This is the first book of my Avenger series, which is currently on hiatus.

This story was created even before the announcement of the Kakashi ANBU Chapters; therefore, this is a Parallel Universe fanfiction (yes, PARALLEL, because I try to follow the Canon story line as much as possible). The same goes for the rest of the Avenger series, also.

I do not own any of the Naruto characters or settings. I only own my OC, Akuma Izoku.

This is my first fanfiction ever, so please excuse all the clichés and such. Thanks!

WARNING: CONTAINS VIVID CONTENTS OF BLOOD, AND VIOLENCE. I hope you enjoy the story of Izoku, the Avenger of the Akuma Clan of the Village Hidden in the Shadows!

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Laughs and giggles rang from the Academy of the Shadows. In the furthest room to the right on the second floor, a class of twenty students ranging from the ages of five to seven laughed and played. A girl the age of five dressed in a dark baggy kimono top and matching pants was kneeling on the ground, playing with wooden blocks with another girl a year older than her. The dark-kimono girl tossed her long raven hair to the side as she grabbed two blocks and stacked them on top of each other, her violet eyes shimmering.

"Joi!" she giggled to her friend as she stacked the blocks. "Doesn't it kind of look like the Academy building?"

"No," Joi shook her head, pouting her full pink lips. "It looks more like the Kuraikage's building! See, Izoku?" Joi pointed to the stack of blocks. "The pointy tip looks more like the Kuraikage's building than the Academy!"

"You're right." Izoku cocked her head to the side, curious. "The Academy needs to be rounder!"

Joi nodded her head, digging into the tub of wooden blocks to look for the perfect roof for the Academy. The two girls laughed as they built their Village Hidden in the Shadows. Their sensei stood at the front of the classroom, watching over the kids like a loving parent as they played.

Suddenly, the paper screen door burst open, flying off of its thin metal hinges as dust and smoke crept into the classroom. The kids screamed as they took cover under their desks and on the floor, curled up in tight balls.

"Yoroshi-sensei!" the kids called out to their teacher as they realized she was gone. Izoku and Joi huddled in the corner, their block city tumbled over and scattered all over the floor. Fear embedded itself in Joi's shimmering blue eyes. Izoku hugged her friend tightly, her tear-soaked face buried in her blond hair. Yoroshi emerged from the smoke, two kunai knives in hand. She was about to throw the blades in midair, but was stunned by the sight before her. She landed on the ground, her bronze eyes wide.

"Shadow ANBU...?" she gasped, tucking away her kunai. "Why are you here?"

"Akuma Izoku," a panther-masked man rumbled in his deep voice.

Izoku's ears pricked up from hearing her name.

"Y-yes...?" she mewed from the corner. The ANBU shinobi's gaze flashed to hers, making her flinch. The two ninja thrust their shuriken towards the five year old girl, her friend next to her shrieking in alarm.

"Izoku-!"

The clang of metal rang through the silent room. Yoroshi crouched above the two girls, her kunai revealed once more as her eyes glared at the two shinobi.

"What is the meaning of this?" she snarled.

"This girl must be removed," the frog-masked ANBU growled. "From the orders of the Lady Kuraikage."

"Che," Yoroshi scoffed. "What's the reason to be assassinating a five year old girl?"

"That's classified information," the panther ninja lowered his head. "Orders are orders." He charged at the corner, his kunai glinting in the smoky sunlight. Izoku cowered, Joi tucked behind her as the ninja battled each other. The sensei was no match for the two ANBU however, and she fell to the ground as they hit her vital pressure points. The kids cried out as their sensei collapsed; the ninja advanced on the two girls. The panther nin ripped Joi away from her friend, the blond clawing at him and kicking as she was carried away. Izoku reached out towards Joi, tears falling from her violet eyes in large droplets. The frog ANBU grasped her shoulders, tearing her from the safety of her corner.

"Joi!" Izoku shrieked.

"Izoku!" the blonde sputtered. The frog ANBU crouched, ready to burst through the windows and to the street. Seeing ahead, Izoku did what her instincts told her to do: her hands clasped together in a long series of hand signs, her rosy lips murmuring silently.

"Ryu...Tora...Oushi...Ousu buta...Hebi...Ryu...Hebi...Tora...Saru!" Her hand slammed against the plain white wall as she opened her now crimson eyes. "Demon Summoning Jutsu!"

The panther ANBU's eyes widened in shock.

"No-!" he started to cry out as he reached for his teammate. It was too late.

A gurgling scream erupted from behind Izoku, the girl's now crimson eyes glowing as she glared ahead of her, glared at the panther ninja. The grip on her shoulders slackened and she began to step forward. Behind her, in which only she could see, was a ten foot tall shinigami (grim reaper) dressed in a long, flowing, and tattered crimson kimono. She tightened her right hand into a fist and placed her left hand over it palm down. Slowly, she pulled out a long katana, the blade seeming to emerge from nothingness underneath her palm. The panther ANBU let go of Joi, tossing the girl to the side to a group of five other kids.

"Izoku!" Joi screeched.

The raven haired girl reached out her left hand, the shinigami mimicking her moves, and she grasped at the ANBU nin. He dodged the invisible attack, jumping off the walls and kicking himself straight towards her. Izoku slashed her katana, grazing the man's mask. The panther ninja side-stepped and launched eight shuriken from his hands. Deflecting every single one of them with her strong blade, she moved in for the kill. She slashed her sword, the ninja dodging it, making her slice a six year old boy in half instead. His hot sticky blood splattered all over her, but she did not seem fazed at all. Her bloody eyes burned and she launched herself at the ANBU ninja again. She swung around her sword, the ANBU dodging it only slightly every time. And every time she attempted to slice the ninja, she caught a student instead.

The whole room was stained with blood, the white wall splattered with the thick crimson liquid, the wooden floors flooded with the gore. Bodies of children lay everywhere; the desks, the floor, and slumped against the splotched walls. Izoku reached with her left hand towards the shinobi, and the shinigami drifted in for the silent kill. Its clawed hand grasped the ANBU ninja in mid-leap, gripping his soul with one strong swipe. Izoku slashed at his body, slicing through the flesh and bone like butter. His soul was released and the reaper gobbled it up, its sharp teeth sinking into the bluish gassy aura. The shinigami let out a low, evil chuckle, sneering at the possessed girl once more before fading into the blood-soaked walls, Izoku's katana shimmering away with it.

Her eyes flashed back to its original violet, wide and afraid. She scanned the room in terror, gazing down at her blood drenched hands. Her breathing quickened in short, shallow gasps as her eyes laid upon Joi's body, which was facing down into the flooded wooden floor. Her light blond hair was stained in the dark blood, her smooth skin white, smeared in gore and cold from death. Izoku fell to her knees, staring blankly at her friend's pale, limp body. Her eyes filled with more tears, the hot liquid cascading down her pale cheeks that were streaked with crimson. She glared at the heavens with an expression that was neither anger nor rage, but fear. She screamed at the white ceiling above her, pure and free from the splatters of blood that adulterated the classroom.

Terrified, Izoku scrambled to her feet and escaped the room, slipping a little on the blood that lay on the wooden floor in puddles. She burst through the front entrance of the Academy, gasping and running into the blood-orange sky toward her neighborhood, the neighborhood of the Akuma Clan.

The streets were empty, though it wasn't curfew yet. All the lights had diminished, the neighborhood swallowed up in a ghastly and eerie silence. She stared only briefly at the piles of her family's bodies on the wooden porches. Her Uncle Kibo and his wife Komyo. Her older cousin Shi and his twin sisters Tsugi and Mae, thrown on top of their parents, her aunt and uncle Saki and Izen. She wept as she ran towards her home, but never once did the little girl consider stopping to collapse and mourn on the spot; there was something she had to do.

She arrived at the biggest house on the street, decorated with paper lamps and adorned with the Akuma Clan symbol: a demon-trap like pentagram with an eye in the middle. This was the sacred symbol of her clan. Izoku slid the door open, yanking off her blood-soaked shoes as she entered the house. She ran throughout the building, yelling out for her mother and father. She stumbled past several rooms before flashing past the kitchen. She stopped in her tracks, her wide violet eyes gazing forward, glazed over with a milky film of despair. She slowly backed up, one step at a time, leaving behind bloody footprints on the polished wood floors. She appeared at the open doors of the kitchen, and with a stiff neck, she turned her head to see inside the room.

Slumped over the kitchen island was the bloody body of her father, her mother's crimson and mutilated corpse thrown over him. She instantly let out a high scream, scaring the crows in front of the porch of the house.

"Tousan (Father)...Kaasan (Mother)...!" she cried. She fell backwards, scrambling up against the wall, smearing the dark streaks of blood of her comrades from her gore-soaked feet. Her tiny hands gripped the walls, smears of dark maroon sliding across the white surface. Her chest faltered, her breathing choppy and short. Her hand grabbed her chest as she wrecked in terrible sobs. She curled her knees against her chest and hung her head down, her bloody forehead resting on her knees. She stayed like that as the cruel orange sun set in the sky, hiding behind the giant mountains, capped with gray powdery ash.

The night sky emerged, the shimmering stars mocking her from the velvety heavens. Izoku scowled, her smooth pale face scrunching up in fury. Her head slowly rose as she heard the distance whistles of ninja approaching, the crimson irises once again made their appearance on her face. Her jaws clenched together, teeth grinding against the other, and she threw her hands together in a lightning fast motion.

"Ryu...Tora...Inu...Saru...Hebi...Nezumi...Hebi...Tora...Inu!" she snarled. "Demon Summoning Jutsu!" A puff of crimson smoke and a giant shaggy black hound appeared. Its glimmering ruby eyes gleamed a murdereous glare as its great maw dripped with saliva, bearing its yellow fangs. It let out a soft bark as it saw Izoku, its master.

"Come, Tasatsu," Izoku growled in a suddenly mature voice as she hauled herself up slowly. Her palms were flat against the wall as she pushed herself up, her eyes unblinking and relentless. "I've had enough bloodshed for a day." She kicked herself off the ground, landing lightly on the Hellhound's back. "Ike." And with that, the Hellhound blasted itself from the roof, flying through the air as the ANBU ninja arrived. The hound galloped away faster than any other creature they've seen before, and melted into the pitch black night.

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If you didn't know, the name "Akuma Izoku" is translated literally from Japanese as "Demon Survivor," hence, the name of this chapter!

Please give this fanfiction a chance! This is my first and I'd greatly appreciate it if you keep on reading!

Comment on what you think of this so far! Make sure to vote and to follow me too! Thanks for reading!