Naruto: The Legend of Red Haired Shanks

Talking with Shanks made Zabuza realize something. His past as an executioner had put him on a certain path. 

Compared to Shanks' pure way of thinking, his mind was too complicated. 

"Shanks seeks freedom. But what about me?" 

Zabuza could feel himself improving, but it still wasn't enough. Being around Shanks made it even clearer—Shanks was already incredibly strong, yet he kept getting stronger every day. 

"What a terrifying guy. He's completely different from us ninjas." 

Of course, he was different. From the start, Shanks had been on a completely different path. Right now, he was still exploring and understanding his own body. 

As he trained in Armament Haki and swordsmanship, Shanks made a new discovery—his body's stamina and recovery speed were incredibly high. And he could actually feel the recovery happening. 

"People in the pirate world are naturally strong, but my body's recovery is on another level. Zan may not have learned about Haki yet, but with his strength, he'd be an early-game boss at the very least. Still, his physical toughness is nowhere near mine." 

Thinking about how the pirate world had changed over time, Shanks compared Zabuza's strength to the current level of fighters. 

"Zan seems even stronger than Smoker at this point." 

Over time, new abilities like advanced Haki and Devil Fruit awakenings would appear. But for now, in this early stage, Zabuza was definitely powerful in Shanks' eyes. 

And with how strong his own body was, that meant he was already quite powerful before any major power-ups came into play. 

Thinking about abilities related to his physical toughness, a theory popped into his head. 

"Could it be Life Return (Seimei Kikan)? My body control isn't as precise as Life Return, but my physical abilities have clearly improved in a similar way." 

Shanks thought about the abilities of Life Return, a technique in the One Piece world that allowed people to control their own bodies—including their size, internal organs, and muscle growth.

This kind of enhancement is sometimes uncontrollable. Just like how Luffy, in certain situations, can recover his injuries and stamina instantly by eating a large amount of food—that's also a form of Seimei Kikan. 

Basically, it strengthens digestion and boosts the body's recovery. 

"Now that I think about it, the strong fighters in the pirate world may not specifically train in Seimei Kikan, but as top warriors, they all have some level of this ability. 

Seimei Kikan just refines this natural skill, turning it from something passive into something that can be controlled actively." 

At this moment, Shanks finally understood what his problem was. 

"In the end, it's because I don't have full control over this body. I don't understand it well enough yet. 

Once I develop my body to a certain level, Armament Haki should come naturally." 

Shanks acted as soon as he had an idea. To explore his body, there was another method besides physical training— 

He could use his Observation Haki to scan his body. 

As Shanks unleashed his Observation Haki, Zabuza, on the other side, was startled awake. 

That chilling chakra sent shivers down Zabuza's spine, but when he realized it wasn't an enemy attack, he just sighed. 

"It's just Shanks again. What's he doing now? This looks like how sensory-type ninjas use chakra… but he's using so much of it. He'd get noticed before he even finds his enemy." 

Zabuza had no clue what Shanks was up to, but just to be safe, he stepped outside. 

Because of the overwhelming chakra radiating from Shanks, the energy outside his house had begun to distort. However, this chakra wasn't meant for attacking—it was being used to sense his own body and the environment around him. 

Seeing this, Zabuza felt like he had read about something similar in a forbidden book before, but he couldn't remember where. 

As his chakra perception grew stronger, Shanks started to notice things he had never realized before. 

"I knew it!!! 

No one teaches this stuff—how could a normal person possibly figure it out? Good thing I'm not normal." 

For the first time, Shanks felt like he had truly described himself correctly. 

"So, there's a power in nature similar to Haki. And Logia Devil Fruit users gain their powers from the elements of nature. That means only a force that also comes from nature can counter them. And that force is… Armament Haki!!" 

"Hahaha, I really am a genius! So this is how Armament Haki works! No wonder normal people wouldn't be able to discover it without a teacher." 

Shanks let out a small sigh. If he had his original body's memories, this wouldn't have been so difficult. 

Now, he started using his power to connect with this force that existed in nature. 

Outside, Zabuza suddenly felt a terrifying presence coming from Shanks' room. It made his hair stand on end, and the air seemed to thicken as if something powerful was gathering. 

Zabuza couldn't sense this force directly, but his instincts screamed at him. His body was giving him the biggest warning possible—run, or he would die. 

"Natural energy… Shanks…" 

At that moment, Zabuza finally remembered what this was. 

The legendary power of the sages. 

"Using the Uzumaki clan's massive chakra reserves to focus all chakra for sensing… connecting with the natural energy of the world?" 

For the first time in a long while, Zabuza was completely shocked. 

He stared at Shanks' house in disbelief. He couldn't see anything, but he knew that inside that room, a terrifying, forbidden force was gathering—enough to wipe out both him and Shanks. 

The power of Sage Mode. A legendary technique known to exist in only three sacred lands. 

Senjutsu chakra is formed by absorbing natural energy on top of one's physical and spiritual chakra. 

For ordinary ninjas, just sensing natural energy is impossible. 

And that was the truth—even Jiraiya and Naruto had needed to use toad oil to sense it.

Shanks, a complete outsider to all this, not only managed to learn sensory ninjutsu on his own but also treated it as if it were Observation Haki. 

At this moment, he took it a step further—using sensory ninjutsu and his massive chakra reserves to forcefully break past normal limits and sense natural energy. 

For someone like Zabuza, who had proper training, this was absolutely shocking. Breaking past human limitations with sheer willpower alone? 

Forget seeing it—he wouldn't have even dared to imagine such a thing. 

In that moment, the worldview Zabuza had barely started to build collapsed just as quickly. 

Not because of anything else, but simply because, as a normal person, he just couldn't accept something this absurd. 

Meanwhile, more than twenty kilometers upstream from where Zabuza and Shanks were, a toad leaped out of the river. 

"Ribbit!!" 

It had just started to croak when it suddenly stopped. 

A hand stretched out from the tiny toad's mouth. The scar-covered hand pressed against the ground, and a man slowly emerged from inside the toad's body. 

"Ribbit! Ribbit! Ribbit!" 

The toad let out a couple of dazed croaks before jumping back into the river. 

As the gecko-like camouflage faded, the man's appearance became clear. 

Having survived both the Second and Third Great Ninja Wars, he was one of the Legendary Sannin, the only ninja in the world currently known to have mastered Sage Mode—Toad Sage Jiraiya!