"And you're sure it was headed for Menagerie?"
The man ran a hand through his salt-and-pepper beard, weathered skin and sharp eyes giving even more of a clue that this man was well-experienced in the field of ocean travel. "Yeah, I'm sure. We don't get many ships headed that way, so it's usually pretty memorable when one departs. It's a dangerous stretch of ocean, more so than the jaunt over to Mistral, or Atlas."
Naruto nodded, handing the man a yellow 50 Lien card. "Thanks for the help."
The man nodded thanks, and Naruto stepped out of the dockmaster's office, headed down the wharf, mind racing a mile a minute.
Lien was an excellent memory grease, Naruto had discovered, and the dockmaster had informed him exactly what boat it was, when it had departed, and where it was headed. Meaning that Blake was on her way to Menagerie, and was definitely at least a week ahead of him.
However, it was a week on a large passenger ship, full of both passengers and cargo, so it couldn't be going that fast, especially due to the passengers. It wasn't an aircraft, so it probably had a top speed of around thirty to thirty-five knots.
Adding to that fact that it had to go up north to get around Vytal only to then head south between Sanus and Anima, and then head east, Naruto could catch it. He'd have to be fast, faster than he'd ever really been before, but he could feasibly do it.
He'd have to cross east over the top of the width of Sanus, though as he looked at his map screen, he realised that it might be preferable to head straight for Menagerie itself, south-east.
Trying to catch a boat that he had no concise location on in the middle of the ocean was a challenge that he wasn't entirely sure he was up for at this point in time.
There was an island between Sanus and Menagerie, too, that might be a good resting point to restore and restock, if there was a settlement there. Of course, he wasn't going to make it there in a day, he'd have to fly at mach speeds to even get close to that time, but Shirdal didn't tire, and flew on his own. Technically, as long as Naruto strapped himself into the saddle, he could sleep as they flew.
So, that was something he wanted to add to his shopping list. Get some links and straps that he could attach to his outfit, not only so he could strap himself to the saddle, but so he could sling Sandstorm if needed.
The more important question was how Menagerie felt about humans. Would they try and kill him on sight? Would they welcome him with open arms? Or would they just treat him like every other person that passed through any other kingdom, with mild distrust but otherwise apathetic towards him as an individual?
He didn't know. Considering the White Fang's presence, he had to assume the former, but the latter was just as likely as long as he didn't make any enemies. And, assumedly, when he met up with Blake, she could smooth anything over as best she could, just in case he did in fact ruffle some feathers.
Naruto winced. Maybe that wasn't the greatest saying to use in reference to Faunus.
He'd have to work on that.
He'd completed the quest, though. He sorted through his menus, quickly accepting the reward, a Regular Experience Orb, whatever that was. So many new things to learn, his list was getting longer.
He withdrew it, rolling it about in his palm.
It was vaguely similar to a Soul Orb in shape, a crystalline sphere with no imperfections and a glowing center, and a very similar size as well. As for what it did, well, Naruto really had only one guess. It was an orb of condensed experience, for use on a skill. Or it would give him XP for all his skills, but he doubted that.
He crushed it in his hand, feeling the influx of XP flow into his body, and he mentally directed it to one of the skills he'd had the hardest time leveling up thus far.
Naruto watched in glee as Crafting went from Level 14 to Level 15 as he gained 70,000 XP, and his glee only increased as he unlocked a number of new recipes.
Amongst the new recipes, which included the ability for him to melt and process his Iron Ore, was a notification that he was very happy to see.
[For your increased capability with Crafting, you are now capable of creating higher-quality items when forging!]
His mind flickered back to his previous line of reasoning as he paced about Vale. His math could be off by a significant margin, for a number of reasons.
There were too many variables. Naruto had no real concrete way of knowing when Blake would arrive in Menagerie, or even if, if something went terribly wrong out at sea, which was a reasonably common occurrence. Any of the sea-faring Grimm could have completely torn the ship asunder and left the passengers and crew drifting amongst the waters, easy pickings for the beasts.
Naruto scrubbed that image from his mind. Blake was fine. She was stronger than the majority of Beacon's students, alongside the rest of AWBN and RRYN. Some oceanic Grimm weren't enough to keep her from arriving in Menagerie. Her reasons for going were a little bit more mysterious, but that was Blake in a nutshell, effectively.
Despite all of that, it thankfully didn't change all that much about his plan. His destination would still be Menagerie, his journey a straight shot.
All he had to do now was prepare for the trip.
Never, in all his life, had he ever been so glad he was no longer afflicted by crippling motion-sickness.
The wind in his face, buffeting his hair, the rush of adrenaline, it just felt… right. Like he was right where he belonged.
Sure, the circumstances that had led here were far from perfect, but what had happened had happened, and there wasn't anything he could do to change that.
He could do plenty to prevent it from happening again, though, which was hopefully the plan.
"Man, I always get all introspection-y whenever I'm left alone with my thoughts, huh Shirdal?" Naruto vocalized, the Griffon summon tossing his head in response.
They were nearly five hours into a twelve hour flight, and this seemed like as good a time as any to stop for some lunch, especially while there was still ground beneath. He wasn't sure how he was going to stop to eat above the ocean, but that was a future-Naruto problem.
Present-Naruto was feeling rather peckish, even if all he really had were travel rations. Not the most appetizing of meals, but they served their purpose.
They touched down without issue, the wooded landscape having cleared to a more widespread series of rolling plains the further south they traveled, still covered in patchy but sparse splotches of snow and slush.
Naruto had spent the last few hours getting used to his full mobility in Shirdal's saddle, including testing out a couple tricks he'd once seen with his family when a group of travelling hunters and performers had wandered through Domremy. He'd never seen anyone hang off the side of a saddle before, but now he had a number of thoughts of where to apply that sort of thing.
Also it looked really, really cool to swiftly and smoothly move between positions atop the saddle, so that was a plus. Spruce Willis eat your heart out.
It also meant that dropping off was remarkably easy, and whilst not something he'd exactly practiced whilst airborne, that was possibly the easiest part of all of what he could do now.
Of course, he managed to mess that up as he stumbled slightly on the ground when his feet hit dirt, and he let out a small laugh, more of an exclamation of humored shock than anything else. He obviously hadn't gotten his land-legs back yet. That was still going to take some practice.
Naruto took another glance upwards, checking the sky. That had also become sort of a habit over the past day. If it rained whilst he was above the ocean, he was certainly not going to enjoy it.
Luckily for him, the sky, whilst cloudy, wasn't stormy. If there was rain, it'd be a small sprinkling at best. He could deal with that.
Reaching into his inventory, Naruto withdrew one of the ration packs and tore it open, munching away at what was effectively a brick of nutrients. It had no discernible flavor, no identifiable ingredients or comprehensible structure, but it served its purpose.
"I really need to get actual food in my inventory, this is awful," Naruto remarked aloud, wincing. His mouth felt like he'd just spent an hour chewing on sandpaper. "And something to drink. Lessons for next time, I guess."
Shirdal cocked his head, and despite the bone-plating over the head, Naruto could still make out the expression. "Yeah, yeah, I should've thought of that before, I know."
He continued to eat the ration pack with mild distaste as he scanned the horizon. His father had always said Naruto had a knack for finding trouble, but Naruto doubted that this was what the man had meant.
A pang of guilt pushed through his thoughts. He hadn't even seen his family. They knew he was alive, but that was about the extent of information they had. His father hadn't been at Vale when he had been, so it was obvious the man was dealing with another job, as was most likely with the rest of his family, aside from Saph, of course. Saph was most likely busy with a number of other things in Argus.
He made the decision then and there to visit her when he got the chance. He'd most likely end up passing through Argus anyway.
Shirdal's head perked upwards, wings spreading, and Naruto sensed it too, something odd in the distance, growing closer with every passing second.
He turned to face where he presumed the disturbance was, one hand straying to his blade. It was the right call.
The treeline of a small copse ended roughly a hundred meters from where Naruto had stopped, and from it Naruto could see the shadowy forms of Grimm headed his direction, rippling black muscle and bony protrusions twitching and shaking as they closed in.
A cluster of Ursa, and in the lead, an Ursa Epic.
Naruto equipped Telum, slinging the quiver over his shoulder, and drew an arrow.
Sighting with the bow was easy, the attached sight marked with the zeroing indicators, and Naruto drew back, his increased STR making it nearly trivial to pull the arrow back to full draw.
He loosed the arrow, watching as it flew through the air and hit one of the Ursa in the left side of the approaching flank, landing straight in its shoulder.
The Ursa roared, but was not slowed. It didn't even seem that fazed.
"That's what I get for using a level 1 skill, I guess…" Naruto said with a sigh, collapsing Telum and stowing it on the new magplate on his back, next to the quiver.
His other hand snapped up and fired a Mana Tether out towards the approaching group of Ursa, watching as each extension of the tether grabbed hold, as Naruto followed up with the second part of his combo.
Electrus formed behind the blond, crystalline structure crackling with energy waiting to be released, and release it did, firing a bolt of lightning at the nearby group.
It singed the very air as it travelled, leaving behind the smell of burnt ozone and smoking, charred Grimm corpses.
Not even the Ursa Epic was left standing.
Naruto whistled in awe. "Damn."
Electrus, crystals dimmed now that it had fired the Stormbolt, knelt down and bowed, before becoming unsummoned, crystalline form crumbling into nothingness.
Naruto quickly checked his notifications. Nothing particularly interesting that he'd picked up from the little skirmish, aside from the general amount of XP and the levels to his lower-leveled skills.
Or, rather, skill, seeing as he'd really only had to do three things.
Of course, that came at the cost of however long Electrus' recharge period was.
He'd also hit Level 47, which he did appreciate, taking him up to 50 stat points, which he knew he should spend.
He had the time to consider what to spend them on, too, which was nice.
The teen turned back to Shirdal, grabbing one of the handles and hauling himself back into the saddle, hooking the leather strap to his belt as the Griffon began to lope forwards, taking off with a leap.
They flew over Sanus as Naruto deliberated, considering his options.
Fifty stat points were conceivably enough to get him two new perks, if he wanted, but that would mean investing all the points into at minimum one or two stats.
The near-even spread was another option, of course.
Naruto swore under his breath. Half the time he felt like all he ever did was choose between difficult options.
These choices tended to be the most difficult. They were, as far as he was aware, irreversible, and very important.
After what seemed like an age, Naruto made his decision.
19 into Agility, 9 into Charisma and 22 into Luck. It seemed to be a good choice, to help bring up his drastically lower stats.
[For achieving 50 AGI, you have unlocked a new perk!]
[Speed Freak: Thanks to your Agility, you gain an increased base speed, allowing you to both accelerate and decelerate faster, and have a higher top speed.]
[For achieving 50 LCK, you have unlocked a new perk!]
[Critical Luck: Thanks to your Luck, you now have an increased chance to critical hit.]
Naruto finished reading the new perks, content with his decision, and he settled forward, keeping a steady grip on one of the saddle's handles, allowing himself to relax, a free hand and a calm mind taking the opportunity that the rest of the flight would bring to create large amount of Soul Orbs.
It wasn't like there was a reason why he shouldn't.
The ocean, Naruto decided, was boring.
Water, water, more water, lots and lots of water as far as the eye could see. Not even an island to break up the monotony of the constant flow of liquid.
Just water.
Naruto rolled onto his back, resting his head against his hands. He was bored. So bored, in fact, that he found himself hoping for a Grimm attack, as it would, at the very least, give him something to do.
Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on perspective, no Grimm opted to take on the airborne Hunter. In fact, Naruto couldn't even remember the last Grimm he'd seen since he had set foot on land.
Perhaps it was said lack of land that might have had something to do with it, but Naruto had honestly expected more aquatic Grimm. Or any, for that matter.
And yet, so far, nothing. Not even the slightest sign of the presence of Grimm. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that they were drawn towards negativity, and the middle of nowhere was completely devoid of that.
Well, aside from his boredom. Did boredom count as negativity? He didn't know. He felt like that was probably something he should know, to be fair. If it was, then he had definitely contributed to Domremy's Grimm numbers.
He and every other kid in the town, he supposed.
But even so, it had never been as boring as this was.
Naruto rolled over again, peering towards the horizon, hoping in vain to make out any kind of land-related things. Like birds. Naruto missed birds, how they chirped in the early hours of the morning and kept him from staying asleep for too long.
Okay, so maybe Naruto didn't miss birds all that much, but he needed something to think about.
Naruto decided to stop thinking about birds, for whatever reason he'd been thinking about them in the first place, he'd already forgotten, and instead refocus on the horizon, most particularly the small brown lump he could see to his far north.
Wait.
Naruto scrabbled up on Shirdal's back, peering at the speck in the distance, trying to make out more detail, which, inevitably, failed miserably. It was still a speck, regardless of where he was sat.
So his only course of action was, of course, to redirect from his south-west bearing to head near-northwards, at an increased speed.
At the rate he was now travelling, the speck began to grow larger and more detailed with every passing moment. It was now less of a speck and more of a blob.
Then it became a brownish boat-like blob wedged up against a rocky outcropping that protruded from the ocean, more and more stone spires shaped similarly coming into view in the distance.
Naruto was about to wonder how the boat had wound up in this seemingly unfortunate predicament when a plume of smoke and fire shot up into the air, the sound hitting him a split-second later.
Shirdal, at Naruto's urging, tucked into a dive, the rider holding tight as they went at what had to be Shirdal's top speed, practically rocketing through the air towards the wounded vessel.
Naruto still didn't know what had caused the explosion, but to be fair, there was only a few ways to find out, and getting onto the boat was certainly one of them.
Then, when Naruto was only around a hundred feet from the boat, Naruto found out exactly what it was that was causing problems.
Naruto's eyes widened in surprise as the ship's attacker burst from the depths of the ocean, a writhing sea serpent worthy of the term, the draconic Grimm letting loose a loud roar as it twisted itself to stare at the boat, crackling lightning frying the air as a glow of yellowish energy began to pool in it's gaping maw.
[Epic Sea Feilong]
[Level 50, Legendary Grimm]
[HP: 67,500/67,500]
Naruto was quick to unfold Telum, nocking an arrow and drawing back at full strength, letting the broadhead loose towards the oceanic Grimm as Shirdal flew even faster still, covering the remaining distance in a matter of moments.
The arrow hit first, sharpened tip sparking as it impacted against scales, spiralling off into the ocean's depths without great effect.
The only thing it really managed to do was alert the Sea Feilong that he had arrived, and considering that even if it hadn't been aware before, it definitely was after Naruto hit it with a follow-up Spinning Mana Bullet that punched through the toughened scales and left small holes in its wake.
It twisted to face him, electricity sparking forth from its mouth, and Naruto leapt from Shirdal to meet it head on, Crocea Mors cutting through the air as he swung the blade towards the Grimm.
It met one of the sharpened fangs of the sea-beast, chipping at the enamel-like substance that formed it and causing the Sea Feilong no small amount of pain as it thrashed away from the attack, bolt of lightning going wide and turning seawater into steam.
Naruto landed on the side of the struggling ship with a poise he hadn't expected, Surface Walk allowing him to keep his balance atop the thick wooden railing that ran the rim of the craft.
The Epic Sea Feilong wasn't anywhere near dead yet, though, despite the pain it had suffered.
He was just glad that the crew had gotten all the passengers safely stowed below deck in time for this conflict, because he'd hate to have to be rescuing people at the same time as fighting this thing.
The Sea Feilong lunged for him, jaws snapping shut where he had been standing a moment before as he Flash Stepped sideways along the railing, pulling the trigger on the rapidly-drawn Tranquility and unloading a blast of buckshot straight into the Grimm's fiercely-glowing eye, causing it to recoil in pain and duck under the water, out of view.
This gave Naruto plenty of time to bring forth Alcmena and Apollo, urging the two avian summons to take flight and circle, for not only the rather literal bird's-eye-view that they provided, but also as a method of effectively air-striking the monster with razor-sharp feathers.
There was a single moment, as Naruto chambered a new round in Tranquility and loaded an additional shell, where the beast was unseen, until it burst forth from the ocean once more, large, previously unseen wings allowing it to begin to compete with Naruto's three airborne-summons on their own metaphorical turf.
Even with the support of Shirdal, Alcmena and Apollo were no match for this beast without support, Naruto knew that. So when he heard the familiar sound of gunfire from behind him, permeated in staccato by cannon-fire from the ship itself, Naruto found his confidence bolstered as he joined in the onslaught of projectiles, now empty hand stretching to point at the sea serpent that was severely out of its typical element.
Naruto's Mana Tether barely clipped the Sea Feilong's tail, sticking in place and gripping in a mimicry of an octopus, tethers wrapping around and causing the Sea Feilong to stop trying to electrocute Naruto's summons and instead try and tear the seemingly-sticky Mana off of it.
He followed it up with his typical follow-up, firing a Mana Cannon that really should not have missed, and yet the Sea Feilong was aware enough to twist itself, contorting out of the way of the threatening ball, only to find that it wasn't just poorly-aimed ship-mounted weapons and Naruto's own projectiles it had to worry about, as a black and white figure moved with rapid speed, blade tearing through the thin membrane of one of its reddish wings.
Naruto allowed the smile that had been threatening to spill onto his face finally appear, a wide beaming grin that he couldn't help, even as he charged another Mana Cannon.
Blake landed deftly atop Alcmena, who easily glid over top the ship, allowing Blake to drop down and land next to Naruto, her own smile dampened by a number of things.
She decided to settle on surprise, at least for now. "Where on Remnant did you spring up from?"
Naruto fired the Mana Cannon, watching in satisfaction as it impacted against the side of the still-airborne Sea Feilong, which roared in agony. "Oh, you know, you were being attacked by Grimm, and I stumbled across you. It's practically a tradition at this point."
Visible relief was next on Blake's emotional to-do list. "Last time I saw you most of us thought you were dead."
Naruto's smile dropped a little. "Yeah, well, rumours, exaggeration, other stuff that sounds important and witty. To be fair, I thought I was dead too."
Blake and Naruto's impromptu reunion had to be temporarily delayed as a blast of lightning was met with a hastily-cast Mana Field, electricity sparking off and sending tingles down Naruto's arms.
"Talk later? I'd like to deal with this overgrown sea snake, preferably before it destroys the boat," Naruto remarked, gritting his teeth as he held the field up, the stream of lightning-breath unfaltering.
Blake soundlessly nodded, checking the chamber of Gambol Shroud. "I'd prefer to catch up without my life in danger, which would certainly be a fresh experience."
Naruto let out a grunt of relief as the beam of lightning ceased, and he dispelled the Mana Field. "It's still too fast for us to deal with, even with one-and-a-half working wings. You think you can get it again?"
Blake shrugged. "Not without some way to get up there. It's got some distance on us, it's smart. If I can get up there, though…" She let the rest of the thought trail off, but Naruto understood all the same.
"Get to the rock, and I'll launch us up," Naruto said, already moving, and Blake followed close behind, the two vaulting the opposite railing and onto the rocky outcropping that the boat was wedged up against.
A cursory examination whilst he moved gave Naruto no indication of any significant hull damage, which was a nice benefit, but that wasn't important at that moment, as he placed one hand against the ground.
"Never really tried this, so I don't know how accurate I'm gonna be," he admitted, steadying himself. "Ready?"
Blake nodded, bracing herself for the incoming momentum.
Naruto activated Terrakinesis, urging the stone beneath him to shift, and shift it did, at a speed that was honestly rather frightening for the level the skill was at, launching him and his teammate high into the air, clearing the altitude that the Sea Feilong was hovering at, its piercing red eyes, one injured, the other untouched, watching the two.
Naruto took Blake's outstretched hand and began to spin, twisting faster and faster until he flung her like a bola towards the Sea Feilong, the blades of Gambol Shroud effectively shredding through red membrane and causing the sea serpent to writhe in agony once more as Naruto readied himself.
It had been some time since Naruto had pulled this off, but he allowed himself to grimace as he pooled Mana into his feet.
The Sea Feilong, already gravely wounded and severely annoyed, suddenly found itself in even more pain as Naruto hit it square in the back with a Mana Impact, emerging from the underside with a burst of black ichor.
He landed in the ocean with a massive splash, and whilst Blake had been lucky enough to snag a ride from Alcmena, Naruto had been moving far too fast for any of his summons to even consider that an option, and Naruto didn't disagree.
He resurfaced quickly, the pull of displaced water trying to keep him down, but his Aura-augmented muscles easily ignoring that as his outstretched hand snagged one of Apollo's talons, scooping him up and out of the salt water.
Apollo deposited the soggy Naruto Uzumaki onto the deck of the boat, to the clapping and cheering of the crew, Blake taking a much drier drop from Alcmena's talon onto the deck to stand next to her team leader, the unexpected attention catching her off-guard.
Naruto performed a water-laden bow in good humor, before giving his head a quick shake to free it of most of the water that clung to the strands of blond, and thoroughly distracting Blake as she nearly found herself hissing at him.
Clamping down on that instinct, especially in the presence of so many people, she decided to instead glare at him, that damned mischievous grin of his reminding her that all blond-haired people were not to be trusted.
Gods, she had a penchant for befriending trouble-making blonds, didn't she?
"Hunters! Thanks for the assistance! We deeply appreciate it, especially you, lad. Where'd you even come from?"
The captain, an older man with a bushy white beard, took Naruto's hand in his own, giving it a vigorous shake.
Naruto let out a laugh. "Coincidence. I was just flying by, spotted the boat on the horizon."
"Aye? Well, thank the Gods you decided to investigate. I dunno if we'd have made it out so easily without your help, and yours, Huntress."
"You don't mind me staying aboard until you reach Menagerie, do you? I've had a long trip out, and I haven't slept in a bed for a couple days at least," Naruto asked, and the captain quickly nodded an affirmative.
"Course, lad. You've definitely earned it. I don't know if we have any empty cabins, though, but-"
Blake interrupted the captain. "My cabin has two beds, and my team leader is more than used to sharing. We'll be fine, thank you Captain."
The captain nodded once more before turning back to his crew. "Alright, show's over! Let's get back on course!"
"Way to specify 'team leader' there, Blake," Naruto joked.
Blake's dead stare should have terrified him, but he'd always known he had more courage than sense. Even still, Naruto sighed. "Yeah, we really need to catch up."