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

WARNING:  This chapter contains detailed descriptions of blood and violence. 

I hope you enjoy the story of Izoku, Avenger of the Akuma Clan of the Village Hidden in the Shadows!

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The black panther loomed over the Kuraikage building, his amber eyes glinting in the flames beneath it. Hogo-sha face the Demon King with a scowl of resentment, his dark furry lips crinkling back into a fiery snarl. Akuma's veins of lava rippled, his wings flapping as he let out a threatening growl, his snout snapping at the panther; boiling hot lava bubbled from his stone lips, his jagged rocky fangs glowing red from the head that surged inside his throat.

Izoku's crimson eyes flashed in shock, but she didn't hesitate to react. Her hands immediately clasped together in a single hand sign and she yelled out in fury, the fire that raged around them swirling around her in a torrent of flames. Her raven hair flew around in the funnel of fire, her tattered dark clothes rippling in the strong wind.

“Lava Style: Eruption Bullet!” she screeched. Akuma, who faced the equally-sized panther, craned his long serpent-like neck and blasted a jet of burning liquid lava. The molten rock pelted the panther, its mouth opening wide in a cry of pain; the booming yowl echoed through the valley as the gurgling and surging of the blasting lava drowned out the thunderous rumbles that reached across the dark sky.

The Kuraikage weaved another series of hand seals, her dark eyes filled with hatred and a powerful determination.

“Double Swipe Jutsu!” she thundered. Her hands curled up, her fingers contorted like claws. She swiped numerous times in the air, Hogo-sha mimicking her every move. The lava burned into the panther's pelt, blood spilling onto the rocky hill as the sharp claws of the feline slashed at the dragon. Boulders from Akuma's jagged skin were peeled off with Hogo-sha's hooked claws, the lava that boiled under the rocks bursting forward with the giant stones. Akuma let out a roar of pain as the rocks were torn from his body, the molten magma that lurked beneath the stones swirling

More lava spurted onto the panther, the giant cat jumping back to shake off the scorching liquid rock. The Kuraikage scoffed and flashed another hand sign.

“Flames of Darkness Jutsu!” she raged as she commanded the demon panther. Hogo-sha took a step back and lurched forward, his maw wide open.

A shady violet flame erupted from the cat's jaws, swallowing the Demon King up in the dark fire. He let out an agonized cry, his throat gurgling from the lava that swelled up inside.

“Lava Style: Dragon Lava Blast Jutsu!” Izoku bellowed. Akuma whipped his neck forward, his jaws coughing up a giant house-size ball of scalding hot magma. The ball hit Hogo-sha straight in his chest, the sphere of lava bursting as it contacted the demon.

The black panther let out a wail that mimicked the thunder that boomed over the village, the blue lightning flashing over the ashy clouds that loomed over the midnight sky. The dark flames around Akuma flickered and died out, revealing a dragon completely encased in thick, gooey magma. His wings, also covered in the molten rock, stretched wide and flapped his wings, signaling Izoku to do the jutsu.

“Gusts of Ash Jutsu!” she shouted. Her immense Chakra transferred over to the Demon king, his wings stirring up the ash that showered down in thick sheets from the volcano. The storm of gray surrounded Hogo-sha and the Kuraikage, the dragon roaring out his own technique.

“Demon Art: One Thousand Shards of Basalt!” Akuma rumbled in his gurgling throat. His flapping wings, encrusted with cooled lava, the rock being launched forward by his powerful beating of his wings. The panther leaped out of the thick cloud of ash, almost missing the mass of shards of hard volcanic rock that pelted towards him; almost. A horde of dark shards embedded themselves deep into the panther's side, drawing large amounts of dark demon blood. The cat let out a howl of pain and charged towards the King.

“Demon Art: Hunter of the Dead!” Hogo-sha snarled. He opened his maw and dug his glowing fangs into Akuma's long serpent neck. The lava bubbled underneath the panther's jaws, his massive paws clawing at the molten rock at enshrouded the dragon. Akuma let out a shriek and tried to shake the panther off, but the big cat wouldn't budge.

Large amounts of lava were being flicked to the side by Hogo-sha's powerful paws, revealing the thick, tough skin that lay beneath the Demon king's armor. The panther's sharp claws shredded the skin, Akuma screeching and roaring as he tried to shake off the demon that clung to him like a leech.

“Shadow Style!” the Kuraikage thundered from Izoku's side, her dark eyes gleaming a poisonous glare. “Exploding Venom Sludge Ball Jutsu!”

Hogo-sha's body rippled and convulsed as he broke up into a coughing fit, his fangs still embedded into Akuma's neck. A black, oily substance was spat out from the cat's mouth, the substance dripping down the lava barrier and sinking into the open wounds on Akuma's shoulder.

“Akuma-sama!” Izoku cried as she growled towards the Kuraikage. The woman glared at the demon girl, her lips pulled back to expose her white teeth, menacing.

The wound bubbled and Hogo-sha leaped backwards, taking his stance for another attack. Akuma staggered forward, his wound gurgling and spilling the black oil everywhere. He let out a strangled roar as his shoulder blasted into an explosion, sending lava, sludge, and demon flesh everywhere. Izoku took refuge against the Kuraikage building wall, her chest heaving as she decided to climb up the wall and onto the rooftop. She jumped onto the flat roof and the sight before her made her freeze in place.

Akuma's massive head lay slumped against the building wall, a gaping hole that exposed the shoulder bone open and gushing dark blood.

“Get up!” Izoku screamed at the Demon king as her crimson eyes glowed intensely. “Get up, baka!”

“As you wish.” Akuma cringed as he heaved himself up, dark demon blood cascading down his rocky leg; all of the lava had been sucked back into his open veins.

“Get ready!” Izoku snarled as she leaped to the edge of the roof, glowering down at the Kuraikage and Hogo-sha. She slammed her hands together. “Lava Style: Ultimate Dragon Surge of Pain!”

Akuma flapped his gargantuan wings and lifted himself into the air, his long neck craning as he spit out a jet of golden magma. Izoku took a huge breath of smoky air and exhaled a whirlwind of a bright sapphire blue flame. The two streams collided and twisted together in one torrent of flames, speeding towards the Kuraikage and her Contractor. The twister hit Hogo-sha straight in the chest, blasting a giant hole in his flesh and out of his shoulder. The demon let out a scream, his eyes rolling to the back of his skull and his body flopping down on the crags, limp and heavy.

The Kuraikage was blown back by the impact, her black hair flying forward as she was shot back into a massive boulder on the edge of the rocky hill. Izoku leaped off the roof and flashed her katana, landing with a boom in front of the fallen Kage. She thrust her blade against the Kuraikage's throat, the woman scowling scornfully as she scoffed in disgust.

“Mugoi Hyo, Yondaime Kuraikage of the Village Hidden in the Shadows,” Izoku snarled as she lifted her chin up and glared down at the woman with venomously glowing crimson eyes. “I seal my end of the deal of our Demon Blood Oath, for you went back on your word and attacked the Hatake boy!”

“He's useless!” the Kuraikage spat as she pressed her weak body against the boulder. “He possesses no power whatsoever!”

“Urusai!” Izoku sliced a deep cut in the Kuraikage's shoulder, opening the Hokage's shuriken wound even more. The blood gushed out and soaked into her Kage robes. “Hatake Kakashi is a prodigy of the Hidden Leaf Village! He will advance to be even more powerful than you some day, old woman! Prepare to perish in Hell!” Izoku stabbed the Kuraikage on the other shoulder, pinning the woman back into the boulder behind her. She let out another pained shriek as Izoku clasped her hands together in a series of hand seals.

Korosu, who had waited so patiently for the battle to end, reached his ghostly arm out and snatched the Kuraikage by her soul. The dark, black shimmering aura was slowly tugged out of her bleeding body, the woman throwing her head back and screaming towards the heavens. Izoku grabbed her katana and yanked it out, making more maroon blood spill out onto the stone floor. A warm, thick pool of the gore collected under the Kuraikage, soaking her robes in her own blood.

Korosu, now controlling the demon girl's body, slashed the Phantom Katana and sliced a deep wound in the woman's leg. He swiped at her again, opening a gaping cut on her abdomen. He tugged harder on her soul, the gassy aura slowly being extracted from her pained body.

“Kill me!” the Kuraikage screamed, her eyes rolling to the back of her head as her neck strained from the pain. “Kill me now! Just do it already!”

“The deal was,” Korosu smirked as he slashed another gash into her abdomen, "to make you suffer a most horrible death, and your soul will be mine to consume; you will perish in Hell, never to be able to escape from my stomach. Your soul will never rest, it will never be released, because you broke the sacred promise called the Demon Blood Oath.”

“Onegai!” she pleaded as she cried out in agony. She shrieked again as Korosu struck her again, a new deep slash pouring out blood on her chest. “Onegai! ONEGAI!”

“Jigoku de shinu! (Perish in Hell!)” Korosu howled as he tugged at her soul one final time, the black aura crackling and releasing from its body. Yondaime let out a bloodcurdling scream, her throat gurgling from the blood that welled up inside it. Her dark eyes slithered back to the end of her skull, her mouth wide open at a straining angle. The veins on her neck popped out, her jaw cracking as she forced it open to its max. Her stiff body then fell instantly limp, her mouth still gaping, leaking thick scarlet blood onto her stained white gown.

Korosu brought the soul of the former Kuraikage to his hungry mouth, chomping at the aura with vicious bites. His sharp teeth clamped down at the soul, Izoku questioning herself if she actually heard even more shrieks coming from the gassy black substance. Izoku snapped her head up to the sky, the ashy clouds blowing away in the wind and revealing the deathly pale moon shining down on the destroyed village with its weak rays. Her eyes grew wide and forced open even more as her arms were thrown up. Her back curved backwards, her head bending back to almost touch the bloody ground beneath her. Korosu let out an evil laugh as his spirit was sucked inside Izoku's gaping mouth, the demon girl cracking back upright, her narrowed eyes a shimmering violet.

The demon girl swayed, her eyes drooping as she fell crashing to the dusty and bloody ground.

~~~*~~~

Izoku fell into a black void. She felt weightless, her body numb and unable to move. She felt as if she was falling underwater, but her lungs took in air. She felt like she was dead, yet her heart pumped faster than ever, pounding inside her chest. Her limp body fell even deeper in the ever ending darkness.

Yondaime... Izoku thought as she sank, her mind foggy. She could summon demons too...shikashi...that's impossible...

“Akuma Izoku,” Akuma boomed from the darkness.

“Akuma-sama...” Izoku's voice rang weakly. “Yondaime...and Hogo-sha...”

“Mugoi Hyo is descended from two distinct clans,” Yondaime rumbled, sensing her question. “The Mugoi Clan, who are not particularly a clan of ninja, but they have extreme will power. The Akuma Clan is the second, in which she inherited her tie to the Demon Realm in. With her will power, she severed her tie with the Demon Realm after she made her only contract to Hogo-sha; because she is majority of Mugoi blood, her soul was not sold to a shinigami.”

“So...” Izoku sighed. “There was another survivor...the one who killed them all...I see...”

“Have you forgotten your deal?” Akuma growled as Izoku submerged deeper into the void of the Demon Realm.

“Deal?” Izoku questioned, her body floating in nothingness, her eyes still closed.

“We agreed,” Sandaime growled sinisterly, "that the next time you summon me, you would give me the thing you adore the most. Now give it to me!”

An image of the Leaf shinobi appeared in her mind, the Hokage being braced up by one remaining ANBU. The Shadow nin had fled, seeing their Kuraikage murdered on the top of the rocky hill. Asuma was carrying a couple of Leaf nin bodies. Next to him, Gai carried a few more of Leaf shinobi bodies on his sturdy shoulders, his face caked in blood-ash plaster. Akuma zeroed in on a certain man, his silver hair shimmering in the soft moonlight, his mask torn and tattered, his ANBU uniform shredded. The shinobi's arm was being tended to by Lady Tsunade, the medical nin making a make-shift brace for his broken arm.

No... Izoku thought as her mind gazed over the scene. No...

“The thing you adore the most," Akuma chuckled again, his giant swirling amber eye staring at her floating body. “Give him to me!”

“Please!” Izoku squirmed as her mind raced. “Not him, please!”

“It was our deal,” The Demon king snarled. “The thing that is most important to you...”

Izoku's mind flashed. A bright light brought her back to a village, the complete village of In'ei, peaceful and unharmed. An image of her running through the cobble streets with another girl, one with long blond hair, filled Izoku's mind. Peace was brought to her frantic thoughts as she saw the younger version of her ran into the arms of her father.

“Otousan!” Young Izoku shrieked as she giggled, the blond girl chasing after her.

“Izo-chan!” She mumbled as she pouted her full pink lips, crossing her tiny pale arms. “That's no fair!”

“Aww, don't be mad, Joi-chan!” Izoku jumped down from her father's protective arms. “Here, I'll be “it” this time, okay?”

“Okay!” Joi's blue eyes lit up as she bounded away. “You can't catch me!”

Izoku giggled wildly as she raced after her friend, her father staring after them with a small grin on his tanned, scarred face.

The scene merged, Izoku being swung by her arms. Her father's hand gripped one of hers as her mother's held the other.

“Otousan! Okaasan!” the young Izoku laughed. “Higher! Higher!”

“We can't, tenshi (angel),” her mother chuckled. “We'll break your arms if we do!”

“Aww...” Izoku jumped back on the ground, her parents letting go of her hands. “Fine!  Kaasan, why are we going to the town square?”

“It's the Festival of Hogo-sha,” her mother answered in a calm, soothing voice. “We must pay our respects to our Guardian Demon who watches over our village.”

“One day, I'm going to make a contract with a demon like Hogo-sha!” the young Izoku sang as she bounced off ahead of her parents, her arms extended as she swerved, pretending to be a bird. “I hope I meet a demon who can fly!”

“Isn't your shinigami Korosu enough?” her mother gasped, flickering worried eyes over to her husband. “Izoku dear, please don't say such things! Hogo-sha is a very powerful demon! Even Shodai Kuraikage was barely able to defeat him!”

“Don't worry, Kaasan!” Izoku leaped back to her mother, hugging her hips. She buried her face into her mother's dark blue robes, her large violet eyes peek up at her cutely. She giggled and gave a cute close-eyed smile. “I'll protect you!”

Her parents stopped in their tracks to gaze down at their daughter. They exchanged worried looks, but then her father carried her up into his arms and tossed her into the air.

“Tousan...!” She screamed.

“For now, my tenshi...” He caught her and nuzzled his face into her long raven hair. “I will be the one that will protect you.”

Izoku giggled as she squeezed her arms around her father's neck.

“Okay!” she squealed as he flung her into the air again as the family made their way to the town square.

The thing that is most important to me... Izoku opened her violet eyes, brimming with tears. The thing I adore the most...

“Come now,” Akuma rumbled impatiently. “Give him to me!”

“No!” Izoku shot up and clenched her fists. “It's not Kakashi that is the most important to me!”

The Demon king growled in confusion.

“What do you mean?”

“The memories...” Izoku stammered as the tears flooded her cheeks, cascading down her chin. “Of my best friend Joi and Otousan and Okaasan...those memories are the most important to me...”

“You're just bluffing,” Akuma scoffed. “You just don't want me to take that Kakashi boy!”

“Urusai!” Izoku snapped at him, her violet eyes gleaming. “If you don't believe me, fine! Take Kakashi! Take him! Leave me with the memories of my family, the thing I cherish the most! Take him if you want! TAKE HIM!”

“My my...” Akuma glowered. “I can't take him if you insist on it so much.”

“Otousan...Okaasan...” Izoku wept as her heart ached. She slammed her palms onto her chest as she cried out her heart. “Onegai...please forgive me!”

“I'll be taking those memories of yours now, Akuma Izoku,” the Demon king snarled as he reached out a giant stone claw to tap it astonishingly lightly against her sternum. A white, wispy mist escaped her chest in a thin stream.

“No!” Izoku sobbed. “Otousan! Okaasan! Please, come back!” Izoku reached out to snatch the memories back as they slipped from her, but the misty substance just dissolved and floated through her fingers. “No!”

“Your debt has been paid," Akuma snickered. “You're free to summon me to your own enjoyment, whenever you want without the worry of paying me anymore.”

“OTOUSAN!” Izoku screamed in torment. “OKAASAN!”

The last of the white mist escaped her chest, a small, marble-sized glowing orb floated away from her on the wispy string of mist. Izoku stared at it blankly as it drifted away; she blinked, a few tears floating weightlessly from the corners of her eyes, and gazed forward past the shiny sphere. In the white mist were three figures, standing side by side. A man with a deeply scarred face emerged, smiling happily as his strong arm was wrapped around the waist of a young woman with long raven hair. In front of the two was a young girl with blond hair and blue eyes, her arms outstretched as if she was expecting someone who run into it for a hug.

“Joi...” Izoku murmured as the hazy figures were sliced away by the tip of a giant stone claw.

~~~*~~~

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