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Blonding with Interest

Chapter Four: Test of the Leaves

In their new dorm room, the recently created Team RWBY was in the middle of putting their luggage beneath the four beds offered to them. With the beds as they were, there wasn't much room in the dorm for any personal changes or additions such as decorations or even a desk.

"Hmm… Might wanna consider the idea of bunkbeds, Firecracker," Naruto mused as he stood by the closed door. "Also, considering how long you take for your hair sometimes, you might wanna lay down the law about first dibs in the bathroom."

Yang fought a snicker at his totally accurate comment. She was extremely protective of her golden locks, and any damage to her hair was met with righteous fury and a fiery beatdown.

Ruby had no such restraint and gave a small laugh at Naruto's commentary, earning her looks from Blake and Weiss.

"And what's so funny?" the Schnee heiress asked with a raised brow.

Ruby choked on her spit at the question. Considering how it wasn't her place to reveal Naruto's existence – since he was spiritually linked to Yang since she was young – the young Rose had to come up with an excuse.

"Oh, just remembering something my dad said," she replied, hoping to sound casual enough to be believable. "He warned me and Yang ahead of time how Beacon wouldn't be like home."

Yang, deciding to come to Ruby's aid, added, "We thought he was just being a concerned parent and stating the obvious, but it looks like we finally get what he was saying."

"Which is…?" Blake pressed, not fully believing them, but not bothering to call them out.

"Well, back home we have our own rooms, which give us creative freedom and privacy," Yang continued, speaking truthfully as she realized what a dorm room meant. "But here at Beacon, we don't have much of that freedom or privacy since we're all sharing this dorm room."

"It's gonna take some getting used to is all," Ruby finished, sharing a look with Yang, and conveying her thanks for having her back.

"Nice save. It helps that everything you two said is noticeable," Naruto praised the two sisters.

Weiss made a bit of a face at their answer, taking another look around the dorm room. "Yes… I can see your point. I was hoping that our living space would be more…spacious than this."

"Well, what if we expanded what space we had?" Ruby suggested.

"How do you figure?" Blake questioned curiously.

"Simple: we change the sleeping situation from four beds into two bunkbeds!" the team leader declared with a bright smile. "We can give ourselves more floorspace by doing so."

Yang shrugged with a small grin. "I'm down. It'd be nice to be able to put a table or something in here."

"Bringing a desk would allow us to work on assignments without needing to find a spare classroom or study hall," Weiss noted as she started picturing the potential new layout of the room in her mind. "But do we have tools to do this?"

"I have a toolkit in a locker down in the workshop," Ruby spoke up. "I put my tools there before coming here and rented the locker since I like to tinker and make adjustments to my weapon."

Blake had a small smile at how everyone was slowly starting to get along. She was worried that the first few days would be full of nothing but awkward tension; but talks of bunkbeds had broken the ice.

"Think you could grab it really quick, Ruby?" she asked rhetorically, knowing that her new team leader's Semblance made the notion of quick child's play.

"You bet!" Ruby declared before heading out of the dorm and down the hall in a flurry of rose petals. Luckily, Naruto anticipated her quick departure and stepped aside before she could bump into him.

Now that a link had been established between himself and Yang's sister, Ruby would be physically affected by his presence. This meant that she would have crashed into him while Weiss and Blake would have seen her hit thin air.

"We're gonna need to go over things to be careful about with her later, Yang," he warned, earning a nod from her.

Yang kept nodding a few more times, playing off responding to Naruto as she commented, "Yeah, this could work out nicely."

For the last few hours of the afternoon, the four young women of Team RWBY redecorated their room by bolting together the four beds and changing them into two bunkbeds. They also put up some more personal decorations such as posters and pictures taped or tacked to the walls.

The last thing they did was talk to one of the passing staff and inquire about bringing in a desk and some shelves, which they were allowed to do. With the desk prepped by Weiss, and the shelves filled with books from Blake, their new dorm room had been officially decorated.

As for the sleeping arrangements, Blake and Weiss chose to have the bottom bunks while Yang would bunk over Blake and Ruby would bunk over Weiss. The four figured that splitting the bunks between the partners made sense.

Later that evening, Weiss had already turned in for the night and it looked like Blake was doing the same after she bookmarked the novel she was reading and placed it back on the shelf. Wishing the two sisters a good night, the got under her covers and relaxed, allowing them some privacy.

What they didn't know was that Blake was still awake and was listening to them talk. Something odd was going on between them, and her curious nature was too intrigued to ignore it. If it was something private, she would respect it and keep quiet.

If it was something more concerning, she would make plans to confront them.

Naruto had already left Remnant and woke up in his world, and Yang felt the need to tell Ruby what to expect when she fell asleep.

"Now that you have a link with Naruto, you need to be told what will happen when you fall asleep here in Remnant," Yang began.

"You mentioned before how you wake up in his world, right?" Ruby asked quietly.

'His world…?' Blake thought in confusion. 'And who is Naruto?'

"Yep," Yang answered. "When we wake up, we'll be in a spiritual form that only he will be able to interact with. Luckily, Foxy has a way for us to become solid and interact with his world completely. He creates what he calls a Shadow Clone for me to possess after having it take on my likeness with what he calls the Transformation Jutsu."

"So, we'll be walking around in a fake body…?" Ruby repeated, a pensive look on her face before she perked up. "Oh! You mean like those gigai things from that manga you once read and let me borrow? What was it called? Bleach, right?"

'Huh… Wasn't expecting someone like Yang to be into manga,' Blake mused. 'Though, Bleach is a good series to get into; and the analogy to their gigai is interesting.'

"I guess that's a close enough comparison," Yang agreed. "But remember this, Rubes, Naruto's clones are pretty fragile unless he supercharges them with his chakra; the energy he people from his world use. Normally, they pop into smoke after a good hit; but he could make them last longer by giving them more chakra."

"Okay, so be careful about getting hit. Got it," Ruby replied.

"Also… Foxy's life back in his home was…rough, and that's sugarcoating it."

"What do you mean?"

"He…" Yang began before sighing sadly, and Blake was able to hear the somberness in the blonde's tone. "He should be the one to tell you. Just…don't be surprised or say anything when you see how people look at him or treat him. I almost got in trouble when I punched someone who called him something nasty, and I don't want you to make the same mistake; even if they would deserve whatever you did to them."

'Why does this sound similar to how Faunus are sometimes treated…?' Blake questioned in her mind.

"Okay…?" Ruby replied unsurely, sounding concerned for Yang from what Blake could tell.

"Like I said, he'll tell you about it. In the meantime, get some sleep and I'll see you again in a minute," Yang told her sister.

"Right. Goodnight, Yang," the young Rose bid before getting off Yang's bed and climbing onto her own. She pulled the covers over her form and eased her mind into sleep not long after.

Blake waited until she heard the soft breathing from all three of her teammates before she pulled the covers off her body and looked to Yang's sleeping visage on the bunk above her.

'She mentioned some sort of link that Ruby gained… Plus there was mentions of his world, which would imply that this Naruto guy isn't from Remnant at all, but from some sort of different reality or something similar… Yang must have had some sort of link to him for a long time and couldn't get Ruby to share that link until recently…'

Seeing as her team was sleeping – and how two of them were on some spiritual journey of sorts – Blake chose to lie back down and try to sleep.

'I wonder, though… If everything they're saying is true and there is some other reality where Naruto exists, and they can spend time with him…what's that world like? What is he like? And…can someone else get their own link to that reality?'

When Ruby felt herself stir, she opened her silver eyes to what looked to be an old apartment. She was standing in the main room of the apartment which had a couch with a coffee table, a small television on a stand with some video tapes and a movie player, and an opened space that was connected to a kitchen that had a simple table and two chairs. There were some potted plants that hung on a windowsill so that they had access to sunlight; but they looked like they had died from lack of care.

'Well, if what Yang said was true, then Naruto wasn't home to care for them while on his training trip,' she mused before looking to the young blonde man in question who was in the middle of cooking breakfast.

"Hope you like eggs, Little Red," he called out without turning around. "It was all I can get on short notice."

"Uh… Eggs are fine," she answered, taking a moment to look at herself and observe how she was a spectral image like Naruto appeared as in Remnant. "This is weird…"

"Heh… You'll get used to it. It's possessing a Shadow Clone that'll be even weirder," he told her. "Speaking of which…"

In two bursts of smoke beside him, twin duplicates of Naruto appeared before Ruby's eyes. The copies then made matching gestures with their hands before they were engulfed in smoke once more.

Once the smoke cleared again, she saw perfect replicas of Yang and herself that took the two chairs at his table. The copy of herself waved and spoke up.

"You can possess me during your stay here. As soon as you overshadow me, you'll be in control," the Ruby Copy told her in a perfect rendition of her voice.

"Whoa…" Ruby muttered before taking a breath to steel her nerves. Mentally ready, she approached her duplicate and allowed her spectral form to sink into the body and fill out the "mold" of it. With a small groan, she commented, "It feels like I'm wearing a full-body suit that looks like me."

"Yang made a similar comment the first time she possessed a clone. Only, she said it felt like she was squeezing herself into a costume of herself."

Ruby nodded at that, stretching out the stiffness she felt in this temporary body. As she got the kinks out, she never noticed Yang's spectral form appear in a burst of spiritual embers, nor did she see Yang casually enter the clone body of herself.

It wasn't until she heard Yang groaning as she popped her temporary body's joints that Ruby became aware of Yang's presence. "Hey, sis!" she greeted.

"Morning, Rubes," Yang replied as Naruto set plates of scrambled eggs in front of them. "Aww, thanks Foxy!"

Watching Yang start to eat, Ruby looked down at the plate of food and slowly grasped a fork before she took a bite. While she absently noted the eggs could've used a bit of pepper, she was more focused on how the body she was possessing could feel the fork between its fingers, taste the eggs in its mouth, and smell both the food and the slightly stale air of the apartment.

"Holy Crow, this is real!" she exclaimed with widened eyes as she turned to Naruto, who was leaning against the sink and eating his own plate of eggs. "I'm actually here in your world!"

Chuckling between bites of food, Naruto replied, "Yep. Welcome to the Hidden Leaf Village, Ruby."

Yang snickered at the awestruck silence Ruby had. Having her sister here in the village with her and Naruto was going to be interesting.

"So, let me see if I've got this right…" Ruby began as she strolled beside the blonde duo. "When Yang and I are asleep in Remnant, we are brought here to your world, and when you sleep it's the opposite?"

"Yep," both blondes replied.

"But what if you're knocked out and not asleep?"

"We were curious about that too…until I wound up knocking myself out in the middle of setting up a prank," Naruto answered sheepishly.

"After he knocked himself out cold, I forced myself to wake up back in Remnant," Yang continued. "When he didn't show up for an hour, I fell back asleep and returned to where he was still unconscious. Turns out that you need to have cognitive function for the journey between worlds."

"Cog-what now?" the young Rose asked.

"To put it simply, you're mind needs to be in a healthy state. Knocking someone out doesn't allow their thoughts to process, so they aren't using any mental energies," Naruto clarified. "If you want more in-depth details from what we've been able to figure out, you could ask Granny Tsunade after we introduce you to her. No doubt she'll want to scan your mind and see how it's different from us."

Ruby nodded before perking up as they passed by a shop with a rack of swords on display in the window. "Ooh! Weapons shop! Can we go in? Please?"

Yang gave Naruto a pointed smile at her sister's request, and he chuckled in response. "Sure thing," he allowed as the trio entered the shop.

The blondes heard a familiar voice call out, "We're not open yet!" from the back room behind the checkout counter.

"We're not here to shop, Tenten," Naruto called back, prompting the aspiring weapons master to reveal herself. "Good to see you again."

"Was wondering when you and Yang would get back," she commented, stepping out from behind the counter so that she could give them a brief hug in greeting. Noticing their tagalong, she asked, "Who's this?"

"This is my little sister, Ruby Rose," the Remnant blonde introduced. "Rubes, this is Tenten Higurashi. She's a member of Team 9 in the village, also known as Team Guy."

"Nice to meet you, Ruby," Tenten welcomed with a kind smile. "Are you a Huntress too?"

Ruby, feeling more comfortable around a new person thanks to the presence of Yang and Naruto, nodded at her question. "Yeah, I am. Well, we're going to Beacon to become Huntresses, anyway."

"Turns out," Naruto cut in, "Ruby has a fetish for different kinds of weapons like you do, Tenten."

"It's not a fetish, damnit!" she denied vehemently while poor Ruby squeaked in embarrassment. "I just happen to appreciate various kinds of weaponry and utilize them as my main means of combat! Is that so wrong?!"

"And you happen to go gaga over the more famous weapons of the world," Yang added with a grin before nudging Naruto. "Remember how upset she was when we told her that you guys left Zabuza's sword back in Wave Country?"

Tenten blushed at that before moaning in despair at their teasing.

"Yeah, she chased us with kunai and senbon for hours about it," Naruto remembered in amusement before deciding to take mercy on his friend. "Oh relax, Tenten. You know that his sword served as the most respectful grave marker we could've given him. None of us on Team 7 could have used it, and it didn't feel right to return it to the Hidden Mist or some Bounty Collector for a reward."

Sighing, Tenten nodded in grudging agreement while Ruby asked, "What made his sword so special?"

Tenten answered, "It's part of the legendary swords of the Seven Hidden Mist Swordsmen. Zabuza was the wielder of the Kubikiribōchō, also known as the Decapitating Carving Knife. It was designed to look like a butcher's knife that had the blade as tall as a man with a hole in the middle of the blade close to the tip while there was a half-circle notch closer to the handle, which helped the name given to it."

Ruby watched as Tenten took a piece of paper and drew a rough sketch of the weapon in question, looking impressed by what she saw illustrated before her. "Wow… So, it was just a really big sword?"

"Not exactly," Naruto answered. "See, each sword of the Seven Swordsmen has a unique feature to it that makes them special. The Kubikiribōchō was able to use the iron from someone's blood to regenerate and restore itself if it was ever cut down to a lesser size."

Ruby was a strange mix of pale from fear and sparkle-eyed from awe. "So, it was like a vampire sword?!"

Yang snorted at her sister's oversimplification of the weapon and how Tenten's brow twitched at it. "Basically, yeah."

"It's more sophisticated than that!" Tenten argued hotly. "All of the Seven Mist Swords are sophisticated!"

"Really? Can you tell me more about them?! They sound incredible!" Ruby pleaded, looking excited at the prospect of learning about the legendary weapons.

Tenten, seeing the passion in the girl's eyes, smirked in triumph. "Finally! Someone who can appreciate quality weapons!"

Naruto decided to stop the bonding moment before it could get too deep by grabbing Ruby's hood and pulling her along as he and Yang left. "Later, Tenten! We gotta go see Granny Tsunade!"

"Wait! No, let me go! I found my weaponry soulmate! Come on…!" Ruby cried, crocodile tears streaming down her face as she was taken against her will.

Yang simply waved to Tenten, who called back, "Next time you're around, we can talk shop, Ruby!"

"You bet!" the young Rose called back before getting to her feet and waving to her new friend before falling back in step with her blonde companions. "She was nice."

"Yeah, Tenten is pretty cool. She helped me improve my accuracy with my shuriken and kunai when I was still in the Academy. You should've seen how horrified she was when she saw my efforts back then. She looked like she had seen her worst nightmare."

"She then gave Foxy an hour-long rant about proper grip, correct stance, and weapon maintenance since he was using slightly rusted weapons," Yang continued.

"When I told her that all my weapons were scavenged from deserted training grounds, she took me to her family's store and gave me my first set for free before helping me practice. She was probably my first real friend in the Academy after that."

Ruby, recalling what Yang had told her earlier, asked softly, "You didn't have other friends? Why? I mean, you're really nice…"

Naruto smiled somberly and ruffled her hair affectionately. "Let's just say that most of the kids were told to stay away from me by their overreactive parents."

Yang looked away with a furious expression before she felt Naruto grab her hand. Looking back to him and that damnable smile of his, she couldn't stay angry and sighed. She really hated how overly forgiving he could be and how he hated to hold a grudge.

She blamed the old fart that was the Third Hokage and his influence on the man she loved. Thanks to the man, Naruto was repeatedly told that people who mistreated him were misunderstood and that they needed time to see the truth of Naruto's circumstances.

She, personally, thought that the old bastard just didn't want Naruto to stand up for himself; even if Naruto would be entirely justified in doing so. Looking back, she imagined the man didn't want to deal with the so-called hassle of the village's weapon standing up for itself.

When she joined Naruto for the Third's funeral service, she didn't have a tear worth shedding for the man. In her eyes, it was good riddance to someone who told a victim of abuse to accept their lot in life and blame no one.

It was safe to say that Yang absolutely despised Hiruzen Sarutobi.

She had confessed such feelings to Naruto before, and while he didn't fully agree with her opinions about the man, he could see where she was coming from. Truthfully, Naruto knew that his forgiving nature could be taken advantage of; but he wanted to see the good in people. He didn't want to live a jaded life and lash out at others because of how they treated him. Being angry and resentful all the time was too painful for him, and it was what Sasuke had done after Itachi had killed off the Uchiha Clan.

Seeing what such anger and resentment had resulted in for his old teammate, Naruto didn't want to go down such a dark path…because he was afraid of where it would end, or if it would never end. The darkness scared him, and he didn't want to be swallowed up by it.

The two blondes had this discussion multiple times during Naruto's training trip, and they even argued about it more than once on their clashing opinions. Fortunately, talking with Jiraiya was helpful for them both because he helped them see the other's point of view and reach an appreciation for the different opinions.

For Yang, she hated seeing Naruto accept what had happened and doing nothing else about it. She wanted him to make the villagers see themselves for the abusive assholes they were.

For Naruto, he didn't want to give in to his hatred and lose himself. Even Yang admitted that she wouldn't know if she could keep him from doing something drastic if he gave in.

After that, the two blondes had grown closer, which Jiraiya thought was impressive since they were already remarkably close.

"…Tell her, Naruto," she told him, her voice almost a whisper after they shared a moment without words.

Naruto kept his gaze on Yang for a few seconds longer before he nodded. "Yeah…"

With that said, the trio left the streets of the village proper and moved their location to a nearby park where it was relatively secluded. Sitting on a bench, Yang took her spot next to Naruto on his left while Ruby sat on his right.

Turning to Ruby, he asked, "I'm guessing Yang let you know that I'm not super popular in my home, right?"

"…she mentioned something like that," Ruby replied softly.

"The reason for that is because of what happened on the night I was born. You see, there are creatures in this world that are basically living masses of chakra. They're known as the Bijuu, and the strongest of them is the Kyuubi."

"The Kyuubi…?" Ruby repeated.

"Picture a fox as large as a skyscraper, sis," Yang offered. "And imagine it having nine tails and enough power to wipe out an army of Grimm without a sweat."

Ruby took a second to form such an image in her mind, and she wondered what such a creature had to do with Naruto's unpopularity in his own home.

"Alongside the Bijuu are living vessels that they are locked away inside of. These vessels – these people – are called Jinchūriki," Naruto continued. "And I was made into the Kyuubi's Jinchūriki on the night I was born."

Ruby sat there and listened as Naruto explained what he could about his birth night, and how his father – who was practically worshiped as a hero and was at one time the leader of the village – sealed away the Kyuubi into his own son after the Bijuu was somehow separated from his mother, the previous Jinchūriki. She listened as Naruto told her of the devastation caused by the Kyuubi and how it was only stopped because his parents gave up their lives to seal it into him.

She was then told of how word got out of his status as the new Jinchūriki and how the villagers, blinded by their anguish and hatred caused by the Kyuubi, saw him as the beast in human skin. He then spoke of how a law was passed to keep his existence as the Jinchūriki a secret, but that the damage had already been done and parents passed on their hatred and fear into their children.

Ruby never realized how tears were rolling down her cheeks as Naruto told her about the lonely life he lived before a miracle happened and Yang somehow became intwined in it. She smiled when he told her how Yang's presence in his life changed it from a lonely existence into a more fulfilling one thanks to her friendship.

Throughout his explanation, Ruby saw the way Yang looked at Naruto. While she herself had never experienced such a feeling, the young Rose could easily see the love Yang felt for her fellow blonde. And while Naruto may not see the love Yang had for him, Ruby strongly believed that he felt the same for her based on how his voice changed when he spoke about her and what she had done for his life.

To Ruby, it was a story that started off sad and left her questioning about the lack of hope in Naruto's life before it changed into one of happiness thanks to the actions of her sister. It was so beautiful to her, and she mentally promised to try and help Yang and Naruto find their happiness together.

'After all,' the young Rose mused, 'he is practically a big brother to me, anyway. Why not make it official?'

Meeting Tsunade was an interesting experience for Ruby. She looked so young, but Naruto and Yang wasted no time in bursting the woman's bubble and informing Ruby that she was much older than she looked.

While she winced at the blow Naruto received from the rightfully irate woman, Ruby couldn't help smiling at how close the two were. While they heckled one another and threw verbal jabs – plus some physical ones from Tsunade – Ruby could tell that there was a strong bond between them.

"So," she snapped out of her thoughts when Tsunade spoke to her, "you're also from Remnant. How did you come here alongside Yang? I thought only she could come here."

"I made a link with Ruby when I overshadowed her during their test," Naruto explained. "We still don't know what changed that allowed Ruby to see me and for me to possess her, but this proves that anyone I set up a link with can come here with me."

Steepling her fingers, Tsunade hummed thoughtfully at that, showing she was intrigued. "I'll do a scan on Ruby's mental energies later before she and Yang return. You and Yang have a similar mental wavelength, so maybe Ruby will have one that is a close match."

"Maybe," Yang agreed with a smile. "Before that, when's our test supposed to happen?"

Looking at the clock, Tsunade replied, "It's happening soon. I'll go there with you three and get more details about what could've caused the link to form."

"Y'know," Ruby spoke up, "it's almost like this link thing is Naruto's Semblance."

Looking to Yang, Tsunade asked, "You mentioned that a Semblance was an ability or power unique to each person, right?"

"Some are similar to others, but yeah," the Remnant blonde answered as she considered her sister's observation. "I'm not sure if it'd a Semblance though since Foxy isn't from Remnant and doesn't have Aura."

"What if I was passively absorbing Aura from you whenever I overshadowed you, Firecracker?" Naruto suggested. "And what if you were doing the same with my chakra whenever you overshadowed me?"

Tsunade spoke up, "It's possible that you two have acclimated the different energies since you both have had this link for many years, but that doesn't explain Ruby. She only established this link recently." Her expression turned contemplative, and she murmured aloud, "Although, Aura is thought to be only half of chakra, so maybe the difference in energies isn't enough to deny the link… Perhaps it's simply his spiritual energy forming a connection or tether to yours that creates the link…"

"Granny, we're losing you to the rabbit hole," Naruto warned jokingly, snapping Tsunade from her thought process. "We can figure this out more later. In the meantime, we should probably meet the others for our test."

While she was too interested in the possibilities concerning Naruto's ability to form a spiritual link, Tsunade had to concede to him. They would be late at this rate.

"Let's get going then," she stated as the foursome left her office for the training grounds.

It was quite the reunion for Naruto and Yang when they arrived. Seeing as Kurenai would be testing them on their resistance to genjutsu, she had brought along her team since they had been training earlier that morning. Asuma and his team had spotted them while they were taking their team lunch and decided to join them; though Yang and Ino knew it was just an excuse for Asuma to spend time with the admittedly gorgeous Jonin kunoichi.

Anko was hanging out with Kakashi and had dragged him to the training grounds so that he wasn't late as usual. Though, Naruto and Yang were both surprised to see how she held onto his arm as they talked with their fellow Jonin. While surprised, both blondes were happy for the obvious couple. They seemed happy.

Yang handled introducing Ruby to Naruto's old classmates. She knew her sister wasn't a fan of large crowds of new people, so she stood close to her and helped ease her into joining the conversation. It helped that most of them were more focused on talking to Naruto and herself than speaking to Ruby.

While rude, it was fine since Ruby was more comfortable observing.

Naruto was happy to see the other rookies once again and could catch up with them. While he was away, they all had advanced to Chunin rank, save for Neji who had become a Jonin. Team Guy wasn't present, but he would talk to Lee and Neji another time.

Ino had spoiled it for Shikamaru when she practically yelled that he and Temari were dating and acting as the liaisons between the Leaf and Sand. Naruto had jokingly warned him not to upset Temari or Gaara would kill him.

That warning had led to probably the most interesting but of news in his opinion. Apparently, to further cement the remade alliance between their villages, Hinata and Gaara had been politically engaged to one another. Temari didn't want to say anything since she felt it wasn't he place, but Naruto wondered if Hinata was alright with this since he had been told about her crush on him by Yang.

The softspoken Hyuuga assured him that she was fine with the engagement because it was the best-case scenario for her. When he asked her why, her response was something he honestly should have expected.

"I was worried about what my position as the heiress would mean for my little sister, Hanabi. I was prepared to decline my right to become the future Clan Head, but then my father informed me about the political marriage to strengthen the alliance between our villages. According to him, since it would be a massive sign of disrespect, I wouldn't be branded with the Caged Bird Seal and Hanabi would take my position of heiress while I became the future wife of the Kazekage."

"I get that, Hinata," Naruto commented. "And I'm happy that this is working out for you…but are you happy with this?"

Hinata smiled at his concern. "I'll admit that I was scared at first since I still remember what Gaara-kun did to those Hidden Rain Genin during the Chunin Exams. But after spending some time talking with him and seeing the man beneath the scared rumors, I realized that he could be someone I can genuinely fall in love with. He isn't very expressive, but I can tell that you and Yang helped inspire him to become a better person."

He made an unsure face and hesitantly asked, "And he's not a replacement for me…right?"

Hinata, understanding why he was concerned, couldn't help giggling at his question. "Not at all, Naruto-kun. Sure, he wants to be like you, but only in the sense of doing right by his village and becoming more than what they saw him as. Those were the only similarities between you both, and I admire the ways Gaara is different from you; enough to admit that I'm looking forward to the marriage."

Yang smiled at that and said, "Well, I'm happy for you, Hinata. And I hope you and Sandman have a wonderful life together."

Naruto nodded and added, "Just be sure to invite us to the wedding."

Hinata blushed at that and confessed, "I actually have a request from Gaara for you, Naruto-kun. He wanted to know if you'd act as his Best Man for the wedding. I was going to have Hanabi as my Maid of Honor."

While surprised at the request, Naruto was incredibly touched by it and grinned at Hinata. "Absolutely! I'd be honored!"

Hinata smiled back and hugged him in thanks.

After that, Naruto learned that Kiba was training with the Hunter Ninja Squads while Shino was receiving training from his father and, surprisingly, Iruka about becoming a future instructor at the Academy. Kiba was always one for a good fight, so hunting bounties wasn't unexpected, but Shino wanting to teach future ninja and kunoichi was.

Still, Naruto wished them both luck in their endeavors and promised to train with them sometime in the future.

Ino had joined her father for training in the Torture and Interrogation Force. Considering how her father was an expert in that field, and that someone like Ibiki Morino was part of that division, Ino would receive top notch training and would excel. However, Ino confessed that she wanted to use her experience in that division to become a psychiatrist in the future.

Apparently, a clansman of hers had committed suicide recently, and she felt it could have been avoided if he had received proper psychiatric care. It didn't help that he was a cousin of hers that she knew since she was a child.

But the loss of her cousin served to fuel her drive to help people stay in good mental health. She wanted to save people from falling down the path her cousin unfortunately went to.

Shikamaru, aside from being a liaison, was being nominated to act as the future Jonin Sensei of the first ever joint Genin team between the Hidden Leaf and Hidden Sand. It would be a standard team of three Genin, but two of them would be from the Sand and stay in the Leaf under his instruction.

Naturally, Shikamaru found it to be troublesome, but he admitted that it would be a challenge that he genuinely looked forward to. It would be a test of his mental capacity to teach three Genin and find ways to mix the different cultures together to become a cohesive unit.

Finally, Choji was being rigorously trained by his father and by Asuma so that he could apply for the Twelve Guardian Ninja. According to Asuma, who was once a member, they were the bodyguards of the daimyo and served him directly. To reach such a position was a huge honor, but it required immense dedication and training.

And while Choji was more of a pacifist, he had learned how to put aside that mentality when it came to his duty and to his comrades. After all, while it was often noble to be a man of peaceful solutions, there was still such a thing as the dangers of cowardice and rigid pacifism, especially when you needed to act.

Because in this world and all other worlds, the only thing that evil needs to win was a good person to stand on the sidelines and do nothing.

Naruto was proud of his old classmates and the goals they had set for themselves, or the ones offered to them and they accepted. But now, he, Sakura, and Yang had a test to complete.

Ruby stood off to the side by Tsunade and Jiraiya, who arrived not long after Naruto started talking with his friends. Like Tsunade, he was interested in how Ruby was there, but he put it aside in favor of observing the test.

Kakashi spoke up with his signature eye-smile, "Okay then. The first test will be your taijutsu against Anko and myself. Sakura, you will face Anko while I will face the Twin Blondies."

"I thought Anko was testing all of us on our taijutsu?" Sakura asked.

"That was originally the plan, Pinky," Anko began, "but it's better for Cyclops here to face them. He'll be whipping out his pink eye when he fights them so that he can analyze the differences in their fighting styles while experiencing them first-hand. Meanwhile, you'll immediately go onto your medical ninjutsu test after this test and patch everyone up."

Sakura nodded in understanding while Naruto and Yang wasted no time and blitzed Kakashi, much to her surprise since the Jonin never gave the starting signal.

(Naruto Shippuden OST: The Fourth Hokage)

Kakashi lifted up his headband and revealed his Sharingan and leapt back as Naruto blurred into view where he once stood, crouched low while Yang suddenly appeared with her hand on his back to hold herself up for a spear kick that barely missed due to Kakashi's quick evasion.

Flowing through her kick and getting back on her feet, Yang rushed Kakashi while Naruto was right behind her, both blondes grinning in excitement for the fight before them.

Kakashi took his stance and watched as the two blondes zigzagged at high speed before Naruto vanished from sight and Yang closed the distance, throwing a punch that Kakashi caught with his palm. He twisted his body and pulled her so that she flew past him while Naruto reappeared above him with an axe kick that the Jonin avoided with a twisting lateral jump.

Naruto's foot cracked the earth, and he vanished in a plume of smoke, swapping places with Yang who leapt at Kakashi with a spinning kick reminiscent of the Leaf Hurricane that Kakashi ducked under. He then reached up and gripped Yang's outstretched leg before spinning around to hurl her at Naruto, who leapt over her while clapping his hands together.

"Release!" he called out, and his chakra flexed enough to make spiderweb cracks on the ground. Grinning deviously, Naruto said, "Hope my speed wasn't too much before, sensei. Because I'm actually much faster, ttebayo!"

Vanishing once again, a multitude of whisker faced blondes spawned into existence and surrounded Kakashi in a series of high-speed movements that made them hard to track. Ruby, who was all about speed thanks to her Semblance, noticed right away that they weren't actually copies of Naruto, but were rather afterimages produced by his intense speed. She then spotted Yang rushing in, her form phasing through the afterimages as she rushed Kakashi.

"Frontal attacks won't work, Blondie," the Jonin admonished, but frowned when she smirked and suddenly vanished. He couldn't think on it, because his Sharingan caught Naruto going in for the first time since he started his afterimage trick.

He blocked a hit from his left, only to immediately deflect one aimed at his back, only to then swerve away from one aimed at his face. His old student was so fast that each blow was deliberately made to glance so that he couldn't be snagged. Kakashi ducked beneath a roundhouse, only to frog leap to avoid a sliding kick, but this left him open for Yang who had dropped down with her fist reared back for a devastating punch.

"Got you!" she declared, her fist cracking against his back, but she clicked her tongue when a shattered log took his place. Getting back to her feet, Naruto reappeared beside her with his hand on her shoulder.

"Ready?"

"Yep."

"Brace yourself," he warned before her world blurred thanks to him pulling her along for the ride.

Kakashi had just missed them, his hands erupting from the ground to try and grasp them. He had barely pulled himself out of the ground before being forced to cross his arms to put up a last-minute defense against a double uppercut from the two blondes. Unfortunately, he couldn't prevent himself from being lifted off his feet and into the air and he suddenly felt his ankles being grabbed before his world started spinning.

Naruto, in midair, started flipping with Kakashi in his grip before flinging him down so that he was sent hurtling to the ground. Before he could impact, though, Yang had reappeared, her body already mid-jump as she delivered a rushing dropkick to Kakashi's chest. The sudden change of trajectory, and the increase of momentum was hard for him to brace for. However, he was brought to an abrupt halt when he felt the back of his head slam against a rough hand that immediately curled its fingers for a solid grip before slamming him into the ground face first.

(End Music)

However, he vanished into smoke upon impact, showing that he had swapped with a Shadow Clone. The real Kakashi staggered out from behind a tree, a hand gingerly pressing against his chest where Yang had dropkicked him while his free hand was held up to signal an end to the test.

"Not bad, you two," he praised with a wince. A few of his ribs were either cracked or bruised. "You're fighting styles compliment each other with Naruto disorienting the target with his speed while Yang hammers against any defenses they put up. Not to mention how Yang is used to you taking her along for the ride, Naruto. How long did it take for her to stop throwing up?"

Yang turned a bit green at the memory. "…a few weeks," she groaned out.

"That's actually better than you'd think," Tsunade spoke up as she approached them alongside Jiraiya and Ruby. Sakura had also finished her spar against Anko and was being overseen by Shizune as the pinkette healed herself and the Special Jonin. "It takes incredibly effort to get your body used to such a high rate of movement. It's too disorienting for you to keep your balance at first, and your body reacts by throwing up."

Yang nodded. "Yeah, when Foxy first started helping me adjust to his speed, it was hell. I was too afraid to eat anything because I was worried that I'd just have it come back up."

"I also had trouble sticking my landing at first," Naruto confessed. "Moving that fast for extended periods of time is hard on the body."

Ruby made a face at that. "Tell me about it… I kept crashing into walls and people when I first started training my Semblance. It wasn't fun…"

The two adults chuckled at the commentary from the teens. Meanwhile, Sakura had patched up Kakashi and checked Naruto for any injuries before shrugging when she found none, save for some slightly strained muscles from his high-speed movements.

Now that the taijutsu portion was finished, Kurenai tested the blondes on their genjutsu defense. She started with low level ones, which they quickly brushed off with little effort. Moving on to the middle tier ones, she was pleased to see them break free from those as well without much trouble. It took them a second to spot the illusions but dispelling them was quick and efficient.

When she went for one of her stronger illusions, the clone Yang occupied suddenly popped, which caught everyone by surprise before Naruto waved them off.

"It's fine, guys. The genjutsu was just too much for the chakra forming the Shadow Clone to handle. Hang on."

Forming another clone, Yang quickly took control of it and stretched out the kinks. "I saw myself bound to some tree before I was suddenly out of the clone body. Guess I popped, huh?"

Nodding, Kurenai replied, "I suppose higher tier genjutsu result in the clone becoming unstable and dispelling. This also has a beneficial effect for Naruto, though. Because the influx of the returning chakra disrupts any hold a genjutsu may have on him, breaking him free in an instant."

Tsunade mentally noted everything to record on paper for later. "Well at any rate, I'm assuming they both pass your evaluation?"

"Yes, Lady Hokage. They're more than ready to deal with anyone trying to use genjutsu on them."

"Excellent. Yang, you're done for now since all that's left for Naruto is his ninjutsu and fūinjutsu tests."

Shrugging, the Remnant blonde shared a fist bump with her fellow blonde before she moved to stand beside Ruby, who congratulated her on her performance before showing her amazement at the taijutsu portion and how fast they had moved.

Kakashi, who was waiting for Kurenai to finish, had Naruto come over for his ninjutsu test. "Alright, Naruto. I've been told by Lord Jiraiya that you have Wind and Water natures."

"Yep. Wind for offense and Water for a mix of defense and offense," Naruto confirmed.

"Glad to see you know their specialties. For this test, I want you to perfectly execute four jutsu of your choice. Two of them must be Wind jutsu, and the last two must be a defensive Water jutsu and an offensive one. Got it?"

"Can do," the Uzumaki replied before reaching into his pouch, tossing out a few shuriken, and going through the handseals for his first Wind jutsu. "Wind Style: Rotating Shuriken," he intoned, surrounding the shuriken in small spheres of wind that caused them to float in place and spin dangerously.

Kakashi observed as Naruto controlled the shuriken, using his jutsu to alter their flight paths with little effort and then orbit him in erratic patterns as a form of defense. "Very good. You even made it into a passable defensive barrier; something most Wind jutsu can't do."

Ending the technique, Naruto caught each of his shuriken before they could hit the ground and replaced them in his pouch. "Yeah, it took quite a lot of time to learn how to control multiple shuriken at once and have them go in separate directions."

"I'll bet. Now, show your next jutsu."

Nodding, Naruto held the Ram handseal and gathered wind in front of himself, condensing and pressurizing it continuously before he flexed his chakra and sent the jutsu flying to the trees ahead of him. When the compressed wind made contact, it expelled all of the pent-up wind as a massive dome that shredded the targeted tree and various other ones that were in the same vicinity.

Whistling at the impressive display, Kakashi commented, "That was Pressure Damage, right?"

Nodding, Naruto explained, "That's currently my strongest jutsu for Wind Style. It takes me some time to prepare, so I'd have some Shadow Clones run distraction as I ready it. And if I use Exploding Clones in conjunction with the jutsu, it becomes a massive fireball of destruction."

"Nice work. Now, show me your defensive based Water jutsu," Kakashi ordered.

Naruto complied by popping the cork of a waterskin strapped to his belt before going through a few handseals. "Water Style: Water Encampment Wall."

The water from the waterskin poured out before becoming an all-encompassing wall that surrounded Naruto and hid him from sight. Slowly, the same water bled out and became a thick mist that spread out wide and reduced visibility by a frightening degree.

With his voice coming from every direction within the mist, Naruto called out, "I'm still working on creating this without an existing water source, but Pervy Sage helped me get the grasp of the Silent Killing techniques used by the Hidden Mist. So, I figured that the Ninja Art: Hidden Mist Jutsu could count as my offensive Water Style technique for this test."

"Makes sense," Kakashi replied, watching the mist fade away before looking over his shoulder to see Naruto with the tip of a kunai pointed at his liver. "You're good, but you need to quiet your breathing a bit more."

Nodding in thanks for the advice, Naruto stowed away his kunai and grinned at his old sensei. "So, do I pass?"

Kakashi gave his signature eye-smile and nodded back. "Yes, you do. Excellent job, Naruto. I'm proud of what you've accomplished."

"Thanks, Kakashi-sensei."

Giving the blonde Uzumaki a lazy salute, the Jonin headed over to where Sakura was so that he could administer her ninjutsu test. Meanwhile, Asuma, Kurenai, and Anko moved over to him.

"First off, congrats, kid," Asuma started off, earning a thankful nod from Naruto. "Now, the three of us will judge your fūinjutsu. Normally, Jiraiya would do this; but we need to have an unbiased opinion since he was your instructor."

"Gotcha. So, I just show you one of my better seals and you guys give me your scores?"

"Exactly," Kurenai answered with a smile. "I'm looking forward to what you'll show us."

"Get on with it, Whiskers," Anko urged with a smirk.

Chuckling at her nickname for him, Naruto started to walk away from the adults before stopping when he was a safe distance. "Asuma-sensei, I want you to use the Fireball Jutsu on me."

Curious, the Jonin of Team 10 asked, "You sure, kid?"

"Yep! Go ahead!" he replied, holding up his left palm.

Asuma shrugged and performed the jutsu, blowing out a fireball that roared to life and flew at Naruto, only to vanish from sight. The three older ninja then saw Naruto hold his right palm to the sky and unleash a fireball that flew upwards before dispersing into embers.

"You went with that one, huh Foxy?" Yang asked with a knowing grin.

"What do you mean?" Kurenai asked.

Chuckling, she answered, "I like to read this comic called Bleach and I got Foxy to read it too. One of the characters we like has a weapon that inspired the twin seals you just saw in action."

"The seal on my left palm absorbs a single jutsu, and it's connected to a sister seal on my right palm that expels that same jutsu. I can also use my own chakra to make whatever jutsu used against me stronger or weaker; depending on who I unleash it on," Naruto continued.

"The weapon was called Sōgyo no Kotowari, which means Truth of Pisces. So, Foxy made the seals look like fish."

Naruto showed his palms and revealed the seals, showing a pair of fish that, when matched together, form the Yin-Yang symbol.

"Not bad, Whiskers! I can see that catching people by surprise!" Anko praised.

"Does it only effect jutsu that aren't being personally held by the opponent?" Kurenai asked curiously. "Like, for example, Kakashi's Lightning Blade?"

"We tested it on my Rasengan," Jiraiya informed them as he, Tsunade, and Ruby approached. "It took some tweaking, but we managed to make it absorb and redirect any singular jutsu."

"So, it won't work fully on jutsu with multiple shots or parts," Asuma deduced.

"Yep. But that's where Shadow Clones come in," Naruto replied with a grin. "They can use the seals too."

"Well, I say Whiskers passes with flying colors," Anko stated.

"I agree," Kurenai added.

"Full marks," Asuma concluded.

Tsunade nodded and gave Naruto a proud smile. "Congrats, Naruto. I hereby grant you the rank of Chunin for now. After a few missions, we'll see about a future promotion."

"Hell yeah!" Yang cheered leaping into Naruto's arms as he spun her around and they laughed, unaware of the others having knowing smiles on their faces.

Ruby watched them with a soft smile. 'They're two idiots in love,' she mused, knowing Yang had some idiotic moments and having been told about of few of Naruto's own idiotic moments. 'I just hope they stop being idiots long enough to tell each other how they feel…'

Only time would tell if her hopes would be fulfilled or if they'd be dashed.

That's the end, folks!

Hope this was worth the wait! Next time will be back in Remnant, where a certain Neko is being a curious cat about a Foxy Blonde!

What will happen next?

Until next time!

Stay safe, healthy, and positive!

Dreaming of the Future

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