Chapter 7 – Five-Way Brawl

It has been a few days since the incident in Forever Fall. Jaune has gotten back in good graces with his team and is doing his best to fit into his role as team leader. Things with team RWBY are pretty much the same. Naruto's shoulder has fully healed. All he has done when out of class is train and hang out with team RWBY. He was hoping to hear an update about the Dust that enhanced the Beowolf he fought, but there has been nothing. Today, Naruto decided to hang out with team JNPR. There were no classes, so they are currently at an arcade. Nora and Naruto are facing each other in a racing game. Jaune is facing Ren in a fighting game while Pyrrha watches.

Nora manages to veer her corner and get a much better lead on Naruto. "Ha! It's only a matter of time now!"

"No!" Naruto shouts desperately. "I'll catch up! You'll see!"

Despite Naruto's claim, Nora passes the finish line a good five seconds before Naruto does. "That's right! Bow to the queen!"

"Noooo!" Naruto exclaims in a dramatic fashion.

"Man, those two are so loud…" Jaune comments.

"You should be used to it." Ren states as he combos Jaune's character to zero health.

"W-what?!" Jaune exclaims in shock. Pyrrha laughs at his shocked face.

"You need to learn to stay focused, Jaune." Ren states with his usual seriousness. Jaune's face looked like anyone else's would after someone told him in a serious tone to focus more on a video game.

Naruto walks over to Jaune and seeing his facial expression says, "He beat you and then gave you real combat advice, right?"

"How did…?" Jaune asks.

"He did the same thing to me…" Naruto says in a defeated tone.

"Both of you need to reevaluate your combat strategies and see where you can improve." Ren continues to lecture.

"Oh, come on!" Jaune shouts. Naruto just grumbles.

"Well as fun as this is, where are we heading next?" Pyrrha asks.

Jaune gets out his scroll and looks at his plans. "Next is the Dust shop."

"Great! A place we won't get lectured." Naruto comments.

"We can only hope…" Jaune says in a withdrawn tone. As the five of them leave and head to the Dust shop, Naruto catches Nora staring again.

However, before Ren can stop her, Naruto finally addresses it. "Okay, you've been doing this for weeks now. Why do you keep staring?!"

While Jaune, Pyrrha, and Ren look at each other hesitantly, Nora comes out with it. "What's with the arm?!" Nora shouts.

Naruto clams up. He did not think anyone had found out yet besides Ozpin. "H-how did you find out?" He asks, still a bit surprised.

"Well…" Pyrrha starts to say but she still hesitates because of how awkward it is thanks to Nora just shouting and throwing everyone into the situation. "During the initiation, the Death Stalker damaged your arm and we saw the sparks and wires." There was more silence, as no one knew what to say. Naruto had no idea they saw his exposed arm, so he was not prepared for this eventuality.

Nora's eyes widen. "N-not that we think you're weird or anything! We still like you!"

"Yeah!" Jaune exclaimed. "A robot arm doesn't make you less of a good guy."

Naruto smirks. "That's not what I was worried about."

"Then what were you worried about?" Pyrrha inquires.

Naruto hesitates for a second. "Because if anyone knew I had a mechanical arm, they'd also end up asking how I lost my real arm."

"I mean…yeah." Nora states matter-of-factly.

"Crap…I don't know what to do!" Naruto thinks to himself.

"Looks like you have no choice kid, you've gotta tell them." Kurama answered.

"Tell them what?! That I'm from another universe and my best friend and I blew off our arms and almost killed ourselves?!" Naruto responded to him in a panic.

"You know that's not what I'm saying you stupid runt! Just…" Kurama then had to think of how to help Naruto cover. "Tell them you lost it to a Grimm, but it's gotta be a specific Grimm. Anything that takes your arm is something you would vividly remember, so it's gonna be asked."

"Okay, what would be the most beli—" Naruto's thought was then cut off. He was out of time.

"Are…are you okay?" Jaune asks, starting to get concerned.

Naruto then sighed. "Well, you see…" Naruto then then took off his red jacket, pulled up his right sleeve, and took off his right glove, fully revealing his mechanical arm.

"How…?" Pyrrha paused before she steeled herself to ask the full question. "What happened?"

Naruto paused before answering. "I was playing out in the forest by the town I grew up in…" He had everyone's full attention.

"You heard something in the bushes and went to check it out." Kurama said, trying to guide Naruto through his story.

"I heard a noise behind some bushes. And like an idiot I went to check it out." Naruto explained.

"That was when you saw the Grimm." Kurama guided on.

"It was three Grimm…" Naruto added.

During the pause, Nora asked, "What kind of Grimm were they?"

Naruto paused again, trying to think of what a good choice would be. "It was an Ursa and two Beowolves."

"Good. Now, next tell them that you tried to leave, but the Grimm sensed your fear." Kurama continued.

"I was scared out of my mind, so when I tried to leave…" Naruto trailed off.

"They followed your fear like a moth follows a light source." Ren finished for him.

"Yeah…" Naruto responded. "So, I took off running, but I wasn't fast enough…"

"You tried your best, but you still got caught. That's when it happened." Kurama instructed.

"I was starting to slow down, and then the Beowolf caught me. That's when…" Naruto then stopped talking. He began recalling the real moment that took his arm. A final exchange with his friend. The resulting blast that set-in motion the events that would bring him to Remnant. The others were engrossed in the false tale.

"Then what happened?" Nora asked.

Before Kurama could instruct him further, Naruto had a smile on his face. He knew how he wanted to end the story. It would be with the man he idolized. "That's when the man who would become my master showed up. He dealt with the Grimm in quick fashion, grabbed me, and rushed me to the hospital. My arm was too mangled to save, so it had to be amputated. And so, I was stuck with one arm. And I stayed that way for a long time."

The others were speechless for a minute or two. Pyrrha then spoke up. "That is quite the tale."

"You believed me?!" Naruto shouted in complete shock.

"That wasn't true?" Ren then questioned.

"Uh…" Naruto stated now dumbfounded that he's almost ruined it.

"Dammit Naruto! Stop digging yourself into a hole!" Kurama shouted absolutely stunned that Naruto screwed up so badly.

"N-no it's true. It's just…usually people think I'm full of it when I tell them that." Naruto said, trying his best to save himself.

Ren, Pyrrha, and even Jaune could tell that he's just covering for himself now. But they did not press Naruto about it. They knew that Naruto was clearly not ready to tell them, and they were at fault for just springing this on him. Nora on the other hand believed every word.

"Well, let's head to the Dust shop." Jaune suggested.

"Gladly…but first I need to make a stop." Naruto stated, happy that they were all moving on.

Upon Naruto's request, they stop at a certain weapons shop. "Why are we here?" Jaune inquired.

"I was having some modifications done to my Orange Spark." Naruto answered. He then walks up to the desk and shouts, "Hey Daren, is it done yet?!"

Daren, the same large man with a scar that made the Orange Spark, walked in from the back. "Dammit kid why are you so loud?"

"It's a gift." Naruto answered. "So, is it done?"

"Yeah, I got it done." Daren states as he puts the Orange Spark on the desk and it's noticeably shorter.

"Yes!" Naruto shouts as he pays for the modifications and takes his weapon.

"What did you get changed about it? Besides the size I mean." Jaune asked.

"It's something that'll fit better with my crazy style." Naruto answered.

"Then I believe next is the Dust shop." Pyrrha states as her and the rest of the group heads out.

At the Dust shop everyone was doing their own thing. Nora was getting the explosive Dust needed for her grenades, Ren and Pyrrha were restoking on their ammo, and Naruto was practically on a shopping spree. After all, with the exception of Weiss, his Orange Spark has the most variety in using Dust. Unfortunately for Jaune, his weapon does not use Dust or ammo, so he is just standing around waiting for everyone to finish up.

While waiting around, Jaune looks at the schedule he had pre-made for the day. So far Naruto being around didn't change much, but then Jaune spotted something. "Oh no, we were supposed to spar today!"

"We were?" Pyrrha asks.

"Well let's go!" Nora shouted excitedly.

"But, we decided to hang with Naruto today." Jaune pointed out. "Ugh, I'm such an idiot!

"You guys can still spar, you don't need to hold it off on account of me, ya know." Naruto informs them.

"But, we agreed to hang out with you today. It would feel wrong to just go off by ourselves." Pyrrha noted, and the others were in agreement.

"Well now this stinks! How do I choose between roughing people up and hanging out with our friend?!" Nora let's out in overdramatized urgency.

After a slight pause, Naruto finally speaks. "What about a five-way brawl?"

"A five-way brawl?" Jaune questions.

"Yeah, it's literally the five of us all fighting each other at once." Naruto explained.

"That…sounds…AWESOME!" Nora shouts, ecstatic at the idea.

Pyrrha thinks to herself, "Hm, it would be interesting to see how such a chaotic match up would go."

Jaune on the other hand had a very different feeling. "Oh, great." He thought to himself. "A fight with four of the best fighters I know? I'll get my butt kicked even worse than normal! But it will let us all get in some practice, so I'll do it."

"So, everyone agrees?" Naruto asks. They all nod and head back to the school where they are able to use one of the training rooms.

Everyone is in their respective starting spot an equal distance away from each other. Everyone other than Naruto has their weapon out, but they are all ready. Jaune is nervous, but he won't let himself show it. Ren is his usual calm self, waiting for anyone to make a move. Pyrrha is in her usual flawless stance, anticipating the chaos that is about to unfold. Naruto is in a dashing stance, grinning away as he knows this is going to be fun. And finally, we have Nora, who is practically foaming at the mouth with anticipation to nail someone with her hammer.

The battle starts when Nora rushes Naruto and swings her hammer. Naruto manages to avoid the hit when he does a lunging dive over the hammer and rolls onto his feet. He follows up with a leaping back-kick which Nora ducks under and swings at Naruto. Naruto then takes out his staff and he uses it to block the hit, so he doesn't take direct damage. However, the force sends him rocketing towards the ceiling.

Kurama, being the wise veteran he is, tells Naruto, "Kid, start flipping! That might slow you down enough that you don't go rocketing out of the building!"

"Right!" Naruto shouts internally as he begins to flip in the air. This slows down his velocity enough to not get sent out of the building, although he does dent a few girders. Meanwhile, Ren is firing away at Jaune who is covering up with his shield. Pyrrha takes advantage of Ren's focus on Jaune to strike as she tosses her shield and it hits Ren in the back and she then follows up with a kick to his back knocking him down.

Jaune, noticing that gunfire has ceased, peaks his head out seeing what happened. "Phew, thanks Pyrrha." He says in relief. However, before Pyrrha can respond, she is forced to backflip away from an oncoming hammer swing from Nora. Nora then continues swinging forcing Pyrrha to dodge until she gets her shield back.

Naruto, watching back in the rafters, sees Jaune directly across from Pyrrha. "Hey Kurama, I have an idea."

"I'm listening" Kurama states.

"If I yell to Jaune as I jump at him, he'll guard up and push back right?" Naruto ponders.

"Hmm…I think I know what you're getting at. Give it a shot." Kurama responds.

Naruto then jumps to Jaune and shouts, "Heads up, Jaune!" Jaune seeing this guards up and when Naruto lands on the shield he pushes back. Naruto then uses the added spring effect to launch towards Pyrrha and swings his staff. However, Pyrrha ducks under the swing and slashes at him with her weapon in sword mode. "Crap!" Naruto shouts as he just manages to block with his staff but gets knocked back towards Nora.

"Batter up!" Nora shouts as she hits Naruto and sends him flying into the wall.

"Oh, that has to hurt…" Jaune mutters. As he does, Ren gets in close and starts attacking him. Jaune is holding his own thanks to the lessons with Pyrrha. Ren fires his guns and follows up with multiple scissor kicks which Jaune manages to block and even knocks Ren of balance with a shield bash. He then swings his sword which Ren just narrowly manages to avoid. This pattern continues as Naruto gets out of the wall and shifts a setting on his staff making the middle disconnect and he separates the two halves, and they then extend to the size of the normal state, making him have two short staffs instead of one.

"What?" Pyrrha states as she sees Naruto with two staffs.

Nora looks as well. "Oh, big deal!" She shouts.

Naruto is striking the same pose as when he was wielding the staffs made of truth-seeking orbs. "You're about to see that it is!" Naruto shouts as he rushes at Nora and his attacks are faster and more rapid making them harder for Nora to deal with as she makes a desperation swing. Naruto leans back to avoid it and he counters by hitting her with his staff while she's on the end of her swing. He then is about to follow up with his devastating left uppercut when Pyrrha takes a couple of pop shots at him making him have to gain some distance and dodge.

On the other side of the fighting area, Ren is exhausted as he has shown to have low stamina compared to everyone else. Jaune, taking note of this, presses the attack and pressures Ren to keep dodging until Ren screws up a dodge and gets hit with Jaune's shield and his Aura breaks. Jaune sees this and bashes Ren with his shield a couple times and he manages to knock Ren out.

"I…I did it! I wasn't the first eliminated AND I beat Ren!" Jaune shouts in celebration. However, his celebrating was cut short when Nora sends Jaune flying with a swing of her hammer. Jaune hits the wall hard and struggles to try and get back to his feet. "Oh yeah…it definitely hurts…" Jaune then collapses leaving Nora, Pyrrha, and Naruto the ones left standing.

The three combatants are staring each other down, each of them knowing it was going to come down to this. Nora makes the first move by configuring her hammer into grenade launcher state and firing at Naruto. Naruto is dodging to the best of his ability before he configures his double staffs into semi-automatic pistols that he blind fires. Nora jumps up to avoid the shots while Naruto finally gets a slight breather.

Pyrrha has been observing their fight in order to fully grasp the intricacies of Naruto's new mods. "Hmm…" She thought to herself. "We were all at the Dust shop, so I know Naruto has Dust stocked up. Yet he hasn't added any to his two staffs. The drawback of this state must be that he can't use Dust, and that it's exclusive to the regular state. Which means I can get in close without having to worry about one of those big attacks." She finally rushes in and swings at Naruto. Naruto configures his pistols back into the two short staffs to try and fend her off. Pyrrha is able to get the better of him and knock Naruto on his back, but he quickly recovers and back rolls onto his feet.

"Hey!" Nora shouted. "Don't forget about me!" Pyrrha turns to her but is about to get hit with Nora's hammer and doesn't have time the dodge. The best she can do is get her shield up and Nora sends Pyrrha into the wall over by Ren. She then turns her attention back to Naruto. "You're next, blondie!" She configures the hammer back into grenade launcher state.

"Okay…" Naruto thinks to himself. "I need to finish one of them off quick if I'm gonna have a chance here."

"You're gonna have to use one of your Dust Overdrive attacks for that." Kurama informed him.

"You're right." Naruto admitted. He hit the switch making the two short staffs condense letting him put them back together into a single staff. Nora shoots grenades at him as he tries to load it up with fire Dust. Naruto succeeds but still has to close the distance. He makes a b line for Nora who in turn fires more grenades. He jumps so he doesn't have to worry about dodging the explosion, just the shell. Nora fires a couple more and he manages to roll making his body maneuver around them on his descent.

Upon landing Naruto has gotten a lot closer and leaps forward. Nora switches back to her hammer and swings. However, he was aiming for the ground close to Nora, not Nora herself. So, he managed to dodge her swing and unleash the attack, a small shockwave that knocked Nora off balance and covered her in some fire. Her Aura managed to protect her but thanks to the prolonged battle the last of it was used up. "Now!" Naruto shouts as he hits her with the staff on her leg and back before he goes for one last hit.

"Back off!" Nora shouts as she manages to throw Naruto off of her. He backs off and Nora notices Pyrrha having been keeping her distance. She rushes Pyrrha and starts wildly swinging due to her exhaustion. Nora has never managed to hit Pyrrha at full strength, much less with the sluggish swings she's using now. Pyrrha trips Nora up with her weapon in spear mode before bashing her with her shield and back-kicking Nora onto the ground. Nora, never being one to give up, starts to get up but Pyrrha kicks her in the face and knocks her out with another shield bash.

Ren and Jaune, who are once again conscious, grab Nora and get her out of the way. "So, it's down to Pyrrha and Naruto huh?" Jaune commented.

"I think we all secretly knew that's who it would come down to." Ren answered.

"They're the two best fighters I know." Jaune stated. "Guess we're about to find out THE best.

Naruto rushed at Pyrrha and started to throw 3 punches and a kick which Pyrrha blocked and dodged. Naruto attempted an overhead swing with his staff which Pyrrha then parried and countered with a shield bash. Naruto just managed to dodge the bash as he threw a kick towards Pyrrha's legs which she hopped over and kicked Naruto back. Pyrrha configured her spear into rifle mode and fired to continue the pressure. Naruto is deflecting the shots but is not able to do much else.

As Pyrrha is slowly walking forward while continuing to fire, Naruto finally rushes in hoping to catch her off guard. Unfortunately for him, off guard is the last thing Pyrrha would ever be. She dodge rolls to the right and configures her rifle back into a spear and tosses it. Naruto manages to dodge it, but he doesn't dodge Pyrrha's flying tackle that knocks Naruto over. Naruto kicks up as Pyrrha gets her weapon back and another exchange ensues. Naruto switches his Orange Spark into dual staff mode and takes the offensive again. His attacks are fast and well placed but Pyrrha manages to either dodge or block them all, sneaking counters in there when she can. Pyrrha then manages to slash Naruto after one of his swings gets blocked. Naruto then takes some distance.

"These two are incredible…" Jaune comments, in awe at the skill level of the two before him. "I could never fight on that level."

Nora, having been woken up by Ren, won't hear any of that. "Come on, have more faith in yourself! You managed to beat Ren didn't you?" Ren refused to comment on that.

Jaune took the compliment. "Thanks Nora."

Naruto on the other hand was trying to think of what to do next. "Man, I can't land a thing on her." Naruto comments to himself.

"Her defenses are some of the best I've seen in years." Kurama comments.

What Kurama just said all of a sudden made something click in Naruto's mind. "Her defenses…that's it!" He thinks to himself.

"What?" Kurama questions.

"She isn't overpowering me and she's not outpacing me." Naruto responded. "Like you said, it's her defenses, which means I need to wear them down!" Naruto then rushes in again, and his attacks seem for more reckless as he attacks Pyrrha full force with all he's got. Unsurprisingly, Pyrrha is able to block these attacks and knocks Naruto down. He gets back up, and starts attacking her again, even using his uppercut. Pyrrha hits Naruto with a descending shield bash and kicks him away. Naruto remains on his feet and keeps pressing the attack.

Jaune is watching this display and is completely confused. "What is Naruto doing?" He questions to everyone.

"I am not sure." Ren responds. "Perhaps he's desperate?"

"I like it!" Nora shouts. "All out is the way to go!" Ren just chuckles.

Jaune smiles and shakes his head. As he keeps wondering what the point of this is, he notices something. "Hey guys, do you see that?"

"See what?" Ren inquires.

"Pyrrha's right arm…is it shaking?" Jaune questions.

Ren then looks and sure enough, Pyrrha's right arm, the one she uses to hold her shield, is shaking. "Why would it be shaking"

"Yeah, no way Pyrrha would be scared!" Nora replies.

"I know…" Jaune says trying to figure it out. Then, he notices what's happening. "Guys, what has Naruto been attacking this whole time?"

Ren looks again to see Naruto doing more of his all-out attacks towards Pyrrha's shield arm. "You don't think…?"

"His attacks haven't been random!" Jaune shouts. "He's been wearing down a critical part of Pyrrha's defense!"

"What?! That's amazing!" Nora shouts.

"But, that's insane..." Ren comments.

"It is?" Jaune questions. "It seems to be working."

"Yes, but think of how many hits Naruto has had to take to do this much?" Ren replies. "What kind of monstrous stamina and endurance does he have?" Pyrrha, having noticed Naruto's plan, tires to adjust but Naruto's rapid attacks prevent her from doing so.

Kurama notices something in Naruto. "Is that…?"

"What's going on Kurama?!" Naruto shouts at him.

"It's not important, I'll tell you later." Kurama answered.

Naruto is too engrossed in the fight to pester Kurama about the issue. He hits Pyrrha's shield with enough force and make her arm cramp up forcing her to drop the shield. "No!" she shouts as Naruto punches her in the face landing his first shot on her all match.

"Now it's my turn!" Naruto shouts as he continues to press the attack. Pyrrha is managing to dodge some hits, but Naruto is landing the majority of them. He then throws her to the ground. Pyrrha reaches out to try and use her Semblance to get her shield. However, Naruto shoots the arm reaching for the shield and then jumps towards her. Pyrrha manages to get up but Naruto hits her with a quick 5-hit combo with his staffs before knocking her down again breaking her Aura. "Time to end this with some pizazz!" Naruto shouts as he jumps into the air.

As Naruto is coming down, Kurama yells at him. "You idiot! You're too easy to counter like this!"

"What?!" Naruto shouts as Pyrrha gets her legs into the air and trips up the falling Naruto making him land really hard and it uses up the last of his Aura after he's taken so much abuse. Pyrrha then gets her spear to his throat, winning the fight. "Ah dammit…"

Pyrrha, who is panting away puts down her weapon and offers Naruto a hand. "That…was well fought." Naruto takes her hand and she helps him to his feet. They then turn to the others.

Nora is whistling as if she just watched the finale of a grand spectacle. "That was awesome! You two need to fight again!"

"She's right, you two were insane!" Jaune added.

"Couldn't have put it better myself." Ren stated.

Naruto sits down next to them. "Thanks. I still lost though…"

"Yeah, but you almost beat Pyrrha Nikos! That's insane!" Nora commented.

"Does it matter that I 'almost' won?" Naruto questioned.

"Well, I for one am glad that you did." Pyrrha answered.

All them are taken back a bit by that statement, especially Naruto. "Hold on a second, why would you be glad I almost beat you?"

Pyrrha looked down as she answered. "Because you showed that I'm fallible."

"You're what?" Naruto asked, having no idea what that means.

"It means someone capable of making mistakes." Ren informed him.

"But I don't get it." Jaune stated. "Why aren't you supposed to be fallible?"

"Because I'm 'The Invincible Girl.'" Pyrrha answered. "People have such high expectations of me, that anything less than perfection is a disappointment."

"Can't say I can relate…" Naruto stated, having been the outcast most of his life.

"That's why I'm grateful you almost won." Pyrrha responded. "It felt like a relief."

"Come on Pyrrha, we're your friends!" Jaune told her. "We don't expect more from you than we do any one of us!"

"That's right!" Nora shouted and Ren nodded in agreement.

Pyrrha, now looking everyone in the eye is almost overcome with emotion. "Thank you all so much…"

"I'm super lucky." Naruto commented to Kurama.

"What do you mean?" Kurama questioned?

"When I came to this huge brand-new world, I could have wound up anywhere." Naruto informed him. "But I got lucky and ended up here around great people like them and Team RWBY."

"Guess you were overdue for some luck." Kurama commented.

"Um, Naruto?" Pyrrha said trying to get his attention.

"Yeah?" Naruto answered.

"How did you come up with that strategy to overwhelm my arm?" Pyrrha asked.

"I was wondering that too." Jaune added.

"Well, during our exchanges I noticed she wasn't physically superior to me" Naruto answered.

"What do you mean?" Jaune asked.

"I mean she wasn't overpowering me, so she wasn't stronger. She wasn't out-pacing me, which means she wasn't faster." Naruto replied. "She was beating me because she's just so damn good. So, my only chance was to take out one of her main tools."

"That's fascinating…" Pyrrha answered. She then wondered why none of her other opponents came up with that strategy. It didn't take her more than a couple seconds to realize the answer, they couldn't. The beating Naruto has to take and the effort he had to exert to pull off what he did takes a level of stamina and endurance that hardly seems human. Only someone with those inhuman levels of endurance and an unstoppable will could have even dreamed of such a strategy, and she had never fought someone like that before.

"Now what do we do?" Ren inquired. His question was answered a second later when Nora's stomach growled loud enough for them all to hear.

While laughing Pyrrha responds, "I think we have our answer."

"Yeah, I'm hungry too…" Naruto admits as do the others. So, they get up and get something to eat before Naruto and team JNPR separate and head off to their respective rooms.

On his way back to his room, Naruto passes team RWBY's room and he can hear them making a racket. He gets closer to the door to listen in, and from what he can tell it sounds like they're arguing over someone 'cheating.' It must be at a game. Naruto starts to laugh, which the team starts to hear.

"Hey, who's listening to us?" Ruby asks the others.

"Uh oh." Naruto says before he gets ready to run. However, he is too late as Yang busts through the door.

"I don't think so Whiskers!" Yang shouts as she snatches Naruto by his jacket.

"Dammit!" Naruto shouts. "I was too tired to get away in time…"

"Too tired from what?" Ruby asks from in the room.

"I was hanging out with team JNPR for the day, and we ended it with a 5-way Brawl." Naruto informed them.

"That sounds really fun!" Yang exclaims.

"It was! There were some surprises too." Naruto added.

"Such as?" Blake asked from back in the room.

"Guess who was the first eliminated?" Naruto asked.

"It was undoubtably Jaune." Weiss stated.

"Nope." Naruto answered. "It was Ren, who was eliminated by Jaune."

Team RWBY then collectively shouts, "What?!"

"That was pretty much his reaction too!" Naruto added.

"I knew he had it in him!" Ruby stated. Weiss is just completely dumbfounded.

"And then?" Blake asked for him to continue.

"Then Nora took him out with a swift swing of her hammer." Naruto continued. Weiss had a much easier time believing that. "Then it was just the three of us. I got the better of Nora when I busted out my new mod."

To absolutely no one's surprise Ruby immediately busts out, "New mod?! Lemme see!" Yang laughs at her sister's excitement. Naruto rolls his eyes before as he gets out his staff and uses the double staff function.

Ruby audibly gasps. "That's amazing!" She shouts.

"Really?" Yang asks. "Why is a second staff such a big deal?"

"Think of how much faster and rapid he can attack with them!" Ruby informs her.

"That's how I put Nora on the ropes!" he says proudly. "But Pyrrha finished her off so it was just us at the end. I almost beat her, but I still lost…"

"Oh please!" Weiss shouts. "There's no chance you almost had Pyrrha beat!"

"How would you know?!" Naruto shouts back at her.

"Yeah, he could have!" Yang pitches in. "Don't forget when he almost single handedly beat back the Death Stalker!" Ruby nods in agreement and Naruto grins at the support.

"So why were you listening in on us?" Blake asked.

"Oh, that's an easy one." Naruto responded. "I was on my way back from the fight and as I'm passing the door, I hear you lot yelling at each other. My curiosity wouldn't let me keep going."

"That makes sense…" Weiss states, as she knows how loud they were being.

"So, I'm gonna head to my room now, really tired." Naruto says as he walks off.

"Hey Whiskers!" Yang shouts at him.

"What?" Naruto asks.

"Next time you'll have a 5-way brawl with Team RWBY!" Ruby shouts.

Naruto grins. "That's one I'll win!" He said as he runs off.

Finally, back at his room Naruto is getting ready for bed when Kurama contacts him. "Kid, remember when I said I noticed something earlier?"

"Oh yeah, you did mention something." Naruto answered.

"When you were doing your reckless attack on the redhead, I noticed something creep up, something I thought that you lost." Kurama stated.

"What was it?" Naruto asked.

"Kid, it was Chakra." Kurama answered.

"What?!" Naruto shouted in complete shock.

"It's small, but you have Chakra again." Kurama informed him.

"But…I thought it was gone forever…" Naruto stated.

"I've been thinking about it for a couple hours and have come to a conclusion." Kurama mentioned. "When your Chakra left you, I originally thought it was because your new Aura was pushing it out because they can't coexist, but I was wrong. Do you recall how much damage your body went through when you crossed the dimensional barrier?"

"Yeah..." Naruto responded, remembering how much it hurt.

"I think instead of the Aura pushing out your Chakra, it was your own body." Kurama informed him. "You were in no shape to handle the colliding energy sources before they settled. So, your body pushed out the Chakra to prevent the collision."

"So, I'm getting my Chakra back?" Naruto asked.

"Yes, but slowly." Kurama answered. "This little bit has come back in a few months, so your Aura will still be your primary fighting source for quite a while."

Naruto grins. "Fine with me!" With the news that his Chakra is slowly returning to him, Naruto was off to bed and slept like baby.

Chapter End