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A/N

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Chapter 16

"Just focus, Naruto. This isn't that hard."

"If you say that one more time I'm going to smack you with my sword."

Sasuke considered punching Naruto right in his stupid mouth, but he held back for a variable set of reasons. To be truthful, Sasuke knew why Naruto was used to not getting any form of information about anything he was being trained to do. He'd already admitted to not seeing the logic in Ebisu's training when that man had attempted to train him for the Chuunin Exams. But, after listening to that story, Sasuke understood why. Naruto wasn't given enough information to come to the realization that someone was helping him. But this was also something else entirely new to Naruto that was destroying his core beliefs in a man that had been the first to look at him with both eyes opened.

Iruka had always been a man that Sasuke couldn't stand behind or beside. To him, Iruka was a teacher because he had little combat skill. He survived the attack on their village, but that didn't mean he did any fighting. To Sasuke, Iruka would always be nothing but a teacher and little else. But to Naruto he was something different. He was a man that had taken an interest in his life, his combat skills, and desired to teach him when no one else would without being forced.

Iruka had put in their heads that chakra couldn't survive outside their bodies. Sasuke was starting to think that he was only partially correct. The very nature of chakra was something that was formed inside of your own body through physical and spiritual training. This energy grew inside the users' body as a muscle the more times you used it, giving you bigger reserves along the way. Iruka had a method for increasing one's chakra reserves that Sasuke had appreciated. His chakra control teaching style was also something Sasuke could get behind. Kakashi's method had been useful tools that escalated to something more while Iruka's had focused more on control and not something you could use down the line.

Right now Sasuke was trying to teach Naruto something that not even Sasuke could utilize too well. The whole concept was hard for him to grasp only because of school work. Naruto didn't have that problem. And with all of his clones it wouldn't take him long to master it either. Between his studies and his other duties to Ozpin, Naruto could learn this faster than Sasuke ever could and once he figured it out, he could work on figuring out their other jutsu theories.

"How come you don't know how to do this? I thought your eyes could help you figure this out."

Sasuke clenched his jaw as his ire with his blond companion grew on him. "The Sharingan doesn't work like that. And even if it did, it wouldn't help."

"I could." Naruto grumbled. He went back to focusing on the task at hand.

Sasuke inhaled deeply, grateful that his friend was going back to work on his training.

Sasuke turned in on his thoughts and focused on his other problem. Jasper had approached him early this morning and brought the revelation of his Semblance. Sasuke had decided to look in on this revelation and try to find a way to control his new ability. This new power brought about a great deal of destructive force that he could hardly control or wanted to control. He hadn't had enough time to work with it to figure out if it was possible to be useful in combat. So far he'd grasped that he could lower the temperature and form a small sheet of ice over his limbs, but aside from that, his new abilities were rather useless.

This led him to call upon one person he knew that could control ice to a great extent. It also served as the reason for why he wasn't here at the moment. The current him was a clone mean to observe and provide pointers when Naruto ran into problems with his training. His real self was off with his trainer, Weiss Schnee, but currently he didn't know what the status was with his real self. His current problem was this issue with Naruto.

A loud crack sounded, ripping Naruto from his training and Sasuke from his thoughts.

"What was that?" Sasuke asked quietly. Naruto raised his katana and ran a finger over a small crack that formed along the side of the blade. Sasuke gentle took the blade away from him and examined it himself. Naruto looked bewildered that his chakra had done that to the blade. Giving a quick test swing, Sasuke became contempt that the blade was still good, but its integrity was now compromised. "Let's stop with this for today and see if you can go to town to get a new sword or get this one repaired."

Naruto nodded dumbly while sheathing the blade. "I'll go talk to Ozpin and see if I can get a trip to town today."

"Do you still have clones looking on the other jutsu ideas?"

"Yeah," he admitted as he felt another one of his clones die from chakra exhaustion. "They're not having much luck with it. But they are getting the concept down." Naruto formed a Rasengan and threw it. The spinning orb of chakra flew a good fifteen feet before its form collapsed and broke into nothing. Sasuke's single eye narrowed at the sight of it. "It's not much, but it's a start."

"It's more than a start. It's proof that this is really possible." Sasuke chewed on his lower lip. Something still felt off. "Do it one more time for me please. Disperse two more of your clones before you do though." Naruto blinked and shuddered as their memories hit him hard. They had been closer than the last set of clones that he had destroyed. Forming another Rasengan, he hurled it directly at the tree and watched it drill through a tree and topple it over. Naruto looked smugly at the sight of the destroyed tree. "Impressive…" The clone scratched at the side of his head. "After we get your sword fixed, we need to go back to working on enhancing your blade."

Naruto nodded silently. "I'm going to go talk to Ozpin about going into town to get my sword fixed." Sasuke nodded and disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Naruto cleaned his teeth with his tongue. He headed to the office to speak with Ozpin. Maybe he could grab Blake and see if she'd want to go with him to get it looked at.

(-)

Weiss stalked around the former Uchiha as he continued his training over his ice ability. She wasn't going to lie about this. His "new" ability annoyed her. She had worked with the assumption that his Semblance was the ability to control multiple elements via his own odd form of mystical arts. So far she knew he controlled fire and lightning. While both were very common for any mystical user of this class, it was strange that they would deviate from their normal usage or gain the ability over another type of element so quickly.

Normally in a mage type Hunter; their powers were limited to certain elements. Only a select few could control multiple elements with their Semblance. Those people were rare and often seen as gifted people with powers beyond normal comprehension. Most could even be considered credible threats to an army during the war. But to reach the level needed they had to train endlessly. Some trained until they died without mastering it. Others trained until they felt they were ready to face the world, but by then, they were too old to do much but teach the next person in hopes of them making a difference.

That was how she saw him. Sasuke was a powerful mystic that took everything and flipped it upside down. He was a remarkable swordsman. He was fast, strong, swift, and brave. His power was matched only by his intellect. His cunning was without rival. Weiss respected Sasuke as much as she trusted him, which wasn't much, but enough for improvement in her eyes. How someone as young as him was as powerful as he was eluded her but she was pleased to see that her skills were a grade above his own for this type of ability.

Ice manipulation was just as tricky as lightning, but with fewer health risks. Lightning was unstable, prone to jumping at anything, and at times leading to the users' death. Ice was tricky because it required you to be cold and detached from the very thing you were using. You had to be devoid of emotions when using it. Act without thinking. That was how you had to use it. The moment you thought on what you were doing you'd lose your focus and with it, your ice. Weiss had spent user learning how to use it with her glyphs. While not her family's greatest ability, it was something she was pleased to see improvements on, along with the speed in which she could summon her glyphs.

Sasuke shook his head and Weiss came to a stop. "You're not trying hard enough."

"Thanks," he grumbled. His clone had been telling that to Naruto. Now his sword was busted as a result. What could have caused that? "Run it by me again on how most abilities like this work."

Weiss huffed, unhappy to be repeating herself again. Sasuke was using it as a stopgap to focus on his inner thoughts. Weiss wasn't aware and explained again. "Most elemental mystics have to use something as a medium in order to bring out their elemental abilities. Most people who have an form of an Ice Semblance must be near water or like me, can summon it through the use of glyphs. In order to bring out such power they must have complete focus and mental discipline." She marched around him, counting them off on her fingers. "You already have the ability to control both fire and lightning. So learning ice shouldn't be too hard for you."

"Except that it's a complete opposite to what he currently knows," Pyrrha pointed out. When Sasuke came to Weiss for help on this, Weiss turned to Pyrrha since she had a better grasp on a Semblance that required greater will control than most. Her ability to telekinetically control metal was a good enough reason to bring her. When she learned what Sasuke was going through, she jumped at the chance to help him. "His body is making him learn something that goes against everything he already knows how to control."

"Believe me, I'm already aware of that," Weiss snapped. She had more research to do before their operation this Friday. Today was Wednesday. She wanted to be prepared for anything. "How is it you're just now getting this power? Shouldn't you have learned it before fire and lightning?"

Sasuke got lucky and came from his thoughts as she asked the question. "My family only ever used fire and lightning. Consider me the black sheep of the family."

"Or the lucky one," Pyrrha countered. Sasuke couldn't see himself as lucky. His brother murdered their family, left him alive, and now because of his insane lust for power he was here learning a new ability and stuck with his former teammate that would break his legs and take him once a way back was found. He didn't see any of that as being lucky. "Sasuke, what were you dreaming about when they first realized you had this power?"

"I fail to see how that would aid us here." He flexed his hand and a sheet of ice appeared from his elbow to his wrist. He flexed again and it shattered like glass. "This is all I can do. But Jasper said I froze my entire bed in my sleep and lowered the temperature to below freezing. And I wasn't awake or anything. That was just me at rest."

"Perhaps what you were dreaming caused it." Sasuke was ready to dispute her but Pyrrha cut him off before he could protest. "You've only manifested your powers while you sleep. Perhaps it has something to do with your dreams. So what were you dreaming about?"

The former Uchiha turned his back on them and stared at the setting sun. They had two more hours of sunlight left. Sasuke wanted to spend them training with jutsus. Not this Semblance crap. He was still in the ninja mindset. Perhaps that was his problem? He saw this power as a tool of destruction and nothing else. It wouldn't be that much of a stretch to assume that his new found power wasn't meant for that. What could ice do that fire and lightning and a sword couldn't?

He paused and remembered Haku. He had used ice as well. It was beyond powerful. It was a terrifying. Sasuke feared that if Haku had been given a chance to grow he might have become a real threat. Thank god Kakashi put him down.

"I was having dreams about someone else that I knew that had ice powers," he lied. Weiss shifted from foot to foot. "We weren't what you would call friends. He was someone I knew. He was powerful and fast. He died, but it was becoming of us at that time. We fight, we kill, and we live. Failures die. Winners live." A cold and brutal truth to their world. Weiss looked mortified. "He died because of our instructor. His name was Haku. He went rogue and our instructor had no choice but to put him down. There was no other way."

"How could they?" Weiss demanded.

"Out there, in the wild, it's live or die. There are no points for showing mercy or being kind. It's either kill and survive or don't. I'm trying to escape that life. You could say Naruto's trying to go back to it. It's the only life we knew and I don't want it. It made me something terrible. And now having this… power… isn't helping me." Sasuke ran a hand over his eye and shuddered as a voice taunted him in the back of his mind. "Let's just skip the training for tonight. I'll sleep somewhere else until I get this down." Pyrrha reached for him but he was gone.

Weiss watched him go. He's lying…

(-)

Naruto got through the doors to the Academy when a speeding blur darted right into him and dragged him away. Naruto blinked as he found himself stuck up against a wall and a worried Blake glancing around. "Okay listen," she started, turning around and making sure that no one was listening, "you can't tell anyone about what happened last night."

"Why?"

Blake growled at him. Naruto blinked.

Last nights' training had ended in both of them losing. Blake lost her temper and cut Naruto after he made a good clean swipe on her bow, removing it in the process. Naruto had at start apologized and said he'd get her a new one, but it wasn't damaged. Rather, she said he had hit her and it wasn't in a good spot either. Confused, Naruto had asked what she meant. When her hand unconsciously went to her bow, Naruto ripped it off and found that he had thoroughly whacked her left cat ear. Blake apologized for stabbing him, but wasn't accepting his apology for hurting something very sensitive on her head. Naruto had hounded her with questions about not even a second later, and naturally, Blake ran away from them. Escaping the blond proved to be far more difficult than what she had first thought, and eventually conceded defeat and explained her story to him.

Naruto had listened with rapt attention and once she finished her story, he admitted that her life was terrible, but a need to hide one's appearance never solved anything. She argued with him on it, but in the end saw a form of logic in his words. What was the point in trying to aid the Faunus race if you hide your appearance and made it seem like you were human when you weren't? What good did that do for you? You hid your appearance, deceived your friends, and lived a lie. Naruto couldn't accept that, but saw her logic. She didn't want to be hated or treated unfairly.

So he silently agreed to keep her secret and hadn't told anyone yet.

Naruto removed her hands. "I haven't told anyone. Don't intend to either," he confessed tiredly. Blake breathed a sigh of relief. "How's your ear?"

"It hurts." Naruto started walking. She followed. Perhaps he could tell her his origins? She was smart. She already guessed enough about his powers to know they didn't exist here. Would she be able to understand what he was and where he was from? Maybe it would put him in a better light with her. "Where are you going?"

"I need to talk to Ozpin about getting my sword repaired." He drew the sword and showed the crack. Blake snatched it up and ran a finger over the crack. It was not going to be an easy fix. "Or failing that, get a new one."

"What were you hitting it with?" Naruto gently took the blade from her as they stepped into the elevator. With a little bit of focus he forced his chakra over the blade. The blade held fast for a while before the crack suddenly grew. He stopped and sheathed the blade. "How did you do that?"

Inhaling deeply, Naruto hit the emergency stop and exhaled with his eyes closed. "I lost our duel, didn't I?" Blake looked at him funny. He smiled lightly and opened his eyes. "Blake, I'm not from here. I mean that. I'm literally not from here. This power is from somewhere else. My world." Naruto shook his head and wanted to scream. "War is a constant thing. Not like here. My power is something physical and spiritual. This sword can't hold out against it. It's breaking because I have very little control over this power."

Blake stood in shook for a good while before sending the elevator back on its path. "If that's all true, why tell me?"

Naruto took his hand away from his sword. "I'll explain it if you come with me. You explained your life to me. How about I explain more about life to you if I can get this trip to the city for my sword?" Blake's bow twitched. "You showed me your dark secret. I'll show you one darker if you promise to come with me."

"How dark are we talking?"

The doors opened. Naruto glanced inside the office where Ozpin was sipping on his drink and going over a report of some sort. "Dark enough…" Naruto walked in and put on a fake smile as Ozpin turned his attention to him. "Ozpin, I need a favor."

Setting his cup down, Ozpin laced his fingers together and put on a smile. "Of course. Whatever assistance you need that I can offer, I'll be more than happy to do so." Naruto pulled his sword out and showed the crack in his blade. "I assume you have been thrashing your weapon against a few rocks here and there." Naruto infused his chakra into the blade and it cracked once more. Ozpin's brow rose. "The blade can't handle your power?" he whispered. His eyes drifted to Blake. Naruto closed his eyes. "Could you give us a moment, please?"

"Sure…" Blake walked to the elevator a shut it.

As soon as the door shut, Ozpin closed his eyes. "How much does she know?"

"I'm not a liar." Naruto's eyes hardened. "Whether you approve or not, I'm telling her. She's my friend. She's been helping me get better with my sword that I have broken. I have kept secrets from my friends in the belief that it would hurt me more than it would hurt them. Father once told me that secrets have weight. I'm starting to get weighed down by them. I can't go through my life right now thinking that what I'm doing is wrong. If this pushes her away, at least I know I won't hurt as much as I always thought it would."

Ozpin narrowed his eyes and for a moment a frown touched his lips. "You want to reforge the blade?" Naruto nodded. Standing, Ozpin walked around his desk, his hand trailing along the edge of the desk. "If you can have the blade reforged, what would you do with it?" Confused, Naruto glanced back at the elevator before looking back at Ozpin. "I'm not blind or deaf. I know that Blake and her friends are planning for this Friday." He picked up his cane and gave a test swing. "I'll give you the money if you promise to follow them and insure that none of them are hurt. Make sure that the one who takes the most dangerous portion is well protected."

Chuckling, Naruto scratched at his scalp. "What you're asking would require more tools."

Smiling, Ozpin nodded. "I'm sure you can find something of that nature on your trip to town. Please ensure that Ms. Belladonna isn't aware of your purchase. Get a better sword while you're at it." He placed a card on the desk. Naruto smiled and took it before moving to the elevator. Blake took a step back from the door with a shy smile. "Have a nice day in town."

Naruto gave a light nod as the door shut.

(-)

The trip to Vale was quick and easy. As soon as they touched down and started walking towards the best weapon shop that Blake knew of. Neither spoke until they had their feet planted on the ground. Blake pointed the direction to the weapon shop and Naruto followed.

"So how dark is this story of yours?"

Naruto inhaled deeply through his nose. "Why do you hide what you have?" The blond asked. Blake narrowed her eyes. "You look cute with them," he confessed. She still wasn't amused. Licking his lips, he changed tactics. "What has Sasuke told you about me that I can correct if it needs correcting."

Sighing, Blake crossed her arms. "He told us that you're an orphan. You were always stuck in his shadow and that no one ever took you serious. They hated you. You confessed that to me." Naruto nodded mutely. Blake took a deep breath before continuing. "You said something about a darker secret. What do you mean by that? You seem like a n open book kind of person. You're strong, brave, fast…. But you lack focus and skill. You also have secrets and it hurts you now. You're someone that has inflicted wounds upon yourself. I can see that in you, but as for why you hurt I can only guess."

Naruto smiled despite himself. "Sasuke pretty much told you truth about me. He left out a few details, but I'll go ahead fill them in for you." He stopped at a crosswalk and waited for the light to turn green. "I had a bad childhood. People hated me, ignored me, and treated me like I didn't exist. When I wanted training they wouldn't give it to me. But as time went on I learned something that sort start to put the weight on my shoulders." He paused and thought on where to go with that. His red eye twitched as the laughter of Kyuubi echoed in the back of his mind. "When I ended up here I… I…" he shook his head and started walking as the light turned green. "I never once questioned why it was done to me. Why, out of so many others, it had to be me that suffered the most."

Blake stopped him and motioned towards another crosswalk. The light was red. They waited in silence while Naruto collected himself.

"I'm an orphan, Blake. When I was little I spent years trying to find out more about my family. I was told they died during the monster attack. I never knew their names until…" His knuckles turned white with rage. "Until I meet them after I woke up from the coma." He stopped at the door to the weapon shop. "I met my father first and my mother second. He told me what he did. I hated him for it. I still hate. He's inside my mind. And I don't mean on my mind. I mean in my mind. Warriors like me have this… mental existence where we go to meditate and think." His eyes narrowed as he opened the door to the shop. "I hate him still. I'm never going to look past what he's done to me."

Blake mulled that over as Naruto walked up to the shopkeeper.

"I need to look into getting my sword repaired or getting a new one."

The shopkeeper took the weapon and examined it. "Whoever crafted this was good, but this crack came from within the blade itself. How did that happen?"

"He's an enhancer type." Blake answered quickly. The shopkeeper furrowed his brow together and retreated into the back. The blond shinobi gave her a quizzical glance. "It's basically what you're doing to the blade. The metal that was used to forge it can't handle it. As a result, it's mostly likely the cause of the crack." Naruto shrugged. He couldn't wrap his head around what she was saying, but it sounded right. "They make blades from special metals and dust that enable enhancer types to enhance a blade with their power and not damage it. There are some users out there that put such terrible force on their weapon that it shatters. Just like how your weapon is right now."

"So what I'm doing qualifies for that," he said with a laugh as the shopkeeper returned with a basket of metals. "I'm not very smart with metals."

"All you have to do is put your aura through it. Whichever metal doesn't crack under the pressure of your aura is the one we can use." He handed over one of the metal bars to the blond. "Just focus. I'm sure that's not too hard." Rolling his eyes, the blond focused his chakra through the bar of metal. After only a few seconds there was a loud snap and a crack formed along the bottom of the metal bar. The shopkeeper took it and quickly examined it. "So the middle of the road type stuff isn't going to work."

"How does it work?"

Handing over another piece of metal for him to focus on, the man explained. "You enhancer types require a certain blend of dust to metal ratio that's not normally seen in most weapons. While almost everyone can do it, those that have Semblances that enhance their weapons often put too much power into the weapon, resulting in the blade's destruction. It feeds off the energy. All metal has dust in it. It strengthens it to something beyond normal metal, making it hard to break and hard to ruin. That's why buildings aren't made of this stuff. But let's say you can enhance the sharpness of the blade and you're really strong. You may sharpen the blade but the metal is still passing through something, and that something can break it. You're not enhancing the durability of the blade."

"So it works against the enhancing ability?" Naruto questioned. The bar of metal snapped in his hands. The man took it and gave him another. "Why not just give me a blade made of pure metal rather than something infused with dust?"

"You'd be the first enhancer type to not break their weapon. But since if I do that, you're weapon can't draw upon your aura. It completely ruins the very notion of what we're doing."

"I'd say let's give it a try." The shopkeeper squinted at him before handing over another brick of metal to him. Naruto focused for a good long while before he looked at the metal. "Pure metal?"

"No. It has dust in it. But the concentration for dust is higher than the metal count. But I can craft a blade from this. What kind of sword do you want?"

"Something similar to this one." Naruto glanced at the metal he was holding. It was a strange red. "Will the blade be red?"

"Sort of the tradeoff for this kind of metal I'm afraid."

"That's okay. Red's my favorite color."

"Somehow I doubt that, given all the orange you're wearing. But hey, what I know about kids these days." He took the original sword and started drawing up measurements. "This is going to take a while. Can you come back by about seven? I can give you the old sword back by then. I should have it repaired for you as well."

"Thanks." The shopkeeper disappeared into the back. Naruto and Blake left. "I need some new clothes."

"I'm not one for real fashion, but I think I can help you." She started walking only to stop short when she noticed that her blond friend had paused and was looking somewhere else. She followed his gaze to the top of a roof. There was nothing there. "You were telling me about what your father did. So what'd he do that made you hate him so much?"

Ripping from his train of thought, Naruto started walking. He put his hands in his pockets as he came up to the crosswalk. "My village was attacked by a large demon. We called them Bijuu. Stands for Tailed-Beast. This one had nine-tails. It's a fox." Blake blinked and wanted to snort in disbelief. She couldn't bring herself to do it. "He attacked our village and my father knew he couldn't kill it. It's a deathless creature. Incapable of dying a true death. We can kill it, but since it's nothing but living energy, it'll just reform. That's what my dad has been telling me since I woke up. So since he couldn't kill it and solve the problem, he sealed it in me. He was dying with my mother when they sealed it in me, and in some last ditch effort to cheat death they put a portion of their chakra inside me. So they live inside me as well."

"Having only seen video footage of this power you have, I'm assuming that creature is that power you used when you woke up?" Naruto nodded mutely. "So it killed your mother and father. And your father, before he died, put it inside you, along with their souls to be with you. That sounds like a tragedy and fantasy story mixed in to one." Blake walked into a store. Naruto followed. She pointed to the far right side. Naruto followed her. "So why are you telling me all this?"

"I wanted the weight off my shoulders." Naruto shook his head. That was a lie. Blake didn't seem to notice. It left a sour taste in his mouth to even lie like that after wanting to confess. Scratching his head he looked at one of the shirts on the rack. He wasn't impressed with it. "I had friends back in the village," he continued like he was talking about the weather. "When I learned the truth about what I was, I almost broke. Someone I cared about admitted to seeing me as the monster that destroyed our home… but he also said he looked past that to the real me. He said I wasn't that thing. I'm just the jailer. If I didn't have him by my side I might have done something terrible. I never had anyone to approve of me. But he did. He saved me from myself."

"He sounds like a nice man."

"He was the greatest person I ever meet. When I get back, I'm treating him to some ramen and thanking him for his kind words."

"Eat some fish ramen for me then." She gave him a sly grin as she pulled out a red shirt. "So the interest in red all of a sudden?"

"My mother has red hair. I told her it looked beautiful. She thanked me."

"That's what a mother should do."

"I know." Naruto glanced at the red shirt she had found. "You think it comes with a hood?"

Smiling, she looked through the rack. "I'm sure we can find something." Naruto chuckled and looked through the racks with her. He hoped they found something with a hood. How was he going to hide his appearance from Blake since she was getting the dangerous job and didn't want to be seen by her?