Naruto: The Legend of Red Haired Shanks

On a small peninsula at the edge of the Land of Water, Shanks sat by the shore, gazing out at the sea. 

It had been six months since he arrived in this world. In that time, he had grown from an ordinary man into someone strong enough to stand his ground in the second half of the Grand Line. 

"I really want to set sail… I wonder how strong I really am now. I should at least be able to escape from an Admiral, right?" 

Shanks had improved quickly, but he was well aware of his own limits.

To be honest, judging by Shanks' rate of improvement, his progress in just six months was terrifying—far greater than what Luffy achieved in two years of training. 

"No, no, this is way too risky. 

Just having a chance to escape from an Admiral doesn't mean anything. If I really ran into one, I could lose my life." 

"The most important thing in training is being able to endure loneliness." 

Shanks nodded to himself, reminding himself of this once again. 

For him, training wasn't boring at all. 

Every single day, he could see himself getting stronger. That feeling of progress, that sense of achievement, was like stacking up wins—it just kept getting better. 

The more effort he put in now, the greater the rewards later. 

With that thought, Shanks cleared his mind of distractions. Then, he leaped into the sea. 

Not long after, a dark shadow slowly rose from the ocean in the distance. 

When it fully surfaced, it became clear—it was a massive shark, over ten meters long. 

Boom! 

Shanks slammed the shark hard onto the ground. 

"The animals in this world really are huge. And so weird, too." 

He sighed. Who would've thought a regular-looking shark could actually spray water? 

And not just any small spurt—this thing could shoot out a massive water column straight from its mouth. 

"As expected of this world. I guess it's some kind of special fish species." 

While thinking about it, Shanks had already started a fire. 

Not long after Zabuza left, he had eaten all the fish in the lake. 

So now, he had no choice but to come to the sea every day to find food. 

Luckily, his Observation Haki was strong enough to detect movements deep in the ocean. 

He could even vaguely sense the sounds of the deep sea using his Conqueror's Haki. 

And deep in the ocean, Shanks could feel the presence of many gigantic creatures. 

Not that it was surprising—after all, how many animals in this world were actually normal? 

"My appetite seems to be getting bigger. Is it because I've gotten much stronger?" 

He wasn't sure why, but his food intake had increased nearly ten times compared to before. 

And in this world, the strongest people all had one thing in common—besides being powerful, they could eat like crazy. 

A bigger appetite was a sign of getting stronger. 

"Man, having too much talent isn't always a good thing. My strength is still growing, but no matter how much a human body improves, there has to be a limit, right?" 

"If only Armament Haki could improve as fast as my body." 

Shanks sighed. 

Training Armament Haki was much harder than he had expected, while his physical strength was skyrocketing. 

As he thought about it, he casually sliced off a piece of meat and popped it into his mouth. 

But at that moment, something clicked in his mind. 

He turned his gaze toward the sea. 

Over two kilometers away, Madara sat on a raft, sensing a strange force. 

"This isn't Chakra… So this is Observation Haki? Impressive." 

Madara didn't sense it through Chakra fluctuations—it was pure instinct, the kind that only strong warriors possessed. 

The moment Shanks used his Observation Haki to sense him, Madara instantly felt Shanks' vague gaze on him as well. 

Meanwhile, Shanks was even more curious.

An old man with a full head of white hair, looking like he was already at death's door, didn't seem like a threat at all. 

But someone bold enough to sit alone on a raft in the middle of the ocean couldn't possibly be just some frail old man. 

Even though the energy coming from Madara was weak, Shanks would never mistake him for an ordinary person. 

At the same time, he also noticed the samurai sword by Madara's side. 

No matter how he looked at it, that blade was far more refined than the mass-produced sword Shanks carried. 

"A swordsman?" 

Shanks wasn't wrong to say that. 

Madara really could be called a swordsman. 

Back in Warring States's era, most ninjas used weapons like this, so Madara had chosen to carry his old blade with him. 

The sword had no name. It wasn't some legendary blade— 

It was just the weapon he was used to carrying. 

To him, weapons didn't matter much. 

Still, he was curious to test Shanks' swordsmanship. 

"A power beyond Ninjutsu… and different from Kekkei Genkai. So this is Observation Haki?" 

Madara stood up, and the raft beneath him suddenly moved much faster. 

The energy around him began to rise layer by layer, and his right hand gripped the hilt of his sword. 

At that moment, Shanks also sensed the surge in Madara's aura from afar. 

Through his Observation Haki, he could see it— 

A massive white flame was rising from Madara's frail, hunched body, as if it were reaching for the sky. 

Behind Madara, half the sky seemed to be set ablaze. 

Of course, nothing was actually burning— 

That was just what Shanks' Haki showed him. 

"What a powerful presence… He's just one step away from breaking through." 

Shanks knew this feeling all too well—Conqueror's Haki. 

A power strong enough to affect the real world, even altering the weather itself. 

Madara was only a step away from fully awakening it— 

But even without that last step, his overwhelming aura was enough to make Shanks take him seriously. 

*Clang!* 

Shanks' hand rested on the hilt of his sword, and a wave of black and red Haki seeped from the scabbard. 

*Rumble!* 

Dark clouds gathered in the sky. A bolt of lightning streaked across. 

In that instant, Madara leapt forward. 

The wind howled past his ears, his long white hair scattering in the air. 

His thin, skeletal hand gripped the hilt of his sword tightly. 

Without any unnecessary words or movements, Madara lunged straight at Shanks. 

*Buzz!* 

Shanks didn't hold back. 

A burst of black-and-red Haki erupted from his scabbard, and a terrifying slash, dozens of meters long, cut through the air. 

For a brief moment, the raging waves below were completely silenced. 

And in midair, Madara's right hand—the one holding his sword—suddenly surged with an immense, terrifying power.

A massive blue blade, dozens of meters long, appeared, and behind it, a faintly visible giant blue right hand could be seen. 

Boom! 

A deafening clash erupted as black-red lightning and blue lightning exploded between the two. 

The sheer force of impact caused the ground around Shanks to sink by several centimeters, while Madara, who was mid-air, was sent flying backward. 

Crack. 

A bolt of lightning flashed as Shanks turned around, locking eyes with Madara, who stood on the cliff. 

Then, Shanks grinned. 

"I win, old man." 

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