THE GRIMM

I never believed myself to be a hero…

But in a way, I wanted what was the best for the world. There are so few; people who have the power to change the destiny of the world; to hold it in their hands.

I believed… that all I ever wanted was to make the lines of hate so blurry, it was basically inexistent.

The Grimm… we were seen as Outcasts; abominations that cursed the world.

They all saw us as a creation from Nature, not knowing that they were the cause of it.

I also once thought that I wasn't the force behind my actions… I was wrong.

Very wrong.

It was night and two individuals were seen on the corridor of a house. They were sitting down, enjoying the glow from the celestial bodies. Naruto rest his head on his mother's lap, relaxing peacefully as she slowly ran her hands through his spiky hair.

"Have you heard of the Grimm Demons?" His mother asked.

Naruto blinked open his eyes, looking to her.

"Grimm Demons?"

"Nine of the most powerful Grimm, all across the world. They are so powerful they have been given a class entirely here in Konoha."

"Just nine of them?"

"Well, no one has ever seen all nine, just rumors which led to people assuming they were nine and with that, they gave them identities."

"I saw something like that in a book, I didn't read it though."

"They are myths however," Kushina smiled wistfully at him and looked to the skies, "and I still hope that they are."

"So which's the strongest one?"

"Strongest one?" Kushina arched an eyebrow at the question before letting out a light chuckle. "They are Nine because they range from One tailed to the Nine tailed Demon."

"There is an animal with nine tails?!" Naruto asked in awe.

"Not animal, Grimm." Kushina corrected touching his nose. "And it's the most powerful of all."

"Cool."

Kushina just laughed and shook her head, removing the disbelief in her eyes. Leave it to her son to find a topic such as that interesting.

"I wonder how it is." Naruto thought aloud.

"Well you've seen the pictures."

"I mean up close." Naruto explained. "I know it's something like a fox, though, I wonder…"

"Wonder what?"

"How did it become the strongest?"

"Who knows…"

I remember when I was someone, aiming to be a Hunter. Naruto thought, looking from the top of the cliff where he and Ruby stayed through the day. I had friends… I had family.

His parents, Kakashi, then Sasuke and Sakura went through his mind.

"Now that I think of it," he muttered, "they weren't that much, but they were enough I guess."

It's paradoxical.

Naruto blinked at Kurama's voice. "What is?"

The act of making bonds, when they're going to be broken eventually. If one has the heart and mind, goes through all the trouble to forge bonds, they must also have the strength to break them.

Naruto just sighed. "You're quite a gloomy fella."

That's the world for you. Naruto narrowed his eyes. Someone's coming.

Naruto looked behind him to see a woman walking towards him. I knew that already.

She walked past the Grimm and stopped when she was right beside him, but she didn't sit, opting to stand while gazing to the landscape in the cool night.

"It's quite a wonderful sight." She said.

"It is." Naruto muttered in agreement, before shifting his gaze to observe the woman beside him. It was as if the moonlight brought forth her features; her deathly white skin glowing ethereally.

Her eyes shone vibrantly, the red irises glowing in the night.

For a while, Naruto was transfixed, coming to a revelation.

"You are… just like me." He whispered in surprise, looking to the woman who reciprocated the look.

"I'm Salem." She said, and the wind blew silently, making her black robes dance along.

She shifted her gaze to the Grimm that were behind her and walked to one of them. "You are coping quite well." Naruto followed her, curious at the individual before him.

"How did you find me?" Naruto asked.

"We can always find each other," she said, caressing one of the Grimm, which leaned in, letting out a pleased sound. "All we need to do… is concentrate. We are quite few."

"I'm Naruto." Naruto looked to her, observing how friendly she was with the Grimm but didn't say anything regarding that.

"I know."

"What are you doing here then?"

Salem let out an eerie smile. "I thought that was obvious?"

"Obvious?"

"We need to be together, now… more than ever."

"You said we were few."

"Of course… not much but, we are necessary."

"So there are really nine of us?"

"Nine?" Salem blinked. "Oh no, that's just an… old tale, twisted and fabricated across time. Currently, there are five of us in the world."

"Five?"

"Yes…" She looked to him. "One from each continent from what I've discovered. And you are from the Continent of Fire, am I wrong?"

Naruto just let out a brief smile. "You know quite a lot."

"I have to. How has it been?" she asked. "I know from experience… that the transition is quite rough on us."

"Transition?"

"It's always hard, and," she looked in understanding, "it always requires the death of a loved one, or your closest friends… or family, turning on you."

Naruto looked to her, observing the expression on her face. He didn't say anything to that statement.

She looked to him. "When I accepted what I was, it made it all better… in a way."

"What are we?"

"We are Grimm."

Naruto let out a mock smile. "I'm not."

Salem looked to him. "And why do you think that?"

"Because I'm Naruto Uzumaki." Naruto said with all certainty. "The Grimm is in me."

Salem closed her eyes and let out a smile. "Is that so?"

"Yes."

"You're wrong."

"In what way am I wrong?" Naruto asked. "I talk to it. I feel it in me," He looked internally, as an unpleasant expression was seen on his face, "it's like a poison, a-"

"You are the Grimm that came in possession of Naruto Uzumaki."

"W…What are you-"

"In a way… yes, you are Naruto Uzumaki. You did live his life."

Naruto was silent as Salem continued. "For us to survive, we need to inhabit the humans when they are young and so we become them. Had we gone into older people, it would have been impossible to adapt, and so, they would've perished; very few survive… but even then, they become problematic, psychologically deranged if one might say. You are right when you told me who you are. I, just like you had parents, I too had friends."

Naruto's steady breathing began to increase slightly. "Then who have I been speaking with?!" He looked to her in shock taking a defensive posture. "How do you explain that?!"

"That's a symptom that manifests as soon as we are beginning to come in terms with your power. It's an after effect of our situation. You started being aware of your identity when a conscious part of you started displaying your semblance; your eyes glowing red. Slowly and slowly it began to awaken, and here you are."

"But I-" Naruto slowly widened his eyes in realization of Sakura and Sasuke's deaths. "What I did-"

"There is an aspect of you," Salem explained, moving towards him, "an aspect that knows of its true identity, and so, it begins to command you subconsciously, and your human side, the side who has family, friends, the side that thinks this is all wrong, fights for control, but eventually, you succumb to your nature. You don't really think that there is a being in you;" she stopped before him looking to his stunned features, "it's all in your mind, a psychological effect. That's why I said that we need to inhabit the humans when they are young, with time, we assimilate. But in later cases, well, it's not a good thing."

"B…But I saw it…" Naruto stammered, "it was a Nine tailed-"

"That doesn't exist." Salem said. "As I said, you concocted that image in your mind. The voice you hear, the Grimm you think you speak to, is all you."

"But she-" Naruto began, thinking of Ruby. What did she do?

"She?" Salem arched an eyebrow.

Naruto swallowed thickly, as if a huge layer of sand coated his mouth. He couldn't speak, his mind greeted to a myriad of thoughts. Of all of them, one kept resounding.

I'm… a Grimm?

Salem began, "What we-"

"No!" Naruto shouted at her, prompting a frown on her face. "T…That's impossible! I had…" Naruto's pupils darted around frantically. "I had a life! I had friends, I had family… I-"

"So did I."

Sasuke and Sakura went through his mind, a look of absolute horror gracing his face. "You are saying I was the one that killed them?! You are saying I-" Naruto halted, unable to complete the words, not able to face the truth. Just why did his life take a sharp twist at this moment?

"That's a lie! I am not a monster!"

He accepted that Kurama existed. He had accepted that there was a being in him that was responsible for it all. He knew that although he might have done it; he never intended to. But now, things were much more terrifying.

He was a monster?

"I understand that you are confused right now,"

"Confused?!" Naruto looked to her in anger. "Confused?!"

"What I am saying," Salem tried to explain, to calm him down, "is that there wasn't any being that was in you all this while, it was all you. People do not know of that, and so they theorize, which lead to them believing it as truth. They moment you came into the possession of Uzumaki Naruto, you became him. You lived his life, and you made his bonds."

"But I-"

Salem had an understanding expression on her face. "I too lived a life. I was a little girl… and I had no desire to become a huntress. I didn't have any motivation, any goal, all I wanted was to live in peace, and to grow old; a boring life if I was to be honest with myself." She smiled in nostalgia as memories seeped in.

Naruto looked to her, listening to her story.

"My powers began to manifest when I was young. It was quite random… I would be playing with my friends and for some reason, my eyes would glow, and before I knew it, the Grimm would attack."

Salem moved past him till she was right on the cliff overlooking the vicinity. "I didn't know what I was doing. It didn't matter. My parents had an idea of what was happening, and they tried to hide it, to protect me, but eventually," she gave a wistful smile, "it didn't take long till someone put two and two together."

She let out a soft exhale.

"The people who I knew; who always smiled at me when I went to their stalls, the very same people who gave us food in celebration of the Vytal Festival, surrounded our home with pitchforks, weapons, and torches."

Naruto had an expression of disbelief at what he was hearing.

"They wanted me dead, a little girl. They said that I was an abomination, and that with my death, the Grimm would no longer emerge."

Naruto looked sympathetically to her, trying to imagine what it felt like, and a part of him did.

"Their true nature is revealed when fear seeps in; at that moment, you see them for who they truly are. My parents, despite the fear, showed that they loved me; but them, I saw their faces. Horror, fear, disgust." Salem let out a strange smile. "My parents tried to protect me, but they failed, and they died, still trying to protect me. They never blamed me, they never tried to show that I was a problem to them. They always loved me."

She closed her eyes in thought.

"My rage at their death, was the reason why I am alive today. That was when I discovered what I was."

Naruto asked silently. "And the people?"

She looked to the skies. "The people… I could barely hear them. My mind was a whirlwind of thoughts when the Grimm tore the land asunder."

She looked to him.

"The rage I felt… the rage that clouded my eyes as I held my parents, blocked me from everything. It made me want nothing more than their destruction, and they were destroyed." Naruto looked down in thought. "Just like you, I was human once, just like you, I lost my loved ones, and that is not a bad thing. I realized… that it was necessary."

She placed her hand gently on his shoulder, gaining his full attention.

"We are the bridge between the humans and the Grimm. We are the only ones to understand the fragility of both sides, and the strength of both sides. We are the balance, and we are the change."

Naruto looked in uncertainty to Salem's eyes as the moon glowed over them. The moment was highlighted by the Grimm, eerily surrounding them.

"We are the Grimm, and that's the truth."

Salem sat down at the head of the long table that was surrounded by multiple chairs. The sky outside the huge building was blood red; the entire region saturated with an ominous miasma. Right on the earth surrounding the large building were multiple black pools that were birth places for the Grimm.

Naruto was seen on the other end of the table opposite Salem. He was looking through the window to observe the landscape of the region around him, deep in thought. His expression was hidden and the other occupants looked in interest as to what was going on in the mind of their newest addition.

"You haven't said anything since you've arrived." Hazel said.

Hazel Rainart was on the chair to the left of Salem's. Opposite him was Dr. Arthur Watts and Cinder Fall, and sitting right next to him was Tyrian Callows.

They all looked to Naruto, who had his back turned to them.

"When one finally gets the time to think," Naruto began, his eyes seen to be closed, "It all slowly becomes clear."

He turned and looked to each and every one of them, accessing them within his mind. His eyes stopped at Cinder Fall, looking in a slight surprise.

"She's not one of us." He said in observation and confusion.

"She's useful." Salem replied simply. "And she's necessary."

"You said, that there are only five of us in the world." Naruto said, prompting a nod from Salem. "Is there any chance… that there are more out there."

"No." she said. "We are all there is."

"You sure have balls," Tyrian said in irritation, slamming his palms to the table, "talking to the goddess like that. If she so wishes I could happily separate your head from your shoulders! It wouldn't be much of a hassle considering-"

"Be quiet, Tyrian." Salem said without looking at him, watching Naruto instead, who was engaged in a staring contest with her. She wondered what was going through his mind. Since he came, he was silent, keeping to himself. It had been two months since she met him in the forest back in Vale. Two months spent making sure he was accustomed to his identity, and after she made sure that he was ready, she had brought him back to their headquarters, to meet the others like him which was this moment.

It was quite difficult, locating each of them and convincing them of who they were, eventually bringing them all under one roof, but she was pleased at the way things were coming along.

Tyrian let out a displeased grunt and retreated into his seat, observed keenly by Naruto.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto." Naruto said with a bow, Tyrian letting out a scoff in response.

"I'm Arthur Watts, Salem calls me doctor; you can call me whatever you please."

"I'm Hazel Rainart." Hazel folded his arms, nodding in approval. "It's not every day you meet people like you."

Arthur nodded in agreement, "I agree. When Salem was away for months, I kept wondering what was keeping her from returning. To think it was you all this while."

"I'm Cinder." Cinder said, prompting a nod from Naruto.

"The useful human, right?" Naruto said prompting an amused expression from Cinder.

"Yes."

Naruto looked to the rest of the numerous chairs. "Just how many of us were there?"

"Even I don't know that." Salem said. "But we were more than this."

Naruto shifted his gaze to Tyrian who had a maniacal expression towards him. The edges of Naruto's mouth twitched up a bit as a knowing look graced his face.

"So," he wondered, looking to Salem. "When do we begin?"

"For how long have you been working with her?" Naruto asked Arthur Watts who was seen with him walking down the steps of the building.

"I've known her for almost all of my life."

Naruto looked to him while Arthur continued. "You could say I was with her since the beginning. And we have started this, locating and observing each and every one of us."

"Hmm." Naruto said while he moved down. "And what exactly does she want?"

"Change." Arthur said, eliciting a humored chuckle from Naruto. "If one takes the time to look around Remnant, one might say we got the worst time to be alive. Everything is a waste, a remnant of a world that was vibrant; a world that was beautiful. I believe we were created to prevent that."

"I'm having a hard time believing she wants to create rainbows in the sky."

"For one to start afresh, they must destroy the existing system."

Naruto stopped and looked to him.

"She wants the five Continents under her." Naruto said simply. "That's ambitious. They wouldn't just watch her take it from them, y'know."

"Not everything needs to be solved by brute force." Arthur Watts supplied as the two individuals resumed walking. "Sometimes a nice talking to can get the job done."

"Not in my Continent." Naruto said with certainty. "They are quite fixed in their ideals."

"They'll change their minds." Naruto mused and observed the walls as they walked down the stairs, on them were portraits of people.

"What happened?" Naruto looked to Arthur who arched an eyebrow, seeking clarification.

"Regarding what?"

"Regarding our number."

Arthur nodded in understanding and observed the framed photographs. "War."

Naruto looked to him. "War?"

Arthur kept looking ahead. "Between the Grimm and the Silver eyed warriors."

Naruto's eye's stilled for a moment and he stopped again.

"What?"

"The silver eyed warriors are the bane of the Grimm, possessing powers that can suppress the Grimm in an instant; wielded well, and they can control us."

"Silver eyes?"

"They all have silver eyes." Arthur elaborated to Naruto who let out a slight smirk in thought. "We found data that says that we were involved in a war with them, a war that cost both them and us. And just like us, there are quite a few number of them. None of them have been sighted recently, so the theory is they are extinct."

"Huh." Naruto looked in thought. "They have the power to stop us huh?"

Arthur looked to him in examination. "What is it?"

Naruto looked to him and smiled, "Nothing."

Arthur nodded in understanding and looked to the door, "Well here we are."

Naruto stepped outside through the front door and he noted the landscape of red sands with crumbling rocks and crystals jutting out of the earth. The wind whistled through the region, as black birds squawked unnaturally. He could smell the dry baked earth and taste the grit in the atmosphere while he walked across the barren landscape towards one of the Grimm pools.

He observed the thick fluid that seemed to pulse with life.

"Mercury and Emerald find it displeasing." Arthur commented looking to him. "What do you think?"

Naruto didn't comment, observing the pool that bubbled after a short time. "I have to get in there, right?"

"You need to. It's necessary. Your abilities will be much more familiar if you do."

"It all changes… when I step out of it."

"For the better."

Naruto looked at the pool with a nostalgic expression.

"I always thought that I always had a chance to be a hero," he said, "to be like those people in the stories; people who saved others from the Grimm, people who were praised all over the world."

Arthur looked to him. "We all had dreams before this." He said, gaining Naruto's attention. "Sometimes something bigger than you could ever expect comes our way; and it requires much more from us."

Naruto looked to the pool. "Something… bigger huh."

The wind whistled through the region as Salem looked down from the window above her. Arthur was seen besides her, observing the pool that Naruto had gone into.

"How long has he been in there?"

"Longer that all of us." Arthur commented. "Do you think it's possible he's-"

"Impossible." Salem said. "He will not allow himself to die; his determination will take him far."

"Will he ever find out?" Arthur asked looking to her. "Regarding-"

"He will never know." Salem said looking down to the pool. "What happened was to his benefit." She looked to him. "And it becomes worth it when we achieve our goal. Now look," she said, looking back down, "observe his rebirth."

The pool was still, unmoving in the airy night, before it rippled outward from the center. A hand slowly emerged from the thick viscous black liquid and used the edge of the hole to pull himself outward. His entire visage was coated in the black liquid as it was slowly absorbed into his body.

Naruto let out a soft exhale, his whisker marks, thickening before it receded slightly. He looked to the right, noting Salem and Arthur looking at him impassively.

"How do you feel?" Salem asked, taking in his features. He was more muscular than before, and his hair was spikier; but other than that, there wasn't much change. The aura around him though…

She looked to Arthur to note a bead of sweat emerging from the side of his head.

Naruto let out a grin as his fangs seemed more pronounced. He opened his eyes, exposing glowing red pupils that shone in the night.

"Never been better."