Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to RWBY or Naruto. A wise man once said that some truths need not be spoken, but that man was not aggressively accosted by lawyers.
Hello readers and followers! I just posted this earlier today and we are already up to 10 followers and 13 favorite! Gotta say that although it might not be the largest number I'm excited to have a chance to show you guys a good time. I'm going to take this time to answer a few questions I've gotten already to clear up any confusion people are having. I totally understand how OOC interactions can ruin immersion in a story.
Q: Why does 8 tails call Naruto 'Naruto-boy' That was Ma and Pa's thing.
A: Thank you for noticing! You are indeed correct because that was exactly where I got the name from. Although not revealed yet in the story Gyuki stayed with the toad pair on Myōboku after B's passing. He was pretty inconsolable and ended up finding meaning in protecting B and his collective student. An added note was that 8 tails knew that Naruto wouldn't be passing away like B did. He is scared of feeling a loss like that again.
Q: Is there a pairing?
A: so many points to make. 1) I couldn't get 4 chapters in without being asked about a pairing. C'mon guys... Jokes aside I am undecided on that. Let me know via review or PM any pairing/reasoning that you would want and I'll take it in stride. 2) If there is no reaction or a negative reaction to a pairing there just might not be one. Naruto is in his 60's in this story. Some people are gonna find it nasty, some people are gonna say you are as mature as you act. Nothing is decided yet, but please let me know your thoughts and opinions. I enjoy responding to you guys.
Q: Despite his past Naruto doesn't feel very broken, what's up with that?
A: So for this one you need to distinguish between the bijuu and everyone else. Naruto gets along with the bijuu fine because they are the only friends he brought over from his life. He spent the past 50 years befriending these three and they chose to come with him in his exile. Befriending mortal humans who may or may not betray him is going to be a big struggle for our hero. Here is to rooting for him to do it!
With that all being said I want to thank you all again for reading as far as you have. Feel free to PM me any questions or concerns. Heck, if you just drop a line to say 'hi' I'll probably drop you one back. I do this for the feedback honestly. Writing the story does nothing but cure my crippling boredom x.x
With that being said we step into our next chapter of the story.
Chapter 4
Dobe
That is unnecessarily large, Kurama commented from his perch atop Naruto's shoulder. Naruto couldn't help but agree as the massive airship touched down. He was seated legs crossed atop the school's roof in sage mode. A few birds had flown down to attempt to greet him but were immediately scared off by the lump of fur occupying their intended perch.
NaruNaru, why are you scouting these little people? Do you think the tiny ones will help us conquer the world? Ooooh you intend them to be our foot soldiers! . . . but wait couldn't you just make clones? I'm confused again. Shukaku continued to attempt to understand the machinations of his host in earnest while the other three felt an intense wave of exasperation.
Shu, we really have to work on your people skills. You know you might have to actually talk to some of these people if I introduce you? You can't be telling them you want to kill them, or subjugate them, or any other number of insane things I can imagine you saying. Naruto scolded his tanuki friend. Kurama gave a breathy laugh atop his shoulder.
I've got to hand it to you kid. Sixty-seven years later and you can still manage to surprise me. Naruto preened at the perceived praise from Kurama. How a human can live that long and still be so delusional is really a supreme work of effort. Maybe you should write a book detailing exactly how one can reach and maintain such levels of naivete. Naruto growled at his fox and punched him in the head. Kurama then lashed out and clawed his face. In a matter of moments the two were wrestling back and forth on the rooftop in a mix of tooth, fist, and claw.
Naruto-boy… Act your age and focus on what you came here to do. Kurama is a lost cause, don't waste your breath. Gyūki scolded the shinobi. The fox and ninja comically stopped mid grapple, grunted and then disengaged from each other to resume their previous position looking over the school grounds. Looking over the school grounds. All right good. Now start searching for anyone who might be a good friend for Naruto-boy.
Kurama scoffed atop his jinchūriki's shoulder but nonetheless narrowed his eyes at the airship, waiting for the passengers to begin disembarking. Not a moment later a large hangar door opened and a ramp led down off the ship. Kurama flicked his tail disinterestedly as he continued to watch kid after kid walk out of the airship. He gave a bored yawn until he was rewarded with a sight that made him break out into a toothy grin.
Blonde bombshell straight ahead. She looks like she'd be the perfect friend for our little kid. Kurama suggested deviously. Naruto leveled a glare at his partner.
Any reason that you are suggesting this other than how she looks?
Gaki you wound me! Naruto's glare towards his fox partner did not recede until the fox broke into a small chuckle. Jokes aside I sense something in her that feels familiar to me… much lesser of course, but familiar. Kurama's tail began to brush back and forth across Naruto's shoulders in vague interest. Naruto considered it high praise that Kurama would even begin to slightly equate an individual to himself.
I like the one with Kushina's hair. Gyūki stated. Naruto focused on an armored woman with her hair drawn up into a ponytail. His pulse quickened slightly, which really should have been imperceptible to anyone.
Looks like the kid likes her too. Kurama teased while prodding Naruto's cheek with his sinuous tail. A light blush took over his face as he avoided Kurama's gaze at all costs. Kurama continued to laugh at his expense while Gyūki regarded Naruto with a fondness an uncle would for his favorite nephew.
I like that one! She looks fun. Do you think her blood is tasty? Shukaku mentally directed Naruto's gaze to one orange haired girl in a skirt. Naruto almost panicked as he thought he saw her use Hiraishin to instantly move from side to side of a certain boy dressed in green. He sighed in relief when he realized she was just moving VERY fast.
Gaki so help me if you so much as talk to that girl I will eat her. Kurama grumbled. Shukaku started to berate the fox about a lack of taste in people when someone caught Naruto's eye.
That girl in the black and red, does it look like she is getting bullied by that white girl? Naruto asked the three bijuu. Kurama smirked and started to tease him again.
Kid you should be more like me. You humans are so pathetic that I don't see color, you're all just the same-... that girl is actually entirely white. Naruto chuckled at Kurama's realization. Her hair, her dress, her sheathe, and her skin were entirely nothing but white. Upon closer inspection there was a collar to her jacket that was lined in red. A hundred ryō says she is an ice princess. Kurama gambled.
She does look incredibly haughty from here. These kids don't look like they've been taught proper respect for others. Gyūki groused unhappily. He may be the most agreeable of the present bijuu, but even after his long partnership with Bee he was still rather strict where dignity was concerned. After a few moments more of what looked like a one-sided dressing down of the black and red girl Naruto decided to get to his feet and jumped down the building. He cautiously made sure to avoid cameras because he wasn't quite sure if jumping from buildings was normal or not yet.
Gaki, they've been here less than 5 minutes, are you already going to stick your nose where it doesn't belong? Kurama agitatedly chided the spiky blonde that was now in brusque motion towards the pair of girls.
Can't just let some young kid get bullied… hits too close to home. Naruto thought solemnly. Kurama's teasing abated as he stretched himself while still across Naruto's shoulder.
Well let's hurry up then kid. It looks like the princess is waving around some of that dust stuff and Red's about to blow. Naruto looked at the younger looking girl and was confused when he didn't see any type of anger across her face. Things made a lot more sense when he realized the girl looked like she was about to sneeze due to the rainbow of dust floating around her. Reacting faster than his brain could process he held out his right palm towards the cloud of dust and blinked. All of the dust particles quickly and carefully made their way into his hand forming a small sized ball.
His action garnered the attention of both the girls as they looked to see where the dust had shot off to. The white girl gave him an impressive frown whereas the red and black girl just eyed him nervously. He waved his free hand at the two girls and made his way over to them. The ball of dust remained equidistant from his now palm up hand as he walked forward.
"Hey there! The name's Naruto! Sorry to step in and bother you both but you were getting dangerously close to exploding." Naruto introduced himself with a cheeky grin on his face. Much to his amazement the white girl's frown got even deeper.
"Explode? We were in no danger of anything happening until you came along and interfered. I hope you know how to properly handle that dust!" The white girl scolded him. Naruto had to blink twice in hopes that the stupidity would go away and this would be revealed to be some form of joke he didn't get. After a momentary pause where no such luck ensued he carefully pressed forward.
"If you look really closely you'll see that there is fire dust in this ball. Red here was about a moment away from sneezing which would have likely ignited the first dust. Once the fire dust ignited the rest of it was sure to go off afterwards. I know we're new and all but you should at least have studied some dust properties before attending dattebayo." As Naruto mentally punched himself for his ever present verbiage the white girl looked ready to assist in a more physical sense.
"Do you not know who I am!? I am Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, and I will have you know I know far more about dust than you do!" Weiss' voice was so annoying to Naruto he was having trouble focusing on anything. Until this moment he didn't think it was possible to hear a spoiled and privileged upbringing just by the sound of a voice. When he finally managed to work his way past that and examined what she was saying he was hit with a realization.
"It all makes sense…" Naruto said so quietly the two girls had trouble hearing him. "All the times he called me that this must have been what he felt like." Sure he was nothing like the girl, but the sheer frustration at someone so obstinate must have been the same.
"Who called you what?" Weiss seethed at the blonde boy.
"Nothing you need to worry about Dobe." Naruto said with a small smile across his face.
"What did you just call me?" The girl inquired, her rage temporarily lessened by her curiosity.
"Why don't you go look it up, I would hate to ruin the surprise." Naruto teased with a grin. A frustrated Weiss leveled him one last glare and then stormed off. Unsure of how to properly dispose of his dust ball he looked around for a trash can. He quickly reconsidered his idea to put explosives in a public place and took out a storage scroll from a satchel on his side, depositing the dust ball into it.
"Wow, that's so cool!" When he looked up the black and red girl had quickly invaded his personal space and was on her tippy toes looking at his storage scroll. Naruto quickly closed the scroll and deposited it back in his satchel. The girl then looked up to him and spoke again. "Your eyes look cool too! Is that part of your semblance?" The girl's silver eyes looked into his own, looking closely at them he could almost make out the reflection of hims-
Shit, Rinnegan. Naruto quickly chastised himself. He blinked his eyes and they turned back to their normal ocean blue. Time to talk my way out of this one. "Erm yeah… kind of. Whenever I use that ability you just saw my eyes change. Not really sure why though!" Naruto assured her with a blatant lie. "Sorry if I interrupted anything. You just looked like you needed a hand with Dobe."
The girl quickly raised her hands and shook them in denial. "Nononononono! I totally needed a hand, lots of hands! I'm ummm… Not the best at socializing and all." She nervously looked down at her feet as she twiddled one black boot into the ground embarrassedly. After a few seconds she apprehensively looked back to the blonde boy to see a warm and soothing smile.
"Don't worry about it! I spent most of my life traveling without talking to people. Even if you're not the best at socializing I probably won't know enough to notice," He laughed in joking self-deprecation. Unable to deal with the girl's adorable happiness without blushing slightly he coughed and pressed on. "So like I said my name is Naruto."
"Oh! My name is Ruby, Ruby Rose. It's nice to meet you Naruto!" The girl beamed enthusiastically at him. Naruto chuckled at her energy and was about to say something when she quickly spit out. "CanIseeyourweapon!?" She said it so quickly he had to try to figure out what she said.
Right, the hunters here all tend to fight with a single weapon. Naruto remembered from his information gathering. He found it strange that they weren't versed in multiple tools like in the Elemental Nations, but learned to roll with it. "Yeah, I fight mainly with kunai knives. You can use them like daggers and throw them! They are pretty cool." Naruto grabbed one from his satchel and spun it around before grabbing it and sinking to a combat stance. Ruby practically glowed at him.
"Ohmygosh that is so cool! Exotic, yet simple and versatile. Do you wanna hear about my weapon?" Ruby asked with equal parts excitement and trepidation. Naruto laughed and realized that her zealousness towards her weapon must have gotten her into some awkward situations in the past.
"Hell yeah! Show me what you got Ruby," Naruto cheered her on. Responding to the enthusiasm the shinobi showed she reached behind her back and twirled her weapon as it deployed. Slamming the the bottom into the ground to show it off in its full glory. Naruto balked as the giant red weapon reminded him of a certain masochistic nutbag. Recovering quickly he praised the weapon. "That is pretty cool. Not many people know how to fight with a scythe. Now that is an exotic weapon!" Naruto fixed her with a cheerful grin. Ruby blushed slightly and proceeded with an explanation.
"My uncle taught me how to use one. It is also a customizable high-impact sniper rifle!" She bragged, clearly pleased with herself.
"So it's also a gun?" Naruto supplied questioningly.
"Yup!" She said with a loud pop on the 'p'. The popping noise obviously disturbed Kurama from the nap he must have been taking because he decided to open his mouth in a large yawn. Ruby realized that the thing draped across Naruto's shoulders was in fact an animal. She almost swooned at the sight of the beautiful orange fox. "Is the fox your pet?"
"Oh absolutely, furball here is practical-" He was cut off by Kurama clawing the side of his face causing three bloody gashes to appear. Ruby let out a scared "Eep!" and Naruto glowered at his fox companion. The gashes on his face healed within the next few seconds. Looking back to the concerned/scared Ruby Naruto could only smile bashfully. "He really doesn't like to be called a pet. Just think of him as my partner for both our sakes." Kurama snorted, obviously not content with the description. Thankfully he wasn't offended enough to claw his face again either.
Naruto looked around and saw that nearly all of the students had already come and gone. He remembered hearing they were supposed to be attending some sort of entrance speech from what he had gathered before even making his way to Beacon.
"C'mon Ruby, we're supposed to be heading to some fancy speech for the new students," Naruto grabbed her hand and lightly pulled her in tow towards the large congregation of energy he felt. Kurama observed the look of the girl in tow and saw her blushing furiously. He snickered from his position atop Naruto's shoulder.
I take back what I said about this plan. Watching this kid bumble about social relationships with his obliviousness is going to be a blast. Kurama grinned evilly.
Naruto stood in a large hall filled to the brim with kids. True to what he expected even in sage mode he felt no one powerful enough he would deem a threat. The only exception to that rule was the grey haired man in a green suit who was beginning to approach the standing microphone. Whereas everyone else energy so low it was utterly nonthreatening, that man had none at all. Regardless how intensely Naruto or the bijuu focused their efforts on him he remained a puzzle box that refused to open. Noticing that Weiss was gesturing at him while talking to Ruby and the blonde that Kurama had mentioned, he began to move towards them. Before he could even start the motion of a step though Ozpin had begun speaking.
"I'll...keep this brief. You have traveled here today in search of knowledge—to hone your craft and acquire new skills. And when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose—direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step. In doing so it is possible that every one of you might find your own heading," Ozpin stated. True to his word his initiation speech was thankfully short. Even through his years Naruto still held a disdain for authority figures droning at him for what seemed like eons.
"You'll gather in the ballroom tonight; your initiation will begin in the morning. Be ready. You are dismissed." Glynda spoke into the microphone. Naruto was thinking of a way to either loosen up or prank her into a frenzy when his devious planning was interrupted.
"Naruto!" Ruby called out to him to shake him from his thoughts. He looked over to the small girl and smiled. He approached the group of three girls with Kurama walking lazily by his side, clearly bored with napping. He approached Ruby and casually dropped his hand onto her hair to rustle it about. She scowled at him until she saw his giant smile. After that she couldn't find it in herself to even be upset.
"Awww! Does little Rubes have a boyfriend already?" The blonde cooed at the red cloaked girl. Ruby's face quickly lit up to match said cloak's hue before she turned and started banging her fists against the blonde's arm.
"Yaaaaaaaaaang!" Ruby groaned embarrassedly. She then turned to try to re-introduce Weiss to Naruto to find that the girl has already left and was nowhere to be seen. She turned back to Naruto to see that he had already started talking.
"If she does it isn't me. We just met outside when the dobe was giving her a hard time," Naruto corrected diplomatically. That was a misconception he had absolutely zero desire to see spread about. Yang raised her eyebrow in question and Ruby quickly added.
"He means Weiss." Ruby clued Yang in. She made an O with her mouth and then proceeded to walk towards Naruto.
"Name's Yang! Thanks for helping my little sis out. Maybe sometime we'll meet up and I'll have to reward you for it," she teased seductively with her right hand on his chest. She looked into his eyes to see him squirm, blush, panic or any combination of the three. What she did get was something she didn't expect, though.
Naruto gave her a nonplussed grin and simply said, "She seemed innocent and she was in trouble. There is nothing you need to thank me for. I just don't like seeing people get bullied." Yang blinked slowly, trying to process the innocuous reaction. She wasn't cocky or anything, she just knew she turned boys' heads. A is A, gravity pulls things down and she was hot enough to make boys uncomfortable. Seeing a boy her own age defying the the basic laws of Remnant put her thought process on halt. For a few seconds she just stood there looking into his eyes and seeing his smile.
"Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang!" A much angrier Ruby yelled as she pounded her fists into her sister's back. The blonde awoke from her thoughts and pulled herself away from Naruto, who regarded the two with a confused expression.
What is with these girls? Naruto thought to himself. Gyūki wondered if he was really that dense, Shukaku was playing in the mindscape making sandcastles, and Kurama was silently laughing. Yang eyed him quickly before breaking back out into an unabashed grin.
"You're alright Whiskers. I can tell the three of us are going to be friends," Yang stated.
"Yeah!" Ruby enthusiastically supported. They both looked to Naruto again to see his cheery grin. Instead all they saw was a look of great pain, an untold suffering beyond his years, and a palpable regret that nearly choked the air. They all descended into an awkward silence that felt like it spanned for minutes despite lasting only seconds. It would have gone on even longer if the fox by his side didn't nip at Naruto's hand, causing him to stir from his thoughts.
When Naruto stirred from his memories he saw the two girls looking at him in sadness. Yang seemed to be concerned about him, but more so he sensed a protectiveness of Ruby radiating from her. When he turned to look at Ruby he saw an intense fear. He saw a little girl who was afraid to be left alone and the regret of thinking she had made a mistake. Naruto powered through his own mental torpor and gave them both a sad smile.
"I'd love to try to be your friends," He said softly. Ruby's mood lightened considerably but Yang continued to stare him down. A few awkward seconds passed before Ruby zipped up to him.
"Don't you worry Naruto! We're totally going to be friends! We'll be the best of friends! You talked to me about my weapon, you helped me with Weiss, and you seem super cool and nice! You're not going to regret this," Ruby said with a near fervent desperation.
Kami, I'm an idiot, Naruto thought sadly to himself, looking at the little girl who was trying so hard to make sure he didn't reject her. He took a deep breath and then broke out into a grin and rustled her hair again.
"Don't you worry bout a thing Ruby, just some personal stuff choked me up for a second there. You've got nothing to prove to me. Matter of fact I already think you're pretty awesome!" He gave her his trademark grin again which she responded with in turn. Yang exhaled in the background and leveled a smile at Naruto.
'Thank you', she mouthed to him. Naruto gave her a thumbs up with the hand that wasn't still rustling Ruby's hair (an action she surprisingly wasn't resisting) and then looked down to see Kurama pulling at his pant leg.
"Oh right, ballroom. Let's get going you two. I don't know if you've met Glynda yet but I promise you do not want to be on her bad side," Naruto shivered, recalling the verbal lashing he had received at her hands. The girls both laughed at his reaction and they started to make their way towards the ballroom. Naruto sighed with a little mirth and tried to correct himself.
I can make a different life here. I just have to try.
