So, this story combines a bit of the 1997 Test Manga of Naruto, with the same energy as the Naruto we all know and love. Keep an eye on characters, and remember to just enjoy the story! By the way, I hope you really enjoy this story.

Now, see me in Big Rock Candy Mountains!

This story is a continuation of To Be What You Must, but with a different type of start.

Legend Key Below.
Normal.
Emphases.
SOUND EFFECT
"Regular Speech."
"Thought/Scroll talk."
"Tailed Beast/Grimm/Demonic Shouting."
"Tailed Beast thought."
{Scene.}
[Time.]
{Flashback Story/Fairytale Lore.}

Autumn Sunrise.

Chapter One: A Day In Mistral

A cloaked figure dashed through the forest rapidly. A light skinned hand reached out onto a branch, grabbing it, and used it to allow the flip backward while holding it! Three demonic wolflike demons passed by him, his cloak fluttering from their breezes!

Red eyes and jet-black hair manifested themselves as the cloak's hood fell off top the head of a young man. That same young man had a massive, joyfully playful, grin across his face. He reached behind him, pulling out a folded case. Pressing a button on the side of the case made the mechanisms inside of it activate!

It unfolded into a sword, and when one of the smarter wolfmen demons came behind him the young man merely stepped to the side. When the wolf was near him, he brought the blade crashing upward, bisecting it!

Black powder, dust, and orangey bits flew from the beast! A pained howl escaping it briefly just as it started to dissolve into more of the black powder! The man ducked about, avoiding slashes from claws from another of the fallen beast's kin!

The flashes of claws meeting metal filled the shadowed area under the canopies of the trees. With a backstep, the young man transformed the sword further with a click of a button on it's side. It whirled to life, folding whilst extending out a staff from the side of a hilt. He switched the grip by spinning the weapon around, and proceeded to slice the hands off the monster attacking him!

Quickly stepping forward, still spinning the newly formed scythe, the man slashed rapidly against a rather large demonic wolf covered in white armor. The wolf demon howling, snarling, while the young man smirked before pole-vaulting over it suddenly!

He spun around, slashing the head off the beast. Landing with a slide, his jet-black hair blew in the wind just as the leader of the pack fell forward, dissolving into black dust! His black cloak fluttered opened, revealing a white buttoned shirt with charcoal-colored pants!

His smirk lit the shadows as a wolf leapt out at him! Instead of getting to him, like the demon had plan, the impact a much smaller figure sent it crashing into a tree! The smaller figure landed with a skid, and reached behind him pulling out two metal sticks that were polished with a sharpened end!

The much smaller figure sprinted low to the ground, sliding under a retaliating slash from the beast's claws! He lashed out himself, hitting the beast's side with both sticks. It was strong enough to bend the beast's body away from him, and make it yelp!

When the beast tried to stab it's claws downward toward he counted by slamming by pointed ends of the sticks into its hands and pinning them to the ground! The voice of a young boy emanated from the smaller cloak wearer as a punch connected with the chin of the beast! It was followed by two powerful kicks by the young boy jumping up, connecting them right into it's jawline. An audible crack, the slacking of the beast's jaw, broke both it and silence!

Pulling the combat sticks out as he landed back down. He lunged, spearing them both into the beast's chest, crashing his knees into it for good measure! Surfing on the fallen beast briefly, the young boy's hood fell off his head as he jumped backwards off the decaying beast next to the red-eyed young man!

Unlike the young man, the boy had opposite features. His hair wasn't jet-black, but golden as the sun hung high in the sky. His eyes weren't crimson, but oceans beholding the forest. The boy's round face was marred by three whisker marks on both of his cheeks. His skin was fair, maybe a slightly more peach colored to the man's ghostly white. Under his cloak was a simply long-sleeved shirt that was bright orange in color, with blue cargo pants.

Both of them bumped forearms before hearing howling in the distance.

The young man sneered while morphing his weapon again. This time into a gun, a very large gun, and cocking the hammer back on it. The young boy mimicked the sneer before spinning his escrima sticks around. The young boy took a deep breath, and closed his eyes.

His eyes snapped open, revealing bright crimson that seemingly glowed. His hands grew claws, and the whisker marks on his face grew thicker. He bent forward, and charged forward with the man, keeping pace with him as both launched upward!

Both of them kicked off each other, with the boy angling upward with his kick to send the man higher into the air. As he felt himself falling down, he spun around to face forward, and drove both his escrima sticks into the skull of the first wolf he came too! He surfed from the force of the impact, and using his now enhanced strength to suddenly throw it into the chest of a large wolf demon!

Slid down, in-between the legs of the alpha as the young man on high let loose on the smaller ones. He saw various heads explode in the brief slow down as his senses became hyper focused. He turned backwards in his slide, and flipped upright before blocking the backhand slash from the alpha! He had to use both sticks to do so, and growled as the beast moved it's head lower.

The boy insulted the beast by biting at him before leaning back, allowing the slash to flow over him. He grabbed the next slash between his legs, and roared out before flipping the beast back with him! When the throw ended, he was on top of it's chest, it's armed still locked behind it.

SNAP!

He ripped the alpha's arm off! It screamed out in pain before he brought both pointed tips down into it's skull. He twisted hard, splitting skull by leveraging the sticks to opposite sides of it's head. The young boy felt the presence of a wolf demon coming towards him.

Not reacting, he smirked before suddenly bursting into smoke as the swipe of the beast's claws neared him. The beast's strike missed wildly, and a red fox with two tails leapt out from the smoke and drove all four paws into its midsection and forcing it stumbling backward!

The beast failed to detect a crow flying right at him. As the crow neared him, it suddenly spun on its side, and transformed into the man with the sword firmly in his hand. He slashed right through the wolf vertically, and landed the opposite side of the young boy who in another puff of smoke transformed back into a human! He stretched his shoulders before smiling brightly with a toothy grin befitting his foxlike eyes.

"I think we're clear, hey, shut that off." The young man told him in a gruffy, getting out a flask. "We gotta head back into that town, and report that their beowolf situation is done with."

"Yeah-yeah, I know, sheesh." The boy replied before taking a deep breath, and exhaling slowly as his features went back to normal. "I very much like being able to go all out like that."

"I bet, nice touch with that grapple." The young man complimented the kid. "Thought you liked boxing."

"Meh, gotta change it up here and there." The boy figured while shrugging. "Can't be all hands, otherwise there wouldn't be a need for me using my sticks, eh?"

"So, I see you got two-tails in that form now. What does that mean?" He asked the boy, who rubbed the back of his neck, bopping his head side-to-side. "You don't know…don't you?"

"Oh c'mon, it's not like they wrote a book for this! Heck, might be me getting older a little! I mean, I am going on eleven this October coming up!" The child stated with pride, puffing out his chest, and pointing a thumb at it. "Without me, you'd be still in Vacuo being chased after Evergreen, ya know!"

"Blah-blah-blah, and I oh so distinctly remember dragging along with me." The man stated with crossed arms, only to make the boy fidget before balling his right fist up and growling. "Now I'm pretty much babysitting your ungrateful ass."

"Pfft, you took me along because you couldn't cook for crap…" The young boy replied offhandedly with pursed lips, and his head turned to the side. "Seriously, how do you screw you up fireside fish? It's literally poking a stick into a fish, and then holding it over a fire!"

"I failed survival class, alright, sheesh get off my back. Too busy getting tail…" The young man argued, smirking when he suddenly gave the boy the finger just as he did it to him. "For the record, kiddo, you're cooking tonight's meal."

"Oh, of course I am, Qrow, who else would?" The blonde child mockingly questioned him with a playful smile, and then took a deep breath. They started stepping away when a rumble was felt on the ground. "Um, Qrow, what was that?"

"Huh, well, probably nothing." Qrow figured before the boy noticed something. "What?"

"Your eyes are glowing red, and your semblance is on." Naruto pointed out, and then sighed before frowning. "Seriously, what are the odds we're over a tunnel?"

"Not that high-ahh!"
"Ahh!"

Both of them screamed as the earth caved from under their feet. Qrow was quick to transform into his crow form, and dodged incoming rubble. The blonde, meanwhile, turned over and stabbed one of his escrima sticks into the side of the caving dirt.

He held on for dear life, and sighed when it seemed to be over with. "Well, this sucks! Looks like an old mine shaft. Huh, guess all that fire dust rounds you used knocked the dirt loose up top." The boy commented only as the crow flew next to him, and hovered. "So, what's the plan here?"

"What do you think, Naruto, might be a literal gold mine." Qrow stated whilst in his crow form, and somehow made it smirk. Naruto, the ever-poor child, felt his eyes glimmer with money signs as Qrow looked downward. "We could come back."

"Screw that, let's go!" Naruto yelled while pulling his escrima stick from the side wall, and dropped fast. "Woohoo! Hey, Qrow, landing strategy?!"

"You figure it out!" Qrow yelled out as he passed him, and then transformed into a human to land on the ground. Just as slid to a stop, Naruto's whooping got closer before Qrow rolled his eyes, and stood away. "Area's flat, just like your brain!"

Naruto suddenly landed hard, rolling with the impact, and standing up afterwards. Whooping still, with his free left hand-held high gripping both escrima sticks. Qrow smirked, patting his head as he walked by. Both of them looked at the tunnel, sighing as fresh dirt impacted the area. Obscuring several things, and it didn't help that air smelt horrible!

The young blonde quickly put the sticks into the pouch on his lower back, and tightened it to keep them secured. Qrow meanwhile was observing the area around them, dark, except for light leaking from the afternoon sun above them.

"Man, what's that rank?" Qrow swathed the area in front of his nose. "Smells like left over from yesteryear."

"Smells like some sort coppery iron." Naruto stated while sniffing the air, taking deep breaths in. "Man, this place smells worse than your sister's cooking."

"Raven is many things, but a cook is not one of them." The young man stated with a small chuckle. "Then again, I guess it's a twin thing."

"Still weirds me out, she's so cold, yet you're…a strange mix of lukewarm and distant." The blonde child stated as they moved forward toward an opening. "Can't believe I got to meet her last week, but I can seriously do without a second meeting."

"That one girl was pining over you a little, um, Vernal?" Qrow teased him slightly, pointing at him with both hands. "Naruto, and Vernal, sitting in a tree~"

"I'm gonna kill you, asshole." Naruto averted his face from him as it glowed bright red, his arms crossed. "She's way too old for me anyway, yuck."

"Hey, nothing wrong with older women, just be careful to make sure that they're not still married." Qrow sagely stated, putting both hands behind his head." The young man continued before then chuckling a little bit. "Wouldn't have met you, if I hadn't accidentally broke rule number one."

"Never forget the sock on the door?" Naruto answered the non-question, making Qrow burst out into laughter. "What, you always tell me at the inn if there's a sock on the door to not bother you!"

"That's rule six, nah, rule one is not messing with married women." Qrow corrected him while holding up six fingers. "Rule one is just simply not messing with married women."

"Pfft, anyone knows that, how can anyone not know that?" Naruto challenged with crossed arms, only to see Qrow rub the back of his head which made the young warrior take a double look at him. "Oh, you're horrible, when was the last one?"

"Eh, about ten years ago. Snuck into a grand party in Atlas, masked party mind you, and well…" Qrow took a deep breath, and chuckled. "Horizontal dancing is the best type of dancing."

"Eww…" The child covered his ears a little bit, but smirked. "That's gross, maybe just as gross as me eating dumpster waste."

"Urgh, don't remind me." Qrow belched up slightly. "I about tanned your hide, seriously."

"Hey, left over chicken isn't super bad a day old. Plus, it's not like I had someone cook for me, I'm just blessed with a robust gut too." The kid knocked on his midsection and giggled. "I mean, seriously, I've never ever had food poisoning."

"Lucky bastard…" Qrow muttered and then stopped. "Hey, hold up, you feel that?"

"Um, felt what? Huh…" Naruto felt something hit shoulder, and moved his hand toward it. It was slimy, and soon formed ropey bridges from where he pulled his hand off his shoulder. "Uh…Qrow, I don't think this is water."

"It's saliva!" Qrow shouted not a moment too late as he, and Naruto, both jumped the side just a massive fishlike beast with handlike tail slammed down where they had been. "What the hell, that's new!"

"What do you mean new?!" The young blonde stated while getting both of his escrima sticks out, twirling them about for a moment before having the sharpened ends pointed outward. "It's a Grimm, right, haven't you killed every type of Grimm like ever?!"

"Yeah, but not this one." Qrow replied seriously before hearing scurrying above them. "Naruto, there's one above you!"

"Alright!" Naruto yelled just as he pointed one of his sticks upward, skewering the creature as it came down. It slid down, living a slimy mess along the escrima. "Hey ugly, catch!"

The blonde twirled once before throwing the beast off his weapon, right into the beast coming toward them. That's when they heard a lot of noises, and then he saw it before Qrow did. Dozens of them, on the rooftop, angling themselves before somehow firing right at them at a forty-five-degree angle!

Naruto acted quickly, and pretty much tackled Qrow out of the way before sliding to a stop right next to the man. Both of them saw the beasties climbing over each other, and then something coming from their mouths. Large spikes that made both Naruto and Qrow's eyes widen as they were launched towards them!

Both transformed quickly, with Naruto transforming into a small fox that weaved its way through the flying spikes whilst Qrow flew upward, dodging them by flying above the angle of fire. As Naruto made it past the last spike, he transformed back to normal and launched a devastating flying kick into the first fishlike Grimm he got nearest too. He slashed with sharpened escrima sticks, moving rapidly on his feet as if dancing to avoid more spikes being launched at him whilst stabbing forward like a fencer to get surefire kills with skewering the monsters!

Qrow came in hot and transformed back to normal after flying over Naruto's shoulder in time to block several spikes being shot at him. Both danced around one another as Naruto stabbed the beasts, and Qrow slashed with his scythe. Both working in trained synch born after being around each other for over two years.

When Qrow launched a backstroke slash blindly, he knew Naruto would lean forward to let the blade soar over his head and catch one of the beasts as they leapt. Qrow jumped up in time for Naruto to suddenly leap back with both of sharpened escrima sticks pointed backwards to skewer two separate monsters!

Both of their eyes shined red in the darkness as they continued to rip and tear!

"Raah!"
"Yah!"
"Ahh!"
"Grah!"

Both screamed over each other as they continued their dance of mayhem! Naruto slid forward between two monsters, slashing them while spinning on his back, and then using his feet enhanced by the glowing energy around him to launched Qrow upward as he landed on them. His rapid slashes from his scythe glinted and glowed from the sunlight above them like a sharpened moon!

Naruto flipped backward to avoid one last fish monster firing a spike at him. He then threw one of his sticks like a spear, skewering hard in it's ugly head. The monster, along with many others, began to dissolve into black dust. Both of him, and Qrow, were breathing a little hard with smiles on their faces.

"What a rush…" Naruto commented before feeling a pain in his left side, and looked down to see where a spike had gotten him. He knelt down, and gripped it. "Dang it, wasn't too fast for that one, huh?"

"You good, kid?" The huntsman asked him while walking over to him, noting the smile on the boy's face before he suddenly ripped the spike out of his side. "Nasty little hole there."

"Meh, not like that one time I almost got skewered fully by a Nevermore feather." Naruto commented before his wounds suddenly began to steam, and the skin started to literally mesh itself back together. "Ahh…it always stings when that happens."

"Perks of being whatever you are, I suppose." Qrow shrugged nonchalantly while walking past him. "It get you anywhere in the vitals?"

"Nah, just my side. Stung though, but I guess that's par for the course." Naruto replied with a bright smile, tossing the dissolving spike away before putting his escrima sticks into the pouch. "Wanna hear a story my mother used to tell me?"

"Sure kid, can you tell me as we go spelunking?" The huntsman asked while walking forward toward the deeper part of the opening, where light was becoming deem. He reached down, grabbing a bright white crystal out and flowing energy into it, making it glow. "So, what's the story called?"

"Oh, the story, um…man she told me it when I was only four…uh…" The child warrior just rubbed his chin, pensively scrunching his face and trying to remember the story's name. "It's definitely not about Grimm."

"Huh, most children's stories are about Grimm, that's interesting. Hey, kid, why don't you ever talk about your father?" Qrow asked while Naruto got closer to him, following deeper into the caves. "You sometimes talk about your mother, and I know that it hurts you."

"Hey, you're the one that said that it's better to talk about what hurts so you can let it go." Naruto called him out slightly with both of his fingers pointed the man. He slowly dropped his arms as a saddened smile crossed his face. "I just hope she's out there somewhere, okay, and happy."

"Better never cross paths with me, neither her, nor your father." Qrow seethed slightly when he noted the naïve smile on the boy's face. He sighed, and smiled. "I heard ya on that one, it's all I ever wish for my sister…but her definition of happy is sometimes just selfishness."

"Yeah, that's true, anyway!" The blonde backpedaled in front of him, smiling, he held a finger to his lips. "Shush it, let me tell you the story, alright?"

"Hang on kid, you hear that?" Qrow held up his hand to stop Naruto, walking past him. He took a deep breath before getting his weapon out and switching it to it's gun mode with one hand. "We're in a cavern under that large tight, I'm gonna send up an LDF."

Naruto's eyes widened briefly when Qrow loaded one of those bright crystals and shot it out. It slowed down after a few meters, and then burst into a rather large ball of light. In front of them was a mining operation, an abandoned mining operation to be exact. Naruto whistled slightly when he noted glimmers of light along some of the walls.

"Motherload!" He cheered before dashing over to the nearest glinting wall, and chipping at it with his metal escrima sticks. "Holy crap, Qrow, we're rich!"

"Nah, you might think we are, but go on take a stab out of that bit you just chipped away." The weathered hunter told him, watching as Naruto did as he asked and the glinting stone shatter under the sharpened escrima stick. "Fool's Gold, it's pyrite."

"Pirates, um, Qrow we're like forty miles from the nearest ocean." Naruto dumbly replied before stabbing at another. "It's brittle bits of gold, so what?"

"It's basically useless, and it's not gold. This is a chemical mine." Qrow concluded while single handedly folding the weapon back, and placing it on the magnetic holder on his back beltline. "There might be some gold in here, but you'd have to jump down that deep ass hole."

"You know, where Cave Spiders like lurking."

"Um…" Naruto poked his head over the ledge, noting the deep blackness despite the blaring flare above them. "Yeah, I think I'll pass."

"Smart choice, but that begs the question. This place is seriously recently abandoned." Qrow observed while walking over to a minecart, and looking at one of the few burn marks. "This thing was just bright in a little over a year ago."

"Could it be a bandit operation?" Naruto asked placing a palm on the wall, and taking a deep breath, focusing hard. "Man, something just feels kind of off, ya know."

"Like we're being watched somewhat?" Qrow asked openly, making Naruto shiver a little bit. "C'mon, just messing with you."

"Well, Qrow, it's because something is watching us." Naruto stated, quickly grabbing something out of a big satchel on his back. It was a mix of powder and herbs. "It's coming right for us!"

"What do you mean?" I can't see anything! Wait a minute, is this like Vacuo's Sand Dunes?" Qrow asked with an edge in his voice, and then realized why Naruto was freaking out a little. "Ahh shit!"

Naruto formed a circle of the powder and herbs around himself, and Qrow as he leapt into it. Not a moment later, he suddenly contorted his fingers, and bright golden energy flowed from him into the circle. It suddenly was smacked, hard! A brief shimmering of light encompassed him, and Qrow, and the blonde visibly strained as the appearance of skeletal ghost appeared in front of them!

It has a miner's helmet on him. The child sighed, and took a deep breath. "Whatever happened here, it was cruel, and it was violent." He summarized before taking a deep breath. "It's like that one Grimm at the dunes."

"Taking humanely shapes to possess someone, and then drain them dry." Qrow observed the skeletal being, and smirked. "Do you remember what I called them?"

"Soul Reavers." Naruto answered before taking a deep breath. "It's not just the one though like in the dunes. "I sensed three of them."

"Heh, explains why this place got abandoned quickly. Soul Reavers, in possession of a victim, can make them commit heinous crimes unknowingly. Those three must've picked off whatever mining force was here." Qrow noted the bones of a miner in the background, hanging on a post by a thin rope. "Poor bastards started killing their own in fear."

"Creepy, makes my skin crawl." Naruto commented before seeing it snarl at him. "Woof, your breath stinks, eat a gummy or something."

"Well, this kind of sucks." Qrow commented before flicking one of those ghouls off, watching it smash itself hard against the barrier. "Pissed off, kind of like that one back in The Dunes."

"I'm telling you, it's me, things like spiritual Grimm either run from me, hate me." Naruto pointed out while poking a thumb toward the monster. "So much for a simple beowolf clearing…"

"This place has just been a terrible experience." Qrow added flatly before taking a deep breath. "How long until the barrier you created gives?"

"Eh, about thirty seconds, we fighting or running?" The fox child replied before stretching. "Cause these things die in the daylight, right?"

"Or with Light Dust, but I just used my last bit lighting up this place. Man, this is such shitty timing." Qrow laughed before bouncing on his feet. "Ten seconds, get ready to run for it."

"Ahh, well, as they say…" Naruto said as he turned toward the tunnel behind them. He began to take a sprinting step. "Last…"

"One out is a rotten egg!" Both shouted to the top of their lungs as they sprinted into the darkness as the barrier failed!

Qrow and Naruto ran nearly blind as the latter threw fire dust in front of them. Using his own energy to activate it to cast flames to their front. He saw several shadows move, and noted that they were additional beowolves. Qrow meanwhile was using the light of his gun that barked every so often when one of them got too close!

Naruto flipped forward, lighting his escrima sticks on fire with Fire Dust, becoming a dancing whirlwind of flames in the darkness! Qrow himself was already switching to his scythe, doing the same. They heard the screeching of the demonic ghouls behind them as they continued their momentum despite engaging in literal running combat!

The duo dove toward a tunnel angled upward! Cresting the hill of the darkened tunnel they crashed into something metal, nearly toppled over each other getting into it! That's when they felt the thing start to roll downward! Naruto was quickly getting himself situated, hearing the ghouls, followed by massively loud roaring behind them!

"Um, Qrow, what was that?!" He screamed out before hearing it get closer as they began to pick up speed in the thing. He looked over, and saw Qrow struggling to get himself oriented as they got faster and faster. "Qrow, something's coming, it's huge!"

"Nah, really, you think?!" Qrow screamed when he barely got himself angled, transforming his weapon to it's gun form. "Screw it, here kid, just take pot shots!"

Naruto was handed the weapon, practically shoved into his hands. He fumbled, and found the trigger which was lever on the handle. Focusing hard, and steading his breathing, he squeezes as round after round barks down the tunnel they were hastily leaving!

"I see light!" Qrow shouted, noting that they we're on a minecart heading outside. "Hang on, kid!"

"Wh-whoa!" Naruto screamed as they briefly felt the cart move upward, and then the young kid laughed as the three ghouls which were hot on their heels suddenly go into the light. "Hey, we got them!"

"RAAWR!"

"Uh…" The blonde fidgeted as the mine entrance practically exploded as a very large Ursa Major smashed into the light. It was the size of a small house, rumbling toward them at high speeds. "Oh, come the fuc-ow?!"

"You don't get free use of the F word. Now, don't panic, we're going faster than it." Qrow stated after smacking Naruto lightly up the head. "Barring any other surprises, I say we're home free."

Naruto sighed, and relaxed for a brief moment. He then remembered something, something very important. When they first got here, in this area, they were crossing over large hills because they were on a plateau with rolling hilltops. Yet, if he remembered that village that they wondered into was the opposite of where they were going!

Which only meant…

"I really, really, hate the mountains in Mistral…" Naruto mumbled before standing up, and seeing a rather large uphill part of the track…and the track disappearing just at the crest of hill. "Well, this sucks…"

"Huh?" Qrow looked to where Naruto was looking, and just sighed flatly when he noted what was about to happen. "Fucking hate Mistral…this place can go eat the biggest bag of di-ahh!"

"Ahh!"

Both screamed as their minecart launched from the hill, flying out of it, and particularly flipping over each other. Qrow was the first one to right himself midair, and noted the gorge below. He grabbed Naruto, tossing him higher into the higher air as he transformed into a bird after catching his weapon. He noted Naruto's escrima sticks were caught by the blonde, barely, and smirked in his bird form.

They both saw the massive Ursa Major tumble off the cliff, with Naruto even laughing only to start falling downward. Naruto was looking around, and just sighed as he aimed for the water below. He scrunched his face up, and tucked himself tighter!

"Please be deep, please be deep, please be deep!" He begged the almost uncaring Gods of the world. "Well, at least he can't get me in my head, fu-gah!"

He never got to finish the thought, and smacked deep into the river! The almost uncaring Gods, though, they partially answered his prayers. The river was indeed deep, but the current was strong! Naruto struggled briefly before swimming upward after shaking off the impact from falling one hundred feet!

Breaching the surface with a gasp, he saw Qrow flying over him. He just rolled his eyes, breathing hard before suddenly getting cracked in the back of the head by a wayward rock. His eyes were half-lidded as blood dripped from his head, and down his neck!

He, luckily, didn't take in any water from his sudden dunking!

Gasping for air, Naruto swam to the center of the river, trying to avoid the rocks on the sides as much as possible. The young warrior struggled in the water, and briefly got caught by an undercurrent that sucked him under. Swirling water around him, and murky mud, clouded his vision. Still, he luckily found the bottom and pushed off with all his might!

Breaching the surface again, Naruto gasped for air. "Qrow, help!" Was all he could get out before almost getting swallowed by the current again. A hand reached out, and grabbed him by the collar of his cloak. He coughed up water, looking up to see Qrow posted up on a rock with his scythe stuck in it.

"I knew you wouldn't leave me!" The boy gleamed with shining eyes. "Oh man, I thought I was a goner for a moment there."

"Hey, who else can I rely on to cook and do laundry on the road?" Qrow quipped at him, making the blonde deflate a little bit. "I'm screwing with ya, but yeah, look down."

"Huh, oh crap!" Naruto scrunched his body together, seeing that he had nearly tumbled over a waterfall. "Whew, what a catch…hey Qrow, next time, don't let me jump down a crevice freshly opened by your broken semblance."

"Oddly specific, but duly noted." The Huntsman laughed before pulling him up along the rocky, thin, shoreline. "So, do you miss Vacuo yet?"

"Can we please just go back to Argus? I miss the train ride." The child groaned, laying on the shoreline. "I mean, seriously, it's been nonstop issues with Mistral proper."

"Can't get worse." Qrow stated with a smile, but then sighed when he heard a loud crash in the distance. "You heard that too, didn't you?"

"If I ignore it, will it go away?" Naruto retorted with annoyance, and a hint of fear. "There's no way that big Ursa survived that fall…right?"

"RAAWR!"

The massive bearlike Grimm crumbled stones as it appeared just across the small stony shoreline. It roared right at them, and Naruto just nodded his head before looking at Qrow while shaking his head. The man looked genuinely offended, holding his hands up almost defensively!

As the massive demon bear leapt at them, a sudden large stone slammed right into it mid-way. Smashing it completely, and sending waves of water over Naruto and Qrow. It drenched the latter, who merely blew the wet strand of hair out of his face. He saw that the massive Grimm bear was dead, already dissolving into black dust.

"Score one for unlucky semblance." He commented slyly before Naruto simply groaned and leaned back on the ground. He noted Naruto was fast asleep on the ground, almost snoring. "Yeah, me too, kid."

Both Qrow and him laid there on rocky shoreline. Looking up at the afternoon sun's light cascading in the gorge they were in. He reached over, ruffling the boy's hair, smiling a little bit.

"Good job, kid, good job." He praised before putting both hands the kid's neck to lean his head up and saw the wound on it was fully healed. He nodded, comforted in the fact that he was just truly sleeping. "I'll take a nap too, maybe we both can dry out before go back on the road…yeah…"

"You really outta have a kid, Qrow, you'd be a good dad!" The voice of woman flooded Qrow's tired mind, and he felt something wet roll from his eye. "Oh, don't give me that look, Tai thinks it too!"

"Summer…" He breathed out before closing his eyes. "Do you still think that way?"

{Patch Island.}
[Nine Years Ago.]

"Yeah man, c'mon, help me lift this up right here." A man with blonde hair stated to a much younger looking Qrow. The red-eyed man sighed, doing as he was asked and picked up the wooden beam. "Okay, so, we got this from here."

"You sure, I can always set Ruby down, and help you guys. Yang's pretty good for watching her for a minute, right?" A woman with reddish black hair said as she looked at the two children on the ground. "I can use my axe to cut it."

"Babe, I got this, trust me!" The blonde man declared while getting his power saw ready. "Okay, Qrow, hold 'er tightly!"

"Yep, already there." Qrow stated as the man began to saw through it, the loud buzzing flooding the area. "Say, Tai, what's the gameplan from here. You quitting the hunting?"

"Yeah, I mean between Yang and little Ruby, I kind of figured that it'd be better with me having a stable job that was a little safer. Plus, look on the bright side of things man. Eventually you'll settle down too, and our kids will play together here." Tai laughed before cutting the extra bit of the beam off. "Besides, when I'm done setting this little fighting course up, I'll be needing Yang's fav "un-cool" to show her to the ropes."

"Heh, hey…has Raven even sent her a birthday card?" Qrow asked while looking over at his niece, her bright yellow hair flowing wildly. He noted the silence from Tai, and sighed. "I hate the way she's become, I thought she'd be better than this…better than what our pa was."

"You can only hold hope for so long." Tai sighed, and then looked over at Summer and smiled. "Hey, but it's all good, it just showed me that the one who was meant to be with me was always there waiting for me."

"Shut up, Tai." Summer giggled a little bit, and then looked over at Qrow. "Qrow, find anyone yet?"

"Eh, you know me, short-stack! I like keeping my options open." The younger Qrow joked before sighing, turning to Tai. "Hey, Tai, are we going to drink tonight?"

"Pfft, yeah, why not? Once Summer gets the kids into bed. We'll have an old fashioned game night." The blonde-haired man stated with pride, and quickly cut the other edge off. "So, what's your fancy tonight man? If you're staying the weekend we can run an old Dungeons and Grimm campaign."

"Ooh, seriously, I miss playing that with you guys! We can call up Oobleck, and Port, to join us!" Summer gleamed brightly, and smiled. "I call my usual class!"

"Basic fighter!" Tai teased her with a thumbs down, blowing a raspberry at her while lowering the thumb. "I'm taking my usual duster caster, thank you very much!"

"Says the guy who'll die by D-four door damage!" Summer retorted, remembering all the times Tai had "incidents" during campaigns. "Seriously, if you use dust caster, I'm not giving you no fate points to revive!"

"Pfft, like I needed them." The man replied, only to get a look from Qrow. "What, I never needed them, I always miss-rolled."

"Bullshit, you said that about reading the cards wrong in spades! It's why I never took you as my spades partner during our little third year rampage." Qrow stated with crossed arms, holding the beam up on his left shoulder as Tai drilled some other boards into it. "I may not like the way Raven is right now, but damn could we run spades."

"It's because you're twins, twins share a telepathic link, duh!" Tai yelled out, laughing at his own joke, holding his hand up. "I'm sorry, need a minute on that one. sheesh. Anyway, speaking of spades, a three-way spade game isn't a bad option."

"Ahh, but-but, I wanted my win streak to continue…" Summer gloomed slightly, pouting almost childishly to make the children giggle. "See, mommy is upset now because daddy is a total jerk!"

"Bullswitch!" Yang suddenly yelled out, and everyone stopped. "Mama, bullswitch!"

"Okay…I guess that means were toning down the cussing around the kids. Especially the two year old." Qrow laughed slightly, and Summer looked almost mortified. "Hey, don't be so shocked, at least it wasn't me at eight raiding my dad's liquor stores."

"Sheesh, eight, man?" Tai needed confirmation, and got it with Qrow nodding his head. "Dang, that's young, what did he say?"

"Get you little, scrawny a-butt out of my gosh dang cabinet you little bas-butt nugget." Qrow corrected himself mid-sentence multiple times, eliciting laughter from the children. "Hey, if you kids thought that was funny, how about I tell the time uncle Qrow fought his first Grimm."

"Grium?" Yang called out to her uncle. "What's Grium?"

"Something, I hope one day, you'll kick a lot of butt of…" Qrow commented before looking back over to Summer and smiling. "Hey, short-stack, I'm going to head into town really quick. You guys want anything, pretzels, beer?"

"Cookies!" Summer chimed in, and smiling brightly. "Well, some stuff to make cookies."

"Just send me the list, Tai?" Qrow called over to the man. "Want anything man?"

"Sure, could you pick up some Flaming Drake Sauce? I need it for the spicy wings I'm gonna make!" Tai stated as grabbed the other side of Qrow's shoulder. "Thanks for helping me with this man, even if it was just bull crap."

"Eh, it's all good, you're my brother, you know?" The dark-haired hunter stated with a small smile. "Well, I'll see y'all in a bit!"

"See ya!"

Qrow turned around, only to end no longer where he should've been. Instead, he was in a dark forest, and surrounded by Beowolves amongst other Grimm! He felt his heart racing, it pounded horridly. Then he heard it, her chuckle. That vile, condescending, mocking chuckle that only spelled out humiliation instead of honorable death.

Among the red eyes of those Grimm, none glowed so brightly as hers. Their creator, their ruler, their queen amongst other choice names he'd call her!

"Qrow!"

She walked out to the forefront of that little army. He was beaten, bloodied, it didn't even matter. How could've ever mattered? What was this mission supposed to have been, it all was for nothing. It had always been for nothing, they were always finite to them!

"Qrow!"

She was infinite!

"Qrow!"

She walked with the air of victory surrounding her, bloody mist in the wind and all!

"Damn it, Qrow, wake up!"

Right before he saw light, he saw The Queen clutching the axe of Summer Rose in her hand, snapping it in two!

{Mistralian Gorge.}
[Present Day, 7:34pm]

Qrow's first feeling was air washing all around him. He was being carried on the back of Naruto as he sprinted as fast as possible! The boy's face had some cuts across it, while his eyes were shining a vibrant red in the night. He threw Qrow to the side just as a dark claw nearly reached and grabbed them both!

A massive roar, of rage and frustration, followed suite when it missed them. Naruto slid on his side, against smooth water washed stones, and growled as the massive Grimm slammed it's fists down. It had one, massive, red eye as it looked at them with both rage and hunger filling it's gaze!

"Huh, the hell is a Cyclops doing here?!" Qrow screamed out as he rolled backwards to avoid a boulder getting thrown at him! He looked around, noting they were in a completely different area of the gorge. "What the hell happened, I was only out for a couple of hours!"

"More like five!" Naruto screamed at him as he got his escrima sticks out, spinning around briefly to get any dirt of their tips that could blunt them. "We got washed by this thing landing in the gorge upstream, I almost frigging lost you, asshole!"

"Shit…" Qrow breathed, and took a deep breath. "Right, more on that later!"

The two story tall Grimm beats it chest, tusks jotting from either side of it's mouth curled upward into sharpen points. Its frame was massive, armored almost head to toe, save of the glaring spot of red. Naruto took a deep breath, and sighed while assuming a stance.

"C'mon don't fail me now." Naruto murmured before exhaling and feeling energy flood into his body. He suddenly contorted his fingers into a two-step rhythm of patterns known as hand seals. "Clone Jutsu!"

Three different Narutos, varying in appearance appeared around the original, one of them was ghostly pale while the others simply looked malnourished. Qrow took a deep breath, sighing as he heard the thing charging at them. He stepped forward, moving rapidly while configuring his weapon it's gun form. He fired several shots, aimed right at the eye only for the beast to bring up its massive palm to block the shots!

Qrow barely dodged out of the way as it tried to smoosh him into the ground. The veteran Huntsman was backflipping away, still taking shots at whatever chink in the armor he thought he saw! Naruto meanwhile was running along the beast's left flank and trying to find purchase for his sharpened sticks to dig into.

The beast suddenly rolled over! It nearly got Naruto, who transformed out of instinct into his small fox form, and ran just under a small outcrop of rocks. The rocks blocked the massive beast's frame, allowing him to crawl out unharmed where he then transformed back into his normal form! He rolled forward, breathing hard, sweating!

"Holy crap, that was close!" He yelled out, only to see the shadow in the broken moonlight of the beast's palm. He rolled forward in time to avoid being grabbed, and actually skewered one of his sticks into the soft flesh of it's opened palm as he rolled away!

"Ugly, and fast, this guy has to be an alpha of some sort. Still, Mistral is always full of ancient Grimm, and this one's about as ancient as they come." Qrow thought to himself as he continued to fire at the beast, pausing only to reload and unload new and spent magazines. "Hey, Naruto, you alright?!"

"Yeah, I'm good, sorry about earlier! Thought I'd try something out of mother's little scroll she left me!" Naruto answered back while holding his sole remaining escrima stick in his right hand, and looking on as the nasty beast got up. "Soul Reavers, new Grimm, and giant Ursa Major, now this thing?! Seriously, our luck sucks!"

"Yeah, unlike that Ursa Major though, there's not a giant rock anywhere to crush this bastard." Qrow replied to his charge, and smirked. "It's weak point is the eye, so can you hurl that thing at him?"

"What, are you kidding me, no!" Naruto yelled at him with flailing arms before getting focused as the thing looked at him with it's single eye. "What's your issue, ugly? Come get it."

The Cyclops screamed out as it ran, sprinting, toward Naruto! The young warrior ran forward surprisingly enough. He suddenly jumped up higher than normal by empowering himself with the red energy leaking out of his body!

Naruto screamed as he came back down, stabbing down with his sole remaining escrima stick, and right near the beast's eye. The young boy saw the reflection of the beast's hand inside of its eye! backflipping up and over it, forcing the massive Grimm to smack itself!

Unbeknownst to Naruto, a small tear sent a necklace he had been wearing falling toward the ground! It shined brightly for a moment, before laying still and cold on the floor of the end of the gorge! Qrow was too busy to notice as he ran by it, and sprinting toward the right flank of the beast!

Smirking confidently, with his two upper canine teeth growing a little larger than normal! Naruto felt something in chest tickle him. His heart was racing, his eyes shifting ever more slightly angular, and becoming almost truly foxlike!

"This feeling…it feels so good!" Naruto saw Qrow running up the beast's arm, and leaping toward it's hand while switching his weapon into it's scythe mode. "Qrow, look out!"

The man was barely able to leap over the sudden backhand the beast tried to use. His scythe caught hold of the arm on the hand, biting into it and flinging out of his grip! Qrow's eyes widened as he saw the massive beast already leaping at him with it's jaws wide open!

"Oh no you don't!" The blonde-haired child screamed out as he came spinning downward, holding Qrow's scythe firmly in his hands. "Raah!"

His voice deepened suddenly as the red energy swirled around him! It formed into a foxlike cloak over him with two tails, and just as the beast looked up the scythe's blade hooked itself right into it's red eyeball! Naruto screamed out, deepen voice and all, yanking upward and plucking the eye of the beast out!

He threw the scythe over to Qrow, who caught it, switching it into it's gun mode and let loose all of the magazine he had left! The rounds hit inside the now empty cavity of the beast's head, and exploded, taking part of it's head as it stumbled forward, and slumped sideways onto the ground!

Naruto landed on the ground, breathing hard, almost seemingly growling. Qrow landed a little rougher, sliding on his shoulder before getting himself upright to stop his slide with his feet. He was breathing hard as well, his aura glistening across his skin, having nearly broke.

He watches as Naruto gripped his head. Growling more and more, constantly staring over at the decaying beast! He then saw his friend suddenly go still, turning only to fully face the beast. A brief silence filled the air, except for Naruto's breathing growls.

"Naruto, you good?" Qrow called out over the boy, only to hear no response save for growling. "Hey, kid, you good?!"

Like a wild animal, Naruto ran toward the beast's dissolve corpse, screaming out before lunging right into the dust! Qrow heard the screaming of rage, snarling curses, and saw bony armor flying away from the body! He then heard a cracking noise, followed by the left hand of The Cyclops being tossed off and crashing into some rocks!

Hearing the carnage in the dust, Qrow then noticed Naruto's necklace on the floor before pocketing it. He then saw it glowing brightly as he got closer to where Naruto was, slight confusion filled his face before he put two and two together.

"Oh shit…" The man murmured briefly before hearing fleshy tearing and seeing the beast's head roll away, dissolving into black dust. "That's not good, Naruto?"

The noises all stopped, a pregnant pause followed, birthing only Qrow yelling out to Naruto when he didn't see him move out of the dust.

"Naruto, snap out of it!" Qrow yelled out before taking a deep breath. He gathered himself, and reached into his pocket grabbing blue crystal necklace. "Naruto Uzumaki, snap out of it, now!"

"HIYA!"

Qrow's eyes widened when the blonde-haired child that went into the black dust suddenly came out a human sized red fox, teeth barring at him! He sidestepped just in time, placing the necklace around its neck, and holding him tightly in a chokehold! Claws raked against his aura, but they slowed down gradually, and soon the child came back to form breathing hard.

"Q-Qrow, what happened?" Naruto asked the man, feeling his head swimming, and then noted claw marks on the man's arms. "Oh man, no-no-no, what happened?! I'm so sorry, Qrow!"

The boy started to quiver slightly, and breathed hard. Qrow just sighed, patting his head.

"You just got a little excited man, it's okay. I'm fine, just a few scratches." He tried to calm the boy down, who merely clenched his eyes close as tears left them. "Hey, don't cry, you'll ruin our badass moment here."

"S-screw you, Qrow." The boy choked out, reaching behind him and taking the necklace's rope fully from Qrow. He tightened it by tying several knots with the string. He took a deep breath, and sighed "So, what now?"

"Now, now we just get to Gold Wind, and get the hell off Anima." Qrow stated before yawning, he then looked at the sky, full of moonlight and stars. "Man, sure is beautiful tonight, huh?"

His response was a snore, Naruto had fell asleep in all of forty seconds he had taken his eyes off him. Qrow rolled his eyes, and smiled a little bit. He took some bandages out of a small pack on his hip. Bandaging his wounds from Naruto's claws, he picked the young boy up, tying him to his back with some of the straps of his cloak.

"Alright kid, your turn to nap, but I'm making you cook dinner." He said silently before started to walk westward, using the northern most star he knew of to guide them. "Hopefully Ozpin can have some answers for you when we get to Beacon, I can only put it off for so long kiddo, I'm sorry."

"I wonder what my two lovely nieces are up too…hmm…" Qrow smiled a little when felt Naruto get closer, something in his heart warmed up and he smiled softly before sighing. "Two years is a long time to be out on the road with a salty bastard like me, but hopefully soon I can get you a home you'll never have to move on from."

He saw Naruto's lost escrima stick, and picked it up, putting it in his beltline to hold it.

"Hopefully…"

Trivia.

Naruto's necklace sort of acts like a limiter on his "darker" side.

The reason I chose escrima sticks, for right now, is because that's technically what he used in his Six Path's form. I figured that it would be a good starter weapon.

Naruto's exact nature is up to debate. However, if you can guess, I'd like to see your ideas in the comments.

Naruto's attempt at clone Jutsu failed because it's something he's still practicing on. Shinobi are here, but the question remains at what capacity?

A lot of the fights were written while listening to Jujitsu Kaisen Music. It plays to the overall chaotic and fast paced nature of the fights. Qrow and Naruto's teamwork earlier in the chapter was written to Remember.

The cave fishlike Grimm are actually based on an American folklore monster…Slide-Rock Bolters.

Qrow's dream music is Moje More, which kind of fits since in canon Summer's "death" pretty much changed the course of fate for every character. It broke Taiyang, and in some degree Qrow become a staunched alcoholic because in some regards he might blame himself. Ruby ended up falling headlong into the maw that was Salem, and Yang's bond with Raven was forever unfixable.

Naruto's fox transformation(s) are based on the 1997 pilot manga

Naruto's themes in this story is both Fire Within & Falling Down, both sung by FabvL. Obviously not his canon theme, but damn it, I like them!

Expect more high flying action soon!