For what had to be the dozenth time that morning, both Naruto and Blake sneezed within seconds of each other. They shared a look, both teens wondering what was causing them to sneeze like a kid with every allergy ever. Deciding that it was better left unexplored, the blond shrugged as the two continued their stroll out into one of the less populated areas of Vale.
The reason?
None really. Blake had already browsed quite a number of book shops and bought herself a small stack of the ones that had caught her eye. Naruto meanwhile had bought a small number of books that dealt with Dust and its uses as well as its manufacturing. Sure he had a number of Jutsu under his belt from each element that could far out do anything a Dust user could do, but learning how to use the stuff should he ever have to wouldn't be a bad thing.
With his own near ocean sized reserves and stamina it was highly unlikely he'd ever run out of chakra though, compound that with the fact that he could draw upon Nature chakra to bolster his reserves as well as borrow from Kurama who had an almost limitless amount of chakra, and it would take days for the blond to even come close to running out.
Still though, the concept of Dust and how the people of Remnant used it intrigued our blond protagonist. Thanks to Dust you didn't have to be aligned to a certain element to use it, in fact anyone was more than capable of using every element, a feat Shinobi were only capable of with decades of training or having access to a Kekkai Genkai. That didn't mean that the people of Remnant didn't align with certain elements more than others like those of the Elemental Countries. He had yet to see anyone outside of Weiss really use Dust though so at this point he was mostly going off of guess work.
'Hmm actually I might have to talk to Princess later. She probably knows a lot about Dust and I did want to ask her about her glyphs,' Naruto thought to himself.
'As powerful as the ability to draw your seals on thin air like that would be, I doubt it is something she would be able to teach you. These Semblance powers are extremely unique to an individual, far more so than even the Kekkai Genkai of the Shinobi. In fact the only thing that children seem capable of inheriting from their parents is this Aura and possible elemental alignment,' Kurama chimed in.
Being the pseudo child of the famed Sage of Six Paths, the origin of both chakra and a multitude of Kekkai Genkai, the Bijū had intimate knowledge of said topics. As such, the origin of Aura and Semblance intrigued the thousands of years old chakra construct due to the similarities and differences between the powers of the Shinobi and Huntsmen.
While Naruto and his foxy friend chatted through their mental link, Blake took the time to ponder her own thoughts that she had shoved to the back of her mind due to joy she had been feeling as she waltzed around Vale with her friend.
'That look usually means Naruto is talking with Kurama. But how? They're not saying anything out loud. Then again Naruto did say that Kurama had been infused with his Aura from birth as some sort of experiment by his village. Wait, was he experimented on because he was a Faunus?'
As the thought crossed her mind, the nagging curiosity began to gnaw at her, egging her on to get answers that would solve many of the mysteries that surrounded her blond friend.
"Naruto," Blake said simple in a bid to catch the blond's attention.
Seeing that she had both curious blue eyes and glaring crimson orbs staring at her, the young teen continued, "Were you the only Faunus in your village?"
The question actually caught Naruto off guard, not only because of how out of left field it came, but also because he hadn't thought anyone would ask something like that, content to know that he was a "Faunus" and that he came from a place called Konoha.
If the blonde wanted to continue the half truths trend that he had set thus far, he could say no, seeing as how both the Inuzuka and Aburame clans of his village were rather close to being Faunus like. Then again he had been the only Jinchūriki of Konoha, for obvious reasons, and as such didn't exactly have the best childhood due to being treated like the Faunus of Remnant - as a pariah, something that wasn't entirely human and so didn't deserve to be treated as one, a far cry from how the Inuzuka and Aburame clans were treated.
Raking a hand through his hair and sighing in a way to make it seem like it was a sore subject when really he was just buying time, Naruto wracked his brain. On one hand he could get pretty close to the truth and let Blake know why he sympathized with the Faunus and why he didn't agree with the methods of the White Fang. On the other he could be a proper shinobi and keep her at arm's length by telling a flat out lie and simply dodging the question as best he could.
'Tch, you, a proper shinobi? You and I both know that you have never been a "proper " shinobi, it's why that one eyed sensei of yours gave you your nickname and also why you've been able to grow so strong and create bonds with people whom "proper" nin would have simply left to die. On top of that, remember, there is a 99.9% chance of us never being able to go back there. What's done is done. Remnant and Vale are now our home.'
'...Kurama?'
'Yeah, Kit?'
'Thanks. I don't know what I'd do without you.'
'Probably dead or still being a dumbass.'
Disregarding his closest friend's snarky comment knowing that it was simply how the Bijū was, Naruto not only decided on what his answer to Blake's question was, but also he had realized how right Kurama was.
:::
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