AN: So, I'm pretty excited about this story, so I went ahead and decided to make a second chapter in a row instead of my other stories… XD

In any case, the pairings seem to be leaning heavily towards Pyrrha, which is great. I thought you'd all be for Jaune x Pyrrha, so I was hesitant to do Naruto x Pyrrha, but… well, that doesn't seem to be a problem. I AM TOTALLY DOING IIIIIIT! Neo was also a top option, so… fun. Ruby, I feel as though she'd do better in a brother/sister relationship. It'll be healthy for Naruto. Probably.

Enjoy!

..

It's been over an hour since the hyperactive blond saw off his two visitors, and he had yet to move from his bed, instead choosing to reflect upon his situation.

His thoughts switched between his lost arm, to Sasuke, to this 'Beacon' he was to attend, then back to his arm.

The man called Ozpin had offered him a robot arm from some place called Atlas… As cool as that would be, Naruto had refused, the lost limb being his only reminder of Sasuke…

As he thought about Sasuke, he wondered where he was, and if everyone else was alright. And that led Naruto to think about where he was, including the two places mentioned; Beacon, and Atlas.

And then Atlas reminded him of the arm.

He didn't seem to care about the unending nature of his cycle of thoughts, trapped in them as he was, however.

Fortunately for a certain Uzumaki, his tenant was less than pleased. And he wasn't afraid to show it.

"Enough moping, brat." Kurama grumbled, urging the blond out of his thoughts. "Out of those thoughts going through your head right now, only one is important. And that is, where the heck we are."

Naruto raised an eyebrow at that, laughing mirthlessly. 'Really, Kurama? Not the fact that I lost my right arm, or that it was my best friend that did it?'

Kurama shrugged. "If you ask me, I'm surprised you even considered him a friend for as long as you had. He's tried to kill you, what, two times now?"

'Three…' Naruto corrected glumly.

"So playing nice with a guy trying to kill you, what did you expect?" Kurama half-yelled, exasperated. "So, what I think is important is figuring out why both of us can't recover chakra anymore."

This piqued Naruto's interest. 'Wait, what do you mean? Can't I recover chakra from my surroundings, and you with Nature Chakra?'

"That's the thing. Earlier, I told you chakra was weaker, right?" Kurama asked, getting a nod from Naruto in return. "Well, I was wrong. I managed to get a certain amount of chakra before the portal closed, but once it did, there's been no more chakra, period."

Naruto's eyes widened, and he sat upright, crossing his legs, and meditating. Kurama was right, there was no chakra…

Naruto's eyes popped open again. 'Hold up, but aren't you a mass of chakra with a brain or something? What happens if you're out of chakra?'

Kurama stilled for a moment, thinking. "...I should be good for at least a week, if nothing happens..."

'That's not what I asked, Kurama!' Naruto retorted angrily. 'What will happen when you run out of chakra?'

"..."

Naruto narrowed his eyes, slumping back onto his pillow.

"Like I said, enough moping around." Kurama barked, getting a frown from Naruto. "I never thought I'd say this to you of all people, but you need to get back on your feet. Is this what Kakashi and Sakura would've wanted? Neji? All those who died in the war? That damned father and mother of yours?! No! Whatever's going on here, you need to make the best of it!"

Naruto gritted his teeth, but was unable to argue. Slamming his fist onto the bed, he glared at the ceiling.

'Fine. What the heck should I do?'

"Well, for starters, there's a decent energy source that's preeetty similar to chakra not too far away. A few miles south, I suppose. And some malicious energies closing in on it, to boot."

'...This isn't over. We'll talk more about your situation later.'

Huffing, Naruto jumped off the bed, tugging at his hospital gown. "But first, I'm getting myself some orange to wear. And ramen..."

..

Ruby zipped around her room, stuffing things into her already-full bag, the rose petals trailing behind her evidencing her shameless usage of her Semblance.

"Woah, kid, what're you up to?" Taiyang chuckled, leaning casually against the doorframe. Their pet dog, Zwei, barked cheerily as he bounced into the room, tongue wagging.

Gleefully, he jumped into Ruby's open arms, who giggled as he licked her face, sitting down on her bed.

"School doesn't start until the end of the week, y'know…" Taiyang remarked, making the redhead to look up at her father. "Besides... "

He trailed off, making Ruby tilt her head.

"Besides…?" she prompted, ignoring the first statement in favor of her curiosity.

Sighing, the father walked to sit down next to his daughter, tussling her hair despite her protests. Smiling sadly, he explained. "While this is truly, a great accomplishment, and I'm very proud of you… Are you sure you want to go?"

When he saw that Ruby looked affronted, he held up a hand placatingly. "Don't take this the wrong way, it's just that, well… You're advancing two years, Ruby. There won't be any of your old friends, or anyone your age there. Have you really considered this?"

Ruby set down Zwei before looking down at her fidgeting hands, her gaze softening. "I have thought about this… but I'm trying not to… I really, reaaaaally want to do this, but I don't want to leave my friends. Yang's starting this year, and I want to fight by her side, but I'm not sure if I can."

She sighed, her shoulders slumping, before looking up at her father hopefully.

"Tell me what to do, Dad?" she asked pleadingly, making him scratch the back of his neck awkwardly.

"I can't tell you what to do, Ruby. That's something only you can decide."

Taiyang patted her on the back, before getting up and heading for the door.

"But now this. I have complete faith in you. I know your mother does, too."

Ruby frowned, flopped onto her bed, and stared at the ceiling.

'What should I do…'

..

Naruto looked himself over again, nodding to himself as he stood in an empty alleyway.

He wore open-toed sandals and some black jeans, along with a mesh shirt- god, that one was hard to find- beneath a black t-shirt. He also had on a simple black jacket with orange solidly covering the lower half, as well as accenting the lines and borders. Naruto clenched and unclenched his fist, testing the new fingerless gloves, decorated with a small plate of metal on the backside. A longer piece of cloth turned Naruto's forehead protector into a belt, looped around his waist, a few belt pouches attached to it as it hung on his waist.

All of this new clothing was borrowed, of course, as Naruto had no money. He just... neglected to inform the owners of said clothing...

Grinning, the blond tucked the necklace he'd won from Tsunade all those years ago behind his shirt, before stretching.

'Kurama, how long do you think we have?' Naruto asked, striding out of the alley, hands laced behind his head.

Kurama's eye twitched. "They've already engaged in combat…"

'What?! Why didn't you tell me?'

"I did."

Grumbling under his breath, Naruto channeled his remaining chakra to his feet, literally became a blur as he rushed off. Within moments, he was out in the countryside, noting the slight fog as he followed Kurama's directions.

Soon enough, he heard the telltale sounds of battle, along with lightning and explosions. Cool.

Quickening his pace, he arrived at a large, open plain with a single road that had fences on one side.

He stepped to the side as a horse rushed by, frowning.

A girl with brown hair was floating in the air, facing a black-haired girl as the latter stretched out her hand, forming projectiles of… something, that blasted her onto the road. Capitalizing on the opening, she and two others regrouped, before running towards the brunette.

Quickly, Naruto formed his signature attack, jumping into the air.

"Rasengan!" Naruto called out, smashing the sphere into the ground as he landed right between the two parties.

The effect was instantaneous; dust all but erupted from the well-trodden gravel, creating a smokescreen and making all four of them cough.

Pleased with the results, Naruto grabbed the brunette's arm, running out of the dust cloud and into the forest.

This all happened in a blur, and Naruto and the unknown brunette were hidden a few yards into the foliage. Both of their breaths were slightly labored, the blond frowning at his unexpected tiredness.

Shaking his head slightly, he turned to the brown-haired girl, letting go of her arm.

"...Is there a reason you're glaring at me?" Naruto asked, raising an eyebrow.

"...I could've handled them…" she mumbled, her glare lessening a bit.

Naruto raised an eyebrow, and shrugged. "Whatever you say, miss…"

"Amber." she told him. "My name is Amber. What's yours?"

"Naruto Uzumaki." he replied, jabbing towards his chest with a thumb, before peeking around the tree they were hiding behind. "Any idea why they were after you?"

"My powers." was the simple answer.

"Such as?" Naruto pressed, his eyes still focused on the trio on the road. "Apart from flying?"

Amber seemed reluctant to answer the blond, opting to look at her assailants as well. "Be careful, the one with green hair can create illusions, and the silver-haired one has mechanical feet. The last one seems to be the leader… she uses fire, I think."

Naruto nodded in acknowledgement, before tensing.

"...Someone else is coming. And fast."

Amber frowned, as did Naruto, who narrowed his eyes before reaching out to Kurama.

'What do you think? Is it an enemy or ally?'

Kurama smacked his lips, yawning. "It's an ally. More importantly, that girl behind you. It's the chakra source."

'She's not an it' Naruto chided. 'And, what do you mean?'

"Nature energy is literally coming off of her in waves. Can you not feel it, brat?"

Naruto's frown deepened. 'Sage Mode's been… off since we came here…'

Kurama grunted, but said nothing else in reply, making Naruto mentally sigh before cutting off the connection.

As he did so, a gray blur smashed into the ravenette, sparks flying as the gray blur's greatsword clashed with the dual blades that the ravenette wielded. He seemed to say something to his opponent, who responded with an answer that appeared to piss him off.

"I know that man!" Amber exclaimed, making Naruto nod. They watched as the man disengaged from the bladelock, before swinging his weapon horizontally. The two females managed to jump out of the way, but the silver-haired one wasn't so lucky, instead choosing to block with his arms in an X shape, skidding backwards.

Unfortunately, he quickly recovered, running to exchange blows with the man as the two others provided cover fire.

Growling, Naruto ran towards the battle, noting that Amber was not far behind.

Creating a Rasengan again, he charged at the closest opponent; the ravenette. She was proven to be spatially aware, unfortunately, as she quickly nocked and fired an arrow at Naruto, making him jump to the side, and essentially stopping the charge.

Unperturbed, Naruto added the wind element to his attack, before launching it at his foe.

"Fuuton: Rasenshuriken!"

The attack easily cleaved through both arrows and bullets from his two opponents, the silver-haired one still preoccupying the man dressed in gray.

The black-haired one frowned, jumping out of the way of the attack, the green-haired girl following suit.

Their eyes widened as the attack collided with the dirt, subsequently exploding, violently tearing away at everything within a five-meter radius. Naruto winced at the overuse of his already limited chakra, feeling traces of exhaustion already.

Thankfully, Amber decided to follow up with one of her own attacks, sending large gusts of wind after the two. The attack blew away the other two, but didn't seem to have any real effect otherwise.

The ravenette shared a look with the mint-haired girl, who nodded and turned her slightly glowing eyes at the man in gray, who was soundly beating the silver-haired boy.

For some reason, the man's attacks started to miss, allowing the teen with mechanical legs to land a solid hit before turning to his teammates.

"We're retreating." the ravenette called out, receiving nods from the other two.

The trio seemed to freeze in place, making Naruto narrow his eyes. Picking up a rock, he tossed it at one of them, only for it to phase right through.

"Damn!" he muttered in realization. "An illusion..."

Amber scowled, before turning to the other person. "Qrow. Why are you here?"

'Qrow' grunted, getting to his knees slowly as he dusted himself off.

"Oz assigned me to look after you." he explained. "Who's your friend?"

Amber sighed at being treated like a child, before turning to introduce the blond… that wasn't there.

"...Where'd he go?"

..

Naruto was leaning against a nearby tree, frowning at his trembling fingers. He closed his eyes, hoping to sense his chakra core…

It was there, but… It was dimmed. Incredibly so, that he wouldn't even had believed it to be there if it weren't for Kurama assuring him that it was indeed there.

Raising a hand to rub his forehead, he sighed deeply. 'This… What can we do about it, Kurama?'

The demon fox tilted his head in thought. "...This might be risky, but maybe you can try to activate Sage Mode while that girl is nearby. It might give us something to go on."

'And just why is it risky?' Naruto asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You know how you turn into a frog if you aren't attuned to the nature energy?" Kurama asked, receiving a nod. "Well, we don't know if you're attuned to this nature energy. I said it was similar, but the effects aren't necessarily the same."

Naruto frowned, but nodded again nonetheless. 'Got it.'

Sighing, he sat down and crossed his feet, closing his eyes in meditation. His eyes soon began glowing… streams of yellow-orange light spreading from his eyes, almost akin to wings...

..

Qrow Branwen frowned as Amber, the current Fall Maiden- though they had just come dangerously close to the end of that- look for someone with blond hair and powerful abilities. Not only that, but also an effective disappearing act, it seemed.

Qrow had only been able to see glimpses of the blond before, surprisingly, having to focus on the silver-haired kid. He'd just returned from a rather tiresome mission from Ozpin, and ran all the way here, so a bit of tiredness was acceptable.

...He had also been a bit preoccupied with beating the crap out of his opponent, so sue him.

Sighing, he sipped his drink, alcohol from a flask he always kept on his waist.

This is either going to be of no importance whatsoever, or it's going to bite him in the ass later on. And with his Semblance, well… there really was no doubt.

..

Pyrrha Nikos covered her eyes with one hand as she looked out into the distance.

The sun was bright, high in the sky as the train Pyrrha was riding on rumbled on. The train was taking her to Vale, or, more specifically, to Beacon.

It wasn't her first time leaving Mistral, she did that plenty of times competing in fighting tournaments worldwide, but it's the first time she did so without the intention of coming back.

She knew that those in Mistral weren't overly comfortable with… her, and she couldn't blame them. She wouldn't.

She sighed, shaking the memories of whispers and hidden glances out of her mind. She was here for one reason, and one reason only!

And that was to make friends!

...She sighed again, slumping forwards in her seat at how sad her goal sounded, to her. Still, she was going to do it!

Eyes brimming with hope, she smiled softly as she listened to the mechanical thumping of the engines as the train pushed on, quickly spanning the distance to Vale. To her new life.

..

For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all. Infinite in distance and unbound by death, I release your soul, and by my shoulder, protect thee.

The words presented themselves in Naruto's mind, and as he spoke them aloud, he felt the remnants of his power fading away.

Slowly, a new power filled his body, though Naruto can already feel it filling his body to the brim. He had just as much of this new power, it seemed, as he had chakra. Not counting Kurama's aid, of course.

'...Huh.' Naruto thought, mildly surprised. 'This new power… Aura… is a lot weaker than chakra… but at least I can replenish it. What do you think, Kurama?'

Naruto frowned when he received no response in return, before thinking back to earlier.

'Kurama, I already said, this isn't funny. Where are you?'

Naruto's frown deepened.

'Kura-'

"Shut it, brat" Kurama muttered, so faintly it was hard for Naruto to hear. "My power is waning sooner than I expected. When you linked yourself to the natural energy I used your body as a conduit to... preserve myself temporarily."

Naruto blinked in confusion.

Kurama sighed. "Basically, I'm going dormant. I won't be able to respond or react until we reach a place where I can restore my chakra."

Naruto nodded in understanding.

"...Good. See you around, brat."

'See you around, you damn fox.'

Naruto smiled widely, and Kurama's chuckle in response slowly faded.

'I'm sorry Naruto.' Kurama whispered. His eyelid fluttered, struggling to stay open as he laid his head down in Naruto's mindscape. 'I lied...'

..

Um… Hope you enjoyed. It's past midnight when I wrote this, so… apologies if my writing gets a tad sloppy near the end.

Also in case you don't get it, Kurama's a goner. He did leave Naruto a present though...