Author's Note
Okay, so this is just a rehash of a story I found, Naruto: Reborn Through The Dust by ToraTheInvincible I liked the concept, and idea, just not the presentation. So without further ado, here is Naruto - Shinobi of Remnant.
Chapter 1: Reborn
Naruto stood across from the man who's responsible for everything that's happened to him his entire life. Madara Uchiha. The man that killed his parents, forced his partner Kurama to attack Konohagakure, and ultimately incited the Fourth Great Shinobi War.
His friends lay beaten and battered behind him. Only Sakura and Sasuke were on their feet. "You have no hope of winning. Just give up, and I'll make your death's swift." mocked the bane of all ninja. "Your feeble attempts of attacking me are pointless. There is nothing you can do against the power of the Rinnegan."
He was right, of course. But Naruto would hear none of it. "Guys, get the others away from here. There's no point in all of us dying." Sakura attempted to rebuke what he said, "No, Sakura. You and Sasuke get the others and get out of here."
"Tch, loser. Always have to be the hero." Sasuke knew what Naruto was trying to do. He always knew how to do his role in his partners plans, even without communication. They were like brothers after all. "Come on, Sakura." he turned to gather the others.
"But, Sasuke, he..."
"Know's what he's doing ," Sasuke interrupted and countered Sakura. "It's the least I can do to for my brother." He said giving reassuring look at Naruto.
Naruto heard what he said, and couldn't help but tear up. "How sweet." The evil ninja mocked. "Take pleasure in knowing you will all die together." With that Madara rushed for Sasuke.
Sasuke immediately drew his sword, and stopped the hand of Madara's Susano-o. Sasuke then activated his Susano-o and thrust at Madara, but he saw this coming and grabbed it's arm with his own Susano-o. "You are a poor excuse for an Uchiha." he said before breaking the apparition, taking the young man's blade, and running Sasuke's own sword through his heart.
"Sasuke!" Sakura shrieked. Naruto came from behind Madara and managed to hit him with a Rasangan. Madara exploded into a cloud of smoke, and appeared behind the pink haired girl.
He summoned Susano-o's arm with its sword, and slashed at Sakura, but she rolled out of the path, and issued a series of punches at him. They all were blocked by the ribcage of Susano-o. As Madara made to slash again, Naruto flashed next to Sakura, and jumped straight up. Madara followed them with his lone Rinnegan, and smirked, "Rookies." he said and Susano-o's other arm sprouted from the ribcage, and grabbed at Naruto.
Naruto saw it coming and threw Sakura over the arm. She then immediately punched the elbow joint, shattering the chakra arm. But the arm just reformed and continued toward Naruto. As it reached him, he formed a Rasengan and smashed it into the palm. But it was as if the maelstrom of chakra wasn't even there, as the hand grasped its target.
"Naruto!" Sakura said. Madara now knew where she was, and slashed at her. She tried to bat it away, but the sword caught her fist, slashing the tendons controlling her fingers. Her hand was now useless, and the sword was making a return trip.
"Sakura!" Naruto screamed as the sword arced toward her. As she fell to the ground, spitting up blood, she feebly whimpered his name before dying. "SAKURA!" he wailed again. He then glared at Madara.
"This is a normal part of war. Death has taken the lives of countless friends, family, and lovers. Your case is nothing special." Madara looked at Naruto, his face mirroring the lack of emotion in his voice.
"You really have taken everything from me." Naruto wheezed from the crushing grip of Susano-o. Madara brought him in face to face and looked Naruto in the eye.
"You still have no despair in your eyes." and with that he summoned nine shadow clones. They walked to each of his friends, and picked them up by the scruff of their shirts. They were all now facing Naruto, some were still awake, those that weren't were shaken or slapped awake.
"They know despair. Look into their eyes and see it. They see their trump card defeated, broken in my hand." Madara said as his clones dropped his friends and summoned their own Susano-o.
"Madara..." was all Naruto said before his friends died in front of his eyes. "Madara! Madara!" he shouted, generating a massive amount of chakra. It was so heavy that it shattered the hand of Susano-o. Naruto began to control the heavy, dense chakra forming it into a Rasen-shuriken.
The soldiers that have seen him battle for them selflessly retreated in terror, fearful of the new attacks potential power. Naruto looked at the nearly unscathed form of Madara, "For all the lives taken, for the sake of my friends, the village, and the WORLD, I WILL BEAT YOU!" He shouted as he readied his attack.
The new Rasen-shuriken combines his chakra and the demon energies of Kurama with Sage-mode's nature Chakra. Naruto, with the attack complete, charged toward Madara. Madara used his Susano-o and the Biju he's absorbed into the Gezo Mado to block the technique. When the attack struck this defense, it triggered a massive explosion. The spiraling explosion of white and red blinded the on-looking Allied Shinobi Forces. As the chaos of the churning orb of chakra faded, it left a massive crater where it once existed.
"Naruto…" the first of the army to recover was Iruka Umino, Naruto's first believer. The man rushed toward the center of the crater, toward his favorite student.
"Hey… Kurama" panted Naruto.
"Yeah… Naruto," replied a breathless Kurama.
"We … We did it… it's finally… over."
"Heh… I guess… it is…" chuckled Kurama from within.
"No… It isn't…" a voice rang from behind Naruto. He lifted his head only to see a battered Madara.
"N-no…" Naruto tiredly whispered. Madara unsheathed a Ninja-to, and hobbles toward Naruto.
"You t-tried to stand in my way and now you lie at death's door," said Madara as he stalked closer to the exhausted Naruto. "And now, you will die." Madara thrust the short blade at Naruto.
Naruto, too drained to evade, lie in what he thought to be his grave. He closed his eyes, 'I'm sorry Kurama…' Naruto said to his tenant. He waited longer than it should have taken, then suddenly, Naruto felt something warm splatter on his face. He opened his eyes to see a familiar and emotional sight. Crouched over Naruto with a blade jutting from his chest was his first Sensei and true friend, Iruka.
The blade was withdrawn, and time slowed down as Iruka smiled at his student. The body fell to the side, his eyes looked proud as they dulled. Naruto reached for his teacher, "You've done well… Naruto," whispered Iruka as the light in his eyes dulled completely.
Memories flooded Naruto's mind. Iruka making him clean the monument… Giving him his head band… Taking the Fuma Shuriken for Naruto… "No… no, no, no, no, NOOO!" Naruto shouted as he held Iruka's body. Pain flared behind Naruto's eyes, but his despair muted it.
"Naruto…" Kurama screamed, sounding quiet due to the muting effect of despair
"Hmph. Pathetic." Madara mocked.
"You can avenge them…"
"How… He's... He's so strong…" Naruto weakly said, sinking further into despair.
"Only the weak die from one wound." Madara mocked Iruka's strength.
"You have all the Bijuu…" Kurama reminded Naruto of his battle with the six Edo Tensei jinchuriki. "Just combine your chakra with ours…"
When Naruto tried, he found the chakras willing to meld. They seemed to fuse perfectly, not resembling either materials used to make the new. He joined them all into one pool of energy. It didn't feel like chakra anymore, it wasn't so much a feeling of power as it was an emotion. The despair of his losing his friends seeped into and fused with the pool.
"Only the weak die for no reason. He was truly weak." Madara mocked the death of Naruto's Sensei. That was it. The last straw. Naruto snapped.
His despair combined with his anger as he turned toward Madara. "Yes, that is despair." Madara grinned, summoning his Susano-o. He tried to crush Naruto now that he was done playing with him, but Susano-o wouldn't move. "What..?"
Madara looked closer at Naruto's eyes. He didn't see the eyes he expected. Not the enraged eyes of Kyubi-Naruto. Not the calm eyes of Sage Naruto, or even the focused eyes of Kyubi-Sage Naruto. No, what Madara saw as he looked into the eyes of Naruto were the rippling purple eyes of the Rinnegan.
"Madara... You've taken everything from me. EVERYTHING! Now, I will return the favor!" Naruto eyes seemed to glow in the dim moon light.
"Impossible!" Madara shouted as Naruto looked at him with his new Rinnegan.
"With everything I am, I will kill you." he growled, almost a whisper. 'I wonder...' He looked at Madara, and held out his hand. Naruto applied chakra to his palm, and wanted Madara to come closer.
To Madara's surprise, he began to hurdle toward Naruto. As he flew toward his young opponent, picking up speed, he thought, 'Must stop the...' Meanwhile his body was reacting already, he flashed through some signs and, "Wood Style: Deep Forest Emergence!" he called. As the trees sprouted, they were also pulled along by Naruto's power.
When the first sappling hit Naruto, the forest erupted and grew around him, trapping him withing a throng of trees and roots. With Naruto trapped, the pull stopped, allowing Madara to jump from branch to branch, landing safely yards away from Naruto's grave.
"You are still just a boy." he said, turning to face the trees. As he turned, the earth and the trees began to tremble. Suddenly the trees trapping Naruto were obliterated, sending splinters and shrapnel out, away from Naruto.
Standing in the center of the ruined forest was Naruto. His eyes closed, arms out stretched palms facing out. He lowered his arms, and looked at Madara. Faster than most could even sence, Naruto was in front of Madara. If it weren't for decades of war, and his Rinnegan, Madara wouldn't have been able to block the punch that now rocked his arms.
'Well that arm's broken.' Madara thought. Quickly, Madara lashed out with his other arm, and hit Naruto in the temple, staggering him momentarily. Time enough for Madara to issue a strong leg thrust to his side, toppling the boy. "Even with the power if The Sage, you are useless."
Then Naruto jumped up, generating a Rasengan in each hand. He rushed forward, thrusting the first toward Madara. It was blocked easily enough, he simply caught Naruto's wrist. But the second caught Madara's left leg. He fell to one knee, still holding onto Naruto's arm, with his good left hand. Naruto then expanded the Rasengan, catching Madara in the maelstrom.
Madara tried to call his Susano-o but it couldn't hold against Naruto's Six Path's Rasengan. When the chakra dissipated, Madara was now only lightly clutching Naruto's arm. "I refuse to be killed by a brat like you!" he said as he swung his broken arm at Naruto, who caught it.
"Madara..." Naruto said, looking into Madara's Rinnegan, and saw only insanity.
"You will join me in Hell, boy!" Madara released Naruto and signed a string of symbols and dropped his hand, looking at the Shinju. It began to stir and contort, as it turned into the Ten Tails. "Now, Shinju, destroy all shinobi!"
Naruto enraged by Madara's act readied a Rasengan in his free hand, and directed his hand at the evil man's face, "Here's a first class ticket, you bastard!" Naruto shouted. However, before the maelstrom of chakra hit him, Naruto's chakra flow was disrupted, and it dissipated, causing only Naruto's hand to crash into his face. Being one to quickly adapt, Naruto just gripped the hand to Madara's face, attempting to form another Rasengan, but it wouldn't form. 'Kurama, what's...'
'Seems there is a foreign chakra interrupting your chakra network...' the fox growled.
'Is Madara...'
'No. His chakra is not being forced into your body. You seem to be absorbing it somehow.' Kurama sounded thoughtful, like he was contemplating something unheard of. 'It's like the chakra is just... Naruto, release Ma...'
It was too late, Madara's face contorted in pain as his body began to whither. First his eyes shriveled, losing its chakra enhanced looks; it faded from Rinnegan, to Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, to normal Sharingan, then back to his dark, mortal eyes. Said eyes widened in pain and fear as they shriveled out of existence, along with the rest of his body. Naruto, surprised, just kept his grip on the quickly draining man, until the grip he held crushed through his skull and the rest of him was reduced to ash.
'Humph, fitting end for an Uchiha. 'Specially that Uchiha.' Kurama almost cheered.
'What happened?'
'I honestly don't know, it was like his chakra just preferred to be with you...'
Then, like a veil was lifted from his ears, the sound of war and death boomed behind him. Naruto turned to see the army that was protecting him being decimated by the creature known as the Ten-Tails. "Shit! Kurama, what now? Any Ideas?"
"Sorry, Naruto, but there is nothing we can do against the Shinju…"
Naruto growled in frustration, charging toward the monstrosity that's threatening the entire world, "There has to be a way... There's always a way!" He began raking his memories for some hint, a clue as to how to bring the demon down...
He memories flashed from his times at the academy, to his first mission to the land of waves. From training with Jaraya, to bringing Tsunade back to the village. He scanned all his memories partaining to the Akatsuki with extra diligence. Again he growled in frustration. 'Gah, Kurama, think! How could the Akatsuki steal the Bijuu from the other Jinchuriki?"
'I wouldn't know, Naruto. They would need an enormous amount of chakra, and something like the...' Kurama sighed, almost like he thought of a dead friend, 'something like the Reaper-Death Seal.'
Naruto was shocked, "But doesn't that kill the user too?"
'Yeah...' Kurama chuckled sadly. 'Naruto, it's the only way to stop this thing.'
"But I don't know the signs, how to do the summoning, how to control th-"
'I do. I'll cast the jutsu. . .'
"Kurama! You can't! I won't let you! We're finally friends, right?! I can't let you kill yourself. Kurama!" Naruto shouted, he hadn't realized that he'd been speaking aloud. He stopped as he reached the beast. He landed on the back of the monster, where it couldn't reach with it's hands and tails.
'Hey. You told me you'd defeat the anger in me, and you have. You have gained the trust of the nine Bijuu. You are meant to live, you are who He was talking about. You are my favorite human, for you, I would die.' As Kurama said this, Naruto's Nine-tails cloak activated.
The sudden weight of the nine-tailed fox forced the Shinju to the ground. Chakra arms jutted from its body to ensnare the beast's limbs, as it's main two hands weaved the signs that summon the God of Death.
"Kurama, stop! There has to be another way!" Naruto pleaded for his closest friend to stop. "Please..." he barely managed a whisper. Naruto concentrated, and appeared in front of his resident, "Kurama,"
"Naruto... This is the only way, I'm sorry."
"Kurama, please. Don't." Naruto pleaded, barely in a whisper.
"Don't make a mockery of my deed, boy." Kurama's eyes began to water.
Naruto looked up at the being before him, "Kurama..."
"I feel I must warn you, Naruto. The Reaper-Death Seal traps what ever it seals within the caster's body; as a being with no real body, this may have some adverse effects on you." Kurama tried to talk to Naruto, but the boy was too despondent.
"Thank you..." Naruto whispered, barely able to speak.
"Reaper-Death Seal!" both the Kurama inside Naruto's body, and the chakra projection shouted. The reapers hand tore though the projection, it's spiritual arm engulfing Naruto completely, and clawed into the soul of the Shinju. The beast shrieked at the touch of death, trying to escape, but was trapped by the chakra of the Nine-tails. The arm of death began to tear the soul and chakra out of the demon, its thrashing and screaming weakening as more and more of the beasts energy was sealed. Shockingly enough, it was also shrinking.
"The beast is being sealed, body and soul!" a Suna Shinobi called.
Tsunade looked in horror, she knew what was happening, kind of. "Naruto, you cast the..."
"No, Naruto is completely slack within the Nine-Tails Shroud. This is the work of the Nine-Tails." Kakashi said, as he limped up to Tsunade.
"But that jutsu..."
"Sacrifices the caster's soul to seal the target's soul into his body." Kakashi finished. "I'm sure the Nine-Tails know's that all to well, Lady Hokage."
"But aren't the Bijuu pure chakra?" Guy jumped out of the throng of injured behind them.
"Yeah. There is no physical body to speak of. That said, the seal also seals the chakra of the target. Since the Bijuu are constructs of pure chakra and a 'soul', the Reaper-Death Seal will trap the entire being within the caster." Kakashi amazed Guy and Tsunade with his knowledge.
"Kakashi, if the Nine-Tails is sealing the Ten, then where... Will it... Be trapped..." Guy suddenly understood. "It's going to be trapped inside Naruto?!"
"That's the worst case scenario." Kakashi said.
As the Shinju was completely pulled within the projection, the reaper was satisfied and severed the bond, completing the seal. As Kurama started to fade, he looked at Naruto. His head bowed, shoulders were shaking, and tears falling to the water below.
"Goodbye, Naruto..."Kurama laid his head down, a single tear falling from his eye. Something that hadn't happened since the Sage of Six Paths died, centuries ago.
"Goodbye, Kurama." Naruto forced. The sound was just above a whisper, sounding like a wheeze. Naruto left his inner world, and fell from the air as the Nine-Tails shroud dissipated with Kurama. All of his memories of Kurama finding their way to his consciousness and slowly beaconed him to unconsciousness. The last thing he saw was Kurama's tear.
Naruto woke up to a living nightmare. He saw a crowd trying to get to him. But they didn't look happy. They weren't cheering. They were trying to get to him. Trying to kill him.
What surprised him was who were protecting him. The people that circled him were people he didn't even know. From how they were dressed he assumed they were from different villages. What shocked him the most was the fact that none of them were from Konoha. In fact, he saw a large wave of sand coming for him now.
"Why are you protecting that thing!?" he heard someone yell. He looked and saw a sand ninja was the cause.
"Yeah, it's just the Shinju now. Naruto's dead!" he looked toward this voice and saw a leaf ninja. He then looked around, to all the ninja surrounding him. He was surprised to see the Mizukage and the Tsuchikage amongst them. Even more so to not see the other Kage. He scanned the crowd, but the contrast of blonde and green could only be seen slumped at the top of the crater. Tsunade had tears streaming from her eyes, she looked like she was screaming something. But is was lost in the roar around him.
Naruto looked down into his lap. It started to rain. He felt his cheeks heat up, and a tingling sensation in his eyes as tears began streaming down his face and staining the earth. He retreated into his mindscape, when he got there he expected to see the beast Kurama just sealed, but no. Nothing. There was nothing there. Shocked he left his mind scape, and stood up. When he did, the sounds of everything stopped. He looked around to see everyone looking at him. He looked at himself.
He still felt like himself. He looked around himself, and saw what shouldn't have been… He saw ten black tails sprouting from his lower back. They were strange, they moved of their own accord, lashing this way and that. He tried to stop them, and they went limp. He then ran his hands through his hair, and was shocked to feel ears there.
Naruto looked at all the ninja around him, trying to kill him, and saw Gaara of all people. He looked enraged, as he waved his arm forward, sand shuriken rocketed toward him. Before he could move though, a tail flashed out and caught them. "I should go… I need to be anywhere but here," he whispered to himself, as he stared at the shuriken. He could feel despair clawing at his mind.
Then pain erupted from his behind his eyes, as he subconsciously activated the power he stole from Madara. He looked down to the puddle that lie below him, and saw two Shar-rinnegan eyes looking back at him. 'Now I know they won't accept me…' Pain erupted from the already present pain behind his eyes as he came to this conclusion. He looked into the puddle at his feet, gazing into his reflection, and saw his tears were blood and his eyes began to change. He looked closer, and saw the tomoe of his Shar-Rinnegan began to run together, into a swirl converging in his pupil.
The pain increased again as he felt his chakra drain into his eyes. The pain spread through every cell of his entire body as he felt his body being crushed toward a point between his eyes. It became unbearable until all he knew was pain and again his mind swam into the darkness of unconsciousness.
Naruto woke to find himself on unfamiliar land. He was surrounded by trees as far as his eyes could see. "This doesn't look like the forest of the Land of Fire…" he thought out loud. As he thought through what he believed to be his last few moments, it all hit him at once. The memories of the Fourth Great Shinobi War; his friends... and what happened after he defeated Madara… After Kurama sealed the Shinju... After his allies turned on him.
He then remembered the pain. The agonizing pain that he thought had killed him. "Hehe, Pain... Now I get it." he laughed at the irony. He heard a sound. A twig snapping. Leaves rustling. He turned toward the sound to be face to face with a black creature with a white mask. "Wha..!" Naruto jumped back, out-of-the-way of its claws. "Hey, stop attacking me!" he shouted at the beast, only to be roared at in return.
The creature apparently wasn't alone, as another jumped out of the bushes to his left, and tackled him. Naruto was taken by surprise and in that moment, was bit in the shoulder. As the teeth of the beast sunk deeper into his flesh, Naruto was hit with a memory that wasn't his.
Madara was helping his younger brother master a Fire Style Jutsu. The Flame Jet Juitsu. "Izuna, you need to breathe deeper. Deeper breaths…"
"Mean more fire, yeah I know Madara." Izuna interrupted. He made the signs again, took a deep breath, and exhailed the chakra infused air. As the breath reached a safe distance from his mouth, it ignited, creating a straight jet of fire. As he ended the supply of chakra, the fire went out.
Naruto smiled, "Okay, how about this…" he mimicked Izuna's signs, took a huge breath, and exhailed it directly at the black monster that held his shoulder in its jaws. Just like Izuna, Naruto exhumed a line of fire right through its body, burning though its shoulder, and coming out of its hip. The searing pain made the beast let him go. The monster rolled on the ground, slowly turning to ash.
Naruto turned to the remaining creature, smiling widely. The monster turned to run, only to again look at the orange and black clad ninja. "Hmph, not that easy." He said before hitting it with a Rasengan, carving a hole into through its chest, his hand sticking out of its back. He quickly withdrew his hand before any blood landed on it, and watched as the beast dispersed into smoke.
Then he heard a sound that kinda made him smile. His stomach growled at him. Realizing he hasn't eaten in FOREVER, he began to search for the nearest water source. He jumped into the nearest tree, and began jumping around. Eventually finding a river, he drank deep of the liquid. "Finally. Thought I was gonna die for a second there!" he exclaimed happily.
His reflection caught is eyes attention. He looked closer at his appearance. His hair had turned midnight black. His head had sprouted elongated fox ears that rose from under his hair, the same shade as his hair getting lighter as it climbed the protrusion. He then looked at his tails again. They looked like long, sleek cat tails hanging from his lower back. He tried moving them, and they swayed to his will. "Cool," was all he could say. After a thorough exterior examination, he decided to check on the Shinju so he entered his inner world.
Upon entry, he immediately saw it empty. There was nothing there. "Where the hell could it be?" he wondered to himself. Then it hit him, the Shinigami didn't seal the beast into him, it fused them together! "What the hell, Shinigami?!" he screamed into the void of his mind.
He left his inner world, cautious and curious of the changes made to his body. Everything worked like it should. He then felt his energy was different. Being a Sage gave him advanced sensory perception, so he used this skill check his own energy. It felt distinctly more wild and destructive, but more powerful and easier to wield.
He looked closer, and saw his chakra nature had changed. Instead of just Wind, it also held Fire. And Water. And Lightning. And... "What happened to me..." Naruto thought out loud. Upon closer inspection it also held a lot of something else. "Could that be… youkai?" he spoke to no one in particular. Then he looked at his reflection again, 'Hmm, should probably do something about how I look,' he thought.
Then he realized, he didn't know how to deactivate Doujutsu, so he looked through the memories he took from Madara and learned how to cut off the chakra that changed his eyes. When he cut the chakra, his eyes transformed from the Shar-Rinnegan into one blue eye, and a dark purple eye. "Hmm, you know, hetero-chrome kinda works for me..." he mused.
Happy with his eyes, he looked to the rest of his appearance. So he used the Transformation Jutsu to change his clothes from his tattered jumpsuit in to a white tee-shirt and blue trunks with simple sandals. Then he remembered the new additions to his body and he thought back to how people looked at him. The anger. The hatred. The fear. He didn't want to get looks like that again, so he hid all but one of the tails but his ears wouldn't properly transform, so he thought, 'Meh, fuck it' and began searching for signs of civilization.
He decided to follow the water upstream. Eventually he stumbled across a road, with a small group of travelers. "Excuse me, but I have no idea where I am." His question was answered with bewildered looks, but one shook the look off and replaced it with wonder.
"Young man, how do you know this ancient language?" he asked.
"Why wouldn't I know my native language? And what do you mean, 'ancient'?" Naruto was the one now bewildered.
"Japanese hasn't been spoken for millennia." The man explained. "Not many people still speak it. The universal language is now English." He further explained.
'Not the time to ask for a history lesson…' "So where am I?" Naruto asked.
"You are just south of the City of Vale on the continent of Vytal; all part of the world now known as Remnant." He answered in detail.
"Thank you, sir. Oh, I'm Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze by the way." He said as he started to jump toward Vale.
"Wait! Naruto, that's not north." The man said.
"Thanks." He began to walk in the opposite direction. "Umm, by the way… Aren't you weirded out by the way I look?"
"I have no prejudices against Faunus. I find it foolish to hate someone for something they have no control over." He said.
'WHY COULDN'T THE VILLAGERS BE LIKE THIS GUY?! Wait…' "What's a Faunus?"
The man looked at the boy, confused, "You're joking right?"
"Sorry, I'm not from here… I've lived in an isolated village my entire life. The villagers use different terms to describe people like me… " he said. 'Like demon.' "Anyway, thanks again for the directions." Naruto ran toward Vale.
"Travel safe, Naruto!" the man called back. His only replay was a wave over the shoulder.
When Naruto felt it was a safe distance away from the three travelers, he decided to jump into a tree. It just felt more natural to him. As he jumped from tree to tree, the silhouette of a city rose from the horizon, 'That must be Vale.' Naruto said to himself.
As Naruto drew closer to the city, he noticed the sprawling wall surrounding the city, and a large castle-like building in the far distance, above a cliff. "Heh, something's never change," he thought out loud as he neared the wall.
He stopped a ways from the entrance to see how the entry procedure is. To his shock, the civilians just walked into and out of the gate freely. No guards to speak of around the entrance. He decided to just head into the city.
When he entered the gate, he immediately saw the similarities to Konoha. The buildings were nearly as high, getting taller as they neared the center of the city. He wandered through the city in his favorite walking pose, hands clasped behind his head, elbows high, smiling at who ever met his eye. He allowed his eye to wander the cityscape, looking at the different establishments. It wasn't unlike his own village, restaurants, cloths shops, grocery outlets, and what seemed to be weapons depots. One store in particular caught his eye, it had gold writing scrawled along the front of the building, with crystals painted at either end of the title.
Another thing he noticed was how people treated him. Some people would return his smile, others would look away in disgust or glare at him. Still others seemed to look at him in pity. He just ignored the 'normal' people and chalked their looks and arrogance up to something stupid like a superiority complex or something like that.
What surprised him most were the amount of 'Faunus' in the city. They looked at him with admiration. Proudly showing his heritage, uncaring of what the humans thought. They gave him the brightest smiles of all.
As he looked around, he wandered across a building that looked like a library. He walked in, and upon entry the crisp smell of paper that told him his suspicions were right. Naruto walked to the counter and looked at the Faunus behind the counter and asked, "Japanese?"
The teller looked at him confused at first then understood the question. The rabbit Faunus directed Naruto toward a section of books in the back. "Arigatou." Naruto said as he walked to the shelves. The books looked like they were untouched for years. He grabbed a book that read 'Japanese to English Dictionary and Encyclopedia' and sat to read it.
He sat and read the book all day, absorbing the information as if it were ramen. He spent the next weeks using shadow clones, transforming them into other people of course, to absorb information faster. He learned about what happened after his war, and the events until now. He learned that the beast that he fought when he first woke up was called a Beowolf, and was part of a species of creature called Grimm.
He learned that there are people who actually battle Grimm for a living, they're called Hunters and Huntresses. They each had a unique weapon that could channel their energy, or aura as they called it now, and use it in combat. Though Aura doesn't have the same amount of practical applications as Chakra, its usefulness could expand with the use of Dust.
Dust is the physical manifestation of the elements of nature, in layman's terms. Dust intrigued Naruto, he found the fact that normal people could use a 'jutsu' through it, however nerfed it may be, fascinating.
Over the weeks he's lived in the forest, and fed off the fruits and animals. He washed himself using heated water, and pure air he produces with Lightning Style and Wind Style jutsu he created. He discovered that his Shar-Rinnegan gave him an affinity to all the basic elements, and all combinations of them. Not to mention that fusing with the Shinju gave him nearly infinite chakra reserves. This allowed him to use his shadow clone training without even coming close to scratching his store.
To top it off, he even figured out how to use this training in his mindscape, where he can use Tsukiyomi to decrease the time it takes to train. By the end of his first month, he's mastered intermediate jutsu in all five elements, and basic jutsu in various combinations of them.
At first he had trouble because he had no scrolls, but soon he was using Madara's memories and mastering everything he did, and expanding them into different variations of them. His physical fitness wasn't ignored either. While he used clones to practice jutsu, he was going through is regimen. He did hundreds of push-ups, hundreds of sit-ups,(A/N) and ran 20-miles every day. After doing all this, he'd go through his Frog kata forms, mastering them further.
Eventually he got the idea to make element enhanced weapons like hunters use. So he began to train to use the Shinju's Yin-Yang manipulation to make physical items. This took months to perfect, but by the time he was finished he could materialize weapons almost instantly.
He used different weapons for different fighting styles, and chakra channeling. For Fire Style he used a pair of bladed batons because they can cause great damage in little time. For Wind Style he used a scythe, because he heard they were dangerous and fast. For Water Style he used a Katana because the forms flow like water. For Earth Style he'd use a bo staff and gauntlets because they hit like stone. And for Lightning Style he'd use twin revolvers because they fire lighting fast. He began to weave elemental chakra into his Frog kata, thus making him formidable even when unarmed.
Sometimes he'd take brakes and just have his clones study and practice for him as he used his new knowledge of the English language to expand his reading base even further. Often he'd see a girl with black hair and a bow around the fiction section. Sometimes he'd say hi or ask what she was reading only to be ignored. Ultimately he decided to try to talk to her.
So today he found her in her usual spot, next to a window sitting in a bean-bag chair. "Hello," he offered. Again she ignored him. "You know it's rude to ignore people?" he asked, just joking rather than being serious and scaring her off.
"It's also rude to interrupt someone reading." She answered, not joking.
Naruto didn't let the comment scare him away, rather it encouraged him. After all, he finally heard her voice. "Oh, uhh. I'm Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze." He said, offering a hand.
The girl sighed, "Blake."
"What you readin', Blake?" Naruto tried to continue the conversation.
Again she sighed, though this time she closed her book, and looked at him, "Look Naruto. I've just been through something hard. I just want to relax and read." Naruto just looked at her smiling, obviously not getting the hint, "Alone."
"I'm sorry," he said. "But you know, if you ever want to talk to someone, I'm usually in the Japanese section." He pointed up the stairs, at the chair he always sat in.
"Okay. Thanks, I guess." She said as she continued reading.
With that Naruto left Blake sitting alone. He wandered around his little area, and suddenly got an idea. He face-palmed at the obviousness of it, he should make shadow clones and have them explore Vale. He's been in the area for months, and the only place he knows is the Library. So he did just that. He made a shadow clone for everyone he remembered from Konoha, had them turn into the who he could remember, and sent them to explore the city.
After eight months of studying and training he decided to join society in full. With little debate, doubt, or hesitation he decided to become a hunter. He wanted to continue the Will of Fire, and help defend people, people who'd accept him. Besides, he'd be damned if he just sat by and did nothing as helpless, innocent people were being hurt.
The first thing he did was register for an identity. Telling the same story as he told the man on the road all those months ago. No one thought anything of it, like it was a normal thing. Probably because runaways from outside towns and villages would do the same thing as he. Either way, how he had an identity, and he used it to sign up for training at Signal Academy. He'd kept everything from his history the same, he just changed minor details here and there to make himself seem like he belonged in this era.
Naruto eventually received a letter of acceptance to Signal. The next week he was getting off an airship walking into Signal's first year orientation. Since he was a late entry, he arrived late in the year, so he was tested on what he knows of Grimm, battle, and general knowledge. Having read an entire library of books, he easily passed with flying colors. The final part of the test was a battle to test is practical battle knowledge.
His opponent is the undefeated senior student, Yang Xiao Long. The bubbly, blonde looked at him with all the confidence in the world. The use of weapons was permitted by the head of the school. After all, if he managed to defeat her, he'd be almost a shoo in for Beacon, the premier school for Hunters and Huntresses in training.
"Though the use of weapons has been permitted, I don't want any fatal wounds. Other than that, no rules. To reiterate, other than not killing your opponent, there are no rules." The headmaster said.
"Hear that, noobie? No crying to mommy when I wipe the floor with you!" Yang called smugly. The crowd of students cheered her on, making her all the more smug.
"You'll be the one crying when I'm done, Goldilocks." Naruto retorted. This seemed to hit something as her face went from smug to emotionless.
"Begin!" the head master called.
Yang immediately shot across the arena, a punch already cocked. Naruto easily dodged, and counted with a kick to her gut. The kick sent her rolling across the floor. She was quickly on her feet, ready to go. Naruto grinned, happy to actually fight someone that didn't explode into smoke after being hit. Yang returned the grin, happy to have found someone with the balls to hit her.
Yang just raised her fists, then pumped them down slinging her hands to the ground. As she did, her gold bracelets expanded covering the top part of her wrist all the way to her elbow and half of the bottom of her forearm. A panel slid back, and Naruto heard the distinct sound of a shot gun cocking.
Again he grinned, marveling at the complexity and beauty of Yang's Ember Cecilia's. He copied her movement, only he summoned his twin bladed batons in a bright flare. Yang looked impressed for a second before cocking her fist back and charging at Naruto, who also began charging at Yang, both batons ready to strike.
As they met, Naruto slashed at her. Yang blocked with her left, unloaded gauntlet, and countered with her right punch, also firing a shot as the punch landed. This forced Naruto to fly backward. Doing a flip in mid-air, stabbing his batons into the ground to stop his momentum, he ground to a stop. Then he used his batons as an anchor, pulling himself to make his lunge faster.
Naruto slashed at Yang. She responded by ducking. Naruto then slashed upward, but she dodged again by back-flipping out of the way. Naruto felt his blades hit something, but it wasn't flesh. As she rolled out of her flip, she looked at Naruto then glanced at something yellow on the ground.
She instantly recognized it as her hair. Then she looked back to Naruto, her eyes turning red. "You… Son of a…" she burst into flame, drowning out her sentence, and lunged at Naruto. She closed the distance quickly, her fists and hair ablaze. Her eyes met his for an instant and immediately she froze.
Naruto had activated his Shar-Rinnegan, and looked her in the eye. He froze her in her tracks as she was thrust into his world of Tsukiyomi. "What the…" she looked around the swirling hyper intense orange and abysmal black plane surrounding her.
"You are in my world now, Yang…" a voice echoed around her.
"Come out Naruto, face me like a man!" she shouted.
As she said this, Naruto appeared in front of her, "Okay," and punched her in the gut. "You may not know it yet, but I've already won this match." He said, matter-of-factly.
"Oh, yeah? How do you figure?" Yang asked.
"You entered my Tsukiyomi. This is my world, I am in control here, I am a god." He said. What really unnerved Yang was how he said this, without arrogance, like it was a well-known fact.
"Okay, god," she said defiantly, cocking her empty chamber. "Come get me."
"Ask and you will receive," he said as he appeared again and kicked her into the air. He appeared next to her and then axe-kicked her back to the surface. There he landed, and picked her up by her hair, "You give up Yang?"
"N-never." She said, and punched him in the face, firing a round. But he exploded into smoke.
She heard laughing from everywhere at once, "You have no idea how long I've wanted to do this," and he appeard a few yards from her, holding his twin revolvers. She looks at him, no fear in her eyes, only defiance. He pulled the trigger, and lightning shot her in the left leg. He pulled the other trigger and shot her in the right shoulder. The counter forces made her spin to the right, only to be slammed in the gut by a bo staff, and sent arcing toward the revolver Naruto.
He aimed at her again, but she smiled, and fired her Ember Cecilia's again. This time, however, she sent herself flying faster toward him. This surprised him enough to let her punch him in the chest. As he sprawled to the ground, she stood over him, blood dripping from her lip and down her chin, she smiled again.
She cocked her arm back, and punched Naruto in the gut repeatedly firing her weapons until the chambers were empty. "THIS… IS… FOR… FUCKING… WITH… MY… HAIR!" she screamed between punches. Repeating the chant until her gauntlets no longer fired.
She looked down at Naruto, blood sprayed over his face, and she thought she killed him. Until… "That was a frightening display," he said as he appeared behind her. She looked around to him, and he flicked her in the forehead, sending her a few feet sprawling across the floor. She was exhausted from goring the illusion of Naruto, and those kicks earlier weren't helping either.
"Fine… You win this one." She said as she fell asleep.
Yang just froze there for a second. The physical Naruto used the opportunity to take the pause for all it was, and hit some nondescript pressure points causing her aura to flare to monstrous levels, then just fell into Naruto's arms, unconscious. No one was sure what happened, but she spat up blood when Naruto layed her down. And Naruto's cheek was bruised and swollen.
Naruto stood the victor of the match. "The winner… Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze!" the head master called. No one cheered. In fact, they were silent.
Only one voce rang out, "Yang!" Naruto looked that way and saw a girl dressed in a red cloak and black clothes running toward his fallen opponent. "Yang, are you okay? Yang?" she asks worriedly as she cradled her sister.
"Yang will be fine. She's just sleeping." Naruto assured her, before walking away. He used a lot of chakra on that Tsukiyomi. His eye's faded back to normal as he walked toward the exit.
The year concluded with Naruto at the top of the class. All his classes were easy, after all, he'd already read most of the school's textbooks in the library. He applied to Beacon the week before he graduated Signal. To his shock he was accepted. He only had a year at Signal, given it was a fantastic year academically, but still, he was shocked that Beacon accepted him.
There was a month of leeway after he graduated Signal and his entrance to Beacon, so he went to the forest and trained. When he wasn't there, he was reading the few books he hadn't already read in the library. He tried to talk to Blake again, but it was fruitless as ever. The month passed in the blink of an eye.
Naruto was shaken from his flash back when he heard the familiar sound of Yang talking excitedly, "Ohhh, I can't believe my baby sister's coming to Beacon with me! This is the best day EVER!" Her sister, who I've come to learn as Ruby just begged her to stop. Yang excitedly expressed her pride in her sister.
"Really, sis, it was nothing." Ruby tried to shrug her early acceptance to Beacon off.
"What do you mean, it was INCREDIBLE!" Yang still caught in her excitement, exclaimed.
"She's right, Ruby. You stopped a robbery, and drove a criminal away. A dangerous one at that. Not everyone our age could say that." Naruto speaks up. Ruby looked at the Naruto, and smiled. Kinda blushing at the praise.
"Yeah, everyone at Beacon's gonna think you're the bee's knees." Yang gloated for her sister.
"Okay, I don't want to be the bee's knees. Okay? I just want to be a normal girl, with normal knees!" Ruby exclaimed. She was looking at the ground, clearly embarrassed at her sister's claims.
"What's with you? Aren't you excited?!"
"Of course I'm excited! I just… I got moved ahead two years. I don't want anyone to think I'm special or anything." Ruby said. She looked a little sad.
Yang picked up on that, and put her arm around her sister, "But you ARE special." She said as she embraced her sister.
"Ruby, listen to Yang. She's right. What you did, is deserving of praise. Believe me, I know." Naruto said.
"Naruto, could you just let me talk to my sister alone?" Yang said. Ruby looked at her like she just kicked her puppy, then looked at Naruto in apology.
Naruto, nodded in acceptance at Ruby, "Fine." He left the sisters alone. He found an unpopulated corner of the airship and took a nap. Naruto was jolted awake when the ship docked at Beacon. The reaking smell of vomit hung in the air too. Naruto got to his feet, wandered across the ship, and found another seat. He just sat and waited for the other future students to pile out of the ship. As the last one was leaving, he rose to his feet and left.
His first thought after leaving the ship and looking at Beacon was, 'This place is freaking HUGE' This school was gigantic, it put every other school he'd ever seen to shame. It was easily four or five times the size of the entire Signal campus, and that's not even including the actual grounds. He was going to try and find someone that can give him directions to where he's supposed to go, but stopped when the faint smell of dust whispered at his senses.
He looked to his left to see none other than Ruby being lectured by some chick that seems to have as much a thing for white as he used to have for orange. The girl was waving a jar of dust around like she had good sence, unwittingly creating a large cloud of dust around the two. He also noticed Ruby was about to sneeze.
'That's not gonna end well…' he thought as she sneezed, and the cloud exploded in a series of fire, ice, and lightning. 'Heh, disturb not the harmony of fire, ice, and lightning...' Naruto chuckled to himself. The girl in white found a new reason to bitch at Ruby. He continued to chuckle to himself, 'She kinda reminds me of Sakura… Can't believe I had a crush on someone like that…' his thoughts were interrupted by a rush of sadness at the memory of his past.
As she shook himself out of his lethargy, he noticed the girl from the library, Blake, walk up to the pair. "It's heiress, actually. Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company; one of the largest producers of energy propellant in the world."
"Finally, some recognition." She said, glaring at Ruby.
"The same company infamous for its controversial labor forces and its questionable business partners." Blake went on.
"Wha… How dare… The… The nerve of…" Ruby was chuckling at the visage of Weiss flustered. She just took her bottle of Dust from Blake and stormed off with a posh, "Ugh!"
Ruby, trying to reconcile with Weiss called after her, "I promise I'll make this up to you!" She looked down, a little depressed and sighed, "I guess I'm not the only one having a rough first day." But she quickly got over it and looked up, bubbly as ever, "So, what's…" she stopped, seeing Blake walking away.
"Hey, Blake! Never expected to see you here!" Naruto called to the mysterious girl in black.
"I could say the same, Naruto." She responded, not even looking at him. She just kept walking.
"Blake, I'm happy to see you. At least I know someone here now." He said with a smile. This made Blake pause. She turned to Naruto, and gave a little smile-and-nod and kept walking. Pleased with this little bit of head way with the reclusive girl, he turned back to Ruby and saw a blonde guy in old fashioned armor helping her up.
"Hey, I'm Jaune." He said offering her a hand.
Ruby took the offer, and responded with, "Ruby." She looked like she recognized him, and stifled a laugh, "Aren't you the guy that threw up on the ship?"
"Hey, guys! What's up?" Naruto said as he neared the two.
"I am, now." Ruby said with a blush.
"Saw what happened with short, white, and bitchy back there." Naruto said. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Jaune here helped me up." She said motioning toward the blonde.
"Hey, I'm Naruto. How are you?" Naruto offered his hand.
"Jaune Arc. I'm fine. Just saw Ruby lying in the walk way, and thought I'd help." He said, pointing his thumb at his chest.
The trio started walking around the school. Talking about the trip, or events that led up to them getting picked up. "I actually almost didn't make it in time." Naruto said.
"Really?" Ruby asked, shocked at the usually punctual Naruto.
"Yeah, slept in, and had to run all the way to the airport." He laughed.
"Well, I'm always early to my appointments." Jaune interrupted them. "Actually, I was at the airport a couple hours ahead of schedule." He continued to boast.
"Someone has noo life." Naruto and Ruby laughed.
"Hey! I just…" Jaune began to defend himself.
"Relax there Casanova, I'm just kidding. Jeez." Naruto interrupted him.
They kept walking and the subject returned to him puking on the ship, "…All I'm saying is that motion sickness is a much more common problem then people let on."
"Look, I'm sorry, but Vomit Boy was the first thing that came to mind." Ruby retorted. Naruto started laughing at them.
"Oh yeah? What if I called you Crater Face?" he teased.
"Hey, that explosion was an accident!" she defended. Now Naruto was laughing hysterically.
"WHAT'S SO FUNNY!?" they shouted in unison at him.
"Y… You… two…" he managed to say between laughing fits.
"Well, the name's Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, ro..."
Naruto cut him off, "Jaune, trust me when I say it won't work. It NEVER works."
Jaune just looked at the sidewalk, depressed. "I'm Ruby Rose."
"Naruto."
Ruby just chuckled awkwardly, looking for something to talk about, "Sooo… I got this thing!" she said pulling out and deploying her Crescent Rose.
Shocked Jaune exclaims, "Woah! I-Is that a scythe?"
Ruby smiled at that, "It's also a customizable, high-impact sniper rifle."
"A wha-?"
"It's also a gun." She said cocking it.
"Oh. That's cool" he says.
"And I can do this," Naruto reached out and closed his hand around thin air, a katana forming as his hand closed around it's hilt.
This was the first time Ruby saw him do that so she almost lost her mind marveling at Naruto's ability, "Wow! I never knew you could do that! How did you do that?" she practically screamed.
"Guess you could call it my semblance. I can use my aura to do just about whatever I want." He said, grinning like a mad man.
"So what do you got?" Ruby looked at Jaune.
"I-I got this sword." He said sheepishly, to which she ooh's. "Yeah, I got a shield too." His confidence returning.
"So, what do they do?" she asked, touching the shield, causing it to jump erratically opening and closing.
He juggles the springing shield, after catching it he sais, "Th-the shield gets smaller, so when I get tired of carrying it, I can just… put it away." Naruto was chuckling to himself, trying to keep his laughter in check.
"But… doesn't it weigh the same?"
"Yeah, it does." He slumps his shoulders. Now Naruto was laughing hysterically. Again.
Ruby shot him an angry look, and returned her attention to Jaune, "Well, I'm kind of a dork when it comes to weapons. I guess I did go a little overboard in designing it…"
"Wait, you MADE that?" he said, a little surprised that the little girl before him could make such a brutal weapon.
"Of course, all students a Signal forge their own weapons! Didn't you make yours?"
"I-it's a hand-me-down. My great-great-grandfather used it to fight in the war." Jaune looked a little dejected. Depressed that maybe everyone else had made their own weapon and he's just using someone else's.
"Well, I like it. " Ruby chirped. "Not many people have an appreciation for the classics these days."
"Yeah, the classics…" he smiled.
"So, why did you help me out back there? In the courtyard?"
"Eh, my mom always says, 'Strangers are just friend you haven't met yet.'"
"Hey where are we going?"
"Oh, I don't know. I was following you. Y-you think there might be a directory? Maybe a food court, some kinda recognizable landmark?" Ruby just chuckles, "That a no?"
"That's a no."
"Well, guess we just wonder around 'til we find someone who knows where we're supposed to go." Naruto suggests.
"Yeah, c'mon let's just get a feel for the grounds for now." Ruby agrees.
Jaune falls behind, lost in thought. 'Naruto… Why does that name sound so familiar… Meh, guess it'll hit me later.'
Authors Note
Okay, so as far as the extreme condition goes, I figured to go with an almost Rock Lee method, just not nearly as extreme. (Plus, I couldn't think of a good number of anything here.) It's meant to keep him in shape, ya know? Not much else to do when you're all alone.
And again this is just a rehash of a story I found that crossed RWBY and Naruto. I liked the idea, not quite how it was expressed. If you like it tell me, and I'll keep going.
For those of you following me because of my Bleach fic, Times in Las Noches, I must appoligise. I was writing chapter 8 and two things happened: Writer's Block and I discovered RWBY, so.. yeah. Oh, and that horribly written lemon... I'm still embarrased I wrote that thing... Anyway, yeah.
GetsugaCero out.