A/N: Three updates in less than twenty-four hours; hope everyone's enjoying it; because my stamina's wearing thin. Might need a break after this...or two...maybe three...

Nay! I must persevere!

In a lot of pain right now, and I'm limping off to work. Looking forward to reading your wonderful reviews when I get back. As ever, trolls are to be laughed at. They get triggered so easily these days. *shrugs* So I'm sorry if this seems short.

This chapter further explores the NarutoxCinder dynamic while trying to keep things as realistic as I can. I'm not one for bashing characters; but there are some...arguments in this chapter. Alas, its a part of the story and a necessary one. I'd cut it out if I could, but its an integral part of this chapter and highlights just how Naruto and Cinder are developing as characters, let alone people. They are, the both of them, flawed.

But that's what makes it interesting, I find.

Q: Cinder best girl?

A: More like Cinder DEADLIEST girl. At least in this story. She's a wicked little thing and she guards her turf jealously.

Q: Is there Aura in this world?

A: This chapter will answer that inquiry.

Q: Can we expect others to reincarnate into this story?

A: Yup.

And there we go! That's all I have to say this time around.

As ever, I own no references, themes or memes. Ha! If I did, I'd be a rich man.

Now then, I'll let you guys and gals be. Grab some popcorn, and I'll see you at the end of the chapter.

"This world will be yours."

~?

Dust to Dust

Naruto wasn't a minion.

Cinder learned that lesson rather quickly in the coming days of their...

...hmm. What could she call this? A partnership? No, that wasn't it at all. Romance, then?

Absurd! Just the thought made her lip curl. Her mind might be that of an adult, but her body was still that of a child. Besides, she and Naruto were far too young for such things. She could she the potential in him and the man he might yet become, but such a day was still far off. No, she needed a better word for this.

"Um...Cinder?" Naruto's voice rang out across the yard. "You're staring into space. You alright...?"

She waved him into silence.

"Yup." came the sigh. "She's monologuing again.

Friendship? Aha! There was the word she sought. She couldn't quite quantify it as anything else. She'd not had a friend before. Such a quaint feeling. Regardless, he didn't take orders from her. If anything, he made her soft. Frightfully so. Her life had been miserable. He was the light in that darkness. Perhaps that was why he refused to be treated like a minion; if only because he knew he wasn't one. He knew he had a role to play in her grand schemes, and was determined to be just that. A player. Not a piece for her to move about on the board at her leisure, but an equal.

Maybe that was for the best.

Cinder considered the matter further as she turned the scroll over in her hands.

Ohhh, how the clan elders would seethe over what she was about to do. Did she care? Nope. Not a bit.

"This is a fire jutsu." she explained to him, touching a finger to the dry parchment, uncaring as other children ran nearby and kicked up clouds of dirt. Fools. Let them have their games. Any free time was time to be spent training, not playing tag. What had their teacher called it. Recess? Bah! "And this," said finger traced the instructions, and she felt his keen blue eyes follow, "Is how to use it."

Naruto seized on it reluctantly. "Will this hurt?"

"Only if you choke on the flame."

He blanched.

"I'm joking, of course."

Only a year together and he devoured everything she gave him. Emerald and Mercury may well be lost to her, yet in place of her pawns she had a clan. Power. Prestige. The name Uchiha carried weight here in the village. It opened doors for her. She was given advanced training and a wealth of information; intelligence which she in turn passed down to Naruto. Through her, he learned tricks and techniques that he might have never known and in turn she gained insights into his power while he backed in his presence. Really, their relationship benefited him more than her.

"Inhale deeply." she instructed him. "You need powerful lungs for this to work."

In her last life she would have used such knowledge like a leash; used it to keep him indebted to her.

Now?

"No, no, no." she slapped his back to keep him from slouching when he coughed. "Not like that. Deep breaths. Like you're building up for a scream."

"You mean...like Iruka-sensei?" her partner ventured.

Cinder smirked in fond memory of their teacher. "Yes. Just like him."

Naruto laughed, and she found herself stifling a giggle. Bah! Such a child. Then again, so was she.

Try as she might she just couldn't bring herself to hobble Naruto. So what if the clan elders despised him? Piss on 'em. Shortsighted fools who didn't understand his worth. The nine-tailed fox was mighty beyond words; an almighty avatar of death and destruction. It was as power she would never have, one that eclipsed even the fledgling fragment of the Fall Maiden within her. But if such a power were loyal to her, saw her as a friend, an ally, or perhaps something more...well!

That had potential.

"You're doing it all wrong!" Her hand came up under his chin when he expelled a cloud of smoke. "This is fire, Naruto. Not smoke. Not ash. Fire. It won't obey you until you make it. Fire hungers. Fire consumes all. Fire is dangerous. Fire burns. Fire devours. It will burn you if you let it."

He nodded slowly.

It wasn't because she wanted him to improve, to see him grow alongside her. No. Certainly not! She wasn't getting soft. She really was.

"Hey, Uchiha!" one of the other children called. "Ain't it a pain hanging with the dead last? Come play tag with us!"

Naruto twitched at the mention of his infamous title and sure enough, his concentration slipped.

"Focus." Cinder pinched his cheek. "They are beneath you. Keep your eyes closed."

Softie!

"You even listening?!"

"Quiet, dog." she snapped over her shoulder. "Go play with your pack. This one is mine."

She didn't miss the small, secretive smile that flitted across Naruto's face.

Cinder bit back a growl at the thought. She was popular to be sure, but the same could not be said of her erstwhile ally. He was the outcast, the pariah, the shunned. They thought she was taking pity on him. Fools! He was greater than them all! He held a living fragment of a god within him! If they refused to see his potential, then she would nurture it out of spite if nothing else.

And when he was strong, she would stand beside him as their enemies burned.

"Breathe." she demanded of him. "You need to focus."

(.0.0.0.)

"Breathe."

Naruto inhaled.

"Feel the fire deep within you."

Impatiently, the blond blew out an angry breath.

"That is your chakra." Cinder's instruction continued despite his closed eyes. "Take it. Make it bend to your will."

Naruto tried to do as his friend instructed. He really, truly did. Everytime he reached for it, his chakra eeled out of his grasp. Like grasping a horde of slippery fish fresh from the water, so too did his power slip away from him each and every time. There was too much of it; too much to control, let alone funnel into a jutsu.

"I...can't!"

"You can!" her voice lashed at him like a whip. "You have more power than you could possible know, Naruto. Stop making excuses and tap into it."

She was a harsh taskmaster to be sure, but that sat fine with him. It was alright. He'd asked for this after all. He would never improve if someone didn't believe in him. Push him. Trust him. Iruka-sensei was nice and all, but he couldn't be around all the time. Not like Cinder. She made time.

Still, her words stung at him. He had his pride, after all.

"I'm trying." he grit his teeth. "This is harder than it looks for crying out-yow!"

Her hand descended swiftly, swatting him upon the nose. "Do or do not. There is no try."

"Says the prodigy." he groused, eyes still closed. "This must've been easy for you."

"Wrong. I gained my strength from hard work. So shall you."

When he continued to struggle, Cinder finally lost her patience with him.

"I'd hoped that I wouldn't have to resort to this." With a put upon sigh, she crossed the distance between them. "Perhaps we've been going about this the wrong way." A pause followed, and he could've sworn he heard a grinding of teeth. "I am...unaccustomed to teaching others. I have little experience in it. Now hold stil.

Her arms closed around him from behind. One hand found his forehead. The other, alighted upon his chest, just above his heart.

Naruto yelped and tried to flail his arms, to no avail. She held on, hands like burning iron. "Cinder?!"

"Hush." she reprimanded him. "Focus on the sound of my voice. And nothing else."

Her hand pulsed, pushing a fresh current of warmth into his body.

When her words came, they rooted him.

"For it is in ambition that we find freedom." Her voice sounded different for a moment, the most fleeting of instants. Older. Wiser. Downright sultry, even. A young woman, rather than a gangly girl. "Through this, we ever ascend to new and grander heights." Every sentence she spoke enfolded him in a cocoon of warmth. "By my words I unburden you of your guilt, release your soul, and set you free." She pressed closer, her small form flush against his back. Naruto felt his throat go dry for some reason.

Somewhere in his soul, a beast began to stir.

"Well, well." a deep, resonating voice growled. "How...unexpected."

"I am here." Cinder whispered in his ear, words soft as an autumn breeze. "Never forsake me...

Naruto swallowed. His lips moved of their own accord to speak words of their own. "...and I will never forsake you."

Cinder laughed in raw triumph and Something sprang to life deep inside of him, welling up like a smoldering flame in his veins. It wasn't chakra, no, this felt like something else entirely. His chakra burned high and wild and bright as ever, but it felt stronger now, reinforced by some strange aspect of his soul that he didn't understand. It left him feeling powerful, stronger than ever before. He dare not open his eyes. Something told him Cinder would be terribly cross with him if he did.

"What," he croaked, "What did you do to me?"

He felt her smile against him. "I have awakened you. You're welcome."

"The hell does that mean?"

"It means I've given you a gift from my world." She didn't let go of him and nuzzled her head into his back. "We call it Aura. Keep your eyes closed." she flicked his forehead when he tried to inspect the faint shimmering blue current flickering about his hands. "Now, Naruto. Tell me. What do you see?"

He focused his sharpened senses and turned them inward.

Sure enough, there it was in his mind's eye.

...a flame." he said.

"Then seize it."

He did so.

Pulling his chakra up and out of himself, he threaded it into his lungs. Focused it. Harnessed it. Lent it shape and form. It was easier now than before. Far easier. Whatever this "Aura" was, it guided his chakra, affording him a level of control he'd not known before. All his power was still there, bubbling just beneath the surface, but...not necessarily less, simply tamed. This time he was able to secure it firmly in his grasp. It fought him as always, but this time he overpowered it...and ignored the faint flicker of red running through blue. Azure orbs snapped open, gleaming with a hint of steel.

Breathe. He chanted the word like a mantra.

He inhaled, and his lungs expanded, swelling with chakra.

With but a single breath, he exhaled and brought fire into the world.

"Fireball jutsu!"

Heat burst from his lungs, yet left them untouched. His control was ironclad. A rush of flame burst from his lips, bathing the schoolyard in scarlet-and-orange relief. Children cried out at the sight of it, some in fear. Others with awe. He couldn't see well beyond the howling fire shooting into the sky, and crackle of the heat didn't do wonders for his ears, but he felt eyes on him all the same. Naruto ignored them all, fighting to maintain the jutsu for another thirty seconds. A minute. Finally, his control faltered and he had to breathe again.

Cinder afforded him a slow clap as the fires faded. "Well done. It only too you nine tries. You've improved."

His cheeks flushed, warming beneath the praise she generously gave him.

But Cinder was still Cinder, and she moved on. "Now, let us try-

And then someone had to go and ruin it.

"What're you doing?!"

(.0.0.0.)

Cinder frightened Sakura.

Naruto could recognize fear at a glance by now; if only because he'd seen it so many times before in so many faces. Oh, the village feared him, he knew that much, if not why. But they feared Cinder even more. For good reason. Unlike him, she had the power and prestige to back up her threats. And by jove, she would. No matter the time nor place, be it at home or in the schoolyard. If someone fought with her, she fought back thrice as hard.

And yet Sakura still felt the need to call her out this morning for some reason.

It didn't help that said girl had broken away from the rest of the pack with the intent of confronting them. Someone must've emboldened her today.

"You can't go firing off jutsu in the middle of the yard, idiot!" she railed at them as she drew closer. "Why are you even helping that loser?" Sakura wrinkled her nose at him. "The adults said we shouldn't go near him. He's bad, don't you know?. Don't waste your time on him. The teacher called him dead last for a reason. Showing him a jutsu won't help."

Muted laughter broke out behind her. Naruto grit his teeth. Ignore it. he willed at himself. Don't let it get to you.

Cinder wrinkled her nose, looking like she'd bitten into something foul. "Take that back."

"Or what?" the silly little girl said. "You'll hit me? Like you did Ino?"

"Perhaps." Cinder scoffed. "If I'm feeling merciful. She's learned her lesson. You, however, clearly need to be shown your place in the pecking order."

She stepped forward, pressing her forehead to Sakura's own.

"And that. Is. Beneath. Me."

"Why you...!?"

"You are a child." Cinder bulled on, her face still curiously blank. That was his first warning. "Too preoccupied with boys and picking flowers rather than strength. I pity you." Golden orbs flicked her up and down. "You will not last long when the war comes."

"War? What war?"

Cinder smirked. "As stated, I pity you. Poor child."

Sakura sputtered. "A-And I pity the company you keep!"

...oh?"

By now, Naruto knew all of Cinder's tells. A year had shown him nearly all of them.

Not only did Cinder Uchiha act years beyond her age, but she took a deep visceral pleasure in tearing down anyone who tried to insult him. Last week it had been Ino for some smarmy remark or another. Apparently today would Sakura's turn. After all, here she she was, stepping on her toes. All the toes. Not literally of course, she'd never survive that. But she'd riled Cinder up all the same. That spelled doom for anyone who wasn't him. Still, Cinder was his best friend and he felt the need to stand beside her. Quite possibly his only friend, come to think of it. But didn't that make him her only friend, too? She didn't hang out with anyone else.

Kinda sad, wasn't it?

And right now? Cinder's eyes were glowing. Worse, she was smiling. It wasn't a pleasant smile. Not by any means or measure. Naruto tried to intervene. He really did. She was just too quick for him. He grabbed Cinder by the arm but she slipped out of his grasp and moved. Sakura toppled backward with a cry and landed on her rear, clutching her face.

"I'll break more than your nose if you touch badmouth my intended again." Cinder raised her fist angrily. "Go ahead. Make my day."

Naruto slapped a palm to his forehead. "Cinder, no."

Her eyes blazed with fire. "CINDER, YES!"

"L-Leave me alone, you ash-head!"

Really, he didn't want anyone to fight. But when Sakura started to insult Cinder? Something slipped. He couldn't control himself any longer. Who did this pink harpy think she was? She already had loads of friends. But no, she couldn't be satisfied with that now could she? She had to take the one person who cared about his well being and insult her. Grind her down and call her nothing.

This wasn't the case, of course.

Children made mistakes all the time, misunderstood people as much as their intent. Had he stopped to think things through, the day might have ended differently. But he didn't. Naruto was to cross, too angry to try and glean meaning from their argument. He saw only what was before him, and came to the obvious conclusion, misguided though it was.

And from that simple misunderstanding? Something glorious happened.

At long last, Naruto Uzumaki finally stood up for himself.

"Be quiet." the words escaped him in a low growl.

Sakura rounded on him. "What?"

"I said," blue eyes flashed red for the merest of moments, "Shut up."

Sakura recoiled and behind him, Cinder's golden gaze burned with triumph. Naruto never saw it. His attention remained fixated on the startled pinkette before him. Her green eyes shimmered with tears. For a moment, he almost felt bad for what he'd said. Then he recalled her words and his pity became so much ash in his mouth. What did he owe this stranger? Nothing. No! Less than nothing!

"You're wretched!" he slashed an arm through the air with a snarl. "Leave us alone! I never want to see you again!"

Sakura wavered.

"Did he stutter?" Cinder conjured a tiny sphere of flame to her right hand, the fire burning angrily. "Or do you need another demonstration? Get."

Sakura got.

Naruto watched her go and felt something shrivel in his chest. It might have been his heart. He wasn't sure. His resolve faltered and stepped forward, intending to apologize. Cinder's arms coiled around him from behind and reeled him back in, dragging him back onto the path he'd unwittingly chosen. Damning him. Saving him. Perhaps both. Who could say?

"Well done." she purred praise into his ear. "I knew I was right to choose you."

He flung one last lingering look at where Sakura had gone, but he couldn't find her. With a helpless shrug, he gave up on her.

"Well, she was being really rude...

He would've said yet more, if someone else hadn't called out to them. "Ma'm? I...Is that you?"

Naruto groaned.

Cinder's head whipped toward the sound, golden eyes flashing.

They widened when they found a nearby girl gripping her arm, towering over them both by a good six inches.

"Wow." Naruto whistled. "You're a tall one, ain'tcha?"

Cinder's thoughts were more muddled. She blinked. Once. Twice. Thrice. Recognition dawned. Hmm. Younger than she remembered, slightly fuller in the face, perhaps. Taller, too. Healthier to be sure, but those eyes, that hair...she couldn't forget them. A tiny smile tucked at the corner of her mouth as she tilted her head to one side. Well, well, well. Seemed she hadn't been the only one to reincarnate in this world. Was this fate? Irony? Had her subordinate been slain in their world and reborn in this one, just as she was? Would more follow? A fine question. She found herself curious, but now was not the time for such things.

Her smirk became a familiar, languid smile.

"Why hello, Emerald." she all but purred the word as she looked up at her. "So nice to see you again-oomph?!"

Her words choked off as strong arms and swept her off her feet. Cinder endured it with a sigh. Ah, Emerald. Always the emotional one. Ever the clingy girl longing for attention, even in her last life. Reincarnation appeared to agree with her...was she always this emotional, though? Hmm. Semantics she supposed. It seemed destiny truly was on her side, after all.

"I knew it!" her captor cried, clutching her close! "It really is you!"

"Yes, yes, do put me down, now. You're crushing my ribs...

Naruto frowned and scratched at the back of his head.

"I don't get it." he muttered aloud. "Who is she?"

Emerald rounded on him. "What he said!"

Cinder was all too happy to tell them.

A/N: Cinder starts corrupting Naruto, and Naruto begins to corrupt Cinder. Sure. This can only end well.

Yup. Emerald's been reborn into the Kurama clan, yes, THAT clan, the one with the infamous genjutsu users that can KILL YOU.

We're not going to go crazy with the reincarnations, mind you. Someone must die in the RWBYverse to be reborn in Naruto's world. That's the ironclad rule here. Its not always a pleasant experience, and some don't even remember who they are. Consider this; poor Cinder was literally reborn as a child and is STILL struggling to get the full breadth of her power back. Emerald was lucky to be born into a clan that values her gifts, so she too, lucked out.

You reincarnate? You start over as a baby. Those be the rules!

Will Cinder stay true to her roots? Will be become a better person? Or perhaps...something even worse?

So in the Immortal Words of Atlas...

...Review...Would You Kindly?

No bashing here...just a few rude awakenings...

And as ever:

SPOILER! SPOILER! SPOILER!

READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!

PLOT DETAILS AHOY!

(Previews)

Mercury clapped slowly.

"Well, well, well. Look's like we've got the gang back together."

"Snrk...!" Emerald took one look at him and howled with laughter. "Ha! Look at you! Serves you right, reincarnating as one of those damn dog lovers!"

"Cheeky bitch!"

Cinder sighed. "Children, the both of you...

Naruto looked down into a piercing pair of lilac orbs.

"Need something, squirt?"

The girl growled and kicked his knee. Ow! For a three-year old, that kinda hurt. "I'm not a squirt! My name is Ya-

"Yeah, yeah, very nice." he patted her head and walked past. "I've got places to be. See you later."

"Hey! Don't walk away from me!"

Itachi weighed his options.

The clan or his sister. His sister, or the clan?

In the end, there was only one choice. There had only ever been one choice.

"Did you truly think we would let your reign of terror go unchecked?"

Cinder scoffed. "Do your worst."

R&R~!