Naruto was once again standing guard over the protesters and strikers. The teen's blue eyes observed the area as his clones, a cover for his "semblance" stood guard over the area as well. The strikers had grown in number, their bills were being helped by local donation and their union hall. The Uzumaki heir had been learning about unions and how they played a roll in the labor force.
They made sure to grant those working safer conditions, and bargaining power. The people here were apart of SDC's Local Seven-Six-One. This entire thing was over the unfair treatment compared to human workers. Faunus got paid lower wages, didn't get as many benefits, and had no pension. However, today, Naruto took notice that the guards looked tired.
The protests started at six in the morning, and now it was approaching five in the evening. There was a fire in the eyes of some people, they believed that today would be the day they've been waiting for. His sherwani flutters in a gust of wind, Naruto sees the strike leader standing in front of his workforce.
"No more of this workspace oppression, we Faunus do not ask for better pay and pensions, we demand it! Why, why is that our human coworkers get these things, and we do not?! Tell yourselves, people, is it better to allow yourselves to be treated like slaves, working to the day you die, or get what is rightfully yours for making The Schnee Dust Company its fortunes!" The Strike Leader screamed as he held his fist up in the air.
"Hey ho, corporate greed has got to go!"
The Strike Leader turns around to face the building they had been kicked out from when the strike started. The leader holds his fist up high, as well as the other Faunus. They stand in solidarity against this greed and dishonest practice. The guards tensed up, Naruto could tell some were itchy with their clubs. One glance from him, however, and they backed off quickly.
"Do you hear us Niko Yuki, do you hear us, Jacques Schnee?!" The Strike Leader proclaimed to the top of his lung.
"No more, no more!"
The crowd falls silent as Niko walks out of the building, a smirk on his face. Walking right behind him was a man dressed in armor, he had a large ax-like weapon on his back. Niko Yuki, the operator of Schnee Dust Processing Plant in Vacuo, had a dastardly smile. The man with ax-like weapon stared up at Naruto. The blonde looked confused before the man turned his attention to The Strike Leader.
"Mr. Niko has hired me as a guard to his property," the man explained his presence. "I am to ask you all to disperse and allow the human workers to come in."
"We most certainly will not!" The Strike Leader yelled as he looked at the massive man, "who the hell are you, some mercenary?"
"I'm a Huntsmen," the man answered as he readied his weapon. "I have authority from The Vacuoian Government to kick you off the premises."
"Bullshit!" The Strike Leader steps forward only to have a punch thrown at him.
The Strike Leader's eyes widened as Naruto suddenly appears in front of him. The Huntsmen's punch was caught in the much smaller hand of the teen. The two locked eyes as Naruto watches him bring his weapon back, without thinking Naruto kicked The Strike Leader back in time to turn on his heel. As he spun around, he grabbed his kunai and blocked the ax. Sparks flew off the weapons they used, Naruto using chakra to enhance the edge of his kunai.
"Mr. Niko told me about you, the whiskered human, more like a scrawny Faunus kid." The Huntsmen mocked as he pushed Naruto back a little.
Naruto dodged a swing from the ax when the man backed off and tried to counter him. The two clashed weapons several times, sparks flying from each other's weapon as the former Jinchuuriki danced around the Huntsmen. Each time he tried to punch, or kick, the Huntsmen was able to block with his ax.
He couldn't risk Sage Mode, not that it would be a fight ender, it is just that people around could get hurt. Moving to the side of The Huntsmen, Naruto caught him off guard before slamming his against the back of the man. Only for a violet barrier to block him, his eyes widened slightly before the massive Huntsmen roars out and smacked Naruto away.
The blonde skids across the ground, wiping his lip as he stood back up. Reaching into his pouch Naruto produces three shurikens tucked in between his fingers. The Huntsmen sneers as Naruto launches the shuriken and easily deflects the teen's weapons.
"That all, poultry tricks?" The man asked Naruto.
The Sage simply smirks and pulls his hand back. A thin blue line appeared over the man's weapon before he felt it get jerked out of his hands. There was wire around it, and Naruto gave it another hard pull before throwing the guy's weapon away.
"Gah," The Huntsmen gasped. "What did you do?!"
Naruto appeared in front of the man, slamming his knee into the man's face. The challenger couldn't recover as the blonde went about slamming punch after punch into his abdomen. He coughed up some blood as Naruto sent the last punch into the man's chest, making him step back and grip. His violet aura sparking around him, he grunted as he fell to his knees.
Showing no mercy Naruto slammed a haymaker right into the face of the man. It made him slide across the sand, toward Niko, who backed away as Naruto glared at him. Suddenly a ticking noise could be heard as The Huntsmen began to slide back to where he had been punched.
The Shinobi figured it out too late as he was soon kicked toward the crowd. A violet clock appeared behind the Huntsmen, but it was ticking backward. He laughs as he walks over and grabbed his ax. Preparing it he then points it toward the crowd.
"You fought well," The Huntsmen chortled while readying his weapon's range mode. "However, I am the victor, surrender."
Naruto got up, looking down where he dropped his kunai at the man's feet. A gleam appeared in the boy's eye as he subtlety formed a hand seal. The man pointed his ax weapon's gun at Naruto. Only for the blonde to disappear in an orange flash, The Huntsmen's eyes widened as Naruto appears below him.
The crowd gasped, even some of the security guards. Not wasting his chance, the Shinobi kicked The Huntsmen with all his might into the air. Using his "semblance" Naruto formed a clone that tossed him up. Spinning forward Naruto ends up above the man, his leg cocked and ready to go downward.
"Uzumaki Rendan!" Naruto screamed before slamming his fist into the man's back.
The man yelled in pain as he hits the ground, with Naruto forming another clone that throws him into The Huntsmen. Hitting knee first into the Huntsmen's back, Naruto watched as the purple clock from before appeared and began ticking.
Naruto's clone nodded as its locked eyes with the original before dispersing. Naruto jumps back in time to avoid the shots from the ax gun when The Huntsmen reversed time locally to the point of being kicked.
Suddenly the former Jinchuuriki leaps at the man, running headlong into the man's sights. A click was heard, and everyone gasps as the shot impacted Naruto's head. The teen fell backward lifeless, until that it is, he dispersed into smoke.
The real Naruto appeared behind The Huntsmen in an orange flash, who's back had a glowing seal on it.
'So fast?!' The Huntsmen panicked as Naruto slammed his leg into the man's back!
Landing on the ground, this time behind The Huntsmen. Naruto grabs the man's leg before spinning on his heel. The blonde twirls the larger man around and around before throwing him toward Niko. The businessman shook in his designer shoes as Naruto walks toward The Huntsmen.
A ticking noise could be heard as the dishonorable man roars, he launches himself back to where he was before being thrown. He points the ax gun right Naruto.
"Taste the fury of my weapon, Minotaur!" The Huntsmen yells as a ball of fire emerges from the top of the ax gun.
However, as he stands there, the crowd stood in shock as Naruto merely formed a ball of energy in his hand. The fireball was launched from the weapon as the ball of energy suddenly started becoming watery in nature. The Huntsmen laughs, believing that the teen was foolish to just be standing there.
"Suiton: Rasenbakuha!" Naruto whispered his Jutsu before blasting a jet of swirling water from his ball of energy.
The Huntsmen's eyes widened as the watery jet swarms him, blasting him off his feet and extinguishing his flames. The man begins to use his semblance once again, only for Naruto to suddenly appear behind him. He crashed an elbow into the man's back, making him stumble forward. Naruto took this opportunity to reverse sweep the man's legs out from under him before in punching him away in one fluid motion.
He wasn't finished though, Naruto once again flashes to where he was above the man. Without remorse he slammed his elbow into the back of The Huntsmen, slamming him into the ground. Violet aura began to crackle around the man, just in for him to feel the prick of Naruto's kunai against his jugular.
Naruto made sure to nick it so he could feel a tiny bit of blood leak down his neck.
"It didn't have to come to me nearly killing you," Naruto said to The Huntsmen. "You could've just ignored the contract; you and I both know it was wrong."
The Huntsmen glared up at Naruto, "what do you know?"
"Don't let Niko bullshit you into believing anything the supposed Vacuoian documents are real either. I know his type, they'll lie and cheat, chances are you took a fake mission. Congratulations, you got played, must really suck right about now huh?" Naruto said before offering his hand.
The Huntsmen looks stunned, "didn't I just try to kill you?"
"I had friends try to kill me before knowing me," Naruto helped The Huntsmen to his feet. "Do not stay here, unless you want a round two."
The Huntsmen sighs and looked at Naruto, "thank you sparing my life…I'll go investigate the contract to see if its real. If it is, then I pray that we don't meet again."
"We won't," Naruto walks away from The Huntsmen who began to limp away from the area, "now as for you…"
"This is crazy, you just talked down a Huntsmen?!" Niko exclaimed as he looked around, "guards!"
The guards didn't move toward Naruto, or to help their boss, "I said guards goddamn it!"
"They won't help you," Naruto reaches out and snatched the man by the collar, "so…you faked documents to get a Huntsmen to fight me? You must be out of your damn mind Dattebayo."
"You could've gotten yourself killed, you could've gotten a Huntsmen killed, and more importantly you put the lives of people here in danger from a dumbass." Naruto didn't ignore the irony of those words, "and you just stand here with fear in yours eyes."
"You're no man," Naruto threw the man down onto his ass, "and you're not welcome in Vacuo City."
"That's not up to you, you're not even from here, aren't you!" Niko yells as he looked at Naruto.
Tigre runs up toward Niko and Naruto, "Niko Yuki you're under arrest for the forgery of mission papers!"
"What, no, there's no proof of that!" Niko screamed as he got picked up by two officers.
The Police Chief showed him the letter from The Vacuoian Government that got sent via email. Niko fell silent, apparently someone had caught on after all, and slowly the businessman just lowered his head as he was dragged away.
Tigre laughs as he looked at Naruto, "gotta cut there, sport."
"Yeah," Naruto didn't feel the wound close as fast as it should, "I know."
"Damn it, I could've prevented the fight if I got here sooner!" Tigre breathed as he looked at Naruto's wound, "sorry young man, my old ass isn't as spry."
"There's not need to apologize to me," Naruto laughed as he rubbed the back of his head. "What happens now though?"
"I think the person next in line," Tigre pointed toward a man with glasses. "I think that guy is in charge of the building."
Naruto looks toward the crowd, motioning them with his hand. They slowly began to walk forward, none of the guards dared to do anything about it. Naruto approaches a group of them, all of them threw down their clubs immediately. The man with glasses had black hair and blue eyes, he was tall in stature, but it was obvious he wasn't a fighter.
The man looked at Naruto, then to The Strike Leader, "Mr. Snowberry."
"Mr. Luna," The Strike Leader, Mr. Snowberry greeted. "I am sure that this never would've been what you wanted."
"Indeed, Niko was mad with power, always had been…" Mr. Luna agreed with his underling, "are you all still on strike as of right now?"
"Of course," Mr. Snowberry replied as he crossed his arms. "What can you do to fix that?"
Mr. Luna took a deep breath, looking at The Faunus Workers, he then nodded. "Things do need change, and if it'll end this ridiculousness, I'll be willing to sit down with a contract."
The crowd had smiles on their faces as Mr. Luna reached his hand out, Mr. Snowberry chuckled. Both men shook hands, making the Faunus crowd cheer and clap. Naruto smiles as he began to walk away, dispersing his "semblance" that were hidden throughout the area.
The crowd began to cheer!
In a large estate, a woman with long feline ears with earrings in them was preparing her day. She was expecting news from her spies in Vacuo regarding the incident with The Schnee Dust Company's processing plant there. She had very dark skin and wore jewelry on her fingers fit for a noblewoman. She hears a knock at her door, looking at her personal guard to open the door.
The personal guard, another woman, nodded. She reaches over and opens the door. A person with a crocodile's tail entered. He looks at the woman, kneeling, he placed his fist on the ground in front of her. He lowered his head, the white armor he had on jingled a little bit.
"Lady Khan," the Crocodile Faunus greeted her with submission. "I have reports from our spy network in Vacuo."
Lady Kahn, the woman who was finishing up her outfit by putting on a necklace, turns to face her fellow Faunus. She motioned for him to rise, he did so immediately, giving a bow afterward.
"Report Ishmael," Khan ordered as she crossed her arms. "What of the situation in Vacuo City?"
"The situation has changed drastically," The Crocodile Faunus, Ishmael, hands her photographs. "There is a whiskered Faunus boy believing himself to be human helping our people there."
"He took on a Huntsmen recently sent by The SDC to break the strike. The Huntsmen himself is not a target. Tigre…our man on the inside said he had been tricked into trying to take out The Whiskered Blonde. We've been asked by our lead in Vacuo, Kabana, to stand down on any retaliation." Ishmael revealed as he kept his head down in a bow.
Khan gives a chuckle as she looked at the photographs, "is this the blonde Faunus?"
"It is Milady," Ishmael answered her immediately. "Sources say that his name is Naruto Uzumaki."
"Interesting," Khan hummed as she looked through the photographs. "Ah, well now, do you know his next move?"
"No, we don't Lady Khan…" Ishmael told Khan as he raised his head. "Sources say that he is looking into becoming a Huntsmen."
"How good are these sources?" Khan asks Ishmael before walking with him out into the main hall.
"It comes directly from Tigre himself," the Crocodile Faunus replied. "We should make a move to invite him here."
The leader of The White Fang looked at her underling, "are you giving me suggestions?"
"N-no ma'am," Ishmael corrected himself immediately. "Forgive me for talking out of turn."
"No," Khan shook her head, "it was a perfect suggestion."
She walks through the main part of the estate with her personal guard following her. Ishmael follows closely behind, they exit out onto the busy streets of Kua Kuana, the capital city of Menagerie. There the Tiger Faunus herself is greeted with looks of adoration from her people. She was The High Leader of The White Fang.
A position in Menagerie held only one rank lower than The Chieftain. Her personal guard watches the crowd, noting that that gave her looks of ire. In truth, some people didn't agree with her being The High Leader of The White Fang. She did have a short fuse sometimes, and often it would land many other Faunus into trouble if it was directed the wrong way.
"Lady Sienna!" A woman yells out.
Sienna Khan turns to toward the woman's voice, finding it belonging to a Deer Faunus. The Faunus woman was breathing hard as she looked at her leader, kneeling when she could stabilize herself. Sienna noted that this woman seemed desperate to reach her.
"Scarlet," Sienna looked at her fellow Faunus. "What is wrong, did something happen in Vale?"
"Blake Belladonna has abandoned The White Fang. Adam Taurus is in an uproar since helped a train get away from us stealing the Dust inside of it." Sienna's eyes widened at her subordinate's report, growls, "that spoiled little brat…"
"My Lady," her personal bodyguard looked at her. "Methinks we should inform Master Ghira and Mistress Kali on their daughter's actions."
"I agree with Babylonia," Sienna agreed as they began walking toward where she knew Ghira would be. "I know he won't let me give the silence order against his own daughter…but this will not go unanswered."
Naruto was bidding farewell to Vacuo City. Most of the people that had been on strike went back to work, others stayed at newer places of employment. Carrying a large pack on his back full of various scrolls he had made during his time in Vacuo, Naruto had everything he had ever bought in those scrolls.
He decided to turn down becoming a Huntsmen, instead, the life of a mercenary seemed more fitting. Checking over his equipment, he turns toward those that had been letting him stay in their homes. He gave them a two-finger salute, smiling as he did. They smiled back and waving him as he walked toward the gates.
"So," Tigre came walking up next to Naruto. "Where do the winds take you next?"
"Northeast," Naruto answered Tigre as he looked at the sun. "Hopefully I am not needed to come back, otherwise I may make that one guy with glasses crap his pants."
Tigre laughs as he slaps Naruto's back, "agreed, please be safe, young one."
Naruto nodded as he started walking toward the desert. Rosa wasn't bothering herself to be there, they weren't a thing anyway, she wanted her fun and he needed a release. He'd be lying if he said this hadn't been stressful, but now it was nothing but him and hundreds of miles of sand between him and the Vacuo-Vale border.
Naruto had a headscarf on that helped block the sun. The desert sands whipped over him, he was walking briskly along the desert, conserving energy in case of a fight. The blonde took a moment to check the sun, making sure he was going directly northeast.
The hot sands of a near May summer. This desert felt exactly like The Great Wind Desert in Suna. Slowly the winds died down, allowing Naruto to see ahead, watching as vultures circled him. They were probably waiting for him to make a mistake, perhaps get killed by Grimm somehow.
Removing his headscarf Naruto found an oasis. Giving a deep sigh, Naruto checks his canteen, finding it nearly empty. Walking toward the small oasis, Naruto sits down and fills his canteen with water. As he does, he fails to notice something moving in the mud near him, slowly it rises.
The beast itself was probably about twenty feet long.
Black skin with bone white armor, in the shape of a crocodile with hands and legs. Naruto heard the growl, turning too late as the beast lunged at him. It knocks them both into the shallow water, mud and clay got kicked up out of the oasis's bottom.
The roaring of a beast was followed closely with the roar of a teen. Naruto emerged out of the water after tossing the massive Grimm off him. The teen's eyes were golden as it and three others slowly moved toward him. Getting into a fighting stance, Naruto moved first and appeared next to the one that had attacked him.
Chaka pumping into his fist, Naruto throws it and knocks the beast's head clean off. Turning on his heel, using the pressure from the power of Sage Mode, Naruto blasts the others back with a palm thrust. He roars out as rushes another one, grabbing it by its tail and then using it as a bat to knock the other two out of the oasis.
After he was finished using it as a club Naruto throws it up into the air before forming a one-handed Rasengan, Naruto cocks his fist back. Applying wind chakra to it, Naruto roars out as he unleashes the attack.
"Rasengan: Shunki!" Naruto roars as the beam of chakra blasts forward and destroyed the crocodile Grimm.
The Grimm split in half before turning into black dust. The others roar out, charging at him. Naruto took a deep breath before charging at the nearest one. He leaps up and then crashes both of his fists down onto the beast. The power of Sage Mode made the beast slammed into the ground, shattering all its bone armor and itself.
Landing on top of it, Naruto gripped its head with chakra from his feet before rolling forward and ripping it off. He threw the head at its sole surviving kin, it roared and ran at Naruto on all fours. The golden eye blonde roars in return as he charged.
A heartbeat later, Naruto had punched the beast literally in half. The last of the Grimm that had attacked him flowed in the winds as black dust. Naruto stood there, taking a deep breath as he deactivated Sage Mode.
Walking back toward his pack he found where one of them had crushed it. His eyes widened as he got his scrolls out, finding some of them destroyed. The ones that were destroyed had the food stored in it, he growls and throws the broken tattered scrolls toward the desert.
"Fuck," Naruto screamed in frustration while punching the ground. "goddamn it, fuck, fuck!"
He yells out into the desert, "who else wants some?!"
Suddenly the sands explode with a giant wormlike Grimm emerging from the sand, heading right for the oasis. It was as tall as one of the tallest buildings in Vacuo. Jumping out of the way, Naruto watches as the Worm Grimm literally eats the oasis.
Beyond enraged Naruto reactivates Sage Mode, "Kage Bunshin No Jutsu!"
Five clones appear beside him, each one holding out their hands to the original Naruto, forming two sets of Rasenshuriken. The ground shook from underneath them, Naruto nodded to his clones and one reached over while activating Sage Mode itself and throwing him into the air.
The giant Worm Grimm emerged, its black mass and bony armor jingled and swam through the sand. However, its maw wide opened, it obviously couldn't see the bladed sphere of a Rasenshuriken enter its throat. Followed by another being thrown toward the ground where some Grimm had dropped off after catching a ride with it.
The beast roars in pain just before the midsection suddenly explains into a wind dome that shreds it apart. The blonde landed back in the desert sand, feeling the last of his nature chakra reserves leave him. Spitting onto the ground, Naruto just breathes hard, still furious.
Then horror dawned upon him, he turned toward the hole that had been an oasis. Luckily, somehow his backpack was still there, he just took a seat on the sand. Taking deep breaths to calm down, Naruto just watched as clouds rolled by under the desert sun.
"Maybe leaving Vacuo was not such a well thought out plan," Naruto thought aloud. "Oh well, I guess there's no turning back now, right Kurama?"
The silence hit him hard, he just looked at the sand, "oh yeah…you're not here…not anymore."
A lone tear left his eye as Naruto Uzumaki huddled himself together on the sand. He'd just wait for nightfall. Better to travel under the cover of darkness anyway, less chance of running into bandits. The teen just took one last deep breath before it finally started to hit him.
There was no one else out there but him, he was truly all alone now.
(So, a bit of a surprise, and I'm not telling you when…Dearest is getting remade. Also, Suiton: Rasenbakuha means Water Style: Rasengan Explosion. All the rest are actual Jutsu from the show, take care and bless.
Side note #2: how are you liking it so far?)