Hey guys and welcome back, this one was delayed/on hold for a while for a simple reason…. I left my notes behind when I was away from home for a while and had no way of getting them, and yes, they are on paper as I haven't transferred them to digital yet. Plus the shit going on in real life that I explained in "Heads Up" was also slowing things and not really putting me in the mood to write, but here we are.
Anyway, there's going to be some time-skipping in this one since I'm not going to spend multiple chapters on Naruto's childhood since it isn't going to be as interesting as his time hunting and being a warrior.
Please note: you'll see creatures from other franchises in this chapter and even more as we go. I'm still undecided on if any pairings will come from those items or not, my commissioner said he was fine with whatever, but there will be hunts going on from them (this also implies that some characters from those items may die as they are the hunting targets at some point).
Don't think there's anything else to cover, so let's get this show on the road.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto, Predator, Alien, Alien Vs Predator, any of their associated items, or anything else that may show up in this fic. Be nice if I did, but I don't.
{Predator Speech/Language}
"Speech"
"Thoughts"
[Conversation thoughts]
"Kurama, warped, dark, computer, really pissed off Naruto Speech."
"Thoughts"
[Conversation Thoughts.]
CHAPTER 2: GROWTH AND HUNT
YAUTJA PRIME
It has been four seasons since Naruto was found and adopted into Zasphun's family and had settled into the group well. They had meals together, the girls would talk and get to know him and vice versa and occasionally the girls would go on hunts, Sarana being the one who went on the most, whether that was to get away from Naruto or to bring more honor to their family, Naruto didn't know for sure. He never sensed any negative emotions from her towards him, but it was clear she didn't care for him like the others seemed to, though again whether that was just not going to or waiting for him to prove himself worthy of their family was anyone's guess.
As for his new family individually: Noctel was kind and warm when it came to him, though her hugging him a lot was a bit awkward since his head always pressed into her breasts. She'd also bend over quite a bit or take poses or actions that flaunted her body at him, plus the times she joined him in the bath, though all the females except Sarana did that since apparently separate bathing wasn't usually done. Kurama had merely laughed and informed him she was having fun by sexually teasing him, though whether she wanted him sexually or just enjoyed teasing was unknown at the moment.
Regardless, Noctel was kind, fun, and supportive, though she didn't hunt much as she enjoyed working with spoils of a hunt. Working skins and hides into armor, clothing, bedding, or just treating it to be mounted as a trophy rather than be used. She also worked with bones, scales, horns, etc etc to make armaments, armor, tools, or making them into trophies to be displayed.
She actually worked with a friend's shop who handled those things for hunters that didn't or couldn't do it themselves. Apparently, her friend was a real artisan and was always excited and thrilled to see some new substance or material to be used and treated in some fashion.
Next was Zinta, who was one of the regular huntresses of the family with Sarana and Willa being the other two, though that didn't mean Noctel or Zasphun couldn't fight, they just didn't have as much lust for the hunt as others did. Anyway, Zinta was the most fascinated with Naruto's training methods and incorporated a few into her own training and found they were much simpler in theory than execution, making her respect for Naruto grow more. Zinta had also let Naruto examine and ask about her hunting gear as she told him about each piece and explained how to properly clean, repair, and maintain each one as well as what they were most effective for hunting when using them.
Of course, Naruto was still unable to use some of them, let alone all of them, but he was fine with that as knowing about them now would only help him in the future.
Wikka was a bit of a quirky one in Naruto and Kurama's opinion. For one, she was very sensitive about her height and would easily get riled up over it, though Naruto had pointed out that such a thing was a weakness that intelligent enemies could exploit against her. She didn't like it, but understood his point and was working on her temper.
Wikka had also explained to him how in hunts, hunters used code names for others. She was Midas due to the oddity of her claws having a golden color. Noctel was Trapper, mostly due to her preferring to use traps to get her prey. Zinta was known as Sapper due to her work on various tools and weapons of the hunt and customizing them to her preferences. Sarana was codenamed Quicksilver due to her being so fast with her wrist blades that all you saw was a silver flash before your death. Finally, Zasphun was known as Night Fury for two reasons: 1) She loved to hunt at night. 2) During a particularly nasty hunt, she unleashed her rage on a group of enemies leaving nothing but a bloody mess in her wake.
It actually made Naruto's respect and affection for his mother grow.
Moving on to Sarana, she was the head of the family as the eldest and was strict and tough as she refused to let the other hunters or people look down on her family. Apparently, her and the others' parents were killed by bad bloods with a few assholes denouncing them as weak for not killing any of the bad bloods when attacked. Never mind the fact that the two were outnumbered 8-to-1 or the fact they were hit with an EMP blast that took out their gear before said attack truly started.
Sarana hadn't taken kindly to those words and strove to show her family was strong and capable.
Naturally, she also hunted the bad bloods responsible when she could, though most were still alive and in unknown areas making Sarana frustrated and a bit bitter.
Her coldness to Naruto was due to a bit of fear that he'd not measure up and bring more shame to them, the stigma of him being a halfbreed already being on the family, and thus undo the work Sarana had done to show their family was strong and capable.
Naruto, naturally, took that as a challenge and worked to prove himself. It seemed to be working as there were times Naruto saw a glimmer of happiness or respect in Sarana's eyes when she looked at him training or after the academy where he came home with top marks.
It was a slow process, but he was clearly making progress.
As for Zasphun, she was thrilled with her son and how he carried himself, the fact he was inquisitive about anything and everything only made him more worthy in her eyes. He didn't mind spending time with her or his aunts, he did his training as usual but stopped if she wished it, did whatever was asked of him; though he did ask why with certain things, mainly to learn more; and was always eager to prove himself. Her sisters could honestly say that they hadn't seen her as happy as she currently was in many seasons.
It didn't change how the others acted around or towards him, but they were still appreciative of him making their sister happier.
It wasn't just the family that had been affected by Naruto's presence.
Naruto had also made friends with a couple young hunters-to-be that he had met at the academy.
The first was a young hunter named Nuzor, the first boy that Naruto beat on his first day at the academy. Naruto wasn't judged for being a half-breed and in turn Naruto didn't judge him for the fact his grandfather was apparently shamed for actions done on a hunt. Naruto didn't care because what his grandfather did shouldn't mark Nuzor as being shameful too.
Of course, his friendship wasn't popular with a few people, but Naruto either ignored them or beat them in a fight to shut them up.
After that, it wasn't unusual to see Nuzor by Naruto's side, training, hanging out, or relaxing together. Although, Nuzor quickly learned to announce his presence at Naruto's home since a few of Naruto's family took offense to him seeing them nude and made that displeasure known by beating him, though Naruto only got a bit of a reprimand and told not to just walk in with someone not of their family again.
Nuzor felt that was a bit odd, but accepted it and just made sure the lesson was learned.
Anyway, Nuzor seemed to excel at stealth and Naruto helped improve that along with his other capabilities since being stealthy wouldn't always be an option or he may hunt something that couldn't be snuck up on normally. There was also the possibility that he himself could be getting stalked and hunted by something and thus would need to be ready for when they pounced. Nuzor seemed to take to it rather well, in fact he seemed almost devoted to the training and to following Naruto's instructions.
Whether that was from him having a friend that would actually train and support him or because he wanted to do the training to help remove the stain of dishonor was unknown, but both were likely.
Next was Crix, the young hunter that didn't have the best eyesight. Apparently, it was a genetic defect he was born with and no procedure or method known to them would correct his eyes. He wasn't 100% blind, but he definitely couldn't see well enough to have his eyes be useful.
Naruto and he became friends after Naruto helped him deal with some bullies. Afterwards, Naruto began helping him with training his other senses to make up for his eyes. It wasn't as difficult as it could have been since Crix was already working on that, Naruto just helped push it to the next level and the rest of their group were more than happy to help.
Naruto also explained to him that he had a slight advantage if he hunted on Naruto's former homeworld due to the natives there being able to use illusions to ensnare their prey, but almost all the illusions were visual based primarily, meaning Crix could avoid those all together since his eyes were failing. It was an advantage other hunters lacked and could mean Crix would be key hunter of a squad if they came across enemies that specialized in illusions.
It made Crix feel a bit better about himself, even if his family still felt he would bring shame on them due to his handicap, something Naruto felt was completely stupid and vowed to make Crix a capable hunter that they'd be forced to acknowledge.
That, naturally, had only made Crix more loyal to him.
Next up, there was Ojin, who was slightly smaller than the average Yautja, which meant he was targeted by bullies at first. It was clear to many that it was a trend with Naruto to stop bullying and to kick the bullies' asses until they learned their lesson, only to have to repeat this when it came to others.
Anyway, Ojin was one of the few who honestly didn't give a shit if Naruto was a half-breed or not. In his opinion, if the person was competent in what they did, then they could be a quarter-blood or less and be okay in his book. He'd rather have a competent partial-blooded companion than an incompetent full-blooded one, which put him a notch above several others in intelligence in Naruto and Kurama's book.
Naruto was primarily helping him with his speed and agility since he wasn't going to out muscle a few of his opponents, but he could outmaneuver and outpace them. Naruto also found that Ojin was skilled with ranged and throwing weapons and helped with what he could, but also made it a point that he should train with melee weapons as well since there were cases of Yautja being ambushed by various prey.
Ojin accepted the logic and worked to improve.
Next on the list was Lorx, who was always serious and cold to anyone he spoke to. Naturally, his attitude alienated him from others, but Naruto wasn't having any of it after he saw him training one day. He had stopped Lorx and then corrected him in some areas while offering some suggestions.
Lorx was blank in his acceptance, but Naruto continued to insist and help and even got the others he was friends with along for the training too.
Eventually, they cracked Lorx's frosty persona after the crew helped him against some bullies and idiots.
Turns out, he had lost both his parents and three uncles to hunts that went bad and their so called siblings of the hunt and comrades didn't do much to save them. Naturally, that put him in the mindset of he should only depend on himself and look after himself since he couldn't trust others to have his back.
While understandable, Naruto smacked him upside the head for that since it was possible that the other hunters couldn't do anything for them. Or that his family members decided to die alone than drag their comrades down with them.
Lorx accepted the logic, though it hadn't changed his personality much. He was still cold and impersonable, but Naruto and the others still felt like they were becoming friends and getting closer to him.
Last and most recent was Haxorus.
Unlike the others, Naruto and he didn't meet from defending him from bullies or helping with training. They met in class and, despite the fact that he was much bigger than Naruto (standing at least two feet taller), Naruto kicked his ass during practice.
Haxorus came from a family of skilled hunters and he was larger and stronger than the average young blood and he had gotten arrogant and cocky from it. Naruto, tired of his attitude after five minutes, decided some humility was in order and as such beat the shit out of him rather than simply winning clean cut.
It also sent a message to a few idiots to leave him and his friends the fuck alone since it was getting tiring having to deal with bullies and idiots daily.
It had worked too, though Naruto knew it was more they decided to bide their time and train before trying again, but at least it gave him some quiet right now.
One unintentional side effect was that Haxorus decided that Naruto beating him meant that he was the boss and that if he hung around and followed him, he'd get even stronger. Not incorrect, but Naruto made sure he was willing to put the work in to get stronger, with their primary training being his speed and agility since he had strength and size. The problem was his size slowed him down and made him a bigger target.
While being the immovable wall was good in some cases, every wall had a breaking point when it took enough pummeling.
A wall that was mobile though? That was dangerous and more useful.
All in all, Naruto could think of worse people to be friends with and couldn't deny they were loyal and dedicated to becoming great hunters.
Right now, they were running through a training course designed to push their skills and talents to the limits. As with all things to do with the Yautja, it was potentially lethal and very dangerous by human standards.
This was evidenced by Naruto shifting to his right to dodge a spear that impaled the ground where he stood before having to jump over a large swinging boulder. He then rolled to dodge an array of darts that were launched at him before he twisted on the ground to get to a handstand and pushed off the ground to leap over a spike pit that suddenly opened. Naruto landed and dashed for the finish before he dropped to his knees and slid under a scythe that suddenly sprang out of a stationary piece of rock.
Luckily, that was the last bit of the course as he managed to slide across the finish line getting cheers from his friends, some congratulatory praise from the non-assholes, and some glares and snarls from said assholes.
The instructor nodded his head as he marked some things down, mostly rating Naruto's progress as well as any notes to take into account. He wasn't at all ashamed to say Naruto was his best overall student; some were better in discussions, some were better in tracking, and some were more physically superior, but none of them eclipsed Naruto in that area nor surpassed him in the other areas.
Naruto was well rounded, making sure he was skilled and knowledgeable in all areas, ensuring he had skills and traits to fall back on if one avenue of hunting was blocked from him.
It also helped he wasn't arrogant, rude, or condescending when people interacted with him. He didn't let his success go to his head and maintained calm composure when faced with problems.
If it wasn't such a risk, the instructor would recommend Naruto for advancement to go on hunts much sooner. However, that would cause problems from some of the more stubborn clans and the students as well, plus Naruto didn't seem to care for advancement and was instead intent on learning all he could while looking after his friends and helping them improve.
He had also been seen giving advice to some younger trainees and even some hatchlings, earning him a bit of a following in the process.
If he ever lost the love of the hunt, Naruto would certainly have a future amongst the teachers and instructors. He certainly had the skill for it, especially for one so young, as there was clear and marked improvement in those he called friends following their friendship starting with Naruto.
Not only that, but Naruto's success motivated the others to try harder as well, though naturally a few were more spiteful about it than taking it as friendly rivalry and challenge.
Shaking his head, the instructor then motioned for the next runner to begin and continued to note performances.
Later, Naruto and his group were leaving the academy, each laughing about a joke they had just heard from Nuzor. {Hey, Fury, nice job today. Never seen anyone clear the course that well.} A passing student praised Naruto as he passed with his own group and Naruto nodded his thanks.
Fury being the nickname he was given for his anger and wrath when he was pushed. Naruto found it fitting since his human name meant maelstrom and idly wondered how they'd react if they learned it.
{Enjoy the praise while you can, Half-Breed.} A voice spoke making Naruto and his friends sigh as they saw Akarush, the asshole Naruto beat day 1 of the academy, standing there with his own small group as they got closer. {One of these days, everyone will see just how pathetic you really are.} He snarled as Naruto stared at him.
{Well, you'd know all about being pathetic, wouldn't you?} Naruto asked, making Akarush snarl. {What? You going to attack me again? If I'm pathetic, why is it that I beat you easily every time you start something? You want to taste the ground again? Then try something, do it.} Naruto snarled as he looked at Akarush, who only growled at him.
{That's what I thought, actually be able to back up your threats instead of just blowing hot air. Let's go.} Naruto said as he turned with his group only to pause at Akarush's next words while Naruto's friends cursed.
{Fine, go back to those pathetic excuses for huntress you call fam-} Akarush was cut off as Naruto slammed a left hook into his face breaking his lower right fang as Akarush was sent to the ground spitting up blood.
{Keep my family out of your fucking mouth.} Naruto growled as Nuzor and Haxorus held him back from possibly doing worse to Akarush while Lorx, Crix, and Ojin were making sure none of Akarush' group tried anything.
{Break it up!} A voice shouted with authority making them turn to see five huntresses, evidenced by them being branded, coming up and all of them had at least one weapon in hand. {That's enough, move along and go your separate ways.} The tallest, 9 feet 10 inches, female stated as she walked up.
{But that half-breed sucker punched him!} One of Akarush' friends shouted only to be on the receiving end of a glare from said female.
{We saw the whole thing, if he was more respectful then he wouldn't have gotten knocked on his ass. Now move along before you make this worse.} She snarled making the male shrink back before they helped Akarush away while Naruto snarled at them.
{One of these days, I swear I will send him to the medical center.} Naruto snarled as Haxorus and Nuzor patted him on the shoulders to help calm him down.
{We know, but try to keep control, Nar, last thing you, us, or your family needs is you getting in trouble because he manages to push you too far.} Nuzor stated as Naruto clicked at him.
{Fine. Come on, we should go before we lose any more daylight because of him.} Naruto answered before nodding his head to the females and walking off with his friends following.
{He's an interesting one.} One of the females clicked watching Naruto's group leave.
{Indeed. That punch was focused and near perfect.} Another said also watching them.
{That was Zasphun's adopted one, wasn't it?} A third asked making the others nod.
{Yes, he's been gaining quite a following, both good and bad, due to his performance in the academy.} The tall female stated having heard of the half-breed that was pushing through the academy at an incredible rate.
{Hmm, he's a cute little sucker, wonder how he'll look when he's ready to mate.} The second commented as she looked at Naruto.
{Going for younglings now?} The third asked and the second snorted.
{No, I'll wait till he's older. Besides, he's more interesting than any of the hunters our age.} She replied casually making the others have to give her that.
{Come, we still have things to do.} The tallest stated making them nod as they left, each thinking of the young half-breed they had just seen.
Things certainly seemed to be getting interesting.
TIME-SKIP: YEARS LATER
Naruto, now 17 seasons old, stood in formation with the others of his class and a few from other classes as they were at attention since today was the day of their first hunt. The first chance to test their training and skills on actual prey and not in a simulation.
The reason for the formation and attention was because the High Elder and Eldress of their Tribe/Colony would be appearing before them to speak to them before they disembarked on a ship to one of the worlds that their people used as game preserves. Said preserves were home to a wide variety of creatures ranging from the simple to the extremely lethal, though none held Xenomorphs as that would be potentially disastrous.
As they stood waiting for the two prominent figures of their faction to speak, Naruto couldn't help but reflect on things.
He continued to up his training over the years, pushing his body harder and harder with Kurama there to fix it when he pushed too hard. As such, he was fairly muscular but still kept it to more of a runner's build rather than bulking up a great deal. He stood at 8 foot 7 inches, which was impressive for the Yautja, and his dreads were still his sun-kissed blonde and reached to between his shoulders. He had ensured to train in Kurama's chakra as well and could use a decent amount without going berserk and had been able to perform some of the jutsu that Kurama had witnessed counting one from his father called the Rasengan, though it was nowhere near perfect.
He had no intention of using them unless it was against truly dangerous prey, like maybe Xenomorphs or something, but not against other prey. It would take the fun and challenge out of it.
His family were still the same as they were, though he found most of his aunts teasing him much more as he got older and older.
Naruto glanced to his left and right to look at his friends and brothers of the hunt.
Nuzor now stood at 8'1" and was green skinned with white marks, his black dreads reached between his shoulders, and his eyes were still a ghostly blue.
Crix was 7'10" with black skin and green marks while having brown dreads that only just reached his shoulders and his eyes were a murky brown turning grey.
Ojin was 7'8" with red skin that had dark green markings while his forest green dreads barely reached his shoulders and his eyes were a royal purple.
Haxorus was the tallest of them at 8'11" and was red skinned with black markings across him while having a mixture of black and purple dreads that reached his midback. His eyes were golden colored and it wasn't hard to spot him since he was quite literally head and shoulders above the other hunters.
Lorx was 8'2" with blue skin that had white splotches across him. His dreads were a frosty blue while his eyes were still the same cold and icy blue that seemed to lack any and all warmth to them.
All of them had trained hard and followed his instructions over the years for how to improve in different ways and now here they were. There was nothing he could do now, except trust in them to be careful and not get in over their heads. While helping your fellow hunt participants if they were in trouble wasn't illegal on this hunt, you still couldn't hunt in a group either.
This was a test of your solo skills.
Nearby Naruto could also see Akarush, the asshole was still an asshole and only served to be a constant annoyance to Naruto and company. He currently stood at 8'6" with a sickly green skin that had purple spots across it. His dreads were a pale purple and his eyes were a sickly yellow. Naruto felt that description fit him perfectly: a disease/plague/sickness that wouldn't go away or be cured. Naruto did feel some satisfaction at seeing that his right lower fang never did grow back when Naruto broke it those years ago.
{As you know, this is your first hunt, the first opportunity to make a name for yourself. The first chance to prove your worth as a hunter. The first chance to gain honor and glory to your name and clan.} The High Elder spoke, breaking Naruto from his musings and observations. {Today you will embark on a hunt to claim your first trophies. What those trophies are, will be at your discretion. Hunt what you wish and claim what you wish so long as you are not dishonorable. We shall be monitoring you at all times thanks to devices within the masks you'll wear as part of your gear load out. The masks come with the standard view settings.} The Elder continued making them nod as they knew that meant normal, thermal, night, and Xenomorph visions and nothing else.
Naruto noted the High Eldress was just looking at them all, though her eyes landed on him quite a few times,
He had an idea of why that was, but it didn't matter much right now and he needed to focus on the task at hand.
{In addition.} The Elder stated drawing attention back to him, {You will be given the standard equipment for hunters of your calibur and experience. The wrist gauntlet, blades, ghost suit, a dagger to skin or fight with, a medical kit, and a custom supply and tool pack of your own making. Ordinarily, your standard gear would also come with our self destruct devices, but due to this being a hunt on one of our preserves, you will not be given those.} The Elder informed, making the various hunters there sound their acknowledgement.
{Within a short time, we will be above the planet in question and you will orbital drop down to the planet and begin your hunt. Your orbital drop pods will have a set of 12 beacons within for you to tag your prey with and the drones we have shall bring the prey back to the ship for you. You will have 7 solar cycles to hunt and then come the the rendezvous that was programmed into your masks.} The Elder continued making them sound off in the affirmative.
However, the Elder then grew serious, {Be warned, young ones, there are sectors of this planet that should not be trifled with. Many of our more experienced hunters use this preserve to hone their skills in those areas. Your masks will warn you if you are approaching one of those areas, ignore the warning at your own risk, if you are harmed or killed it will be through no fault but your own.} He cautioned, making them all nod in understanding.
{Good, now get your gear and head for the deployment bay.} The Elder ordered, making them beat their chests at him before they left the area.
Once they were gone, the Elder turned to the Eldress, {You were unusually quiet, my beloved.} He stated casually since she usually joined in explaining things to the upcoming hunters.
{Just in thought, my dear. I hope to see something unexpected this year. I've seen many generations of hunters go through their first hunt, but nothing truly surprising or inspiring has come from it.} She stated in a tired voice.
{Is that why you chose this planet despite usually reserving it for trainees that have survived other hunts?} The Elder questioned and the Eldress sighed.
{Our people are stagnating, growing comfortable and complacent. I want to see this generation advance and push things further, to make us question if we've truly improved all we can. There is one among this batch that I think could do that.} She replied as she looked out the viewport nearby.
{You mean the half-breed, Zasphun's adopted child. Naruto, I think his name is.} He realized with no disgust or anything in his tone beyond curiosity.
{Yes. You can't deny that there is something unique about him. All of his teachers in the academy only have praises to say about him, and he has humbled quite a few of the more arrogant students and even some young bloods. He also questions things, he wants to know how things work and why, he wants information on everything possible, and he has his own unique training regimens that he's shared with the academy and others. However, my biggest interest is that I believe he's holding back.} She explained making the Elder look at her in confusion.
{Holding back?} He asked in confusion causing her to nod.
{Yes. I had a drone monitor his progress at times. When he runs the gauntlets or spars with someone at the academy, he holds back, he doesn't do as good as he can. At first I suspected it was due to him being part of those humans that can use the elements as weapons, but I'm no longer sure. He was also able to tell he was being watched by the drone when I tried to have it follow him and his closest friends to see their private training. He's highly unusual, even for a half-breed, and I am interested in what he'd be capable of doing when challenged.} She explained making the Elder click his fangs in thought.
{I see.} He muttered seeing why he would garner her attention.
{There's also this.} She commented before handing him a mechanical bar before a holographic screen came up and he looked at it before widening his eyes.
{Th-This is…} He muttered in shock.
{A formal endorsement from the head of the academy to let Naruto participate in a proving hunt at the next opportunity.} She said simply, fully understanding his shock.
{He's only 17 seasons at best! No one under 28 has ever survived a proving hunt, let alone completed one!} He said in shock as she nodded.
{Yet, Naruto has shown enough skill and talent that the head of academy feels he could not only survive but complete it.} She replied simply as the Elder could only look on in shock. {We will not show any favoritism, but I still wish to see what he's capable of.} She added with finality in her tone as she kept gazing out the viewport.
Down in the armory, there was a lot of clamoring and commotion as the hunters-to-be all exchanged talks and excitement while donning their gear, which came with some armor plating on the shoulders, shins, and chest while leaving the stomach bare. The only ones not overly excited were Naruto and his group, which was due to knowing the seriousness of the situation.
Nuzor wanted to prove himself to help remove some of the stain his grandfather created.
Ojin to prove his size wasn't a factor in being a capable hunter.
Crix to prove to his family and others that his eyes weren't such a handicap that he couldn't hunt, and that he could in fact become a great hunter and warrior.
Haxorus to prove he was worthy of his family name and that he could stand on his own feet without needing his family to hold him up.
Lorx was for the chance to prove his training and time spent trusting Naruto was worth it and show his prowess as a solitary hunter.
Naruto for his chance to show his prowess and prove he deserved to be among their people, but also to bring honor to his family and show that he'd never be a burden on them.
It was also why he was having Kurama suppress as much of his chakra as possible, Naruto didn't want the edge that it gave him with advanced healing, speed, stamina, and strength. Naruto wanted to get through as much of this hunt as he could on his own and Kurama agreed with him. While the seal took some of Kurama's chakra regardless, Kurama for the past few years had been nearly flooding Naruto with his chakra to help him adjust to it, but now he'd not be giving anything to Naruto beyond what the seal took. It would limit Naruto and make him have to work harder for his kills and survival.
Regardless, each of them knew what was truly at stake for this hunt, they weren't ready to fail nor were any of them going to take this lightly.
They didn't care about boasting or getting the best or biggest kill, they simply wanted a kill that would challenge them. Show them where they stood and what their current limit was, so they could surpass that limit through sheer willpower and effort.
If they didn't have to truly try to take down their prey, was it truly worthy prey? Was it worthy of them to take a trophy of it? Was it just them being complacent rather than pushing themselves?
They'd not allow themselves to take the easy way out or take on prey they knew they could defeat easily; they'd still kill them if attacked but they'd take no trophies from them.
{Remember your training, and don't get cocky.} Naruto stated as they each thumped their forearms together.
{May the best Hunter bag the best trophy.} Crix stated with a grin.
{I plan to.} The others all stated making them laugh, though the five knew Naruto was the best of them, but unlike certain assholes he didn't lord it over them or taunt them or belittle them with the knowledge.
He used it to motivate them and to use him as a benchmark: this is the first place I want to be, what do I need to do to achieve that?
An alert sounded off making them all look up as a red light came on making them all nod to each other as they moved to the launch bay and each took a pod, with Naruto taking number 9. He gave a nod to his friends before the pods sealed closed and a countdown initiated in each pod before they then launched in a specific order.
However, as Naruto's pod deployed, an alarm sounded off making Naruto sigh, [Of course something is going to go wrong, why wouldn't it?] Naruto asked as Kurama hummed in acknowledgement and Naruto braced for a bad impact as his pod shot towards the planet.
{Sir, Ma'am! We have a pod going way off course from the targeted landing zone.} A tech exclaimed on the bridge.
{Which pod and will it land safely?} The Elder asked as the tech tapped a few keys.
{Pod number 9. As for the landing, unknown, the variables are too high along with an exact trajectory to indicate if it will collide with anything making it worse.} The tech answered making the Elder click a moment.
{Where is it estimated to land?} He asked as the tech typed and swiped a few times.
{The eastern quarantine zone.} The tech revealed, making silence cover the bridge as everyone looked to the Elders for what they wanted to do.
The quarantine zones were where a lot of the vicious predators of the preserve had congregated and more than a dozen experienced hunters had been injured severely while attempting to hunt there and perform population control.
{Leave it for now, there are times hunters land in dangerous areas and can not be extracted. It will be regrettable if we lose a young hopeful, but such a thing is a potential happening every time a hunter goes on a hunt.} The Eldress ordered, knowing that such things could happen and a hunter that could adapt to that situation was valuable.
{Yes ma'am.} The tech said as they kept typing and moving things on their screen to monitor things.
{Naruto is in that pod, isn't he?} The Elder asked and the Eldress merely clicked at him, which was an answer enough, though she shook her head at his second, yet unasked question, indicating that she had no hand in his pod acting that way and crashing.
Either someone else wanted to test him, someone was trying to kill him, both of the previous ones, or the universe just really wanted to make him work.
Either was possible at this point.
With Naruto, he was groaning as he held onto the pod as it had hit something before plummeting more before hitting something else and bouncing before it finally smashing into and grinding along the ground and coming to a stop.
[Well, that was fun.} Kurama commented dryly as Naruto pulled the release lever for the door, only for it to not move causing him to growl before he spartan kicked it off causing it to land next to the pod.
Getting out, Naruto shook his head to remove the cobwebs and rolled his neck and shoulders getting a few pops. He also mentally noted to inform R&D that they needed to add some padding to the drop pods since hitting multiple things at an odd angle like that was not fun as the passenger.
Taking stock of what he had, he found that he lost five of his beacons to the crash, meaning he'd have to be even more picky with his chosen prey and attached the other beacons to his person.
His mask was still functioning, same for his wrist blades, and his medical kit was intact and so was his dagger. Looking through his pack, he saw the items he grabbed were still fine and in one piece, which was a relief since they could help him in a pinch. Typing on his gauntlet, his ghost suit crackled and sparked around him indicating that it was damaged.
[So, no cloaking and I can tag less kills than everyone else. And according to my mask's readout, we're in one of the more dangerous areas.] Naruto commented as Kurama nodded already sensing many predators in the surrounding area.
[Yes, but at least there should only be worthy trophies here.] Kurama offered, making Naruto grunt in acknowledgement.
However, before he could comment, the sound of water moving and something heavy or strong hitting the ground behind him alerted him to something being in his immediate vicinity.
Acting on instinct, and his own sensory training, Naruto dove to his left just as a large crustacean like appendage slammed into the ground where he was a moment ago.
Taking a moment to look at his attacker, and hoping his mask would have enough time to scan it and give him some information, Naruto saw it was a large six legged reptilian/crustacean hybrid.
It stood at a height of at least 10 feet (a portion of which was due to the slightly elongated neck), yellowy-green skin along with carapace sections, and a set of pincers/claws at the end of each leg with sharp bone protrusions at the joints. There was also a large bone crest around its neck near the base of the skull, several rows of sharp teeth, sickly yellow eyes, and several small hairs across the body.
All in all, it looked deadly and lethal, plus it was clearly aggressive, whether due to being territorial or just plain aggressive or both was unknown, and Naruto decided it would make a good first trophy.
{Processing.} His mask's computer stated as it scanned the creature while Naruto stood ready. {Target identified. Species confirmed as Acklay, an aquatic crustacean creature native to a few worlds. Carapace armor is resilient to even take a blast from a plasma caster. Skin is weaker but still resilient, vulnerability is the stomach area. Attacking the eyes will do nothing as the Acklay can sense neuro-electrical currents, meaning they see your body's natural electrical currents. If attacking the eyes is forced, be sure to use enough force to penetrate all the way to the brain.} It revealed as Naruto dodged another leg strike followed by a snapping jaw and then a swiping attack from another leg.
{Its legs are its main weapon, covered in hardened skin and carapace, they have been witnessed tearing through wood, stone, and metal. However, it's sharp teeth are also a matter of concern as they've been known to penetrate even the best of Hunter armor depending on the size and age of the Acklay in question. Recommended for more experienced hunters to handle.} It continued simply as Naruto growled a bit in excitement.
{Fuck that, this is mine!} Naruto roared as he charged at it, wrist blades at the ready, as the Acklay roared and charged too.
Naruto dodged a stomp and then a swipe from the creature and lashed out with his blades as they sliced at the underbelly, drawing sickly yellow blood, but not seeming to do much else besides piss it off more.
[The belly may be the weakest point, but I'd still suggest going for the throat or you may have to hack and slash at it for a good while before any real damage is done since we don't know where the heart is or if this thing only has one.] Kurama advised, making Naruto nod in understanding as he dodged the legs and jaws.
Swiping at the leg he just dodged, he saw his blades bit into it, but nowhere near enough, meaning he'd either have to swing harder, sharpen the blades better, or maybe see about getting a new material for the blades at some point.
However, he could consider that later as he needed to focus on dodging the creature, keeping his blades ready for the next time it tried to bite him.
Said time came rather quickly, for all its viciousness, the Acklay wasn't that intelligent. Naruto took advantage of that and quickly lashed out, driving his wrist blades into the Acklay's throat making it rear back and roar, thereby tearing its throat even more before Naruto then tore the blades out completely.
The Acklay roared in pain and defiance, but it was too late as it's throat was ripped completely open letting the blood pour out like a river. It sputtered and tried to attack Naruto, but the blood loss made it woozy and it fell on it's side, trying to get up and kill what had harmed it.
It was fruitless, of course, too much blood was lost and it couldn't recover enough to lash out.
It was dead within a minute, and Naruto wasted no time jabbing a beacon on it and activating it before grabbing the drop pod door and taking it with him as he left.
The door may be useful either as a shield or a sled should he need it.
Up above, a tech turned to another of their monitors as an alert came up. {Sir, ma'am, we got a tagging in the area that pod 9 crashed.} The tech exclaimed both surprised and happy that the recruit was alive, and had even managed to get a kill.
{Deploy drones to collect it and get a readout of what it is as well.} The Elder ordered making the tech nod as they began typing away.
{Readout from the beacon shows that it's most likely an Acklay, an above average size one too.} The tech spoke moments later as they found the data for that beacon.
{An Acklay? Impressive. Have the drone report the damage it sustained.} The Elder ordered since to kill an Acklay that quickly was indeed impressive.
He mainly wanted to know if Naruto had maybe gone overboard in killing it and ruining a chance of a good trophy. Plus, an Acklay provided good resources that could be used by many people, though they'd be Naruto's to do with what he wished.
It didn't mean he liked seeing potential useful resources wasted though.
Hopefully the other potential hunters would be able to handle things as well as Naruto seemed to be.
THREE DAYS LATER
Ojin sighed as he drank some water, having just bagged his fifth kill and was trying to relax since the creature, he couldn't recall the name, Varet? Varren? Something like that, it wasn't important.
The thing smelled awful, but was decently vicious so it would be a nice trophy.
Still, he hoped the others were doing all right.
Elsewhere, Haxorus was chewing on some meat from a small creature he killed that wasn't worth taking a trophy from. So far he had used 7 of his beacons to tag kills. He was debating on if he should be more frugal, but he had fought some unique looking creatures and decided to claim them, plus they gave a good enough fight to be taken.
He hoped Naruto wouldn't chastise him for being so quick to claim kills, but he understood if he did.
He'd finish eating then start looking for something that would really test him.
Meanwhile, Lorx was tagging his most recent kill, it was some bipedal pig or swine creature that he couldn't even begin to pronounce the name of. Gamor-something or other, it was semi-intelligent and a bit vicious, so it was a worthy kill in his mind, but DAMN did the thing stink horribly.
It shouldn't have been too surprising to him, but still.
Regardless, it was a decent fourth kill and Lorx wasn't going to complain, not like it would do much good if he did.
He'd wash the thing's blood off of him and then keep hunting.
At the same time, in another area, Crix was moving through the trees looking for his next prey. He had used six of his beacons so far, not entirely sure of what his prey looked like, just having to go by what the computer in his mask told him, but he was fairly confidant he hadn't killed anything pathetic.
He was making up for his eyes by focusing on his other senses, just like Naruto taught him, and was now moving to a new area to look for prey. He could already tell there were some small birds and other creatures near him, but he'd worry about them when he wanted to eat, right now he was hunting for prey not food.
In another region, Nuzor sighed as he brought down his prey, some quadruped that was about his size and covered in bone like armor and had some spikes along with a decent sized club tail. The armor didn't do shit for its underside, which was just soft flesh, and thus meant shoving his blades up into its brain was easy.
He tagged his kill and mentally noted he had used five of his beacons already and knew he'd likely use more before the day was done.
He and the others idly wondered: what kind of prey was Naruto hunting?
WITH NARUTO
Naruto roared as he and the prey he was wrestling slammed into the side of a cliff face before heading for the ground. The damn flying reptile creature that his mask identified as a Banshee was stubborn and prideful, it didn't help matters that he found a small flock of them when he came across it.
He already killed four others and this was the last, and the biggest of the group, and it was rather violent compared tot the others. His armor already had some new marks from their teeth and claws, but besides their ferocity and maneuverability, they didn't have much going for them against Naruto.
Grunting as the damn thing slammed him into the cliff again as he was currently on the Banshee's back, grasping its elongated neck, Naruto gripped tightly and began going for the head. Once he reached it, he grabbed on tightly before roaring as he gave a sharp twist creating an audible CRACK as the neck broke and the Banshee fell to the ground, dead.
Naruto sighed as he stood up and rolled his neck getting a few pops and cracks to relieve some tension. He then grabbed the dead Banshee and pulled it towards the center of the makeshift clearing he was in, some of which was from the fighting he had with the Banshees, and dropped it in the center before grabbing and dragging the others to it.
Reaching into his pack, he grabbed some wire and bound the five Banshees together tightly before activating a beacon and attaching it to the largest one. It was a slight loophole in the rules: limited beacons, but it being attached to a cluster of prey meant that the whole cluster would be taken back.
He'd need them too; he lost another three beacons over a small clusterfuck of things happening. One of which was these damn Banshees, thrashing and smashing him into various things.
Now he had one beacon left since he had tagged a creature a day ago, some kind of reptile creature called a draconsnake, dragosnake, or something, it was large and reptilian and gave a good struggle so Naruto tagged it.
The other issue he had was that he had to start planning how long he still had to hunt here before he'd have to start moving for the pickup point in 4 days. Naruto didn't think he'd need all four days, but his mask couldn't calculate the traveling time and Naruto knew he was a fairly good distance from it.
He wasn't sure about the rules for the hunt if he arrived there late or if the ship would remain there for a time before taking off. While he thought he could do it, he wasn't exactly interested in living on this planet for an undetermined amount of time and neither was Kurama.
They decided that they'd spend one more day hunting this area, then they'd start making their way back to the area that was the extraction point just to ensure they could make it in time.
With that in mind, Naruto left the area and continued to explore and look for worthy prey while still taking the door of the pod with him as he left it nearby.
A few hours later, he stopped for a moment to check his surroundings, his instincts were saying that there was something nearby, but he didn't know what it was. Kurama felt it too, but he couldn't tell either since suppressing his chakra was also suppressing his connection to Naruto, so his own senses were dulled a bit.
Then, before Naruto could react, something slammed into his back sending him forward and down a deep slope of a hill causing him to tumble and roll as he went, hitting rocks and trees and bushes as he went with no chance to stop himself.
Finally, after what felt like several minutes of tumbling, Naruto landed at the bottom of the hill and into what appeared to be some kind of feeding ground. This was evidenced by the large number of bones that were scattered throughout the area around him and a couple rotting half-eaten corpses. A thud nearby informed him that the door had made it as well and he idly saw it a distance away from him planted upright in the ground.
A growling noise drew his attention to where he tumbled and he saw a quadruped creature stalking out of the bushes. It was white with black stripes, a small main of tendrils, four eyes, sharp claws, a long forked tail, and rows of sharp teeth that looked like they were all fangs.
{Processing. Target identified as a Nexu. Fearsome catlike creatures native to a few planets that typically hunt in packs, but some sentient species use them for gladiatorial combat or as guard animals. They are carnivorous and will eat anything, even their own kind if hunger is strong enough. There is no specific vulnerability point, but be warned that their claws and teeth are very sharp and they will use their tail to do acrobatic maneuvers to either disorient, flank, or reach prey that they desire. They are also expert climbers, easily scaling walls, trees, fences, and other obstacles without much effort regardless of if they are doing so to retreat or reach prey.} His mask informed as it scanned the creature, now identified as a Nexu, as it began circling him in a predatory fashion, though Naruto didn't let it get out of his sight for a second.
The Nexu released a deep growl as it stared at Naruto before it charged at him. Naruto ducked the leap it performed and jabbed his blades up, digging into its chest and slicing through it letting it fall dead on the ground as its organs and guts spilled out.
Naruto sighed as he approached, hoping he didn't ruin it too much to get a decent trophy out of the corpse. He approached and prepped the beacon, but froze as he heard a growl behind him and whipped around, only to be smashed into by something strong and heavy sending him into a nearby rockface.
Groaning, he stood and shook his head to clear the cobwebs and saw his attacker and widened his eyes slightly at the sight.
Said creature was a large bipedal creature with short arms and leathery skin standing well over 17 feet tall and was easily 25 feet in length. It had three toes with large claws, a snout with razor sharp teeth with some large ones actually being outside of its mouth and connected to its jaw, a long thick tail that had quills lining the underside, and black hair/fur, or possibly feathers as Naruto couldn't quite tell, going from the base of the neck to the end of the tail. The other notable thing was that its throat seemed to have a large sac in/attached to it.
Currently, said creature was eating the dead Nexu in one bite and seemed to be enjoying the meal before turning to Naruto, who now noticed that he had some of the blood of the Nexu on him, meaning he smelled like food it knew it liked.
It was also that moment that Naruto realized his mask wasn't on anymore, meaning it was knocked off when he was hit, either headbutted or tail smacked, and then sent into the rock.
The creature roared and charged at him with its large jaws and Naruto quickly jumped up and over the attack letting his blades slice into the flesh of the neck, though apparently the beast had a reinforced hide since the blades didn't sink in like they did with the Nexu. It still dealt damage and drew blood, but no where near enough to cause the incapacitation and death of the creature.
Naruto landed and then quickly jumped back to avoid the creature swinging its head around like a club. Naruto snarled and charged, making the creature roar and do the same.
However, instead of going above like last time, Naruto dropped to his knees and slid, going under the beast and used both the claws on his left hand and his blades to cut into the creatures throat, belly, and end of its tail.
Again, it didn't cut as deeply as Naruto would have liked, but this seemed to be a case of a battle of attrition.
However, the beast was still raring to go, evidenced as it slammed Naruto with its tail as he stood to turn and keep fighting it. The damn tail felt like being tackled by a full grown in shape female Yautja while he was just a hatchling, the resulting hit into the tree nearby wasn't nice either and the fact he felt the bark explode told him that hit was as strong as it felt.
There was a problem though.
He didn't feel anything broken; bruised and battered yes; but broken no.
No, the problem lay in the fact that his wrist blades were broken, whether from the tail hitting him or from them hitting the tree or maybe a combination of the two plus the stress of everything was unknown.
Point was, he had his claws and his dagger for combat material now and nothing else.
Growling at the creature, Naruto charged it again and jumped over the bite, but this time didn't go sailing over. Instead, he threw his weight down and slammed an elbow into the head making the beast roar as it was jostled, but still standing. Naruto snarled and dug his claws into the flesh on the head and began raining blow after blow into the beast's head.
The beast roared as Naruto's hits got progressively more and more powerful, partly from him releasing his restraint and partly because he started using chakra to increase his strength delivering stronger and stronger blows down onto it.
The head began going further and further down each blow that struck it before it reached the ground and Naruto began roaring as he smashed his fist into it and moving towards the neck area before a crack was heard and the creature laid still on the ground. Naruto let go with his claws and hopped on the ground before he grasped the head tightly before giving a sharp twist, hearing another loud crack as the neck broke and he sighed as he let go feeling his body needing to relax a bit since he hadn't used his own chakra reserves like that to such an extent.
He trained sure, but never unleashed a fury with his chakra to amplify his muscles and power like that. Especially since he had to be sure to control it enough not to cause the head to cave in or explode and ruin the skull.
The problem though, was before he could truly relax and think about getting the body back, his body moved on instinct and he jumped just as a Nexu pounced upon where he was standing.
However, this Nexu was different than the other. First, it was black in color. Second, it had a larger mane of quills, more teeth, several scars on it showing it fought quite a bit, and had six eyes. Third it was much larger as it was easily 18 feet in length and 5 feet tall. Clearly this was an older and alpha of the pack, meaning it was going to be more dangerous, aggressive, ruthless, and, most importantly, a better trophy if Naruto could survive it.
Naruto drew his dagger and held it at the ready in his right hand while he flexed his claws in his left. The Nexu was more slow and deliberate than the other one, it was moving with a confidence, grace, and caution that it had learned through years of experience and hunting.
It wasn't some ignorant welp thinking Naruto was easy food, it knew to be cautious and attack when it saw an opening.
It was a predator that knew the rules: The smart and strong lived, the stupid and weak died.
Definitely a worthy trophy.
Naruto gripped his dagger tight, not letting his body slacken or relax for even a second. This prey was too dangerous to risk that, it being nimble and semi-intelligent meant it was possibly more dangerous than that large creature he just killed. If he wasn't careful, it would kill him and that thought sent a thrill through him.
The creature suddenly growled and charged at him, he moved to the side and went to lash out with his dagger, but the Nexu's tail suddenly wrapped around his leg and pulled it out from under him sending Naruto to his back. He quickly lashed out at the tail, but it retracted and away before the Nexu was on him.
Naruto grunted as he held the beast back with his forearms while trying to get an angle to drive the blade into it. It was also a bit annoying that the thing was slobbering all over him as he held it back.
Eventually, he got his feet under the Nexu and kicked off, sending it back, but it also had snagged his arm with its claws drawing blood.
Naruto tried to quickly get up to his feet, but the Nexu lashed out with its tail sending him back to the ground as it tried to bite his arm. He quickly lashed out and got his gauntlet in the way of its teeth, though the teeth were digging into the gauntlet and his blade was trapped between some of its teeth.
Grunting, Naruto lashed out with his left hand and dug his claws into the Nexu's neck causing it to roar in pain as he dug in tight. Naruto then grunted as one of the claws dug into his side and he roared before rolling and throwing the Nexu away from him.
Upside: He could move and get his bearings again and the Nexu was at least injured.
Downside: the gauntlet was torn a bit and his blade had snapped.
The hilt and handle was still in good shape, but the blade was broken down to the tang (the part of the blade that goes into the handle) and thus he didn't have a weapon besides his strength and claws.
Pocketing the handle, he flexed his claws as the Nexu got up and roared at him. It charged at him, clearly thinking his claws and such weren't adequate to be a danger to it and leapt at Naruto, who was ready for it.
Once it got close enough, Naruto ducked and brought his hands up under the beast before tossing it away. However, the beast was also ready and the tail lashed out and wrapped around Naruto's neck pulling him with it.
Naruto slammed into the ground and quickly bit the tail around his neck causing the Nexu to roar as the tail released him, but Naruto grasped the tail and pulled with a roar of his own before slamming the Nexu into a nearby tree.
He then slammed it into the ground and began punching it in the head again and again. The Nexu roared again, and suddenly used its natural power and strength to jump and slam its body into Naruto's while the head also connected with Naruto's own disorienting Naruto and causing him to let go.
The Nexu quickly swiped its tail sending Naruto to the ground before it jumped on him and he quickly got a forearm under its jaw to keep it away while the claws also just barely kept away. Naruto grit his teeth since he needed a way out of this, but his claws weren't going to cut deep enough unless he really dug his hand into the Nexu.
Looking around, he saw a large chunk of wood and quickly grabbed it before shoving it into the Nexu's mouth causing it to growl as it tried to get the wood out of its mouth. While it was momentarily distracted, Naruto kept looking around before seeing something and quickly reached for it.
The Nexu got the wood out of its mouth and reared back with a snarl as it opened its mouth wide and lunged forward only to stop and whine in pain at what had happened.
Naruto snarled as blood dripped onto his face, both his own blood and the Nexu's, as his hand held tight.
Said hand was in the Nexu's mouth, and a bit cut up from the very sharp teeth as was his arm, and clutching the blade of his dagger tightly into his hand as he had rammed it up through the Nexu's palate into the brain and twisted it for good measure. The blade was cutting his hand, but he didn't give a shit.
Some pain for a worthy kill and his own survival was perfectly fine and acceptable.
The Nexu whined and tried to move before it stilled completely, dead.
Naruto panted as he pushed the alpha of the Nexu pack's corpse off of him and stood while still clutching the blade of his dagger in his hand. [Well, that will certainly make another fine trophy.] Kurama commented knowing that the alpha of a pack was usually the most worthy kill.
[Agreed, I just need to get the corpses back to the rendezvous intact.] Naruto replied as he looked and saw his mask a distance away on the ground and noted to grab it.
However, that would have to wait as several growls filled the air.
Looking around, Naruto saw at least a dozen Nexu of different sizes all stalking towards him, growling and licking their teeth.
No doubt anger over killing the alpha and the thought of free food fueling them to try and kill the, perceived, weakened interloper of their territory.
{Yeah? You want some too?! COME ON THEN!} Naruto roared as the Nexu pack all swarmed him as he charged the nearest one, intent on putting his claws and blade to good use.
LATER: EXFILTRATION DAY
Today was the day to leave the planet, all of the trainees were there, some a bit banged up worse than others, but all still fully functional and healthy. Each was tired and excited to show off their trophies and were talking with those they were friendly with.
Naruto's group were trying not to show worry or fear over the fact that he wasn't at the rendezvous point yet. The ship was about to land as well and it wasn't a good sign.
{It doesn't make sense, where is he?} Nuzor questioned quietly, none of them doubting for a second that Naruto would succeed and live through this hunt.
{Calm yourself, brother. Knowing him, he probably decided to do one last pass for prey and ended up finding something worth his time.} Lorx stated calmly, though it was clear to his friends that he was a bit worried as well despite his tone and demeanor.
{Yeah. Smug jerk is likely gonna come in with some trophy that's gonna make us all look bad.} Haxorus stated, though there was an undertone of humor.
{Fat chance.} Akarush's smug voice filled the air, {The Half-Breed finally showed how weak he is and is either hiding in shame or dead like he deserves.} He added with a grin as those close to him agreed.
{He doesn't deserve it anymore than you do. If someone as pathetic as you could survive, there's no way Naruto fell.} Ojin countered, making Akarush snarl at him, but before anyone could do anything, the ship entered the atmosphere and began descending into the clearing.
They all stood at attention, some easier than others due to the wounds sustained, as the Elders disembarked with their entourage of Enforcers, aids, and possible students.
The Elders all looked over the group of young hunters and snarled happily. {You've all done well for your first hunt. Now it is time to return home.} The Elder stated as the Eldress seemed to be scanning them for something or someone.
{My lord and lady.} Nuzor spoke as he took a step forward and took a knee.
One of the Enforcers snarled, no doubt knowing who Nuzor was, but a motion from the Elders stopped anything from happening. {Speak, young one.} The Elder stated as he and his mate gazed at the young hunter.
{Our brother of the hunt, Naruto, has yet to return. I fear he is running late due to finding a worthy prey.} Nuzor explained as the others of their group all knelt as well to show their support. {I know it may seem audacious, but I ask if an extension on the time limit could be done to let him have a chance to arrive.} Nuzor requested making the Elders click and look at each other.
{He knew the rules like everyone else. He should have been here on time instead of trying to bolster his ego, that is if he's not dead like he should be.} Akarush snarled, glaring at Nuzor's group and not seeing the glares from the Elders' group for his disrespect in speaking out of turn.
{The rules were to be here today; it was not specified what time to be here by. We will wait a time for him to arrive, but if he doesn't have a good reason for not being prompt, he may be penalized in some way.} The Elder informed, making Naruto's crew beat their chests in respect and understanding.
Akarush snarled before scoffing, {It doesn't matter. With any luck the Half-Breed is dead and gone.} He growled as Naruto's crew snarled at him, while many were giving him disapproving glares for his attitude.
{Sorry to disappoint, asshole.} A voice cut through, making them all turn to see Naruto walking up dragging a makeshift sled full of dead Nexus and some other creatures while he was shouldering/dragging the corpse of the unknown creature he killed, the sight of which got many widened eyes as the beast came into view.
All of them could see the damaged and broken pieces of gear still on him, counting the cracked mask that was on his waist and the broken wrist blades. They could also see the various claw marks on the armor pieces as well as a few wounds he had bandaged.
{Naruto!} His friends shouted in happiness and relief at the sight of him while Akarush glared angrily and the Elders looked on curiously.
{I apologize for not being here sooner, but I had to stop various scavengers from attempting to steal and eat my prey here. Some of the little bastards were tenacious so I added them to my kill count.} Naruto stated as he dropped the corpse with a loud thud and pulled the sled forward, letting some of them see it was the door of his drop pod with some vines and wire tied to make the rope to pull and secure the load. {I'd like to request that these be added to my trophies.} Naruto stated indicating the corpses he brought.
{Of course.} The High Elder spoke as he motioned for some of his Enforcers to load the bodies onto the ship, who nodded and had some drones help them.
{That's not fair! He was supposed to tag his kills with the beacons!} Akarush shouted making a few shake their heads at his stupidity.
He was demanding and shouting at the two most powerful people of their tribe like they were beneath him.
{Watch your tone, youngling!} One of the Enforcers snarled as he glared at Akarush for his disrespect and his Plasma Caster nearly came online to aim at him and likely would have if not for the Elder holding a hand up.
{To address your disrespectful objection, child, we never said that you couldn't bring any prey back with you if you ran out of beacons. We merely told you that you'd be allowed 12 beacons to have the prey brought back for you, do not lash out because you didn't think to bring any prey back to claim afterwards.} The elder stated in a lecturing and reprimanding tone. {It was wise of him to bring the corpses back in the chance we would allow it rather than letting an opportunity for a worthy trophy to pass by. Clearly, he thinks and plans ahead.} The Elder added making Akarush snarl at Naruto.
{The fact that he landed in one of the advanced sectors due to a malfunction in his pod, yet was able to claim trophies from there and make it back here relatively unscathed also speaks to his skill and drive. Such things should be rewarded.} The Eldress added as the young hunters all turned to Naruto in surprise.
{That's enough. All of you back on the ship, and you young one, need to clean yourself as well. Blood and sweat do not make for a favorable aroma.} The Elder ordered, ending any further discussion as Naruto nodded knowing he smelled horrible after all that he had been through in the last day.
The new hunters all entered the ship, a few Enforcers watching Akarush to ensure he didn't do anything stupid… again. A few of the hunters that weren't among Naruto's group were praising and offering their congratulations to him.
Naruto thanked them, but at the moment all he wanted was a hot shower, some hot food, and a bed to relax in. Blocking off Kurama for that long felt strange and his body was more exhausted than he can remember it being, likely from the fox's chakra energizing him so he wasn't as tired, but still.
It was another aspect of his training he'd have to work on, both he and Kurama didn't want the fox to become a crutch for Naruto to lean on if things ever got difficult. Sure, using his power in a moment of life and death or severe urgency was fine, but not constantly having it where Naruto would be safe from more than half of the dangers, risks, and pressures of the hunt.
Kurama had suggested that when he was capable of traveling freely, to visit his original world and the land of his ancestors who were quite skilled at the sealing arts and may have a way to add to his seal to cut off Kurama's chakra and open it again as he needed/wanted so they didn't have to constantly focus on blocking the flow. Naruto had agreed, especially since it could have potential seals to add to his training and maybe add in new options to hunt or even some armaments from his clan.
However, that was in the future, right now he wanted to go to his assigned quarters and refresh himself.
As the hunters boarded the ship, the Elder and Eldress shared a look before they too boarded it with the rest of their Enforcers following dutifully once they were sure no threats were in the proximity.
Before long, the ship was rising off the planet, scaring the nearby local wildlife, and began heading off into space to return to Yautja Prime.
The Elders calmly walked to their quarters, while commenting to one of their Enforcers to acquire the mask feed of Naruto for them to watch in detail later.
{He killed an Anjanath with his bare hands.} The High Elder stated once he and the Eldress were alone on the ship.
{Before, during, or after killing a pack of Nexu.} She added before looking at him curiously, {Do you still question if he can compete in the proving?} She asked and he shook his head.
{No, if he can do this without proper equipment, I can only speculate what he could do when fully outfitted. I won't object if he is placed in the hunt, the question is if he will object.} He answered making her click at him in confusion, {He may not participate without his friends. He is both their brother and their mentor and he will wish to go on their proving with them, if they do not participate then I doubt he will.} He explained making her nod in understanding.
{Then perhaps we should give them an opportunity to prove themselves ready and push them further.} She stated cryptically causing him to click as the ship began accelerating in its move back home.
The first hunt had gone well, now they needed to not only plan the next but also what the future would hold for Naruto and his friends.
DONE!
With that Naruto has completed his first hunt and the High Eldress has an interest in him for the advancement of their people.
Next time? Not sure, maybe it will be everything settling in and some minor stuff or it may be Naruto going on a proving hunt or another lower hunt. Who knows.
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