Chapter Text
Naruto walks slowly as he approaches, careful not to draw attention. The cover of the trees help in keeping his presence to minimum as he stalks forward. Every step taken is a silent one as he continues to grow closer and closer to his target. The targets movement is erratic, making tracking it all the more annoying. Once Naruto's in range he comes to a full stop and stills his body. He brings his hands up to his chest and flashes through two hand signs. His hands end up resting on a snake hand seal with his hands clasped together.
Chakra builds up rapidly in his stomach, a familiar feeling to the shinobi, it begins to flow towards his sides. His eyes and mind dial in to the target, Naruto takes a deep breath of air.
Focus.
He lets out his breath, golden chains erupt from his sides and launch themselves. The target however reacts, shifting it's body at the last second and quickly flees. Light brown fur disappearing into the surroundings. The chains end up digging themselves into the dirt instead of food. Naruto sighs. Having cooked rabbit for dinner was awesome but catching the rabbit was the biggest pain in the world. They were just so damn fast and annoyingly small.
Naruto calls back his chains and they quickly retract from the dirt, leaving small holes in the ground. He cuts off the snake seal which causes the chains to disappear.
He reluctantly begins his walk to the river near by, flat grass marking the trail, a worn path by this point. He was eating fish tonight. It wasn't something he was excited about, but it was better than going to sleep hungry. It was while Naruto walks that he begins to think on the past couple days. The realizations.
He was in a new world. A completely new one where he had no friends, no bonds, and no home. A new world where there was no Konoha. One where he couldn't even talk to the people around him even if he tried. A new level of loneliness that he'd never really experienced before.
Naruto's pace slows.
The headband around his forehead feels heavy all of the sudden. Being in a new world still hurts, it hurts a whole lot. All of it makes him want to give up as it begins to overwhelm him. But he knew he couldn't, he wouldn't. He'd made a promise and Naruto wasn't the type to go back on a promise. Especially a promise to someone he cared about so much.
A promise to his mom.
Naruto's mind still struggles to process the thought. It's such a foreign concept to the blond. The idea that he really had parents. It's even harder to process who they where when they were alive. His mother was the Jinchuriki before him and his father was the Fourth Hokage.
He didn't know much about his mom other than what she told him but he knew a lot on the Fourth Hokage. Konoha's Yellow Flash, the fastest shinobi to ever live. The man who defeated the Nine-Tails and saved Konoha. The same man who created the Rasengan.
Minato Namikaze.
Thinking and knowing about his parents lessens the pain of being in a new world. It's still there. Like a wound that won't close, a wound that constantly makes itself known. But, it's manageable. He can exist with it.
Naruto finishes his thought just as the river comes into view. The ground below him changes as he approaches. Rough gravel replaces ankle high grass. His steps make a small crunching sound that fills his ears along with the sound of water flowing. He scans the small body of water for fish but comes up empty handed. The blond lets out a small sigh before he sits down and waits.
He looks around idly to his surrounding, his eyes taking it all in. It's beautiful, most forests are. But it's the same as yesterday, and it would be the same tomorrow. There's life everywhere of course, the ground with rich plants and even the skies with birds. But it's uninhabited. It's empty in the way that matters most.
A small realization comes to him as he waits by the river, ’I can not stay here’
He's sitting on a rock by a small fire as the sun sets when he hears it, a fish on a stick hovering just above the flames. The sound is faint but noticeable over the usual sounds of nature and the cracking of embers. It's a sound that Naruto knows very well actually, metal scratching against wood. A sound any Shinobi knows.
He quickly sets down his fish and puts out his fire as he begins to follow the direction of the sound. It had emanated from within the forest so trees obstruct most his vision, the fact the sun was beginning to set doesn't help. Naruto walks cautiously, his body slightly tense as he approaches the area. His eyes catch movement between the gaps of the trees and he finally gets close enough to see what's happening.
It's a man with a cast around his leg and long sword in hand fighting off a monster. The man looks absolutely exhausted, his movements sluggish as he tries to keep the monster at bay but it's clear he's fighting a losing battle. There are a hundred little other details that Naruto sees, that he notes down but they don't really matter. All Naruto knows is that they're people in danger and that he can help.
He launches himself towards the scene without so much as a solid plan, putting himself right between the man and the monster. His feet slamming harshly into the dirt as he lands and he quickly positions himself in front of the two. His whole body acting as a sort of shield.
Naruto turns his head to the two behind him and speaks, "Don't worry, I got this!"
He looks back at the monster, definitely not the biggest he's ever fought but not the smallest either. It stares at him for a moment before it starts to attack and Naruto acts. He summons as much chakra as he can before two chains burst out from his sides, golden and glowing in nature. One of them blocks the claws that had been moving at him and the other finds it's way straight into the beast head.
The monsters body stills as specks of black begin to hover over its from. Naruto retracts the chains from its head causing its body too fall onto the grass floor. A small thud is heard but other than that it's completely silent.
Naruto shifts and turns around to face the person behind him. The man in question is much taller than Naruto, and by the looks of the beard in his face, much older as well. Perhaps 20 years his senior by the looks of it. There are two things that really grab the blonds attention however.
The man's sword and his eyes.
The sword is large, not quite as large as Qrow's, but it's still large nevertheless. The man's grip on the weapon doesn't loosen in the slightest. Naruto would be lying if he said it didn't put him a bit on edge. The man's eyes also aren't the most reassuring to the blond either. He looks at Naruto hard with hazel eyes, still on the defensive. Trying to make sure he's friendly, looking for any sign of malice. A certain hesitation in there as well. But Naruto isn't too put off by it however, it's a look he's seen on dozens of shinobi's faces and one he's had himself before. He can practically see the question running through mind.
'Can I trust you?'
Naruto lifts both his hands next to his head, attempting to communicate he's friendly. The man furrows his eyebrows for a moment, giving him one last look before deciding to lower his defenses. His grip on the sword loosens and he lets out a sigh, exhaustion clear.
The man begins to speak, "sknaht rof gnivas em gnouy nam, I etaicerppa ti."
Naruto just kinda stares at him. "Dude, I have no damn clue what your saying. I'm pretty sure I would understand a squirrel better."
The man visibly recoils at Naruto's words, unsure if he'd misheard something. The blond sighs before deciding to take a page out of a drunks book. Naruto raises his right hand up to his chest before pointing a thumb at himself.
"Naruto, Naruto Uzumaki." He says it slowly, stressing every syllable as he does so.
The man seems to understand his message as he gives a small nod, confusion still clear on his face however. Naruto then carefully moves his hand and points at the man. The man catches on and begins to speak.
"Maron, Maron Dine."
Naruto nods, thinking his name was a bit funny. The newly identified Maron then begins to really take a look at him instead of trying to get a read on him. There's a slight pause as he does so before the man seems to come to a decision.
Naruto feels an odd sense of familiarity.
Maron begins to carefully moves his sword until the point is directed towards the ground. He moves his thumb on the bottom of the handle and presses against it hard. Naruto watches as the handle begins to extend and the sword retract in on itself. At the end of it all a cane rests at the palm of his hand.
The man lifts his left hand near his head and speaks.
"Nom'c ikd, er'uoy gnimoc htiw em.”
Naruto internally questions his new habit of following random people he meets in forests as he walks. He had followed the drunk because he'd assumed that he would bring him to Konoha. Naruto follows this man because he's pretty sure that leaving some guy in a cast in a forest full of monsters would send him straight to hell.
The two of them walk for a while, it's a silent affair as neither really speaks to another. The only sounds heard as they move being their own steps and the animals around them. Maron struggles at times but leads the way nevertheless.
Its after they follow a faint dirt trail for a while that their destination becomes clear.
It looks similar to a cabin in the way it's built but it's much too large to be one. Wood and stone make up the majority of the structure with dashes of other materials in between. Windows on the sides let Naruto know that there's light in there as well, usually meaning it's also warm in there. He had noticed that it was starting to get colder, the trees around him getting there first tints of fall, and there were only so many fires one could light in a forest.
Maron leads them straight towards the double doors and Naruto fidgets a bit with his hands as they walk up the porch.
'What now? Would Maron just shoo him away?
He wasn't really the awkward type but he can't help but feel like it now. Then Maron does something surprising. He opens the door, turns back around towards him, and invites him inside. Holding the door open for him and gesturing inside with his other hand.
"Emoc ni." Maron says, the words still indecipherable but meaning clear.
Naruto stares for a moment before speaking.
"Thank you." His tone is soft and he knows Maron won't understand but he says it all the same.
Maron smiles at him, and tilts his head inside. Naruto nods, lightly returning the smile before walking in.There are small taps that ring out as his sandals begin to step on hard wood floor. Naruto looks around at his new surroundings in curiosity and can't help but stare. To his right is an open entrance towards what seems like a lounge area with a large window that grants view of the forest outside. Bookshelves cover the rest of the wall with the window on it. Sofas, tables, and chairs scattered all around making it clear it was a place where people hung out.
To his left was a small dinning room by the looks of it, four small round tables each paired with a set of four chairs next them. Napkins and standard utensils rest on the tables but Naruto's eyes are unexpectedly teared away from the dinning room. His attention is transferred to the area in front of him, a large wooden staircase with a desk next to it, as Maron walks up the staircase.
Naruto simply follows the man, a small creek rings out on a particular step as they make their way up which causes Maron to mutter under his breath.
"Attog teg enoemos ot xif taht." There's a tone of annoyance underlying his words and Naruto chooses to forget it.
Eventually once all the stairs are climbed they enter a long hallway. Doors with symbols engraved elegantly on the top cover the hallway. Maron begins to make his way towards the end on the left side of the hallway. Eventually they make it towards the last door and Maron comes to stop. He shoves his hand into his pocket and searches for moment before pulling out a key. It had a string attached to the back of it, the string connecting to a small piece of paper with the same symbol as the door on it. The man unlocks the door quickly and pushes it open lightly.
Naruto can't help but be a surprised, he points at himself with his index finger. His eyes wide and disbelieving as he does so. A silent question raised, 'for me?', to which the man just nods and hands him the keys. Naruto accepts and does something he really doesn't do often.
He bows, it's not a full one but he leans forward with his eyes closed. It's the only way he thinks of to express how much he appreciates this without words. The man waves him off and smiles.
Naruto then takes a look inside and and while there are many things he sees, there's only one he notices.
A bed. An actual fricken bed. One with sheets to cover himself with instead of his filthy jacket. A bed with pillows to use instead of his arm at night. A bed with a mattress to use instead of leaves.
Naruto doesn't feel shame when he throws himself onto it. It's soft of course, mainly just warm and unbelievably comfortable. He practically melts on impact.
Yeah, Naruto didn't mind staying here at all.
A room holds a conversation between two men.
The room in questions is massive, circular in shape and with glass covering most of the walls. Letting the light of the shattered moon through to light the area. Letting the two men see. The two men seated, a glass table with gears in it being the only thing that separates them. The sound of a clock ticking reverberating through the room.
One of the men speaks, beginning the conversation.
"Mission report." It's more of a statement than anything and the second man begins to speak.
"When I arrived at the town they were on the verge of being overrun by Grimm, swarms of them had gathered on the North side of the settlement and the townsman couldn't keep up. Don't blame them. They were able to regain control and kill most of the Grimm with my aid. My ride was taken out by those bastards when I landed so it took me a while to get back."
There's a pause between the two and the first man speaks again. Preparing internally for any response.
"Any casualties?" A dark question but a necessary one.
"Fortunately no, some injuries were sustained but very minor."
Both feel relief in the answer, causalities on a mission where almost always a tragedy. The loss of life tended to be. Reporting back no casualties was a luxury they didn't always get. The first man nods before speaking again.
"Is there anything else you'd like to report, Qrow?" He asks, not quite expecting an answer. It's why when there's no instant response he becomes curious.
Qrow doesn't do anything for a moment. His mind goes to memories of the blond in the forest. Memories of a kid with a hole in his jacket and walking on water. Memories of a kid that looks the same age as Ruby destroying Grimm besides him. He can't help but let out a breath, one of exhaustion more than anything.
"Yeah Ozpin, I got something else to report."