Not the most stable team and he was sure that it would cause problems on the future, it was certain.
"Nothing," Naruto sighed out, gaining the memories from the clones he used as scouts, breaking the silence amongst the group..
"The desert around the village is too vast," Gaara began, his voice emotionless, "Even with your clones, it will take at least a week to cover it."
Shikamaru groaned, rolling his eyes in annoyance. "Let's just go to that small village the council was talking about," he suggested, "If he attacks there we'll be able to ambush him and finish this pain in the ass mission."
Gaara shook his head. "That wouldn't be wise," he responded, "The council is not to be trusted."
"Why's that?" Naruto asked in confusion, having no idea of how things worked on the Sand village or councils for that matter. Back in the Leaf, everything was left to the Hokage with the council only intervening on the most important matters.
"They do not trust the Leaf," Gaara began, his gaze on the Leaf team, "I was to kill you if the situation arose and I'm sure that they hid things from us. Ever since the Kazekage was killed the council took over and became corrupt with power."
Shikamaru sighed and crossed his arms, trying to think of some kind of plan. In retrospect, walking around the desert looking for their target wasn't the brightest idea since they could be walking into a trap for all they knew. If they were to take down someone who was surely stronger than them then they would need to outsmart him.
"We should head to that village," Shikamaru concluded with a serious look on his face, "Even if the council is not to be trusted, we still might find something there. We'll send some clones first to make sure it's safe."
Naruto nodded at Shikamaru and made four clones, having three of them henge like his team. "Go to the village marked here," he instructed, giving them a scroll, "Make sure that it's safe and dispel as soon as you're done."
The clone henged like Gaara scoffed, crossing its arms. "Why should we go?" it complained with a frown, "It sounds like you're just too lazy to go."
"Just go already!" Naruto snapped in anger.
"Shut up! You're not the boss of me!" the clone yelled back.
Shikamaru watched the two argue with a tired expression on his face. He really had no idea how or why Naruto's clones had personalities but it was always troublesome to have them argue.
"Then don't go! I'm sure some other clone could do it a lot faster!" Naruto yelled at the clone.
"Then I'll go! I'll finish looking around to show what an idiot you are," the clone said before leaving with its counterparts.
Naruto chuckled. "I knew I'd get them to go," he boasted with a proud smile, "Those clones are really stupid."
"You know, they're exact copies of you so if they're stupid then you're stupid too," Shikamaru pointed out, inwardly smirking at Naruto's shocked look.
"W-wait, that's not what I meant," Naruto urged with a panicked expression.
Sasuke watched the exchange with a frown on his face. He didn't understand how they could be so relaxed in the middle of a mission but it angered him. They could be using this time to grow stronger but instead, they fooled around like little kids. This just showed him that ranks didn't matter, when it came to power he was the best. After all he was an Uchiha, and the other two were beneath him since they couldn't compare to the might of his clan.
"Hn," Sasuke scoffed with a smirk, "I won't allow those weaklings to go unpunished for what they did to me. I'll put them in their place soon enough."
Kakashi stood in front of the memorial stone, staring blankly at the names carved into it. So many lives had been lost and most of them were of shinobi that didn't exceed the age of thirty. He had made a habit of visiting once in a while since the people he held dear had their names carved on the stone. His sensei, his two teammates and many comrades he had grown close to over the years.
The reason of his visit this time was that he was having trouble with his team. Visiting the memorial stone always gave him peace, something he could use to sort his thoughts. As of now his team was falling apart, what once held them close now pushed them away from each other. Naruto and Sasuke's rivalry had been the thing to hold the team together, both of them working hard not to be left behind by the other made them grow a sort of friendship. Sakura got to spend more time with Sasuke and in turn was a little nicer to Naruto.
Meeting Itachi again, had made Sasuke question everything. Kakashi had noticed that, during the time before meeting Itachi, Sasuke had been slowly forgetting his drive for revenge. But as things turned out, Sasuke was now jealous of Naruto's progress and had become more secluded. Since the Uchiha had been the reason why Sakura met with the team, she now used her free time to look for her crush.
Naruto on the other hand, had been unable to accompany them to D-rank missions and team training. Kakashi knew that being a Chunin didn't give much free time but it was still possible to meet with your old teammates, instead the blond Chunin chose to spend his free time training or with Team Ten. Each of his students were walking very different paths and would eventually forget what brought them together.
Kakashi sighed, looking at the names of his lost comrades. "What would you have done, Sensei?" he muttered with his eye downcast. He was the Jonin instructor of Team Seven and he could do nothing as his team drifted apart. He only hoped that Naruto's mission with Sasuke would clear things between the two.
A mercenary stood before the Suna council, his head bowed showing the sword strapped to his back. He had long black hair, a goatee, deep black eyes and wore garments similar to that of a samurai.
"It's an honor to be of service to an actual Hidden Village," the mercenary spoke in a deep voice.
"It's not usual for a Hidden Village to ask for a mercenary's help but, regrettably, our village is in that situation," a councilman began, with the other members of the council nodding their heads in agreement, "We have asked for you since we know that you specialize in assassination."
"That is true," the mercenary replied with no sign of pride in his voice.
"Not long ago we sent out a group of ninja to take care of the Red Death," a councilwoman informed in a strict voice, "We can't trust the ninja sent on this mission since it's made up of three Leaf ninja and a very unstable Sand jinchuuriki."
"A jinchuuriki?" the mercenary looked at the council in shock.
"Yes, he's the holder of the Shukaku," the councilmen said, smirking at the shocked reaction of the mercenary, "You are to make sure they kill the Red Death and if the Leaf ninja learn too much of our village, then you are to kill them."
"Am I supposed to kill the jinchuuriki also?" the mercenary asked blankly.
The councilwomen shook her head. "While we don't doubt your abilities, it wouldn't be good if the jinchuuriki died. If that happened then we would have to seal the Shukaku once more when it resurrects a few years later," the women said with a hint of disappointment in her voice, "But if, for any reason, he is to aid the Leaf ninja then you have permission to kill it."
The mercenary broke into a smirk, ambition burning on his eyes. "Killing a jinchuuriki…" the man began in a pleased voice, "That's just the thing I need for my record. I'll make sure to take care of things."
One of the members of the council watched them with narrowed eyes. She couldn't believe just how corrupted the council was, they would kill the Leaf ninja and claim that they had died in action. Though she was hesitant for relations with Konoha, due to her hatred for the White Fang, she knew that it would be the best for the people of Sand. Hopefully the Leaf ninja would leave unscratched though she knew that they were going against the odds, since whenever you set foot on another village you were technically gaining too much knowledge of it.
Naruto sat on a boulder with his arms crossed, his sleeves were rolled up and his Chunin vest was safely on a scroll he had set on his right pocket. The heat of the desert was unbearable at the moment and it didn't help that he wore dark blue pants and a black long-sleeve shirt. He would make sure to buy some new clothes for the mission since he wouldn't be able to fight in such heat.
Shikamaru stood on the scorching sand, watching the small village on the distance. The council wasn't kidding when they told them that it was small, the small village's buildings could probably be counted but he really didn't feel like counting since it would take effort. Like Naruto, he had taken off his vest and put it away on a scroll. It would also help since no enemy ninja would know of their rank and probably think of them as Genin, meaning that they would have the element of surprise.
Sasuke stood a little away from the group, leaning against a large boulder. From the looks of things the plain desert ended soon. He kept throwing glances at Gaara, not really trusting the Sand shinobi. He wished that Gaara would attack since this time he would be able to put an end to him and show that he was more powerful than Naruto.
Naruto suddenly stiffened before breaking into a grin, earning confused looks from his two teammates and a glance from Gaara. "The village is safe, there's no sign of any ninja," he informed with a grin, getting up from the rock and turning to his teammates, "They did find some bandits but none of them looked strong. It's a little strange though, they didn't find any signs of civilians. Then again, they could just be trying to avoid the bandits."
Shikamaru sighed in relief, happy to avoid a fight. "That's good news, we'll look for an inn when we get there and maybe find out why everyone is hiding," he instructed as he began to walk towards the village. The team followed after him at steady paces, "After that we'll split up and get information on our target, someone there has to know something if he really attacks the place frequently."
"We should also hide our headbands," Gaara suggested in a calm voice, "We dont't want to attract attention to ourselves."
Naruto nodded with a grin. "Good idea," he praised as he took of his headband, with his teammates doing the same. He took out a scroll from his left pocket and place the headband there, sometimes he just loved scrolls.
Shikamaru put away his headband and gave a loud sighed, the village getting closer and closer. "Might as well end this already," he groaned with his hands in his pockets, "What a pain in the ass."
Naruto chuckled at his friend's antics but froze when he heard the sound of burning paper. He turned to his left to see an exploding tag burning on the sand. Making a clone, he had it run at the explosive as he jumped away from the area.
"Scatter!" he exclaimed, his team immediately jumping away from the area. The clone picked up the explosive, wrapped it around a kunai and hurled it away from the group.
The explosive tag exploded, taking the clone with it in a large cloud of smoke. Sand picked up in the area, forcing the Leaf ninja to shield their eyes while Gaara looked around for any sign of an enemy. Seeing the outline of a person on the smoke, he shot a stream of sand at it. His eyes widened when the outline disappeared before reappearing from above.
"He's right on top of us," Gaara stated in a calm voice that betrayed how he really felt.
Naruto turned to Gaara, still shielding his eyes from the sand. "Take him down when I clear the sand," he instructed as he closed his eyes and faced away from the group, running through hand signs, "Wind Style: Devastation!"
A powerful gust of wind came out of Naruto's mouth, effectively getting rid of the sand around the area. Gaara watched a hooded man descending upon them, a scythe with a red blade on his hands, before shooting a large steam of sand. The man saw this coming and spun in the air, dodging the blow but didn't expect the stream of sand to turn into a giant hand. The hooded man could do nothing as the large hand made of sand took hold of his leg before slamming him to the ground, kicking up a small cloud of dust.
"Is he dead?" Sasuke asked with a frown on his face.
The hooded man jumped away from the cloud of dust and landed on the ground with ease, clearly not affected by the last attack. "I'm sorry to say that I'm not," the man taunted, twirling his scythe on his right hand, "Are you upset that I'm still alive?"
Sasuke smirked. "Not at all!" he yelled before charging at the man, running through hand signs, "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"
A large ball of fire shot out of Sasuke's mouth, shooting directly at the man. The hooded ninja jumped away from the ball of fire and swung his scythe on the air. The Uchiha's eyes widened when he saw water come out of the scythe and shoot directly at him. Activating his sharingan, Sasuke rolled away from the shot of water and jumped away from the man.
The man landed on the sand before stabbing his scythe into the ground. "I have to admit that you're better than most trash around here," he began, crossing his arms, "But I'm still taking it easy on you. I could kill you in less than a second but you have me intrigued."
Naruto frowned, Shikamaru moving next to him while Gaara stood a little away from them with his sand floating around him. "I take it you're the 'Red Death' everyone is talking about?" the blond Chunin voiced.
"You are correct," Red Death cheered as he took his scythe on his hands once more, "I have no idea where you're from but I can tell you guys are way too strong for your age."
Sasuke scoffed. "We are ninja from Konoha, the village that houses the Uchiha clan," he boasted, "It's obvious that we'd be stronger that trash from other villages."
Naruto gritted his teeth, Sasuke had just given away valuable information. The man now knew what to look out for and by the smirk on the man's face, he had probably encountered some Leaf ninja in the past.
"The Leaf," Red Death chuckled, "This is just too good, I've been waiting years to get my revenge on that cowardly village and now I get my chance. I'll start my slaughter of the Leaf with you weaklings."
The man stabbed his scythe into the ground once more but this time created a powerful explosion that kicked up a cloud of sand, blocking their view once again. Naruto ran through hand signs but his body suddenly stopped moving. His heartbeat rose as he tried to move his body but found that it wouldn't even budge. His eyes turned to his team and saw that they were in the same position.
"How would you like to die?" Red Death's voice echoed through the sand covering his vision.
Naruto gritted his teeth as he tried to move, it felt as if his body was completely numb with an incredible amount of weight pushing him from all sides. His body trembled under the strain, he could see his friend struggling also with desperation on their faces. He had to find something or they would die.
The blond Chunin's eyes widened when the man appeared before him, his scythe on his hands. Red Death pulled back his hood to reveal crimson red hair under it, a gas-mask covering half of his face, brown eyes piercing his own and a headband with the Whirlpool symbol worn proudly on his forehead.
"This is your end… Konoha shinobi," Red Death announced as he raised his scythe. Naruto watched as the scythe came down, heading directly for his face.
Shikamaru and Sasuke watched with wide-eyes as the scythe approached their teammates face. The shadow user tried to move against the hold but found himself unable to do anything but watch. The Uchiha also fought against the hold on his body, as annoying as it was he had promised himself that he wouldn't watch another comrade die.
Red chakra swirled around Naruto as he desperately tried to move but to no avail. Red Death smirked under his mask but was suddenly knocked aside by a powerful stream of sand. The man growled as he landed hard against the sand before rolling to his left, dodging another steam of sand.
Red Death jumped high in the air and narrowed his eyes as the sand covering his foes gathered in the air and created a large orb of sand. He swung his scythe once more, this time shooting a powerful gust of wind. The wind impacted against the orb of sand, breaking off large part of it. The rest of the orb suddenly shot at him, before turning into many spikes of sand.
The ninja snarled as he pointed his scythe at the spikes of sand. Chakra poured out of the scythe and formed a kind of barrier in front of the man. The spikes of sand crashed against the barrier with loud impact noises, but couldn't manage to break through it.
Meanwhile the team of ninjas found themselves able to move once more, their bodies covered in sand, much to the annoyance of Shikamaru. Sasuke fell to his knees, gasping for breath. Whatever had been holding him had been crushing his whole body. Shikamaru took deep breaths, trying to compose himself, while Naruto walked over to Gaara with a tired expression on his face. Gaara remained emotionless though he was clearly exhausted over controlling sand under such a strong hold.
"Gaara…" Naruto addressed through pants, "This guy is too strong, we have to retreat for now. We'll come up with a plan later. When I say 'Do it' stop your attack and follow me, the others will follow too."
Gaara nodded as Naruto ran through hand signs, pouring most of his chakra into the attack. Shikamaru watched the blond Chunin with a frown on his face, by the looks of things he wanted to retreat the fight. This was okay with him since none of them expected to encounter their target so early.
"Do it!" Naruto exclaimed. Gaara stopped his attack, Red Death instantly charging at the group with his scythe raised high, "Wind Style: Devastations!"
Naruto shot a violent air at the ninja, carrying most of his chakra. Red Death was instantly pushed away, sand covering his whole vision. The wind didn't let up, creating a powerful sandstorm that pushed against him. He growled, those kids were annoying. He hadn't expected one of them to control sand like that and had let his guard down around them.
The wind continued to push against him for a few seconds before it finally stopped. Red Death growled, trying to see his foes through the sand around him. He jumped away from the sand, looking for any sign of his next victims.
"Dammit," Red Death growled, there was no sign of the group of ninja anywhere. They had used the attack as a distraction to escape. He was no tracker ninja so he wouldn't be able to follow a trial in the desert. He snarled, they had managed to get away but he wouldn't let it happen again. The man's eyes lit with glee, the ninja were after him meaning that it wouldn't be their last meeting, "We'll meet again Leaf ninja, and when we do I'll make sure to kill you."
Naruto panted as he sat on the sand of the desert, his team sitting near him with exhausted expressions on their faces. They had poured every last bit of chakra into their legs and managed to put a few miles between themselves and Red Death. Though Sasuke had been reluctant to leave at first, they had managed to make him follow.
"What the hell was that about?" Shikamaru snapped in disbelief, "How was he able to leave us in this state so easily?'
"I don't know but we underestimated how strong he really was," Naruto growled in anger, "He had us at his will in less than a minute. But we can't just let him run around, we still have to finish this mission."
Shikamaru nodded with a serious look on his face. "It's no wonder how he killed so many Genin," he stated as he rested against the sand, "We have to find out how he kept us from moving."
"If I had been able to move then we would've been able to kill him," Sasuke muttered with a look of anger on his face.
Naruto didn't respond, he turned to Gaara with a grin on his face. "Thanks for saving us back there," he thanked in a light tone, "You really did a number on that guy."
"It was no problem, after all, I did it to protect a friend," Gaara said in a calm voice.
"Right," Naruto agreed with a grin on his face. He turned to Shikamaru, "I guess we shouldn't go to that village just yet, Red Death was waiting for us there."
Shikamaru nodded. "It seems as if he doesn't want us in that village, he's probably hiding something there. Let's go back to the Sand village for now, maybe they'll give us some kind of back up. This guy is too strong for us to take down alone," he announced as he stood up, "Let's set out now, we can't risk running into that guy again."
"Let's go then," Naruto said as he began to walk back to the Sand village, his team following behind him.
His cheerful attitude covered how he really felt. Naruto was completely thrown off by the strength and intelligence he possessed. They couldn't overpower him or, much less, outsmart him so that would leave them to use teamwork to take him down. Looking back at the fight, the man had seen through all of their attacks and distracted them with words, he got all of them to attack independently and they couldn't let that happen again. He had failed to look underneath the underneath but promised himself that it wouldn't happen again.
The mercenary watched the team of ninja trail back to the Sand village, defeated. Earlier, he had seen their fight against Red Death. From the looks of things the masked ninja would prove to be a powerful foe. During the fight he had thought of intervening but decided against it, he knew that he would kill the Leaf ninja in the end so why stop the inevitable.
The man watched the team with a smirk on his face. Things were looking good for him, he would have the head of a jinchuuriki and the Red Death. Having these claims under his name would make his name fearsome and in turn give him better clients.
"What a great day to be me," the mercenary muttered in glee. As he walked towards the Sand village, knowing that he had to keep an eye on his targets.