I hope all of you are taking care of yourself and staying at home. I know times are difficult and everyone is facing problems but I just want to say that stay healthy and follow the guidelines to stay safe.
Sadly I was fired from my part-time job due to recent health issues around the world and because of depression, my previous two chapters aren't that good. I have tried to improve my writing this chapter and I hope you guys like it.
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Naruto checked his pouches and looked around the room one more time to check if he has left anything. Once he was sure that everything he owned was sealed in the storage it was time to leave the room.
Picking up a black cloak on the bed, he wore it for protection from the elements, as well as to hide his weapons and face. Naruto still had a mindset of a shinobi so he chose to hide his face and weapons when traveling.
With one last look around the room, he looked out the window to see if it was still dark. Fortunately, he still had some time before the farmers went to work in the fields and this gave him time to leave without anyone knowing.
After stealthily leaving the room that had been his place of residence for 3 months he headed directly to the village gate, on his way he left letters at doorsteps of all the people that helped him. The sadness in his eyes could be seen easily but he once again steeled his heart to leave without saying goodbye to anyone in the village.
Naruto kept walking but his mind was on the people he left behind in the village. When he started working with Davis the people of the village started warming up to him. He went hunting monsters with the guards and trained with them, learned how to cook with the chef and had fun with everyone but now he was leaving so suddenly and could not describe that if not for this village than he would have gone mad and he was never good at saying goodbyes.
According to the map, the nearest village was two weeks worth of running distance but his aim was to look for ancient structures and deadly places for clues regarding dimension travel. Naruto was struggling to decide whether to go to the village or visit unknown locations marked on his map according to stories, rumors, legends, and myths.
In the beginning, he was leaning towards going directly towards marked areas but leaving the villagers to Grimm attack will leave a mark on his conciseness. To ease his mind and also finance himself, he decided to take missions from the closest places as well as just kill the Grimm he finds on his way.
.....
It was evening but he still walked on the path to the next village until his senses prickled with negativity; human negativity. A sigh escaped his lips at remembrance, the villagers told him that the continent of Anima was full of bandits and dangerous Grimm but he did not think that an attack will happen in just a single day.
He kept walking without paying attention to the people following him. 'Maybe they are just scouts and I am in their territory or they might want to attack me when I sleep.'
He checked the weapon on his waist, a simple katana he found in the scroll among other ninja tools in preparation for an attack.
In only a few hours later the sky turned dark. Naruto found a comfortable tree with thick branches and jumped on its branch. Settling down he opened the pouch with dry rations to fill his stomach. Sadly, he was still being observed so he did not open a seal to eat fresh food. Before the first bite could reach his mouth his neck hair stood on end and bullets rained down on him.
Smoke and debris filled the surroundings hiding Naruto from the view of attackers. A few cracks of broken bones sounded around the forest and minute later silence reigned again. In the shadows, a figure ran forward with no sound leaving the location of destruction behind him.
'Good thing I decided to limit my strength to Low-Chunin.' Naruto wasn't even fazed by the attacks on him. His clothes did not have a speck of dirt due to the aura shield he projected outside his body.
"I don't have time deal with some stupid bandits. I can only get rid of them once I enter Mistral territory. I just hope they were not from Branwen Tribe." Naruto was annoyed since he had already caught the attention of unsavory people. He was not scared about dealing with bandits or even the infamous leader of Branwen Tribe rather he wanted to keep a low profile.
Once he was sure that no one was following him he calmed down and set camp for the night on another tree.
...
Naruto steered in his sleep, this was a daily occurrence because he was having a nightmare. From the day he came to this world he was having constant flashbacks of his childhood and fights in Elemental Nation. In a flash, his weapon was drawn and he woke with short breath. Naruto was sweating overall but ignored it in favor of getting ready for another day of travel. He knew that he can only get better from these nightmares by talking to someone but he had no one to confide in.
On his way, he killed Grimm and took missions from villages that were in his way. Many times he found destroyed settlements attacked by Grimm and bandits. The destruction reminded him of the bloodshed in Elemental Nations and the Grimm were like White Zetsu. Soulless creatures that wanted nothing but destruction.
'The similarities are obvious but the Grimm are like animals so how can older Grimm be so intelligent that they wait for the perfect opportunity. Could someone be controlling them to destroy humanity?' he thought but there were still many things to consider to come to any sort of conclusion.
Other than that to find a way back home and make reason and rhyme of Grimm, he looked for clues on ancient civilizations. His thoughts were; If people of today could not figure out things about time and space phenomenon then he probably needed to find things related to the two gods. He traveled the mountains, swamps, cliffs, and other places. Locations that even hunters wanted to avoid at all costs but Naruto was reckless as well as powerful. No matter if it was a Grimm nest or suicidal location; he was there.
Which is why he roamed around, jotting down notes, drawings or find some kind of artifact. The location of the gods could also be helpful but other than some old documents and even more myths and legends coming to surface he did not find anything.
Another thing infuriated him the most in his journey was the constant attacks of Branwen Tribe. Seems like the tribe leader was interested in capturing him or killing him. He even became more ruthless in his methods of severely injuring them so they could never loot or kill anyone else.
...
It took three months for Naruto to scour the entire southern and eastern part of the continent of Anima. He traveled through all kinds of deadly terrain and finally felt satisfied. He was heading towards Mistral to research the clues regarding information he gathered and search the north and west part of the continent. Sadly, his way was cut off by a Petra Gigas attacking him in a fit of rage for no reason.
The fight however ended in just thirty minutes. The Petra Gigas lay prone on his feet bound by ninja wire reinforced by the aura and his sword stabbed directly in its face. It slowly turned into ashes and the negative energy dispersed in the atmosphere and Naruto felt nature energy taking its place with his keen senses.
A second later his senses picked up activity in the surroundings and he got on guard. Soon, 50 people surrounded the destroyed clearing with weapons drawn. Under his hood, he observed the bandits with cold eyes but they parted to make way for a woman in black and red clothing with a mask.
She strolled down like she had everything under control and stopped only when she was about 20 feet away from Naruto, staring at his tall figure with curiosity behind her mask. This was Raven Branwen, leader of Branwen Tribe; a tribe of bandits. She took off her mask and tucked it underneath her arm.
Both of them tried to look for each other's weaknesses. Raven could only see a katana in his hand and some wires spread around the field which were so thin that she had to look closely to not be cut by them. Both were traditional weapons and the man easily took down a Petra Gigas alone. Other than that she could not even look underneath the cloak and the lower half of his face was covered in a red scarf to tell if he was breathing heavily after the fight.
Naruto, on the other hand, kept his head down and observed his surroundings and the leader of the bandits with his senses. He could tell that she was not like the others he had come in contact with. The bandits were merely there as decoration. The real threat was the woman standing in front of him.
Both stayed silent, both knew that the one to make the first move will show the first weakness. Raven put a hand on the grip of her sword and Naruto simultaneously raised his left hand tightening the grip on his wires.
The wires sprung up and tightened around the 50 bandits; cutting into their skin. "The lives of these people is in your hands. A single movement of my finger and all of them will be sliced into pieces. You decide?" Naruto proposed in such a manner that he did not care about killing. Even if he hated killing, these people sat a trap to weaken him with the grimm and than kill him. He will never show mercy to those who constantly wanted to kill him.
Raven looked around and the clearing was filled with crisscrossing wires, sharp enough to cut through flesh easily. Suprised flashed in her eyes by hearing a young voice from the man or boy. Her grip tightened and she looked around at her people in slight worry.
"The ghost finally talks." She replied and simply removed her hand from the sword.
"I did not know I had a moniker of any sort." He laughed genuinely. "People have been saying that the ghost of a hunter roams Anima day and night killing Grimm. Even other kingdoms are looking for you." She answered.
"I am no ghost and neither do I care about what other kingdoms think or want from me." He answered while backtracking to the edge of the clearing.
"People other than the kingdoms have also developed an interest in you. People who will do anything to have subordinates like you."
"Are they Gods?" His question silenced her for a few seconds.
"There are no gods."
Naruto smiled, "Than I am sure I can survive any tyrant or terrorist that comes my way."
He was already out of the clearing, so he tugged the wire and it immediately came loose. with speed and precision of a ninja, he pulled it all in one gesture of his hand and activated his semblance.
Time slowed down to a trickle and he teleported the furthest he could from the people. Like the wind, he stepped on branches lightly and flash stepped directly towards Mistral. For the first time, he felt the exhilaration of using his semblance, to control time and space.
Raven checked the clearing, but she could not find a single clue to how the boy disappeared. She yelled at her people and rounded them up. No one was injured but she was sure that all of them will have nightmares after coming so close to death.
....
Naruto did not feel bad about holding bandits hostage or running from the fight. He knew Raven was powerful but he sensed something more in her and fighting her will only waste his time.
'I can't search the kingdom of Mistral since they will be monitoring my movements very closely. The only thing I can do is get some important things done and leave for Atlas.'