Naruto: The Legend of Red Haired Shanks

When Zabuza woke up again, the sky was already bright. 

Dragging his exhausted body, he followed the scent of grilled fish for what felt like half a day before finally reaching the lakeside. 

From a distance, he saw Shanks waving at him. 

At that moment, Zabuza felt himself relax. 

His cold expression softened, just a little.

"Oh, Zan, you're back!" 

Shanks waved at Zabuza with his usual harmless smile. 

Zabuza sat down next to Shanks without hesitation and grabbed a grilled fish, stuffing it into his mouth. 

"I'm starving. How long was I gone?" 

Zabuza asked, unsure of how long he had been asleep. What surprised him more was that Shanks hadn't come looking for him. 

"It's been three days. I thought you left for something important." 

Shanks scratched his head awkwardly. 

That morning, he had woken up to find himself alone. But since he had messed up his training and was in bad shape, he couldn't leave. He had no choice but to wait until he recovered. 

He hadn't expected Zabuza to return today. 

"It was just a little accident while practicing swordsmanship." 

Zabuza said as the bandages on his chest tore slightly, revealing a wound that hadn't fully healed. Luckily, Jiraiya's chakra had been protecting the wound over the past few days, preventing any infection. 

"You stabbed yourself?" 

Shanks stared at Zabuza in shock. What kind of crazy sword training was he doing to end up like this? He had nearly killed himself with just a sword hilt. 

Then again, people in the pirate world were all kind of weird. Who knew what went on with this assassin who came from the Marines? 

"..." 

Zabuza saw Shanks' expression and was confused at first. But the next second, he understood. 

"You're the idiot here!!" 

"Compared to stabbing myself, your training method is way more dangerous!" 

"Hahaha, that's not what I meant." 

Shanks laughed awkwardly, though his eyes still had that unmistakable "you're an idiot" look. After all, what kind of normal person stabs themselves just for training? 

"Besides, I didn't have much of a choice. No one's teaching me, anyway. By the way, Zabuza, do you know what I'm actually training?" 

"You definitely know about Armament Haki, don't you?" 

Shanks wasn't dumb. From Zabuza's reaction, it was clear he recognized what Shanks had been trying to learn. 

If he could get some useful information from Zabuza, that would be the best outcome. 

After all, that night, he had almost ended up dead. 

Zabuza, hearing what Shanks said, didn't bother arguing about the name "Armament Haki." 

To be honest, he didn't even know what it was really called. If Shanks called it "Armament Haki," then that's what he'd go with. 

After all, with the Uzumaki clan's deep knowledge, Shanks probably knew more than he did. 

"I don't know much, but I do know this power is considered forbidden. There are stories about many powerful people who died because of it. That's all I know." 

Zabuza's understanding of Sage Mode was vague at best. 

There had been people in history who tried to master it, but aside from the legendary Sage of Six Paths, every single one of them had died. 

"A forbidden power, huh?" 

Shanks nodded. 

Looks like this "update" hasn't rolled out yet. After all, Roger had only just died, and the Great Pirate Era hadn't fully begun.

So it's only natural that this power, which can counter Devil Fruits, is called a forbidden power. 

And many strong fighters have died because of it, which is no surprise. Most powerful people on the seas are Devil Fruit users—without training in Armament Haki, how can they even fight them? 

"Looks like you knows quite a lot. But at this point, the Marines and the World Government should still be keeping some things under wraps… So this version of the world isn't the same as when Luffy set sail? It's more like a beta test?" 

As Shanks thought about it, everything started to make sense. 

Roger's death was the key to unlocking many of the world's buried secrets, including what people now call "forbidden powers." 

Roger himself wasn't considered that much of a threat. For the World Government, the real dark age was the era of Rocks. In fact, it was probably because of Rocks' influence that the Celestial Dragons and the World Government decided to seal certain things away. 

But once the Great Pirate Era officially began—when the world transitioned from a "beta test" into the "full release"—some of those sealed things slowly started to come to light. 

Right now, he was still stuck in the "beta test," but the problem was… he had no idea how things worked in this version. He only had knowledge of the "full release" world. 

"This is really frustrating. Forbidden power… it's not easy to master." 

"Surviving is already impressive enough. Even if you're a genius, Shanks, you shouldn't mess around with this kind of thing." 

Zabuza really didn't want to run into Jiraiya again. One of the legendary Sannin, the so-called "Toad Sage"—who knows if he really has Sage Mode? 

"I'm going to rest for now." 

After finishing his food, Zabuza looked completely drained. He couldn't help it—he was just too weak right now. 

If he were around other people, he would have forced himself to act tough. As a ninja, showing weakness was dangerous. 

But with Shanks, he didn't care. He had no sense of caution around him. He wasn't sure why, but something about this carefree guy made it easy to relax.

"Oh, then I guess I'll spend some time training my Conqueror's Haki." 

Hearing Zabuza's words, Shanks replied casually, looking completely unbothered. 

Armament Haki was just too hard to master, so he decided to focus on Conqueror's Haki instead. After all, everyone had their own strengths, and his talents leaned more toward Conqueror's and Observation Haki. 

"Conqueror's Haki? What the hell is that?" 

Zabuza stared at Shanks in shock. Wait, what? What new ability had this guy come up with in just a few days? 

"It's… well, it's Conqueror's Haki." 

"Three days ago, while I was training my Armament Haki, something went wrong… In the end, I had no choice but to cut off that energy." 

"Oh, right—I also figured out 'Divine Departure.' I used it to cut off that power." 

Shanks raised his katana, and in an instant, a black and red aura of Conqueror's Haki wrapped around the blade, radiating an overwhelming pressure. 

Boom!! 

The wind roared, and the sky changed color. 

A deafening crash echoed as the earth shook, and for a moment, Shanks' presence felt godlike. The sheer force of his aura and pressure made the sky itself tremble. 

Zabuza felt his soul quiver. The vast, unstoppable energy—the sheer weight of its presence—was overwhelming. 

Buzz!! 

Crack! 

Shanks sheathed his sword, and in an instant, the terrifying aura of Conqueror's Haki vanished without a trace. 

"Zan, want to test out my 'Divine Departure'?"