In an Inn – 7:00 P.M.
Haruto lay on the comfortable bed, his crimson eyes staring blankly at the wooden ceiling above. The warmth of the sheets clung to him, but his mind was elsewhere.
Today, he had finally gathered intel on Uzushiogakure—the lost village of the Uzumaki clan. His own ancestral land... and Naruto's too. A place once rich in sealing arts and feared across the shinobi world, now nothing more than ruins whispered about in legend.
Tonight would be his last night here. Tomorrow, he would depart for his forgotten homeland.
With a soft exhale, Haruto sat up and stretched his legs. He slipped on his cloak, opened the door to his room, and descended the creaky wooden stairs to the inn's reception.
"Here," he said, handing over the room key.
He stepped out into the cool evening breeze, the sun already lost behind distant mountains. The streets were quiet. He had spent the past week blending in, gathering information, and working covertly with a mercenary killer who led a double life. It was through this dangerous connection that he had acquired a map to Uzushiogakure, hidden deep in the Land of Whirlpools.
The journey that followed was strangely uneventful. No rogue ninja, no bounty hunters, nothing unusual. Just the sound of leaves rustling as Haruto leapt tree to tree, swift and silent.
Until, at last, he saw it—Uzushiogakure.
The broken walls, collapsed buildings, and faded clan symbols welcomed him with silence. Time and violence had not been kind to this once-great village.
He moved cautiously toward the village center, scanning each ruined home with sharp eyes. Nothing unusual—until his gaze fell on a partially buried structure.
"Hmm? Looks like something's under there..." Haruto muttered.
He knelt beside a crumbled wall and gripped the edge, straining as he pulled it aside. With a heavy thud, the chunk of concrete landed behind him.
What lay beneath was haunting—a water-stained, torn drawing of a smiling young girl. In the background, behind a window, shadows of masked shinobi holding blades loomed. Haruto's breath caught.
"...My god. How could they do this to a child?" he whispered, clutching the fragile paper to his chest.
Determined, Haruto continued searching. Days passed. For three long days, he scoured the outskirts until he finally found it—an entrance hidden beneath rubble near the old village gates.
The house it belonged to was a wreck. The basement had collapsed, buried under layers of stone and ash. Haruto spent hours clearing the path. Once inside, he activated KCM mode to light the way.
And immediately regretted it.
A swarm of rats burst out of the shadows.
"AHHHH!!" he shrieked, stumbling back and smashing straight into a wall. Dust exploded around him as the already unstable structure collapsed further.
Coughing, Haruto peeked over the edge.
"Alright. You asked for it."
"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"
A massive ball of flame—easily three meters wide—engulfed the basement.
Somewhere in the flickering heat, he thought he heard a whisper: "KingSlayer."
"...Ugh. My past life gaming addiction is catching up with me..." Haruto muttered.
He reentered the smoky basement, cautiously stepping over the ashes. In the far corner, something glowed faintly—a green-lit room, its eerie glow cast by a charred rat's corpse nearby.
He clutched his nose and stepped toward the sealed door.
Strange writing covered its surface—ancient, almost alien.
"What the hell... Magasifuten? Blud ol telb?" he tried to sound it out, brushing dust from the inscription.
Suddenly, SNAP!
A tiny needle jabbed upward, piercing beneath his fingernail. Haruto winced, biting his lip to keep from screaming.
Then, silence.
The green door creaked open.
Haruto stepped inside. The darkness swallowed him whole. He moved slowly, eyes scanning.
CRACK!
The ground beneath him gave way. He plummeted into cold water with a splash, flailing before regaining footing in waist-high liquid.
And then... he saw it.
A deep crimson aura. Ominous. Alive. Hungry.
His blood froze. His legs refused to move. It was as if the water itself had turned to ice.
Suddenly, flames roared to life along the far wall, revealing a cathedral-like chamber. The red aura pulsed at the center, where a katana encased in glass stood. Multiple layers of seals wrapped it like cursed bandages.
Haruto forced himself to breathe.
"Okay... If I go in alone, I'm gonna die horribly. Seen enough horror movies to know that much."
He formed a seal.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu."
Two clones appeared.
"Really? You brought us into this haunted-ass place?" one muttered.
"You're ninjas, suck it up," Haruto shrugged.
Clone 1 tiptoed forward.
"Too slow," Clone 2 taunted.
"I dare you to go, then!" Clone 1 snapped back.
Without warning, Haruto shoved Clone 1 toward the katana.
"Red Death?" he read aloud, eyes wide.
"Yeah... that name fits way too well," Haruto mumbled, spine tingling.
"It has a description," Clone 2 said, as he appeared behind clone 1 and crouched to read.
"This katana was forged through the sacrifice of 31,657 souls," he said quietly. "Their abilities and hatred are now sealed within this blade."
"The katana is extremely dangerous and can distort the wielder's mind. Warning from the Uzumaki Clan Head: Do not unseal this blade."
Haruto's eyes narrowed.
"Is there any way to destroy it?"
Clone 2 shook his head. "No. There's no mention of that. Wait—"
He pointed to something behind the glass case.
"There's... another one."
A sudden surge of power shook the room.
Haruto turned. A second katana, nearly identical to Red Death, stood in another sealed case—this one glowing with golden patterns, trailing toward the blade's tip like flowing sunlight.
The air buzzed with opposing energy.
Clone 1 stepped forward nervously. "You read this one, Haruto."
"Me?! You do it!" he countered.
The clone sighed and approached.
"It says: This is the twin blade, forged by the same blacksmith. While Red Death became infamous for bloodshed, this sword was created to purify its evil."
"Red Death was once sealed using this sword."
"This blade is called...Ra—"
Hahaha! Put you guys on katana name cliff hanger
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So guys questions, would you like alive members of akatsuki even Itachi except Tobi help haruto in the fourth war?