FicWad

Chapter 1

'Before the fall of the old world there was a war. This war, if lost, would have spelled the end of humanity. Four Legendary Heroes rose up against the enemy wielding weapons of unimaginable power and when the war was won, it came at a cost: the fall of the old world. And the deaths of the four heroes. Old remnants, fragments, of the old world can be found. But most if not all are inoperable...'

In a town several people crowded around a body of a middle aged man that looked like he was mauled to death by a bear. His facial expression permanently frozen to show pure utter terror. His throat was torn out and from his collarbone down to his stomach was ripped open and emptied of its contents.

“This is getting out of hand. This is the third death we've had this week!” a man was greying hair and a receding hairline growled.

“Causing a panic won't do anyone any good.” another man replied before he made a face as he gave the body a look over. “This is unlike anything I had seen. I don't think we're dealing with a common Yoma.”

“What makes you think that?” the first man replied.

“Yoma's usually eat entrails when they kill.” answered the second man who then gestured at the mutilated body. “But every single body we found has met a similar fate to him: torn throat, ripped open torso and the missing organs...” he listed before sighing tiredly. “It will be best if no one is by themselves until this situation is resolved.”

Observing the scene an ears difference away is a 17 year old man wearing a brown tunic with a white under shirt brown trousers and shoes. A black cloak like poncho with a hood over his head and a pouch with a huge amount of hold in it. What was almost unnoticed is the glowing reddish-orange blood vial hanging from the belt of his trousers, just out of sight thanks to the poncho like cloak he was wearing.

Naruto Namikaze had been keeping to himself for the past month ever since he had been freed from captivity, and ever since he had been wandering around to keep himself one step ahead of the people his parents sold him too. He never stayed in one place for too long.

However he had just gotten here a day ago and this is the first time he ever came across this kind of situation. And despite being in this foreign land for an entire month he has no idea what these 'yoma' are either.

And there's the smell in the air. It was disgusting. If he had to compare it to something then it would be metallic and rotten. And it was close by too.

A prominent frown pulling at his lips Naruto sniffed the air and coughed in disgust. Then he caught something from the corner of his eye and he turned half way to look at it.

A shadow picturing a big, burly and muscular humanoid on top of a building. Frowning Naruto turned to look up at it completely and grew wide eyed. Deathly pale grey and decaying skin. Elongated limb with parts of the muscle and bone visible. Dark red glowing eyes, and razor sharp teeth and claws matted with dried blood. Half of its face was ripped off and its torso was half torn open showing its insides that were halfway from hanging out.

It was swaying unsteadily from side to side as it looked for its next victim. And its gaze was mainly focused on the crowd that was around the body. Inhaling and exhaling Naruto tore his eyes off of the dead creature and slowly walked over to the assembled crowd; he was able to pick up the end of the conversation.

“-sent a message to the Organization and they've sent two two Claymore's to take care of our yoma problem.” the second man said.

“What?! We don't need those freaks of nature Derek! We can handle this ourselves!” the first man fiercely exclaimed.

“And this problem has gotten way beyond our control Simon.” Derek calmly replied and he pinched the bridge of his nose tiredly as he added, “At the rate we're going this entire town will be empty within a few months. We need their help.”

Simon took a deep breath and exhaled. His shoulders slumping in defeat. “When will they arrive?” he questioned.

“The mayor sent word a few days ago. They should be here any moment now.” that was when Derek noticed Naruto standing beside them and strange attire aside, he greeted the teenager with a welcome smile. “Ah. A newcomer? I'm sorry you had to see this-”

He was abruptly stopped from finishing his sentence when Naruto raised his hand. “Whatever you do. Do. Not. Look up behind you.” he warned bringing his arm down to his side.

Derek frowned in concern but Simon was the one who was looking at him with distrust. “Why shouldn't we?”

Naruto glanced at him from under the cowl of his hood. “Because I am pretty damn sure that the thing killing your people is on the roof behind you looking down on us.”

Common sense would dictate that a person would take a warning seriously. However because Simon distrusted Naruto he had disregarded his warning completely and looked up at the roof behind him.

That was when he saw it and in a panic he screamed in a frightened panic while pointing at the being looking down on them. “YOMA!!!”

That was when all hell went loose. Everyone looked up at where Simon was pointing and screamed in terror when they saw it. The identified yoma threw his head back and let out an inhuman screech in response, before leaping off the roof and down to the ground with the crowd around the corpse being its destination.

Acting quick Naruto shoved Derek away and leapt back just as the yoma landed on the ground. It roared in challenge at the first person it saw: Naruto Namikaze; everyone else meanwhile got the hell out of dodge screaming their heads off and leaving Naruto to fend for himself.

Naruto summed up what he thought of the yoma in seven words.

"Ugly son of a bitch, aren't you?" Naruto sneered as he stared the undead yoma directly in the eye.

The undead Yoma in question roared in response as it charged the blond human blindly, giving in to its primitive drive of hunger.

X.X.X.X

Meanwhile just outside of the town were two women. They wore a uniform that consisted of a light grey two-piece tight-skin suit, with a mock-neck dickie marked with an symbol near the base of the throat. Over top of that, were several pieces of plate armour: shin-high, slightly heeled metal sabatons, large vambraces on their wrists, shoulder pauldrons on their shoulders and a fauld on their waist. And lastly they wore a short grey cape that reached their mid-back.

On their backs was a single large Claymore sword. This wouldn't be out of place if it weren't for two striking features: their silver eyes and unnatural pale platinum blonde hair. One had an almost stoic look on her face while the other had a grin with a partially eaten apple in her hand.

These are Helen and Deneve, the so called 'Silver Eyed Witches' or as they're more commonly known as by the populace they were created to protect 'Claymore'

Helen took a chunk out of the apple. “Hmph. So this is the place the yoma is lurking in eh?” she said with a bored air around her.

Deneve nodded. “Yes. This one is reported to be particularly vicious.”

Helen glanced at her friend from the corner of her eye, “How so?” she wasn't really paying attention to their handler at the time.

"Weren't you paying attention?" the short-haired hybrid questioned her friend. At the woman's sheepish look, Deneve sighed. Typical. "There may be a possible voracious eater given the brutality this town has apparently reported. Be on alert."

When they entered the town they quickly discovered the streets to be deserted. The two hybrids shared a look before they ventured deeper.

They quickly reached for the hilt of their claymore when they heard someone yelling and they saw a young man wearing a hooded poncho like cloak, thrown into their view. Helen and Deneve were alarmed when they heard an inhuman screech and watched as the man cursed loudly as he rolled away. That was when they saw it.

It had the appearance of a common yoma; grey skin and elongated limb, razor sharp teeth and claws. However that was where the similarities ended. It's skin was pale grey and decaying. It had parts of its muscle and bone visible. He had dark red and glowing eyes instead of yellow and half its face was ripped off, showing the skull and the interior of its mouth. And its torso was half torn open showing parts of its insides that were hanging out.

It wasn't focused on them as it didn't notice them. The undead yoma had its attention entirely on the young man. It hunched forward as it roared before charging at the hooded man.

As the undead Yoma attacked the human both hybrids stood in place, in complete shock and surprise.

“Deneve...” Helen started.

“Yeah?” Deneve answered.

“Was that a...?” Helen continued only to trail off at the end with a great amount of uncertainty.

“-dead yoma?” her friend answered for her. “Yes. It was.”

Helen looked at Deneve with wide eyes and asked in a harsh whisper, “How the fuck is there a dead yoma!?”

Her friend had no idea. But if they didn't act now, they would condemn a human to death. An act just as bad as killing a human. Naruto was doing a fairly good job at dodging and weaving through the zombies attacks. It helped it wasn't intelligent beyond its basic primal instincts. So it's attacks were predicable and therefore easy to avoid.

He dodged a swipe and tripped on his own feet falling down on his butt. He looked up and made a panicked face when the dead yoma lunged its hand forward. He quickly leaned to the side and rolled out of the way, before back peddling away from it.

"Geez...I wish I had a weapon to fend off this thing." he said.

As if answering his call Naruto felt something appear in his palm. He looked down and was taken aback at what he saw. A mechanical looking European Sword that was 7 inches long. The yoma froze as it saw the sword appear and rapidly backed away, hissing in fear.

"Ancients Wrath! Primis!" it hatefully growled and hissed.

Naruto quickly got to his feet and stared warily at the undead being. Ancients Wrath? Primis? Who or what are they? But before he could ask, two people appeared behind the yoma with their claymores drawn. Purple blood dirtied the blade. The undead yoma collapsed in a spray of purple blood. But it's hateful glowing red eyes never left him.

Then it was impaled through the head and the red glowing eyes finally died down.

Helen and Deneve sheathed their blades and stared at the young man. While they couldn't see much of his face because of the hood concealing the majority of it, they were able to tell he was quite young. In his late teens to early twenties if they had to guess.

“You okay?” Deneve asked.

“...Peachy.” his answer was flat. Only for him to feel a sudden weight on his shoulders that took him because surprise. “Jeez!” he was startled because the person responsible was Helen, who suddenly appeared by his side leaning against him with her arm over his shoulder.

She had a massive cheerful grin on her face, “Hi.”

“Hi?” he slowly looked her over as if she were an enigma much to her amusement. It was like he never saw a hybrid before. “I have never seen someone with your features before.”

Helen cocked her head to the side and regarded him with curiosity, “What do you mean by that?”

“Your hair and eyes. I never saw silver eyes or the shade of blonde hair you and your...friend has?” he trailed off uncertainly. “Sorry if I am being rude.”

“You're not being rude. Don't worry about it.” said Helen who brushed off his apology. She wasn't offended at all by his observation she found his curious and unafraid observation refreshing to be honest.

Deneve however was intrigued with him; he didn't show fear or unease when around them and that sword of his, it's clearly foreign in its make and design. She never saw anything like it. And it appeared in his hand as well without any prompt or warning.

“That's a fancy looking sword you got there.” Helen said as she finally took notice of Ancients Wrath. Naruto brought it up and looked it over with curiosity. “Where'd you get it?” she asked as she admired its quality and build.

The hooded Namikaze shrugged cluelessly to her curiosity, “I actually have no idea. It just appeared in my hand... I wonder how I can make it go away...?” he murmured towards the end; Helen was about to ask what he meant by that only for her words to die on the tip of her tongue when Ancients Wrath disappeared before her their very eyes.

Deneve did a double take she was so surprised.

Wanting to test something out Naruto focused on the sword appearing and disappearing from his hand. And to his internal glee the sword appeared and disappeared from his hand. Multiple times. He took it a step further by tossing it aside and focus on having the sword back in hand. The sword dematerialised in mid-air and reappeared in his hand.

This ability would be useful if he ever found himself in a fight.

Although that begged the question: what happened that caused him to have this ability? The only thing of significance that happened to him was a month ago with his lookalikes. It could just be a coincidence though.

“That's... what are you?” Helen was wide eyed and looking at him as if he were something other than human. Understandable considering the only in-humans she knows are hybrids such as herself and Deneve, yoma's and voracious eaters/awakened beings.

“He's no yoma that's for sure.” Deneve said as she finally closed the distance between them.

“He's no voracious eater either.” Helen added before she leaned down to look Naruto in the eyes and was surprised to see he's a young man. Not even in his twenties. She straightened up and looked at her best friend. “What should we do in regards to this kid?” she asked, gesturing to Naruto with her head and promptly tightened her arm around his shoulder to stop him from thinking any thoughts on getting away.

As they hushedly discussed what they should do Naruto was looking between them. He was both worried and confused. He had no idea what they were talking about. There were a few names thrown around, such as Miria and Clare, and something about keeping him away from the Organization. All in all what they were saying was going over his head but he got the gist of it.

This Organization – real original that - they wanted to keep him away from them. The vibe he was getting about them from these women, the people belonging to the organization were shady as fuck and not trustworthy.

This Miria person on the other hand is someone who is trustworthy and from the vibe he was getting from these women again, she apparently has a vendetta against the nameless organization. He has no idea why and it's not any of his business but he is not going to be used. By anyone.

Then something caught his attention. The corpse a bit back behind Deneve was twitching.

“Ladies.” they stopped talking and looked at Naruto who then pointed behind Deneve. “Is it just me or is that body twitching?”

They looked in the direction he pointed just as the body, in a defiance of gravity and logic, raised himself from the ground. He was floating a foot from the ground twitching and spasming.

“The hell?!” dropping her arm to the side Helen and Deneve shared a look before they both unsheathed their claymores.

At that moment the zombie stopped twitching and spasming and hunched forward before he snapped his head up, glaring at them with familiar glowing red eyes.

“That's not normal.” Naruto said with a disgusted frown.

The zombified yoma roared and surprised the trio when it teleported to Naruto before grabbing him by the shoulders. Naruto cursed as the two hybrids quickly turned to face it but before they could do anything both the zombie and Naruto were teleported again.

“Shit!” Helen cursed.

They were about to head off and track them down when the zombie and Naruto came back. Naruto on one knee with Ancients Wrath out and blocking the yoma's sharp claws that were intent on tearing into him.

The hybrids ran over to save the boy only the zombie teleported itself and Naruto away when they got too close, and reappear a distance away, with the zombie and Naruto in a different and potentially lethal position.

Helen and Deneve were so focused they never noticed the yoma didn't use yoki when it teleported. Or for anything when they arrived really.

When they got too close the yoma teleported the human and itself away. And when they reappeared Naruto is trying to slash the zombified yoma. He struck true but the pain didn't registrar to the yoma who grabbed him by the shoulders and tried to take a chunk out of him. Baring his teeth when he felt the sharp clawed nails dig into his skin, Naruto grabbed the yoma by the throat with his free hand to keep it from tearing a chunk of skin from his bones.

They were teleported away again when Helen and Deneve got too close and reappeared once more. Naruto ducked under a particularly slow swipe from the yoma and retaliated by slashing at its back. He was surprised when the blade suddenly went alight in blue flames and the zombified yoma bellowed out in pain when the blade sliced through its rotting flesh with ease.

"Woah!" the young man exclaimed with surprise, back peddling away and looked at the blade in stunned awe. Then he smirked as it registered in his mind that his attacks were finally causing harm to the beast. "Ha! Got you! This teleportation crap is getting annoying."

“Primis!” the undead beast hissed and groaned before it turned to face Naruto and teleported them both away again when Helen and Deneve got too close.

“Dammit!” Helen cursed when the yoma teleported itself and the young man away from them, yet again. “Deneve this is getting us nowhere!”

“I know.” Deneve was grim; she looked at her friend and added, “We have to take this slowly.” she frowned suddenly when her mind registered what the yoma had said, and looked at her friend to see if she also heard it, “Was it just me or did that dead yoma say 'Primis' when looking at him?”

Helen shook her head. “No. I heard it too.”

Naruto and the zombie reappeared on top of a building with the former sliding along the ground when the latter backhanded him on the chest. This time Naruto's hood was lowered and he didn't bother putting it back up as he got to his feet.

“Okay. I'm getting annoyed with you.” he stated and the blade ignited with blue flames once more. “I'm finishing this.” he was taken aback when he saw Helen and Deneve appear above the yoma from its flank and threw their claymores at the undead beast.

The two blades bisected the yoma before it could react by the waist and chest, severing the zombie's upper and lower arms. The yoma collapsed on the roof in pieces as the blades embedded itself into the surface of the roof. Naruto let out a breath of relief. He was capable of defending himself, mind you, but he'd rather not fight another one of those things again if he can help it. Naruto was the type that avoided trouble if he can, but it always seems to find him first.

As Helen and Deneve landed on the roof the teenager noticed that the beast was down but not out. It was still alive. He needed to take care of that before it somehow recovers from its current state. He walked over and ran the zombie's head through with the flame ignited blade. He pulled the blade out and watched as the zombie yoma went up in blue flames. Burning until there was nothing left of it, yet, somehow the fire stayed in one place. He wasn't going to question it.

Sighing Naruto willed the blade away and it did.

Helen and Deneve walked over, yanking their claymore's from the roof and sheathing it before turning their gaze to Naruto.

"Are you okay?" Helen asked and she kept her surprise on discovering Naruto being a kid of all things well hidden.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine," the teen waved her concern off. "What the hell was that thing?"

Helen and Deneve were surprised. "You don't know?"

"Judging by your reaction, I'm gonna assume those things are common here?" The way he said 'here' seemed to imply what Deneve thinks he means.

The pixie-haired woman shared a look with her friend, before it was Helen who answered his previous question. "They're called Yoma, and yeah they're pretty common. Well, except that one we just killed."

Naruto rubbed the back of his head with a small frown. "Huh. Been here for a month and that's the first time I ever saw them."

"'Been here'?" the short haired woman said with a confused frown. "You're not from around here?"

Naruto shook his head from side to side. "No. I came from across the sea on another continent. I was sold to some men in black by my parents. I woke up in a building where they were going to cut me open. Got out of there a month ago and been wandering around ever sense." he kept some things to himself; like the fact he was rescued by two other versions of himself.

“Men...” Helen trailed off.

“In black...?” Deneve finished. The two friends shared a worrisome look when the kid nodded in the affirmative. That sounded a lot like their handlers.

"If my memory serves me well, yeah. I don't know where they held me exactly, just that it looked like a desert wasteland." in that there was a lot of rocky hills and barely any vegetation and flora around. There were a few trees but not much.

If they had any scepticism before it was long gone now. Back in the Paburo mountains Miria had a few suspicions that the Organization isn't all they portray themselves to be. And here in front of them they had living breathing proof of it. This boy was all the validation needed to confirm the urban legend widely believed by both human and Claymore alike that the organization kidnaps children for future soldiers.

There were some who did not believe this of course. But it turns out the ones who did were right all along. And if he managed to get away and has been on the move for the past month, then the Organization would be hunting for him. The hybrids shared a look again and came to an decision. This boy cannot be captured. At any and all costs.

Deneve gave herself a mental note to inform Miria of this the next time she sees the woman. She would be interested in this, no doubt.

"Hey, kid, why don't you come with us? For your safety. There's someone that would like to know more about your little story," Helen grinned as she leaned her elbow on the hooded teen's shoulder, much to his slight annoyance at the contact.

Naruto contemplated the woman's words, mulling it over. Well it's not like he has anywhere to go specifically, but if things like that Yoma were going to be common encounters...

Fortunately for his hesitation, Deneve spoke for him, "Don't be ridiculous Helen, we can't take him with us. Need I remind you our destination after this job, which I might add is now complete?"

"Well, yeah, but he can hold his own. It's not like we'll be baby sitting him half the time."

“Where we're going we are not going to be fighting yoma.” Deneve pointed out. “How do we know he's going to be able to take care of himself?”

"Considering he held his own against that dead - well re-dead yoma? I'd say he can look after himself." Helen answered with confidence.

Deneve was in no mood to argue with her friend, and relented with a sigh before her headache can grow. "Fine, but if anything happens to him, it will be on you."

Helen waved her off, "He'll be completely fine! Won't you kid?"

Naruto gave her a look and shrugged. "As long as there's no y'know, dead whatever those are, where ever you're going, sure." And speaking of, the young man voiced his inquiry "hey, where are we going anyway?"

"Up north. Better bring something warm, kiddo."

"Or warmer," Helen added seeing his hooded getup.

"Ugh. Cold. My one weakness."

Helen sniggered and grabbed him by the shoulder. "Hold on tight." she said singingly.

"What do you meEEAAAAAAN!?!" Naruto asked before he screamed out in fright when Helen suddenly jumped off the roof with him. Deneve shook her head at her friends antics and followed them down.

"A little warning next time please!" cried out an indignant Naruto.

"It wasn't that bad."

"Not that bad?! You jumped off a roof!"

"Besides, I did warn you," Helen gave the teen in her arms an amused grin.

Naruto blushed, but continued on anyway, "W-well, give a better one next time! Actually scratch that, never again! I can walk on my own feet thank you!"

"Okay!" and she cheerfully dropped Naruto down on the floor.

Naruto landed on his butt. He blinked for a few moments. "....Ouch." he said underwhelmingly.

"Are you two finished acting like children?" Deneve shook her head at the two.

"It's not me! It's her!" Naruto pointed an accusing finger at the sniggering Helen.

The short-haired woman sighed. What did she get herself into? It was almost like having another Helen around. "Come on you two." she called to them as she made her way out of the village. Helen looked at Naruto shrugged and followed after her.

Sighing Naruto quickly got to his feet and went after them.