3. Chapter 3
Chapter 3More than a few months had passed since Naruto found his way out of the desert, having eventually met back up with Ivan's caravan and completed the job he was assigned to. Of course, in those few days in which he had been separated from them, Naruto had learned some very interesting things. Things that would put him in danger if anyone found out that he knew them, so he told no one.
Now, on another continent entirely, Naruto found himself slowly approaching a rather large city. The city was known as Vale, which was one of the largest cities in the country, and was home to Beacon Academy. It was actually a job that brought him to the city, given to him by a mysterious benefactor, but the money was high enough that he wasn't too concerned about just who would hired him. In fact, Naruto hoped he'd never meet this person because a person like that is only trouble.
His job was actually rather simple, infiltrate the local Academy and locate some sort of artifact that was hidden beneath it. That part wouldn't be too difficult, it was gaining entry that proved to be the hard part. Academies like Beacon were well known for their high security, state-of-the-art detection sensors, and being filled to a brim with people they know how to kill you in more ways than one. So, short of actually storming the place with a small army, the only way to gain access was become a student.
This is actually where the mysterious benefactor came in the play, given the fact that they had provided him with actual documentation that would get him into the school as a new student. The best part was that this job was on an unlimited time limit, given Naruto as much time as he needed to infiltrate the school and gain their trust.
"Now if only they'd offered to give me a ride here," Naruto grumbled as he finally made it within the city limits, having shown his fake ID to the city guards that kept the Grimm at bay.
Supposedly this school would open its doors the next few days, which gave Naruto plenty of time to make himself familiar with the city and find a hotel to stay at. Naruto shifted his dusty brown cloak, something he kept with him since his time in the desert, which only slightly displayed the weapons and armor he kept concealed underneath it. His clothing, which at one time only held small bits of armor to protect him and still give him some maneuverability, now consisted of light leather and several metal plates. He wore a single piece of metal as the chest plate, and several smaller plates of metal over his arms and wastes.
He finally finished off his outfit with metal boots that traveled all the way up to his knees, and then metal gauntlets with pointed tips at the end of each finger to make them resemble clause.
Also, due to not having any proper grooming equipment while out in the desert, Naruto had grown a slight beard. It wasn't anything too dramatic, nor did it make him look older than he actually was, but it was something that Naruto felt needed to go. After all, he did want to look presentable on his first day of school.
BOOM!The sound of an explosion definitely caught Naruto's attention, given that you don't normally hear them in such a large city, especially at night. With a small grin on his face, the idea of stretching his muscles a bit being too much to deny, Naruto broke off into a dead sprint towards the sound of fighting. Naruto rounded the corner and had to pause for what he saw, because you wouldn't expect to see a little girl, wielding a massive scythe, beating up several armed thugs. Ah, now he knew who she was, the red cloak and silver eyes were dead giveaway.
Spotting a man trying to sneak up on her, Naruto charge forward, leapt into the air, and planted both of his feet right against the man's face. Landing back on the ground, after doing a rather stylish backflip, Naruto found himself back to back with the little girl.
"Mind if I join in?" Naruto asked, turning his head to give the little girl a slight smirk.
"Ooooooh, this is going to be so much fun!" She practically squealed before the both of them took off towards the nearest victim.
Seeing as the little girl wasn't slicing the people into pieces with her massive scythe, which could apparently double as a rifle, Naruto decided to stick to his hands and just beat these guys to a pulp! His fists were like twin blurs of bone breaking destruction, slamming into his first targets chest like jackhammers straight from hell! Finishing with one overpowered punch to the face, enough to lift the man off the ground and send him into a wall, Naruto ducked under an ax ready to remove his head and turned around to deliver a flying kick in return!
"Common, i'm not even breaking a sweat over here," Naruto taunted, thumbing his nose as he bounced around on the tips of his toes, like some guy he'd seen in a vid.
Another one charged, his weapon of choice held high for a very obvious overhead strike, only to suddenly find his world going sideways and a armored boot lodged into the side of his face. Naruto gust kept grinning, using his already staggering momentum to flip around and deliver another devastating kick to another well dressed man. This continued on until there was a small pile of men on the ground and only one remaining, who looked scared out of his mind.
"Now now, there's no need to be afraid, this is only gonna hurt for a moment," Naruto just chuckled before he was suddenly in front of the man, delivering a punch so powerful that it shattered the man's jaw.
Naruto turn just in time to see another well dressed man, although this one wore a white suit and looked much different from the others, fire an explosive shot right at the red hooded girl. The shot was no doubt aimed at her feet, meaning her life was in no real danger, but Naruto still reacted regardless. His cloak shifted as he came to a skidding stop between the shot and the girl, revealing a bit of his armor and the hilt of his sword, before his blade was ripped from its sheath and batted away the projectile.
"Well...that was unexpected," was all the white clad man said before firing another shot, this time aimed to kill.
The little girl took this as her own invitation to attack, using Naruto's shoulders as a springboard to get above everyone, before leveling the barrel of her weapon with the man's cain. A well placed shot, which was impressive for someone so young, was all it took to knock the weapon out of his hands while Naruto allowed to explosive round to sail past him and explode against a nearby wall. With both his weapon out of reach and Naruto coming at him like a speeding train, the man could only mutter one word.
"Fuck."
Everything went black.
It wasn't long before the authorities arrived, courtesy of the man whose store had been robbed, and in that time Naruto became acquainted with the little girl he had helped out. Sure enough it was the person he thought it was; a young Ms. Ruby Rose. As it turns out the only reason she was even involved was because one of those thugs tried to rob her, something of which they now clearly regretted doing, and she was apparently attending Signal Academy to learn how to become a Huntress.
"So what your name?" Ruby asked, police officers moving around them and escorting the criminals into the back of their vehicles.
"Naruto, Naruto Uzumaki."
"Ha, you got a funny last name," Ruby laughed before quickly slamming her hand over her mouth, realizing how rude she must've sounded.
Naruto left as well, lowering his hood to finally reveal what he really looked like underneath, "Yeah, I guess it is, but it makes me stand out from everyone else."
Ruby actually felt her cheeks heat up a little bit at the sight of such a, in her opinion, ruggedly handsome young man, "Well I like it."
"Thanks," Naruto smirked, while Ruby's face heated up just that much more, "I'm glad a cutie like you likes my last name so much."
"Well," a very stern and feminine voice cut in, followed by the sound of heels clicking against stone, "I'm glad the two of you could become such fast friends."
Naruto was familiar with the woman known as Glynda Goodwitch, not personally of course but her reputation was rather impressive, and the profile he had on her was apparently spot on. Being a Huntress, even if she was more of a teacher these days, had clearly kept the woman in wonderful shape; no doubt leaving many of her male students distracted in class. Even Naruto had to admit that he wouldn't mind playing naughty teacher with her, those legs went on for days!
"Um, um, um, um," Ruby tried to stammer out, clearly more afraid of the blonde haired woman than Naruto was.
"We stopped a guy trying to rob a dust store, what's the problem?" hot she may be, but a Branwen backs down to no one.
"You'll both be coming with me to answer some questions," was Glynda's response, but Naruto just stood up and readjusted his cloak.
"Are you the police, because they said we were free to go," Naruto grinned in an almost mocking way.
"No I'm…" and like that, Naruto walked right past her without so much as a second glance, heading off to find a hotel for the night.
"Then I guess I'll be seeing ya," there was something about the way he was mocking her that reminded Glynda far too much of a certain crow, especially that grin of his.
To give Ruby credit, she did try and slip away while Glynda was focused on Naruto, but unfortunately she wasn't fast enough.
"And where do you think you're going?"
As Naruto walked down the street, cloak blowing lightly in the wind, he couldn't help but go back to that desert and remember everything he went through there. He pulled out a flask from the confines of his cloak, twisted open the cap, and took a small sip. The liquid burned going down, but it was a comforting burn. This job was gonna take a while.
Sure enough, Naruto did end up finding a rather cheap hotel to stay at. The bed was lumpy, the shower barely even worked, and Naruto was pretty sure there was still dried blood on the bathroom mirror, but it was cheap and out-of-the-way. So, with nothing left to do for the rest of the night, the young Branwen decided to relax. That is until he heard the sound of knocking at his door, which was rather strange considering no one even knew he was in the city.
Knock!Knock!Knock!
"Yeah I'm coming, I'm coming!" Naruto shouted as he finally got up from his bed, not even bothering to put his shirt back on, and walked over to the door with his knife held behind his back.
Opening up the door, Naruto wasn't expecting a rather attractive young woman to be standing on the other side. She was rather fair skinned, had long black hair and bright amber eyes. Her sharp facial features, combined with the way her eyes seemed to glow, gave her a rather dangerous and appealing appearance. Especially with her dark red, off the shoulder, V-neck mini dress with a yellow border. She practically screamed trouble.
"Naruto Uzumaki?" Dear Lord, even her voice was dark and seductive, Naruto felt the urge to play along.
"The one and only," Naruto flipped his blade around into reverse grip, "But I have a feeling you already knew that."
The woman smirked slightly, apparently amused, "We have a mutual friend, one that expects us to work together in the coming months."
"Oh, I get it now," Naruto grinned in an almost mocking way, "If that's the case, then why don't you come inside?"
"I'm afraid I have other business to attend to, but I was instructed to give you this," the woman reached down the middle of her dress, clearly attempting to steal Naruto's gaze with the way her hands slowly moved about her cleavage, before pulling out a simple piece of folded paper.
Naruto reached out to take the piece of paper, his blue eyes never breaking away from her amber ones, and he could've sworn he saw flash of fire within them. She was dangerous, which was unfortunate because Naruto like dangerous woman.
Said woman then suddenly reached out and grabbed Naruto's hand, only to find a blade pressed up against her throat and her back slammed against the door. Her mocking smile never wavered for a second, but then again neither did Naruto's.
"Cinder," she practically purred, "Welcome to Vale."
Naruto lowered his weapon and shook his hand free from her grasp, noting the way it almost felt burned. "Thanks, I can't wait for us to start working more closely."
Meanwhile, several thousand miles away from the city of Vale, a lone bandit camp could be found in the middle of the large forest. A massive tent stood proudly in the middle of the camp, surrounded by smaller tents and a large wall made of wooden spikes, but it was the person inside this tent that was really important. After all, she was the proud mother of Naruto Branwen.
Raven knew that her actions didn't make her mother of the year, half the time she didn't even believe she deserved a happy life, but none that change the fact that she dearly missed her son. Her Naruto, who she watched grow from an innocent little boy into a warrior that would make any one in the Branwen tribe proud. She thought they would always be together, that they would be unstoppable, but then Naruto left.
She could understand why he did it, what teenager didn't want to go out and see the world, but that didn't make it hurt any less. Now Raven understood why Qrow drank so much, given that she was now slowly sipping on a brandy and look like she hadn't slept in days. Her hair was a mess, she had dark bags under her eyes, and the wrinkles she got from frowning made her look much older than she actually was. Not to mention that her armor was practically thrown all over the place and her sword was embedded in a wooden beam.
"Stupid brat," Raven grumbled as she took another sip of her drink, "Taking too much after me. Why did you have to inherit that to? Why can't you have been more like Tai? Been unwaveringly loyal, even to the point of stupidity."
Raven could still remember all the fun she used to have with her little Naruto, away from the other members of the tribe and where she could just be a happy mother. Even when they were just training together; she really just wanted to see him again.
"Leader," a random member of the tribe suddenly called out, opening the flap to Raven's tent, only for a knife to suddenly whiz past his face.
"I said that I didn't want to be disturbed," Raven's eyes almost glowed, a clear sign that she was more temperamental than normal.
"It's important," Raven's eyes narrowed even more, making the man sweat, "It's about Naruto."
Raven's eyes took on a new emotion, one that honestly scared the man more than her anger ever could. It was an emotion that could only be described as obsession, pure and simple.
Raven was up and in the man's face in an instant, the alcohol on her breath almost making him wince, "Tell me."
"One of our informants said that someone matching his description arrived in Vale earlier today. They described him almost perfectly, even mentioning the scars on his cheeks, and they even sent a picture," the man hastily answered, pulling out his scroll and showing the picture to Raven.
The red eyed woman's eyes widened at the side of her son, who looked much more mature despite only being gone for less than a year. She liked the beard though, it reminded her of when Tai grew his out, but it looks better on Naruto. Then there was his state of dress, which told Raven he clearly been in his fair share of battles and came out victorious.
"Send this picture to me and then inform the others that I'll be leaving for a few days," Raven suddenly ordered, her mind suddenly razor-sharp now that she had a lead to go off of.
"Yes ma'am."
Raven sat down on her bed, pulling out the larger of her two scrolls and pulling up the pictures she just been sent. She gazed down upon its with a loving expression, tracing her hand over the image. It had been so worrying, especially when she found out that she couldn't open a portal to her own son, but now she knew where he was.
"Don't worry, Naruto, mama is coming," Raven pause when a foul stench finally reached her nose, "After a very long shower and a full night's rest."
She found her baby boy and she wasn't going to let anything, or anyone, stand between them.
The glass picture of the two of them, which sat on Raven's bed stand, suddenly cracked. Most would've found it ominous, the way the crack ran through Raven's face and then down to the image of a baby Naruto.
In the highest tower, of Beacon Academy, sat a gray-haired man sipping on a cup of coffee. This man's name was Ozpin, the headmaster of said academy and a man of many secrets. Playing in front of him was recording of a fight that took place not a few hours ago, between two individuals and one Roman Torchwick. Glynda Gloodwitch, the headmistress and his right hand, had managed to talk to one of the fighters and even secured Ozpin a brief visit with them. Ruby Rose would now be attending Beacon Academy a few years ahead of schedule, but it was a second fighter that remained in the dark.
"Now, why are you so familiar to me, Mr. Uzumaki?" Ozpin asked himself as he stared harder at the footage, knowing that this teenager was someone he'd met before but couldn't place where.
The boys records said that he was self-taught and managed to pass the basic exams to get into an Academy, but there was just something off about it. It was the way he moved that really drew Ozpin's gaze, or more specifically how it was so familiar. If he didn't know better, Ozpin could've sworn he was
looking at Raven, or at least someone taught by her.
"It could be her son, but Qrow had even confirmed the boy's death at the hands of the Grimm," Glynda said as she to observe the man fighting on the screen, still remembering how irritating that stupid smirk of his was.
"That's true, Qrow did say that he saw the boy's grave and that he'd never seen Raven so heartbroken. Still, make sure you keep an eye on him while he's here. Were too late in the game for an unknown party and everything needs to go just as planned," there is something different in his tone, Glynda noted, something ancient.
"You're playing a dangerous game, headmaster," Glynda never liked how manipulative Ozpin could be, especially after what she saw him do to manipulate Ruby.
"I've been at this game for a long time and it's time for it to end," Ozpin sighed, taking another sip of his coffee, "This will be the generation that ends the game."
"Very well, we will have cameras set up in the dorm that he gets placed into and monitor him closely," Glynda said before exiting his office, leaving the headmaster alone to once again watch the fight.
His eyes narrowed dangerously, "What your game, Salem?"