Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, and I don't own RWBY.
Chapter 10: The Mission
The wilderness was expansive. It stretched out for miles and miles, swallowing everything. Every so often, a small town, a collection of buildings and walls, would perforate through the trees, only to be passed over quickly.
Though Naruto had traveled through such areas for weeks before, it was a completely different experience to see it all from above. One couldn't truly ever see all of it. From above, one couldn't see the life it had, the extent of the creatures living in it. While Grimm may have run rampant, there were all manner of animals living beneath them as they flew.
But from within the forest, one couldn't see just how far it extended, how far into the horizon it went. From above, they could. Even with how far they had gone, they still hadn't reached their destination. Even Naruto was amazed, and he had lived his entire life in the middle of the largest forest in his world.
As they flew, Team MDNT asked several questions to the man, Imperius. Melissa was the first to break the silence amongst them, "So… You said you met Naruto before?"
He took his gaze off of the forest, turning to face the leader of the team shadowing him, "Yes, I have. I witnessed him attack a group of Atlesian students."
Melissa frowned, glancing at Naruto, "Why did you attack them, Naruto?"
Naruto sighed, not looking from the horizon as he answered, "Simple. They taunted me with my heritage. Called me a filthy animal. I just felt like I should prove them right."
"But- I- Why-" Melissa seemed torn between disappointment and anger. The disappointment was directed at both groups involved, while the anger was given only to the other students, for their racism. It wasn't hard for someone to see that Melissa couldn't stand for racism, between her attacking Cardin and the attitude she had taken towards the White Fang. Hell, she even seemed to have a problem with Yang's nickname for Naruto, given how she had stopped using it.
"But I still don't get how that led to you two meeting," she continued. Naruto glanced behind himself, at Imperius. He sighed to himself, as if pondering something.
"Well, he showed up when the fight was about to start. I probably would have been fine against them, but he came in and knocked all four of them out cold in an instant. I'm not even sure how he did it."
"That's a good question, Naruto," Melissa stated. She turned to the mystery man. "So, how did you knock all of them out?"
Imperius ignored her question at first, "You know, boy, that wasn't terrifically smart. All you did was copy what the White Fang does. You terrorized some racists, and set them even more firmly in their beliefs. They might act more respectful of Faunus, but they're always going to think of them as wild animals because of how you handled them." He faced Melissa. "And don't worry. You'll see how I beat them once we track down this person who destroyed two villages. Which reminds me: When we fight whoever it is, you all must obey my commands to the letter. Someone who can destroy a town the way the reports say this person did has incredible skill and power. If I tell you to run, you must run as far as you can. Understood?"
Each of them nodded. He seemed satisfied, and turned back to the woods. Troy asked the next question, "How were the villages destroyed?"
Imperius sighed. He seemed hesitant to answer, and gave a vague answer, to avoid it, "You'll see once we get there. Remember, this is a tracking mission. We'll be searching for clues as to where this person went."
"Are we sure it was just one person?" asked Naruto, raising a good point.
Imperius closed his eyes, thinking back to the only person who had survived either of the attacks. She had been so traumatized and confused that she could barely even tell them that 'someone' had destroyed her village. When they had investigated, they found the nearest village had also been destroyed. He opened his eyes, looking at the young Faunus, "No, we're not. But that's another thing we're meant to find out. We need to know who did this."
"So, it might just be bandits?" Troy asked. Imperius thought a moment, then nodded.
"It may well be. But there would need to be an exceedingly large amount of bandits to take both towns."
"So, how do we plan on finding them?" Melissa asked. Imperius held up his hand.
"Please, enough questions. You'll get your answers when we arrive."
Team MDNT obeyed, not wanting him to end the mission before it began. They dispersed, with Melissa sitting down next to Naruto.
"So, any ideas?" she tested. He shook his head.
"No, none. I'm not sure why you thought I would, though," he answered, with a raised eyebrow at her.
"Hey, I was just starting up a conversation, Naruto. No need for that. Well, do you think it could be the White Fang?" she continued.
He shrugged, with a small, "Could be."
"Are you worried about your girlfriend?" Melissa teased. He rolled his eyes.
"No, not really. Blake's more than capable, you know. In fact, she's probably better than you…"
"Hey!" she shot, before noticing Naruto was laughing. "Oh, you ass."
"Hey, when you make it so easy, I would be rude to pass up the chance."
"So, what do you know about him?" She queried, motioning to Imperius.
"Eh, not much. He's fast, though. And since he's apparently a veteran huntsman, it's possible that's not even his semblance."
"Really? He's fast? Like, you and Ruby fast?" Melissa asked incredulously, staring at the man.
"Maybe. Though, like I've said, it's possible it's not his semblance. It's also possible that it is. I don't know," Naruto explained.
Melissa blinked in amazement. She had though Ruby and Naruto were both fast, but according to Naruto, this guy might be even faster. And if he was, he might still have a semblance to make him even deadlier than he already seemed.
She had obviously heard stories about huntsmen; everybody had. It was the kind of thing parents used to comfort their kids, or even to spook them, like the boogeyman. However, she had never actually heard about one's abilities, only the feats they could perform. She stared at the back of the apparently incredible warrior, amazed. It just reminded her of why she wanted to be a huntress.
She turned back to Naruto, still marveling at the huntsman in her head. Her thoughts, however, were quickly taken over by the sudden appearance of some strange orange marks around Naruto's eyes. She was going to ask about them, but before she got the chance, they faded, leaving her even more confused. Naruto looked pleased, from the grin and the way his eyes lit up once they opened.
"Why are you so happy all of a sudden?" Melissa asked, being oblivious to the achievement Naruto had just managed. She didn't know what Sage Mode was, or what it entailed. Naruto, however, knew exactly what he had just accomplished, and felt like he should get some kind of praise for it. Then he blinked, having heard Melissa's question, but not the words. He turned to her, still grinning.
"Uh- What?" he answered her question with one of his own.
"Why are you so happy now?" she repeated.
"Oh, uh, I'm just excited for a mission. I felt like I was getting rusty, ya know?"
"Ooookay…" Melissa replied. "So… What was up with your eyes just there? Why did they have orange around them?"
She didn't notice, but Naruto had a brief moment of panic inside his head. He had been a tiny bit careless, and let her see his Sage Mode. Luckily for him, he was saved from explained by Imperius suddenly shouting out, "We'll be arriving in a moment! Prepare your landing strategy!"
Using preparations as a pretense for ignoring the question, Naruto stood, and began a few stretches, to ready himself for a landing. Imperius yelled again, "ON 3! 1! 2! 3! GO!"
They each jumped out of the Bullhead at the same time, just above a wide, earthy clearing in the forest. Naruto shot down towards it, pumping his legs full of chakra to reinforce them for the impact with the ground. He flipped over in midair, pointing his legs straight at the ground, and hit it at full speed, with no injuries.
Melissa calmly dropped out of the Bullhead, not bothering to do anything for most of the hundred story drop. Then, within a hundred feet of the ground, she began to slow herself with her semblance, touching down with ease next to Naruto. Troy and Diana appeared next to them, both fine.
Their huntsman touched down last, not even fazed by the hard landing. He examined each of them, then directed them, "Right, fan out and look for any clues as to where our objective may have headed."
Team MDNT all looked confused, turning to each other before looking back at Imperius. Naruto asked the same question all of them were thinking, "Uh, aren't we supposed to go to the village first?"
Looking around, the man gestured to everything around them. Only then did Team MDNT realize they were actually in a crater, and it was filled with rubble. "I'm afraid, Naruto, that this is the village. Or at least, what's left of it," Imperius explained, turning back to them. "Do you all see now why I specifically instructed for each of you to obey me when the battle comes? A fate similar to the villagers may await you if you don't.
Now, as you look for clues, I also want each of you to keep an eye out for any survivors. It's possible there may be a few still here. This village was only destroyed about a week ago." They nodded in confirmation, the dashed off to search.
Naruto immediately began to search the edges of the village, where most of the rubble had ended up. The walls at the top of the crater were in shambles, with huge sections missing from them. He wasn't exactly a stranger to death, but he had never before seen such a massacre before. Even when the snake had attacked Konoha, the ninja had protected almost everybody.
But this as different. He could practically feel the blood all around him, splattered across the stones around the bodies, the bodies that seemed to be clawing for life even now. He found very little, only them and the rubble. The closest thing he had to a clue was a tiny amount of fabric that didn't look like it had been worn by one of the villagers. He shrugged it off as something a huntsman had worn, not worth scrutinizing over.
He began to search the surrounding woods, only to find even more death and destruction. Whoever had done this had to be some kind of sick person, some kind of psycho. They had killed an entire village worth of people, for no apparent reason. Regardless of what Imperius said, Naruto decided, he would kill the one who did this.
"This isn't much different than some of the acts your precious Konoha committed. The ninja of the Elemental Nations are the most ruthless creatures of all."
'This coming from a Bijū? One that destroyed a large amount of the Leaf?'
"That was not my fault. I was forced into doing that by an Uchiha, one with a Mangekyou Sharingan."
'Wait, you what? A Mangekyou? Was it Itachi?'
"No, brat, it wasn't. He was barely a boy at that time."
'Who was it then?'
"We can discuss this at a later date. It doesn't matter to you either way. You seem to have no chance of ever returning to your world."
'Fine. I'll ask again after this mission.'
Melissa decided that, since it was a crater, anything of note was probably pushed to the edges of the village. Seeing Naruto run off to one side, she went to the other. But, as with Naruto, all she was met with was the sight of death. But unlike Naruto, she had never seen anything like this. As someone who grew up in Vale, the sight of so many corpses laid about caused her to feel sick. She bent over, retching, both from sight and smell.
Troy and Diana moved around within the crater, searching amongst the rubble for any clue, any hint as to who could have done this. Even Diana wasn't smiling, not at something like this. She still had her boundless energy, however, as she zipped all over the place, from rubble pile to rubble pile. All they found was a collection of footprints directly in the middle of the crater, where the blast had to have come from.
They didn't realize what it meant for a moment, but Troy frowned a moment later. For there to be footprints in the middle of the crater, then whoever made it had to have walked to the center afterwards. What was confusing wasn't that there were footprints at the epicenter of the blast.
It was that there were none anywhere else in the entire crater. They looked around, but the only ones they were able to find were a set of seven. At the least, they knew the minimum amount of people involved.
For several hours more, the students searched, but were unable to find anything of note, beyond the prints in the middle. Imperius looked over them, carefully. He examined them closely, saying he may be able to learn something from them.
"Look here," he said, pointing to the edges of one of them. "See how shallow this one is, compared to this one?" He pointed to another one. "It looks as though whoever made several of these only stood around for a few moments, not long enough to leave much of an impression in the dirt."
"And? What does that mean?" Naruto asked.
Imperius looked up, "Well, Troy said it seemed like they spoke after the blast, given the prints. But if they only stood about for a second or two, they couldn't have. So then, why were they here? Furthermore, why are two of the footprints much deeper than the other five?
These questions don't mean much to you four, but to a veteran huntsman, every detail is important. But, seeing as there seems to be nothing else of note in this entire destroyed town, we need to go to the next one." He looked up at the moon. "However, it seems to be far too late to move today. We'll make camp here, where we can see any Grimm approaching. Melissa, if you will, take first watch. Your weapon appears to be suited for this."
The leader of Team MDNT nodded firmly, then jumped up onto a large pile of rubble near to the camp the rest of her team was making. She kept her eyes fixed on the edges of the crater, scanning nearby to them every so often. Throughout her watch, all she saw were a few Grimm far in the distance.
Eventually, she woke Naruto, and gave him the next turn on watch. He climbed to her position, as she went to sleep. There he sat, absorbing Natural Energy. He entered his perfected Sage Mode, orange pigmentation appearing around his eyes. With his Sage Mode active, he was able to scan the area without even needing to focus. He could only sense a few Grimm, and they were all in the forest, far away on the edge of the old town.
Deciding he had more than enough energy, Naruto just kept replenishing his Sage chakra all night, since it was the best way to keep an eye on the Grimm. Besides, he wouldn't get tired while in Sage Mode, since one of its key factors was an increased healing rate. It allowed for his brain to keep functioning normally, without needing to sleep.
In the morning, Melissa scolded him when she saw he was still up on the rubble. He was supposed to have only kept his vigil for an hour, then woken Troy for his turn. But in the middle of her lecture, she noticed he didn't seem tired at all. Her first thought was that he slept on his watch.
After a rather long morning's worth of scolding, Team MDNT was off with their assigned huntsmen, walking down a path that led through the forest, to the next town. According to Imperius, this one was destroyed the same way. Though it was apparently the closest village to the last one, it would still take them a little over two days to get to it.
And so, they walked. The first day was spent doing just that. Of course, on Remnant, a peaceful walk through the woods is nearly nonexistent. Within an hour, the five of them found themselves attacked by a pack of Beowolves.
"Hm," was Imperius's reaction. "Well, this is perfect." He whirled around to face them, with the pack swiftly approaching. "I want to each to show me what you are capable of. Show me where all your training has gotten you to."
Naruto grinned, jumping over the man to stab a lunging Beowolf into the ground. He pulled Reppumeiyo out of it, with his crazy smile still on his face, "Well? Come on, guys! Let's kill some Grimm!"
Melissa laughed, jumping into a nearby tree and pulling out her rifle. One Grimm, two Grimm, three Grimm, four. Again and again, she shot off her gun, each time blowing the brains out of a Beowolf.
Troy sighed, pulling out his knives. He charged towards a Beowolf, sliding under it and slashing as he went. With its legs cut off, the Beowolf fell to the ground. Troy stood, and stabbed it to death. He turned to the rest of the pack, the part that Naruto wasn't wading through, and began to kill them one by one.
Diana squealed with delight, as she knocked aside another Grimm. Then another, and another. Oh, how good it felt to be smacking them aside so easily. She held her blade flat, and spun in a single circle, hitting several Grimm with the blunt edge of her blade.
Naruto was having the time of his life. He could go from one Grimm to the next with ease, barely spending any effort on them. He slashed at one, changing his sword to a pistol as he did, and shot at another. Both died, and he moved to his next victim.
Imperius watched each of the students with interest. For a team that had apparently been working together for months, they lacked any kind of actual teamwork. Oh, sure, they could fight on the same battlefield as the others, but they didn't actually work together.
Troy was a systematic killer, using largely the same three different tactics for each Beowolf. Diana enjoyed the fight too much, and didn't actually land any killing blows. Melissa only took out the stragglers, not any that may have helped her team. Naruto was similar to Troy, but much more unpredictable in his moves.
Imperius sighed to himself. One thing they would need to work on was definitely teamwork. Without it, they would never be able to stand up to other teams, or even just more powerful Grimm.
Eventually, the entire pack was dead, and Team MDNT stood proudly over their victory. Imperius said nothing, and simply motioned for them to follow him. The battle had held them up for nearly two hours. There certainly a lot of Grimm.
Several more hours of walking later, the five were attacked by yet another Grimm. This time, it was a Deathstalker, and a rather large one at that. Imperius, seeing it approach through the woods, told them to fight it the same as they had fought the Beowolves earlier.
His intention was to show them they would need to work together to defeat this monster. After all, no first year student could take down a Deathstalker on their own. Melissa looked at her team, and they seemed to come to some sort of agreement. She ran to the opposite side of the road, jumping up into another tree, sniper at the ready.
Naruto extended his arm, doing… something, while Troy and Diana ran towards the great beast. Troy stabbed at its legs, then its tail, then began to strike at any exposed point he could find. Diana leapt onto its back, stabbing at the bony armor. Naruto, however, didn't move. Imperius was about to tell him to help, but stopped when he saw aura gather in the boy's hand.
As he watched, a magnificent blue sphere of aura formed, growing larger. As it grew to the size of a baseball, Imperius looked at Naruto's face, only to see it was contorted with effort. His attention was ripped off of the Faunus's face when he heard a large explosion.
He close his eyes from the brightness of the blast, and when he opened them, Naruto had stumbled backwards, clutching his arm. Imperius could see why. All up the boy's arm, there was a fresh scar, seeming to spiral outwards from his palm.
"Naruto, I must ask you what it was you just did. I've never seen anything like that before," he requested. Naruto looked at him, still clearly in pain.
"Y-Yeah, sure. Sometime," Naruto got out. Imperius turned his attention back to the Deathstalker, which was getting annoyed, obviously. Whatever it was that Naruto had done, it seemed to be the trump card Team MDNT had planned on using. Troy and Melissa had done little damage, and Diana hadn't fared much better. Troy was smacked away by the stinger just as he was about to slash at the left set of legs. Diana swiped at the stinger, being just able to cut it off.
The Deathstalker shook her off, and she was sent into a tree. It covered itself with its pincers, feeling the bullets from Melissa. Seeing it was hopeless, Imperius stepped in.
Naruto couldn't tell what it was Imperius did, but the front of the Deathstalker was soon cut off of the rest of it. As the Grimm dissolved, he looked to the man questioningly. Imperius turned around, and pulled some bandages from a pouch beneath his coat, "Come here, Naruto." He wrapped the bandages around Naruto's arm, all the down and over his hand once.
Naruto tested the bandages. Well, at least it was still fully mobile. That was good.
That night, Imperius sat them all around the campfire. They were situated in the middle of a small clearing, one which would hopefully make it hard for any Grimm to sneak up on them. When they were all sitting down, he looked at each one of them in turn, before turning to the campfire, with his eyes shut.
"You all…" He began. "Are the least coordinated band of misfits I've ever had shadow me. And that's saying quite a lot. You all work individually of each other, relying on your own power to survive each fight. While this may work against single opponents or basic Grimm, it will lead to your death against more powerful Grimm, or large groups of enemies. Even today, against the Deathstalker, you staked everything on that technique of Naruto's. But surely, you knew it might fail? And yet, you all had no contingency plan, none at all."
He paused, waiting for a response from any of them. They each sat silently, realizing how little they'd fought or even trained together. Melissa was always off training against Grimm with her gun, while Troy and Diana were always in the city. And Naruto seemed to spend most of his time with the members of Team RWBY. All in all, they only ever actually all fought together, except today, way back during initiation. And even then, they had split into two teams, one for each side of the chasm.
"So, do each of you see where I'm coming from, what I'm getting at?" Imperius asked. They each nodded, accepting it. "Good. Tomorrow, I want you all to fight as a team, not as a group. Now, Naruto, you take the first watch. And this time, at least try to wake someone else up."
Naruto nodded, and jumped into a tree nearby. As before, back in the crater, he began to draw on the Natural Energy around him. Soon enough, he was back in Sage Mode. He made note of his four comrades, and the scattering of Grimm.
An hour later, he frowned. There was a large Grimm headed towards them, high in the air. A Nevermore. He leapt down into the camp, waking his team quickly, "NEVERMORE!"
In an instant, Imperius was up, staring down the Grimm fiercely. "Get back!" he ordered the students. They fell back, Melissa taking a position near the tree line while the others stood in front of her by a few feet. Naruto watched carefully this time, making sure he saw what the huntsman did.
The Nevermore approached the camp at breakneck speed. Within an instant, it could practically have eaten Imperius. But from nowhere, it fell from the sky, head severed, with the huntsman not having moved at all.
"What… What just happened?" Naruto asked, his teammates nodding in agreement with his question.
"Well, that takes care of that," Imperius declared flatly. He turned back to face them. "Good work, Naruto. Now, I believe it is Troy's turn on watch. Mr. Davores, if you will."
Troy nodded, and climbed into the tree behind Melissa. "The rest of you, including you, Naruto, get some rest. You'll need it in the morning."
The rest of them went back to the camp, which was miraculously untouched by the Nevermore's attack. Naruto laid down, but he didn't try to sleep. He reentered Sage Mode, thinking to help Troy keep an eye on the camp. For the next several hours, until it was his turn on watch, he kept it up, but never felt anymore Grimm approach them.
The next morning, they were back on the road to the destroyed village. They were getting closer, at least according to Imperius. He said they might even arrive by the end of the day. Of course, being the wilds of Remnant, Grimm were practically everywhere, and attacked every so often. Imperius insisted they fight them as a team, and they tried. Now that they were made aware of how little they worked together, it was painfully obvious in an actual battle.
Naruto was probably the one who worked best with them, barring Troy and Diana, thanks to his previous team experience. Even so, he was more than a little out of practice. The last time he had fought together with somebody was against the strange not-Itachi, but that was over a year ago.
Though Team MDNT was able to kill all the Grimm, with little enough difficulty, Imperius told them it would be far easier if they worked together. They set off down the road again, and by the time the sun was setting, they could see the walls of a town in the distance.
By the time they reach the town, the sun had set in the sky, but the moon was quite up yet. Once again, the town was naught but a crater, rubble scattered about inside and out. "Dear lord…" Melissa muttered. Not just once, but twice, a group had destroyed an entire village, leaving behind only a crater. And if they had been using a bomb of some kind, then just how many did they have? Where did they get them?
Seeing they would get nowhere in the dark, the five warriors spent the night on the outskirts of the town, preparing to enter it in the morning. This time, the night was uneventful, not a single Grimm attack.
Morning came, and brought with it a rather grim day. The clouds signified the impending storm, meaning they would have to work fast, to find anything before the rain washed it away. They split up once more, to cover more ground. Drawing the crater from above, with the gate at the bottom, Naruto got the top left, Troy got the top right, Melissa got the bottom left, and Diana got the bottom right.
Naruto was off in an instant, with Troy following along. Diana and Melissa each started at the gate, and began to work their way around. Imperius initially worked along with Melissa, asking her, "So, Ms. Mikeham, what drives you to be a huntress? What is your reason for being at Beacon?"
Melissa sighed, looking over a pile of rubble, "I was born in Vale. Everyone always talked about how huntsmen and huntresses were the greatest heroes in the world, and I wanted to be just like them. Then one day, my dad got killed by a Beowolf while he was out gathering wood. So now, I hunt for vengeance."
"Hm," Imperius left, traveling to Diana's section next.
Once there he asked the same question of the rainbow girl, and she responded in a rather basic way, "Because it's fun! And I get to beat up the White Fang sometimes!"
"Oh? Is that it?"
"Yep!"
He made off towards Naruto's section, finding the boy nearing the middle of the crater.
"So, Mr. Uzumaki. Why do you wish to be a huntsman?"
"I don't. Not really, anyways," Naruto answered. He sighed, looking down, and made a face as if he was talking with someone. "But, I do it anyways. I've only ever been taught to fight, so I'll fight. Besides, maybe this way I'll be able to save more people than if I were to do anything else."
"A strange answer, I admit. Well, farewell for now."
As the last member of Team MDNT, Imperius spoke with Troy last, "And what about you, Mr. Davores? Why do you train to hunt?"
Troy answered with a straight face, as he shifted a large pile of rubble, "I want to get revenge on a man who killed my little brother."
"Who was this man?" Imperius asked. Troy shook his head, indicating he didn't know. "Then how do you plan to avenge your brother?"
"I don't. It's simply a goal that drives me onwards. The motivation that I might one day kill the man is why I went to Beacon."
"Ah, well. Interesting," Imperius left Troy to search, and traveled towards the center of the blast zone. He wanted to see if it was consistent. He found Naruto and Melissa, both hunched over the footprints. Melissa also seemed to be looked around for something, but Imperius didn't know what. As he got nearer, he found his theory was correct.
"Mr. Resdomindo? There's something I don't get about these craters," Melissa called out to him.
"And what would that be, Melissa?" he asked, kneeling down next to the prints. Different levels of shallowness, just like before.
"Well, I'm not an expert by any means, believe me. But… well, if a bomb did all this, where's the shrapnel?"
Imperius smiled beneath his collar. It seemed some of his team was smarter than they let on. Melissa had noticed something he also had. "It's possible that the shrapnel was either disintegrated with the blast, or pushed away from the center by it. But let us suppose it didn't. If that were the case, then that would mean that this crater was made by something other than a bomb," Imperius gave her his theory.
Melissa frowned. The huntsman continued, "In other words, if that is the case, then whoever did this did it using a semblance, or something similar. Do bear in mind, of course, that this is only a slim chance. I personally have never heard of a semblance that could do this much damage to anything."
Naruto looked up, "These footprints… they're in the same exact positions as before. Down to the same size and shallowness."
Imperius looked down. The boy was right, though it didn't mean much. Chances were, they did the same thing after each blast. "Well, that's negligible. Perhaps it's a protocol they follow," Imperius responded. Naruto nodded, but didn't look too convinced. "Regardless, it doesn't mean much. It would appear this is where the trail runs cold."
Troy appeared, having finished his section, "You said this was the nearest village, right? Where's the next closest one?"
Imperius raised both eyebrows in surprise. It would make the most sense, all things considered. "About a hundred miles, give or take. It would take us another two days to get there," he answered. "Although, with no better option, that's what we'll do."
"How long apart did each of these attacks happen?" Melissa asked.
"Roughly a week. If the theory of the nearest town is correct, it will be completely destroyed, but only for a few days. That is, if the timeframe is consistent. Let's move. Troy, get Diana, then head to the north end of the village. We'll be waiting."
Troy nodded, then went to get the rainbow girl, who still hadn't finished searching apparently. Imperius turned to the other two students, "If he's correct, then time is of the essence. It's been about eleven days since the attack on this village, and assuming a week passes between each attack, then we only have a few days to track down these people before they strike again. Now, to the north."
The three made their way over the piles of rubble, headed to the north. Troy and Diana were waiting, the former bearing a grim expression. Imperius addressed them as a group, "We need to hurry. If Troy is correct, then we need to know and be able to get to the town after within three days. Any later, and we'll lose another village."
He took off running. Team MDNT followed behind him, with Melissa raising an eyebrow at Naruto for how he ran with his arms dangling backwards. He kept glancing at the trees, for some reason. All of a sudden, he shouted out, "I'm going to go faster!"
Imperius, for some reason, nodded, allowing Naruto to go ahead. Instead of, as Melissa expected, vanishing like he did when he used his semblance, he jumped up into a tree, rustling the leaves when he broke through them. But when she tried to follow suit, she could see that he was already much further ahead than them, while she could barely jump from tree to tree.
"Wow… That's… a strangely useful skill," Melissa said to herself, wondering why Naruto was so good at moving through trees. She dropped back down onto the road, running at a high speed once more. Thanks to all the training they'd been doing for so many months now, each student's stamina reserves were rather high, at least to a normal person.
But of course, they weren't infinite. Eventually, Troy stopped, breathing heavily. Melissa soon followed suit, with Imperius stopping briefly only to tell them to catch up later. Troy raised his right hand, still doubled over, and gestured for Melissa to come closer. She grabbed his arm, and, as with Diana against Torchwick, they vanished.
Though the group stopped at night, after Troy and Melissa had caught up to them, their sleep was brief. Naruto, even though he had been going through trees for hours now, volunteered for first watch, breathing heavily. He insisted he would be able to stay awake.
In the morning, Naruto was still on watch, but looked fully revitalized. Not even bothering this time, the group took off again. Imperius said they would arrive around midday, with how fast they were able to move. All yesterday, they had been leaving Grimm in the dust, not even bothering to fight them. The trend continued today, except for when a King Taijitu blocked the road. Before any of them arrived, Naruto was already fighting it. He was moving too fast for them to track, and something he did violently exploded the center of it. It vanished in the fashion of a dead Grimm, and they continued.
Imperius was right, and they arrived at the village around noon. But, unfortunately, Troy was also correct. Identical to the other two, the village was little more than a crater. The only difference was that there were still fires burning in this one, giving away how recent the attack was. Imperius directed them the same as yesterday, and once more, they split off of each other.
Imperius headed straight for the center, not wasting even a moment. Once more, there was no shrapnel. But by now, he was doubting it was a bomb. Each village was practically a mirror image of the others. Had an explosion caused this, there would have been different features still standing, and on top of that, there likely would have been blackened earth, as a result of the heat of the explosion. But the earth was smooth, like it had been compressed into itself.
Naruto searched his section quickly, not expecting anything major to show up. He shifted around several piles of rubble, checked under many of the bodies, and even put out a lot of fires, but he wasn't able to find anything. In truth, he felt this stop was probably pointless. They knew where this group was headed next, and could probably stop them if they hurried. But, huntsman's orders.
Melissa, even from the air, found little more than rubble. By now, the bodies, while disgusting, were par for the course. The smell still got to her though. She swept over her area quickly, wanting to avoid it as much as possible. Even fresh, the smell of decay was awful. Shaking her head at the futility of her search, she made her way to the center.
Troy was pushing over a large pillar that was blocking his way when, out of the silence, he heard a cough. It was hoarse and raspy, the cough of needing water. He followed the noise to a pile of stone wreckage. Fast as he could, he tore down the pile, revealing a survivor just underneath all of it. Quickly, he whipped out his canteen of water, ensuring the man could live.
With some difficulty, the man choked down the water, and began to try and say something. Troy put the man on his back and went to Imperius. Imperius stared at him strangely, but took the man from him, laying him down gently against some destroyed doors. Once more, the man coughed, and tried once again to speak, "Ma… oak… lou…"
They couldn't make out much of what he said, but Imperius asked him anyways, "Easy, now. Who did all this? Did you see them?"
The man coughed again, but began to speak in simple sentences, "Don't know. Couldn't count. Saw man wearing black. Woman, too."
"Do you know what destroyed the village? As in, the specific thing they did?"
The man shook his head. Imperius sighed, and turned to Team MDNT, "Well, we'll need to wait with him until a Bullhead arrives. Once it's here, we'll continue on to the next village…" He paused as he looked up. "No… scratch that. We'll have to spend the night in the crater. We'll get on to the next village tomorrow. With luck, we'll get there tomorrow night. If so, we'll be just in time to stop the attack. We may even see our foe on the way there."
The team nodded, and sat. Eventually, Diana showed up, and Imperius relayed to her the plan for the mission as of that moment. She also agreed to it, and each of them began to set up the camp for the night.
The Bullhead arrived, and Naruto pointed something out just before it left, "Wait… Why not just go to the next village using the Bullhead? Why haven't we done that already?"
Imperius nodded, "You know, that's a good idea. Everyone, get on."
They climbed onto the Bullhead, collapsing camp quickly. The airship rose of the ground, and began towards their target. The nearest village was roughly three days walk away, meaning it would take about an hour or two to get to it via Bullhead.
During the flight, having some time, Melissa wanted an answer to something that had been bugging her. Two things, actually, but only one seemed important. He was sat similarly to how he had a few days ago, at the edge, watching in wonder.
She sat down next to him, looking at him suspiciously, "So, how is it that you just aren't tired this mission? You haven't slept at all."
He shrugged, not giving a verbal response. She scowled, "Naruto, come on. Give me an answer. I'm your teammate; you can trust me."
"I've been getting more than enough sleep. Besides, I don't usually need much to begin with."
"Ugh… Fine. Then, why do you know how to travel by tree so well?" she continued, seeing she was getting nowhere otherwise.
"It's a skill people in my village were taught. It helps us get around, with all the trees that were around us," Naruto evaded. He wasn't necessarily lying, but he wasn't about to say he was a dimension-traveling ninja just to explain how he could jump from tree to tree. Melissa groaned, and walked away.
"This mission seems pointless."
'Well, maybe to you. But you could do that kind of damage to a village.'
"Hmph. Indeed. To think that this world's warriors could be so powerful… Delightful. It means that this world wouldn't be entirely boring once I break free."
'Not gonna happen. You're not hurting these people. You don't even have a reason here.'
"Do you think I need one?"
'Could you at least hold off on trying until I get back to the Elemental Nations, like you said before?'
"Fine."
'Thanks. So, what do you think caused those craters? Imperius thinks it wasn't a bomb, but what about you?'
"I don't know, brat. Once more, you forget I'm as new to this world as you.
'Well, you're always saying how old and wise you are…"
"Shut it."
Troy sat next to Naruto, looking at the forest passing below, with the path vaguely snaking through it. "You know, I kind of want to spar against you sometime, Naruto. We should get a feel for each other's moves, so that we could synchronize better in a battle."
Naruto looked over at him with one eye open, "Sounds good. It would help our teamwork a lot, so… sure."
Troy gave a small smile, one of politeness. The kind of smile Sai used to give, when he knew he should show he was pleased.
As it grew darker, Naruto began to study the moon above. He hadn't actually spent much time looking at it, even for all the time he spent here. For the first time, he noticed how each of the fragments seemed to move in and out like a wave on a beach.
Shortly, they arrived in the next village, the one they believed would be attacked next. Luckily, it was still standing, and by their theory would stay as such for around twelve hours or so. Imperius pulled them aside after a brief dialogue with the Bullhead pilot, who had taken the man back to Vale, and told each of them that they would need to be discreet in this matter.
For example, they had landed a little ways away from the village, under the cover of darkness. Well, land was a loose term. They had landed. The Bullhead had not. They made their way through roughly three hundred meters of forest before reaching the gates. Being that they were five strange and armed people entering the city in the middle of the night, the guards were a little hesitant. They relented, however, at least until Naruto tried to pass.
"Sorry, kid. Town policy. Because of a White Fang bombing recently, ya can't enter with a weapon. Leastways, not at night," said the guard on the left, with a gruff voice, but one that sounded sympathetic. "Not up to me, sorry."
His friend was far less so, "Yeah, beat it. We don't need your kind here!"
"Don't mind him. His mother died in the explosion," explained the first guard, quietly so the other couldn't hear.
Naruto, in custom, bowed slightly, and tried as best he could to respectfully say, "Alright. I'll wait out here tonight." He felt a little pity towards the second guard, and decided it would probably hinder the mission if he made a fuss.
Melissa, who seemed to be itching to smack one of the guards with her staff, came back through the gates, "I'll spend the night out here, as well. See you three in the morning."
Imperius gave a curt nod, and turned back to walk into the city, Troy and Diana in tow. Naruto gave an appreciative grin to Melissa as they walked away, "You don't have to do this, you know. I'll be fine out here."
"Hey, what are friends and potential love interests for?" she said teasingly. He stumbled a little, then looked at her with a mixture of alarm and confusion. "Kidding. I know you're all Blake's."
If he hadn't already, Naruto blushed lightly. Although, Melissa noted, he didn't deny it. Oh, how fun this teasing thing was. Yang was right.
"Will they be alright out there?" Troy asked the huntsman.
"They should be more that ok. Both of them are trained warriors. Now, come along. We should check the kind of defenses this village has," Imperius replied. "It may happen they have a better chance than the others."
While they couldn't speak for the others, this hamlet had quite a few huntsmen milling about. None of them seemed particularly talented, though. They were little more that guards that could out-guard the guards the town paid.
But the guard itself was plentiful. Two guards at each gate, dozens patrolling the streets, several more guarding important locations. Whoever had been attacking the towns would surely at least be slowed down by the manpower present. Perhaps even long enough for Imperius to kill them all.
"So, what's the plan?" Diana asked, peppy as always.
"We'll need energy for tomorrow. If these ruffians do show, then we need to be able to fight them without drowsiness."
Within the walls, the three rented a few rooms in an inn. It was surprisingly cozy for a parish far out into the wilderness as well. According to Imperius, they had great wine.
Outside the walls, however, Naruto and Melissa got done killing the third Beowolf to advance on them. The attacks hadn't been terrifically common, this third one being after several hours, but it was annoying enough to have to deal with them.
Eventually, Naruto just told Melissa he would keep watch all night, and she could sleep. He looked towards the village disdainfully, a little upset that they couldn't be inside the walls. Well, they could have, but since Naruto's weapon was important as a way for him to fight, it wasn't a pleasant option.
Before he knew it, Naruto saw the sun rise far over the trees. Only then did the light begin to break through the dense tree cover. By the time he even noticed it was getting brighter, it was already around eight in the morning. He dropped down off the tree, next to Melissa. He woke her gently and cautiously, not wanting to be bludgeoned by a reflex.
Huntsmen and Huntresses were always meant to be alert, however, and Melissa at bolt upright the moment he spoke. Only for a moment, she looked around wildly, before realizing it was only Naruto.
"We can head into the town now. The guard last night said I couldn't enter at night, but I might be able to now," Naruto told her. She nodded, and got up off the ground. They began their walk towards the town, feeling the need to rejoin the rest of their team before everything inevitably went to hell.
When they reached the gates, Naruto was once again barred from entry. One of the guards looked the same as the one from the previous night, who had lost his mother. The other was new, and spoke first, "We don't let your kind in here, animal."
Naruto sighed, "Guys, come on. I'm a huntsman, here to help."
The same guard scoffed, "Right, you. A huntsman. What sorry academy would accept something like you?"
The man was starting to annoy Naruto. It was one thing to be denied entry based on a policy set to protect people, but this was just racism, pure and simple. "Look, I don't have time for this. Let me in, or I'll find another way."
"HA! Right, and then what? You'll be arrested, that's what!" yelled the other guard. "Get out of here, now!"
Behind himself, Naruto could practically feel the anger and frustration rolling off of Melissa in waves. Luckily for them, Imperius chose a great time to show himself. "Ah, Naruto, Melissa. Good to see you're ready to go for the day. I ask that they be allowed in, sirs," he addressed the last part to the guards, who stiffened a little in the presence of the huntsman.
"Yeah, fine, whatever. It can enter. But if it causes trouble, we're holding you responsible."
Imperius gestured for the students to follow him, something they complied with earnestly. No sense in remaining where the guards were, if they would only cause problems. "What exactly happened there, Naruto? Did the guard last night not say you could enter during the day?"
Naruto shrugged, "Well, kind of. But I think those guys were just being assholes over my being a Faunus. Kami, I hate these whiskers sometimes."
Melissa patted him on his back, meant as a gesture of kindness, "Nah, they look good, Naruto."
Naruto grinned at her. Imperius had led them to an inn, out of which burst Troy and Diana. "So, what's the plan today? What are we going to do about the impending attack?" Naruto asked.
"If the timeframe holds up, the attack falls in a few hours. We need to be ready for it, to try and prevent it. There are three gates into the village. Troy, Diana, Melissa, you keep an eye on those," Imperius ordered. "Naruto, I want you to keep an eye out around the village. No telling if the culprit has already entered the city."
All of the nodded affirmatively, and scrambled off to their various positions. Troy to the south gate, Diana to the west, Melissa to the north. Naruto began to wander the streets, trying to spot anything or anyone out of the ordinary. Eventually, failing to find anyone, he climbed to the top of a roof, and began to meditate.
Soon enough, he was in Sage Mode once more. This village had roughly the same feeling of nature as the woods around it, so it was easy enough to enter. He began to scan the entire town with his sensory skills, but still found nothing. Inwardly, he wondered how he could sense aura, but it wasn't important enough for him to seriously consider at the moment. Releasing his Sage Mode, he dropped back down, continuing to look around.
Melissa kept an eagle eye on her gate, sitting a few feet away from it. Nobody cam through it all morning, and she was beginning to think that they wouldn't come from the north. At the south and west gates, her teammates were thinking similar things. A small village like this attracted few enough people, but there were absolutely none all morning.
Hours passed, and they were nearing the deadline for the attack. Imperius had been going to each of them, but was disappointed when he heard that they hadn't seen anyone. Even Naruto, who had been wandering around for several hours, hadn't seen anything out of the ordinary.
Imperius said he was going to give it the rest of the day, but afterwards they would need to move on, to find another potential target.
Naruto's head shot up. He thought he had heard something he most definitely should not have. Not here, not in this village. Something was wrong. And it was probably going to end poorly. He looked around crazily, but he didn't see anything out of place, even now. He looked in basically every direction he could, and saw nothing. But he knew what he had heard.
It had been a faint voice, one calling out, "KUCHIYOSE NO JUSTU!"
As far as he knew, he was the only person in this entire world who knew what a jutsu was. To hear another say it… It was more than just a little panic inducing. He leapt up onto a building turning in a full circle multiple times, seeing nothing. Whoever it was had clearly had as much success as he had had with summoning.
But it didn't matter how much success they'd had. The point was, someone in this world, a world different from his own, a world without jutsu, had tried to use a jutsu.
Naruto began to try to find Imperius. If he really had heard someone using a jutsu, then the huntsman needed to know. It was probably a bigger problem than the village-destroyer. He stopped mid-run, realizing two important things. The first was that only he knew why hearing a jutsu called out was so severe. The second was that whoever tried cast the jutsu had probably been the one who destroyed those villages.
All the evidence lined up very well. If they had a jutsu, then they weren't from this world. They couldn't have been. And since Imperius didn't think it was a bomb, but had never heard of such a powerful semblance before, which seemed to mean that whoever had done it wasn't from this world.
Naruto realized how stupid he was being. He had been searching for them with his eyes when he could've-
A huge boom sounded throughout the village. Naruto whipped around, and saw several clouds of smoke rising from different points in the town. His eyes widened. No doubt, Imperius and the rest had heard that.
As he could've predicted, Troy, Diana, and Melissa appeared next to him in an instant. Troy fell backwards, exhausted from the effort. Soon enough, like he could sense them, Imperius was in front of them, between the smoke and where they stood.
"Students, this may be it. Remember: follow my orders to. The. Letter," He paused. "It could be life or death for you.
Now, I want each of you to circle around. Judging by those explosions, whoever did this is in that direction," he pointed. "Surround them, and be sure to kill them quickly. I'll approach from this side. GO!"
Naruto didn't need to be told twice. In a flash, he was off. He was to the other side of the explosions in only a few moments, but he made sure to stay out of sight until his team arrived where they needed to be.
But it didn't last. In order to ensure he was in the right place, he took a quick glimpse, and saw the opponent. Luckily, at least, he wasn't facing the blond. It was a man, and he appeared to be bald. He had a number of metal spikes protruding from the top of his head, and he looked very strange.
None of this was what caught Naruto's attention though. What caught his attention was the man's clothing. Naruto recognized it easily, unfortunately. It was a black robe.
And it was emblazoned with red clouds.
Oh, how I feel like an asshole with that ending.
I'm not sorry.
Until Chapter 11!