"Here...I'll read it." Kakashi said, taking the book.
Naruto let out a fake gasp "Kakashi can read something other than smut?!" he said in a sarcastic half-shock, half-horrified tone, a large smirk on his face.
Kakashi gave Naruto a glare. Naruto was so doing D-ranks as long as the scarecrow was going to be Hokage!
The Creatures of Grimm, monstrous and beastly creatures whose sole reason for existence was to bring death to mankind. They did not hunger for meat, vegetation, or any other "normal" food source. In fact, when observed, it seemed like they did not need to eat or drink to survive like any other living creature on Remnant. However this did not mean that they lacked a desire to eat.
The one thing these creatures seemed to crave, to hunger for, was human flesh and blood.
"Not liking that..." Naruto muttered. And not just from the descriptions of what these Grimm things were like. They reminded him a bit of that Black Zetsu creep with the way they looked according to the images on the screen.
"How do you think we feel having to deal with those things?" Jaune asked.
No one on Remnant had any one hundred percent proven idea as to what Grimm were or even how they came to exist. Scientists were not able to properly observe Grimm due to how hard it was to keep even a young one in captivity. What made it even more difficult to study the Grimm was that, upon death, their bodies would fade from existence, leaving not even a hair to be examined.
Kakashi frowned at that, eyes narrowing.
The only concrete facts the people of Remnant knew regarding Grimm were thus: Grimm were drawn to dark emotions such as jealousy, hatred, and greed. The monsters had a fondness for human flesh and they were capable of learning from experience.
Naruto could add something else to that list though.
The group from Remnant all looked surprised at that. It was Naruto's first encounter with Grimm, far as they could tell. What had he been able to learn at a glance like that when people that had studied Grimm all their lives couldn't figure out anything else?
His godfather and mentor, Jiraiya, had been a powerful man, known across the Elemental Countries for his prowess in the art of Ninjutsu and Fuinjutsu (Sealing Arts). Jiraiya and his two teammates had earned themselves fame and infamy in their youth, becoming known as the Densetsu no Sannin (Legendary Three Ninja).
"Impressive stuff." Ren nodded.
Out of the various skills Jiraiya had passed down to his godson, chief among them was the skill that had earned the now deceased shinobi the title of Gama Sennin (Toad Sage). The skill was legendary even among Naruto's people and was known as Senjutsu (Sage Technique). The technique allowed the user to gather the very energy of Nature herself and blend it into their body, bolstering both their physical and mental prowess to otherwise unachievable heights.
"...You can do that...?" Jaune asked, awed by that.
Naruto nodded. "Yeah, training in it wasn't easy, though."
As such the practitioners of Senjutsu were seen as Sages and even when they were not actively using Nature Chakra, even novice Sages were keenly aware of it and those who could use it. As such Naruto was thoroughly shocked when he noticed that the Creatures of Grimm were comprised almost entirely of Nature Chakra.
"OK...I'm REALLY not liking THAT, AT ALL!" Naruto said, eyes huge.
"What does that mean?" Weiss asked.
"Nothing good..." Naruto muttered, his mind rushing a mile a second, trying to figure out who could do something like that and why.
It answered a lot of the questions the people of Remnant had and explained a lot more as well. The reason the body of a Grimm faded upon death was because the Nature Chakra it was made up of was returning back to the planet or moving into the nearby plant and animal life. This was also the reason they showed such apathy to other animals and why they had such a hunger for humans.
Suffice it to say that mankind had somehow screwed up so badly in the past that Mother Nature had felt the need to fight back by giving birth to these monsters.
"Ohh...that's bad..."Nora winced as those from Remnant all cringed.
"We done fucked up..." Yang said.
"Wait, what?! So the Grimm are the good guys?!" Ruby cried, "But that doesn't make any sense!"
"People rarely listen when they see something that frightens them. It's easy to see what's different, but the problem is that they're usually afraid of what's different because they don't understand it, so they fear what they don't understand; and they despise what they fear. People would rather make sure it doesn't hurt them before thinking about what it might be. That's why hostility breeds further hostility. Trust me on that." Naruto sighed heavily.
"So...with how there's no way to learn more about Grimm, the mystery added onto their appearances and and behavior make people feel threatened?" Weiss summed up.
Naruto nodded.
Being a Sage and, by proxy, being so in tune with the planet Naruto always felt a little bad when he had to kill Grimm. Sure they seemed mindless and all, but really they were just Nature's anger at what humans had done to her planet.
His only solace was knowing that, by killing Grimm, the plant life around them would grow all the more resilient and lively.
Naruto sighed, somewhat relieved at that.
So it was with a mental sigh that Naruto lodged a kunai knife into the jugular of the rather large Ursai that had attempted to have him and Pyrrha for dinner. In all honesty the fight had been terribly one sided. He was a well trained shinobi with his fair share of experience and it seemed that Pyrrha's title of "The Invincible Girl" was well earned.
Pyrrha shifted, not entirely comfortable with that. She didn't like her pedestal, after all.
Combined, the two had taken the large bear like Grimm down in record time.
Naruto was also quite surprised to get a peek at Pyrrha's battle prowess. She seemed to flow like water, changing between attacking and defending with ease while still managing to dish out her fair share of blows. That fluidity also translated seamlessly into how she handled her weapon. The ease with which she transitioned her weapon from javelin, to sword, to rifle, and back again was only achievable through years of practice and dedication, though inborn talent also seemed to play a part.
"Sorry if that makes you feel uncomfortable, Pyrrha. Just...I'm good at noticing these things in the field." Naruto explained.
The redhead nodded. That made sense.
Stretching a bit Naruto shared a smile with Pyrrha before gesturing in the direction they had originally been sent, "Shall we?"
The redhead nodded, "Sure. Hopefully we won't run into too much opposition though."
Naruto nodded in agreement. The less he had to reveal in combat the better. He did not need people asking questions and if what Ozpin said about the teachers monitoring their progress was true, he should be all the more cautious. Passing off some of his ninjutsu as his Semblance with the other teens was easy enough.
"What can you do with this Ninjutsu stuff?" Nora asked.
Naruto smiled teasingly, "No spoilers, Nora!" he chided playfully, to which the hammer-used laughed.
"Ok, I'll wait then!" she declared.
Ren stared at the blond ninja. No way...how in the heck had he gotten Nora to agree to that so...EASILY?! Even if he and Nora had known one another since childhood, Ren himself still had trouble getting Pink Voltage Valkyrie to relent on thing!
Getting someone like Ozpin to believe it? That would be a much harder task.
"More like impossible..." Jaune muttered, thinking of his forged transcripts to get into Beacon.
As he and his new partner made their way through the Emerald Forest Pyrrha was the one to strike up a conversation, "I don't remember seeing you at Sanctum, so did you go to Signal?"
"Actually Beacon would be my first official school I'm attending. We had an Academy back in my old village that trained us as well, but it wasn't reputable enough to count so I had to take the battle exam to get into Beacon," Naruto replied.
Naruto paled, he couldn't handle bookwork! But this battle exam at least sounded like something he could do, at least.
Pyrrha smiled at the chance to get to know her partner a little more, "Where are you from?"
"It was outside of the kingdoms and was built decades ago by my village's first leader, a man named Hashirama Senju. Because of all the trees that surrounded our village and acted as a natural defense it was called Konohagakure no Sato or the Village Hidden in the Leaves."
The green eyed Huntress in training listened attentively as Naruto spoke with an obvious fondness of his home. Yet still she noticed the bittersweet look in his eyes, almost as if his home held as many bad memories as it did good ones.
"It sounds like you really loved your village," Pyrrha said with a smile.
Naruto nodded.
Naruto nodded his head and let a sad chuckle escape his lips, "It's funny really. When I was younger I used to run around screaming that I was going to become my village's leader someday."
The armor clad redhead giggled at the mental picture of a short blond kid going around yelling that he was the greatest.
"Sounds like Ruby almost," Yang joked.
"HEY!" Naruto and Ruby both cried, glaring at her.
"That's still possible. After you graduate from Beacon you can still go back home and become your village's leader right?" Pyrrha offered.
Naruto shook his head, "Sadly that's no longer a possibility.
Naruto paled, then stuffed his fingers in his ears and started humming loudly. He was REALLY gonna hate this next part, he could just tell!
Bout a year or so ago Konoha was attacked by...a horde of Grimm. We tried our best to fight back, but in the end there were too many and we were being overrun. The elders knew this and so they made a call to have anyone under 15 flee the village so they could live. I tried to stay and fight but my old sensei wouldn't let me and, using his Semblance, had me transported far away,"
Kakashi blinked. Clearly these events happened prior to his loosing Obito's eye if his story counterpart had access to the Kamui jutsu.
Naruto paused to clear the lump in his throat before continuing, "by the time I managed to make my way back to the village it was too late. Konoha was burning and there was no one left alive."
As Naruto had begun his little tale the two had gradually slowed down until eventually, as his story ended, they had come to a full stop. As Naruto held back the very real tears that threatened to fall, Kurama tightened his hold on his container, offering only his presence as a comfort knowing full well that despite what Naruto had said being a partial lie, a chunk of it was also very much so true.
"Don't judge him badly. Even a partial truth about something like that is horrible enough..." Ren said, suddenly tense and trembling, his eyes wide and gripping his knees with white-knuckled hands.
Pyrrha herself was holding back tears. For someone, anyone, to go through that was heart wrenching. Losing your home, your family, your friends, your people all in a single day? It was something she wouldn't wish on anybody. The worst part was then having to watch, helplessly, as it all went up in flames.
Nora gulped heavily, looking catatonic as she put her hands to her head and started whimpering as she pulled her knees to her chest as she started hyperventilating. She grabbed Ren's hand and squeezed it fiercely, as though it were a lifeline.
Everyone else looked at the two long-time friends with concern. Whatever was up with them, it was clear the last passage they'd just read bothered them both immensely for some reason.
Whatever it was, it was obviously painful for them, so they all decided against asking.
While Naruto attempted to recompose himself he was wondering just what in the hell had made him tell Pyrrha all of that. Granted it wasn't the whole truth, it was still close enough to stir up the memories of what had really happened to leave him here on Remnant. Why had he felt comfortable enough with Pyrrha to tell her that? With him sharing this story with her, Pyrrha now knew more about Naruto than anyone else on Remnant.
Pyrrha blinked. Naruto trusted her THAT much already? Sure it was a half truth; but still, like Ren said, the things that made you lose your home and loved ones weren't topics to tell just anyone about, especially right off the bat like that after meeting someone.
And oddly enough...he was ok with that. It felt good to get that off his chest. Given he had spent quite a length of time talking about it with Kurama, but that was somehow different. Telling Pyrrha even a fraction of the truth lifted a weight off the blond's shoulders and Kurama seemed to be ok with Naruto's actions, which was a sure sign that Pyrrha was a good person, given that the Kitsune had a general dislike for all of mankind with only a small handful of exceptions.
Jaune whistled. Fox must have high standards.
Feeling Pyrrha's gentle hand on his shoulder he turned and offered the redhead a true smile, "Sorry about dumping all of that on you. Kinda all just came out at once."
Pyrrha just shook her head with her own genuine smile, "It's fine. I can't really blame you as that must have been a difficult part of your life. But now that we're partners know that I'm here for you whenever you need it."
Naruto pulled his fingers out of his ears and smiled at the girl gratefully.
Nodding at each other the two continued on their way through the Emerald Forest, the blond feeling lighter in a manner of speaking while the redhead felt happy knowing that her partner trusted her enough to reveal such an intimate part of his past.
Miles away atop the cliff that the teens had been launched from, a very irritated Glynda Goodwitch poured over the mysterious blond's records, at least what they had on him which was all but nonexistent. Before taking the battle exam to gain entrance to Beacon they had nothing. For all intents and purposes the blond may just have dropped out of the sky, or simply come into existence and they would know no better. The cheerful blond was an enigma and that aggravated Glynda to no end.
Yang snickered. "You got Goodwitch this stressed already? Oh, I so knew we were gonna get along great, Foxy!" she told Naruto.
Glynda was a woman who prided herself on being able to pick up on even the smallest of hints that allowed her to judge anyone rather accurately. She was equally proud to call herself intelligent and yet this blond teen was pushing the limits of that.
He jumped so erratically between being a normal teen boy, a seemingly veteran warrior, and a man haunted by his past mistakes so quickly that it was hard to asses just who he really was. It both confounded her and caused her no minor amount of irritation.
Naruto shrugged. A warrior's life could do that to you. Happened a lot with shinobi.
Ozpin meanwhile stood there as an exact counterpart to the frustrated blonde woman, calmly sipping his coffee as he gazed out at the vast stretch of forest below. There was no denying it. Naruto Uzumaki was an enigma. However Ozpin knew that Naruto was also aware of this and there would be no strides made in unraveling said enigma without the blond's permission.
"Can I say I'm starting to like the Ozpin guy?" Naruto asked.
Ruby smiled, "He has that effect on people. Trust me."
For now all anyone could do was wait. In time the blond would grow to trust some and only then would they be able to find the answers to the many questions that surrounded one Naruto Uzumaki.
"Do you really think the relics would be in a cave?" Pyrrha asked her blond companion.
"NO!" Pyrrha and Jaune cried. They remember how well THAT had gone!
The two had stumbled upon a rather large cave opening and were now debating on if the initiation would have them go on a spelunking trip to retrieve the relics.
"Should have stayed out of that cave." the Arc mumbled.
Naruto shrugged before reaching up and tearing a sizable branch off of a nearby tree. Reaching into his jacket the blond pulled out what appeared to medical bandages and proceeded to wrap the bindings around the top of the branch. To Pyrrha's surprise the small fox kit who had seen sleeping cracked open a single eye before bringing its tail to the top of the makeshift torch. With not even a grunt of effort a small red flame flickered to life on the tip of the fox's tail before leaping to the torch, igniting it, and providing them a much needed source of light.
"Fire fox!" Nora cheered.
Yang snickered, "Cute and combat ready? Reminds me of Zwei."
Ruby giggled and nodded happily, she wished the Pembroke Welsh Corgi was with them.
Now that Pyrrha was focusing intently on the fox wrapped around Naruto's neck she began to take notice of its unique features. Where other foxes where a variety of colors, Naruto's fox was a color she had never seen before. Its fur was a burnt orange color bordering on a dark red. Even the fox's tail was unique as, instead of the normal short yet fluffy tail most fox were known for, this fox's tail was quite long, long enough to easily wrap around Naruto's neck and drop down to his chest somewhat. Then there was its face. Stretching from the area surrounding its eyes and reaching up to its ears was a patch of black fur, which was also seen outlining its lips. It also had a rather long and skinny body that gave it an almost human like appearance. Then there were the eyes. A crimson so vibrant and like blood that it put her own red tresses to shame.
"Very much a cool-looking fox." Nora appraised.
Within the seal, Kurama smirked at that.
All in all Naruto's fox was different and seemed to even be able to understand human speech and conjure flames on a whim.
Naruto snorted in amusement at that, "Trust me, you guys: You haven't seen ANYTHING that proves Kurama's awesome yet!" he told the Beacon students.
"What kind of fox is that Naruto?" Pyrrha asked, the curiosity nagging at her.
"The most badass kind in the world!" Naruto smirked, Kurama had EARNED that opinion from him.
Kurama turned and regarded the teen, burning crimson eyes staring at her with such intensity that it felt like the fox was peering through her, judging her very being. It left Pyrrha feeling uncomfortable. Seemingly satisfied with its judgement of her the fox let its head fall and its eyes close, apparently going back to its napping.
Naruto spoke up, returning her attention back to the blond as he motioned for her to follow him into the cave, "He's not so much a fox as he is a Kitsune, a branch of the fox family though far more intelligent and powerful, something he likes to brag about."
Pyrrha just nodded her head at the vague reply, understanding that Naruto still had some secrets to keep. She didn't mind and was more than happy to wait and let Naruto tell her when he was ready.
Naruto smiled, feeling grateful for that.
As it was he had already told her about a rather significant part of his past.
As the two ventured even deeper into the cave, they both began to grow anxious, neither liking the dark enclosed space. As they trudged on and on, there was an odd sense that they shouldn't be there, a foreboding feeling that seemed to whisper into their ear to leave and go no further.
"Uh Naruto, are you sure the relics are in here?" Pyrrha questioned.
"Right now? Not really," Naruto admitted with a chuckle.
Deciding to cut their losses the pair turned around and began to make their way back out of the cave. However both paused in their steps upon hearing...something moving just behind them.
'Kit...you need to go...NOW!'
Pyrrha and Jaune nodded vigorously.
Without even a second thought Naruto tossed the torch to the ground and picked up Pyrrha bridal style before pushing chakra into his legs and powering forward in a dead sprint. Pyrrha didn't even bother to ask what was going on, having seen five pairs of burning red eyes peering at her and Naruto through the darkness. Instead of playing the damsel in distress, Pyrrha pulled out her spear and shifted it into its rifle form before firing off a full clip at whatever was chasing them.
Kakashi looked at Pyrrha, he could easily see Kushina doing the same. NO WAY that woman was a damsel in distress, anyone that tried to make her out as one had their spine reshaped into a pretzel! He'd seen her do it, too!
Clearly whatever it was had thick armor as she could hear the bullets bouncing off of what she suspected to be a large Grimm.
Not one to be so easily stumped in battle Pyrrha reached down to her belt before pulling out a different clip, this one full of rounds imbued with Fire Dust, giving them that much more kick. Quickly swiveling her body, the redhead looked down her sights as she fired over Naruto's shoulder. This time the bullets seemed to pierce the Grimm's armor just enough to cause it to slow down. None too soon either as Naruto sped through the cave entrance, bringing them back into the bright light of day.
Only seconds after, the cliff the cave had lead into erupted into a shower of rumble as a massive scorpion like Grimm burst through the opening, letting out a screech of hunger and power.
Jaune moaned and Pyrrha didn't look any happier about it. Needless to say, they both recalled that particular Deathstalker Grimm only too well!
With acidic stinger and pincers poised to tear them to shreds Naruto and Pyrrha shared a look before nodding. Turning on their heels the pair began to book it as fast as they could, intent on putting space between them and the massive Death Stalker Grimm that would like to have them for lunch.
'Why does everything I do have to end up going horribly wrong?' Naruto lamented.
Naruto groaned. "That's happened to me so much as it is, but in the book, too? There's a tell-me-about-it joke in that, but I'd rather not go there with the other me..."
Yang snapped her fingers, she got it and it was actually pretty amusing to her. If only she'd made a joke about that!
Meanwhile a certain busty blonde and her raven haired partner managed to stumble on what looked to be the remains of a long since abandoned temple. The only standing part of the ruin was a circular platform upon which stood various stone pedestals. On those pedestals were what looked to be chess pieces of some kind.
Yang turned to her silent partner and asked, "Think this is it?"
Blake just gave the blonde a deadpan stare before making her way to the stone ruins. Yang shrugged before following.
As the pair inspected the ruins and what they assumed to be the relics Blake spoke, "Chess pieces?"
Naruto and Kakashi looked to one another and shrugged. What was chess?
"Some of them are missing. Looks like we weren't the first ones here."
"Well I guess we should pick one," Blake replied in an unsure tone. When Ozpin had said relics they had assumed it would be some ancient and valuable artifact, not chess pieces.
The other members of teams RWBY and JNPR all nodded, they had each assumed the same.
"How about a cute little pony?" Yang cheered.
Blake rolled her eyes, but it was easy to see the amusement on her face, "Sure."
"Well that wasn't too hard!"
The raven haired teen shrugged, "Well it's not like this place is difficult to find."
Still running for their life, Pyrrha and Naruto sneezed in sync. Despite the massive Grimm only yards behind them, the pair looked at each other before shrugging at the odd coincidence.
The orange ninja and the greek warrior-themed redhead both gave Blake and Yang dirty looks.
"Duck!" Pyrrha called out as the Death Stalker attempted to skewer Naruto with its stinger.
"Thanks for the heads-up." Naruto told her, dropping his look at the black and yellow members of team RWBY.
"Any time," the redhead smiled back.
The blond reacted quickly, curling himself into a ball and rolling to avoid the no doubt toxic point of death.
"Yeah...thanks again for the heads-up...I do NOT like the idea of ending up as a shish kebab for a bug on steroids!" Naruto said.
Pyrrha tossed her shield like a frisbee, hoping to cause some damage only for the scorpion on steroids to easily smack it aside with a pincer. Naruto quickly ducked and weaved through the pincers and grabbed the fallen shield before performing a short flip into the air. Just in the nick of time as well, seeing as the scorpion like Grimm had attempted to catch him in one of its pincers.
Naruto fell quickly back down and used the pincer as a springboard, shooting off into the air to catch up with his teammate. Landing with a roll, Naruto was quick to recover and popped up running alongside his red haired partner.
"Impressive acrobatics." Ren noted with approval.
The two resumed their little "run from the scary thing that wants to kill us" exercise,
"...I HATE that exercise! I mean it!" Naruto cried, getting nods from the Beacon students, all of whom understood that completely.
Naruto handing Pyrrha back her shield as they ran for all they were worth.
"Did you hear that?" Yang asked, worry evident in her words.
Blake just nodded, an equally worried look on her face. Within the span of a few seconds the sounds of fights were erupting from everywhere in the forest. Of course Yang was more worried about her sister than anyone else. Just as Yang was preparing to go out and look for her sister, the two heard a scream coming from close by. Looking up both Blake and Yang's eyes widened when they saw a panicked Ruby falling from the sky, headed straight towards them.
"HEADS UP!"
For the second time in two days Ruby found herself falling into the arms of her shocked sister.
"Least it was a soft landing, maybe the reason Yang's chest is so big is so they act as an air bag..." Naruto said.
Yang's jaw dropped at that as the others all smirked in amusement.
"Going to need to remember that one." Blake smirked.
Yang pouted, traitors!
Their attention was diverted elsewhere, when a rather large Ursai Grimm waltzed out of the tree lines, roaring in what seemed to be anger. Before the bear like Grimm could proceed any further there was flash of pink and a childlike exclamation of, "YEE HAW!"
"That was fun!" Nora laughed.
Ren rubbed his temples. No it wasn't.
Rolling from the now more than likely dead Ursai's back was a pouting Nora Valkyrie, "Aww, it's broken."
Everyone looked at Nora."Has she...?"
Her partner and friend, Lie Ren, clambered over the fallen form of the Grimm, panting and looking quite exhausted.
"Nora...don't...ever do that again," the raven haired teen said in between gasps for air.
Looking up he realized that he was only talking to himself and that Nora had made her way to the ruins, clearly entertained by the shiny golden chess pieces. Grabbing a rook she began to dance around proclaiming, "I'm queen of the castle, I'm queen of the castle!"
Ren nodded. "...She has." he muttered, exhausted.
Tired and frustrated by the day's events Ren barked out, "Nora!"
The eccentric orange haired girl immediately stopped her dance, the rook planted precariously on her head, and saluted her friend, "Coming Ren!"
Stunned, Blake was the one to voice the question on everyone's mind, "Did that girl just ride in on in Ursa?"
"Yes...thank you, Captain Obvious!"
Blake glared at Jaune, making a note to hurt him later.
Both Yang and Ruby, who was still in her sister's arms, continued to gape at the very odd girl, "Uhhhh..."
Before any other questions could be asked, their attention was turned to the tree line where a running Naruto and Pyrrha emerged. Following shortly behind them was a massive Death Stalker who looked intent on having the pair for lunch, tearing up trees as it did so.
Again Blake was the one to address the obvious, "Did they seriously run all the way here with a Death Stalker on their tail?"
The two in question looked at Blake.
"Truly your deductive skills are a wonder." Naruto said dryly, "can any of you figure out a way to kill the monster bug trying to eat my and Pyrrha's other selves now?!" he asked while the redhead nodded.
Blake gave Naruto an annoyed look, but she understood why that'd be an issue for the whiskered teen.
Obviously at her wits end with all the odd occurrences happening Yang exploded...literally, "I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE! COULD EVERYONE CHILL OUT FOR TWO SECONDS BEFORE SOMETHING CRAZY HAPPENS AGAIN!?"
"Chill out, huh? Well Pyrrha and I would love to do that, but we've got a giant bug trying to kill us!" Naruto said.
Pyrrha nodded. Wondering why no one helped with that back during initiation in her actual world, too.
As Yang seethed in frustration, Blake calmly stood there with her arms crossed. Ren finally caught up to the group, still slightly out of breath while Nora acted like everything was normal and stood there fidgeting. Ruby was staring at the sky with a worried look before she tugged on her sister's sleeve like a small child, "Um...Yang."
Yang let her head fall in frustration, not even wanting to know what else was going to happen. Still she and the others looked up only to be shocked yet again.
There was Weiss Schnee...flying...by hanging onto the talon of a Nevermore...a very large Nevermore.
Weiss blanched at the reminder of that ride.
"How could you leave me!?" The Schnee heiress managed to cry over the howling winds.
Ruby shrugged, "I said jump!"
Blake decided to chime in with her usual monotone, "She's gonna fall."
"She'll be fiiinnne," Ruby waved.
"I was not!" Weiss snapped at her team leader.
"I said jump! Why's it my fault you didn't listen?" Ruby pouted.
Joining the conversation Ren stated the obvious, "She's falling."
Meanwhile the still running Naruto and Pyrrha peered up at the sky seeing the falling Weiss.
Internally Naruto sighed, 'Damn my hero complex.'
"Eh...I've been in situations where I needed help, but those that could help me and knew I needed it wouldn't give it to me. And I don't want to be that guy, ya know?" Naruto explained himself, awkwardly scratching at the back of his head.
The Beacon students all nodded. That was understandable.
Putting on the brakes, Naruto came to a sudden halt and turned to face the rampaging Death Stalker. Pyrrha came to a stop a few yards after Naruto had and shouted out the blond in worry, "Naruto! What are you doing!?"
"Something crazy in the name of keeping Weiss Schee from ending up a mangled smear on the ground." Naruto said.
"And I thank you for that." the heiress said.
Naruto sheepishly grinned before turning to the oncoming Grimm with a serious look to his whiskered face. The teen crouched low, preparing for something, what exactly that was no one knew. The blond tended to do the unexpected it seemed.
Kakashi laughed at that assessment of his student, "You have NO idea!"
This was further proven by Naruto's next move.
As the Death Stalker was only feet away from Naruto, the teen leapt up, landing directly on the white armor like plating of the massive Grimm. Naruto didn't stop there however, and began to sprint across the Grimm's back. In seconds flat Naruto had covered the entirety of the scorpion like Grimm's back and was running up its outstretched tail. Reaching the tip, Naruto crouched before launching himself through the air.
"Foxy...you're nuts!" Yang said, then grinned, "I like it! You're wild!"
Naruto smirked, "Molds were made to be broken, and being able to do so is the sign of a true badass, am I right?"
The heavy-hitter of RWBY nodded, giving a thumbs-up at that.
Using a small amount of Wind Chakra Naruto pushed himself forward, just in time to catch Weiss in his arms.
"Fancy meeting you here Princess," was Naruto's cheeky comment.
Jaune's jaw dropped, "Oh, come on!" Why was this other blond male so much smoother than he was?! Sure, Jaune knew he abysmal starting out, but it was hard seeing how well Naruto did without feeling jealous!
Weiss glared at Naruto, "Are you going to try flirting with me?" she asked, she did NOT need another person acting like that to her!
"Nope, I just like witty banter." he replied.
At that, the Schnee calmed down.
Weiss huffed in annoyance, "Not that I'm ungrateful but what now? We're both falling to the ground in case you didn't notice."
Naruto took on a pensive look before shrugging casually, as if falling from a hundred or so feet wasn't anything to worry about.
"Been there, done that." the ninjas both said as casually as if that was talking about the weather.
Everyone else looked at Naruto and Kakashi.
Weiss face palmed and angrily muttered to herself, "Ugh. Boys."
Without even batting an eye the Schnee heiress reached to her side and pulled out the silver rapier sheathed at her side. Pointing it below them she called upon her Semblance, creating a complex set of what looked to be runes below them. Naruto looked at the glyphs with a critical eye.
Naruto suddenly looked interested.
The Uzumaki clan was known for two things: their incredible longevity and their innate prowess in the art of Fuinjutsu. Their longevity allowed them to survive what most would consider mortal wounds and continue fighting.
"Impressive resilience." Blake noted.
"So these Uzumaki guys were like cockroaches?" Yang asked.
Kakashi had to grab Naruto to keep in from attacking Yang at the unintended jab at the Uzumaki family and their ability to take a hit with their longevity and durability, as within the seal, Kurama hooted with laughter, fully agreeing with the lilac-eyed blonde's assessment!
"YANG!" Ruby cried. "Apologize! NOW!"
The Uzumaki talent for the Sealing Arts
"Sealing arts?" Weiss asked.
helped them earn infamy as one of the most powerful clans and villages around. They were so feared that during a previous war it had taken the power of three of the Five Great Shinobi Villages to take them down and even then the villages only succeeded in forcing the Uzumaki clan to spread across the different countries.
The Beacon group all gaped at that as Naruto winced.
Naruto's father, while not of the Uzumaki clan, was also a powerful and knowledgeable user of Fuinjutsu. The man's genius had allowed him to perfect the Hiraishin no Jutsu (Flying Thunder God Technique), a jutsu that allowed the user to bend space and time so they could teleport instantaneously.
"Oh man, that sounds so awesome!" Ruby cheered.
With the technique Naruto's father had slaughtered a whole battalion of enemy shinobi in seconds flat.
"And the awesome just died..." Jaune said as the Beacon students looked horrified at the use Naruto's father had put the technique to, having figured Shinobi was a profession similar to that of being a Huntsmen or Huntress.
"Grudges that evolved into war..." Blake sighed at last then looked at Naruto solemnly, "That's why your dad had to put the skill to that kind of use, isn't it?"
Naruto stared at the catgirl, shocked at how she knew that, and part of him not wanting to know how she knew that, then reluctantly nodded to it, feeling sick as he did so.
Blake shuddered, not looking pleased at being right, yet more understanding as to why Naruto's father had his hand forced to use the ability to that means.
It was then that he had earned his title as the Konoha no Kiiroi Senko (Yellow Flash of Konoha).
As the son to an Uzumaki and the Yellow Flash Naruto had inherited his parents' proclivity to seals and the runes Weiss had just called upon with a whim absolutely fascinated him.
"Oh! So my glyphs are similar to these seal arts, then?" Weiss asked.
Naruto nodded.
Weiss looked very interested in that. If that were true, she and Naruto would need to compare notes.
Had the Uzumakis been able to write their seals on thin air they would have been that much more powerful, and probably been able to fight back the forces that had destroyed their home.
Considering that despite Weiss taking care of the current situation, there was still a pissed off Nevermore and Death Stalker to deal with, Naruto decided to push his fascination with Weiss' Semblance to the back of his mind.
"Priorities are important." Weiss agreed.
Landing on the very solid rune formation, Naruto waited to see if Weiss was going to continue to help considering they were still quite high in the air. Again Weiss huffed before creating several of the rune platforms, all of which descended in a manner that made them resemble a staircase. Naruto shrugged and proceeded to hop his way down using the Aura created platforms.
As they touched back down on solid ground and Naruto placed the white haired teen on her feet he began to have flashbacks to a certain pink haired teammate of his as Weiss chewed him out.
"Some hero you are! I may as well have saved myself!"
"...well why didn't you?"
Everyone looked at the white-dressed heiress who sputtered as she tried to come up with a response to that.
Weiss sputtered to come up with a rebuttal and when none came she resorted to her go to maneuver...of huffing and pouting.
Weiss's friends all burst out laughing. Weiss glared at Naruto, first with shaking the dust around, now this! Was he out to get her or something?!
'I swear she's like Sasuke and Sakura rolled into one...except in white,' Naruto quipped.
"Who are those two?" Weiss asked, interested.
Naruto rolled his eyes, "Trust me...better off not knowing."
Kurama was more than happy to throw in his own two cents, 'Just be happy we don't have to deal with her. Kami knows I would end up either murdering her or myself...probably the former. In fact...'
"What?!" Weiss cried, paling.
'No Kurama we are not murdering Weiss.
Weiss sighed, relieved at that. She sent a nod to Naruto.
Remember she's the heiress to a wealthy and powerful family?'
'And you're a shinobi. You were trained for these kinds of missions!'
'Ok look we have a giant ass scorpion and an even bigger bird to deal with right now, not the time to be discussing the assassination of an heiress.'
"Never thought I'd feel grateful to Grimm..." Weiss said.
"Yeah...Kurama never liked Sasuke OR Sakura very much...he loathed Sasuke especially in fact." Naruto explained.
Weiss nodded, cringing at that.
'You say that like these pests actually pose a problem. You and I both know that even the old dumbass you could handle these things with little difficulty.'
'Yea well I don't exactly want to just toss out a few jutsu and have people asking questions, not right now at least.'
Kurama grinned in satisfaction at his container's answer, 'My my kit you really are my Jinchuuriki (Power of the Human Sacrifice).'
Everyone winced at that title.
Naruto chose to ignore the comment, already knowing what the fox meant by that. As he became more of a shinobi, he also became more like a fox, becoming trickier and more cunning.
"Necessary qualities for a Huntsmen..." Ren said, knowing while the strength helped, you couldn't just brute-force everything.
Funny how in the Shinobi era he had been anything but. Now during this time of Hunters and Huntresses he was becoming more like a true shinobi.
Shaking those thoughts off Naruto felt Pyrrha next to him, panting a bit with a slight sheen of sweat covering her, no doubt from the little marathon run they had been motivated to take part in.
Pyrrha nodded, recalling how bad she'd wanted a shower after that.
At seeing Pyrrha's appearance Yang chose to sarcastically cheer, "Great the gang's all here! Now we can all die together."
Ruby piped up, intent on proving to everyone there that she was just as capable of a warrior as any of them, "Not if I can help it."
Ruby groaned, recalling this moment. Not her best...
Before anyone could stop the young teen, Ruby was off in a dead sprint, charging towards the oncoming Death Stalker with her massive scythe trailing behind her and cloak fluttering in the wind.
Obviously worried for her sister Yang called out, "Ruby! Wait!"
Naruto meanwhile could only sigh and facepalm, 'Kami damnit.'
With a cheeky grin on his face Kurama piped in, 'Remind you of anyone?'
"...You are SO gonna die!" Naruto seethed as Kakashi snorted in a laughter.
Naruto only responded with a glare, 'Not. A. Word.'
Kurama said nothing more with only the sounds of his booming laughter echoing through Naruto's head as his response.
The Beacon group looked at Naruto "...You were like that too when you started out?" Yang snickered, unable to believe it.
"Shut up!" Naruto snapped, embarrassed. "I had a lot to prove at first, ok!?"
Ruby nodded firmly. She understood THAT feeling perfectly!
Sighing Naruto prepared himself for the more than likely inevitable rescuing he would have to do...again. It wasn't that he thought Ruby was weak, far from it after all she wielded that bigass scythe of hers like it was a feather. However she wasn't exactly thinking straight right now. Running towards a massive Grimm screaming bloody murder wasn't the brightest of ideas, no matter how skilled you were.
Ruby winced.
He and the others winced in sync as they saw Ruby power herself forward with the help of the recoil from the gun portion of her scythe...gun...thing.
"THING?!" Ruby raged, Crescent Rose was a badass weapon she'd crafted herself, it was her baby!
Even still she was too slow as the Death Stalker was able to smack her aside like she was nothing but an annoying fly.
Ruby hid in her cloak and hood again at the reminder of that.
Struggling to stand, no doubt dazed from the blow, Ruby yelled out in a strained voice, "D-don't worry! To-totally fine!"
Kakashi looked back and forth between Naruto and Ruby, "I think a blood test might be in order with how alike you two are. Might end up being related." he said to the pair of embarrassed teens.
Turning around Ruby realized far too late that the Grimm had taken the opportunity to close the distance between them, now staring at her hungrily. Panicking she fired off a shot at its face, serving only to irritate it, and turned and began to run as fast her legs could carry her.
Yang saw the obvious danger her sister was in and began to sprint her way to Ruby. Luck wasn't with them as it seemed the Nevermore had decided to help its fellow Grimm and circled around. With a mighty flap of its wings it unleashed a rain of its own feathers, the points of which were as sharp as any blade. Like gunfire they rained down onto the ground, embedding themselves deep into the earth. Murphy's Law decided to rear its head and one of the feathers managed to catch up to Ruby and run straight through her cloak, pinning her to the ground.
"Capes are very non-functional." Weiss said.
"Are so!" Ruby argued.
"Oh really? Let's look at a few famous Hunters and Huntresses then: Thunderhead? Storm semblance? Nice man, good with kids. All was well, another day saved, when... his cape snagged on a missile fin! Stratogale! Cape caught in a jet turbine! Metaman, express elevator! Dynaguy, snagged on takeoff! Splashdown, sucked into a vortex! No capes!"
Ruby whimpered as her bestie said all that.
Several more of the feathers managed to find their way to Yang, causing her to stumble so that she could avoid being skewered to death. Racing to her feet she saw Ruby frantically tugging at her pinned cloak in an attempt to free herself.
"Ruby! Get out of there!"
A very much so panicking Ruby answered back, "I'm trying!"
"Why not use your scythe and cut the cape off?" Kakashi asked.
"Never!" Ruby cried, hugging the article of clothing.
Turning to look upwards as a shadow covered her, the red haired teen turned wide grey eyes to see the Death Stalker prepping its massive stinger, aimed straight at her. Clenching her eyes, the young teen prepared for the worse.
Seconds ticked by and when there was no pain she wearily opened her eyes to see a wall of ice holding the stinger of the Death Stalker back. The voice of Weiss came up as the Grimm struggled to free its tail, "Ugh, you are so childish!"
"Weiss?"
Standing from her crouched position Weiss only continued on her mini rant, "And dim witted, and hyperactive, and don't even get me started on your fighting style.
Kakashi looked to Naruto as the story listed off what Weiss had thought of Ruby. Damn he and Ruby were a lot more alike than the masked man thought!
"On my parents' graves, so help me, I WILL burn you books if you so much as think it!" Naruto growled, glaring at the man.
Kakashi quickly looked away, knowing the threat to his beloved Make-Out series books was no bluff.
Though I...suppose...I can be a bit...difficult, but if we're going to do this, we're going to have to do this together."
Naruto stared. Sheesh! He was seeing the parallels between Ruby and Weiss's relationship and his and Sasuke's!
Sighing in what appeared to be mock frustration the white haired teen continued, "So if you quit trying to show off I'll be...nicer."
Ruby shook her head, "I'm not trying to show off. I want you to know I can do this."
Ruby nodded. "I had a lot to prove. Needed to show it wasn't a mistake that I was given a place where I was."
Weiss nodded. She understood the need to prove oneself. It was part of what she disliked about her "father".
"You're fine."
As Weiss waltzed off Ruby let out a breath she didn't even know she was holding, "Normal knees."
"Why be normal, anyways? Conform too much and you lose sight of what makes you who you are and what makes you unique." Naruto said. "If you were allowed into Beacon the way you were, it means there's something special special about you, something extraordinary that you aren't even aware of. Are you willing to throw that away just to become just another face in the crowd, Ruby? You're better than that. Just be you and never give up and you'll go far, I know it. "
Ruby smiled, feeling touched that Naruto felt that that way and he believed in her like that.
As Yang raced to crush her sister to death in a hug, Naruto smiled, 'Hmm. Guess Princessisn't as bad as we thought.'
Once the teens had all regrouped Naruto decided to voice the obvious, "I doubt Princess' ice prison is gonna hold that thing for long and we also have a rather angry Nevermore circling back around."
For once Weiss was the one to voice her opinion, "Look there's no sense in dilly dallying, our objective is right in front of us."
Ruby chimed in with her agreement, "She's right, our mission is to grab an artifact and make it back to the cliffs. There's no point in fighting these things."
Everyone seemed to nod in agreement with the pair's assessment while Yang looked at her sister with noticeable pride.
"I was and still am proud of her." Yang smiled.
Naruto shrugged, "So tactical retreat then?"
With a round of nods, those who hadn't already retrieved an artifact made their way up to the platform. Naruto observed the options before noticing that there seemed to be doubles of each piece.
'Why would they do that? Sure doubles of a piece, but to have two in the same color? Unless that whole partner speech was only half the truth and they plan on putting two pairs together to form a full team. Man this is like Kakashi's bell test all over again.'
"Nope." Kakashi objected.
Shrugging and decided to let the pieces fall where they would, Naruto grabbed a golden rook piece while he saw Ruby grab a golden knight piece. He offered a smile and thumbs up, silently praising her on her plan. Ruby giggled at Naruto's cheesy gesture before smiling back. The two walked back to their partners and their group just in time to see the Death Stalker beginning to crack its icy prison.
"You didn't run right away?" the battle-experienced Jonin marveled.
As it freed its stinger and shattered the ice that had held Naruto turned to the group, "And that would be our cue to get the hell out of here!"
The others nodded with him, turned, and began to book it back towards the cliffs. As they ran the sun was eclipsed by the massive shadow of the Nevermore flying above them. Spotting even more ruins ahead of them the group attempted to take cover as even more of the Grimm's feathers hailed down. Flying ahead the Grimm perched itself at the top of what remained of a stone tower, blocking them from reaching the cliffs that lay just beyond it.
To make matters worse the Death Stalker decided to make its appearance, pinning the group between it and the waiting Nevermore.
"Rock and hard place..." Yang said.
Mentally cursing Naruto reached for the scroll at his side. As he unfurled it he and the others had decided they had a better chance of making it around the Nevermore than they did staying and trying to fight both it and the Death Stalker. Biting his thumb hard enough to draw blood, getting curious looks from the others as he did so, the blond ran his bloody digit across the scroll. What followed was a poof of smoke that obscured Naruto from everyone's vision.
"What was that about?" Weiss asked.
"Sealing scroll. Used as a medium to create an artificial hammer space within the scroll and store items within it." Naruto explained.
Weiss whistled. She wish her glyphs could do that. It'd be great for shopping sprees!
Swiping a hand the through the air, Naruto cleared enough of the smoke to reveal that he was now holding what they assumed to be his weapon.
"Let us see!" Ruby said, eager to see what Naruto's weapon was.
Gripped tightly in his hands as he stared the Death Stalker down was a shakujo, or monk's staff, that was easily a few inches taller than him. The metallic pole was a deep ebony black, seeming to absorb the very light around it. The ring that sat atop of the staff was a burnt orange color, matching the color of Kurama's fur almost exactly. Running vertically through the ring was a simple bar covered in black leather. Stitched into the leather were etchings of six magatama, comma shaped symbols. Instead of the usual rings that dangled from the main ring, Naruto's shakujo had nine short lengths of chain hanging from it.
Naruto whistled. "Hot damn...memo to me: get or make that weapon!"
With his back turned to them the blonde called out, "You guys go and get to the cliffs! Me and Kurama will hold off this overgrown bug!"
"Ok, you I get, but how can that fox help?" Jaune asked.
Naruto shook his head at his fellow blonde's word. If Arc only knew...
As if to show them he was more than capable of holding the two Grimm off Naruto spun the staff around and to their slight shock flames began to dance on the chain links. Sweeping it through the air in front of him Naruto unleashed a ball of flames aimed straight at the Death Stalker.
"Katon: Gokakyu no jutsu (Fire Release: Grand Fireball technique)!"
Naruto's jaw dropped. "WHAT?! But...but I never learned any of my elemental attributes except wind!" he cried.
"No experimenting on your own, Naruto." Kakashi abolished.
Naruto glared at the silver-haired man at that, "Well maybe I wouldn't need to if the one assigned to help me learn things like that actually taught me more than a single subject once every three years! Never even made a clone to help me!"
Kakashi winced at the jab. He deserved that. Other than tree climbing, he hadn't taught Naruto a thing. Then three years later, he only taught Naruto his elemental affinity. No wonder Jiraiya had to apprentice Naruto...Kakashi had acknowledged he was an awful mentor and teacher already, but it still stung having that thrown in his face.
The Grimm, unable to move its lumbering body fast enough, took the brunt of the inferno directly to its face. The group heard a screech of pain come from the Grimm, but we're
Blake frowned, "Not to be a grammar nazi, but as a lover of literature, I need to ask why there's an apostrophe there so it's "we're" rather than "were"?" she asked.
Everyone shrugged. No clue.
none too surprised to see it come out with only a few scorch marks on its armor. To Naruto's surprise Pyrrha appeared at his side, taking a knee, and aiming down her sights at the Grimm before unloading on it.
"We're partners, so that means we stick together," was Pyrrha's reply to Naruto's unspoken question.
"Sheesh...wish I had teammates that stood by me like THAT back home from the start!" Naruto muttered.
Sakura constantly belittled and abused him for the slightest thing, even saying hello to her, and Sasuke had tried to kill him...several times!
It really was a wonder that Naruto lacked any psychological and trust issues after all his dealings with those two as teammates.
Yang grinned and with a flick of her arms, the yellow bracelets on her wrists extended, covering her hands and extending a few inches past her wrists. Ruby unclasped her weapon and with a quick spin it was in its scythe form. Nora giggled and twirled her own weapon around, revealing it to be a massive war hammer. Both Weiss and Ren sighed before simply pulling out their own weapons and taking a ready stance.
"Guess we make a stand here huh, Foxy?" Yang quipped as the Nevermore circled above them like a vulture.
Naruto grinned right back at his fellow blonde, "Looks like it Firecracker."
Yang laughed at the nickname Naruto had decided to give her, feeling it fit her perfectly.
"Cut, print, and watermark; I like it!" Yang nodded in agreement with her other self.
Seeing the two Grimm closing in, Ren decided to be the voice of reason, "So what's the plan?"
Naruto let a feral grin stretch across his face, "Hit 'em hard, and hit 'em fast!"
"THAT'S your plan?!" Jaune cried.
"I like it!" Ruby chimed in.
Weiss could only face palm, "Of course you would like that plan."
Twirling his shakujo with his fingers Naruto crouched low, "Less talking, more fighting!"
"Sir, yes sir!" Nora and Yang both laughed.
And with a burst of speed the blond was gone, making a beeline straight for the Death Stalker. Pyrrha nodded at Nora, giving the girl the unspoken order to follow the blond's lead as she and Ren provided covering fire. With a cheer the hammer wielding girl fired off a shot, the recoil pushing her forward and through the air.
"I love doing that." Nora giggled.
"Don't forget about me Foxy!" Yang called out as she chased after Nora and her fellow blonde.
"This I wanna see." Naruto said, wondering how his counterpart and his impromptu team would squash the bug-zilla.
The members of JNPR all nodded with the exception of Jaune Arc. Said team leader was pouting at seeing how much more capable the other male blond was...it made him feel inferior and insecure.
AND WHERE THE HECK WAS HIS OTHER, ANYWAYS?!
Taking a knee while Ren and Blake stood next to her, Pyrrha and the two raven haired teens began to unleash a hail of bullets, hoping to cause enough of an annoyance to the Death Stalker to give Yang, Nora, and Naruto an opening to use.
Seeing that the group was more than capable of handling the Death Stalker, Ruby and Weiss turned their eyes skyward, watching the Nevermore as it circled around them. Nodding to Weiss, Ruby folder her scythe into its rifle form before taking a knee and aiming upwards. Weiss stood over her and used her Semblance to create a circle of runes that burned a fiery shade of red. Using the scope on her weapon Ruby took aim at the Nevermore as it turned to focus on them.
Finally getting the gargantuan bird in her sights Ruby pulled the trigger of her rifle, letting a bullet fly from the barrel before it collided with the rune Weiss had created. Emerging out of the circle was not a bullet, but now a blazing ball of flames, hurtling through the air straight at the Nevermore. Cocking her gun yet again, Ruby let another bullet fly, creating another flaming projectile.
Seeing the blazing orbs flying straight at it, the Nevermore attempted to change its course, but due to its large size it was unable to do so quickly enough. As a consequence for its lack of maneuverability, the Grimm took both of the fireballs straight to the wing, causing it enough pain to make it screech. Still the Grimm seemed only to be made even angrier by this.
Glaring at Ruby and Weiss, it began to flap its mighty wings. Instead of the expected hail of feathers though there was only a heavy increase in the wind speed, enough of an increase to cause both Ruby and Weiss to be flung off their feet, tumbling away from the rest of the group.
Looking up from her position on top of the Death Stalker, Yang saw her sister being flung away from the others and was quick to react. Naruto saw the same thing and knew Yang would want to make it to her sister as quick as possible.
"Yang!"
The busty teen turned to the blue eyed Uzumaki and saw him gesture to his cupped hands. Understanding the gesture, she rushed towards Naruto. With a slight hop she placed her right foot into the cupped hands of Naruto. Pushing down as Naruto pushed up Yang was propelled up and over Naruto. Firing off a shot from the gauntlets on her hands Yang used the recoil to push her further and faster through the air.
Seeing her partner headed towards them and seeing where she was no doubt aiming, Blake unwrapped most of the ribbon that she used to tie her weapon to her hand and flung the gun portion of it towards the flying Yang. The blonde grabbed the gun and with a heave Blake managed to swing her partner around, giving her that much more momentum.
As Yang chased after her sister Blake turned to Pyrrha, silently communicating her want to follow her partner. The redhead understood quickly and offered her shielded back in return. Blake nodded gratefully before running towards Pyrrha. With a spin, Blake changed her direction as she landed on Pyrrha's shield, making her face the direction in which Yang had gone. With a shove Blake pushed herself off the bronze surface with enough force to send her off in a fashion similar to Yang.
Turning her gaze back to the Death Stalker, Pyrrha sweat dropped as she saw Nora happily wailing on the Grimm with her hammer, surprisingly causing slight dents in its armor. Naruto, while more restrained, was still as odd as he jabbed his shakujo into the few areas where the Grimm's armor didn't cover. Still all of this only served to make the Grimm that much angrier. Like a bucking bull the Death Stalker crouched and then quickly raised itself, sending both Nora and Naruto flying off its back.
Naruto flipped in the air, landing perfectly on his feet like nothing had happened. Nora was a little more flamboyant about her landing, curling into a ball and then uncurling at the perfect time to land on her feet. Flinging her arms into the air like a gymnast she called out, "Ta dah!"
Naruto held up a small white paper with the number nine written on it. Kurama unfurled his tail and on it was grasped a similar white paper with the number six on it.
Nora pouted, "Meanies!"
"I gave you a nine out of ten!" Naruto complained.
Nora pouted, "I was going for a perfect ten!"
Ren shook his head while Pyrrha giggled at the the odd trio.
"Guys, I don't mean to interrupt, but there is still the matter of the Death Stalker to deal with," Pyrrha pointed out.
Naruto nodded as he warily stared at the Death Stalker, "None of our weapons can pierce that armor of its, even with Nora's help."
Moving as one the group evaded the pincer that had slammed into where they had just been standing, the impact causing a small dust cloud to form. The Death Stalker roared in frustration as its prey escaped it once again.
Narrowing his eyes Naruto continued his speech, "But it doesn't have any armor on its belly. That's where we gotta hit."
Taking into account what he knew of his impromptu team's abilities Naruto tried to think of a plan that would give them the opening they needed, something easier said than done.
'Man it's times like this I wish I had Shikamaru with me. He was lazy as hell, but would have had like twenty different plans on how to take this thing down by now,' Naruto sighed.
"Freakishly super genius strategist..." Naruto muttered, agreeing with his other.
Running his gaze over the Death Stalker that was now making its way towards them again, Naruto took note of another place its armor didn't cover.
With a grin the blond Uzumaki called out, "Legs!"
The other three teens regarded the Grimm and instantly saw what Naruto meant. Having come up with the idea and being the fastest of the four, Naruto lead the charge, Pyrrha following behind him, Nora behind her, and Ren bringing up the rear. Just as the Death Stalker attempted to catch them in its pincers, the group split into its pairs, Naruto and Pyrrha rushing off to the right side while Nora and Ren took the left.
Firing off shots from his twin pistols, Ren was able to punch holes in the legs of the Grimm. Thanks to their weakened integrity, he was able to quickly use the blades attached to his pistols and slice through two limbs with ease.
Nora on the other hand made a show of it by using her hammer like a baseball bat, swinging at the Death Stalker's exposed limbs with enough force to turn the bones in them into a fine powder.
On the opposite side of the odd pair Naruto and Pyrrha were handling their side with just as much ease. Pyrrha had transitioned her weapon into its short sword form and with her superior strength, cleanly cut straight the bottom half of the Grimm's leg. Tossing her shield like a deadly frisbee, she was able to just as quickly take care of the second leg.
Naruto followed behind her, and gripped the bar that lay inside the ring portion of his shakujo. With a tug Naruto revealed that hidden inside the pole of the staff was a razor sharp blade, the staff portion of the shakujo having acted as a sheath for it. The blade itself had only a single edge and lacked a curve, meaning that it was a chokuto class blade.
"Awesome! A swordstick!" Ruby said.
"A what?" Weiss asked.
"A swordstick, or cane-sword, is a cane incorporating a concealed blade. The swordstick serves as a popular fashion accessory for the wealthy during times when it's less socially acceptable to openly carry a sword, but there are still upper-class men routinely trained in swordsmanship who wished to go armed for self-defense. Swords concealed in ladies' walking sticks and parasols are also not unknown. Malacca wood is the most commonly used material in making the cane shafts, and the standard grip was rounded and metallic. Today, designer and collector canes have sterling silver handles, and are made with wooden shafts made from various woods, including Malacca and bamboo. Ornate designs, such as animal heads, skulls, and various emblems may also be carved into the wooden handles; these may make them harder to wield, but some find them more attractive. Sword canes are most often made with stainless steel, rapier-pointed blades. While various mechanisms exist to lock the blade in place, accidents have been known to happen regularly with the simple push-to-release mechanism. Twist-lock mechanisms work well, as do double-locking mechanisms. Soon after their introduction, other "gadget canes" became popular. Instead of a blade, these would hold the tools of one's trade, compasses, and even flasks for keeping alcohol."
Everyone stared at Ruby with the exception of Yang, used to her sister being such a walking weapon dictionary like that.
"Tenten would like her..." Naruto muttered.
"Who?" Yang asked.
"A friend of mine from back home. Biggest weapons fanatic on the entire continent we're from, although she prefers the term 'armament connoisseur'...she can see a weapon once and go on about it the same way Ruby just did." Naruto chuckled with a smile.
Ruby looked ecstatic about that! Finally! A weapons-buddy! Someone she could discuss mods and ammo all the time with! And she really liked that 'armament connoisseur' term! It all excited her.
"Wait...there's two?!" Weiss asked, looking horrified at the idea of a weapons nerd that was just as bad, if not WORSE than Ruby.
"Can you introduce us!?" Ruby pleaded, her eyes shining.
Naruto laughed, "Don't know how, but if I can, I will, Ruby." he smiled, amused by her sheer enthusiasm.
Funneling his wind chakra through it Naruto was able to enhance its cutting power even more while also giving it an almost ethereal glow. With his sharpened sword the blond was able to easily cleave through the remaining legs of the Death Stalker like a hot knife through butter.
"Timber!" Naruto and Nora both cheered, then looked at one another in surprise, then they shared a laugh.
Jumping away Naruto joined the rest of his group as they watched the now legless Death Stalker cry out in pain and collapse to the ground. Without missing a heartbeat Naruto called out, "Nora! Now!"
Giving their impromptu leader a mock salute with a goofy grin stretched across her face Nora responded, "Yes sir!"
Letting her hammer fall to the ground Nora charged straight at the immobile form of the Grimm. As the eccentric teen closed the distance between her and the Death Stalker, Nora hefted her hammer up and as the weapon was inches away from its target the orange haired teen pulled the trigger on the handle, firing off a rocket and sending the hammer smashing against the underside of the Death Stalker's jaw. Due to the recoil from the shot, the hammer plowed into the Grimm with the force of a train.
Far too distracted by the pain of losing its limbs the Grimm was unable to defend itself in any way and took the full brunt of the attack, sending it into the air briefly before it collapsed on its side. Thanks to its rounded shape, the Death Stalker rolled onto its back, exposing its unprotected underbelly.
The group of four took advantage of the opportunity presented to them and quickly leapt on top of the now thrashing Grimm. Ren was the first to attack, unleashing a hail of bullets straight into the exposed underside of the Grimm's skill and then leaping off. Using the new opening given to her by the long haired male, Pyrrha was able to jab her spear further into the flesh of the Death Stalker. As she leapt off to join Ren, Naruto jammed his own weapon into the exposed flesh, his sword now standing perpendicular to Pyrrha's spear. With a mighty swing Nora smashed her hammer against the bottoms of the two weapons simultaneously, sending both Naruto and Pyrrha's weapons tunneling through the skull of the Grimm like a pair of railroad spikes.
"Boo-YAH! Suck it, Jumbo!" Naruto said, amusing the others as Pyrrah, Ren and Nora all nodded.
The two sharp weapons pierced straight through the Death Stalker's skull, coming out the other side and ending up in the ground below the now unmoving corpse.
As the body of the Death Stalker began to fade into the wind the four teens began celebrating their victory over the massive Grimm. Nora let out a cheer of excitement, while Ren collapsed to the floor with a sigh and shake of his head. Pyrrha and Naruto shared a simple high five and smile.
Turning his head along with the others, Naruto let a grin stretch across his face as he witnessed Ruby coordinate her own group. The four worked in a surprisingly synchronized fashion for having only worked together for a few minutes, if that. Yang and Blake provided the distraction, with the ravenette also providing her unusually long and elastic ribbon for Ruby, creating a makeshift slingshot. Weiss then created a circle of ruins that he assumed would speed up Ruby even more.
Team RWBY all smiled at the memory. Their first team combo.
Naruto was proven correct as Ruby soared through the air, the combination of the recoil from her scythe's gun half and Weiss' glyphs pushing her to very impressive speeds. What happened next threw even Naruto for a loop. Ruby hooked her scythe around the throat of the Nevermore, her feet landing solidly against the cliff face. Weiss again created more runes, making a line of them that drove straight up the cliff. Ruby used the runes to stick herself to the sheer cliff wall and began to give gravity the finger by scaling up the rocky wall, dragging the Nevermore behind her.
Firing off shots at a constant rate, Ruby was able to maintain her speed and quickly cover the entirety of the cliff in the matter of a few seconds. Reaching the cliff's plateau, the body of the Nevermore was stuck underneath the lip of said plateau. Another shot and a burst of speed from what he assumed to be her Semblance and Ruby's scythe cleaved straight through the Nevermore's neck, severing the head from the rest of its body.
As the the now headless corpse began to fall down the abyss at the bottom of the cliff, even Naruto had to admit what he had just seen was pretty damn awesome. To tie all together, there Ruby stood at the cliff top, scythe in hand, her cloak fluttering in the wind while rose petals left over from her Semblance fell around her.
Grinning Naruto let out a whistle of appreciation at the sight.
"I agree with the other me, very nice image and impressive feat, Whirlwind." Naruto smiled at Ruby.
"Whirlwind?" Ruby asked, tilting her head.
Naruto shrugged, "You're fast as one. Besides...sounds cool for a title with your name."
"Hmm...'Whirlwind Ruby', 'Ruby Whirlwind Rose', 'Rose Whirlwind'..." Ruby tested a few combinations of the title and her name, then beamed and nodded. Naruto was right, it WAS a cool-sounding title for her! She loved it!
'Impressive...for a ningen (human),' Kurama groused.
'Stubborn old fox,' Naruto retorted.
'Blond haired idiot.'
'Furball!'
'Stupid monkey!'
Everyone sweat dropped when they turned to see Naruto choking his fox while said quadruped was clawing at his face. The sweat drops grew even larger when the duo fell to the floor, Naruto throwing punches while Kurama bit and scratched.
"TAKE THAT BACK YOU BAKA-KITSUNE (Idiot Fox)!"
"You two fight like brothers." Yang noted.
Naruto nodded.
Naruto stood with his arms behind his head as he listened to Ozpin announce the names of the team that had finished before he and the others had. His suspicion about two pairs being placed together to make teams of four being proven correct. Him and Kurama had only raised an eyebrow at seeing another parallel between the military system of Remnant and the Shinobi villages'. It seemed that the saying of "If it ain't broke, then don't fix it" was a universal truth.
"I wish...people always take things that already work, make it more complicated, and assume the complicated means it's better...HATE that." Blake muttered.
When it came time for him, Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren to step up, he did so with a grin on his face.
Ozpin turned to regard the four teens that stood before him, though his gaze lingered on the blond male of the team for a little bit longer than the others.
"Naruto Uzumaki. Nora Valkyrie. Pyrrha Nikos. Lie Ren. The four of you retrieved the gold rook pieces. From this day forward you will work together as team NNPR (Napier)."
"Napier, huh?" Ren said, wondering how Naruto's presence as opposed to Jaune's would alter the team dynamic.
Nora cheered and hugged Ren, who was attempting to hide his own smile. Naruto only grinned as he and Pyrrha exchanged a congratulatory look.
Ozpin coughed to gain their attention again and continued, "The leader of which will be...Naruto Uzumaki."
"Well...can't say that was undeserved with how you lead the makeshift team." Kakashi said.
Cheers and clapping came from the audience while Pyrrha offered Naruto a smile and a pat on the back. Ren nodded at the blond and Nora gave him a goofy salute.
Naruto for his part looked neither shocked nor overly proud at hearing his being selected as the leader of the time. Instead he dropped his arms to his sides and bowed to Ozpin with a blank face, earning a raised brown from the headmaster. His teammates were just as shocked at seeing the usually smiling Uzumaki quickly become so serious. They were however relieved to see Naruto return to normal as he came up from the bow with a foxy grin on his tanned face.
Walking off the stage, the now named team NNPR bumped into Ruby and her own little group. Ruby hugged Naruto and offered her own congratulations. The moment was ruined when Yang grabbed her fellow blond in a headlock and began to give him a noogie.
Naruto gulped as Yang leered at him playfully.
Escaping from Yang's grip Naruto turned to look at Blake. In return the quiet teen offered Naruto a small nod of respect as her congratulations. Weiss was the odd one out as she scoffed and rolled her eyes. Naruto, already used to Weiss' type, grinned before poking her in her side, getting a surprised yelp from the Schnee heiress and laughs from everyone else.
Before Weiss could do anything to get revenge Ozpin began calling out their names and Weiss stomped off with a still giggling Ruby.
"And finally, Ruby Rose. Weiss Schnee. Blake Belladonna. Yang Xiao Long. You four retrieved the black knight pieces. From this day forward you will work together as team RWBY (Ruby), led by...Ruby Rose."
"Good job, Ruby." the Uzumaki said.
Once more cheers erupted from the audience. Yang rushed to crush her sister in another of her hugs while Weiss looked oddly offended. Blake meanwhile stood there stoically, taking the news with her usual brand of apathy.
As both teams RWBY and NNPR celebrated their successfully initiation and team assignments Ozpin looked on with a small smile.
"Looks like things are shaping up to be...an...interesting year," Ozpin muttered quietly to himself.
"Very." the two Beacon teams said.