Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to RWBY or Naruto. The first thing I will do when said rights are handed over to me is have Naruto unlock the Rinnegan to use the Outer Path to resurrect the Arkos ship. You have my solemn word.

AAAAAAAAH! My author's note was like 600 words long and got deleted because my replacement computer has auto-update turned on. Onto take two I suppose.

Hello friends and compatriots. Welcome to chapter 7 of An Old Fox's New Trick. I am delighted to have you here. First off I want to thank everyone who followed/favorited me or my work. I'm glad to have you all along and I can promise it should be a long and bumpy one. This chapter is quite a bit longer than any other because I wanted to get through the Emerald Forest Entrance Exam arc, but still had so much left in it I needed to get done. As I'm sure you noticed due to the fact we are already at 30k words and I haven't even assigned teams I am in no rush here. Moving on from there I wanted to answer some questions that had some really important answers. I had already done it (stupid computer) but I suppose I shall make a move to do it again.

Q: Is this Pyrrha x Naruto? It sure as hell feels like it.

A: It could be, but as of now it is not. I get how Pyrrha chasing him around can give you that idea and it is meant to. To explain this we need to look at the canon relationship between Pyrrha X Jaune. Their relationship can really be broken down into three stages of attraction. Step 1: Jaune has no idea who Pyrrha is. This sparks the idea in Pyrrha's mind that she could have a truly normal friendship that was completely uninhibited by her fame or success. This causes her to make Jaune her partner, but there is no romance at this time. Step 2: Jaune demonstrates how hard he is willing to work to overcome his weaknesses. Pyrrha sees reasonably cute boy her age demonstrating perseverance and devotion to his goals. He demonstrates an unwillingness to give up or accept himself as he is. That is a trait Pyrrha is clearly aligned with and attracted to. Step 3: Cardin defends his friends at Forever Fall and then proceeds to defend Cardin even after all he has done. This demonstrates that Jaune will put himself in harm's way to defend those precious to him as well as the fact that he believes in the good in people. In Jaune's eyes Cardin is worth saving because he could change. That aligns with Pyrrha's views as she obviously views Jaune the same way. Naruto has all three of those steps front-loaded into him at the very beginning of this story. In near any Naruto X RWBY crossover I believe that if those two are given sufficient time to interact (AKA being paired on the same team) she is basically required to fall for him. I can say that will happen, but I can not promise he will reciprocate.

Q: Ruby x Naruto?

A: Ruby x Naruto is by no means out of the running, this is not a guaranteed Pyrrha x Naruto story. She is actually one of the top three presently with Pyrrha/Ruby/Blake. The only pairing I will promise not to do is Naruto x Nora. My OTP of Ren x Nora will not be defiled in my story. The views of the readers will largely determine which route I end up taking. I say this not because I'm a people pleaser but because I have already story-boarded all major pairings and how they would ultimately change the story. I even have a pairing with Cinder or Neo planned out and both change the story dramatically. TLDR flood me with feedback defending your pair. Unlike some authors who just want to write their story if there isn't a community here I'll just stop writing. Currently Pyrhha leads in no small part due to Chaotiquill.

I'd call it a Q but it is really just complaining: Why does Naruto have the Rinnegan?! The Rinnegan is a Sharingan thing and the only known users of it are Hagoromo, Madara, ETC ETC ETC.

Response: I hate teaching Naruto lore but I hate people thinking I don't know what I'm doing more. So Hagoromo was the original Sage of Six Paths. He had access to the Rinnegan as well as all of his sage powers such as the Truth Seeker Orbs. Hagoromo has two sons named Indra and Asura. He divided his techniques between the two of them. Indra obtained the power of the Rinnegan whereas Asura gained the powers and vitality of a Sage. Skip forward a millennia or so and we then get Nagato. Nagato has the power of the Rinnegan but has never before shown a Sharingan. Skip forward to Sasuke and the battle against Kaguya. Sasuke is the transmigrated form of Indra's chakra. Sasuke then is able to develop the Rinnegan. We now know that the Rinnegan is not a Sharingan thing, but an Indra thing. Even without all that deductive reasoning they have basically said the Sharingan is only a byproduct of an incomplete Rinnegan. So there you go! Naruto has some of Indra's chakra. Why? Read and I'll tell you eventually!

Jokes aside It has been a pleasure to have as many of you along for the ride as I have. I hope you all keep reading, keep enjoying and keep reviewing. Without further Adieu I present to you Chapter 7 of OFNT.


Chapter 7

Teach a Girl to Fish

Pyrrha and Naruto walked side by side through the forest as Kurama sat on his usual perch. While heading towards the direction Professor Ozpin had told them they could find the relics Pyrrha was taking the chance to learn about her newly made partner. "So Naruto?" Pyrrha questioned.

"What's up Pyr?"

"Earlier when you stopped my javelin was that your semblance?" Pyrrha queried her partner. Naruto gave an internal sigh of relief; he was glad he had thought ahead with a prepared answer.

"Kind of. My semblance is more like a contractor of guardian spirits. Kurama here primarily gives me access to what my clan knew as the 'Tendō'. In this language they also referred to it as the 'Deva path' or 'God Realm'. It gives me control over polarity of any object that I wish with myself as the origin… well, kind of anyways. I can move an object up or down as long as it it is closer to me if I'm using Banshō Ten'in or further away from me if I'm using Shinra Tensei." Naruto explained as concisely as he could. Pyrrha's jaw almost dropped to the forest floor.

"You control polarity?"

"You got it."

"And just for to make sure I wasn't imagining it you said that you could use this Tendō on anything?"

"Absolutely anything."

"... that was supposed to be my thing." Pyrrha complained quietly and kicked some dirt in frustration. When she came to Beacon Academy she had always hoped to find someone strong enough to challenge her. That didn't change the fact that seeing someone have a semblance that was so similar and yet more universal than her own miffed her competitive spirit. A thought crossed her mind and she decided it couldn't hurt knowing more about her mysterious partner. "It seemed like when you deflected Miló you were the epicenter of your semblance. Is that the restriction for its power?" She asked trying to find some way in which her own was superior.

"Normally yeah." Pyrrha's face brightened. She could freely control metal, suspending it in air or causing it to change directions. Naruto's technique seemed restricted to his person. Ha! I win! She thought to herself. "I do have one technique with Tendō that pulls it everything towards a little ball I create… but I never use that one." Naruto admitted timidly. Pyrrha eyed him inquisitively.

"Is it too weak to use in combat?" She inquired. Naruto grimaced for a moment before giving his reply.

"It is definitely not something I'd have any use for here," he non-answered. Pyrrha decided she would let it go as he clearly didn't want to talk about it.

He is probably just embarrassed that his external technique is weaker. With how powerful his semblance seems to be he probably just doesn't have control the more refined aspect of it. She rationalized to herself.

"What about you Pyrrha? What does your semblance do?" Naruto asked cheerily, bringing Pyrrha back to the conversation.

"I also control polarity, but my semblance only has domain over metal. Most everyone fights with metal of some sort though, so I have learned to use it in great effect in combat!" Pyrrha preened to herself. She internally remarked that it was funny how at odds with herself she was. She had come to Beacon with the intent of finding a normal friendship, but now that she had the chance at one she couldn't quell her competitive instincts.

Naruto raised one hand to his mouth and let out a gasp. "Only metal? Don't worry Pyr I'm sure if you eat your Marshmallow Pete's Flakes you'll grow up big and strong like me." Naruto teased the redheaded girl. She giggled and punched him in the shoulder.

"Jerk!" She teased back. Strangely enough afterwards she saw his face change from a playful grin to abject horror. Before she could get worried it changed back to his normal grinning face.

Don't tell me I'm the teme of this world! Naruto thought to himself utterly terrified of the implications. He spent the rest of the walk towards the clearing engaging Pyrrha in idle conversation while attempting to convince himself that he was not even the slightest bit like Sasuke as a teenager. Eventually they made their way to a clearing. They were greeted by the sight of an old ruin and two familiar faces.

"Foxy! I see you've found your partner already." A familiar blonde voice boomed at him. Surely enough Yang stood next to Blake with her hands behind her head and chest thrust forward. "I beat you here of course. Don't tell me you're a slow starter Whiskers." She teased Naruto who only deemed to respond with a roll of his eyes, choosing to grasp onto the first statement as a point of conversation.

"Don't know how much I "found" my partner. She kind of snuck up on me and tried to impale me with her spear." Seeing Yang's playfully waggling eyebrows Naruto instantly smacked himself. "No Yang, not like that. Kami... I know a few people you'd get along with just fine," Naruto grumbled to himself. Pyrrha was about to defend herself saying that Naruto attacked her first but she was confused what Naruto meant by 'not like that' and why Yang seemed to find it worth teasing him for. "Cool to see you again Blake!" Naruto interrupted Pyrrha's thoughts and beamed at the black haired girl.

"I'm just happy we made it through without incident. Besides fighting a few beowolves and ursa the walk here was relatively tame." She confessed honestly. Pyrrha remarked to herself how odd it was that they didn't encounter a single grim on their entire trek through the forest.

"I didn't even break a sweat." Yang bragged stretching her arms out. Naruto chuckled at Yang's bravado. He tensed up as he saw Kurama's ears flick from his perch.

"Something is coming." Naruto said ominously as he drew a kunai from his satchel, Pyrrha unsheathed Miló and readied Akoúo̱, Yang punched her right hand into her left palm and Blake readied her katana. The three of them then followed Naruto's gaze to the sky and saw a giant nevermore flying over them. Pyrrha squinted closely and saw what looked like a white figure along with a similarly sized black/red one grabbing onto the nevermore. Suddenly the black and red figure fell from the bird straight towards them.

"Heads uuuuuuuup!" The mass of color cried out. As it fell closer and closer to the ground Pyrrha was able to discern a person's form. She then saw Naruto casually walk a few feet forward and then stood in place with his arms outstretched. A few seconds later the person plopped straight into his arms in a bridal carry as he bent his knees to reduce the impact.

"I can already tell that you are going to be a trouble magnet Short Stack." Naruto sighed as he set the now identifiable girl down. After a brief moment of getting over the shock she positively glowered at him.

"I am not short!" She cried at him. "I am still growing! I drink milk! I'll show you!" She continued to splutter angry, fragmented sentences at him concerning her height.

"Did your sister just fall from the sky?" Blake asked Yang in confusion.

"I-" Yang started before the sound of a roaring beast brought all their eyes back to the nearby forest. A giant ursa appeared and started knocking down tree after tree. As soon as it completely cleared the treeline it started flailing about.

"YEEHAW!" A feminine voice whooped as a large blast of sparks appeared from behind the ursa. She then cartwheeled over the ursa's back as it fell to the ground and landed to look at the deceased creature. Her pink skirt and orange hair made the situation all the more comical. "Awww… it's broken." She whined.

"Nora… Please… Don't ever do that again." A black haired boy with a pink highlight demanded exhaustedly next to her. The girl then sprinted over to where the relics were placed on their pedestals and grabbed a golden rook without hesitation. Singing a song about being 'Queen of the Castle' she basically skipped back to the boy she had entered with.

"Did that girl just ride in on an ursa?" Blake once again asked Yang.

"I-" And for the second time Yang was interrupted by some loud noise that sounded like a growl crossed with a shriek. Another grimm came barreling through the forest knocking down trees as it went. What appeared was a giant deathstalker. The large scorpion claws flexed as its jaw chittered while the golden stinger attached to its tail loomed menacingly.

"Did a deathstalker really just manage to find us in the middle of the forest?" Blake asked Yang for the third time. Yang began to growl furiously as her eyes turned red.

"I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE! COULD EVERYONE JUST CHILL OUT FOR TWO SECONDS BEFORE SOMETHING CRAZY HAPPENS AGAIN!?" Yang's bright red eyes only accentuated her palpable anger. The universe gave her a comedic three seconds of peace before the nevermore dropped Weiss out of the sky.


Her power is tied to rage. I knew there was a reason I like her. Kurama mused to himself. Naruto sighed as he felt the nevermore circle back around on their group.

On a serious note where did this deathstalker come from furball? I could swear they are one of the more powerful grimm. Why didn't your chakra scare it off like the others? Naruto asked his fox companion. Kurama contemplated for a moment before he brought his paw to hit his face in frustration.

Gaki, you're an idiot. The little bit of chakra I was letting off to scare the grimm might have worked on the weaklings, but it is essentially an intense miasma of hate and negativity. Now what did we learn grimm were attracted to? Now it was Naruto's turn to hit himself in the face.

Right… attracted to negativity. Concentrated hate definitely qualifies as negativity. So the lesser grimm were scared of it but the greater grimm are looking at your chakra as a tasty meal. Naruto sighed. He had spent the better part of a year gathering information about this place and as he watched Weiss get dangerously close to hitting the grassy plane they were on he berated himself for his carelessness.

He lazily held out his arm and Weiss went from a dead fall to shooting at him like a rocket. Similar to how he did with Pyrrha he stopped his Tendō right as she reached him. He cushioned her crash with his body, leaning back and using his chakra to cement his feet to the ground as he attempted to soften the impact as much as possible. After that was finished he set her down and grinned at her.

"Weiss of you to drop by," He teased. There were a few seconds of silence before the collective party groaned save Yang. She looked at him with the shock someone might look at a great tragedy. It looked like her life was passing before her eyes. Breaking herself from the hell that was her mind she absolutely bellowed at Naruto.

"THERE IS NO WAY YOU MADE THE FIRST PUN!" Yang was absolutely furious. There was no justice in a world where she did not get to make the first pun it seemed. Blake rolled her eyes at her partner's attitude.

"Well now that we've gathered everyone here I suppose it is time to die together?" Blake joked sardonically. Yang's eyebrow twitched as it looked like she was about to erupt. That was the joke she was going to make!

"Oi you lot, get it together!" Naruto shouted to all of them. Gone was the face of the cheerful goof most all of them had known. Taking its place was a commander ready to lead his troops. "Pyrha, Castle Queen, Broody Boy you're with me." He commanded the group. The orange haired girl stood ramrod straight and saluted. She then marched behind Naruto waiting for him to lead. The 'broody boy' regarded him with an arched eyebrow but fell in line as well.

"Ruby, Yang, Blake, and Dobe I want you to take care of the giant scorpion. Follow whatever chain of command you feel fits best, but be safe and work together. Dobe, I can already tell you have issues with following people's orders but you need to swallow your pride and do your damn job." Whereas one might expect Weiss to look at him with her all-to-familiar anger at that moment she merely looked cowed. "Once we finish the nevermore we'll help you with the deathstalker if you can't handle it." Naruto brusquely turned after saying everything he needed to and started jogging away from the deathstalker to give the other team space. Remembering something he looked to the fox on his shoulder. It appeared to grumble and then nodded as it jumped off its perch made its way over to the group of girls.

"Are you sending Kurama with us? Can you do that?" Blake asked Naruto curiously as the fox continued to slowly plod its way over to them.

"You know it! As long as Kurama is out and about he can share his power with me over a pretty long distance." Naruto spied her expression and immediately started downplaying. "I mean it has its limits of course! It should be fine here though."

"Hey Foxy!" Yang interrupted closing the discussion,"Don't you worry about that big bird. When we finish first we'll make sure to bail you out." Yang challenged him. Naruto laughed at the known impossibility of that statement.

"You beat that oversized scorpion first and I'll make you dinner some time Yang." Naruto laughed out again. Yang's eyes widened and then narrowed in glee.

"You're on!" She exclaimed, punching her fist into her palm.


"Broody Boy, take this." Naruto reached into his satchel and pulled out a spool of ninja wire. The boy eyed it with clear recognition and deposited it in his jacket pocket.

"Ren. And you?" He corrected and then asked. Clearly he was not one to waste time on unnecessary words.

"Naruto. Pyrrha, you're with Ren. I'm going to drag that thing down to that arch over there," Naruto gestured to a decrepit stone arch that looked like it had seen better days. Ren arched his eyebrow at Naruto. Understanding the implied question Naruto responded. "Don't worry about how I'm going to get it down, I won't have a problem. The problem I do have is that I can't keep it stuck down here forever." Naruto lied. In reality he thought flexing this much power would be enough to satisfy Ozpin's curiosity. A student who could pull a nevermore out of flight for even mere moments would be a powerful. On the other hand a student who could permanently ground a nevermore with such little effort that he could simultaneously play a game of shōgi would probably get him locked in a testing facility- or at least, they would futilely attempt to put him there.

"Got it," Ren responded briefly. Naruto then turned to face the orange haired girl. She stood perfectly at the ready; regarding him as if he was her commander.

"Once those two have it secured they won't be able to do much else other than keep it there. I'm going to need you to finish it off. Can you handle that Castle Queen?" Naruto asked her. The girl let her lips curl into a bestial grin and pulled out some sort of very large gun from her back. She then proceeded to press a button that turned it into a giant metal hammer. Naruto shot her a grin.

"Her name is Nor-" Ren tried to inform their apparent leader before a pink gloved hand shot out to cover his mouth. Naruto eyed them in confusion but eventually spun to face their flying foe.

"All right Team Nevermore! Let's give em hell!"

"HOOO-AHH!" Castle Queen shouted. She felt imbued with energy from their commander's battle speech. Naruto then held out his right hand towards the nevermore. Ren's acute sense of aura made him gasp as he saw the intense amount of energy that began to surface through Naruto's body.

"Banshō Ten'in." Naruto intoned loudly. Recognizing the language that he spoke as he got into position Ren couldn't help but scoff slightly. Heavenly Attraction of All Creation? What a pretentious name. He thought to himself. Yet despite his contempt he was amazed at the apparent power of the technique when the nevermore dropped from the sky like a stone. A second of plummeting later its head smashed through the stone arch Naruto had positioned them at. Bricks and dust exploded down as Ren shielded his eyes. "Any time now guys! Can't do this forever!" Naruto panted loudly a fair distance away from him. Ren nodded to Pyrrha, and she grabbed the spool while Ren wrapped the wire around his hand a few times to secure a grip.

The spartan leapt onto the back of the nevermore and ran across its midsection. She nimbly jumped to the other side of the nevermore and pulled the wire as hard as she could. The nevermore let out a screech as the ninja wire dug into its flesh. A moment later Ren could tell Naruto had released his semblance as the nevermore bucked backwards almost yanking him off the ground. "Nora, now!" Ren yelled as the ninja wire dug into his own hand.

"Nevermore pancake coming up!" Nora yelled as she jumped high into the air. With a devilish grin she then started to fall. Upon reaching the nevermore in a blur of pink and orange she slammed her hammer into its head trapped in between the two stone pillars that remained of the arch that once was. With such destructive force applied to it, and such little the nevermore could do about it, its head was flattened completely. It twitched violently once and then its entire body went slack as it started to fade away.

"Way to take it to 'em Team Nevermore!" Naruto praised the group with a grin. He was still breathing heavily but it looked like he must have recovered from using his semblance. Nora changed her hammer back into its gun form and then rushed over to Naruto positively glowing.

"Oh my gosh that was so much fun! That plan was amazing Commander!" Nora praised what in her mind was now her fearless leader. "Your semblance was soooo cool! You just held your hand out and shouted some gibberish and then the nevermore just vrooooooooooom SPLAT onto the ground!" Naruto balked at the girl's energy level, as she visibly vibrated in front of him.

"He said Banshō Ten'in. It means Heavenly Attraction of All Creation." Ren politely informed his friend while putting a hand on her shoulder to stifle her vibrations. Nora's excitement could not be contained as she merely caused the offending limb to vibrate along with her. Pyrrha looked surprised at the rather grandiose name of the skill. She had figured Naruto wasn't exactly one for such things.

"What does the name of the other technique you used earlier in the forest mean?" Pyrrha asked Naruto. Naruto bashfully looked away seeming embarrassed.

"What did he say?" Ren asked Pyrrha curiously.

"I think he said something like 'Shina Tenseh'," Pyrrha supplied with an unsure tone. Ren snickered once which caused Naruto to glower at him.

"I'm guessing he probably said 'Shinra Tensei'. I'm guessing that was a some kind of repulsion ability?" Ren ventured. Pyrrha nodded her head excitedly.

"How did you know?" She asked. Naruto groaned in embarrassment behind her.

"It's in the name." Ren admitted. "It means Heavenly Subjugation of the Omnipotent God." Pyrrha giggled and looked to a Naruto who clearly would rather have been anywhere else at this moment.

"Look, I didn't name it okay!" Naruto complained as his face fell into a childish pout. The remaining three all laughed at him. Ren gave a short three syllable chuckle, Pyrrha continued to giggle, and Nora let out an earthshaking belly laugh. Naruto grumbled something about 'kids these days' and then closed his eyes. A few seconds later he addressed the three of them. "Looks like the others are having a little bit a problem with the deathstalker. Kurama says they definitely have enough power to take it down but aren't cooperating at all." Seeing the expression Ren once again regarded him with Naruto proceeded to explain. "Kurama is the fox, his aura is connected to mine. That is what allows me to communicate with him and share his power despite the distance." Naruto explained. Ren gave a singular nod accepting the explanation.

"Well let's get a move on! We gotta go help them out!" Norah declared as she started wandering in the direction they had originally come from. Naruto put a firm hand on her shoulder stopping her from moving any further forwards.

"First off, they dragged the deathstalker over there." He pointed about 30 degrees to the right of where Norah was headed. "Secondly we're not going to interfere. This is their test to overcome. If we take this challenge from them they'll be nothing but worse off for it," Naruto declared stonily. Ren eyed him with a frown.

"Are you suggesting we just leave them to their fate?" He asked pointedly. Naruto shook his head in response.

"We're going to go there to assist if necessary, but unless it becomes life or death we're leaving this to them. Fighting their battles for them won't make them any stronger." Ren's expression softened and he nodded his head in understanding. Naruto wasn't being cruel; he just knew the dangers they would face and understood each and every one of them had to get stronger.

"Lead on fearless leader!" Norah shouted. Naruto gave them all a once over with his eyes to make sure everyone was in agreement. Once he saw the affirmation in everyone's eyes he started running towards the next fight.

"Try to keep up!" He jeered over his shoulder as his foot hit the ground and he basically leapt across the earth. Pyrrha, Ren and Nora were all competitive enough that the taunt worked and started sprinting after him.


As Naruto led his temporary team away towards the nevermore Ruby turned to face the deathstalker that was almost upon them. "I got this!" She declared and charged the deathstalker head on. Using her semblance she sped towards it faster than the eye could see, leaving a trail of rose petals in her wake. Using her momentum she swung her scythe overhead straight into the carapace of the deathstalker. Her weapon penetrated less than half an inch into the carapace before the deathstalker used its claw to bash Ruby off of it.

"Ruby!" Yang yelled. Her semblance flared with rage as she rushed in to protect her sister. Firing shot after shot from her gauntlet as she attempted to distract the scorpion from her downed sister, the deathstalker identified her as the threat and started to engage the blonde brawler. Yang was powerful, and was able to go blow for blow with the beast as she bashed aside its mighty pincers with the force of her punches. Sisterly instincts overpowering her she looked towards Ruby as she punched the deathstalker's claw away. Ruby appeared to be getting up which caused Yang no end of relief. Her momentary distraction cost her as the scorpion's tail bashed her into her sister.

"Why you immature child!" Weiss criticized Ruby as she caught up. "What did you expect to be able to do by yourself? You can't just fly off the handle like that!"

"Hey, stop talking to Ruby like that!" Yang defended her sister as her overprotectiveness peaked.

"We don't have time for this!" Blake hissed as she too arrived at where the group was, only to have to jump out of the way as the deathstalker attacked them. Yang instinctively grabbed Ruby in her arms as she jumped away.

"I'm okay Yang. It just got me by surprise." Ruby said pulling out of her sister's arms and steadying herself. Yang reluctantly let her go and would have given her a dressing down if she hadn't criticized Weiss for doing much the same.

"We need a plan to try and take this brute down!" Weiss shouted as she repeatedly backstepped each blow of the beast as it had fully focused its attention on her.

"Let's just all attack it at once!" Yang yelled as she jumped in there. Ruby followed her hot on her heels and Blake reluctantly joined. Off to the side perched in a tree Kurama sighed.

This is pathetic. This creature is so weak that any two of them could beat it with the slightest bit of effort. The least these weaklings could do is band together to be something less pathetic. Kurama grumbled. These kids were supposed to be at least seventeen! He had guessed the Ruby girl was younger than that. That notwithstanding the Gaki had fought and defeated Kaguya by the time he was 17! Seeing such pathetic humans made him physically ill.

A minute or so passed in such a fashion before he heard Naruto's thoughts wash into his head. How is it going Kurama? Naruto asked through his mind.

Gaki, I may have to stop calling you kid. After watching a fight this pathetic I'm beginning to remember how grateful I am I'm not going to need another jinchūriki. Kurama complained caustically.

Ouch. Naruto winced. If they are bad enough that you are complimenting me it must be bad. We'll bring our team over immediately to see what's going on. Kurama grunted as Naruto retreated to his own mind. When they were closer to each other it was basically impossible not to hear the other's thoughts. This distance however granted them some modicum of privacy. It had been some time since Kurama had ventured far enough away from Naruto to be inside his own head alone.

He continued to watch the girls fight with all the grace and coordination of a drunken toad. As utterly bored as he was with the fight he became alert when the white girl tripped over a mound of dirt that had been created in their scuffle. The deathstalker's tail shot forward at the speed of lightning and Kurama knew the kid wouldn't be able to dodge. Bah! He mentally exclaimed. The creature was too close to striking her for him to defend her unsuspiciously so he used the only tool he hoped that stupid old man wouldn't see.

Kurama's pure malefic chakra hit the deathstalker and caused it to freeze just long enough for the white girl to regain her bearings and roll out of the way. The cat girl turned to where Kurama was facing with a primal fear in her eyes. That one is part animal. She instinctively fears me as the apex predator when I let my fangs out. I'll have to prepare an excuse for Gaki to use if she confronts him.

Shortly after that Naruto showed up looking as fresh as he had started the day. Behind him his team was a heaving mess of sharp breaths and gasps. Kurama chuckled at the thoughts of a normal human trying to keep up with a shinobi. He was surprised to see the Gaki use Banshō Ten'in to grab the small girl and pull her towards him. The rest of the group looked to see Ruby held firmly in Naruto's grip. "Team Nevermore." Naruto's voice commanded his group. "Distract the grimm while I talk with Team Deathstalker. Engage it but use only delaying tactics. I don't want you or it hurt." The three nodded in understanding and set out to engage the scorpion. "You three, over here." Naruto commanded to the remaining three girls.

"I'm not letting them fight on their own Whiskers!" Yang snarled at Naruto as she turned to reengage the beast. Moments later she was pulled back by an incredibly powerful force as she too flew to Naruto. Once she arrived he grabbed her by the scruff of her jacket similar to Ruby. However unlike Ruby who didn't struggle in his grip; Yang fought tooth and nail to release herself. Naruto sighed and then opened his fist as she fell to her knees. Immediately she tried to get up but found an intense and persistent force trying to slam her into the ground. It took all of her strength just to kneel.

"Can you two come over here on your own?" Naruto addressed the flabbergasted Blake and Weiss. "I'm out of hands to pull people over with." As if to exemplify that point he lifted Ruby slightly off the ground. The two girls quickly came over to him.

"What are you doing!?" Weiss demanded to know of him. He was basically attacking his fellow students!

"First things first." He said and closed his hand. The pressure that had been weighing Yang down was released and she was finally able to rise to her feet. She was a bit shaky yet still managed to fix Naruto with an enraged glare.

"What the hell Naruto!" Yang exploded on him, actually using his name for once to express her seriousness. Naruto dropped Ruby as she too turned to face him.

"Honestly I'm trying to help you guys out. We're all friends here and you weren't getting anywhere with that thing," Naruto stated simply. Calling Weiss a friend was a bit of a stretch but everyone reluctantly agreed to their lack of progress on the beast. "So for now we're going to do a neat training exercise they taught me back where I came from. You-" He pointed to Ruby. "You aren't fighting that thing." To describe Ruby as crestfallen would be a vast understatement.

"We couldn't even beat it all together! How will they be able to do it without me?" Ruby complained. Part of her seemed to be upset that she wouldn't get to show her fighting prowess, but the other part was scared for the other three.

"Simple, you're going to be commanding them in battle." Naruto explained like it was the most logical thing. He then turned to face the other three. "And you three will not do so much as breathe on it unless she tells you what to do. You can do nothing but avoid it unless she explicitly tells you otherwise." Sensing an argument coming from all three of them he proceeded to threaten them. "Kami help me if you do anything but I will blast that thing into the sky and you'll lose your chance to impress anyone. All the professors will see is how you four ran around like chickens with their heads cut off and then got saved by a superior team."

The four girls stared at him with varying looks. Blake didn't seem to like being ordered around but she ultimately understood the logic of his words. Ruby seemed nervous, but that was most likely because she had no experience leading others into battle. Yang looked like she might just try to punch him in the face and be done with it there. Weiss looked at him with an expression borderlining hate for basically holding her test grade above her head. Naruto worried something might break until he heard Ruby take a deep breath and start to speak.

"We can do this guys. Naruto is right. We weren't getting anywhere because we weren't fighting like a team. One group of three is going to be way stronger than four groups of one. We can do this," Ruby reiterated firmly. The three girls looked at her and nodded their heads. Weiss then walked up face to face with Ruby and stared her down.

"You are so childish, and dimwitted, and hyperactive. Don't even get me started on your reckless fighting style." She insulted the young girl. Naruto gave her a look that told her to get on with it. He knew this was going to lead to her attempt at reconciliation. "But I know that I can be a bit… difficult. For the time being I'll follow your lead so we can beat this monster." She concluded. Ruby's face started to light up in happiness. "But only this once!" Weiss declared firmly. Naruto sighed, but supposed that would have to do.

"We got your back Ruby! You can do this!" Yang encouraged her younger sister. Naruto smiled at her and Yang gave an embarrassed one back.

"You guys have one minute to plan before I call my team off. Show me what you can do."


"Team Nevermore! Back off and leave this to the girls!" Naruto shouted over the din of fighting. They all immediately backed off and headed to where Naruto and the other four girls stood. "Alright ladies, show me your stuff!" Naruto cheered them on. Yang, Weiss and Blake all shot off like lightning. Blake going left, Weiss going right and Yang taking the deathstalker head on. Yang immediately resumed the same style of fist-meet-claw brawling that she had previously with the deathstalker. The difference this time was that Weiss and Blake both circled around the deathstalker.

Blake jumped from her position onto the deathstalker's back. The creature immediately tried to impale her with its powerful stinger but blake narrowly dodged letting it pass over her shoulder. "Weiss! Boost Glyph!" Ruby shouted. Blake jumped into the air as Weiss created a glyph that sent the black haired beauty straight into the segmented section below its stinger. Using the ribbon attached to Gambol Shroud along with the inertia from Weiss' glyph she pulled the stinger itself down to the ground.

"Freeze it!" Ruby shouted from her position next to Naruto. Weiss twisted the dust cylinder in her rapier to its ice dust chamber. Pointing it at the immobilized stinger she thoroughly froze it to anchor it to the ground. "Keep it still Yang!" Was Ruby's next command. Yang intercepted each of the incoming claws with her hands and grabbed onto them. Using all of her strength she managed to keep the deathstalker still.

"I can't do this for long!" Yang screamed with the intense exertion of her task apparent across her face.

"Elevator launch! Just like we planned it!" Ruby shouted to her teammates knowing they were in the home stretch. Weiss created a stair of glyphs for Blake to run up. After getting thirty or so feet in the air Blake jumped onto the last glyph that was directly above that had her head facing directly towards the ground. Weiss put all her strength into her semblance to thrust Blake down to the ground as fast possible. Shooting through the air like a bullet Blake readied her katana and slashed down on the deathstalker's tail cutting through it completely. "Yang back off!" Ruby commanded and Yang happily disengaged to give herself some time to catch her breath. "Weiss, Blake I need you to work together to freeze it to the ground!" Ruby gave her next order.

"I can't! I'm out of dust" Weiss yelled back as the deathstalker took a swing at her. Ruby started to panic.

"I don't know how else they can beat it. I thought she'd have enough dust for the whole plan." Ruby started to vocalize out loud. She was worried, she was scared for her friends, she wasn't sure what to do until an idea struck her. "Naruto, I'm going out there." She told him firmly. She started to prepare herself to counter any argument he had. When she looked into his eyes she saw only warmth.

"You've learned the lesson I wanted to teach you anyways. Go give em' hell Little Reaper." Naruto gave her back a light push. With all the encouragement she needed she took off after the rest of Team Deathstalker.

"Guys, I've got a plan!" Ruby said as she arrived on the scene. There was a momentary flash of confusion on their faces until they all quickly accepted the help they could get.

"Lay it on us sis," Yang said as she continued to recuperate from her intense grapple with the deathstalker as Blake and Weiss kept it busy.

"Yang, can you keep its claws out of commission and keep it still again?" Ruby asked. Yang gave an exhausted laugh.

"I can take care of one no problem, but doing both again might be a little much." Yang admitted. Ruby started trying to adapt her plan to fit the new information.

"I can take one!" Blake hollered over the sound of her katana parrying one of the deathstalker's pincers. Well, that made things easier on Ruby.

"Alright, you two keep it still. Weiss can you speed me into it?" Ruby asked. Weiss flicked her offset ponytail.

"Can I sing a crowd to a standing ovation?" She asked rhetorically. Ruby just looked at her slightly confused.

"Ummmm… welll.. Mayb-"

"Yes, yes I can!" Weiss growled. Ruby looked at her exasperatedly.

"Why didn't you just say that!?" She asked Weiss incredulously.

"Hurry it up over there!" Yang yelled as she used both her hands to hold the deathstalker in place. Blake was standing back to back with her sticking her katana in one of its joints to try and prevent as much movement as possible. Each was doing their utmost to prevent the deathstalker's mandibles from biting down on them.

"All right! Here I go!" Ruby exclaimed as she used her semblance to zip a good fifty feet away from the deathstalker. Weiss laid down a straight line of speed glyphs straight to the deathstalker itself. "AAAAAAAAHHHHH!" Ruby shouted as she used a combination of Weiss' glyphs and her semblance to rocket towards deathstalker at breakneck speeds. Right as she was upon it she jumped a small hop just barely over the deathstalker's back. Swinging her scythe in a downwards arc she did exactly what she hoped to do and bisected the beast completely.

The light in the deathstalker's eyes quickly went out as Blake and Yang finally relaxed. The grimm slowly started to fade away as they looked to each other in happy camaraderie. Weiss herself had even found a new respect for classmates. Even worse she had found a new respect for that insolent boy that helped them get here.

"Not to break up this happy moment, but did anyone other than Nora remember to pick up a relic?" Naruto asked. "Because I counted more student pairs on the launchpad than relics. It would really suck to have done all this just to fail because we didn't get one." The faces of everyone but Ren and Nora blanched. Suddenly their victory was forgotten as they all made a frantic mad dash back to the ruins.

Naruto grinned as he saw the other 7 trailing closely behind him and felt a sense of contentment. He might not belong here, but maybe if he could help out those that did it would make things worth it in the end.


"That was surprisingly mature of Mr. Uzumaki." Glynda Goodwitch said as she rewatched him forcing four other students out of combat to listen to his advice. She was honestly impressed. She was even more impressed when she saw the students fight better three strong than they had as four.

"Mr. Uzumaki was not wrong in his teaching Ms. Rose that one group of three was more powerful than four groups of one." Ozpin admitted easily. He sipped his ever-present cup of coffee. "What surprises me is that one that young knows that lesson. Especially since he has not studied under any known huntsman, he has not attended any previous combat school, and in all matters otherwise is a complete and utter enigma."

"Why did you let him into the school with such a lack of vetting? Surely you could have looked into his past more even if you believed he genuinely deserved to attend," Glynda asked scholarly. Ozpin shrugged knowingly.

"It could have been the fact that I believed him to be more than he appears. Possibly it was that I thought he could do good for the students at this school as well as the entirety of Vale." Ozpin mused as he took another sip of coffee. "Of course…" He began. "Scoring over nine thousand on the aura measurement test may have had something to do with it." He smiled as if sharing a private joke.

"That didn't happen Ozpin, that is impossible," Glynda reaffirmed exhausted. Ozpin had claimed it several times already, but the scale that took the measurement in question was burned to a melted crisp. The data that was once on it could no longer be read. Glyna was convinced Ozpin knew that and had made up this story just to annoy her.

"Regardless I must say I am rather impressed with Mr. Uzumaki. It seems like you said, he really was more than he appeared," Glynda humbly admitted her fault. Thinking that was that she looked to Ozpin looking at her. His visage when she met his eyes could have defined smug.

"Remind me Glynda; I believe I recall you saying that Mr. Uzumaki acted like a child. I also remember after you said that I disagreed with you. Even after that I also distinctly remember betting you 50 lie-" Ozpin was caught off by a riding crop smacking him in the back of the head. Glynda stormed off to fix her temper before any of the students arrived back. Ozpin chuckled to himself. He was in pain, but he was 50 lien richer.


Omake 1

Nora had just grabbed her rook after riding in on the ursa. She was singing about being kind of the castle when Naruto looked down to his stomach. After a few moments of intense concentration in which Pyrrha regarded him with a quizzical look, Naruto broke out with an exasperated, "Kami, fine. Do what you want Shu." He put his right hand over his stomach and twisted. Instantly after the same small sand creature she had seen previously appeared on his right shoulder.

The sand creature then bounced down to the ground and rolled over to the pedestals with the relics. Finding the other gold rook the creature reached out his arms to grab it but was pitifully short. Suddenly dirt turned to sand and congregated around the rook. The sand slowly lowered the rook down to him and he then delightfully waddled over to where Nora stood by her pedestal.

Nora looked down at the strange sand creature who was holding out his rook pointing to the ground a little ways off. "Do you want me to follow you over there little guy?" Nora asked the small tanuki. It nodded its head as much as its tiny fat neck would allow and waddled over. At this point everyone had forgot the deathstalker and the nevermore as they watched this strange procession of events.

Once they were clear of the rest of the group the tanuki quickly grew in size until he was about as tall as Nora and put the rook on his head. He pointed to Nora's rook and then to her head with his. Taking the hint Nora followed the raccoon dog's instruction and carefully balanced the rook on her head. Then the tanuki seemed to close its eyes and concentrate. Suddenly out of nowhere Ren and Naruto were both yelling.

"Nora! Watch out!"

"Shukaku don't you fuc-" Suddenly the earth erupted into sandy dunes. A literal sea of sand had appeared where previously there was none and it started swirling like a vortex around her. The sand began to twist and turn wildly as it began to assemble itself into increasingly complex shapes and forms. Suddenly something came up from the ground forcing Nora to fall backwards as her knees buckled. Instead of falling to her knees she found herself seated against a large throne.

For another 30 seconds the sand continued to form into something until the sandy storm that had obfuscated Nora's view abated. When she looked around she was in an opulent throne room. She looked around and saw what looked like chiseled pillars of sand erecting a mighty ceiling with murals of epic castles made entirely out of more sand. She looked to her feet to find that the creature had somehow managed to make what appeared to be a long rug of sand leading to the feet of their two thrones. She looked at the tanuki and saw that he wore a detailed crown of sand with a familiar rook placed ornamentally on top. She proceeded to feel the top of her own head and realized a similar crown was upon her head.

She looked to see everyone standing at the entrance to the throne room with varying looks of disbelief. The exception being Naruto who looked like he wanted to throw himself off of the nearest bridge.

"I AM SHUKAKU!" The Tanuki declared in a shrill sonorous voice. "BRING OFFERINGS OF BLOOD TO THE LORD OF SANDCASTLES!"

"And bring me offerings of pancakes and syrup!" Nora commanded with glee. "For I'm Queen of the Castle!"


"Well." Ozpin said dryly, "It appears our estimation that the creature could do more than make discs of sand was indeed correct." He took a sip of coffee. For some reason he couldn't quite explain he felt like he needed something a bit stronger.