Naruto: Tornado of Souls V2

Blanket disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or RWBY

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Thanks to everyone for their reviews and support. Here is Chapter 35. Enjoy!

[ ] Signifies hand signs.

Last time:

The group of four made it back to Konoha by evening without any further incident and unexpectedly found Shizune waiting at the gates for them. She embraced Tsunade much to the older woman's surprise and said, "Welcome home Tsunade-sama. You've been missed."

The straw blonde hugged Shizune back and said, "I'm sorry I worried you Shizune-chan. It was a bit of a rough trip. We need to report in to Sarutobi-sensei and tell him the news."

The dark-haired medic cocked her head to the side. "What news is that Tsunade-sama?"

"I've decided to take up the mantle of the Fifth Hokage." said Tsunade.

Shizune beamed at her mentor. "I'm sure your ancestors will approve from the pure land."

…

To say the Third Hokage was immensely pleased would be a huge understatement. "Finally, I can retire once again and spend some quality time with my family." he thought aloud.

The next week was a momentous one as Senju Tsunade was proclaimed the Fifth Hokage and Sarutobi Hiruzen was once again able to retire. There were lots of speeches made and with the Oto War behind them the people of Konoha were looking forward to an era of peace. Naruto was down in the square with the rest of the crowd watching the events along with his Team and the Branwen twins.

It had been very difficult for Naruto to lay Sakura's ghost to rest but he concluded that Raven would be a good friend to have and that the original Haruno Sakura he knew had gone on to the pure land. Ino had come to a similar conclusion and Raven found that she was welcome among Sakura's friends even with the truth known among them.

…

Chapter 35

Fire Country, The Village of Konoha

It had been nearly a year since The Fifth Hokage had taken office and Naruto and his classmates had all graduated to chunin rank through various field promotions. Peace had returned on the Suna Border and Kumo had settled down. Unfortunately, the Grimm problem was still a low-level threat and Fire Country was in a minor arms race against the Creatures of Grimm.

For the most part Teams Kakashi, Kurenai, Gai, Asuma and Anko had become quite proficient at killing Grimm and often used guns against them. Though bullets were useful against slow moving Creatures of Grimm, they were fairly useless against fast moving targets like ninjas so different tactics were used as was needed.

Many of the teams' uniforms changed as well*①. On Team Kakashi for instance, Blake had updated her combat wardrobe to a long white coat black pants and a black crop trop with her ears prominently on display*②.

For their part, the Branwen twins had also enmeshed smoothly with the other groups as additional Team members whenever one was called for. Raven was now a chunin and Qrow was still a special jonin.

Naruto and Qrow often operated with Jiraiya as well.

…

Hokage Tower

Team Kakashi was receiving their latest assignment from the Fifth Hokage. "Your job is to hunt down a pair of missing nins formerly from the Hidden Cloud Village. They are a husband-wife team and are known for flawless teamwork. The husband is named Tenki Kaze whose element is wind and the wife is named Tenki Raito who is a lightning user. They are considered B+ rank missing nin so be prepared for a hard fight. I've included their dossiers for you to review."

Kakashi thumbed through the dossiers and said, "This shows them as loyal Kumo ninja in good standing as of two weeks ago. What happened?"

Tsunade said, "They were sent to investigate a partial mine shaft collapse with a third teammate and were exposed to some sort of gas that killed the third teammate and turned them both psychotic. My guess is nervous system or brain damage. They fell off of the map for nearly a week and reappeared later having slaughtered a village of innocent people in a farming village. They've been on the run killing ever since."

"Sounds like bad business." said Blake. "It looks like Kumo put a kill on sight order but we have a capture or kill order out. Which is preferable?"

Shizune clarified, "If we capture them alive they could have valuable information on Kumo but it is unlikely to happen given their psychotic natures."

"If you get lucky and can capture them do so but otherwise aim to kill." added Tsunade. "I can't risk losing valuable ninja on a pair of potentially incurable psychopaths."

"The were last spotted near the Village of Fuun in eastern Fire Country." said Pyrrha.

"Fuun is an old Bounty Station that supports a small town." said Naruto. "Jiraiya-sensei and I resupplied there a few times."

Kakashi nodded. "Tracking these two could take some time unless they leave an obvious trail of destruction. Pack for three weeks just in case. We'll meet at the front gates in two hours."

…

Fuun Village

When Team Kakashi arrived at the Bounty Station in Fuun Village it was full of celebratory activity. There had been an attack by low level Grimm that the locals had repelled successfully. The people were in high spirits and Kakashi and the others maneuvered their way through the reveling crowd up to the Bounty Hunters Guild building across the street from the bar.

Kakashi came up to the Guild desk along with Pyrrha and said, "You guys have some party going on. It must have been quite a battle."

The Guildswoman at the desk said, "Nine Beowolves and an Ursas down for no losses is a pretty good day. What brings you Konaha ninjas out this way? Did you score a bounty?"

The scarecrow shook his head. We're here for information. A pair of missing ninjas from Kumo were near here recently that go by the name of Tenki. I was wondering who we could talk to get information on them." He slapped 5,000 ryo on the desk and said, I need to find out quickly as in today."

…

In the meantime, Naruto had joined a poker game at the bar across the street and Blake was watching over him. He had just finished fleecing the locals of several thousand ryo so he could pay off the local information dealer that was watching the game from across the bar. The info dealer was a contact of Jiriaya's that had dealt with Naruto before who went by the name of Majishan.

After winning six rounds the locals were getting restless with Naruto's lucky streak and the blonde ninja quietly bowed out of the game. Blake was on alert and said, "What now Naruto-kun?"

Naruto grinned and said, "Just follow my lead and reveal nothing about yourself or anyone else in our group Blake-chan."

She nodded as Naruto led her over to a giant of a man that towered over the young couple. He grunted and said, "You lost kid?"

Naruto said in reply, "I want two tickets to the magic show."

The huge man held out a beefy hand and Naruto slapped 10,000 ryo in it which the man counted. He stepped aside and motioned for the pair to enter a room with beads hanging in the doorway. The room smelled of incense and narcotics to Blake. There were two ronin standing on either side of a green table with a little old man sitting at the table. The old man beckoned them forward to sit at the table with a wave. After the two were seated, the old man said in a scratchy voice, "The Toad's apprentice and a friend. What can this old man do for you today Uzumaki Naruto?"

Naruto slid the pictures of Tenki Kaze and Tenki Raito across the table and said, "I'm looking for these two. They were spotted near here recently. I want to know where they went and when."

The old man adjusted his thick rimmed glasses and said "I thought you might be looking for them. 20,000 ryo for the poor please." Blake gasped at the cost but Naruto slid most of the rest of his gambling winnings across the table. The old man chuckled and said, "You are quite a gambler Uzumaki-san to have come out ahead in this game."

Naruto replied, "I get by."

"So who is your pretty lady friend Uzumaki-san?" asked the old man fishing for information.

"She's my lucky card." answered Naruto. 'As if you didn't know her name already…'

Seeing his line of inquiry was shut down, the old man slid the two pictures back to Naruto and said, "They were here two days ago and found Fuun Village was too well protected to ransack so they withdrew looking for easier prey to the west. Then were headed directly towards Marui ki Village. That's all I can divine for now."

Naruto bowed and Blake followed suit. The blonde said, "Your show was as enlightening as ever Magishan, farewell."

"Come back anytime my young friends!" cackled the old man as they left.

Naruto and Blake came out of the bar at the same time Kakashi and Pyrrha came out of the Bounty Hunter's Guild. Kakashi said, "They were here two days ago and got spooked according to the locals."

The blonde said, "This village was too well defended so they headed west deeper into Fire Country. They were head directly towards Marui ki Village."

Pyrrha's green eyes lit up and she smiled. "You know somebody here Naruto-kun?"

"It's a friend of a friend." clarified the blonde. "I'll tell you all about it later back home. Too many ears here. We need to move out."

Blake smiled and shrugged at Pyrrha who returned the gesture. Kakashi just shook his head ans figured it was one of Jiraiya's contacts.

…

Marui ki Village

The next morning Team Kakashi made it to the Village of Marui ki and found the place was badly damaged but had survived the attack of the two berserker missing ninjas. The people there were initially terrified it was another ninja attack but quickly recognized the Konoha headbands.

Kakashi explained, "They are missing ninjas from Kumo and we are trying to hunt them down before they can do more damage and kill any others. Do you have any idea where they were headed when they ran from Marui ki?"

The town's Elder came forward and said, "Those two mad dogs went north towards the abandoned mines of Ishi Kiraba. Bandits make camp up there. They were probably looking for a place to hide and lick their wounds."

"The two were injured?" asked Blake.

"The woman had an arm bandaged and the man had a limp." explained the Elder. "One of our town guards wounded him with a spear at the cost of his life. It was a bloody affair."

"If they are wounded, then they probably are hiding in the mines." said Pyrrha.

Blake nodded. "Just as importantly they aren't moving at top speed."

Naruto asked the Elder, "Are there and maps of these mines?"

The Elder simply shook his head. "If there are then they are over fifty years old. The mines closed down when I was your age. Nobody but bandits have lived up there for ages."

Kakashi got out a map of the area and said, "It's about a day's north at walking speeds. We should arrive there by midday if we go flat out."

"How big is the mining complex?" asked Blake.

"According to this it covers about nine square kilometers." said Kakashi with a sweat drop. Then he gave a double eye smile. "I guess once we pick up a trail, I'll call out the dogs."

It didn't take long for the group to find a blood trail. It was then that Kakashi summoned the pug Pakkun much to Blake's distaste. (She still had an aversion to dogs).

Pakkun said "This trail is less than six hours old. We'll find your two missing ninja, Kakashi."

…

Ishi Kiriba Mines

Led by Pakkun, the four Konoha ninja arrived near the edge of the old mining sight and found the rock quarry was long abandoned as expected. "We're only about an hour behind them." said the pug. That was when a bolt of kightning came out of nowhere and knocked Team Kakashi off of their feet. Then a great breakthrough jutsu hit a second later which sent the four tumbling.

Pakkun dispelled and Kakashi said, "Damn! An ambush."

Naruto reacted with his own wind: great breakthrough and sent the wind using man stumbling backwards into the ravine behind him. His wife screamed "Kaze!" and turned on Naruto with vengeance burning in her eyes. She overcharged her lighting jutsu in order to vaporize the orange loving ninja only to hit a massive magnetic barrier from Pyrrha that sent the bolt directly back to the source which blasted Raito back into the same ravine her husband had fallen in.

Blake made a shadow clone that looked down into the ravine before dispelling. Blake said, "It's a ten meter drop into solid rock. They aren't moving but I can't ascertain if they are dead without getting up close."

The Konoha ninjas slowly moved up the hill and peered over the edge. Then they heard groans from below and Kakashi said, "It seems that they are alive somehow. Let put restraining tags on the pair and. fish them out of that ravine."

Naruto and Pyrrha went down the steep rock face and found the mangled pair of missing nins. Pyrrha placed a restraining tag on the woman Raito and said, "She's in bad shape. I'll carry her up." Naruto looked at the dark-haired Kaze and put a restraining tag on him as well.

The man was a bloody mess but didn't have any compound fractures by some miracle. Naruto picked Kaze up and he groaned subconsciously in pain as Naruto did his best to haul him up the cliff side without further aggravating the man's injuries.

Team Kakashi set the pair on the ground and did their best to bandage them up and stabilize them. They all knew enough about first aid to set bones and clean wounds but other than the basic mystic palm there wasn't much else the four could do for the injured pair.

"They are on fire with a fever from whatever they were exposed to sensei." said Pyrrha. "I don't know how much longer they'll survive at this rate."

Kakashi pondered moving them back two Konoha but figured it would do more damage than good given how bad of shape they were in. "Let's try to cool them off with a gentle rain shower Naruto. Do you think you can pull it off with your Typhoon release Naruto?"

Naruto sighed, "I've been learning meditation techniques from Pa Fukasaku so I'll try. Naruto assumed the lotus position and after about ten minutes of clouds rolling in a gentle spring rain began to fall and started cooling them all of rapidly. It wasn't until a few hours into the rain that Pyrrha notice something about Raito. "Kakashi-sensei, they are healing quickly like Naruto-kun and Raito's's hair is changing color from black to brown rapidly."

The silver-haired sensei said, "Kaze is changing too. His skin tone is getting lighter. I think we may be witnessing a pair of soul mergers but I don't know if they'll survive the process given how bad of shape they are in." He looked over at the motionless Naruto. "Blake, stay on guard duty. I'll continue to watch over Kaze while Pyrrha watches over Raito."

The radiant redhead watched with rapt attention as the woman in front of her continued to change. Her skin became lighter and her hair turned from dark brown to reddish brown and finally to orange. Pyrrha whispered, "Nora..?"

That's when Raito mumbled in her sleep, "…Stuck by lightning and it didn't kill me…crazy Thursday…"

Pyrrha sweat dropped and thought, 'There's only one person who would say that…' "Sensei, I believe this is Nora Valkyrie. Even her eye color has changed to aqua*③."

"Kakashi said, "…And likewise I believe this is Lie Ren. It seems that they are inseparable even in death."

Pyrrha looked over and saw Ren lying there. His Kaze's curly black hair was straight now and his skin was pale instead of dark. "I wonder what happened to them." said the redhead.

Giving a double eye smile, the silver haired jonin said. "Hopefully we'll know soon."

After eight hours Naruto's concentration broke and the sky cleared off. The dark-haired young man that now looked like Ren woke up, blinked and said in a detached voice, "W-where am I? I was in that mine and everything went black…Wait. I was fighting Hazel Rainart and… Where is my wife? Where is my Nora?"

"You've been through a lot Ren Lie." said Kakashi. "Just rest easy. You are among friends and Nora is right beside you." He took the restraining tag off of Ren and asked, "How do you feel?"

"My head is filled with fog." said Ren. He looked over at the sleeping Nora and said, "Thank the gods she's safe."

"How long have you been married?" asked Kakashi.

Ren smiled and said, "We just had our fourth anniversary…Wait. Nora and I…"

"Stay calm Mister Ren." said Kakashi. "Your memories haven't assimilated yet. Give it time."

Ren laid back after wrapping his hand around Nora's. He looked at Kakashi and said, "I'm sorry but do I know you? You seem awfully familiar…"

The jonin smiled and said, "I should. My name is Hatake Kakashi but I was once known by you as Professor Ozpin of Beacon. I died and woke up in this world just as you have. When Nora wakes up, I'll explain things to both of you. If you have any doubts then look over there at your other friends, Nikos Pyrrha and Belladonna Blake."

Ren's head snapped over in the direction Kakashi motioned and focused on Pyrrha who was glassy eyed and said quietly, "Hello again. It's been a long while since we saw each other last."

Ren said, "Pyrrha..? How did-?"

"I actually died at Beacon." explained the redheaded young woman. "I woke up here just as you have here Ren."

Nora mumbled, "Pancakes…" in her sleep and Ren smiled.

"I guess Nora's okay." said Pyrrha.

A few minutes later the orange haired young woman opened her eyes and saw Pyrrha and Blake standing over her. She started nodding to herself. "Pyrrha and Blake… I must have overdosed on coffee again. Now I'm seeing the dead. I guess I'll get some shuteye." She closed her eyes before opening them wide as dinner plates and said, "Waitaminute! Where is Ren?!"

She felt Ren squeeze hand and looked over at him. "Oh, thank god you're okay! I remember us fighting Hazel and… What the hell is going on?! My memories are all jumbled…"

"Calm down Nora." said Ren. "I think we both died fighting Rainart and woke up here…wherever it is."

Naruto came over and asked, "You know these two sensei?"

"They were students of mine at Beacon before it was destroyed. It sounds like they died fighting an old foe of mine named Hazel Rainart." said Kakashi.

"They were my teammates before I died." said Pyrrha. "They are very good friends of mine."

…

It took several hours before Ren and Nora were brought up to speed on transmigration between Remnant and the Elemental Nations. Ren said, "So basically I'm a blend between Tenki Kaze and Ren Lie and the reason my memories are so jumbled up is because my two sets of memories haven't assimilated fully yet." Seeing Kakashi nod Ren said, "How long will it take for things to seem normal again?"

"It took about a month for me to stop having flashbacks." said Kakashi. "Of course, I was dead for about a week in there. Judging by your calm states of mind I'm guessing the psychotic episodes have passed."

Nora said, "I don't feel any more psychotic than usual psychotic."

Naruto sweat dropped and Blake said, "Naruto-kun, psychotic is normal for Nora."

Pyrrha giggled and said, "I think you'll get along just fine."

Ren looked at his Kumo forehead protector and sighed. "The Raikage will consider us foreign spies after this."

Nora looked down and Kakashi said, "You'll be welcome in Konoha. Tenki Kaze and Tenki Raito have a kill on sight order in Kumo anyway. Given you are here I think it would be safe to mark the pair of them as KIA with Konoha forces. We'll need those headbands as proof of course.

Nora said, "I hate to give up my headband but better that than fleeing from Kumo hunter nin till the end of time." She smiled at Ren and said, "I guess Konoha is our best option."

…

The Road to Konoha

Kakashi was talking to Nora and Ren as they walked back towards Konoha. "So in essence, you two, Ruby, Yang, Weiss and Jaune were fighting in Haven against Headmaster Leonardo Lionheart and Hazel Rainart when the pair of you were killed in battle."

Ren explained, "Professor Lionheart was a traitor and was killed in the battle as well. The Battle at Haven was almost as bloody as the Fall of Beacon."

"I wonder who actually won?" thought Nora aloud.

"We may never know." replied Pyrrha. "At least it's good that you ended up here among friends. It could have been bad if you'd been captured in Kumo."

"Given as xenophobic as A-sama is, we'd have probably been executed regardless." said Ren.

Nora agreed. "I guess things worked out for the best. I just hope Ruby, Jaune and the others are okay."

…

Konoha, Hokage Tower

Tsunade was surprised to find Team Kakashi coming in with two people that didn't look like Tenki Kaze and Tenki Raito at all. "This is Valkyrie Nora and Ren Lie Hokage-sama. They are transmigrants as most of my team is." said Kakashi.

The Fifth Hokage sweat dropped. "Given your obvious familiarity with them I take it you know each other?" she asked.

Kakashi gave a double eye smile and said, "They were former students of Ozpin's Hokage-sama. They were the former Kumo missing ninjas that went crazy as well. I'm sure both you and Yamanaka Inoichi will want to check them over."

"It was a carbon monoxide gas leak that caused hypoxic brain damage that drove the Tenki couple into a feral state and killed their teammate according to our reports." said Tsunade. "We'll need to check you over for brain damage though I suspect there isn't any. Kakashi grew a new eye from a soul merger so your gray matter was probably fully restored as well."

Nora had a question mark above her head and said, "Hypoxic?"

Ren turned to her and said, "Low oxygen levels."

"Oooooh! Why didn't she just say that?" asked Nora.

Kakashi said, "Hokage-sama uses medical terms because she is the greatest medical nin in the elemental nations." Then he turned to Tsunade and added, "Valkyrie-san always acts this way. She is not brain damaged any more than usual."

Tsunade and Shizune sweat dropped. "We'll be extra careful with Valkyrie-san." said the Hokage.

…

Orochimaru's Northern Headquarters

It had been a year since Oto's crushing defeat and Orochimaru was spending more time with Uchiha Sasuke to train him to be his next body. The more mundane parts of running of things had fallen upon Yakushi Kabuto who had found able assistance in Guren as a field commander and Uzumaki Karin as a scientist.

Sasuke had also been allowed to form his own team known as Team Taka which consisted of himself, Jugo, Uzumaki Karin and Hozuki Suigetsu. They were taking missions designated by Orochimaru himself and among their first was to retrieve the sword Kubikiribōchō*④ for Suigetsu and after that their missions had grown progressively harder.

The Team often found themselves at odds with the Creatures of Grimm and as a result Sasuke started carrying his own Sword of Kusanagi*⑤ in emulation of Orochimaru. What Sasuke didn't know is his Team would soon be on a mission into Fire Country very soon…

…

Lee Rock's Dojo

Two weeks later; the chunins and jonins were having a party to welcome Ren and Nora into the fold of Grimm Hunting Teams as they were officially with the Branwen twins as part of Team Qrow. The young couple was a bit overwhelmed by the warmth of the reception, but Nora in particular was having a good time so Ren was fine with it.

Naruto was dealing cards as part of the group played poker. Kakashi, Gai, Shino. Hinata, Raven, Ilia and Ino were just betting poker chips so nobody would end up bankrupted.

Even Neji had joined the festivities as he and Tenten were dating now. They were dancing. Melanie was spending time dancing with her boyfriend Lee and her twin Miltia was dancing with her boyfriend Kiba.

Asuma was playing Shogi with Shikamaru while Kurenai and Choji watched. Blake and Nora were watching as Ren and Pyrrha played Go.

Qrow was hanging out with Anko as the pair had grown fond of each other since Blake introduced them. All in all, it was a nice time for all involved and things were peaceful for now...

…

POSTSCRIPT:

*①: The Teams have adopted their Shippuden Uniforms with the exception of Hinata.

*②: This is Blakes "Mistral" outfit from Seasons 4-7 in RWBY.

*③: Nora's eye color was originally turquoise and then green before they settled on aqua in RWBY Volume 4 onwards.

*④: Kubikiribōchō –the 'decapitating carving knife' formerly wielded by Momichi Zabuza.

*⑤: Sword of Kusanagi – Sasuke's Sword of Kusanagi appears to be a copy of the one Orochimaru uses and while very durable, it has none of the powers of Orochimaru's sword.

I hope everyone likes the inclusion of Ren and Nora. I've had several requests for them over time (particularly Nora) but I couldn't see separating the duo so I brought them over as a pair. See you next time. Blue out. 4/12/22