Chapter 18 – Picking Up The Pieces
It is the following day after the fall of Beacon. Team JNPR is at the refugee camp and is currently in line getting food. The food is hardly anything to write home about, but even Nora would not dare complain in this situation. Pyrrha is still having trouble walking due to her injuries that have accumulated over the past couple of days. Seeing this, Jaune helps her walk the rest of the way to where they were going to sit down and eat.
"Thank you Jaune" Pyrrha tells Jaune as they start to sit down.
"How are you feeling?" Jaune asked with concern in his voice.
Pyrrha muses for a moment before answering, "Well, I hurt pretty much everywhere. But considering what all happened, I can hardly complain."
Coming as no surprise to Jaune, he follows up asking, "That makes sense. But how are you…mentally? Emotionally?"
Pyrrha looks down and says, "I…I'm not sure how to answer that…"
As Pyrrha's friends look at her expression, they empathize as Ren states, "Everyone is probably feeling lousy right now. Even Nora."
"I am…" Nora admits.
"I'm grateful to be alive" Pyrrha comments before her eyes drift to the side hesitantly. "But…"
Confused, Jaune asks, "But what?"
"The Fall Maiden is dead while I'm still alive…" Pyrrha admits with a hint of shame in her voice.
"Fall Maiden?" Jaune questions. "Are you talking about that girl?"
"What are you guys talking about?" Nora inquires. Pyrrha looks up at her teammates and decides that they of all people have a right to know what happened. She then tells them about the Maidens, what happened with Amber, how she was chosen to take her place, and why she felt she needed to confront Cinder.
"So that's what was going on…" Jaune states now having context for what happened. He looks at Pyrrha and tells her, "I'm sorry you got put in that situation and we couldn't help."
"I chose to accept the responsibility" Pyrrha lamented. "Yet now I'm still alive while the Maiden's power is gone…"
Upon hearing the shame in Pyrrha's voice, Nora stands up and shouts, "Don't talk like that!" This causes Pyrrha's head to shoot up in shock as she looks at Nora. Nora then says with plenty of emotion in her voice, "Don't ever talk like you being alive is the worse outcome!"
Jaune then grabs Pyrrha's hand and tells her, "Nora's right. I wouldn't know what to do with myself if you were killed."
Pyrrha looked at the faces of those she knows cherish her and says, "I'm sorry, I won't do it again."
Now that their emotions have calmed a little, Ren asks, "Was there another point you were trying to make?"
"There is…" Pyrrha says but then hesitates to elaborate.
"Well come on, you gotta fess up" Jaune tells her.
Pyrrha sighs before saying, "After everything that happened, I can't just go home and move on."
Confused, Jaune asks, "Pyrrha, just what are you trying to say?"
"I'm saying I have to see this all through" Pyrrha answers.
Jaune, Nora, and Ren are all taken aback by this. Ren then asks, "Do…do you plan on going after Cinder?"
"I might…" Pyrrha says, unsure of what she is really going to do.
Without a second of hesitation, Jaune says, "Then I'm going too!"
Pyrrha is surprised to hear this as she asks, "Jaune? Are you sure?"
"Last time you went off on your own you almost didn't come back" Jaune tells her. "I won't lose you" Jaune told her with unwavering commitment in his eyes. Pyrrha simply smiles at this.
"Ren and I are coming too!" Nora informs them. Pyrrha is even more shocked at this.
Seeing the surprise on Pyrrha's face, Ren tells her, "We don't have a home waiting for us."
"You guys are our family now" Nora adds. "So, wherever you two go, so do we!"
Pyrrha tries to hold back the emotional tears welling up in her eyes, but she cannot. As she is wiping her tears, she tells them with emotion in her voice, "Thank you…"
As the leader, Jaune then says, "We still need to rest for at least a few days. We can't afford to go on this journey while we're still recovering." His teammates nodded in agreement.
"We should try to tell our friends about us leaving" Pyrrha tells them.
"That's true" Ren comments. "Although Weiss is in Atlas and Blake disappeared."
"That leaves Ruby, Yang, and Naruto" Pyrrha states.
"Yang and Ruby will be at their home, but Naruto we'll have to try and track down around here" Jaune added.
"He took off this morning for downtown Vale" Nora informed them.
"He what?" Pyrrha asked in shock.
"That was our reaction" Ren said.
"I know he's kinda crazy, but he wouldn't do that for no reason" Jaune told his friends. He then thought to himself, "What's so important that he'd head to a Grimm infested city alone?"
Naruto is moving through downtown Vale. He has faced a few Grimm but nothing major. Just a few Beowolves and a couple Ursa. As he is looking around, he sees the damage to the city is substantially greater than during the train incident. This makes him worry as he says to himself, "I hope Hesta's okay…"
"So why exactly are you under the assumption he didn't evacuate?" Kurama asked.
As Naruto hopped to the next building, he told Kurama, "Hesta's shop was his whole life, ya know. He'd have to be dragged away before handing it to the Grimm."
"Is that why you're here then?" Kurama further inquired.
"Yeah" Naruto answered. "And if he's feeling up to it, I got a favor to ask him." Kurama then wondered what this favor was. Naruto then finally came upon the remains of Hesta's shop, and it is in far worse condition than the last attack. All the windows are broken, the door has been busted through, and a fallen piece of the ceiling is acting as a barricade. What stands out is one of the windows has been boarded up while the others were not. Naruto can't help but wonder, "What the hell happened?"
"If I were to guess, I would say Hesta tried to start fortifying the place but then they broke through the door" Kurama hypothesized.
Naruto then gets a lump in his throat at the thought that something happened to Hesta. He then hops through one of the windows and sees broken furniture, broken equipment, claw marks all over, and Hesta's car under the collapsed piece of ceiling that was blocking the door. His worry now further increased, but he then noticed that the way upstairs is still intact, so he heads up. On the way he saw that the claw marks on the wall kept going. He then comes to his old room and tries to open the door, but it is blocked on the other side.
The voice of Hesta can be heard on the other side yelling, "You stupid monsters are back huh?! Well, I still got hot lead waiting for ya!"
Naruto is relieved as he shouts, "Hesta! It's me!" Hesta is surprised but he recognizes Naruto's voice and he is relieved as well. Naruto then asks, "You alone in there?"
"Yeah, it's just me" Hetsa informs him.
"Okay, then I'm breaking through!" Naruto said as he readied himself.
"Wait, don't! Just come through the window like last time!" Hesta told Naruto in a panic.
"Uh, okay" Naruto said as he left the building and then headed to the back of it. He jumped up to the window and tried to open it, but it was locked. Hesta then stood up and unlocked it. He has a few claw wounds and is struggling to move. After hopping in the window Naruto asked, "Hesta, what happened?"
As Hesta sat back down, he told Naruto, "Me and Brone were cleaning up the shop so we could finish watching the tournament. I was disappointed I didn't get to see you fight."
Naruto sat down next to him and said, "I don't have a team."
"Well that's weird" Hesta pointed out.
Naruto nodded with a smile before he said, "Keep going."
Hesta looked up as he thought about the hell that befell him yesterday. He then told Naruto, "Sirens started blaring. Brone looked outside and saw Grimm running through the streets. Poor kid started to panic."
Naruto had an empathetic look as he said, "Which brought the Grimm right to your door."
"Yup…" Hesta confirmed. "Didn't get swarmed right away though. Guessin' that since everybody else was panicking too, the Grimm's attention was being drawn all over the place. A few minutes later they started breaking through the windows and I started blasting 'em with my shotty." He then holds up his shotgun. "Brone found a piece of metal and smacked a couple of 'em. We managed to hold 'em off for a bit."
"What happened next?" Naruto asked, fully engrossed.
"Atlas showed up and started evacuating people" Hesta answered. "I told Brone to get going."
Naruto then sighs and says, "But you refused to abandon your shop, right?"
Hesta raised his voice and exclaimed, "Like hell I was handing this place to those no-soul havin' creatures!" This caused Naruto to smirk and shake his head. Hesta then continues, "So then all of a sudden, the robots that were protecting us started shootin' at us! The Grimm really started rushing through the streets after that. I started boarding up one of the broken windows but then they started flooding into my shop. Some big bear lookin' one busted the door down."
"That's an Ursa" Naruto informed him. "They're bad news."
"You're telling me!" Hesta responded. "It was just shrugging off most of my shots, so I ran back to the workshop. They followed me in, so I dropped some of the models I had on the shelves right on their heads. Didn't do much through so they landed a mean gash on me." Hesta then points to one of his wounds. "I hopped in my car which you know I keep in the workshop. I drove right into those monsters and even managed to knock the bear Grimm out of the shop. But then the ceiling started to collapse on the car. I got out and ran upstairs but one of those wolf ones was still standing. It got me in the leg and I shot it making it back off. I got into this room and barricaded it."
After hearing all this, all Naruto can say is, "I'm glad you're still alive."
Hesta smirks but then questions, "So, what are you doing here?"
Naruto smiles before saying, "I knew you'd be too stubborn to abandon the shop, ya know."
Hesta laughs at this and says, "Guess you know me too well."
Naruto then loses his smile and stands up before telling him, "I'm getting you out of here even If I gotta drag you."
"Naruto I can't…" Hesta tells him. "I put my heart and soul into this place. I won't let them have it!"
After a few seconds of silence, Naruto responds, "Then we won't let them have it."
"What are you talkin' about?" Hesta questions. Naruto then brings a vial of fire Dust out of his pocket. Seeing this causes Hesta's eyes to widen as he shouts, "No! I won't do it!"
Naruto knows Hesta's feelings about this place and wishes there was another way. However, he knows that if he does not get Hesta out of here then he is going to die, and Naruto won't have that. So, he shouts at Hesta, "The Grimm own Vale now! They're gonna get in here and I won't let you die!" Naruto then speaks in a calmer demeanor as he says, "So either let the Grimm take the shop or make sure that nothing can have it ever again."
Hesta looks at Naruto and hesitates but then admits, "Aw damn…you're right." He then takes the fire Dust and says, "But I'm doing it and no one else." Naruto simply nods as he helps Hesta up. They remove the barricade and head downstairs. Hesta removes some of the debris from his car and places the fire Dust by the fuel tank. Naruto helps Hesta out of the shop before Hesta shoots the Dust and ignites the fuel tank. This causes an explosion that collapses the shop and sets the remains on fire. With sorrowful eyes, Hesta mutters, "Goodbye…" to his home.
As they start walking with Naruto supporting Hesta, Naruto tells him, "I'm sorry, Hesta…"
"No apologies outta you" Hesta tells him. "You saved my life; it couldn't be helped…" After they had walked about a kilometer, the Grimm had now crossed their path. With fury in his eyes, Hesta shouted, "You bastards want some more?!"
Naruto smirks and says, "Glad you're not scared." He then sat Hesta down.
Confused, Hesta asked, "What're you doin?"
Naruto brings out Orange Spark and says, "You wanted to get to see me fight, remember?" Hesta then smirks and keeps his shotgun ready just in case.
A Boarbatusk initiates the battle as it rushes down Naruto. Naruto initiates his now go to strategy for them which is weaving to their side as they charge and hitting them in their side. It works like a charm as the Borabatusk stumbles into a pile of debris. Then two Beowolves and an Ursa strike Naruto at the same time. He jumps into the air avoiding their strikes and then slams his staff into the Ursa's face knocking it down. Upon landing he kicks one of the Beowolves into debris and hits the other Beowolf twice in the jaw with Orange Spark. This takes the Beowolf out as he watches more Grimm approach and switches Orange Spark to dual staff mode.
Hesta watches on in awe as he thinks, "I knew he had what it took!"
Naruto sends three Beowolves flying with two hits from dual staffs. Another Ursa tries to attack, but he weaves to the right of the attack and proceeds to punch it down. He then hears three more Grimm roar and looks to see what they are. They are pitch black like all Grimm but have the body and head of a lion. They have wings and they also have scorpion tails. Their bone features are spines on their backs, a white lion skull, and a large crown-like mane of bone. They also have horns protruding from their skulls.
Naruto looks up at them and says, "Manticore Grimm huh? I've only seen you guys in pictures, ya know."
One of the Manticores flies at Naruto at shocking speed. If Naruto had not been fighting Super Grimm before this, he might have been caught off guard. He jumps up and kicks the Manticore under its jaw causing it to crash into the ground. Naruto turns around and puts Orange Spark back together before switching it to rifle mode and opening fire on the other two Manticores. They take to the air and one of them decides to fly right at Naruto. It breathes fire to turn its rush into a flaming tackle.
Naruto gets grazed and falls over before saying, "Crap! I forgot they can breathe fire…"
The Manticore that Naruto kicked earlier has gotten back to its feet and breathes fire at him. Naruto rolls away and grabs his father's kunai. He tries to imbue it with Chakra, but instead it radiates an orange energy. Surprised, Naruto internally asks, "Hey Kurama! Is this that new energy you were talking about?"
"It is" Kurama confirmed. "All of your Chakra that has returned so far has merged with your Aura."
Naruto smirks at this revelation as he throws the kunai at the Manticore trying to breathe fire at him and the kunai goes through the fire before it pierces right through the Grimm's head and kills it.
"Hot damn!" Hesta shouted in amazement.
Naruto then rushed the other two Manticores while infusing his staff with his Chakra infused Aura causing them to also radiate orange. One of the Manticores swipes at Naruto and he side steps the swipe. He then smacks it in the side of the head causing the Grimm to go down hard. This shocks even Naruto as the other Manticore breathes fire at him. Naruto spins his staff dispersing the fire before he punches the Grimm sending it flying back. He jumps up and smashes his staff into the Grimm's head finishing it off. He then grabs his kunai and puts it away.
Hesta is sitting there speechless as Naruto walks up to him and says, "We should leave before more show up."
Hesta laughs before saying, "That was the greatest display of Grimm slaying I've ever seen!"
Naruto smiles and says, "Thanks Hesta." He then helps Hesta back to his feet and they continue walking for several hours until Naruto has successfully brought Hesta back to the refugee camp.
As they sit down to breathe, Hesta tells Naruto, "Hey, thanks for coming to get me."
"I always come back for my friends!" Naruto responds. He then pauses before telling Hesta, "I was wondering if after you've healed up you could do me a favor."
"Hm? Well spit it out" Hesta tells him.
Naruto then holds up his prosthetic arm and asks, "Think you can make another one?"
Hesta almost looks offended as he asks, "What's wrong with her?"
"I didn't mean for me" Naruto clarified. This caused Hesta to get confused. "Someone really important to me lost their arm in yesterday's attack."
Hearing this makes Hesta's eyes soften and he nods. He then says, "Come back in five days. I don't care what it takes, I'll have that arm ready."
Naruto dawns a smile and says, "Thanks. You're the best Hesta."
"I bet you must have some friends around here" Hesta says. "I need to rest up so why don't you go find them?" Naruto just nods and starts searching around for Team JNPR. He manages to find them still sitting around the mess area.
Nora spots him and shouts, "Hey! There's Naruto right now!" The rest of the team looks and waves him over.
"Hey guys!" Naruto said as he sat down.
"Hey" Ren casually greets him.
"It's good to see you" Pyrrha said to her friend and unofficial rival.
"Nora said you headed off to Vale" Jaune states. "What made you do something so nuts?"
"Rescuing a friend that made my arm" Naruto informs them.
"Saving people seems to be your thing" Pyrrha told Naruto in a complimentary manor.
Naruto smiles before asking, "So how's everybody holding up?"
"We're all doing okay" Pyrrha answers.
Naruto gives Pyrrha a deadpan expression and tells her, "If any of the others gave that answer I might believe them." Nora gets a slight chuckle out of this.
"What do you mean?" Pyrrha asked sincerely.
"Well for one thing you were beaten up two days in a row so you can't be doing good physically" Naruto answers. Pyrrha's eyes drift down and to the left in admission. "And secondly you almost died yesterday…and I heard about Penny." Pyrrha's face dawns a horrified expression at the mention of Penny.
"Pyrrha, it wasn't your fault" Jaune tells her.
"I know for a fact it wasn't her fault" Naruto adds.
"What do you mean?" Ren asked Naruto.
"Remember what happened to Yang in the tournament?" Naruto asked the group.
"Yeah…it just seemed wrong…" Nora answers.
"I ran into Mercury last night even though he and Emerald were supposed to have left Vale" Naruto informs them. "He admitted they've been pulling stunts since they got here."
Jaune's eyes widen before he gets angry and says, "If I ever run into Mercury again…"
"He doesn't have that illusion ability. If he did, he would have used it when I fought him" Naruto clarified.
"Then that leaves Emerald" Pyrrha points out.
"Makes sense. They were at both incidents" Naruto further points out.
"Coco talked about seeing things that weren't there when she faced Emerald" Ren adds.
"And since they hacked the tower, they had access to everything" Jaune adds as well.
"The robot girl being put up against the only person with a polarity Semblance seems like too much of a coincidence" Ren further adds. Pyrrha's eyes widen now seeing she was used.
Naruto grits his teeth as he says, "These bastards are gonna pay…"
Seeing his reaction, Team JNPR look at each other and Jaune says, "We actually wanted to talk to you about that."
"What?" Naruto said in confusion.
"After everything that happened, we decided we are going after Cinder" Pyrrha explained.
"Are you guys sure about this?" Naruto asked quite surprised.
"We are" Jaune answered.
Naruto paused before asking, "You guys know where you're gonna go?"
"We were thinking of heading to Haven Academy" Pyrrha informed him.
"The headmaster there is supposed to be a friend of Ozpin's so we figured that would be the best place to find out what to do next" Jaune explained.
"I hope you guys don't plan on leaving today…" Naruto expressed with concern in his voice.
"No. We're going to rest for a few days first" Jaune informed. This made Naruto breathe a sigh of relief.
"We wanted to let our friends know before we left" Nora told Naruto.
Pyrrha looked at Naruto and asked, "What are you going to do?"
"I was gonna go visit Yang and Ruby once I find out where they live" Naruto answered.
Jaune gets an idea and asks Naruto, "Can you pass along a message for us?"
"Sure" Naruto answered.
"Tell them that we're going to stop by the clearing in the south forest in two days" Jaune told him. "If they want to come with us, they're more than welcome."
Naruto nods and says, "I'll let them know."
It is the third day since the Fall of Beacon. Ruby is finally starting to wake up as her father is sitting by her bedside. Taiyang notices her eyes open and he quickly kneels by her bed saying, "Ruby! You're awake!"
"Ugh...what happened?" Ruby said, waking up from her small coma.
"I don't know the details, but Qrow brought you to a camp outside of the city and I brought you home" Taiyang told her.
"How's everyone else?" Ruby asks. "Where's Yang? What about Blake and Weiss?"
"Yang's here, she's…going to take some time to get used to things" Taiyang told her. "I don't know about your teammates; they weren't there when I came to get you." He covers his eyes for a moment due to his emotional state as he says, "I'm just glad to have my girls back at home."
"What happened to the school?! And Vale?! Were they able to clear out the Grimm?" Ruby kept asking.
Taiyang looks down before saying, "The Grimm are still all over the city. As for the school…that thing, whatever it is, doesn't seem to be dead. Don't get me wrong, you did a number on it. But it's not disappearing. It's...kind of…frozen. I know that doesn't sound too bad, but it keeps attracting more Grimm to the school."
Confused, Ruby tilts her head and asks, "I did...what?"
"Hmm?" Taiyang asked, unsure of the question.
"You said I did a number on it. What do you mean?" Ruby asked having no knowledge of what she accomplished.
"I... look, that's not important right now" Taiyang said not wanting to think about. "We can talk about it later. Things are just... kind of a mess."
"It's always a mess" Qrow said from the doorway. He takes a swig of his flask before asking Taiyang, "Mind if we have a minute?"
"What, I can't stay here?!" Taiyang said still concerned about Ruby.
"Tai. Please." Qrow said in a tone that conveyed both understanding and exhaustion.
Taiyang relents as he stands up before kissing Ruby on the forehead and telling her, "I'm glad you're alright." As he starts walking away, he says, "I'll go make us some tea." He then glares at Qrow before leaving the room.
Qrow then grabs a chair before sitting closer to Ruby and asking her, "So, how you feeling?"
"Um...I kind of hurt...all over" Ruby answered honestly.
Qrow lets out a chuckle before saying, "That makes sense after what you did." He then crossed his arms.
Ruby then exclaimed, "You guys keep saying that! That I did something! What are you talking about?!"
Qrow thinks about how to put it before he uncrosses his arms and leans forward before asking, "What's the last thing you remember?"
"I was taking a while to get up the tower since the elevator was broken" Ruby started to answer. "As I was getting to the top, I heard Pyrrha scream. Then I seen…" She then remembers Naruto vanishing after having an arrow plunged in his chest. She starts to tear up and says, "I saw Naruto go…and then I seen Cinder…and then everything went white!"
Qrow feels awful for what his niece went through. He then asks, "Anything else?"
"I remember...my head hurting" Ruby answered.
Qrow then thinks, "Looks like what that kid mentioned really must have happened." He then asks Ruby, "The night you met Ozpin, what was the first thing he said to you?"
"I...I don't know. I think it was something about..." Ruby said trying to remember.
"Silver eyes. That's an extremely rare trait" Qrow said, jogging Ruby's memory.
"So?" Ruby expressed not seeing the point.
"You're special, Ruby" Qrow began to explain. "And not in the "Daddy loves his special angel" kind of way. You're special the same way your mom was. Remnant's full of legends and stories, some of them true, some made up. But there's one Oz told me from a very long time ago. Back before Huntsmen, before Kingdoms, it was said that those born with silver eyes were destined to lead the life of a warrior. You see, the creatures of Grimm, the most fearsome monsters mankind had ever encountered, were afraid of those silver-eyed warriors. They were the best of the best. It was said that even a single look from one of these fighters could strike a Grimm down. Heh. It's a ridiculous story."
Finally catching on, Ruby starts to say, "But...you think that I might be..."
Qrow chuckles before responding, "Well, a giant monster is currently frozen on top of Beacon Tower. And you're here, safe in bed." He stands up and walks over to a window and stares outside.
A thought then occurs to Ruby, "Wait, wait, how did you know what Ozpin said to me…the night we met?"
"All those missions I go on, all the times I'm away in some far-off place, it's been for Ozpin" Qrow answered. "But he's missing now. And now more of those Super Grimm are getting spotted every day. So, someone's got to pick up where he left off."
"Then what can I do?" Ruby asked her uncle. "If I'm so special, then I can help, right?"
"You really wanna help? Get some rest" Qrow answered. "You're in no condition to go anywhere right now." He then starts to leave. "Besides, our enemy's trail leads all the way to Haven. That'd be quite a trip for a pipsqueak like you." He then winks and says, "Catch ya later, kiddo." He then leaves.
As Qrow is now in the woods ready to take flight, he sees that spiky blonde-haired kid who is always around his nieces. He calls out saying, "Looks like you finally made your way here."
Naruto spots him and says, "It would have been easier if you told me where they lived, ya know."
"Yeah, well Ruby only just woke up today, so it was probably for the best" Qrow tells him.
"She's awake? That's a relief…" Naruto said.
Qrow then walks past him and says, "Don't be surprised if Ruby freaks out when she sees you." Naruto raises a brow and then continues walking.
Now that Qrow is gone, Kurama says to Naruto, "Please tell me you were joking."
"Joking about what?" Naruto asks.
"What you told me before you ran into that guy" Kurama clarified.
"I'm not joking Kurama, I plan on telling Yang everything" Naruto reveals.
Trying to figure out why now, Kurama asks, "Is this about the Chakra Grimm?"
"That's right" Naruto responded.
"I thought we agreed you shouldn't feel guilty about that" Kurama retorted.
"I can't help it!" Naruto internally responded. "Besides, the only way to prepare for something is to know what you're dealing with, ya know."
Kurama goes quiet before saying, "That's a good point…"
Naruto changes topics and asks, "So has all my Chakra really merged with my Aura?"
"All the Chakra that was already there" Kurama clarifies. "Although, merging with your Aura seems to have accelerated the rate at which your Chakra is returning. What was going to take years will now likely be a matter of months."
"That's some good news!" Naruto internally responded.
"After a sufficient amount has returned, I'll need to take some time to get used to interacting with this new energy so we can link again" Kurama informs him.
"I do miss that feeling…" Naruto comments on this information. He then spots the house and takes a deep breath before he approaches and knocks on the door.
Taiyang answers the door and upon seeing Naruto says, "Oh, it's you…"
"Uh, hey Mr. Xiao Long…" Naruto nervously greeted. "How are Yang and Ruby?"
"They're not doing great and would like some privacy" Taiyang answered.
Ruby then walked in the living room and asks, "Who is it?"
Naruto then peaked his head over and says, "Hey Ruby!" Ruby, who still thought Naruto was dead, bursts into tears before she rushes over and hugs him. Naruto smiles before returning the hug and asking, "How you holding up?"
Taiyang is flabbergasted at how Ruby is reacting to seeing Naruto. Then Ruby says in an emotionally strained voice, "I thought you were dead!"
Naruto starts scratching his cheek with his index finger and says, "It did look like that didn't it…" Naruto then thinks to himself, "None of them told her I was alive?!"
Seeing Ruby's emotional state, Taiyang sees he cannot tell Naruto to leave right now so he tells Ruby, "I'm going to go get a few things. I'll be back soon." He then walks out.
"Bye dad!" Ruby tells Taiyang before letting Naruto in and they both sit on the couch.
"I ran into your uncle on the way here and he said you just woke up today" Naruto told her. Ruby just nods and Naruto says, "That weird light must have really taken it out of you."
"Wait, you saw it?" Ruby asks.
"No, but I heard about it from Pyrrha" Naruto informs her.
"That means she's alive, right?!" Ruby asks with hope.
"She's very much alive" Naruto told her. Ruby is overjoyed to learn that both Naruto and Pyrrha survived. He then tells her, "I actually have a message from Team JNPR."
"What's the message?" Ruby asked now curious.
"They're gonna continue the fight against Cinder and they'll stop in the south forest clearing tomorrow if you and Yang want to join them" Naruto said delivering the message. Ruby then sat there wondering what to do.
Yang could hear Ruby talking to someone, so she came out of her room. She then seen it was Naruto and called out, "Naruto?"
Naruto looks over to see her before he gets up and they run to embrace each other as he says, "I told you I'd come find you."
Yang shoots him a half-hearted smile before she notices Ruby lost in thought. She asks her sister, "What's going on?"
"Oh, um…" Ruby says, struggling to answer.
Naruto on the other hand is looking at Yang's arm stump and he says, "I'm sorry…"
Yang looks confused before she notices where he is looking and she says, "You don't need to apologize!" After another moment, she says, "I'm the one who should be saying sorry…"
"What?" Naruto says in complete befuddlement.
"You wanted to stick together while I insisted we split up" Yang explained.
Naruto is trying to think of what to say to make her feel better, but he comes up short. Luckily, Ruby speaks up saying, "If you guys didn't split up then Naruto might not have been able to save Pyrrha."
Yang looks at Naruto and asks, "Is that what happened?" Naruto nodded and this made Yang feel a little better.
Naruto notices Yang looking a little tired and asks, "How have you been sleeping?" Yang hesitates to answer.
"You sure about telling her today?" Kurama asks Naruto.
Naruto cannot respond right away before he tells Kurama, "Okay, maybe I'll wait a few days…"
Yang then finally answers, "It's been inconsistent…"
"It does get better" Naruto tells her.
"How would you know" Yang asked dismissively. She then sees Naruto's prosthetic arm and realizes he of all people understands her situation.
Naruto catches Yang staring at his arm and he says, "I won't lie, it takes a lot of getting used to."
"How long did it take you?" Yang asked.
"A couple months" Naruto answered. This made Yang more depressed. He then grabbed her hand and said, "It helped that I had someone who knew what I was going through." He then shoots Yang his infectious smile. Yang feels more relieved and smiles in turn.
"I knew you two would make the best couple!" Ruby exclaimed.
"Oh, come on Ruby" Yang responded to her sister. Naruto smiles at this interaction but then worries how she will feel when he finally fesses up about his past.
"So, you going to join JNPR's quest?" Ruby asked her sister.
"What are you talking about?" Yang asked, having not received the message yet.
"JNPR is going after Cinder and are gonna meet in the south forest clearing tomorrow if you and Ruby want to join them" Naruto told Yang, now having delivered the message to both sisters.
Yang is caught off guard and starts to back up before almost falling over. Naruto manages to catch her and she tells him, "Thank you…" before getting quiet.
Concerned, Ruby calls out, "Yang?"
"No" Yang abruptly answers. "I'm a mental wreck…" She then yells, "And I'm missing an arm!" Ruby backs up from the hysterical Yang. Yang sees she is scaring her sister and makes herself calm down before saying, "If you're going to join up with JNPR, it has to be without me." Ruby just meekly nods. Feeling overwhelmed and little ashamed for snapping at Ruby, Yang says, "I-I'm gonna go lie down…" She then heads to her room.
After Ruby and Naruto share a worried look, Ruby asks him, "What are you gonna do?"
Naruto hesitates to answer. If it were a few months ago he would have went with Team JNPR without much thought. But now he has a girlfriend that is in a really rough state. He finally answers, "I don't think I'll be going. I'm needed here."
Ruby understands and says, "I have some thinking to do."
"If you need someone to talk to, I'll be here" Naruto tells her. "Or waiting outside once your dad gets back."
Ruby laughs and says, "Thanks Naruto." She then heads back to her room.
After another few minutes, Taiyang returns with more firewood and sees Naruto is the only one in the living room. He then asks, "Where are Ruby and Yang?"
"They both went back to their rooms" Naruto informed him.
"Good. You can leave now" Taiyang told Naruto.
Not wanting to press his luck, Naruto does so. Before closing the door, Naruto tells Taiyang, "Yang and Ruby are lucky to have a dad that cares so much." Taiyang was surprised by the compliment but didn't say anything.
As he is leaving, Kurama asks, "Are you heading back to the base camp?"
"I think I'm gonna stay in the woods" Naruto answers. "At least until the arm is ready."
"At least you'll be in a familiar area" Kurama comments.
Night has come and Ruby is staring out her window. She is considering what reasons she has to leave her home. Sure, she has Silver Eyes, but she cannot be the only one. Her sister is in a really bad state and her team has dispersed. Logically speaking, leaving home right now would be a terrible idea. However, one thought keeps making her think otherwise. That thought is of Penny. Penny was killed just to make sure people would become terrified. Ruby kept thinking about this and how she will never get to see Penny again.
She then further remembers that Pyrrha was almost killed as well. Ruby knows Pyrrha is a capable fighter, likely more capable than herself. However, she has seen Pyrrha get heavily injured multiple times now. The "Invincible Girl" moniker that Pyrrha gained over the years has been shown to be just a title. What's worse is that she knows Naruto, the best fighter of them all and the one who saved Pyrrha, is going to be staying around here.
With all these thoughts going through her head, she looked at a family photo and asks, "Mom, what would you do?" Her gaze then drifts to her Crescent Rose leaning up against the corner of her room. As she continues to gaze at her weapon, she starts recalling all the adventures she had since arriving at Beacon and meeting her friends. So many injuries, but also so many victories. Was she really going to call it quits after one defeat? No! She's still going to be a Huntress and a Huntress would get back out there. She has made her decision. She gets out of her chair and starts packing before turning in for the night.
The next morning, she is fully dressed and has her bag and weapon ready. She has not told her father, so she opens her door quietly to peak her head out and make sure he is not there to spot her. She then heads to Yang's room trying to make as little noise as possible. As Ruby starts to open the door, she sees her sister staring at the ceiling. Yang is in her own head recalling everything that happened to her and is wondering if Naruto is right about things getting easier. Ruby then quietly calls out, "Yang?"
This causes Yang to snap back to reality. She tries to put on a somewhat cheery expression as she sits up and says to her sister, "Hey Ruby, what's up?" Ruby then enters the room and closes the door. Yang sees Ruby is back in her combat clothes and has a travel bag. "Looks like you made up your mind…"
"I can't leave things the way they are" Ruby tells her sister. She then looks directly at Yang as she says, "But I didn't wanna leave without saying goodbye."
Yang then gets out of bed and walks over to her sister. She gives Ruby a hug and says, "I wish I was in a state where I could help."
Ruby hugs Yang back and says, "I'm gonna miss you."
Yang then sits back on her bed and asks, "So, you tell dad yet?"
Ruby then looks both ways before whisper yelling, "Are you out of your mind?!"
"I had to ask" Yang responds.
Ruby smiles before she says, "I'll try to call whenever I can."
Yang raises a brow before responding, "Ruby, with the tower gone we can't call each other." Hearing this causes Ruby to become disheartened. She has not changed her mind, but she is definitely more hesitant now. Seeing that Ruby is still going to go, Yang says, "Be careful out there."
Ruby nods before leaving her sister's room and sneaking past Taiyang who is still snoozing on the couch while the TV is on. She slowly closes the door and starts walking. After a few minutes, she hears a voice call out, "Hey, Ruby!" She searched around for the voice before looking up to the trees and seeing Naruto.
Naruto drops down to greet her saying, "How's it going?"
"Oh, I'm okay" Ruby responds. "Why were you in a tree?"
"It's where I was sleeping" Naruto answered nonchalantly. Ruby was about to ask why, but her face became withdrawn as she remembered that he is homeless. He noticed the look on her face and smirked before telling her, "You better get used to life out here since you're going with JNPR."
"Are you gonna try and talk me out of it?" Ruby asked in a tone that showed she was not confident in trying to justify to people why she is leaving.
Naruto heard the tone in her voice and said, "No, I'm not. I know it couldn't have been an easy choice."
Ruby looks back in the direction of her home and says, "I'm gonna miss them."
"You got a really good family Ruby" Naruto comments in pure sincerity.
"Yeah I do" Ruby said in agreement. She then looked back at Naruto and said, "I'm gonna miss you too."
"Hey, if things change, I'll try to find you guys" Naruto said to encourage her. This made Ruby smile as she gave Naruto a hug. As he hugged her back, he echoed Yang's sentiment as he said, "Be careful."
"I will" Ruby said as she continued to walk. After walking for a little over an hour, she came to the clearing where JNPR is waiting.
Jaune spots her and says, "Hey Ruby."
"Hey guys" Ruby said greeting her friends.
"So, is it just you?" Ren asked.
"Yeah…" Ruby said trying to hide her disappointment. "Yang's in no shape to go and Naruto couldn't leave her behind."
Jaune and Pyrrha look at each other before Pyrrha says, "Well, that makes sense."
Seeing that interaction, Ruby goes quiet before she asks, "Did you two finally…?" Jaune and Pyrrha both smile causing Ruby to exclaim, "Oh my gods FINALLY!"
"Right?!" Nora further exclaimed. "It took way too long!"
Jaune looked to the side in embarrassment and said, "I know, I was an idiot…"
Pyrrha grabs Jaune's hand and says, "What matters is that we are together now."
Nora stands up and points right at Pyrrha before shouting, "Oh no! You're not off the hook either missy!" This causes Pyrrha's eyes to widen in confusion.
"Pyrrha, you're also at fault for hiding how you felt about Jaune" Ren calmly explained. Pyrrha blushes with embarrassment as Ruby snickers.
Trying to save a little face, Jaune asks Ruby, "H-how long did it take Yang to go for it?"
Ruby starts to ponder that as she says, "Let's see…I saw how Yang felt during the dance and she went for it the day we got back from break."
Jaune then looks even more defeated and comments, "So a lot less time then…"
"True, but she was still kinda flustered for a while" Ruby admitted.
This causes Jaune to smirk before changing subject and saying, "We should get moving."
"So, where are we going?" Ruby asked.
"We're heading to Haven Academy" Jaune answered.
"Huh…Uncle Qrow said the enemy's trail leads there" Ruby commented. "But why did you guys pick that spot?"
"That Headmaster there is an ally of Ozpin so they might have a clue of how to proceed" Pyrrha answered.
"Oh! Yeah that makes sense" Ruby commented.
"It looks like everyone's ready" Jaune stated. The five fledgling Huntsmen then set off.
It is the day before Hesta told Naruto that the arm will be ready. Naruto is currently looking at Yang's house and steeling himself to tell her his secrets. He has no idea how she will react. Will she believe him? And if she does, will she ever trust him again?
"Keeping your secret is still an option" Kurama points out.
Naruto shakes his head at what Kurama said and responds, "Too much has happened for me to keep up the lies, ya know." He then sees Taiyang run out of the house looking for Ruby. He decides this was probably going to be the best chance he would get to see Yang alone. He heads to the house and knocks on the door.
Yang answers the door and a genuine joyful expression dawns her face as she says, "Whiskers!"
"Hey Yang…" Naruto says in a withdrawn tone. "There's something I need to talk to you about…can I come in?"
"Uh, sure…" Yang said now very curious what this is about. She steps out of the way and Naruto walks in.
Naruto sits down on the couch with Yang sitting next to him. He's extremely nervous and has no idea how to be subtle about this explanation. So, he just comes out and says, "Yang…I'm not from this world."
Yang simply rolled her eyes and says in a dismissive tone, "Wow, that's what you decided to say? How long did it take to come up with that joke?" She sees Naruto's expression has stayed serious and unchanged. She does not believe him, but she says, "Fine, I'll play along. Where are you from then?"
Naruto pulls out his headband and puts it on before saying, "The Village Hidden in the Leaves. Part of the Land of Fire." He also then thinks to himself, "And from this point, there's no reason to keep this off my head anymore…"
Yang simply says, "Okay, I'll admit that's pretty thought out."
"I'm a shinobi of the Leaf" Naruto continued. "As a shinobi, I've been trained since childhood to take on mission's where I face dangerous people and situations. Each of those missions are divided into five ranks…" Naruto went on to explain the level of mission ranks, the shinobi ranks, the different nations, and the other basic knowledge of his old world.
Yang wonders why he is bringing up all these irrelevant things. But the more detail he goes into makes her finally understand why. If he was making all this up, then how would he know all these details? She then stops him and asks, "Naruto, look me in the eye and tell me you're from another world."
Naruto, who had not been looking at her this whole time finally looks her straight in the eye and says, "Yang, I'm from another world." Now having him look her in the eyes and say it, Yang now starts to believe him. Her eyes are widening, and she is starting to feel overwhelmed at this revelation. Naruto then further confesses, "When I came here, I had another power called Chakra." He feels a lump in his throat as he then says, "That power left me and became the new Dust we were looking for…"
"What?!" Yang stands up and shouts in absolute shock. "How long have you known?!"
"I figured it out the night Beacon fell…" Naruto answered in shame. Yang then sits back down and is struggling to deal with all of this. Naruto sees this and tries to put a hand on her shoulder to comfort her.
Yang smacks his hand away and yells, "Get out!" Her expression is a mix of anxiety and anger as she says, "I don't want to see anymore…"
Naruto was absolutely heartbroken to hear this. He genuinely cared deeply for Yang. But what can he say? He has been technically lying to her since they met. She is justified in feeling this way. With sorrow in his eyes, Naruto tells Yang, "I'm sorry…" He then makes his way to the door and opens it. He then looks back to Yang and tells her, "Short as it was, the time I spent with you was the best time of my life, ya know." Yang's eyes become a little less intense upon hearing this, but she still is not able to look at him. Naruto then says, "I'll never forget you, Yang…" He closes the door and starts walking.
Now alone on the couch and thinking about Naruto's last words to her, Yang contemplates if she is really okay with kicking him out of her life. She is very mad about being lied to, but did that erase the way he made her feel? No. She gets up and opens the door saying, "Naruto, wait." Naruto turns around, quite confused. Yang makes herself look at him and say, "I'm still REALLY pissed…but I wanna at least hear you out." Naruto smiles hearing this. There was still a chance they could at least be in each other's lives. He enters back into the house, and they return to the couch. However, they are not sitting right next to each other this time. Yang looked at him and sighed before saying, "You told me a little about your world, but I want to hear your story."
Naruto thinks about how to start before saying. "First, I gotta explain what a Tailed Beast is. Remember that power called Chakra I mentioned? Back in my word, there were nine giant beasts that were made entirely of Chakra. And I mean loads of it. One of those beasts is the Nine-Tailed Fox. The day I was born, he was summoned to destroy the village. My parents were killed in order to stop the beast and seal it within an infant me…"
Yang's eyes widen hearing about the death of his parents. He had already told her that they were dead, but not how gruesome their deaths must have been.
"Growing up an orphan was bad enough…" Naruto continued. "But I had to grow up as a jinchuriki."
"Jinchuriki?" Yang questioned. "What's that?"
"It's the term given to people with Tailed Beasts inside them" Naruto explained. "It ends up with people hating you and wishing you were dead…" He then starts recalling all the disdainful eyes that stared at him every day of his childhood.
Once again, Yang was stunned at the information revealed. She never understood people's discrimination of the Faunus, so she cannot even comprehend the mindset of wishing death on a child.
As Naruto was going through painful memories, he continued explaining, "I became a big troublemaker, ya know. I just wanted the attention since it was so hard to make friends. Parents kept telling their kids to stay away from me." Yang's eyes softened further realizing how hard his life must have been. She was now fully engrossed in his tale. Naruto continued, "A few kids' parents like Shikamaru and Choji's didn't tell them to stay away so some days were better than others. But if it weren't for Iruka Sensei, I might have become a monster, ya know."
"Who's that?" Yang questioned.
"He was a teacher at the Ninja Academy who grew up an orphan like me" Naruto answered. "He was the first to acknowledge me as a person. He was kinda like a father-figure." After all the tragic information she was hearing about his life, Yang was relieved to hear he had someone who cared. Naruto then told her how he then was placed on a team with Sakura, his rival Sasuke, and their teacher Kakashi.
Before he can tell Yang what happened next, Taiyang barges back into the house out of breath and a panicked look in his eye. He quickly asks Yang, "You have any idea where Ruby went?!"
"No clue" Yang responded, feigning ignorance.
Taiyang then sees Naruto and asks, "What about you?"
Naruto then points in the opposite direction of where Ruby went and says, "I seen her walking that way on the way here." Taiyang then runs out to check for signs of her.
Yang looks at Naruto and says, "Wow, you're good at lying."
Naruto looks down in shame and responds, "I didn't use to be until I came here…"
"What do you mean?" Yang asked.
"I always sucked at lying!" Naruto exclaimed. "My cover stories trying to hide my past were so pathetic that Kurama needed to help me."
"Now that's a name you haven't mentioned" Yang commented. "Who's Kurama?"
"We'll get to that" Naruto told her. "So, like I was saying, we went on a number of missions as Team 7. Eventually me and Sasuke became kinda like brothers. But then two people showed up that changed everything." Naruto decided he was not going to go into too much detail so he would omit explaining about Orochimari and Itachi. "Sasuke became convinced that he needed to leave the village to become strong enough to avenge his clan. So, then me and a group of other Genin went to stop him, but we failed…"
The more Yang hears, the harder she finds it to stay mad at him as she says, "Now I see why you were so hesitant to be on a team when the semester started."
Naruto nods before continuing, "After that I went off to train for a couple years with my master." He then smiles thinking about Jiraiya as he says, "I called him Pervy Sage."
Yang snickers before questioning, "Pervy Sage?"
"He was an unabashed pervert who wrote romance novels" Naruto explained. "But at the same time, he was one of the strongest shinobi in the world." He looks at Yang and says, "You would have been perfect for his "research."" Naruto placed research in air quotes.
This made Yang burst out laughing. Despite how mad she was, what Yang said before is true. She cannot seem to stay mad around him. Taiyang once again comes back in the house looking like he had a heart attack. Yang asks her, "Dad? You okay?"
"No" Taiyang answered between breaths. "One of my girls just left right under my nose…"
Not sure what else to say, Naruto says, "Ruby's a capable fighter, she'll be okay."
Taiyang then glares at him and Naruto does an audible gulp. Taiyang then sighs and says, "At least she isn't alone." He looks at a letter from Ruby that reads,
"Hey dad. If you're reading this then I'm already gone. I went off to continue the fight with my friends in Team JNPR. I know I just woke up, and I know you're worried sick about me. But I can't just sit around after everything that happened. I have to do what I think is right, just like mom would have. I know you probably can't accept this. But I promise I'll be careful."
Love, Ruby.
After reading the letter again, Taiyang says, "I won't be making dinner tonight…" He then heads off to sulk in his room.
After some silence, Naruto asks, "Are all dads like that?"
"No, just mine" Yang answers. "Where were we?"
"Hmm…oh right, the training!" Naruto exclaimed after some thought. "The reason I needed the training was because there was a group of elite criminals called the Akatsuki that wanted the Tailed Beast inside me. One of them even managed to kill Pervy Sage…"
"Oh, I'm…I'm sorry to hear that…" Yang said with sympathy.
"It was a pretty heavy blow…" Naruto said remembering how much it affected him. He then forces himself to move on and continue explaining, "Not too long after that a war broke out in order for the Akatsuki to get me and my friend Bee since we both had Tailed Beasts. During that war is when I managed to finally bond with the Tailed Beast inside me…Kurama." Yang's eyes widen as it now clicks for her who Kurama is. Seeing her understand, Naruto continued, "And just like me, Kurama was also mistreated. So, the same way Iruka-sensei was the first to accept me as a person, I was the one who accepted Kurama as one too."
"Okay, you've blathered about me enough" Kurama said in annoyance and embarrassment. This causes Naruto to dawn a noticeable smirk.
"What's that smirk about?" Yang asked curiously.
Naruto turned back to her and said, "Kurama's embarrassed having me talk about him."
Yang blinks a few times in confusion before she asks, "Wait, he's still inside of you? Like, right now?"
"He always has been" Naruto answered.
"Okay that…that's kinda weird…" Yang commented.
Naruto shrugged before he continued, "During the war, Sasuke came back to fight on our side. After some really hard-fought battles we finally won. Things were looking up." He then dawns a sad expression and looks down as he says, "But Sasuke revealed that he wanted to kill the Kage. So we fought…" Yang's eyes widen and she braces herself as she has a feeling this is when his story gets even worse. "I tried my best not to kill Sasuke while he came at me with every intent to kill." He then holds up his false arm and looks at it. "The fight ended with us blowing each other's arms off and bleeding out…then, Super Gramps Sage—I mean the Sage of Six Paths! He's uh…basically a God in our world. He came up with a plan."
Having no way of guessing how this story was going to end, Yang could only ask, "A plan for what?"
"This is definitely the weirdest part, ya know" Naruto admitted. Even after roughly ten months after all this, having to think about Ashura still annoys him. "Me and Sasuke are the reincarnations of the Sage's sons that are always destined to fight and kill each other. So, the Sage used the rest of his powers and what was left of Sasuke's to send me here and prevent the reincarnations from meeting again."
Genuinely struggling to deal with what she was just told, Yang cannot help but ask, "Wait, you're here because two spirits can't stop fighting?"
Naruto sighed and nodded before responding, "I think they're idiots too..."
Yang simply mouthed the word "Wow." An appropriate reaction to learning that drastically powerful higher beings act no better than children. Mythology is filled with Gods acting like children and degenerates, but she always brushed it off as fairy tales. But now here she was being told about real Gods that act much like the ones people made up. It did not inspire faith, that much is certain.
Naruto then continued, "So next thing I know, I'm traveling through some kind of void and end up here. But for some reason, coming through that dimensional barrier messed up my body. Then my Aura started manifesting which I guess is a rule for people here. So in order to keep my body from tearing itself apart from the Aura and Chakra colliding, my body pushed my Chakra out of my body and that Chakra became the blue Dust." Yang's eyes narrow in annoyance. She knows it is not his fault, but she still is upset about the blue Dust and how it came from his world. Naruto then said, "So then there I was. Beaten, powerless, and missing an arm in an unfamiliar world."
Hearing all that context, Yang comments, "Okay, you might have the worst luck of anyone I've ever seen."
"I thought the same exact thing, ya know" Naruto responded. "So, after what could have only been like, five minutes, some Beowolves attacked. I barely won and then spent the next several hours trying to find civilization. I made it to Vale and there I met the person who became my first friend here. He even made me a new arm and gave me a place to stay! I lived there for two months before I applied to Beacon and got accepted." He then looks at Yang and says, "You know everything else from there."
Yang is quiet as she is trying to go through everything she just heard. Is she still mad about him lying? Absolutely. But even though she is mad, she cannot blame him for doing so. Not only was he trying to move on from his old life, but it is not like you can just tell people you are from another world. She finally asks, "There anything else you need to confess?"
Naruto pauses before responding, "Yes actually…"
Yang gives an exasperated sigh before rubbing her head and asking, "Okay, what is it?"
"So…I'm not the only one here with Chakra…" Naruto says while looking away and scratching his cheek.
Yang's gaze quickly shoots back to him in shock and she asks, "What? Who?"
Naruto turns his gaze back to meet hers and answers, "You."
This causes Yang to become even more shocked as all she can say is, "W-what? Y-you can't be serious…"
Naruto keeps a very serious expression and asks, "Do you remember what you did to the train car and then the fighting ring after that?"
Yang recalls the destruction she caused and she asks, "Wait, then that was…?"
"It was your Chakra trying to awaken and enhance you" Naruto answered.
As Yang was coming to terms with this revelation, she recalled Ruby getting a blue streak when fighting the Super Borabatusks and she asks, "What about Ruby?"
"Yeah, Ruby's got Chakra too" Naruto answered. "Not just her but Weiss and Blake too. So does most of Team JNPR."
"Then how?" Yang asked still dealing with this revelation. She then said, "Hold on…" The thought occurred to her that the thing everyone listed has in common is that they have been fighting Super Grimm. She then says, "Whenever we beat a Super Grimm, some kind of blue stream came out of the Grimm as it died, and we absorbed it."
Naruto picks up from there and says, "And it turns out Aura and Chakra are very compatible once they've finally settled in your body." He then raises his hand and it radiates an orange energy.
"Is that Chakra?" Yang asked in amazement.
"No, this is a new energy that formed as my Chakra and Aura merged" Naruto answered.
"They what?" Yang asked with wide eyes.
"Yeah, I was surprised too, ya know" Naruto responded. "My Chakra started coming back little by little around the end of last semester. After a few months of using both, they started to merge during the fights when Beacon fell." Yang then looks at her remaining hand and cannot help but wonder if she can do that too. Naruto catches her looking at her hand and says, "If you want, I can teach you to use your Chakra."
Yang's gaze snaps back to him and she reflexively says, "I'm not in any shape to do that…"
Seeing her reaction, Naruto makes sure to keep a gentle tone as he says, "Yang, I wanna help you get through this."
With a skeptical look on her face, Yang asks, "How?"
"By making sure you know you're not alone and that you're still much stronger than you realize" Naruto answers.
Yang looks at her arm stump and says, "I don't know about that."
As Naruto's gaze also drifts to Yang's missing arm, he gently tells her, "It's your call. But if you want to get stronger, I have a way to help."
Yang looks Naruto in the eyes and despite learning he is not from this world, nothing about what she learned today disputes what she thought of him as a person. Him being from another world did not change their chemistry with each other, how she felt around him, or the fact that he is here for her during the worst time of her life. She still trusts him as she asks, "Okay, Whiskers. What do you got in mind?"
Naruto got a big smile hearing that. The fact that she still called him Whiskers means she still likes him, at least as a friend. He tells her, "There's someone you'll need to meet tomorrow at the refugee camp."
"How far away is that?" Yang asked.
Naruto thought about it and said, "At a good pace, maybe a four hour walk?"
Yang raised a brow and responded, "Walk?"
Trying to tread lightly as he responds, Naruto asks her, "Well, can you drive Bumblebee with one arm?"
Yang thinks about it before she answers, "Probably not…"
Naruto then smirks as he jokingly says, "I could carry you, ya know."
Yang hits him in the shoulder and says, "I'm not THAT helpless."
Naruto rubs the shoulder she just hit before responding, "As long as you still have a fist, you're never helpless."
That remark made Yang smile as she asks, "Wanna stay for dinner?" She then looks back to the kitchen and says, "Although tonight that'd just be cereal."
Happy that she still is okay spending time around him, Naruto tells her, "Sure!" They then headed to the kitchen and dining room while conversing about far less important issues before Naruto left for the night.
It is now the following day. Yang woke up at 8:30am and wondered who this person is that Naruto said she needs to meet. She even wondered if this person was from his old world too. She then got dressed and headed outside to find her father who is chopping wood. She tells him, "Hey dad. I'm heading out and I'll probably be gone for most of the day."
Surprised and little concerned to hear this, Taiyang asks, "Where you going?"
"I'm heading to the refugee camp to see some friends" Yang answered.
Taiyang is relieved to hear this. After Ruby left, he was a little paranoid. He simply tells her, "Oh, okay. Just be careful on the way."
"Don't worry, I will" Yang told him before she started walking. She came to a stop when she heard snoring in a tree. She yelled up asking, "Hey Whiskers! That you?"
Naruto gets startled awake by this and exclaims, "I'm awake!"
"Why are you sleeping in a tree?" Yang asked as she looked up at him.
"I don't have a home, remember?" Naruto reminded her in a non-chastising way. Yang stayed quiet as that was not something she can joke about. Naruto then hopped out of the tree and said, "Let's get moving." As they walked to the camp they came across a few Grimm. Naruto dispatched them easily, but Yang was left feeling helpless. He wished there was something he could do about it, but he was not about to let the Grimm get to her in her current state.
They finally arrive at the camp and Yang looks at all of the refugees. Last time she was here, her head was in too much of a fog from all the pain medication to comprehend just how many there were. Seeing all the people in such an awful situation really made her appreciate how lucky she was to have a home that was untouched. Her mind is broken from these thoughts when she heard a hammer meeting steel as she looked and seen a makeshift workshop.
Naruto walks up to this workshop and calls out, "Hey Hesta!"
Hesta turned around from his current project to see Naruto and he exclaimed, "Ha! Back again, huh Naruto?"
"Yup!" Naruto responded as he further examined the workshop. "How'd you manage to get this set up?"
"Showed my credentials from my Atlas contact and the soldiers started getting me whatever I asked for" Hesta answered.
Naruto laughed as he said, "That's great!" Yang then finally decided to walk up to them.
Hesta's eyes go wide in shock, and he asks Naruto, "This the "important person" you told me about?"
Naruto faces Yang and says, "Hesta, meet Yang Xaio Long. We're, uh…" Naruto trailed off not knowing if they were still a couple.
Yang smirks at seeing Naruto squirm and she says, "Up in the air."
Upon hearing this Naruto thinks, "Up in the air is still a possibility!"
Hesta laughs at the interaction and says, "Didn't count on you bringing such a looker around."
Naruto and Yang both smile before Naruto asks, "So, is it ready yet?"
Hesta made a questioning face as he answered, "Kinda. Now that I see who it's for, I'll have to adjust the size."
"Size of what?" Yang asked who is now dying of curiosity.
"My new girl!" Hesta exclaimed before he reached under the counter and pulled out a prosthetic arm just like Naruto's except without any paint. Yang cannot believe her eyes.
Seeing her expression, Naruto says, "Remember that guy I told you about who made my arm when I got to Vale? That'd be Hesta." Yang starts inspecting the arm and she never noticed the quality of the workmanship until now.
Hesta then got out some measuring tape and told Yang, "Hold your arms out."
"Um, okay?" Yang held out her arm and partial arm with a confused look on her face.
"Your arms aren't as long or thick as Naruto's and his arm is what the new one was based on" Hesta explained. He then measured Yang's arms and went back to work on the prosthetic.
Now waiting for the arm to be finished, Yang tells Naruto, "I wasn't expecting this."
"I mean, I had to do something, ya know" Naruto responded. "I know how it feels to think you're helpless."
Yang simply pauses before saying, "Thank you." Naruto smiled knowing she appreciated this.
A little over an hour passes before Hesta places the arm back on the table and it is noticeably smaller but a better fit for Yang. She is about to try it before Hesta snatches it away surprising her. Hesta tells her, "She ain't ready yet."
"What's left?" Yang asked not being able to see anything missing.
Hesta then got out several cans of paint before saying, "She still needs personality!"
Yang smirked as she said, "Hand me the black and yellow." Hesta did so and Yang got to work.
Hesta then walked up to Naruto and said, "Hand her over. I'll give her a touch up." Naruto then did so and now he had to face the one virtue he always lacked, patience. He sat down and watched Yang paint and he can see she is very focused.
"She's actually accomplishing something right now" Kurama commented. "However small it may be, this will help her whether she realizes it or not."
"You really think so?" Naruto internally asked.
"Yes" Kurama matter-of-factly answered. "Do you remember how you felt after you and your team found Sasuke and he completely trounced you all?"
"Yeah? What about it?" Naruto responded.
"And all it took to get you out of that funk was to cut a few leaves" Kurama told him mockingly. Naruto got a little annoyed, but he saw Kurama's point.
Yang then walked over and sat next to him. She asked, "Why are you spacing out?"
A little embarrassed, Naruto tells her, "I was talking to Kurama."
"That's gonna take some getting used to…" Yang commented. "So does Hesta know about your secret?"
"You're the only one I've told" Naruto answered.
Yang smiles at being the first one he told, but she then says, "I hope you don't plan on keeping it from everyone."
"I planned on telling Ruby and the others next time we see them" Naruto answered. He then had a meek face as he requested, "Please don't tell your dad."
Yang just laughed before saying, "Don't worry, no chance of that. He's suspicious enough of you as is."
Naruto laughs in turn before asking, "So, you're done with the paint job?"
"Yup. It's drying right now" Yang answered.
"I hope you like it" Naruto told her.
"Me too" Yang responded with a smile.
After another few minutes, Hesta yelled, "The arms are ready!"
Naruto and Yang then walked back over to the table and seen Naruto's larger orange and black arm next to Yang's resized arm now painted yellow and black. Naruto put his arm back on and said, "Thanks for the tune up."
Hesta then walked over to Yang with a device to graft onto her arm stump. He tells her, "This'll only hurt for a second." Yang offers her arm and nods. Hesta grafted on the device as Yang winced in pain. However, like Hesta said, the pain didn't last. Hesta then said, "Now put her on."
Yang put the arm on and is in absolute disbelief as she starts feeling sensations through the arm and says, "I…I can feel this…"
"That's my own patented nerve integration tech!" Hesta exclaimed with pride.
"You can even channel Aura through it" Naruto added.
Yang tests that out and smiles as her Aura channels through this new arm just like her real arm did. She then says, "With the new size and reactions I should be able to use my Ember Celica with it."
Seeing Yang smile at her new arm, Naruto turns to Hesta and says, "Hesta, I can't thank you enough for this."
"Yeah, thanks a lot" Yang said with pure gratitude.
"Ah, shut it both of you" Hesta responded. "I was happy to do it."
Naruto smirks before asking, "So what do you plan on doing now?"
"I'll probably go join my partner on Atlas" Hesta answered. "What about you?"
Naruto looked back at Yang before answering, "We're still figuring that out."
"Well, I'm still hoping to see you one more time before I leave" Hesta said before extending his hand.
Naruto shook his hand and said, "Same here, ya know."
Hesta then looked at Yang and said, "That goes for you too missy!"
Yang smiled and said, "Bet on it."
After a goodbye, Naruto and Yang began the journey back to her house. On the way Yang keeps moving her new arm around to see if there are any hiccups. She does not come across any, much to her delight. They then once again come across a few Grimm: Two Beowolves and one Boarbatusk. Naruto is about to go deal with then when Yang tells him, "Save one of the Beowolves for me." Naruto is about to question her on this but thinks better of it. He takes out Orange Spark and leads one of the Beowolves and the Boarbatusk away.
Yang is now facing off against the remaining Beowolf. Normally she would take care of it in no time, but she is in a rough mental state. She enters her fighting stance before the Beowolf pounces at her. Her old self would have punched it right out of the air, but her current self panics a little and dodges out of the way. She stays in her fighting stance but questions to herself, "What was that?! I can't be this much of a wimp now…" The Beowolf strikes at her and she manages to weave out of the way. She is about to strike back, but when she looks in the Grimm's eyes she flashes back to Adam, and she is unable to move. This allows the Beowolf to land a claw swipe on her head causing her to get knocked over.
Having already finished off his Grimm, Naruto sees Yang get hit and runs over. Yang sees him coming and yells, "Stay back!"
Naruto is concerned and confused as he says, "But Yang—"
Yang cuts him off shouting, "I need to do this!" Naruto then stops and keeps a close eye, but decides to have faith in her. Yang gets back up and then dive rolls out of the way of the Beowolf's incoming swipe. The Beowolf turns around and pounces at her. Yang still sees Adam, making her close her eyes and shake her head.
As the Beowolf is about to hit her, Naruto shouts at the top of his lungs. "YANG!"
Yang's eyes then shoot open red with anger as she weaves past the Beowolf's swipe and punches it with her new arm. The Beowolf gets sent into a nearby tree and drops down lifeless. She then starts shaking with a mix of anger, anxiety, and satisfaction.
Naruto sees her shaking and grabs her shoulder in concern asking, "Yang? You okay—"
Still in her panicked state, Yang quickly turns around and clocks Naruto with a mean hook. As he was unprepared, Naruto gets knocked down. After calming down for a second, Yang realizes what she did and is now in a different kind of panic as she kneels down by him saying, "I'm so sorry!"
Naruto sits up rubbing his check before saying, "Your hits hurt as much as ever…"
"I'm really, really sorry…" Yang continues to apologize, almost in hysterical tears.
"It's okay" Naruto tells her in a calm tone. "This will all go away a little at a time."
Calming down, Yang looks hesitant as she says, "This might not be a good idea…"
"You can't expect this to happen all at once, ya know" Naruto tells her. "Trust me I get it, I'm impatient too."
Finding comfort in the words of someone she knows has experienced this before, she smiles before saying, "I'm not impatient."
Naruto smiles back and says, "Whatever you say."
After another few hours of walking, Naruto and Yang have made it back to her home where Taiyang is waiting.
"How did the visit go?" Taiyang asked.
"It was okay" Yang answered. "But what I was given when I arrived sure made the trip worth it."
"What are you talking about?" Taiyang asked now curious. Yang shows off her new arm causing Taiyang to jump out of his chair in shock before he walks over to look at it. "What's it feel like? Oh wait, you can't feel a robot arm…"
"Actually, I can feel with this one" Yang informs him.
"Really? That's great!" Taiyang exclaimed with joy. He then notices the HG on her arm and asks, "What's the HG mean?"
"It stands for Hesta Gorfe" Naruto answered as he pointed to the HG on his own arm.
Now having noticed Naruto, Taiyang asks, "So…this was your idea?"
Naruto paused before saying, "Yeah?" Naruto was unsure of how Taiyang was going to react. He knew Taiyang did not like him.
Taiyang paused himself before uttering, "Thank you."
This made Naruto smile and say, "Training with one arm would be really hard." This causes Taiyang to look at Yang surprised.
"I…I just can't go on feeling like this" Yang told her father. She then dawned a determined expression as she said, "So I wanna do something about it."
Taiyang smiles and says, "That's my girl. I wanna help." Yang then turned to Naruto to get his opinion.
"The more the better" Naruto stated, clearly accepting the support.
Happy there are no objections, Taiyang asks, "So when do we start?"
"Tomorrow" Naruto answered.
"Then I'll go get started on dinner!" Taiyang exclaimed, clearly reinvigorated compared to the day before. He then sees Naruto walking off and asks, "Where you going?"
"Huh?" Naruto expressed not sure Taiyang was talking to him. "You just said you were about to go make you and Yang dinner."
Taiyang pretends to be offended as he says, "What? You too good to eat my food?"
Confused, Naruto responds, "I thought you didn't like me being in your house."
Taiyang shakes his head before saying, "Look, most dads don't like their daughter's boyfriends. But you've shown how much she must mean to you. I mean, who can say they got their girlfriend a new arm?"
"He makes a good point" Yang chimed in. Naruto then starts walking back with a smile on his face.
"I'll make something to give us plenty of energy since tomorrow's a big day!" Taiyang exclaimed as he headed back into the house.
Naruto is about to head in when Yang grabs his hand. He turns back to look at her as she says, "Thanks for trusting me with your secret…and for not giving up on me."
"How could I give up on you?" Naruto responded. "You're the most important person in the world—no, in any world to me."
Surprised by that response, Yang says, "That was surprisingly smooth for you." Naruto just dawned his signature grin as they both then entered the house.
Chapter End