2. Chapter 2

Chapter2

It had been close to two months since Naruto left the Branwen camp, having left in the middle of the night without warning or even so much as an explanation. At first Naruto had expected his mother to come looking for him, since she could open up a portal to anyone she had a close bond with, but to his surprise she never did. Maybe she realized the same thing Naruto did, that he could only ever learned so much held up in camp and that he needed to experience the world to truly understand what it was like to live.

So that's what Naruto was doing, exploring the different countries and learning everything he could about the outside world. He of course needed money, that's the only way people survive in these times, so he took up a job doing the one thing he knew he was very very good at. Being a mercenary was a lot like it was being a bandit, except being a mercenary allows you to legally kill people while being a bandit was somehow seen as something bad. Still, in the last month or so, Naruto has been able to rack up quite a bit of money and was living quite the simple life on the open road.

The country of Vacuo was where Naruto found himself, having hitched a ride on a ship and managed to slip away before anyone notices he was even there. Naruto had only spent a few weeks in one of its coastal cities and in that time he managed to find himself some work protecting an expedition going out into the deserts. Now wasn't raiders or bandits that these people were worried about, if that was the case and they wouldn't have hired someone experienced in killing monsters, it was because the area of the desert they were going to was notorious for very large Grimm. So, after packing up on some much needed supplies and getting some close properly made for the desert, Naruto met the expedition at the gates of the city.

"I'm glad you made it, my new mercenary friend!" exclaimed a rather burly looking man who had a long bushy beard, dull green eyes, and a very over enthusiastic smile.

"Well, Ivan, you are paying me quite a bit of money to protect you guys on your expedition, so of course I would make it," Naruto replied, resting his left hand lazily on the hilt of his sword and given the large man his own smile.

"Ha ha ha, that's what I like about you, a young man willing to do a hard days work for a bit of money! Why can't the youth of nowadays be more like you, Mr. mercenary?!" Ivan laughed loudly, throwing his large arm around Naruto's shoulder and pulling him in close for a Bro hug.

"Maybe it's because I was raised by a group of bandits and not in a comfy city?" Naruto asked dryly, having made no secret his origins and what he had done before becoming a mercenary, and thankfully his tribe never operated in this country before.

"Yes, yes, but enough of the useless chit chat! We have treasure to find and, upon our return, a wonderful adventure to tell all the little children!" Ivan loudly declared, dragging Naruto with him as he mounted up on one of the transportation vehicles.

Naruto should have known this expedition was a bad idea, he met Ivan in a bar after all and the man was half drunk almost all the time, but there was still something about going out into the unknown that made Naruto feel just a bit more live. Living back in Vale had been nice and all, all the large forests were perfect for running around in, but there was still so much of the world left to see and Naruto wanted to see it all.

"All right everyone were about to move out! Remember, if you see any sign of big bad monsters, stay back and let our mercenary friend take care of them, after all that's what I'm paying him for! Now let's get a move on!" Ivan shouted as the engine of their transport roared to life, along with the other ones behind them, and they took off into the wide open desert.

It was only about an hour into their trip when Ivan decided to strike up a conversation again, having already drunk half of his flask of alcohol and now needed something else to distract him from the searing heat. So, with nothing else to do, he started to regale Naruto with tales that this desert held. Now Naruto, being the professional that he is, kept most of his attention looking out for possible threats upon the horizon. It was only when Ivan mentioned the Ghost of the Desert that Naruto suddenly found himself paying attention.

"It all began about 10 years ago, this traveling huntress from Vale came Into the port one day and wanted to be taken out into the desert. She was apparently on some kind of search for a mysterious artifact lost in the desert and needed someone to show her the way to a very specific spot. My friend, a woman named Bianka, agreed to take her out into the desert for no small amount of money. It was four weeks later, a whole three weeks past their return date, that Bianka finally made it back to the city, half dead. She told me that two days into their trip they had been attacked by Grimm, but that wasn't the worst part. No, this huntress from Vale had easily dispatched the Grimm with her spear, there was the fact that there was

someone working alongside the Grimm." Ivan began, looking out the window with an almost haunted look in his eyes.

"Someone working alongside the Grimm?" Naruto asked, knowing for a fact that Grimm creatures attacked anything and everything that wasn't also Grimm, "What did your friend say happen next?"

"She said that the Huntress told her to run, and run she did. With their transport trashed, along with all their food and water, Bianka herself barely made it back to the city without dying. She then spent the next three weeks recovering and has since refused to ever leave the city again."

"Wait a minute, you said this was a story about a Ghost of the Desert, so how does this mysterious ghost fit into the story?" Naruto asked, his red eyes glancing out the window at the large dunes of sand.

"Because it said that that Huntress's ghost still haunts this desert. Many people to travel through this deserts have claimed to see a white hooded woman, wielding a spear, traveling through these dunes in the dead of night. Her soul constantly searching for that artifact she had been looking for and that she will never be able to rest until she finds it," Ivan finished with a spooky voice, a slight grin on his face, while in the end Naruto just rolled his eyes.

"That's a pretty crappy ghost story," Naruto commented dryly, although some part of him did wonder if there was any actual truth to it.

"That's because it's not a ghost story, at least not in the typical sense, and even I've seen this so-called ghost once or twice. Who knows, maybe on this trip you'll end up seeing her to."

"The only thing were likely to run into, this far out, is the Grimm and maybe a few bandits. Besides, I don't imagine that there is any way for someone to survive out here for ten years," and with that said, their short conversation ended and silence once again filled the vehicle.

(Night)

With the sun finally setting and the broken moon having risen above the horizon, which still made Naruto curious as to what could have possibly done so much damage to a celestial body that large, the expedition came to a halt and set up camp. A large bonfire was made from the dried word they brought with them, which was a bit old-fashioned given today's technology, and several tents were set up around the fire.

While this was going on several men were ordered to put sensor beacons around the camp, which would set off an alarm if anything cross through them. Naruto himself had helped in all of these different projects, although mostly in helping setting up the sensor beacons, and proved to be just more than a hired sword that only cared about doing his job.

In fact, Naruto could now be found sitting around the large bonfire with his sword in one hand and a whetstone and the other. All around him the other members of the expedition were laughing and drinking, celebrating their first night in the great desert expanse, and this reminded Naruto quite a bit of his old family. The Branwen tribe may have been just a bunch of cutthroats and thieves, even though they were thieves with a sense of Darwinism, but man did they know how to throw a celebration party.

It was at one of these parties that Naruto saw his mom actually laugh for the first time, although she had been drinking quite a bit that night and Naruto did have to help her back to her tent. The fact still remains that these people, in this moment, reminded Naruto of home.

"Hey, you should drink something," a soft voice said, drawing Naruto's focus away from sharpening his blade.

Naruto is no stranger to beautiful women, Raven had made sure to take care of that early on so that he wouldn't get distracted by one in a fight, but that didn't mean he couldn't appreciate them in his downtime. Take, for instance, the girl offering him a drink. She was no doubt a more mature woman, even though she was slightly shorter than Naruto, but time had been very kind to her. The way her dark brown hair frame the sides of her face, not to mention how innocent her blue eyes were, gave her a sense of gentleness that Naruto had hardly ever seen. It also helped that she had a great figure, even when it was buried beneath heavy robes.

Naruto gave her his best smile, which was apparently pretty good if the blood rushing to her cheeks was anything to go by, "Thanks, would you like to join me?"

"I'd love to," she said, taking a seat next to him and folding her hands neatly in her lap, "I'm Celine by the way."

"I'm Naruto, the mercenary hired..." Naruto began but was cut off by Celine.

"To protect us on our long trip into the desert. I know who you are, Ivan made sure to let us know who to tell if we saw any Grimm."

"Well, since you already know what I do for a living, what do you do?" Naruto inquired, taking a sip of the drink offered to him and noting the slight burn of alcohol as it went down his throat.

"I study ancient civilizations," that certainly wasn't what Naruto was expecting her to say, "It's why I decided to join up with this expedition to begin with. The treasurer were looking for supposedly belongs to the first-ever civilization of humankind. It said that they existed long before the moon was shattered and even some other structures still survive to this day."

"Really, I've never heard of the civilization before, is it a recent discovery?" Naruto asked, if for no other reason than it sounded interesting.

Celine looked away a bit shyly, almost embarrassed, before mumbling her response, "I guess you could say I'm kind of the leading expert, since I'm the only one that really believes in them. Every other professor I went to said that what I was thinking was crazy, that there was no proof of this first civilization."

"But you believe they're real, and if you search hard enough then perhaps you will find the proof you need. Just don't let professors, especially those ones that think they know everything about everything, hold you back from you dream," Naruto said taking another drink, "Besides, I think it would be pretty cool if you found something all the way out here in the desert."

"You know, for a mercenary hired to protect us from the Grimm, you're a pretty decent guy," Celine turned back to Naruto, the pleasant smile on her face, which just made Naruto chuckle a bit.

"Oh, so you've met many mercenaries before?" Naruto challenged, raising his eyebrow just a bit.

"Nope," Celine happily admitted, this time taking a sip from her own cup, "But as far as first times go, you aren't so bad."

Naruto nearly choked on his drink when he saw the flirtatious look she was shooting him, but quickly correct himself to preserve some semblance of manliness. He may have been used to the female body, being able to ignore his hormones whenever he wanted, but that still didn't mean the temptation wasn't there.

"Well, if you do find something out here and become all rich and famous, just be sure to throw in the name of the mercenary that protected you."

Celine let out a light laugh, "Don't worry, I'll make sure to put your name on the front page."

The night continued on just about as peacefully as one would expect, with Naruto spending most of the night talking to Celine and consuming his fair amount of alcohol. It wasn't usually a good idea for Naruto to get drunk while he was supposed to be on the job, but then again he had a very strong alcohol tolerance thanks to his mother. Celine, on the other hand, turned out to not be so lucky and was practically hanging off the younger man by the end of the night.

Now Naruto, being the gentleman that he was, took Celine back to her tent and put her in her sleeping bag. He would have left it that point if the brown haired older woman hadn't grabbed his arm and practically pulled him down on top of her.

"And where do you think you're going?" Celine asked her eyes half lidded and a small haze of lust coming over them, "Why don't you stay with me tonight?"

"That's not a good idea, you're drunk," Naruto stated as he tried to pull himself away from the older woman, who managed to wrap her arms around his neck and pull him just a bit closer.

"Come on, I just want to have a bit of fun," she moaned rather lustfully, a sound Naruto found himself appreciating more than he should.

"Celine," Naruto began but was cut off by the feeling of warm lips covering his, his red eyes widening just a bit at the sudden action, before he felt a warm tongue slip into his mouth.

This was a bad idea, this was a very bad idea, but Naruto's resistance slowly wilted away the longer Celine's tongue ravaged his mouth. Eventually the Branwen side of him, the side that doesn't back down from any challenge, reared its head and the fight was on. Celine let out a dazzling moan when Naruto's tongue began to fight her own, his lack of experience be more than made up for by his tenacity. Naruto eventually broke the case, the string is saliva going from his lips down to hers, and the way his red eyes stared at her made Celine's body shiver.

"If you want me to stop, then you should tell me now," Naruto said, his rough hands trailing down the side of her hips until eventually gliding down underneath her and gripping her firm rear.

"I..." she began, only for her breath to hitch when she felt Naruto's lips against her neck.

"This is your last chance," Naruto grinned just a bit more when he felt her body arc into his own, trying to cause as much friction between them as possible.

"Or –"

Celine pulled Naruto's lips away from her neck and began kissing him like crazy. Almost like her life depended on it. This time it was his tongue that slipped inside her mouth, hungry and demanding for more, and it wasn't like anything Celine had ever experienced before. Her hands went from around his neck to the back of his head, running through his messy blonde hair as he uses one hand to support himself and the other to slowly massage her rear.

His lips were like fire, the way his tongue toyed with hers made a pool of heat formed between her legs and only made her want him more. This dangerous young man, only a few years younger than herself, had possibly lived more than she ever had in those old universities. That's what made her burn for him, she always did have a thing for dangerous men. That and she was incredibly drunk right now.

The rest of the night was filled with moans of ecstasy and grunts like that of wild animals. Celine would remember every moment of it, despite how drunk she was, and the both of them would get the best sleep they'd had in their entire lives. She would even remember how safe she felt falling asleep with him, her head resting on his bare chest, and the sound of his heart allowing her to sleep.

The next day the whole caravan was back on the move, the tents having been packed up early in the morning and all traces of their existence there swept away by the desert. Naruto was once again riding with Ivan, after waking up to a very flushed Celine who stammered out apologies for her behavior the previous night. Now Ivan, after hearing what Naruto had gotten up to last night, proceeded to inform him that Celine was actually his daughter. This was then followed by Ivan laughing, rather loudly, at Naruto's shocked face and saying that his daughter was her own woman who could do as she pleased.

"You know, you nearly gave me a heart attack just now," Naruto said with a deadpan look on his face, which only seemed to make Ivan laugh even more.

"You should've seen what happened to the first boy that my little girl brought home, I don't think she's ever really forgiven me for running him off with the family shotgun! But I have calmed down since then and, if she is happy, I am happy for her," Ivan finished on a calmer note, glancing away from the desert road ahead of him to look down at an old paper map.

"Ivan,Ivancanyoureadme," a voice came over the radio, apparently from one of their scouts if Naruto was reading the communication system right.

Ivan reached out and grabbed the communications device and raised it up to his mouth, "This is Ivan, what is it Scout 1?"

"Ivan,we'vegotabigproblemouthere!There'sabignastypackManticoresheadedrightyourway,Ihopethatmercenaryyouhiredisuptothetask!" the scout shouted, the roaring engine of his scout vehicle only being overshadowed by the roar of the Manticore.

Ivan turned to speak with Naruto, about to tell them to get out there, only to just barely catch a fleeting glance of Naruto's feet as he climbed out of the top hatch. The older man just smirked, he like this kid's attitude!

"All right everyone," Ivan shouted into his own radio, "Stay inside your vehicles and let our mercenary friend do his job! Remember, stay safe and stay together!"

Naruto couldn't help the grin that formed on his face as he stood atop Ivan's vehicle, the wind whipping around him as they flew through the desert at high speeds. In front of them, chasing a group of scouts that were hightailing it back to the main caravan, was a pack of no less than twenty Manticores and they looked hungry for blood.

The blonde haired Branwen swiftly pulled both daggers out from their holsters along the back of his waist, their sharpen blades gleaming in the sunlight, and launch them at Manticore just about to devour one of the scouts that had fallen behind. The twin blades, sharpened to a width of an atom, pierced into the manticore's eyes with enough force to explode from the back of its head. Then, as if by magic, both of the blades flew back into Naruto's awaiting hands.

This happened two more times before the Manticores finally realized that there was a possible threat to them, which they targeted with little regard to their own lives. One of the Manticores came at Naruto from behind, the horns on its head level with Naruto's back, only for Naruto to suddenly backflip at the last moment and stabbed both his blades into the beast's back! Naruto's excited laugh echoed the creatures painful roar as he now soared through the sky above the racing convoy. This was way more fun

than fighting the Grimm back in Vale!

"Come on you big beastie, stay still!" Naruto shouted as he slowly stood up on the flying creatures back, still using his daggers to keep himself stable, before spying another Manticore coming right at him.

Naruto jumped off his current mount's back and onto the one charging at them both, this time grabbing onto the creatures horns for support while his legs wrapped around its neck in the tight chokehold. He then spun his dagger around in his hand a few times before stabbing it into the Manticore' right eye.

Another howl of pain ripped through the air, only to be silenced when Naruto drove his other dagger down through its skull, leaving him in freefall.

"All right, time to really get this party started!" Naruto shouted, pulling up one of his sleeves to reveal a strange looking device which proceeded to fire a grapple hook into the chest of another Manticore.

Swinging through the air like a madman, Naruto put away both of his daggers and drew his sword with his free hand. The grapple hook embedded in the Manticore suddenly folded into itself and detached, the retractable system in his device bring it right back to him, just as Naruto got done decapitating two of the creatures and cutting off another one's wing.

"Yes, I see my money was well spent on you!" Ivan's voice shouted through Naruto's earpiece as the man himself watched Naruto work, amazed at how skilled the young man was.

"Just keep this caravan moving, I'll keep these guys focused on me!" Naruto grunted as his blade sliced through another of the creatures.

One of the Grimm actually managed to blindside Naruto from above, coming at him from the direction of the sun and ramming itself right into Naruto's chest. The thing about this Grimm, besides the fact it was obviously bigger than the others, was they also had more spike like protrusions coming from it. This was no doubt the Alpha of the pack and it was beyond angry!

"I hope you're hungry!" The young Branwen shouted as he reversed his sword grip, positioning his blade right in front of the Grimm's mouth, "For a flaming steel sandwich!"

The notches in Naruto's blade, the ones that Raven had even questioned him about when he was forging the weapon, suddenly sprang to life with fire! The Alpha Manticore roared in pain as its insides were burned and sliced all at the same time, even becoming so intense that fire burst out of it stomach!

Eventually the creature died in Naruto was left free falling once more, his sword returning to normal and hiding its full capabilities.

Now with nothing but air underneath him, Naruto swung around and shot his grapple hook again, except this time it penetrated right through the Grimm's head. The creature died almost instantly when the hook expanded inside its brain, which in turn only pause Naruto's freefall for a split second.

"Well crap," Naruto grunted as he landed back on top of Ivan's vehicle, the creatures above him already swarming and getting ready to divebomb him!

"Naruto,I hope you have a plan because there is no way we can survive something like that!" Ivan shouted, knowing that they get hit by that swarm of manticores then the whole convoy could flip over and leave them all stranded.

"Yeah, I have an idea, but I don't think I'm gonna like it all that much!" Naruto shouted back, holding his hand out in front of him and closing his eyes to concentrate.

Raven had always told her son that his semblance was very destructive, that he always had to be in complete control when drawing upon it or it could destroy everything around him. Even after all these years of training how to use it, learning how to focus his mind and willpower to make sure it didn't suddenly explode out of him, Naruto felted barely even scratch the surface of being able to use it properly.

"Come on, for once just work with me here," Naruto growled as he continued to focus his semblance, feeling the destructive energy coursing through his entire body and coming together in the center of his outstretched hand.

A high-pitched screeching noise suddenly split the air and Naruto opened his eyes to see that it had worked. In the palm of his hand was a basketball sized orb of rotating red chaotic energy and it looked ready to explode at any moment! So, with the swarm of Grimm now coming right at them, Naruto leapt from the top of Ivan's vehicle once again. With a mighty roar of his own, Naruto actually threw the ball of energy at the approaching monsters and what came next was amazing.

The first Grimm got off lucky, it was disintegrated the moment the orb touched it, the surrounded ones weren't so lucky. Their soulless bodies were ripped apart by violent tides of red energy, rendering them to

ash before they could actually physically turn to ash from dying. Then, just as fast as it had happened, the red energy dissipated into the sky and left nothing but clear roads ahead.

Naruto landed on the hood of Ivan's vehicle again, and was greeted by the sight of the older man giving him a wide smile and a thumbs up, "Now I'm starting to think you were a bargain!"

"Yeah, that took a bit out of me," Naruto replied, only for something completely unexpected to happen.

The Grimm that Naruto had originally used as a mount suddenly came flying at him from out of nowhere, having apparently not been with the swarm when it was destroyed. It's fanged covered mouth latched around Naruto's arm and suddenly took off with him into the sky! Naruto watched, in no small amount of panic, as the ground and the expedition got smaller and smaller. It didn't matter how tough he was, if he got any higher then the fall would kill him!

The sound of a rifle going off ripped through the air, the head of the manticore suddenly exploded, and Naruto found himself falling towards the ground as a frightening speed. Then, just moments before he hit the ground, Naruto saw, what looked to be, red and white rose petals floating around him."Who are you?"

(Several hours later)

Naruto wasn't sure what he would find when he woke up, in fact he was even sure that he would wake up after that fall he taken, but he certainly didn't expect to be on a rather comfortable bed. Everything about the bed said that it was homemade, from the bits of tree trunks that made the bedpost to the soft further made up the mattress, but there were worse ways to wake up. What was even more surprising was that he didn't feel the traditional pain that usually came from using his semblance.

"By the brother gods, what the hell hit me?" Naruto grunted as he struggled to sit up, his body feeling surprisingly sluggish despite the fact that he felt no pain.

Now that he was more awake, Naruto managed to get a good look around the area he'd been taken to. The stone walls and ceiling was a clear indication that they were either underground or inside a cave, the small torches flying the room lit up a desk in several bookcases, and the long hunting spear resting up against a nearby wall told Naruto that the person that saved him was at least a fighter.

Before Naruto could think anymore on the matter, let alone come up with a plausible plan of escape, the sound of footsteps alerted him to someone approaching. So, being as well-trained as he was, Naruto laid back down and pretended to still be unconscious. Naruto strained his ears to the max to pick up any distant sound, trying to determine if this was only one person or more, but couldn't tell from how far away they still were. Then the footfalls stopped in Naruto's danger sense exploded to life.

"I'm not going to hurt you."