A/N-

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DISCLAIMER- I OWN NOTHING AT ALL.

'ITALICS'- THOUGHTS

'BOLD'- POWERFUL BEING/JUTSU

PREVIOUSLY

"Let's take this outside, blondie! I'm going to kick your ass!"

Oh, how little he knew.

And so, the four went to the back of the shop, where there was a small garden made by Naruto. It was a medium-sized space, sufficient for a Taijutsu spar. The trio looked around his garden, seemingly appreciating its beauty. Glynda seemed to look at him in a new light, as if she enjoyed seeing this new side of him. She gave him an appreciative once-over.

Naruto and Qrow took opposite sides of the yard, and Glynda acted as the referee. Even Summer was visibly excited for the fight, evident by the girl bouncing on her feet. Naruto wondered what possessed him to fight these people.

The whole point of changing dimensions was to sit back and relax, and stay out of the spotlight. And he had been doing exactly that for about a year. But Naruto Uzumaki was still a hyperactive shinobi at heart, so he could never sit still for long. And as long as he stuck to Taijutsu and revealed nothing, he should be fine.

They would just think that he had trained to fight to survive, and that was that. Naruto did not need the extra attention of an entire Huntsman Academy on him, or else they would find out that he was nowhere on the map of the world until about a year ago. He was fairly confident that he could defeat anyone on this planet, as he had yet to sense any power level even remotely close to his.

But he had to play it safe, as a shinobi would. That meant no dropping meteorites as a part of a spar.

So, when Glynda told them to get their Auras linked to the scrolls, he sheepishly said that his Aura was not unlocked, and he just fought as is. Glynda immediately chided him or his irresponsibility, and how he could get hurt without an Aura. She then offered to unlock his Aura.

Naruto had to admit, he was intrigued by the offer. Agreeing to her proposal would serve many benefits. Firstly, he would be able to determine if he had an Aura in the first place. Secondly, he would get a decent defense and further accelerate his already overpowered healing factor. And finally, it would allow him to fit in, and explain why he wasn't taking as much damage.

So, he agreed. Glynda stepped towards him, and placed one hand on his forehead and the other on his chest. She muttered something, in a low voice, almost like a chant, and then Naruto felt it. Since he had a soul, he therefore had an Aura.

But now that it had been unlocked, he felt like a missing piece of his being had snapped back into place.

It was exactly like he had read; His soul given form. And since Naruto had a really pure soul, his Aura took a brilliant golden colour, not too different from his Six Paths Sage Mode. He felt good, better than he normally felt.

"Guys, did you know about Aura? I feel so… complete."

"Hmm, interesting." Kurama piped up, "There is no change in your chakra network. It seems that your soul has been given a physical manifestation. The nine of us will tell you if anything changes in here."

Naruto was still reeling from this new information. His soul given form? The whole concept of Aura looked to be an elaborate Yin Release technique, using spiritual energy to create form out of nothing. And since Naruto had a stronger affinity to Yang Release due to his sun mark, he did not understand the complexities of the former.

Regardless, this spectacle had already proven memorable to the Hunters and would draw a lot of attention to him if handled incorrectly. If they raised any questions about his 'unnatural abilities', it was over.

The other three Huntsmen were staring slack-jawed at the sight. They had no words for the sight, but they tried anyway.

Qrow was debating whether he should actually go through with this fight, but squashed those doubts a second later. This was just an untrained civilian, after all.

"Uwaaa~, Awesome!" Summer squealed, with stars in her eyes. She was practically bouncing in excitement by now. She likely hadn't seen such an Aura before.

However, the most surprising reaction came from Glynda. She was staring at Naruto with a critical gaze, as if trying to decipher some puzzle.

"Strange." she muttered, "You already had your Aura unlocked, but it felt like it was… repressed." She paused for a bit, taking the time to properly explain her findings. Being deep in thought, she did not notice Naruto's smile slightly fade. "My theory is that you had subconsciously unlocked your Aura after a stressful event, but did not know it at the time. Hence it was repressed." She then leveled Naruto with a flat stare "Which begs the question, what stressful event could you have gone through for this to happen?"

Throughout her monologue, Naruto had started getting progressively more nervous, while expertly not showing any of his emotions on his face. Then he caught the last part of her sentence. Stressful event? HA! He wondered what event in his life would not be classed as stressful. Lonely childhood, human sacrifice, betrayed and then stabbed through the lung by his best friend, having S-class nin hunt him, and the rest of the hot mess that was his life. Naruto was sure that if he were to tell them his tale, the trio would end up traumatized to some extent.

But he had no intention of telling his life's story to three relative strangers within hours of meeting them, contrary to some stories he had read on his scroll. It wasn't like he was beaten by mobs or tortured on a daily basis or anything, but his childhood was far from happy. Naruto wondered what his childhood would've been like if he had his parents, maybe a sibling.

"They would probably forget you exist, in favor of your Jinchuuriki sister." Shukaku said, making Naruto pause and the other Bijuu look at him, "Then you would get treated exactly like you were for holding the 'soul' of Kurama, until you abandoned Konoha and got taken on as an apprentice by a never seen before ninja more powerful than the Yondaime." The tanuki finished, nodding his head sagely.

Silence.

"That's absurd, Shukaku!" Naruto retorted, clearly affronted, "My parents clearly wouldn't- you know what, never mind, we'll talk later." Naruto then cut the link, wanting to forget about this weird conversation.

Seeing as Glynda was still waiting for an answer, Naruto went with the safest response he could muster.

"Grimm. I don't want to say anything more, ya know?" he finished, while faking sadness. He hoped they would respect his boundaries and leave him be. This proved true, when the Hunters nodded in understanding.

"I understand, I apologize for bringing up bad memories." Glynda looked repentant, making Naruto feel slightly guilty, "But let us begin with the spar." she finished, getting agreement from those present.

"Yes, let's." he smiled, "I have a drunk to thrash."

Qrow took offense to that. "Whaddya mean blondie, I'm gonna be the one doing the thrashing!"

"I'd like to see you try~."

"Why you-"

"Enough!" Glynda interrupted, visibly irritated by now, "Be a little mature and settle your differences in the match!" she scolded.

"Yeah! Fight fight fight~." Summer chimed in, unable to contain her excitement.

The two men took opposite sides in the lawn, treating it as a ring. Their Aura levels showed up in their respective scrolls, both bars full. Naruto, unsurprisingly, had almost twice as much Aura as Qrow did, and did not like it one bit. Having any attribute of his recorded and on display to everyone always made him antsy.

The two opponents shook hands before facing off, and none of the Hunters noticed a black seal briefly flare into Qrow's palm.

"3"

"2"

"1"

"Begin!" Glynda shouted, and leaped out of the way.

Both fighters stood completely still for a few moments, gauging each other for potential threats. Well, Qrow was gauging Naruto for threats, while said blonde simply stood there with his hands in his pockets, looking incredibly disinterested.

Qrow, of course, interpreted it as Naruto looking down on him, and rushed the blonde in a burst of speed. Even though his semblance wasn't related to speed, Qrow was still one of the fastest Huntsmen in Vale.

Which is why he was surprised when his attack hit air.

Qrow balked when Naruto suddenly disappeared, and immediately got on guard. If this guy could disappear out of his sight, then he must be incredibly fast. He was given no more time to think, as he reflexively dodged a punch that would have hit him square in the nose.

Ducking low to avoid being hit, Qrow was yet again met by a low kick meant to take out his knees from under him. Barely managing to dodge the second blow, Qrow created some distance between them.

"Hah! You might just force me to try, blondie!" Qrow declared haughtily, hoping to get a rise out of his opponent. If Naruto took the bait and rushed in angrily, Qrow would win. Any insult to his ego would surely rile up the buffoon-

"Hmm? Sorry, you say something?" Naruto replied nonchalantly, his hands in his pockets.

"Why you-!" Suffice to say, Qrow was the one who got riled up instead.

His hurt pride and bruised ego at such a blatant dismissal mixed with his drunk state, and he rushed.

Only to find nothing awaiting him. Looking around for Naruto, the Hunter found his opponent yet again behind him, but something was different.

Because Naruto's hands were out of his pockets, but not to fight.

Oh no no. The blonde was eating ramen. Miso ramen at that, which was steaming hot, signifying the fact that it was freshly made.

"When did ya even make that!" Qrow crowed indignantly. This shopkeeper was really grating on his nerves. He was not met with a response.

The two female spectators had dumbfounded looks on their faces. Summer was jumping up and down at Naruto's speed, being able to dodge Qrow like he did. Glynda, however, was torn. She didn't know whether to be irked at Naruto for not taking the spar seriously, or to be impressed at his speed.

This went on for quite a few minutes, Qrow trying to hit Naruto while Naruto simply dodged around the Hunter's hits. This was all well and good, but Naruto wanted to finish this before he ended up either killing Qrow or revealing something by accident. It helped that Qrow was not in top shape and getting tired. He could downplay his win as a result of Qrow being drunk.

'But now, time to end this.'

Suddenly, Naruto appeared in front of Qrow, grabbing his right arm mid-punch. No one inquired where the ramen went, too invested in the spar. Since Naruto had a vice-grip on Qrow's arm, the Hunter could do little else than tank the hit he knew was coming.

Crack.

The hit came with such force, that Qrow's Aura could barely protect him. It was a brutal punch, delivered directly to the man's solar plexus. Aura groaned and struggled against Chakra, and Chakra ultimately won. Qrow had the wind knocked out of him and collapsed in a heap.

Qrow's Aura was dangerously in the red, and Naruto's was full. There was a clear winner.

"Victory goes to Naruto!" Glynda announced, trying and failing to keep the surprise out of her voice. Even Summer had gone oddly still. Naruto was about to ask if she was okay, when suddenly-

"Woooow!" Summer exclaimed, bounding over to Naruto and getting in his face. "You were so cool~!" she fired off, "You were all like WAAH! PUAH! And where did the ramen come from? And-" She was cut off by Glynda, who placed a hand on the excitable young woman's shoulder.

"What Summer means to say, Naruto, is that we were surprised to see you win." She said, while pushing up her glasses. "Qrow is a prominent Huntsman, and defeating him is no small feat." She finished with a self-satisfied look on her face. She must be enjoying the sweet retribution, Naruto mused.

"Eh, he was probably drunk, ya know?" Naruto replied, scratching the back of his head "And I've always been really fast. Nothing special, really." He finished, using a subtle Genjutsu to drive home the fact that it was, indeed, nothing special.

He wasn't faking their emotions or thoughts or the like, just subtly reinforcing any doubts they might have had about Qrow's condition and Naruto's talents. The normal Genjutsus of his could never control anyone anyway. The trio would still remember the fight and all their conversations, it just wouldn't stand out as that important to them. While reporting to their superiors, for example.

Naruto wasn't totally against using the Sharingan on less savory people. Also, being around for decades and seeing the worst Humanity had to offer, Naruto had grown a lot smarter. A subtle illusion to protect his identity would go a long way in the future.

He wasn't above using his abilities to subdue criminals and other scum of the earth, as he could properly sense their emotions before using his eyes on them.

When his precious people were threatened, Naruto Uzumaki went out and the Seventh Hokage came in.

Naruto knew that he would eventually be outed, but he wanted to prolong that and relax for as long as possible. Once his name got out, many people from various groups would surely try to recruit him, to use him for their own goals. He didn't want to keep killing or erasing the memories of random goons sent to him.

The trio nodded at his reasoning, Qrow having recovered by now.

"I knew it! Ya just won coz I was drunk, blondie!"

Thanks for the assist, Qrow.

Though it did make Naruto wonder, why had he agreed to the fight anyway? He had been bored, but that wasn't sufficient to risk his peace like that? Then what?

The answer to that question was looking at him, a proud look on her face.

'Glynda?' Naruto wondered, 'Why would I do something like that for her? I did act all friendly with her, but that's how I outwardly act with everyone.' Naruto was really confused. He didn't realize that he had fought Qrow to defend Glynda until he actually reflected upon it.

Why had he defended her, though? What was it about her that drew him in? He had not connected with any human for dozens of years, his harsh last years of life in the Elemental Nations had beaten that right out of him.

Naruto recalled the day's events leading to the spar. He had seen the Huntsmen walk in, served them food, and talked to them for a bit. The Bijuu had been nagging him to settle down with someone, but Naruto was hesitant. Then why had he flirted with Glynda? Why had he asked for her scroll number. If it was only to keep in touch with a friend, why hadn't he asked the other two?

'It doesn't matter in the end anyway. Once she finds out about me she'll get scared and run like everyone else.' He thought bitterly. He was reasonably apprehensive of letting people in, having experienced only pain in the past.

'I hope you change your mind Naruto, you deserve so much better.' Matatabi thought sadly within the seal.

Though Naruto would never be an Emo like Sasuke, he still had his reservations trusting new people. His actions relating to Glynda were an enigma to him. He would probably communicate with her in the future, but Naruto doubted they would become close friends or something. Still, emotions were complicated and he had no desire to introspect right now.

Grinning at the trio, Naruto replied "Aww, thanks guys, but enough about that." he suddenly spoke, clapping his hands "Let's have some food, on the house!"

The three accompanied him inside, happy with this new development.

It had been three days since the spar, and the Huntsmen had just left. They had finished their mission and headed back to Vale. Naruto was happy that he hadn't revealed anything, he liked his current situation too much. He had given his Hiraishin markers to the trio, but they would 'conveniently' not reveal that fact to anyone.

Still, he learned a lot about the three during their stay here, even going so far as to call them friends, in a loose sense of the word.

Summer and Qrow were on a team together, called team STRQ. The other two members were Qrow's sister and Summer's husband, whose names Naruto couldn't recall. The team was practically in shambles right now, due to the sister abandoning her daughter with their other male teammate, who later married Summer and had a daughter of their own.

Summer wanted to use her job as a Huntress to bring about an age of peace, much like Naruto himself had before he got a harsh reality check. Still, he dared not trample on the dreams of the excitable girl; Bright and kind people like her were truly a rarity anywhere, and Naruto didn't want to be the one to dampen her spirit. She was a boisterous girl, and she readily told him about her abilities in an effort to get a spar from him.

Her semblance was speed-related, and she could achieve high speeds and disappear in a flurry of rose petals whenever she used it. Her weapons were twin short-swords which apparently turned into guns, called Petal and Leaf. Her eyes were silver in colour, which Naruto had strangely not seen on any other person in Remnant. They gave him a weird feeling, kind of like an inactive Sharingan. He knew better than to ask, though.

It was this heroic personality and naïve idealism of Summer's that made him want to protect her. Hence, he had given her and her team a Hiraishin marker each. Even if Naruto wanted to stay in the shadows, he was still Naruto. He would protect such a heroic soul to the best of his ability. It had nothing to do with not revealing his abilities, as he could hide himself quite well.

Qrow was substantially more closed-off, though Naruto could sense a surprising amount of self-loathing from the Hunter. Although, Naruto was a surprisingly good judge of character, if not the best ever. Qrow was a good man at heart, and much like Naruto, he would give his all to protect his precious people.

His weapon was some kind of sword-scythe hybrid called Harbinger, and he could change its form at will. Qrow said nothing about his semblance.

Glynda was the one he talked to the most. He never revealed anything concrete about himself, but he got along with her the best. She had a strict and stern personality, but underneath that hard shell was a wonderful young woman. She was already a teacher at Beacon Academy, and Naruto could tell that she cared a lot for her students. He liked someone who could properly guide the next generation, unlike how he had been taught.

Her weapon was a riding crop called the Disciplinarian, and that was it. She mainly used it to channel her Semblance, which was Telekinesis. It was the coolest Semblance Naruto had seen so far, much like the Shinra Tensei.

They left soon after the third day, Leaving Naruto to contemplate the conversations he had had with them.

It was at this point, after lots of goading from the Bijuu, that Naruto decided to actively try to get to know Glynda in the future. He didn't make any promises, but he would just do what he wanted regardless of the consequences. It was how he worked best, after all.

Naruto wondered when he would be seeing these people in the future.

FLASHBACK END

Naruto appeared at the location where his marker had been dropped, Sharingan already active to maximize his reaction time. And he was glad he did, as he was immediately forced to duck to avoid a giant claw.

He quickly dodged the blow, jumped back and took stock of the situation. And he was not amused.

There were about a hundred Grimm around him, from Beowulf to Nevermore alike. Some of the trees next to him were uprooted, signifying a fierce fight. The Grimm were all growling menacingly, itching to attack him. It was then that he realized what they were attacking, or rather who.

Seeing the downed and bleeding form of Summer Rose, Naruto clicked into motion.

He didn't think at all.

He moved.

Summer Rose had seen better days.

She was on a top-secret mission from Ozpin, to find a Grimm infestation in a cave near the outskirts of Vale, in hopes of locating Salem. She had left behind her husband and two daughters for a week, just for this mission. And now here she was, cornered by limitless Grimm and surely going to die.

It had been going swimmingly too; The job was pretty simple after all. But she hadn't expected this many Grimm! Her scroll had been shattered in the heat of battle, she couldn't even call for help. Whenever she killed a Grimm, two more would take its place. They were unending and relentless.

It made her wonder why there were so many here in the first place. Summer hadn't had any particular negative emotions, then why? It was almost as if they were… waiting for her…

Any other thoughts were banished from her head as she rolled to the right to avoid a brutal sideswipe. Summer could easily defeat a few dozen Grimm lying down, but hundreds? All by herself? After already having fought hundreds before?

No, she wasn't as confident.

'So this is how I die.' She thought sadly, 'Tai, Ruby, Yang, I'm so sorry.' And she resigned herself to her fate. But she would not go quietly! If she was going to die, she would take as many Grimm with her as she could! Her only regret would be not having a happy life with her family.

Then she remembered.

Two years ago, at the ramen stand in Vacuo. How could she forget? The owner, Naruto, had defeated both Qrow and her in fair spars! And he had given her a small knife, which she still possessed. She had to throw it when in danger, and he would be there in a flash, Naruto had said.

Not bothering to question why she had suddenly remembered this fact, Summer fished out the small knife from her holster, prayed to the Gods, and threw.

When Naruto saw the broken and bleeding Huntress surrounded by Grimm, his brain went on autopilot. All thoughts of hiding his abilities went out of the window, his sole focus being the safety of Summer.

However jaded he might be, Naruto Uzumaki would never allow a good person to die on his watch, for the sole purpose of hiding his powers. He wasn't, and would never be, that kind of person.

Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!

The newly created clone instantly appeared at Summer's side, already healing her with his Yang seal. Now that she was in safe hands, it was time to deal with these pests.

Naruto scanned the situation for the optimal way to end this fight. He was flanked by Grimm on one side, and Summer had been backed up against a wall. That was convenient, there would be no need to divulge his more… nuanced abilities.

Thinking of the name of the technique, Naruto took a deep breath and held two fingers in front of his lips. Exhaling with a mighty roar, he let loose his technique.

"Katon: Gōka Mekkyaku!"(Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation!)

A torrent of flames spewed forth from his mouth, much to the shock of the recently recovered Summer. The Grimm never stood a chance; all of them were caught in the sea of flames instantly reduced to ashes. Not a single foe remained, and only then did Naruto turn around.

He silently threw a kunai in a far corner of the cave, destroying a small Grimm watching from the shadows. But the damage was already done, not that he knew.

Turning around, he was met with the shocked gaze of Summer Rose, who was practically speechless, not being able to come up with words. Ordinarily she would be bouncing up and down in excitement, but she was too tired, spent by all the fighting. Hesitantly, she ventured-

"Mr. Naruto?"

Naruto looked sheepishly at her, scratching the back of his head.

"Umm, Yo?"

A/N-

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