"Alright, kid. You ready to try these things out?" Qrow asked his student still absorbed in studying his new equipment.

Naruto held one of the four sets of claws by the wrist. While Qrow suggested claws, what he actually came back with was something more akin to gauntlets, heavily segmented to allow for freedom of movement and with separated fingers. Running along the back of each finger was a set of ridges that housed the claws themselves while retracted. Bending one of the fingers manually, he found even retracted the digits could bend freely, proving the claws were segmented as well. The body of it was painted in black with orange stripes running vaguely along where the bones of his hand would be and by extension, where the claws were sheathed. Close to the centre of the hand was a gun barrel attached to a small block that went the rest of the way up past wrist.

Cautiously putting the gauntlet on his right hand, Naruto found the thing to be suspiciously comfortable. It took a second to realise the inside wasn't solid, instead almost like a padded glove. Testing the range of movement, he found it was... okay. It was still restricting but he guessed only as much as was absolutely necessary for it to function as intended. He found himself confused when he tried to find a way to release the claws.

Leaning casually on his desk, Qrow took pity on him. "The switch near the middle finger."

Naruto felt around the base of his middle finger and found a small catch camouflaged in the black paint. Releasing it... Nothing happened. Naruto again looked confused at his teacher.

Qrow was grinning madly. He knew the next part would be his favourite. "Do this." He said, his fingers and thumb bent about halfway at every knuckle before suddenly straightening them with a snap movement.

Naruto watched and mimicked the movement. With a sharp 'snikt' sound, the claws released, each as long again as his finger. Naruto took in a deep breath of air-

"Awesome, right?" Qrow asked, grinning still.

"AWESOME!" Naruto shouted in absolute glee.

"Yeah, our guys don't half-ass their designs, I can tell you that." Qrow bragged. "Now those are bladed on both sides so I don't need to tell you, no handshakes when you're all 'rip-and-tear', got it? Just flip the switch again to retract 'em."

Naruto dutifully followed the implied order and with another 'snikt', the blades were sheathed. Naruto frowned. "Why not just have the claws come out with the switch?"

"They did originally." Qrow admitted. "Then the engineers figured out it was a pain in the ass to flip a switch with huge knives on your fingers." He paused. "Also, it makes you look really cool doing the finger thing." he smirked.

"So what about the gun?" Naruto asked.

"Alright, before we get to that, let me go over the basic rules of guns, okay?" Qrow said, unusually serious. Naruto nodded. "Okay rule one! A gun is always loaded. Especially when it isn't."

Naruto tried to look at him with one raised eyebrow, instead looking like he had something in his eye. "That doesn't make sense."

Qrow sighed. "It means just because you know for a fact you unloaded the magazine yourself, doesn't mean someone else hasn't been screwing around with it since. Basically, no matter how sure you are of how not dangerous your weapon currently is, never ignore the rest of these rules. The number of people who got hurt because some moron thought his weapon wasn't dangerous is not a small number. Got it?"

Naruto nodded hurriedly.

Qrow nodded slowly. "Rule two. Never point it at something you don't want to destroy. More difficult for you, what with them being on your arm but still important. Machines aren't perfect and they can misfire at the worst possible times if you let them."

"Rule three. Don't put your finger on the trigger until you're aiming at your target. One finger twitch is all that's between you and shooting something you don't want to shoot."

"And rule four. Be sure of your target and what's past your target. Say you and some other huntsmen are surrounding a Grimm. You shoot the Grimm but your buddy was on the other side of it. Congratulations, you just shot both the Grimm and your buddy. Bullets can penetrate. They go through things. So it's possible, even likely that you'll shoot your target and what's behind it. Even more for you because those are automatic weapons and they tend to spray. You got all that? Say it back to me."

"It's always loaded, don't point it at things I don't want to kill, don't touch the trigger unless I'm already aiming at the target, and know my target and what's past my target." Naruto recited, surprising himself with how much he could remember.

"Good." Qrow nodded satisfied. "Now, you're a dumb kid. That's fine. You'll screw those up from time to time. But just know I'm gonna beat your ass every time you do. Everyone who comes in this room has unlocked their aura so people getting accidentally shot isn't quite as big a deal in here as it is anywhere else. But it is a problem anywhere else so we make damn sure those rules get tattooed onto your brain before we let you take your weapons out of here."

"Yes sir." Naruto nodded sharply.

"Alright. Now, put on your other gauntlet and let's do some target practice."

Naruto nodded again and put on his other gauntlet. It matched the one on his right hand exactly. He also tested out the movement and the claws for reasons of diligence (and absolutely not because it was awesome and he wanted to do it with both hands). Suited up as much as he needed to be for this exercise, he headed over to stand by his teacher at the firing range.

"Okay. Hands out, palm down." Qrow ordered.

Naruto dutifully raised his hands towards his teacher and immediately got a fist brought down on his head for it.

"IDIOT! What did I just tell you?!" Qrow shouted.

Naruto ran the last few minutes through his head and realised even upside down, the barrel of both his weapons were pointed at his teacher. "Sorry, Teach."

Qrow slapped him across the side of his head for it anyway. "Don't do it again.", he admonished before pointing the boy's hands to either side of him.

Taking the right hand, he pointed at the box on the back of the faunus' wrist. "See this?" Getting a nod, "This is where the guts of your weapon are kept." Releasing a series of latches he removed the box itself which turned out to be more of a housing case. Inside where two very obvious slots and some machinery Naruto had no idea about. "Two slots here. What are they for?"

"Well that one's probably for the bullets." he figured, based on it being right up against the other gun... bits.

"Correct." Qrow agreed, slotting the magazine into place with a click. "And the other?"

Naruto shrugged. "I 'unno."

Qrow took a small tube filled with a yellow substance and placed it in the slot. "Claws out." He ordered.

Naruto flipped the safety switch and released his claws and was surprised to see yellow lines running along them and that they were sparking with electricity. "Dust." Naruto breathed.

"Nice, right?" Qrow smirked. "Pretty much all weapons designed nowadays have some compatibility with dust. Yours uses powdered dust to enhance the claws. It also requires dust rounds for your long range option. Ordinary rounds would be too small to have any power behind them at all. Basically your stuff is gonna be kind of expensive so go easy. Oz is bankrolling you for now but once you start taking missions at Beacon it'll be up to you to manage your own supplies." The teacher removed the dust cartridge and put the housing back on before telling his student to put his claws back in.

"You ready for some target practice?" Qrow asked smirking. Getting an eager nod he took his student by the shoulders and pointed him down range. "Now it's going to be difficult to aim because you can't sight it properly but-"

-(-)-

Weeks later

"Left, inward swipe! Right, inward swipe! No! You're leaning in too much, don't claw you're own face off!"

-(-)-

Months later

"Now remember your stepping method. Always heel-toe. They don't hinge in the same direction as the fingers so if you step toe-down you'll stab your feet in the floor!"

'shink'

"DAMMIT, STOP STABBING MY FLOOR, KID!"

-(-)-

One week before graduation

Naruto was tired of sparring practice. He used to enjoy it. Even when he was getting blasted across the room by the boxing bimbo he had fun with it. He enjoyed fighting, mostly because he was actually kind of good at it, that is, when he was allowed to be. Unfortunately there were a couple of things getting in his way during sparring practice. The first was, frankly, everyone was at least a couple steps ahead of him in either skill or gear or both.

The second... ever since he got his weapons, the combat instructor had handicapped him. His regular hand-to-hand style was basically that of a brawler. He knew how to read his opponent and capitalise on openings with fists, feet and the occasional full body tackle. But now that he had a weapon, he was expected to fight like he was using it, even though he wasn't. He didn't really get why. All Qrow would tell him was that he should shut up and trust that he knew what he was doing.

For the fox faunus... It was tough to swallow. His performance in sparring plummeted. People either thought he was a terrible fighter or he was mocking them. Both views led to people looking down on him even more than they already did.

"Fox. Thrush. You're up next. Get your gear." Qrow said as he watched the current bout.

Russell Thrush jogged towards the locker room smirking at Naruto as he passed. The fox faunus just let out a sigh of frustration.

"Fox, you hear me or not? Get your gear." Qrow repeated.

Naruto's head snapped up to look at his teacher in shock. In response Qrow just shot him a sidelong glance before winking at him.

Naruto grinned, some viciousness sneaking into his expression that he didn't even try to hide, before darting into the locker room.

A few minutes later the fight ended. Once again, Yang Xiaolong won against her opponent. Funnily enough the entire class somewhat hated the bubbly blonde, at least in terms of fighting. She was basically impossible for any of them to beat. A talented fighter taught by a master, with a semblance that meant even if you did start to win she could just 'rage-nope' you into a wall.

Fun to hang around with but fighting her was basically taking punishment. Qrow even used it as one a few times. She hadn't seemed to mind much.

The door to the locker room opened and the sound of Russell's laughter could be heard as he came out in his combat clothes. When asked why he was laughing he just laughed harder, sounding a little forced.

Then his opponent came out and they were even more confused.

Stepping out of the locker room, Naruto cut an unexpectedly impressive figure. His combat outfit shared some similarity to most of his casual clothes. A tailcoat coloured burnt orange with two concentric circles in black on each shoulder. A black shirt with comma-like symbols in orange patterned around the neck. Matching black trousers and belt with a circular orange belt buckle. On his hands and feet were gauntlets and boots, all oddly ridged and with the same orange and black colour scheme.

A few of the class looked back at Russell, as if to ask why he was laughing. Noticing their looks his giggles died down. "Ah, you didn't notice. He'll show you in a second."

Naruto followed the green-haired annoyance on to the sparring platform and stood opposite him around thirty feet away.

"Okay, kids. Same as always, weapons out, go on my signal." Qrow ordered sounding bored. It was just another spar but at least this one might be kind of satisfying.

On that order, Thrush unsheathed his twin daggers, flipping them over his wrists and catching them in a ready position.

Naruto opposite him flipped the safeties off his gauntlets before clicking his heels together and flexing his fingers out, extending all four sets of claws. A couple of the class laughed, finally getting the joke.

"I guess we really did get to ya, huh?" Russell taunted. "Much as you tried to pretend we didn't."

"Yeah. You did." the fox agreed. "Consider me gotten. Guess that makes it my turn, right?"

"Go."

Russell didn't hesitate in the slightest, dashing forward to take the initiative. Jumping into a front-flip he brought each of his daggers down in turn, both blocked by both sets of finger claws. Using the impact to push himself back a bit, the mohawked boy got his feet under him before starting another series of rapid strikes. He had trained extensively in an acrobatic style, incorporating spins and flips into his movements as a matter of course.

Claws not being an ideal implement for defense, Naruto decided not to try and weather the blows, spinning and sweeping one of his legs through both of Russell's, knocking his opponent off his feet briefly. Sadly the boy was used to finding his feet and was already ready for the next clash.

The momentum was on Naruto's side and he capitalised on it. Taking a page out of Russell's book, he rushed in but instead of rapid strikes went all out on a jump kick. Russell tried to block with a dagger but it wasn't enough. The toe of Naruto's boot struck the dagger but that just meant the claws pushed past it, impacting him in the chest. As the boy was pushed back the weapon caught between the fox's claws was ripped out of his hand.

Russell rolled backwards to get distance before he noticed one of his hands was empty. Looking at Naruto, he saw the faunus smirking at him, holding the dagger awkwardly between his fingers before flick-throwing it at Qrow who caught it easily. Russell knew, he could go get it, but it would mean forfeiting.

"You're not using your semblance." Russell noted. The blond faunus was known to abuse the hell out of it before to keep up.

"Nope." Naruto confirmed. "Want to see if I can stack up without it. Problem?"

"Alright. Just weapons then." Russell nodded.

"If that makes you feel better about where this is going, sure." Naruto smiled menacingly. "But just so we're clear," He said as he started moving again. "It's still going to go there."

The fox approached the human and began a series of slashes, aiming to overwhelm much as the opponent had at the start of the fight. A left slash, a right, another low sweep, a rising slash, all either cautiously blocked or nimbly dodged while the human tried to back off, waiting for his opening.

It never came.

With a right slash Naruto moved into one of his most reliable combinations by starting to spin. One slash. Two. Three. The dagger flew out of his hand. Four. A kicking slash. Five. Six. Another kick. And so it kept going.

And going.

As the beating continued, a blonde with impressive hair sidled up to the teacher asking him quietly, "Shouldn't you stop this? He's already lost his weapons."

Qrow shrugged. "Happens in a fight sometimes. Doesn't mean you've lost. Besides, Thrush kind of has this coming. It'll be good for him. Probably."

"But-!" Yang started.

"You didn't have these concerns when it was the fox on the receiving end, Yang." His niece's jaw snapped shut with an audible click. "Haha, don't wear that face, Firecracker! It happens. And besides, Thrush could probably turn this around if he used his semblance. That he isn't is his choice. And if he loses because of it, that'll be another lesson for him." Watching the display of the combatants' aura, he waited for Thrush's meter to get low enough to stop the fight but high enough that he would have time to stop Fox.

"Alright, that's enough." True to his prediction, Naruto got in a couple more strikes mostly out of momentum before planting his feet firmly, his upper body wobbling unsteadily. "Winner: Naruto Fox."

-(-)-

A/N: Welp. That fight scene went about as well as I expected it to. Still wish I was better at those but y'know how it goes. Practice practice practice. Doesn't help that the match was basically between two high(ish) speed, acrobatic fighters. That's... really hard to write and probably benefits from a more general approach to narration. Meh. Live and learn.

EDIT: Thanks to Mo Eazy for suggesting a name for Naruto's weapon. They suggested "Final Insult", for the reason he chose it. I tweaked that a bit and came out with "Kuchigotae" which means retort, or back-talk.

Fandom Flux youtube channel. Yes I said it in the last chapter two days ago but unlike a certain Kenchi I'm diligent about my self-promotion, thank you very much! ... Though he did mention it in his latest chapter. Maybe I should lay off.

Thanks for reading.