Roads Untraveled

Disclaimers I don't own Naruto or RWBY or LINKIN PARK, please support any to all official releases and your fandoms and the various communities they're a part of.

Once they had returned to town, Naruto had requested that Death should leave him supplies needed to rebuild the orphanage as Naruto couldn't think of a more sincere way of proving he had moved on and could let go of the hardships he had endured since his time there.

Granted Naruto knew next to nothing about constructing, but even if it was mainly as an empty husk to serve as a landmark or monument, it was better than nothing.

Thankfully he wasn't alone on this project, as Ruby was willing to help him throughout this project.

"Phew, for a bunch of dead husks who don't need to eat, sleep, or drink, we sure can feel tired" huffed Naruto as he had finished nailing in another piece of wooden plank to a wooden pallet.

"Yeah, all this work is starting to get me tired" said Ruby as she began to lay down a pile of wood before stretching out her back, by thrusting his hips forward and arced her back backwards.

"Remember to lift with your legs and arms, not your back, last thing I want is for any of us to pull a muscle and be useless for a month" said Naruto as began to carry his set and dragged it over to be layed down as another piece of flooring.

"Can we at least take a break" said Ruby as she began to stretch her arms side to side, "Alright, but only for a few minutes" said Naruto as he came back dusting his hands off.

Moving out of the area, Naruto and Ruby crossed the street and sat on top of a car that had probably not been used in years.

"I know I've been saying this a lot, but thanks for sticking around and helping me out Ruby" said Naruto, "No problem, just wish we could've had access to power tools" said Ruby as she made a spot lying on top of the roof of the car.

"We don't have electricity, more so those gas and battery powered tools won't last forever" said Naruto as he sat on the hood of the car, "You're just repeating what Death told us" pouted Ruby as she turned at him.

"His words do have valid points" said Naruto calmly as he was avoiding eye contact with Ruby in order to hide his smirk, as she continued to pout.

"You ever wondered if he's really Death" asked Ruby wanting to change the subject as Naruto turned to face her.

"Hmm, never thought of that one, why the sudden interest" asked Naruto, "You know when you think of Death, he's usually a walking skeleton wearing a cloak and wielding a scythe, not some smarmy driver" said Ruby.

"Fair point, though could be worse, he could be a spineless jackass who's shadowed by 2 kids, with one being an idiot supreme and the other essentially the Michael Jordan of Stalin" said Naruto as he got Ruby to snort out a laugh.

"I used to love that show by the way" said Ruby, "Great to know" chuckled Naruto as he and Ruby shared a light laugh.

"But seriously though, you think that maybe he wasn't always Death, maybe just some guy who got unlucky to be doing the job he's in" asked Ruby.

"What makes you say the guy is unlucky, as far as I can tell the guy must love his job" said Naruto, "I don't know, granted he could be sadistic and domineering for all we really know" said Ruby "Could've fooled me".

"But if you think about, he's probably been doing this for so long that it made his life so depressed and dull that he probably acts like this as an escape" said Ruby.

"I mean, what would you do if somehow your life and overall existence lead you to taking on such a depressing job" asked Ruby as she truly showed sympathy for the Reaper.

Taking in her words into consideration, even though he knew that was highly unlikely, Naruto only had this to say.

"There's an old philosophy that life is like a road we take, where there' many corners and paths to take, but you can only take them once in your life time, unless you decide to stay loop around on the same street" began Naruto.

"Personally I don't weep for the roads left untraveled, and I think Death himself feels the same way" Naruto said with a smile, "But it's probably a lonely road to take" said Ruby.

"That maybe the case, but unlike Death who drives alone, the seat alongside me is available to anyone wanting to join" Naruto said with a smile.

"So let's stop worrying about the smug chauffer already and let's get back to work" said Naruto as he got off the car first, "It hasn't been 5 minutes yet" whined Ruby as she kicked her legs up and down.

"It's cool I'd rather you'd rest as long as you like so you don't hurt yourself" said Naruto said as he began to continue building the foundation.

"Hold on, wait for me" said Ruby as she got off the roof of the car and caught up with Naruto, "I'm not letting you have all the fun to yourself now".

"Wouldn't dream of it" said Naruto as both began to roll the sleeves and continued their work.

While Ruby had made amends and Naruto was in the process of making his, both could agree that in spite of their tragic short lives, they have no regrets anymore and if asked would they have changed anything, they would say no.

Alright, so I'm going to end things from here, and work on something else for the rest of today, cause not gonna lie the ending got a little awkward in this chapter, granted I am writing this at work where I've been having an unusual start to my work day, so I do apologize for that.

None the less I hope I am able to make the message I've been making clear since the start of writing this fic, and I do hope that message is hitting home, if not than no joke this has been a colossal waste of everyone's time and I will delete this fic.

Otherwise I'm gonna take a break and work on my other projects just to clear my mind and to let this story breath ya know.

This has been your Humble Narrator Tobi Yaza.