Naruto found himself in an endless black room with a gray tiled floor. He noticed that his clothes were missing and he was in his human form. When he looked around he noticed that he could only see ten feet in front of himself before the blackness of the room blocked his vision.
"Where am I?" Naruto asked himself with his question echoing in the room. "Is anyone there?!" Naruto shouted out. He received no answer. He was about to shout once more but stopped when he heard a shuffling of feet hitting the floor.
"Hello, could you tell me who you are?" Naruto yelled out to the darkness. He heard someone sniffling. "Are you okay?" He ran towards the sound of the shuffling and sniffling. The all pervading darkness of the room was still around him but he kept on running towards the sound. Eventually a white dot appeared in his vision which gave him a destination to run to. The closer he got to the dot the more it grew and the brighter the room he was in became.
"Nearly there." Naruto stated as he ran towards the ever expanding circle. Eventually the light completely surrounded him before it faded away to reveal to him the entrance gate of Beacon Academy only it wasn't like the Beacon he had seen before. This Beacon was crumbling and falling apart. There were clouds of black smoke emitting from the crumbling spires.
"What the hell happened here?" Naruto asked. He heard the shuffling behind himself and turned around to reveal Ruby, except that this wasn't the Ruby that he had been with yesterday. The cheerful and optimistic feeling that emitted itself from her eyes was now filled with that of pain and loss. Her clothes had multiple tears going across them while blood dripped down her left arm while her right arm was holding the scraps of cloth that remained of her cloak on the wound there.
"Ruby…" Naruto said in shock. Ruby looked up and at Naruto in his eyes. Her face showed fear when she noticed him.
"Naruto, what are you doing here?" Ruby asked weakly. Naruto started to walk over to Ruby while Ruby on the other hand backed away with her left leg limping after her.
"Ruby, what's wrong? Of course I belong here, I'm a student here remember." Naruto said with a stern expression. "What happened here?" Naruto asked. He was now a foot away from Ruby while Ruby had backed herself into a wall.
"You did…" She said. Naruto had a confused expression on his face.
"What are you talking about?" Naruto asked
"You-" She was cut off as her breath hitched. Naruto gained a concerned expression.
"Ruby…" Naruto said. Ruby looked down while Naruto followed her gaze to reveal his hand had impaled itself in her stomach except it wasn't a human hand, it was now a pale white which was now being colored red in blood. "Ruby!" Naruto cried out as he removed his hand from he stomach. Ruby started to fall to the ground but Naruto grabbed her and held her in his arms as they both lay on the ground. He felt the shift in his body and he became the ten tails once again. Naruto ignored this and stared at Ruby even as his tails flickered around in the corners of his eye.
"Why Naruto, why did you do this?" Ruby asked softly as she pointed to a pile of rubble a few feet away. Naruto followed her hand and saw the rest of Ruby's team strewn in a bloody pile among the rubble. All of them were unmoving while their faces showed an expression of horror. Naruto looked back at Ruby.
"But I didn't do anything!" Naruto replied in both trying to tell Ruby this and trying to tell himself that he wasn't involved in this…massacre.
"You killed them all, why did you have to do…this you…monster…" Ruby stated. Naruto felt something crack inside himself when he heard Ruby say this about him. He felt that his eye started to leak tears down upon Ruby's face.
"Wake up," He shook her, "Wake up." Naruto said a little louder as he shook her again, "WAKE UP!" Naruto shouted.
Naruto found himself in his bedwith sweat coating his body and soaking both his bed and pants. He was breathing fast as he tried to find his bearings in his dorm room. Naruto got out of his bed and noticed that he was in his ten tailed form. He closed his eyes and activated his semblance which transformed him back into human. He breathed in heavily before opening his door and exiting into the hallway.
He walked through the hallway and down the stairs. He didn't notice behind himself however that a door opened up and Ruby look down the hallway to see Naruto going down the stairs. She followed after him as quietly as she could. They both walked around the Beacon hallways for a while until Naruto made it to the front entrance of the building and exited it with Ruby following closely behind.
Naruto walked through the courtyard until he reached the statue of a man and woman standing on a hill with a beowolf below it in the center and sat down on it. Ruby watched this and hid behind the entrance door and peeked from the corner of the entrance. Naruto was still sitting there for a while before he stood up again and began to walk once again. Ruby came out of her hiding place and followed behind him. Eventually they ended up by the crossroads in front of Beacon and Naruto just stopped walking.
Ruby decided to stop hiding and walked up to Naruto. "Hey, are you okay?" Ruby asked. Naruto jumped slightly before he turned around.
"Ruby…what are you doing here?" He asked.
"I could asked the same, I mean it's so cold out here so why did you think to come out here?" Ruby asked while as she rubbed her arms while shivering in her pajamas.
"I needed some fresh air." Naruto responded as he looked at her.
"Why is that? Did something happen?" She asked. Naruto nodded.
"I hurt you…" He said softly.
"What did you just say?" Ruby asked.
"I had a dream…and I hurt you and everyone else." Naruto replied in a louder voice. Ruby looked at Naruto in confusion.
"No you didn't. I'm standing right here, maybe I'm a little cold because of you but it was my choice in the end." Ruby responded with a grin on her face. Naruto slightly smiled before he sat down on the paved ground and lay down while looking at the star filled sky with its cracked moon. He heard Ruby shuffle next to him and lay down next to him. He felt his hand be grabbed by Ruby's much to his surprise. Naruto looked next to himself to see Ruby looking at the sky.
"I don't believe that you could ever hurt any of us." Ruby said to him.
"But I'm a monster." He replied before he let go of Ruby's hand and lifted himself up into a sitting position where he turned off his semblance to reveal his ten tailed form. "Look at me. What do you see?" Naruto asked. Ruby didn't stop looking at the sky.
"A friend." Ruby replied. Naruto lay back down on the ground and looked at the sky once again. He started laughing. "What is it?" Ruby asked.
"Back in my home many years ago, everyone would have hated me. But here, you don't. I would have killed for something like that." Naruto replied.
"Why would they hate you? You're a super nice person." Ruby asked.
"It was because of something beyond my control and it's a long story." Naruto replied.
"We have time."
"Well I guess it starts with a man called the Sage of the Six Paths…" And with that Naruto began the tale of his life, the good parts and the bad, nothing was left out and the whole time Ruby was enthralled with it. She laughed and cried during certain parts while for others she felt proud yet sad for all that he went through during his long life.
"So after we beat Kaguya Sasuke attacked me and left me to be crushed in the rock we put her in but Kurama and the other came to try and save me. Kurama managed to make it to me and he combined with his other half but then Sasuke beat all the other tailed beasts and decided to use his kamui to send us somewhere else. The way Kurama explained it; we were dragged through three different space-time techniques which sent us here. And then we ended up here." Naruto finished.
Ruby sat up from the ground along with Naruto and they looked at each other. She then grabbed him into a hug and held him. Naruto felt a strange feeling inside of himself. "You've had such a hard life. How were you able to even deal with it?" Ruby asked.
"I just kept on going. There were people who needed me back home and it hasn't changed since I got here." Naruto replied as he hugged Ruby back. "I guess we should go back to bed, we were going to go into the city today, right?" Naruto asked.
"Yeah, I guess we should go." Ruby replied.
"Umm, should we let go now?" Naruto asked. They both slowly let go of each other with a slight blush on their faces.
"I guess I'll see you in the morning." Ruby stated.
"It's already morning." Naruto stated. Ruby folded her arms across her cheast and pouted.
"Then I'll just see you later." Ruby replied with a huff. Naruto smiled and used one of his tails to pat the top of Ruby's head.
"You kinda look cute with that face. Anyway, see you in the morning." Naruto said which caused a blush to appear on her face. Naruto then closed his eye and transformed into his human form. He opened his eyes and stared at Ruby. "See ya!" Naruto said before running off. Ruby just stood still in shock at what Naruto said before shook out of here shock.
"Hey, you just said that it is the morning!" Ruby shouted as she ran after a laughing Naruto.
-A Few Hours Later-
Naruto and Team RWBY were at the moment walking into the city of Vale. Above them was a sign that read 'Welcome to Vale!' Decorating the city were banners and balloons that were colored with reds, yellows, and greens.
"Why does this place look like its getting ready for a party?" Naruto asked as he looked around the city in wonder.
"Don't you know, it's the Vytal festival! It is absolutely wonderful!" Weiss said in a happy tone as she squeezed her hands together in excitement.
"I don't think I've ever seen you smile this much Weiss. It's kinda weirding me out." Ruby said to her teammate. Naruto leaned over to Ruby.
"You and me both. Imagine if Sasuke was like this." Naruto whispered. Ruby giggled at that.
"How could you not smile a festival dedicated to the cultures of the world! There will be dances, parades, a tournament," Naruto perked up at this.
"Wait, there's a tournament?" Naruto asked in slight excitement.
"Yes of course. It'll be pitting combat schools from all over Remnant together until there is only one winner." Weiss replied. "But I absolutely love all the planning and organization that went into creating this wonderful festival!" Weiss said with a passion.
"You really know how to make something exciting, boring." Yang stated with her arms folded over her cheast.
"Quiet you." Weiss replied.
"So when is the tournament?" Naruto asked giddily.
"In a few weeks." Weiss replied in an offhanded way.
"I'm gonna enter it and kick all sorts of ass, and that's a promise, believe it!" Naruto exclaimed with his fist pumped in the air while his tails wagged behind him.
'Wow, I thought you stopped saying that catchphrase.' Kurama stated.
'Shut up.' Naruto replied.
"So remind me why we are spending our Friday afternoon at the docks?" Yang asked. Ruby used her hand to squeeze her nose.
"Aw, it smells like fish." Ruby stated.
"I don't smell a thing." Naruto said to Ruby.
"That's because you're wearing a mask." Blake replied as she knocked on his mask for good measure which made a clank.
"I heard that students from Vacuo are arriving by ship today, and as a member of Beacon, I wanted to greet them." Weiss stated.
"She wants to spy on them so she'll have the upper hand in the tournament." Blake said to Yang.
'Damn this girl is cold. If she had black hair and some pink eye I would say that she'd make a damn good Uchiha.' Kurama said to Naruto.
'Yeah, she definitely is cold.' Naruto replied back.
"You can't prove that!" Weiss denied quite quickly. Ruby looked around as they walked and stopped.
"Whoa!" Ruby said as she stared at a dust shop that had been vandalized with its windows broken and police tape wrapped on it. WBY and Naruto walked over to see the vandalized shop. They decided to walk towards the one of the detectives who was writing in his notebook.
"What happened here?" Ruby asked. The detective looked up from his notes.
"Robbery, second dust shop to be hit this week. Place is turnin' into a jungle," The detective stated as he turned around and started to walk towards another one of the detectives.
"That's just terrible." Yang said.
"They didn't take any of the money again." The detective said to his partner.
"Just doesn't make a lick of sense," The partner wondered.
"Who needs all the dust anyway?"
"I don't know?"
"Thinkin' the White Fang?" He asked as he waved his gun around.
"Yeah I'm thinkin' we don't get paid enough." The partner stated as he removed his glasses.
"But you guys get paid enough to talk about how you don't get paid enough." Naruto said to them from across the police line.
"Shut up kid," The man without glasses replied. "I'm headin' inside, you comin'?" The detective asked. His partner nodded before walking with him inside the shop. This just left Naruto and Team RWBY standing there.
"Hmm, the White Fang, what an awful bunch of degenerates." Weiss stated with her arms folded.
"What's you're problem?" Blake asked.
"My problem, I simply don't care for the criminally insane." Weiss replied.
"The White Fang is hardly a bunch of psychopaths," Blake said while her eyes narrowed at Weiss and her arms folded across her cheast. "They are simply a collection of misguided faunus."
"Misguided! They want to wipe humanity off the face of the earth." Weiss rebutted. Naruto just watched this happen before him.
'This is starting to become a problem. We need to take care of it before things turn out like a second Sasuke.' Kurama said in a serious tone.
'I know.' Naruto nodded. Ruby turned to look at Naruto and mouthed out 'Kurama?' Naruto looked at Ruby and nodded. She gained a look of realization before looking at her two fighting teammates.
"Either way it doesn't explain why they would rob a dust shop in downtown Vale." Blake finished.
"Blake has a point. Besides the police never caught that Torchwick guy I ran into a few months ago, maybe it was him." Ruby stated.
"That doesn't change the fact that the White Fang is a bunch of scum. Those faunus only know how to lie, cheat, and steal." Weiss replied.
"That isn't necessarily true." Yang said. There attention was all taken off the argument at hand as a man screamed.
"Hey, stop that faunus!" He screamed. The group ran over to docks where the scream originated to see a blonde teen in blue jeans, yellow shoes, and unbuttoned white shirt with red gauntlets finishing the look off. A main feature of the teen was the yellow tail that protruded from his pants.
The teen ran to the edge of the ship and jumped onto the rails. "Thanks for the ride guys!" He said cockily before jumping onto the wooden docks below where a crew member called out to him.
"You no good stowaway!" The crew member shouted.
The teen took off running a few feet before he jumped once again towards a street lamp which he used his tail to catch himself. The teen then took out a banana from his pants pocket which he unpeeled and ate.
"Hey, a no good stowaway would have been caught, I'm a great stowaway!" The teen stated. As he said this he dodged a rock that was thrown at him. When he followed the direction of the rock he saw two detectives standing below himself.
"Hey, get down from there this instant!" The detective ordered. In response the teen threw his banana peel at the man's face and laughed before he flipped on top of the light pole and jumped away with another flip.
"Show off." Naruto said. The teen ran as the two detectives chased him. He ran up the stairs and ran past the group. When he made it to Blake he winked before continuing his run. Blake felt some shock at the audacity of the teen as well as slight embarrassment.
"Well Weiss, you wanted to see the competition, and there it goes." Yang stated with some humor. Naruto looked at the teen's tail as he ran away.
"I was the first one here with a tail, and I have ten of them. That guy better not steal my style." Naruto grumbled.
'I was here with the tails first you brat!' Kurama stated.
"Quick we have to observe him!" Weiss exclaimed before running off after the faunus teen. The others followed after her.
"Why do we have to observe him?" Naruto asked as he followed the others. They eventually had to turn a corner where Weiss ran and fell into another person. When Weiss looked up she saw the faunus make another leap and disappear from her view.
"No! He got away!" Weiss exclaimed while ignoring the person below her.
"Uhh, Weiss…" Yang said as she pointed towards the girl who Weiss tackled. The girl in question looked up at Weiss with bright green eyes.
She had orange neck length hair that had a pink bow on top of it. The girl also wore a dress which was beige on the cheast and arms while a light green below. On her neck was a black part of clothing that was black with neon green highlights while her dress also had some neon green on it. To finish off this ensemble were black leggings with more neon green highlights.
'What's with this girl and green?' Naruto asked.
'I don't know, what's with you and your fascination with the color orange? Anyway be careful with this girl, she seems…off.' Kurama stated. Weiss got off the girl while the girl in question just smiled creepily.
"Salutations!" She said excitedly.
'Okay, very off.' Kurama stated.
"Umm, hello." Ruby said awkwardly.
"Are you okay?" Yang asked with concern.
"I'm wonderful thank you for asking." The girl said as she looked around with a childlike wonder. The group looked at each other in confusion.
"Do you…want to get up?" Yang asked. The girl took a few seconds to think about her answer.
"Yes!" She exclaimed. She then rolled onto her hands and pushed herself up onto her feet so that she was standing a foot away from Naruto and the others. Everyone but Naruto and the girl took a step back. Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.
"Uhh, my name is Naruto." He stated.
"Hello, my name is Penny; it's nice to meet you!" Penny said. RWBY looked at each other before looking back to Penny.
"Hi, I'm Ruby."
"I'm Weiss."
"Blake."
"Are you sure you didn't hit your head?" Yang asked. Blake elbowed Yang in the stomach. "Oh, I mean I'm Yang." She replied.
"It's a pleasure to meet you!" Penny replied.
"You already said that." Weiss stated.
"So I did." Penny replied.
"Well sorry for running into you." Weiss apologized.
"Take care friend." Ruby stated. The girls started to walk away which left Naruto and Penny standing there.
"Yeah so I guess I'll see you again, huh." Naruto said to Penny.
"Do all people wear masks or is it just you? Not that there is anything wrong with it." Penny said quickly and awkwardly.
"No, just me. See you later friend." Naruto said as he walked away. Behind him Penny saw his tails swishing with each of his steps which left Penny alone. When Naruto caught up to the other girls he heard Weiss speaking.
"Now where did that Faunus riff raff run off to?" Weiss asked. They stopped when they saw Penny standing before them once again.
'Holy shit she's a ninja!' Naruto thought to himself.
"What did you call me?" She asked.
"Oh I'm sorry; I didn't think that you heard me." Yang apologized awkwardly. Penny just walked past her and up to Naruto and Ruby who walked back into Naruto's arms.
"No, not you, you." She said to both Naruto and Ruby.
"Us?" They both asked.
"You guys called me friend. Am I really your friend?" Penny asked.
'Brat, there is a saying that you shouldn't stick your dick in crazy. While the saying usually applies to sex, I think we can make an exception for this case.' Kurama advised.
"Umm…" Ruby trailed off as she looked at the rest of her team who were all shaking their arms in no. Ruby looked back to Penny, "Yeah sure, why not." Ruby said
"Alright then." Naruto said cheerfully. He had one of his hands let go of Ruby and held it out in a fist before Penny. Penny looked at the fist in confusion. "You have to bump it." Naruto said with exasperation.
"Alright!" Penny replied before punching his fist which sent him and Ruby back a few feet onto their backs with Ruby being cushioned by Naruto's body.
"Maybe we need to work on that." Naruto muttered out.
"So what are you doing in Vale?" Yang asked. Penny turned to look at Yang.
"I'm here to fight in the tournament." Penny responded.
"Wait, you're fighting in the tournament?" Weiss asked.
"I'm combat ready!" Penny replied with a salute.
"Sweet, another opponent to fight!" Naruto stated as he and Ruby had finally gotten off the ground together.
"That is quite excellent!" Penny replied.
"Forgive me but you hardly look the part." Weiss stated incredulously.
"Says the girl wearing a dress." Blake stated.
'Yeah that is weird. Why do a lot of the girls who I see in combat wear inappropriate clothing?' Naruto asked.
'I wouldn't be talking mister orange jump suit.' Kurama replied.
'Shut up.' Naruto said quickly.
"It's a combat skirt." Weiss replied. Ruby then rushed over to Weiss' side and gave her a high five.
"Yeah!" Ruby agreed.
"Wait a minute, if you're here to enter the tournament then do you know that monkey tailed rapscallion?" Weiss asked.
"Oh here we go again. Come on I thought we dropped this topic a while ago. Please don't bring it back up." Naruto said to Weiss who just ignored him.
"The who?" Penny asked.
"The filthy faunus from the boat!" Weiss exclaimed. When Naruto looked at the others he saw that Blake was looking absolutely murderous.
"Why do you keep saying that?" Blake asked, she finally had enough of what Weiss was saying.
"Huh?"
"Stop calling him a rapscallion, stop calling him a degenerate, he's a person!" Blake stated as she walked up to Weiss.
"Oh I'm sorry would you like me to stop referring to the trash can as a trash can or this lamp post as a lamp post?" Weiss asked sarcastically. Naruto and Kurama's eyes both widened at the shit storm that Weiss was calling down up herself.
"Stop it!" Blake said.
"Stop what? He clearly broke the law, give him time and he'll probably join up with those other faunus in the White Fang." Weiss replied smugly.
'Kid, I'm sensing some seriously bad emotion from your black clad friend. It's almost downright murderous.' Kurama stated. While he said this Blake's hands clenched while her teeth started to be ground on one another.
"You ignorant little brat!" Blake yelled out before she turned on her heels and started to walk away in a huff.
"How dare you talk to me like-" Weiss was cut off as one of Naruto's tails hit her in the back of the head. "Ow! What did you do that for?" Weiss asked.
"There is a point where you need to stop one of your rants because it looks like your rant is connected to Blake in some form." Naruto responded.
"How would Blake ever be related to those Faunus trash?" Weiss asked. She got another tail up the back of her head. "Ow! Stop that." Weiss shouted.
"How about you go ask." Naruto responded
"Fine!" Weiss replied before walking over to Blake, "What was that about?" Weiss asked.
"It's because you are a judgmental little girl!" Blake responded. Yang at this point walked between Naruto and Ruby.
"Uhh, I think we should probably go." Yang said.
"Where are we going?" Penny asked from behind Yang. She didn't respond. Instead she watched with Naruto and Ruby as Blake and Weiss continued to tear each other a new one. During their whole trip back to Beacon the two girls argued with one another which wore on Naruto's patience the whole time until finally…
"Enough!" Naruto shouted when they were all in team RWBY's dorm room. Everyone one looked at him. "What the hell is the matter with both of you?! You're teammates so start acting like it! All you have been doing is arguing about one topic for over two hours! WHY?!" Naruto yelled out. They started to talk at the same time but Naruto cut them off. "You first." He growled out to Weiss.
"I'm arguing with Blake because she's defending and organization that hates humanity." Weiss replied.
'Lie.' Kurama stated.
"Tell me the truth. Why are you really upset about this topic?" Naruto asked. Weiss looked a little shocked at how Naruto could call her out but she regained her composure and started.
"It's because the White Fang is responsible for murdering members of my family!" Weiss yelled out much to the surprise of everyone. "And she," Weiss pointed at Blake, "Is supporting them!" Weiss finished. Naruto looked at Weiss sadly.
"What about you?" Naruto asked Blake.
"It's all because of bigoted people like Cardin and Weiss who push Faunus into joining the White Fang. Faunus are not pure evil like how you claim them to be." Blake replied.
"That is an argument. You haven't given me your answer as to why you are upset." Naruto responded.
"It's because we were tired of being pushed around!" Blake shouted much to the shock of everyone and the horror of Weiss.
'I fucking called it.' Kurama said.
'What are you talking about?' Naruto asked.
'I called it many weeks ago that Blake was probably a faunus and look at this, I was right.' Kurama replied. As he said that Blake looked slightly shocked that she said that.
"I uhh, I have to go!" She said before running out the door of the dorm and down the hallway.
"Wait! Come back!" Ruby shouted to her teammate. Naruto walked up to Ruby and put his hand on her shoulder. Ruby felt this and turned to look at Naruto's masked face.
"Let her go. She wants to be alone right now so we should give her some space." With that Naruto began to leave the dorm.
"Where are you going?" Ruby asked.
"I'm going to bed; I have a massive headache from Weiss and Blake's argument. Night guys." Naruto left the dorm and went into his room where he took off his mask and let it fall to the ground. He then closed his door before he let his back slide down until he was in a sitting position.
'Did I screw up Kurama?' Naruto asked.
'Nah, you win some and you lose some. At least you gave it your effort. See you tomorrow brat.' Kurama replied.
'Alright, tomorrow is another day!' Naruto stated with a certainty.
-Two Days Later-
Naruto and team RWY were as of right now looking around Vale for Blake who for both the rest of Friday and all of Saturday, had not returned to Beacon.
"Where do you think she could be? She's been gone all weekend…" Ruby stated with sadness. Naruto just put his arm around her shoulder.
"Cheer up, we'll find her eventually." Naruto replied.
"Blake's a big girl, she can handle herself!" Weiss stated.
"Weiss, come on. She's one of our teammates." Yang replied.
"Is she? We all heard what she said!" Weiss retorted.
"Yeah we heard what she said but she's still our friend and that means that we are still going to go look for her." Naruto responded before walking away from the group.
"Naruto, where are you going?" Ruby asked.
"To cover more ground." Naruto responded.
"Then I'm coming with you. Weiss, Yang, you two go together and look for Blake. When we find her message each other on our scrolls." Ruby ordered. Yang gave a mocking salute while Weiss just grabbed Yang and pulled her away.
"Well then, time to go find our friend." Ruby said as she and Naruto walked together.
And there we go. Another chapter down and one more for the season finale. I am about to make my promise true about getting this done before the season finale of Volume three kicks off. Nailed it!