Exiting the train, Naruto looked at the station he was in, before sighing. Walking to where his bags where, Naruto grabbed them and made his way towards the stairs that would lead down into Menagerie City.
Walking down the stairs, the blonde made notes of several White Fang soldiers moving about and checking people's IDs.
They had been paranoid, sometimes psychopathic under Sienna Khan's leadership, Naruto missed the days where Ghira Belladonna had been the leader, his father had been a big supporter of The Peaceful Path which allowed him to marry his mother.
Now, The Peaceful Path was overgrown with thorns of hatred and authoritarianism.
Ghira was still leader of a Clan Council which was a sort of a constitutional-aristocracy amongst Menagerie, akin to Mistral's and Vale's council system. However, unlike there system, Menagerie's system was a democratic one as well.
People got to choose who among the large clans went to represent parts of their home continent. Menagerie herself being divided between ten different clans with The Belladonna family as the sole governors of traditional means, but that's as far as their powers stretch when it came to running the unrecognized kingdom of Menagerie.
The only two countries to recognize Menagerie as a kingdom was Vale and Vacuo. Mistral having donated much to its creations regarded it as a vessel, and Atlas often regarded it as an illegitimate country.
Because of this, politically, Remnant was at risk of another war. Ironically, it wouldn't be because of land, it would be over Faunus Rights and country.
This situation had led to the creation of a council system to appease most of Remnant.
Menagerie was also the subject of a "Mining War" as many companies would say. The Schnee Dust Company, The Mistralian Dust Company, Dusk Dust Incorporate, and Menagerie's own mining company was often having business related fights and skirmishes for land rights.
In a way, it contributed to the hubris of what Naruto saw in the world. Remnant was not a healthy planet, it was sick. His father and mother were Gaians, people who believed the world around them was alive, and there was evidence backing them up.
Remnant was once a bright, thriving, lush planet. Fossil records indicated a previous civilization of some sort encompassing its surface, and they had their wars no doubt but it never slowly killed the planet like what was happening now.
Some people even theorized within The Gaian Church that Remnant simply the cause of the Grimm, a sort of last ditch effort to get rid of an infection that was slowly killing it.
That infection was greedy humans and faunus who used machines to simply still life energy, Dust, from Remnant.
Walking off the stairs, carrying his bag of personal effects, he held the box of strawberry cake with his free hand after previously balancing it on his head. Looking around, Naruto saw the rather earthbound houses and shops.
Menagerie City was a rather simple city, unlike the massive towering buildings of Atlas and Vale, Menagerie and her city relied on ancient building practices and customs. Often these techniques proved resource saving, time saving, and made things rather easy to acquire despite the desolate state the continent was in.
Naruto looked around, following street signs as several people passed him. There were hardly any motorized vehicles on Menagerie, not because of they couldn't afford them, it was because of terrain. Cars, trucks, and various other motorized transport bogged down in sand and dry loose forest soil.
It was more of a hassle, however, if you wanted to get somewhere fast you'd usually have to own a bicycle or go by train.
Walking was rather the normal way of travel within the city, it wasn't that big of a city anyhow, covering barely twelve hundred square kilometers. It was the smallest and least populated city on Remnant. One-eighth the size of Mistral City which was the largest city in the world, and with a population of around one hundred thousand, give or take a couple hundred.
The most populated city in the world was Mantle, the former capital of Atlas and namesake. Mantle had a population of roughly eight hundred thousand. Most of them human, in fact, most of remnant was human populated.
Naruto remembered doing a book project in Leaf academy about Faunus history, and he along with the frigging genius that was Shikamaru, came up with the figure. Faunus were roughly thirty percent of the world population of sentient beings, the only other being humanity.
The world population for humanity, per their books and Shikamaru was around two million, with faunus increasing it to two million and six hundred thousand giving or taking a few thousand.
There really was no real consensus on the entire population issue, many people just got listed via home ownership documents and citizenship documentation.
The blonde looked at this small city, smiling, because he knew once he left it'd be a few years or perhaps forever before he came back to see it.
There were no graves he had to visit, Gaians didn't dig graves, they burned their dead. Plus getting his mother away from Menagerie would secure her a long and healthy life away from the mines.
Naruto swore he would, up and down, day and night that he would make sure his mother lived a comfortable life one day. The Namikaze household was set to secure their place with their son paving the way, it was the burden of the world he bored, but he wasn't struggling he was merely running freely with it.
Literally.
Naruto ran on the streets, catching some air as he leapt over a vendor stall, taking in the deep air countrylike air. Running, vaulting over a couple of rails, Naruto jumped onto the rooftop of a one-story shop.
Putting his bag down, Naruto unzipped it, before taking out his journal. Opening it up, he smiled as he looked at it. Taking a deep breath, he got his pen out before writing.
"Date: March/the seventh/eighty years after The Great War.
I've arrived in Menagerie at seven a.m., I am currently on top of a roof in sight of The Corsair Airfield from which I will take The Atlas Cloud and travel on a three-day journey to Vale. Hopefully Sakura took Rock Lee's advice and is coming to Beacon with me as well. A bear and a fox should always stick together, even if they hate each other, the fox can at least distract the wolves.
I ran into White Fang Soldiers on the train, where I successfully helped them defend the train against a Grimm attack. It was fun, I got test out my father's weapon, Kurama. It was always a perfect fit for my midrange style of combat, and my control over Instant is getting stronger. I can teleport ten meters away from my standing location, but each time I teleport it eats away at least five percent of my aura.
Bummer.
My goal for today is to practice playing my flute, find a nice cheap hotel for the night, and be ready for my new life in Beacon…and call mother."
Naruto finished by signing his name in cursive at the end of the entry, it was his way of letting his mother know if anything should ever happen to him…at least she'd know it was him writing it.
Closing the journal, Naruto put it back into his bag, before looking up at the clouds. Despite being a desert, Menagerie was very wet in the few forests it had, which were mostly bamboo. The blonde took out the telescopic staff sighing as he held it.
Kurama was a staff that had nine forms of combination, it was inherently powerful given that it was based on using one's aura as its power source at the cost that it required to be fed Dust Crystals to truly be effective.
The reason for the naming was that Naruto's father had said that their family came from an old bloodline that had a guardian named Kurama who gave his life in protecting the world, though this was probably just a story his father told him.
Naruto had mastered all nine forms, with many forms having supplementary uses as well.
Combining Electricity and Water Crystals allowed for Flow Combos, which was Naruto's fastest and most efficient set to work with. Flow Combos allowed him to attack and defend at midrange at very little risks of enemy Grimm having any sort of an effective combative counter.
Burn and Gale Crystals allowed him use Scorch Combos, which ignited his enemies on contact and allowed for more ranged attack variations to his jabs and swipes. However, most of his defensive capability was cut in half and it sucked a lot of aura out of him to just maintain the crystals which naturally had small energy reservoirs.
Gale and Water allowed Spear Combos, which made the ends of his staff shaped water spears held together by Gale which only added to the cutting damage. It's drawbacks were obviously that it left him with little defense to work with and consumed just about as much as Scorch.
Ice and Burn allowed for Mist Blower, which made his staff burst mist from its ends thick enough to act as a sort of reusable smoke bomb and allowed for a quick sneak attack sense he could still sense aura or the lack thereof and attack accordingly.
Ice and Water was Wall Combos, which was fancy way of saying that he could create ice barriers and it was his most powerful defensive and counter combination, which allowed him to circumvent many obstacles if he so chooses as well.
Earth and Burn enabled his staff for Barrier Combos, which was him able to manipulate local earth into a barrier while his flame crystals caused a reaction that made it turn to lava from the heat. It was the most counter oriented and premeditated combination as one would have to plan to make it effective.
Electricity and Burn combined to make Electricity Ball, which was basically projectile attacks Naruto could focus through himself and launch with his free hands. They were mostly stunning and concussive, but enough could bring down an armored Nevermore.
Water and Earth allowed for Trap Formation, which was a very versatile style, but it was neither meant for defense or offense. His father's favorite style, simply because it allowed the user to create mudholes and sinkholes with eases and drown Grimm effectively. Creating trenches also allowed one to 'limit the area of play' for the enemy as his father would say.
Electricity and Gale made Storm Blast possible, which was basically channeling wind from the gale to have energy from electric crystals flow into it current.
Many of the range attacks had a limited range of twenty meters, while his longest short and mid-range attacks were five meters at best.
If he lost Kurama, he always had his martial arts that his father taught him, which was Mistralian Shadow Kicks and Drunken Step. His father was a retired Hunter before becoming a forester, that much Naruto knew, and he wished that he could've trained with his dad in his prime.
His father, prior from passing away from cancer was a great Hunter, but not so much famous, but at least Naruto inherited his semblance which was Instant.
Sighing, Naruto looked at the sun, before seeing a flock of birds call out to one another. He missed the times to where he could call out to his mother, back when he was five all he would do was talk and talk…before the accident.
Splinters piecing his lung and him tumbling down and crushing the inside of his throat over his vocal cords made any amount of intelligible speech impossible. If Naruto was to talk now, it would sound like a baby blabbering in pain.
"I miss the time I could tell my father I loved him and mother as well, if I had just listened…been more careful…" Naruto gripped his fists, "dad and mom wouldn't had to deal with the huge medical bill…and we would've kept our house…damn it all."
Unintelligible, inconsistent, uncommunicative. That was his voice, that his speech, it was all he had vocally.
Naruto barely survived the surgery, but he was lucky, his father always said if it had been someone else they'd be ash by then.
Frowning, Naruto merely gave a saddened huff as he thought his father, he then got up before stretching.
"I promise," he shows a look determination, "I'll make it up to you mom."
Reaching down, he grabbed his bag and cake before jumping off the rooftop of the building. Walking towards the hotel, Naruto passed by a few people discussing recent events. Hearing them out as he walked, Naruto found a seedy hotel and walked inside of it.
"Hello sir," the clerk says, "how can I help you?"
Naruto walked up to the clerk, she eyed him, she was a faunus with wolf ears. She watched him as he pointed towards the keycards on the wall, holding up one finger before motioning as if he was sleeping.
The woman pursed her lips, "you need…a room with one bed?"
Naruto nodded, smiling with a bright smile.
"Okay, will that be cash or scan?" The woman asks.
Naruto got out his scroll, holding it up to the woman to scan, the woman watched as it made a green check mark.
"Alright, that'll be all…here." She hands him a keycard, "we've got a breakfast at seven tomorrow morning."
Naruto walks towards where the woman pointed, opening the door with a swipe of his keycard, he was greeted with the sight of a dingy hotel room. It looked like the maid hadn't even bother cleaning, his eye twitching, he sighs as stretches and places his bags down with his cake box.
Stripping down to underwear which was covered in little animated covered dragons, he pulls out a pair of jeans and a red shirt with a black swirl on the back it. A shirt his mother had fixed with their family symbol, a swirl mark.
He quickly changed clothes, checking his back, he smiles as he has a little bit of money left. Sighing, he looked at the time, noting that his mother was probably down in a mine right now.
Gripping his fists, Naruto opened the cake box and looked at the several pieces of strawberry cake before lightly nibbling on a piece he had been eating on when he woke up.
Laying on the bed, he looked up at the ceiling before sighing, he missed his mother despite just being away from her for three days. With her, life felt right, it felt it was going slowly. However, often, the life a Huntsman was anything but simple and slow.
Sometimes the difference between death and life, merely, was a split second.
One could not afford a chance to always have the advantage, one couldn't have all the cards to make a royal flush all the time, you had to play what you had into your hand.
Naruto's current deck consisted of two Aces, a Queen, and a Jack, as well ten.
Two Aces were clubs and spade.
Spade: Willpower.
Club: Experience.
His Queen of hearts was his mother.
His Jack was Kurama.
His ten of spades was his combat forms and martial arts.
His father had been an avid cards player, teaching him poker when he was younger. However, Naruto knew his father had horrible luck and he never gambled. It was one of the many vices that could ensnare any good-hearted man or woman.
There were four vices that all Gaians were taught.
Power.
Lust.
Greed.
Ignorance.
Power gained easy, corrupted easily.
Lust for one's body, not of the heart led to false pretensions.
Greed of wealth made those blind to the suffering they could cause.
Ignorance to hard truth, reality, and fact was a foolish attempt block your own guilt.
Gaians were very few in number, very few people believed in The Gaian Way, and some radical Gaians were called Eco Terrorists since they tend to sabotage mining operations. However, luckily for Naruto and his mother, neither one of them were fanatics.
Orthodox, yes.
They couldn't disturb nests, for it would make mother birds abandon their children to a harsh death.
They couldn't hunt during The Spring, Summer, and Fall, only in winter due to infants being born during those times and even then their hunting was limited to maintaining population.
Gaians respected the world, often would they create shrines made of stone when setting up a homestead to bring good luck, just like his mother and father did.
Gaians could only grow what could be found in that place, they couldn't grow watermelon in Atlas…only snowberries.
Gaians couldn't wear leather or animal products unless solely for survival.
Nature created things in harmony for a reason, that reason was solely based around balance. If one cog in the wheel jams, the entirety of the machine stops working and stalls.
That is what Naruto was taught, and how he was bright up. Believing that all things had a push, and that all things were pushed. There was always a reaction to every action, there was never no one-sided engagement…there was always supposed to be balance if given the chance.
Because, balance, is what made Remnant thrive prior to the Grimm.
Gods only know what truly brought Remnant so out of balance that such demonic creatures would ever have needed to exist, and maybe in a strange way Naruto also believed in the twin brothers…since both were representation of that balance.
Light, giving life and prosperity.
Darkness, giving death and decline.
In the mist of this was Twilight, giving knowledge and prevention…that was The Gaian way.
With all these things on Naruto's mind as he sat in that lonely dark room, he just sighs as he puts the cake box up after finishing a piece and walks over to his bed.
He was going to take a nap.