Greetings and salutations! Welcome to the totally-a-comedy fanfic, Fox and the Cub! The story where we get to take a break from the more serious topics of OFNT and focus on lighter and more easy to digest fun.

*coughs*

This is a tonally heavy chapter. Don't worry about it being too consistent a theme. OFNT is about dealing with pain. F&C is about growth. I know I've said this before. Some of you are probably sick of hearing it. It helps to remind others who either didn't read previous ANs, pat posts, or don't remember.

I'm glad I decided to make fighting the deathstalker its own separate chapter... it was thirty odd pages long by itself. Definitely not something I could have squeezed into the last chapter. The length of it combined with how long I take writing action with some work stuff sprinkled in accounted for the delay this time around. My apologies. For now, I'm going to bed as it is 8:30 AM where I'm at and I've yet to sleep. I did not want to delay this chapter past "Sunday night", or rather Sunday before I went to bed.

Extra AN at the end for mild character analysis. Can't do too much because I'm almost delirious.


Chapter 7

Trying

He did have a plan.

That was the reality Jaune had to remind himself of every second as the giant scorpion chased the four of them down.

Which is part of my plan. He reassured himself in a vain effort to calm his frayed nerves. There was something about being chased through a forest by a giant armored murder-scorpion that was mildly disconcerting.

Mildly.

The four of them were out of the forest now, running on a clear field of grass with no way to drop vision from the deathstalker. He'd considered taking cover and trying to wait it out. Heavily considered it. The fact that it would make him look like a coward wasn't even on his list of concerns with that plan. Jaune was much more concerned that any tree, borough, or whatever they could find to hide would be immediately blown over, open, collapsed, or otherwise destroyed. Hiding in a hole was a plan he was all on board with. Doing it without an escape route? Not for a million lien.

"The nevermore!" The black-haired girl shouted a warning as she pointed to the sky.

Jaune didn't know if there were two words in the world he wanted to hear less than the ones she'd said. His hopes that she was having a hallucinatory experience were quickly dashed by the cawing of the giant bird.

His luck the last few days had felt like it was controlled by a volume slider in the hands of some fledgling god torn between being vindictive and benevolent. True to form, it slid back when Yang catapulted out of the canopy towards the nevermore. She didn't reach it, but the blasts fired from the weapon on her wrist made sure its attention stayed fixed on her.

"It appears the other group has a handle on the nevermore," His recently made partner announced calmly.

The nevermore flew around overhead as bullets pelted it like gunfire in the movies. Jaune wanted to punch himself in the face when he realized that was because it was gunfire. These were guns, weapons used to kill things. He wasn't in Ansel anymore. If he screwed up here…

"Watch out!" Weiss shouted.

It wasn't the most effective warning she could have given. The 'what' he should be watching out for was easy enough; that would be the giant scorpion deathstalker thing that was trying to… eat them? He honestly didn't know. How did scorpions eat food? Did grimm scorpions do the same thing?

It was how he should be watching out that would have been more useful to know. The answer to that curiosity was quickly presented. He should have ducked.

He didn't.

The stinger shot forward as fast as any of the bullets he'd seen seconds prior, striking barely left of his face. He didn't dodge. The creature missed, though not entirely. The giant stinger was larger than his entire body twice over. Despite the desperate flare of his aura, a large gash appeared on his cheek.

The blow only grazed him, yet the force of it was still enough to spin him on his feet like a top. His attempt to keep running away from the grimm exacerbated the situation. Pyrrha caught him as he was falling to the ground in a heap of tangled limbs and dragged him forward until he was righted.

"T-thanks!" Jaune gasped out as he accepted her pull on his arm to continue running. Jaune almost repeated his gratitude. He knew his flustered words weren't spoken loud enough to hear over the din of the deathstalker's many legs. The creature had come to a stop. It was only a momentary reprieve as its legs began slowly clicking back into the tempo of their previous rampage.

He was already sprinting away.

"We're almost there." The black-haired girl spoke as they approached the ruins of what had once been a bridge.

I really should have asked her name. Jaune thought. That he was thinking of things that unimportant showed that his mind was out of sorts. Whether that was because of the impact or the grounded triple lutz he didn't know. Hopefully, the plan he'd come up with had been thought of would still make sense to his lucid self.

The act of launching its stinger forward had made the deathstalker cease all momentum. As a result, they arrived about ten seconds before the deathstalker joined them.

The terrain was as he'd seen it all that distance out. He was lucky the forest had broken around here and there was a sort of clearing by the edge of the ravine. There were a few scattered trees, though nowhere near enough to obstruct vision substantially. The bridge that they'd arrived at the mouth of was made to cross the canyon of which he could see no bottom. Stone pillars that may have once been arrayed in opulent sequence now stood scattered without any sense of uniformity. One of them stood more solidly than its brethren.

Exactly as he'd hoped.

"Fight around the pillar!" Weiss ordered. "Whoever it's not focused on will flank it from around the pillar."

Jaune heard his own plan from Weiss' lips. It sounded better a thousandfold when she said it than when he 'd stammered through it minutes ago. That was plan number one. Using the pillar to prevent its movement so they could more easily strike at the grimm. It wasn't much of a plan, that he could admit.

It sounded better than fighting the beast out in the open though.

They all readied their weapons. Jaune's scabbard transformed through the many shifting parts into the shield he'd seen his father use sparingly when he was a child. It was his to use now. It was his because he'd stolen it. He'd do his best to be worthy of it.

Pyrrha was the first to strike. Her javelin turned into a gun and she fired three shots at the deathstalker as is barreled to them. The bullets did nothing to damage the creature as far as he could tell, however it did fix the grimm's attention firmly on her.

The pillar was large, probably ten feet in diameter. While Pyrrha held the line to engage the creature the rest of them backed off behind the pillar. He followed behind Weiss as they snaked around to attack the creature from its flank.

Jaune didn't see the deathstalker's claw meet Pyrrha's shield. He heard it. Loud as the tolling of an old brass bell was the impact of their clash. As Jaune tailed Weiss around the final leg of their loop around the pillar he saw his partner struggling to hold the creature at bay head on. The shield that he'd heard take a blow from the giant claw was now wedging one open to prevent it from crushing her arm.

As soon as he could observe that Weiss was already striking. A magical circle appeared in the air with geometric diagrams in response to a thrust of her rapier. It glowed white with what Jaune could only describe as magical power. From it shot forth a blast of ice. The tail of the deathstalker became encased in a ball of ice, preventing it from stinging any of them.

Despite being behind him, the black-haired girl still beat him to the punch. She did a ten-foot vertical leap and pelleted the deathstalker with bullets. A spray of fully automatic fire peppered its shell with brutal intensity.

Jaune let out a battle cry, inspired by their efforts. He swung his sword down to rend the creature in two.

Crocea Mors harmlessly clanged off the chitinous armor, accomplishing nothing.

It wasn't like anyone else's attacks did anything either. The hammering bullets might as well have been styrofoam breaking against a castle wall. And while there may have been some small solace in the fact that the grimm could not impale him on its stinger anymore, Jaune soon found out it was just as content to bludgeon him to death with its newfound ice-cudgel.

When the deathstalker struck its tail to the ground it did not matter that both Weiss and he had retreated behind cover. The impact creates a blast that sent both of them flying. As he was flung backwards he saw that the black-haired girl managed to avoid the worst of it by remaining airborne. The hang time of her jump had Jaune considering that she could have made more playing or basketball. Was aura allowed in sports?

Thoughts like that were swiftly interrupted by his body smashing against the ground, knocking all the breath out of his body. If that wasn't enough, Jaune found himself coughing as some of the dust that had been smashed up found its way into his lungs. The combination of the two was not conducive to breathing, and the blonde could swear if he coughed any harder a lung would come out.

"Crap…" He croaked. Whenever they flanked the enemy in the movies it always worked perfectly. Life did not seem content to give him such an easy out.

No, not at all. If this was a movie, then life would prove itself to be one bitch of a director.


He could be doing worse. Kurama remarked as he observed the screen upon which Jaune was fighting with three others against the sasori. It would take some real effort, but I think he could take a direct hit if he wanted to.

Naruto chuckled at Kurama's dry humor. Neither of them had expected Jaune to avail himself. Kurama had actually lost the first bet that Jaune wouldn't even make it to the pieces. His partner had growled about bad luck being the defining factor. The girl who had chosen him was far above his skill level and was 'the only reason he made it to the initiation relics without tripping and breaking his face'. Naruto chose to politely disagree with his longest standing partner.

Luck was a factor, certainly. To say that was all it was? Naruto found that narrative lacking. Jaune was barely north of totally hopeless. He wasn't functional as a huntsman by a long shot. When they'd met he'd been naught more than a child whining that the world had not made him what he wanted to be. And still, Naruto believed he could be so much more.

What he lacked in charisma he made up for in earnestness. What he lacked in ability he compensated with dreams of what he could be. What he lacked in intelligence he'd have to make for in determination. Jaune was an idiot, so he'd need double the hard work than any of the geniuses around him to get half as far. It was an unfair reality of life that anyone in any line of specialized work had to face eventually. Naruto wasn't sure if the kid could handle it.

Naruto wanted him to. Centuries had not made his heart bleed any less for an underdog trying to compete with the prodigies. Seemed like a bit of a false narrative considering he had Kurama's bullshit power shoved into him at birth, was born from the greatest of ninja stock, and was part of the legacy of what was basically the progenitor of all chakra. Despite how humble his origins had seemed at the time he really had the deck stacked for him to be main character material.

He still considered himself an underdog regardless. Jaune appealed to that part of him.

"I must say that I expected a bit more from the student you recommended," Ozpin remarked timelessly. Naruto could hear the faintest trill of amusement on the immortal's voice.

Amusement he too shared as he rolled his eyes. "I recommend he be a huntsman. I never said he'd be any good at it."

The headmaster joined Naruto with a few short rasps Of polite laughter. What was genuine good humor on Naruto's part seemed more feigned by Ozpin. Perhaps old age and an endless war had made the man bitter. Naruto was no spring chicken, yet he did believe the headmaster even older than he.

A little over three centuries old was Naruto's exact age. It was interesting how easy it was to spot another immortal when you were brought into contact with them. Ozpin was actually quite similar to Orochimaru. Not a flattering comparison for the old man, yet nonetheless accurate.

He was a body hopper. His essence invaded the body of a new host upon his death. It was similar to how Indra and Asura's chakra sought new hosts when theirs' died, except Ozpin was sentient. Naruto couldn't tell if Ozpin had consumed the mind of the current host, or if they'd melded into one being. Either way, he couldn't see a split in the headmaster's personality.

The nature of Ozpin's immortality aside, the knowledge of its existence had served as a potent tool to get himself in the door for an interview. From there it was a simple matter of convincing the headmaster that he was not an agent of Salem. A simple demonstration that he could blow up the entire school ten times over if he deigned to had been sufficient to the task. Nothing quite like someone knowing you could crush them beneath your heel at any moment you desired to make it clear that you did not possess such desires.

It had also given him sufficient bargaining power to ask for what he wanted.

His mandates had been twofold; he would not involve himself in the war in any way aside from training huntsmen and huntresses. Second being Jaune's admission to the school. Ultimately, the latter proved pointless. Jaune had transcripts stating his great experience at a combat school over the course of four years.

That had made Naruto laugh. Jaune? Skilled? Trained?! Ha! He didn't need to look at those transcripts to know they were forged.

Naruto watched the image of Jaune swing at the sasori's tail. His blade clanged off like he'd hit a solid metal beam. Possibly a poor example — Naruto could have cut a skyscraper in half with a sword. Jaune's falling on his ass as the recoil from his own blow sent him staggering firmly indicated he would not be capable of such a feat at present.

Naruto was surprised the idiot could even hold a sword properly.

"We may need to consider intervening," Professor Goodwitch spoke as she watched two fights simultaneously. Ruby, Yang, and two others battled a giant bird on the other screen. Their combination of ranged attacks seemed to be wearing the grimm down steadily, if slowly. That made it obvious which fight she was referring to as if it wasn't clear already. "They do not seem to have the tools to pierce through the deathstalker's armored plates."

Naruto snorted. "They have all they need and then some."

"I think we can agree that having the tools and possessing the knowledge to wield them effectively are entirely different matters." Ozpin chuckled as the ice bludgeon on the sasori's tail shattered from its most recent impact on the ground. The mist and spray of shards it creates blinded Jaune, Weiss, and the other girl temporarily, allowing the sasori to bat him away with a claw and send them hurtling into the ground.

They did not have a soft landing, rolling through the dirt until friction eventually stymied their momentum.

It was embarrassing to watch. Jaune had the not-so-acceptable excuse of having not tried anything his entire life. These girls were supposed to be trained. Why were none of them searching for a weak point? Something that changed the rules of the fight. One of them had some sort of control over ice, possibly dust based. He could think of a hundred ways to use that to beat the stupid thing.

It wasn't really a question. Unlike Jaune, those girls were strong. For this world, at least. Strength made you tackle problems head-on. Flexible and unconventional thinking were the weapons of the weak. If Jaune had ever done anything, it might be a weapon he'd have access to.

Naruto had hoped the idea of using the large pillar to limit the deathstalker's movements would have been exactly that, only to watch as the three repeatedly overextended outside of its protective range. They'd been conservative and safe at first. Barring Weiss' debacle with the frozen mallet she gave the sasori. However, as failures to pierce its defense mounted they resorted to increasingly risky attacks that accomplished just as little as their more conservative ones.

Who knows? Maybe he'll figure something out. Naruto mused with a small smile.

You expect that brat to be the one to bail them out? Kurama snickered incredulously. From the fox's position on his shoulders, Naruto could feel Kurama's body shake with mirth. Ten points.

Naruto paused, taking a moment to think. An ongoing game they had to pass the time was to bet points of pride. The winner would gain said points and the loser would lose them. They didn't actually amount to anything, other than pride, that was. Still, losing them was undeniably a bitter experience. And lording them over the other had a sweetness that made it almost intoxicating.

In slow, somewhat hesitant deliberation, Naruto eventually nodded his head.

Kurama's eyes widened in some surprise before returning to their original lidded and slightly weary appearance. Really? He asked in one simple word.

What can I say? Something about Jaune makes me think he can get there.

I suppose that's true. Kurama sniffed. You became strong in your own right. That's all the proof I need that anyone can do it.

Naruto tilted his head to the right and glared his partner down. Kurama grinned, bearing the rows of his razored teeth in the process.

Twenty? Naruto asked.

Your funeral.


Jaune had gotten his breath knocked out of him exactly once in his life before this day. He'd been climbing on a hill when he was eleven, slipped, then fell about seven feet onto his back. He didn't remember the sensation very vividly, only that it was unpleasant.

If he had any doubts about 'unpleasant' being an accurate way to remember the air being forced out one's body, he was made to abandon them after the fourth time the deathstalker had hammered him into the ground, a tree stump, the ground again, and then the ground once more for good measure.

Unpleasant, though tamer and devoid of profanity than he felt like using at the moment, was an apt descriptor.

Jaune rose reluctantly as his lungs reinflated for the fourth time that day. He staggered, his left leg holding his body aloft as his right leg gave out. His legs hadn't taken a hit, but the repeated bludgeonings left him unsteady on his feet.

"Jaune!" Pyrrha shouted. She was engaged with the deathstalker from the front the same as she'd been since they started. The brunt of the grimm's focus had been on her for the entirety of the fight. She held firm, resolute, and unwavering. He was doing his best impression of a ball being batted away every thirty seconds.

He stumbled as he started running back to the fight. Other than the one time the three of them had been beaten back, the grimm had only connected on him. As magical as his aura was, he could feel it stretching thin as it continued to force his lungs back into action, shield him from scrapes and bruises from impact, and slowly heal the few cuts he'd gotten from his body impacting the sticks and rocks in the ground. That he lived through being beaten into the ground by a claw larger than he was spoke to the power of aura, let alone still being able to fight.

Well, sort of fight. Not that that particular problem had anything to do with aura. His current predicament of being ineffective with his sword had nothing to do with his aura running low and everything to do with having no idea how to use a goddamn sword. He didn't let that stop him. His stumbles steps became a stride which then became a run. He charged at the deathstalker, shield up and sword raises while the other three engaged it.

It felt like running into a war zone in an old military movie. Despite Pyrrha keeping one of the claws occupied and the deathstalker facing her, it swung its other claw sideways to bat Jaune away again as soon as he approached. He slid like he was going for a base, the claw sailing so close to his face that he could feel his hairs brushed by the chitin.

Jaune immediately scrambled to his feet. He stood close to Pyrrha now while the two other girls tried to attack its backside. Weiss struck with her rapier, probing at the breaks in the plating to try and find a hole through the scorpion's armor. She found none

The other girl had abandoned her attempt to shoot the creature and mimicked Weiss in her attempt to find an opening between the plates she could strike. With both attacks failed, the two were forced to retreat behind the pillar to avoid retaliation from the stinger. The deathstalker's tail smashed against the stone, unable to overpower it and not flexible enough to snake around and find its target.

It switched its focus back to Jaune and Pyrrha. His partner had changed her weapon into a spear and was probing at the scorpion's eyes. It didn't blink, flinch, or react in any way. It retaliated, opening its claw and moving to crush Pyrrha between its lightning fast snap. She ducked under it, pushing the claw up with her shield to create a gap she could pass through.

As she pushed towards its head, Weiss and the other girl had resumed their attack from behind. Bullets or swords seemed equally useless against the armor of the creature. With Pyrrha bearing down on it, the deathstalker couldn't devote itself to the defense of its backside. It thrashed, it's other claw moving to crush Pyrrha. Jaune stood in its path, wanting nothing more than to duck.

He met the claw with his shield, his posture crossed between a crouch and a kneel as he dug his feet into the ground. The impact of the blow almost knocked him off his feet and into the air. It would have, easily, if not for the fact that he'd angled his body such that the force pushed him down into the dirt. His heels braced against the ground as they dug up a trough.

He hadn't intentionally taken the blow that way. It was a combination of instinct and blind luck more than any sort of forethought. The fear and force made his legs feel like jelly. Jaune put every last ounce of strength he had into stopping the attack from reaching Pyrrha. When his body came to a grinding halt with half of each foot dug beneath the ground and Pyrrha stabbed out one of its many glowing red eyes, he knew he'd succeeded. They'd finally wounded it.

Until the claw opened, grasped him, and flung him. He was reintroduced to an old friend when his back bent into a 'U' shape around the same tree stump he'd been forcibly acquainted with prior. At that moment Jaune found newfound belief in the idea that absence made the heart grow fonder. He'd met Mr. Stump minutes prior. It was far too soon to meet him again.

"Good to see your relationship with Mrs. Ground continues Mr. Stump. I'll try to stop butting in." Jaune's grumble became a groan as he took stock of the damage he'd suffered. The deathstalker's attempt to separate the two lovers with a Jaune shaped missile had been ineffective. Mr. Stump's relationship with Mrs. Ground was too well rooted.

Aura or not, Jaune felt the damage this time. His back ached. It felt like fire lanced across his back as he crumpled over onto his hands and knees. His legs were having none of his attempts to stand. His lungs were of a similar sentiment towards his desire to breathe.

His body felt like it was breaking, he was in pain, and they were no closer to beating the grimm horror than they'd been when they started. From what he could see the deathstalker's reaction towards the loss of an eye stopped at annoyance. It fought the three girls with the same intensity as it had before. The pillar held strong and they managed to avoid taking damage, but they hadn't accomplished anything either.

Should we run? Jaune thought furtively as Weiss shot a fireball that went completely ignored by the giant scorpion. It was a valid question in his mind. They were fighting a losing battle. Struggling against it like this wasn't brave — they weren't even doing anything to the deathstalker!

You don't get that. The words echoed in his mind. Jaune didn't know if they were the path to salvation or a siren's call leading him to break across the rocks. His aura was pitifully low, his body was failing him, and his attacks did nothing. If he fought again he very well might die. There was nothing about that he didn't get.

And yet it wasn't enough to stop him from forcing himself to one knee, bracing it with his hands. He used his arms to slowly push off his knee and force his upper body straight. With the strongest of wills, he compelled his disobedient legs to erect fully the structure of his body once more. He was in pain, yes, but not to the point that it compared to the hell on earth he'd been put through on his journey to Beacon. It was not enough to make Jaune turn backwards in his path.

With all the fluidity of an old system of servos, his ligaments pulled his legs into a walk. Step after step he picked up momentum. The idea of running moved further from his mind with each passing stamp of his feet on the ground. Jaune was afraid, not brave. It was fear that gave wings to his feet, not courage.

Yet his wings carried him forward and not back for his fear of becoming the same Jaune Arc he'd always been trumped his fear of the deathstalker. He was to be a huntsman, a hero. He would find a way to succeed. Heroes always did.

Fate disagreed.

When Jaune arrived to reengage Pyrrha had just managed to negotiate around its guard by herself and strike another eye. The annoyance the creature held escalated to rage. Without regard to position or strategy, the deathstalker thrashed about furiously. Jaune jumped back, falling on his ass intentionally to avoid being knocked on it on the deathstalker's terms.

Pyrrha, who had managed to take every blow prior on her shield or… sword? Wait, wasn't her weapon a spear? It certainly wasn't now. Regardless, she'd also chosen to give the scorpion a wide berth, albeit with far more grace in her backstep than he. Fate's rejection came in the form of the hardened club of a claw smacking against the pillar that had served as cover.

The pillar was monolithic — the main reason he'd chosen it as their line of defense.

It was not enough.

With a shuddering quake, the stonework of the pillar began to crumble. The section the deathstalker had demolished cause more cracks and fissures, which led to more of the rock falling loose, which led to the pillar teetering dangerously towards Weiss and her partner.

It wasn't so fast that they didn't have time to react. Not that it would have mattered. The two of them could have possessed the reflexes of a dead cat and the result would have been the same. The deathstalker had gouged out the section closest to it. Physics ensured the two girls need not move a step. They did though, the two of them jumping at the pillar and kicking off of it to speed its descent.

The pillar crashed down upon the deathstalker. Fast as it had shown itself to be, its acceleration was no match. What had to be tons of rock fell upon its body in an avalanche. It was the decisive end to the fight — it had to be. No creature could survive tons of rock crushing its body.

That was probably true, but that was not what happened. What Jaune didn't know was that grimm grew intelligent with age. Knowing it could not avoid the pillar entirely, the deathstalker moved as close to the base as possible. The pillar still fell on it, but on what was essentially its fulcrum.

When the monolith of stone connected with the ground the earth didn't shake so much as quake. The ground fissured, cracks forming in earth as the ground threatened. The sound was deafening. That turn of phrase was something Jaune had always thought of as exaggeration with the intent to illustrate a point. No. It filled his ears, nothing but the sound of cracking earth and destruction echoing and crashing audible throughout the carnage. Trees fell, the earth gave way, and all of them knocked off their feet.

And when it was finally over, dust still obfuscating any and everything within the remote distance of the impact, a ringing sound replaced the din previously occupying all auditory sense. Someone could have clapped five feet behind him and Jaune likely wouldn't have heard it. He might not have noticed it besides that. All his focus was on the scene in front of him. He scanned for the others, hoping to find them without alerting the deathstalker to his presence. Jaune was sure it was dead, there was no reason he should fear.

But fear he did.

"Is everyone alright?!" He heard Pyrrha's voice, the noise in his ears having reduced itself to a high-pitched hum.

"F-fine!" Weiss replied, coughing in the middle.

"Same!" Jaune took his cue from Weiss and answered his partner.

There was silence — or as much of it that could be had in the wake of the devastation. As the dust settled, true quiet returned. There was no third response as Jaune had expected — hoped there would be.

Through the silence, there was a pained whimper.

Jaune — who had been laid on his ass by the tremors half a second before — was dashing towards the source of the sound. Fear, concern, and self-loathing pushing each step to come faster than the one before it. If she wasn't okay? How hurt was she?

Had this happened because he was useless?

He heard the girl before he saw her, the millions of dust particles continuing their dance through the air without signs of tiring. He altered his course a few degrees to the left to match the origin of the sound. He didn't slow his pace when he could finally see her — the dust more of a fine fog than an impenetrable curtain to his vision. He continued running as fast as his legs would carry him, coming to a sliding stop right in front of her…

And the tree pinning her to the ground.

"What happened?" Jaune was dumbfounded. His brain sought clarifications as it lacked the ability to comprehend what was happening.

Her breathing was staggered and short with each breath making her wince. Her hands feebly gripped the large oak over half her body, holding her hostage while her arms failed to muster the strength necessary to push it off. Jaune could see her aura spark and crackle as it tried to heal the damage she'd suffered. It was obvious that she was in pain. He couldn't see any blood, though he knew that didn't mean she wasn't bleeding internally.

"I jumped aw… away," She breathed sharply, her body shuddered. Jaune could see the pain in her eyes as they closed abruptly, as if they needed to fight an internal battle and could not focus on anything outside of it. He knelt down to better hear her. "Couldn't see… a t-tree… couldn't use my aura... in time."

Jaune held a finger to his lips and quietly shushed her. The information combined with his unwillingness to see her put herself through pain to inform him of anything more.

"Hold on. I'll get this thing off you." Jaune promised. She nodded.

The how if it was the question. The tree was large, more important was that it was heavy. Down the line of it, a large stone was splitting the burden of the tree with her. It explained why she wasn't crushed, and also what would happen should he attempt to lift it and fail. If he disrupted its position at all, the oak might roll off the rock and straight onto the girl.

He heard an inhuman screech blast through the air from the distance. Jaune knew he had to hurry.

"If I can lift it off you, do you think you can move?"

She nodded and Jaune returned it. He rose from his kneeling position, looking for the best place to move the log. She was close to the middle of the oak while the rock was several feet down towards the top. Towards his right, he saw that the base of the tree was wrenched from the stump by force. Bent filaments still held stump and tree together near the edge.

Maybe he could sever the tree's connection to the stump to make it easier to move? Jaune moved towards it, then hesitated. Making it easier to move may make it just as likely for it to roll off the rock and onto her. It might be the only way to save her. He didn't know!

"I… I'm going to try and lift it from there," Jaune pointed to the rock supporting the tree before hurriedly moving to it. "It should give you a little room to wiggle yourself out."

And if worst comes to worst I have the best chance of setting it back down without crushing you. He didn't say. He didn't know if she'd be able to get herself out with such little room, and forcing her to try might exacerbate her injuries, making any other attempts more prone to failure. He had to do it this way — he had no choice in his mind.

He couldn't bring himself to try anything riskier.

He heard a bell toll in the distance and recognized in the next instant that it was the sound of Pyrrha's shield. The deathstalker was not out for the count as he'd hoped. He'd wondered why Weiss and Pyrrha hadn't moved to help them. Now he had his answer.

"On three," Jaune said with a hint of impatience in his voice as he morphed his shield and then sheathed his sword. He needed to get back to the fight and help them. "One, two, three!"

Jaune lifted with his knees, arms, back, and anything else he could throw at the tree that might convince it to move. His body buckled under the weight of his thoughts.

This is stupid. This tree probably weighs hundreds of pounds. I can't lift this.

Despair gnawed at him as he failed to budge the tree any fraction. The girl saw and started to try and help. Jaune wanted to tell her to stop — to focus on preparing to move when he did lift the tree. He didn't because he doubted his ability to do it without her help.

The wood groaned as it was forced into unwilling motion. That was either very good or very, very bad.

Fate had not been kind to him that day and it did not intend to start now.

They'd succeeded in moving the tree, but only so much as to dislodge it from the rock. It began to turn over, the last bindings that held it to the stump wrenching and snapping themselves lose as it did so. He was not strong enough to lift the tree, let alone catch it in a freefall. Haunting and mocking as they ever were, the same words came back to him as they always did as time froze before his eyes.

You don't get that.

He knew! He knew he hadn't gotten it — and apparently still didn't get it! He should have lifted from a different spot. He shouldn't have lifted at all! He should have gotten help, he wasn't enough. He shouldn't be here. Because he was, this girl was going to pay the price.

That phrase sparked something in Jaune. An idea once planted and subsequently forgotten until right now.

Never quit on yourself. When you quit on yourself you aren't the only one who pays the price.

Jaune surged forward and grabbed the oak with every ounce of strength he had. He gripped it tight, paying no mind to the bark digging into his skin and tearing it apart. Maybe he could have stopped it with the aura he had left, but that wasn't where he was going to spend it.

Naruto had shown he was strong, impossibly so. The internet had said aura made people stronger too. He didn't beg his aura for his aura to make him stronger, Jaune demanded it. He wasn't going to quit on himself and he wasn't going to let it do it either.

Against the very nature of what Jaune knew to be reality, the tree stopped. It had moved a quarter of an inch closer to the girl before stilling. He saw the agony that extra quarter of an inch caused her and forced all the magic strength he could to his body at once. He recouped the extra quarter of an inch…

And then another.

And then another after that.

A quarter inch at a time he lifted the tree from the ground. Fatigue came upon him almost immediately. Now that he was forcing his aura elsewhere it was no longer able to deal with the damage he'd been dealt. He kept raising the tree as his knees buckled and sweat beaded on his brow. He would not lose to the pain in his fingers or anywhere else.

At two inches he'd done all he could. "Go…" Jaune forces the word out with breath he didn't have to spare.

She kicked and dragged herself out as quickly as possible. Her hands slapped and scraped at the earth, pulling the last bit of her body free from the oak. Jaune didn't tarry a second more than he had to before unceremoniously dropping the tree to the ground. It shook his sense of balance, but after the devastation caused by the pillar he hardly even noticed it.

The control he held of his aura was let go with the tree. It slowly seeped back into his body, returning to the task of healing his wounds. Now he felt aches and pains spreading through his body that he hadn't felt before.

It'll have to do. Jaune thought grumpy as he checked to make sure Crocea Mors was still on his back.

"Are you able to move?" Jaune asked the girl.

She tried to stand up only to grasp her midsection in pain and shake her head. "My legs are fine, it's my l-lungs," She stammered, cursing quietly as soon as she did. "My aura is still high. It should take c-care of it so I can fight... or not. Either way, I'll li… live."

Jaune nodded. The dust that had filled the air was settling slowly but surely. He could hear the sounds of Pyrrha and Weiss fighting not too far in the distance. It sounded closer than it had minutes ago.

"I've got to help them," Jaune said without facing her. His eyes were glued to the distance, dull forms coming into clarity as they looked to be drawing closer to them. "Will you be alright on your own?"

The girl nodded again. Jaune wasn't convinced, not by a longshot. There was nothing he could do for his skepticism. He had to deal with the threat he knew about before handling those he imagined.

"Shoot into the air or something if you need help," Jaune said as he began to move.

"If I need help I'll probably be shooting at something, not into the air."

Jaune wasn't sure if it was the adrenaline, the multiple near-death experiences, or the success born of not giving up that caused him to grin. Lives were at stake. It was no laughing matter. Nonetheless, the dry wit from the girl left him amused while he left her behind.

The tree was soon gone behind him. The air had cleared to the point where he could see about thirty feet in all directions. From what he could tell they'd have full visibility soon. Even if he couldn't see the fight clearly, he could hear it. It had drawn close enough to their doorstep that Jaune hadn't run for a quarter of a minute before needing to catch a flying Weiss torpedoing towards him.

For the umpteenth time that day, Jaune found himself flat on his ass. His arms had wrapped naturally around the tiny girl to insulate her from any damage the fall might cause.

Television must have rotted his brain. That was the only reason Jaune could fathom as to why his mind instantly worried about his hand placement. He almost sighed in relief when he confirmed that his hands were on a flat surface.

Weiss was not so relieved. The girl spun her head to face him, face almost maroon with an emotion he couldn't recognize, yet was undeniably still afraid of.

"Let go of me!" She demanded indignantly. Jaune immediately complied, almost pushing her off his lap to try and avoid any further wrath. She turned to face him head-on with a face that practically had 'tirade' red-stamped on her forehead.

He didn't get a chance to find out what he'd done wrong before he had to put his hands on her again. Leaping up from his seat, he tackled her to the ground. Weiss looked fit to burst as he lay atop her. That was until she saw what he had seen.

The stinger retreated a few feet above their heads having narrowly missed the both of them.

Weiss forgot about whatever had enraged her prior and shoved Jaune off her and to his feet. He immediately followed the act by pulling her up beside him. The dust in the air had settled for the most part. The two of them had almost been turned into shishkebab for their momentary distraction.

"Pyrrha?!" Jaune shouted, his weapon already unsheathed and shield deployed.

"Here!" The huntress called like she was answering roll call. Her voice sounded at least fifty times calmer than his.

The deathstalker was not content to let them converse. It's claw shot out and tried to grab Weiss. She avoided it by doing a ten-foot aerial backflip.

It looked like a freaking special effect!

With the dust finally settling down Jaune was able to make out his partner. She stood facing the front of the deathstalker same as she'd been from the beginning. She hardly looked any worse for wear, ignoring the coat of dust ruddying her somehow still beautiful hair.

"Any chance the pillar almost finished this thing?" Jaune asked hopefully. Maybe it was this active because it had gone into a berserk mode like a boss-monster when you put it into red health.

"Yes, almost," Weiss answered snarkily. "Almost as in a few feet in a different direction and it would be dead. Unfortunately, it's perfectly fine for the most part."

"Darn."

"What about Blake? Is she okay?" Weiss fired back as they avoided the swing of the deathstalker's claw.

Pyrrha immediately capitalized on the action by thrusting her spear — which Jaune wanted to note was now a spear again — at its eyes. Once wounded, twice shy was what his day would sometimes say. Having had two of its eyes gouged by Pyrrha's weapon made the scorpion wary about drawing its focus anywhere else. After its strike, it quickly reoriented itself to face her.

"What about Blake?!" Weiss reiterated impatiently.

"What the heck is a Blake?!"

"My partner!" She replied, blood rushing to her face once more.

Now realizing that Blake was the name of the girl he'd never gotten to getting the name of Jaune was able to understand Weiss' mounting worry. "She's fine."

"Clearly not!" Weiss said as she conjured a magic circle, pointed her rapier, and shot a ball of fire at the scorpion. She grimaced as it washed over its body ineffectively. "If she was fine she'd be here!"

"Alright," Jaune swung his sword at the stinger, hoping he might find its armor weakened from the collapsing pillar. His sword bouncing off as easily as it had before informed him that was a hope much in vain. He lept back before it could retaliate. "Fine was a stretch. She'll be fine, I promise," He assured Weiss when her eyes widened. "Her aura needs to patch her up before she joins up with us."

"Where is she?"

Jaune pointed to where he came from with Crocea Mors without looking over himself. He'd almost died because he'd taken his eyes off the deathstalker to look at Weiss. He was going to have to decline giving it another free shot, thank you very much!

Weiss didn't have such reservations. "She's not there!"

And immediately Jaune didn't have his anymore. His eyes darted towards the tree that had fallen. With the dust clear he easily saw the tree. He didn't see Blake.

"Maybe she retreated to the forest to avoid the fight?" Jaune suggested as he scanned the tree line hoping to confirm that thought.

"Or maybe she's being chased by grimm!"

"She's not," Jaune knew that much. There would have been gunfire if she was, she'd said as much.

"You don't know that!" Weiss retorted.

"A little help when you're able would be great," Pyrrha asked, casually jumping over the deathstalker's claw, landing on it, and then backflipping off before it could fling her.

Jaune moved to fulfill that request. Weiss stopped him, grabbing his shoulder and forcing him to look at her.

"Go and find Blake. Keep her safe while Pyrrha and I handle this."

"Handle this?" Jaune asked incredulously, his temper starting to mount. He knew Blake was safe and he'd told her as much. Why wouldn't she listen?! "If you could handle it without any help it would be handled by now."

Weiss refused to back down. "We had all four of us and we couldn't deal with it. I hardly doubt your sword would make a difference!"

Part of Jaune agreed with that. He'd already contemplated running more than once this fight. Weiss had shot two fireballs at the thing and the deathstalker didn't even notice. His sword couldn't cut through the armored plates, nor did he have Pyrrha's finesse that allowed her to attack it from the front.

But he wasn't running away. Blake was fine and the two of them needed his help.

"Have you figured out a way to get through its shell?" Jaune asked, trying to pull his shoulder alway to face the threat at hand.

Weiss didn't allow him to. She tightened her nails into his shoulder and held him firmly in place. "We will figure it out. Help. My. Partner."

"Look," Jaune growled, losing patience with his first Beacon sort-of friend. "I already told you that Blake is-"

What exactly Blake was never left his lips. His brain ceased all function as it reacted to more important stimuli. A wordless shout from Pyrrha, a small gust of air, the darkening of his vision. His conscious mind couldn't sort out what those meant in that instant.

Still, he felt compelled to raise his shield.

Jaune felt the impact on his arms first. The force quickly overpowered his own meager strength and he was sent sailing through the air. Something white flew through his field of sight.

His hope as he fell to the ground only went as far as to not find himself curled around Mr. Stump again. Finding his fall cushioned by Weiss was far and above his expectations. Her heels dug small tunnels in the ground as she slid back. Unlike what he would have done, Weiss managed to stay standing the entire time as they finally came to a halt well past the treeline. That they'd avoided any trees on the way was amazing enough luck to counterbalance some of the shit he'd been thrown today.

Previous annoyance forgotten, Jaune turned to Weiss with gratitude. "Thanks for the sa-"

"I am sorry for needing to say this," Weiss started, looking not sorry in the slightest. "But evidently you need to hear it; You are a liability. You can't hold the line, you don't deal damage, and you've taken far more if it than any of us. I do not need you, we do not need you. Keep my partner and yourself safe."

Weiss didn't wait for a response. She sprinted off to rejoin the fray as soon as she'd finished. Jaune stood slack-jawed for a moment…

Before all the negativity came rushing back.

He had been a liability. He hadn't accomplished anything. Maybe if he thought of pushing the pillar onto the deathstalker they could have controlled where it was to ensure it was crushed. If he was stronger he could have helped fight. If he was better he wouldn't be this useless.

Jaune stood there silently, fighting a losing battle against his despair.


"Harsh words from Ms. Schnee," Ozpin remarked. He wasn't amused, nor was he aggravated. It was said in the tone of a simple observation.

"She's not wrong to say them," Naruto admitted. She wasn't completely right either. Most of their best ideas had been from Jaune. She'd been more than content to blast away at it with her jutsu-magic after seeing it had no effect. Most likely she thought that she had a much better chance of escaping with the redhead once she'd secured the safety of her partner and Jaune.

Not a bad plan. Kurama mused, reading Naruto's thoughts as if they were his own.

Only because she's too headstrong to see a good plan. If she'd stop and think she could get rid of her 'not bad' plan and trade it out for a better one. Naruto fumed a little. Part of teaching kids was watching them make all the same stupid mistakes you'd made long ago. Weiss was used to winning on the strength of her semblance and magic. She wasn't thinking creatively as to how she could apply it. Naruto was willing to bet she could come up with all sorts of creative solutions to a proposed problem in a classroom setting.

This wasn't a classroom, though. This was the field of battle and Naruto could see she'd lost her cool.

Speaking of cool — the treatment he was getting from Professor Goodwitch was approaching absolute zero. "We need to help them," Professor Goodwitch stated icily.

Naruto may have found some novelty in someone being irked at him any other time. Decades heaped on decades of coy deference made anything else seem like a treat. Now was not the time for him to appreciate such things. His eyes remained glued to the screen, as did Kurama's.

"They're fine," Naruto replied without looking at her.

"They are clearly not fine." She snapped at him.

It was easy to see the point she was making. While the redhead looked to be in good condition, the rest weren't. Blake had climbed into a tree to remove herself from becoming a potential target. Not a bad idea if you ignored that the lack of communication had turned the squad of three into a squad of two. He made a mental note that she might be the type to have difficulty communicating with others. It was something he'd have to confirm, and if true address.

Such was his duty as a professor.

Most of his concern was towards Jaune. After receiving Weiss' harsh rebuke he stood like a scarecrow presiding over a field. His face was gaunt. His expression demure. Naruto would have worried that the grimm might have attacked him were it not for the two clones he'd dispatched minutes earlier to clear the battleground.

Such obvious destruction would obviously attract more grimm. As much as it might do for them to learn that lesson now, Naruto reasoned they clearly had enough on their plates already.

"With only Ms. Nikos and Ms. Schnee remaining, I do not believe they will be able to defeat the deathstalker."

Ozpin hummed into his closed fist. "Ms. Nikos might be able to defeat the deathstalker if she were to show more of her ability."

"I am aware you were intent on seeing Ms. Nikos become a student of Beacon," Professor Goodwitch sighed. "She can always test again next year if she fails this one. The fact remains that with only two of them-"

"Three," Naruto interrupted her, again without looking. "Four if the other girl manages to get back into fighting condition. All Weiss and Redhead need to do is stall for time."

Professor Goodwitch did not appreciate his contradiction. "I'm uncertain of your connection to Mr. Arc and why you defend him so. The boy is clearly out of sorts after Ms. Schnee's words to him. I can't say he was of much use to them before either."

"He does not seem noteworthy," Ozpin agreed. "Although I'd intended to accept him into the school before you asked, I must confess some curiosity as to why you were as intent as you were on his admission in our interview."

Ahhh yes. That. Naruto had to admit that asking for Jaune's admittance was becoming something of a pain in the ass. Not for him, for the kid. Ozpin's eyes had been glued to the student he'd personally asked to be admitted to the school. He'd only done that because he assumed that Jaune had gotten denied and would need a little inside help to get into Beacon. Naruto couldn't even fault himself for thinking that way.

The kid was ass.

Bad physique, bad swordplay, bad shieldplay, and the list went on. Jaune Arc was someone who people would look at and see no reason as to why he should be a huntsman. The only rationalization as to why someone so weak would want to take on the great dangers of being a huntsman was Jaune's own. He wanted to help others and make something out of himself.

"He's weak," Naruto's words echoed his own thoughts. "Not remarkable in the ways you'd usually look for. Let me tell ya — you shouldn't sell him short. You'll regret it."

"He is not doing anything," Professor Goodwitch pointed out. A needless remark considering Naruto's eyes hadn't left the screen since Weiss had left Jaune.

"For now."

"What makes you think he'll recover?" Ozpin asked. Instead of assuming that Naruto was incompetent, the headmaster assumed that he knew something about Jaune that would give him such faith.

And he did. "He's a loser."

That was not the answer the two of them had expected. Naruto caught their expressions out of the corner of his eye. They were enough to make him smirk. Kurama grinned toothily on his shoulder.

"And what about him being such gives you your certainty?"

Naruto forgot how much he missed talking to someone who knew how to ask reasonable questions.

"Jaune was a loser before I met him. He's a loser now too. The only thing that's different is that he believes he can change that here. A new city, a new school, a new way of life. Nobody knows who he is. More than that, for the first time he knows who he is. He's faced the fact that he's a loser head on."

"You think this will help him?" Professor Goodwitch asked, calmer than she'd been prior. She didn't look to be a hothead, merely a professor who was protective of her students.

"You've obviously never been a loser," Naruto chuckled.

Professor Goodwitch didn't react with a blush or any form of embarrassment. Her eyes did narrow, making her look more cross with him than she'd already been.

"When you're a loser it's all you think about, regardless of which type of loser you are."

"Type?" Ozpin asked. The man sounded more curious about his dichotomy than its pertinence to Jaune.

"Probably more types of losers than I can think of. From what I've seen they all boil down into two neat groups; those desperately trying to escape and those who aren't."

"Jaune spent his life thinking that someone would come along and teach him how to get what he wanted. Don't get me wrong, somebody probably should have rapped him over the head and set him straight, but no one did. I made sure to give him that rap and point him in the right direction."

"And you think that's enough?" Professor Goodwitch asked skeptically.

"Honestly? No clue. Best thing I could think of doing in the two days I had," Naruto shrugged. "I don't want you rushing down there to save him because for all I know this is his last shot. He's thought of himself as a failure and a disappointment for most of his life. I did what I could to get him to focus on what was possible instead of what he was. You going down there and fixing the mess he's in might ruin all that."

"He could recover even if we did," Ozpin said.

Naruto shrugged again. "Maybe. Doesn't make much of a difference — I'm not too inclined to go with Plan B while Plan A is still on the table."

"I'm not certain it is on the table. Mr. Arc has yet to move."

Naruto clicked his tongue. Professor Goodwitch wasn't wrong to doubt. Jaune could easily turn around and run away. It was just as likely that he stood there crippled by indecision until the two girls were victorious or one of his clones was forced to intervene. The smart gamble was the one that Kurama had taken — that Jaune would be useless.

Naruto didn't want to believe it, for both of their sakes. Something about Jaune had made him hitch their wagons together. Like Jaune, Naruto could probably get over the setback of a failure at this moment.

But damn it all if he didn't want a win right now.


Forest fires don't normally start by dousing a dozen trees in lighter fluid and setting them all ablaze. Sometimes it's a match or cigarette not properly put out, others a hot and dry summer finally pushing what was once a lively plant to become kindling. That small fire — that single fire — grows and consumes everything it can reach.

Despair works the same way. The brilliant light of anything you'd attained could be dragged down into the black sludge of depression. For days, weeks, maybe even years — one's life could be completely submerged in that sludge. Every accomplishment dragged deep into the muck while every failure floated clear and visible to the surface, stirring it into a whirlpool of bubbling tar.

Hope does not work in the same way as despair. Jaune hadn't put much thought into how hope or despair worked, not really. Hope and motivation were things that he thought some people had, some people didn't. Eventually, he'd grow older and get some, or some arbitrary time where they would eventually come to him together. Once they did, he'd surely be productive. He'd train, and learn, and then become the man he'd always wanted to be.

No, motivation didn't work like that. If despair was a black sludge that enveloped everything on its own, hope and motivation were small flames you had to keep above the torpid sea of sorrow for fear of them being snuffed out.

There were some differences between the three. To despair was as simple as giving in. Hoping for a better future might have been hard in the worst of times, that was easy to admit. Most of the time it wasn't that bad. All you had to do was tell yourself that things would get better given enough time. All Jaune had thought he needed to do was endure until his dad would agree to train him.

It never came. There was never a time where his dad decided he was ready to learn. He'd blamed his dad for that when he left home. It was because he never saw it fit to train his son that Jaune then had to go out into the world woefully unprepared. He would find someone else who would teach him to be a huntsman. Then he'd show his dad!

That's what Jaune had told himself.

He didn't let the flame of his hope die out. He was right not to, sort of. Not a day later and Jaune had run into someone who would change his life forever… only it wasn't how he'd expected it to be changed.

Jaune was ready for a teacher to show him how to fight. A mentor that would teach him how to be brave. What he'd been prepared for was someone who could show him how to be a hero. What he'd gotten was someone who made him do pull-ups until his biceps were ready to stage a coup d'etat.

That… that was selling what Naruto had done for him a few inches short. What Naruto had shown him was that although Jaune had kept his hope alive, it was an empty hope. Its flame seemed bright to its bearer, and yet is possessed no warmth. If Jaune was submerged in the sludge, what Naruto had done was not to pull him out of it.

No. Naruto had grabbed his other hand far beneath the surface and pulled it above. It was the hand that would hold the torch of his motivation. When both hands were above the muck, Jaune could feel real warmth from his hope. The light of hope was empty no longer. It now possessed warmth from the torch of his motivation.

"I can do these push-ups. I can do these crunches. I don't know if I can do these pull-ups, but I'll be damned if I don't try."

To try no longer meant to attempt and give up when things didn't go his way. Trying meant breaking his will against the problem he faced. Jaune didn't understand all of this, but he understood that last bit well after his time on the road with Naruto. He was still standing, still breathing, and the pain?

There was nothing the deathstalker could do to him that was worse than those pull-ups.

And just like that, the fires of hope and determination that he'd kept above the roil found their kindling. And then, like a forest fire, their flames began to spread through slow and deliberate work. Jaune hadn't magically found his will standing there in the forest. Consistent and persistent effort to try and accomplish the goals he'd set himself over the past week had given hope the smallest crack to squeeze through and find something to light.

"Weiss can do it." Jaune's realization fell off the tip of his tongue like a deadweight. It was an idea born from a time where he'd wanted to make his own weapon because his dad wouldn't give him one. He'd given up within thirty minutes after seeing the materials, setup, and supplies he would need. There was one thing he remembered.

One thing that might beat the deathstalker.

His right foot moved forward and planted itself firmly in the ground. His left foot mimicked the action of the right. One step at a time, Jaune built his momentum.

He had no semblance. His swordplay was abysmal. His shield was basically a board in his hand for all he could figure out what to do with it. He'd need to learn those things in time if he wanted to be a huntsman. For now, what he'd do is focus on what he did know so he could be accepted as a huntsman-in-training.

Jaune took shop of what he had available. He couldn't tell precisely what level his aura was at. He didn't need to — he knew it was low. He didn't know how to use his sword. He'd figure out a plan where that wasn't necessary. He was done focusing on all the things he didn't know how to do that he'd always wished he did. He'd focus on what he could do now.

Jaune cleared the treeline and saw Weiss and Pyrrha still engaged with the deathstalker. It looked like Weiss with all her bravado had not had a way to beat it.

He could admit to a small amount of smug satisfaction that he'd be the one to bring them victory.


Naruto's grin was the widest it had been in decades as he saw Jaune mouthing words to his teammates on the screen.

Kurama's scowl was the fiercest it had been in the exact same timeframe. For the exact same reason too.

Pay up. Naruto teased his partner.

No.

You really don't think he came up with a plan to beat the sasori?

No, I'm certain he did. I'm hoping it doesn't work.

Naruto fixed the fox on his shoulder with an exasperated glare. Kurama…

All I'm saying is that the sasori could kill them before it works.

Kurama!

Either the kid dies or I have to deal with you gloating for the next five years. Sacrifices have to be made. Go sasori!

Naruto would have reproached his partner for what he knew was nothing more than his usual dark humor were it not for Jaune and his team finally moving to action.

Naruto's vision settled back on the screen. Alright kid, show me what you've got.


Jaune wanted to go on the record and say that he didn't like this plan.

That it was his own plan really made it his own damn fault.

He ducked the deathstalker's claw swipe by a clear foot. He looked like a complete moron while doing it — his knees bending and his upper body leaning forward to give him extra clearance from the claw-club — but given that he wasn't dead he'd have to count his blessings that looking stupid was the worst of the first attack.

Over the top of the deathstalker's many red eyes, he could see Weiss freezing the back of its carapace from midair. That he was at the vantage to look at the deathstalker's eyes meant that he had taken over Pyrrha's position as the vanguard. It wasn't a job he wanted, oh no, it was the job he had to take for his plan to work.

As soon as Weiss magic finished, the abdomen of the deathstalker was encased in ice. That was his queue. "Thirty!" He shouted.

Weiss fell lithely to the ground and rushed at the deathstalkers tail. It was a dangerous job considering how much free control it had over the thing. Jaune had thought normal scorpions were much more limited in their range of motion. Then again, expecting grimm to follow conventions of normal animals was probably another sign that he was an idiot.

He didn't want Weiss to be put in such a dangerous job. He did need her to be there. Jaune was nowhere near as skilled as Pyrrha. He was going to need all the help he could get if he was going to fill her position.

Pyrrha shot at the grimm from her vantage point atop a pillar near them. Jaune needed her there when the time came. All she could do was provide covering fire with the sword-spear-gun that was her weapon.

As he rolled to avoid the stinger he couldn't find the mental capacity to be exhausted that her spear was now a gun.

"Twenty-three!" Weiss yelled as she stabbed at the underside of the deathstalker. The underbelly of the beast was less armored than the top, though not substantially enough to justify the risk of trying to flip the thing. What it did represent was a biological imperative of the creature that made it overly protective of its more exposed section.

Weiss threatened its backside if it tried to impale him while Pyrrha kept it from turning to attack Weiss toward the right. With that covered all Jaune had to do was poke at its eyes if it tried to turn left to keep its attention focused on him.

Jaune barely avoided being bisected by a claw.

Well, that and not dying. Jaune added as an afterthought. No big deal.

"Seven!" Pyrrha shouted from her perch. Jaune had initially wanted to avoid her joining the count at all for fear it might pull the deathstalker towards her. They needed that pillar she was posted on for his plan to work.

Jaune started his own count. Five. He thought as he ducked the left claw.

Three. He counted as the right smashed down on the ground from above. The grimm hand attacked like that yet. It was frustrated it couldn't hit him.

One.

"Weiss!" Jaune shouted. He needn't have. The short girl was already in the air, a magic circle at her back.

A plume of fire shot at the ice on its back. With that, the deathstalker screeched loud enough that the earlier ringing returned to his ears.

"Thirty! Keep it off Weiss!" Jaune shouted. It wasn't as much an order as a reminder to himself. The first thirty seconds of the plan had both his partner and Weiss covering him. Now he had to do it without the pressure on its tail.

Also, the temperature shock had made the deathstalker predictably upset. That was swell.

It went berserk, instantly spinning right to track Weiss. The only way she had to consistently apply heat to it was to keep expending fire dust to fuel her glyphs. It was not magic as he'd thought, rather a combination of semblance and dust.

Pyrrha shot at its exposed eyes the second it turned. Unwilling to lose any more, the deathstalker shied away. It prioritized saving its eyes over the pain of the flames licking at what had previously been a frosty abdomen.

"Twenty-five!" Weiss counted down.

Five seconds was all the time they could buy before the deathstalker came to the same inevitable conclusion Jaune had. If it couldn't turn towards its attackers, it would have to deal with what was in front of it.

The right claw swept in towards him faster than any before it. Jaune had to fall prone to avoid it, leaving him vulnerable on the ground.

"Twenty-two!"

The other claw shot forward, seeking to grab him and squeeze the life from him as quickly as possible. Not able to stand up in time, Jaune leaped forward from the ground into a somersault roll, placing him dangerously close to the claw he'd escaped previously. He honestly had no idea how to do one, resulting in him hitting his head rather hard on the ground to brace his landing. It was a wound he was willing to incur if it meant avoiding the claw.

"Nineteen!"

The right claw swept across the ground to try and funnel him towards the center. With Weiss no longer punishing it for the use of its stinger the deathstalker was free to pigeonhole him into what was basically a shooting range with two claw walls. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the left claw copying the actions of the right claw, creating the alley he expected.

He charged it shield first. The mandibles of the grimm were probably enough to rend flesh from bone, but they were unable to make short work of his shield. The few seconds of confusion as it struggled to reach him with claws and stinger were valuable. They might save him in the home stretch. He could feel the heat from Weiss' flame with how close he was to the grimm.

"Twelve!

The deathstalker wisened up. It ceased its attempts to devour, claw, or impale him and pushed him backwards. It was the right call on its part. Jaune stumbled, the creature far more powerful than he was. Pyrrha shouted something — a warning perhaps. Since it wasn't the time, his brain filed it as inconsequential.

He could not allow his concentration to be divided.

He'd focused on what he could do up to this point. Capability and planning had composed the first and second act of his scheme. Now it all came down to if he could endure these next twelve seconds to see if he'd make it through the third and final.

With his stumbling backstep, the deathstalker was able to bash him with a claw. Had it moved to grab him he could have tried to angle his momentum right or left, but even if he had the footing to propel himself back, the deathstalker could turn towards Weiss using the carapace on its claws as over for its eyes and abdomen. If the heat was let up for any amount of time the plan could be ruined.

He had to take this hit, so all he could do was make it a hit he could get up from.

Jaune angled the bottom of his shield upwards. When the deathstalker's claw smashed into it, some of the power was lost as it glanced slightly upward. It wasn't much, maybe not even worth mentioning to some. To Jaune, it was the difference between his tired bones breaking and merely being sent on his ass.

"Nine!"

Only three seconds?! His brain cried in rebellion. Jaune silenced the dissident thoughts immediately to focus on scrambling to his feet as the left claw moved to smack him into the ground. Not wanting to risk him escaping and dodging as he had at the beginning of their fight, the deathstalker had decided to pummel him with large sweeping strikes he couldn't avoid with his ruined stance and haphazard footing that started with its charging push.

He'd taken the first hit. Now he had to take the second one.

His stance to take the blow was sloppier than it had been the first time. The result was his head cracking painfully into the ground. His vision went white, not that it changed anything. He assumed the stance to block the right again. Jaune thought he could hear covering fire from Pyrrha's gun. She was probably trying to shoot at the underside near its stinger to discourage it from stinging.

Jaune's vision returned in time to see the third blow ringing his shield the same Pyrrha's had been done several times before. How was she still standing? Why was he so weak? He was much more curious about the first question and if it was something he could replicate in this exact moment.

"Five!"

Jaune began to wonder if grimm could count. It was much more likely the flame had finally heated the carapace as he'd expected The speed of the deathstalker's blows intensified, already swinging towards him before he could retake his position. It wanted to fell Jaune before it found itself the one being slain.

I can't. The simple thought blackened Jaune's mind as his legs refused to rise. The sludge bubbled once more as hope and motivation failed him.

I can. The fire of his determination burned bright in defiance against his despair.

He pushed himself up to something that was barely a kneel. The blow from the deathstalker sent him flat on his back. That was alright. That was his plan.

He'd learned from the earlier experiences fighting it. By angling his shield up he channeled the force of the blow downward. It hurt, oh gods it hurt. Pain wasn't enough to make Jaune give up. He wasn't a stranger to pain anymore. As long as he took the hit in a way that he could get up, he'd muscle through any hurt this oversized scorpion could throw at him.

"Three!"

He couldn't even get himself to kneel before the next blow was hurling towards him. All he could manage to do was sit up and raise his shield. The blow blew him on his back and he smacked his head hard enough that there was no way he'd take another.

I… have… to… Jaune refused failure as it knocked on his door. He'd accepted that his dreams could be accomplished later for far too long. He'd expected something would swoop in and change his life for him. Nothing would. Change started with him. What better time to make a change than on death's door?

He couldn't deal the hits. Weiss had said as much. So he'd take them. He wouldn't focus on what he couldn't do. He'd spend all his energy taking this hit, then whatever he had leftover he'd spend taking the next, and the one after that. He'd keep this stupid bug on him so that those who could hurt it could do just that.

"Pyrrha!" Weiss shouted from somewhere very far away. The only thing close to Jaune was the deathstalker. It knew he was on the ropes and was going for the kill.

That damned tail shot at him like a bolt of lightning. Jaune wasn't even sure if his shield would hold. For all he knew the deathstalker's tail would pierce right through it and that would be that. Aura was a distant memory with how far spent he was. It was either his shield or avoiding the hit.

His legs weren't big fans of the second one, which meant it was full steam ahead with Plan A.

A staircase of Weiss' glyph magic led from Pyrrha's pillar to the deathstalker. His partner bolted forward far faster than the stinger. He wondered if she could have made those straight into the air for Pyrrha to run on. If she could, it would have made this whole facing it along thing a little pointless. He'd needed Pyrrha on that pillar so she could get momentum for one decisive strike.

Time was a little slow as Jaune faced what looked like certain death. He wanted to believe in himself and his shield… only he was so damn tired. He didn't drop his guard. If this was how he went out, so be it. Nothing he could do about it now. He'd rather people remember that he died doing something he'd spent his whole life avoiding.

Trying.

Jaune had to admit to a little cowardice at the end. He closed his eyes at the stinger drew closer. Either he survived or he didn't — looking at it wasn't going to change anything.

He heard the clang of metal on carapace close to him, followed by the sound of shattering armor. He mustered a single syllable chuckle. It had worked.

Thermal shock was something to avoid when making a weapon or any other type of metalsmithing. Changing something from hot to cold or vice versa could create fault cracks in your metal that would invariably lead to its destruction. They'd beaten the deathstalker because of some stupid notion he'd had about making his own weapon as a kid.

What a world.

It took Jaune a few seconds to realize he was not in agony. He'd assumed that was because he was dead. The problem with that theory was that he didn't feel very dead.

Mustering his courage, Jaune opened his eyes.

"This makes us even," A girl's voice said before his eyes could adjust.

Blake stood half a foot in front of him, sword in hand holding the stinger in a deadlock. Further down the line, Pyrrha was atop the deathstalker with her spear lodged deep in its abdomen. Weiss remained further back, looking almost half as spent as he imagined he looked.

Which was to say she looked a wreck.

"That works," Jaune said, trying to wave an imaginary white flag in his hands. It would have required his arms to move, a task which they were utterly unwilling to lend their compliance to.

The red eyes of the deathstalker had dulled in hue. Whatever Pyrrha had stabbed had been enough to end its life quickly. Jaune… was grateful for that. Murdering psychopathic monster it had been, and still, he'd learned a lot from it.

He'd miss that evil scorpion.

No, I won't. Did I really think that? Was that a thought that ran through my brain? Jaune asked himself incredulously. Whether it was the battle-high, adrenaline rush, or pure euphoria from knowing he didn't have to move immediately that caused him to go batshit crazy he did not know.

They'd done it. They'd won.

It felt absolutely incredible.

"You are insane!" Weiss admonished him. The look in her eyes made him want to turn tail and run. Unfortunately, that involved running, and again… legs.

"It worked?" Jaune offered. They were all alive, after all. Mission fricking accomplished in his eyes.

"Only because I held my semblance for such an ungodly length of time, and then only because you barely managed to keep its attention, and only because it was too stupid to sacrifice its eyes to stop us, and-"

"I get it, I get it," Jaune managed to hold up his hands in surrender this time. His body had enough strength in reserve to get Weiss to stop complaining at him. Had she always been like this? Jaune could have sworn she was charming and elegant yesterday.

"You obviously don't get it or we wouldn't be here! That was the most reckless-"

"I think what Weiss is trying to say is 'thank you'." Pyrrha interrupted her. Weiss looked flummoxed that Pyrrha would suggest anything sharing the same stratosphere with that statement. Blake hid a tiny smile in her hand as she pretended to cough.

Satisfied that the grimm was actually dead, Blake sheathed her weapon and let the stinger fall harmlessly to the ground. The deathstalker's body had started to disappear. Jaune wasn't ready for a trek back to Beacon. He was ready for mandatory nap time, effective immediately.

"What the hell happened here?" A girl's voice he thought he recognized sounded behind him.

His body was basically jelly at this point. When he attempted to turn and look, he fell straight onto his back. He couldn't be bothered to spend what little energy he had left correcting that, not to mention the grass feeling nice beneath his skin.

So he tilted his head back in the grass and moved his eyes to compensate. Again, he probably looked like an idiot. Again, he was far past the point of giving a shit.

Yang looked at him like he was an unidentified alien. That was probably fair on her part. If he looked half as bad as he felt the grim reaper was probably floating beside him.

"We killed the giant scorpion," Jaune replied. Probably should have called it deathstalker. Tired, screw it.

"We killed the nevermore!" Ruby chirped excitedly.

Yang ran her hands down her body, showing that her clothing was still in immaculate condition. A glance at his own revealed it torn in more places than he could count, smeared with blood, dirt, and mud. Since there was no water he assumed this 'mud' was dirt that had absorbed enough blood to become such.

That should have grossed him out. He and everyone looking at him knew why it didn't.

"W-well," Weiss stammered, a bit disarmed by what Jaune observed was a few splashes of dirt smattering her own pristine white clothing. "The deathstalker was certainly a more challenging foe!"

Now that was something that Weiss and he could agree on.

Even if Yang, Ruby, and the other girl noisily didn't.


I am very pleased with how this chapter panned out. Some may not like it, but I think it's one of my better chapters across both works. I feel Jaune's plight is more relatable to the everyman than an immortal Naruto. I kept Naruto in this fic as both a mentor and because there are parts of immortality that fascinate me personally that I wanted to explore in this fic that I'm not able to do in OFNT. I'm done with immortal Naruto after this, though. I'm probably done writing this genre if I manage to make it through these two stories.

Jaune is interesting to me. The show doesn't give us much, but it leaves a lot to be likely inferrable. You don't get to be as useless as Jaune is without being self-deprecating, or raised with a silver spoon in your mouth at all times. He's not haughty enough to be a Schnee, yet he clearly lacks the self-confidence of a normal person. Going off that, I'm inclined to believe Jaune is the son that failed to live up to expectations. He had to run away from home to be a huntsman, yet we're never shown any talent (other than dancing. I see you typing in those comments that he can dance, stop that.) that would indicate he had some sort of career path pushed by his parents that he wanted to give up in order to become a huntsman. I find it more likely Jaune was just a kid with no direction.

Let Jaune be a lesson to all of you putting off your dreams for tomorrow. You're not going to get what you want out of life immediately. Sometimes you're going to fall and a deathstalker is going to bludgeon you within an inch if your life. Oh well. Get up, put your guard up, and be ready to take the next hit better than the last while you keep on moving to where you wanna be. Not being who you want to be is a necessary part of growing — it's you recognizing a problem. Stagnation and excuses are what keep you in the muck.

Best of luck, readers!