A/N: Please read this note, would you kindly? Its important and contains my update schedule.

Being sick -and these infernal site glitches!- have decimated me for the time being. Apologies. I'll update what I can, when I can, but it may be touch and go for a bit. Apples and Atoms, Running to the Edge, Breath of Fresh Air, Long May He Reign, Elden Ring, Claws of a Lion, Gotta Adopt 'em All, and I Want it All are looking likely thus far.

I've not forgotten the others, Everything else needs time in the oven, and the week is young. Here's hoping I improve.

That said, this cough is driving me crazy nearly three weeks later! Hopefully it's not bronchitis or pneumonia. No fun. Then there's these blasted site glitches, new chapters and new stories aren't appearing; admins say they're working on it, but it must be a bad issue; because we've not heard hide nor hair from them for almost a week now...

Every review truly does help, large or small, anything is better than nothing at all.

Every bit of feedback is the wind beneath my wings, so...please...?

I know its weak of me to ask, but it truly does lift my spirits...

So here we go. The fate of this story depends on you, the reader. Your feedback determines the fate of this tale, and many others. I'm just a humble author trying to make his way in this wild world, one word at a time. Time and feedback will determine if this remains a story. Simple as that. In other words...its up to YOU, the reader.

Do let me know~!

The best way to describe Winter's fighting style in this chapter would be...Sister Friede.

Oh, yes. That one. If you know, you know. And if you don't? You're in for a treat!

Character development for Weiss incoming in 3...2...1...!

"There is nothing quite so terrifying in this world as a fully realized Schnee.

No, no, no. I'm not talking about a Maiden. Glorified firecrackers, those. All substance and no control.

But the Schnee semblance...dwell upon it for a moment.

Those girls inherited not only your talents, but that which lay beyond them.

They are a fragment of something that was once so much greater than them.

After all, where do you think those glyphs came from?"

~?

Cross My Heart

Weiss watched Winter win.

Not fight, mind you; there was a marked difference between the two. Fighting implied the potential for defeat, the chance of being bested in battle. As though her sister could ever allow anyone to gain the upper hand on her. Preposterous!

Winter never lost.

Not ever.

Never.

Even now she waded in like a graceful dancer, saber swinging so fast as to be a blur, weaving cage of white light around herself. It might've been an optical illusion, it could've been a trick of the light, or an application of her semblance.

Or perhaps she was just that fast.

Naruto-not Father, never Father, she would neither acknowledge nor accept that in a thousand years!-met her in turn, not with a weapon, but his bare hands. Somehow that made him all the more terrifying.

Aura or not, no man should be able to slap a sword away like that with his palms. It just wasn't done!

.

..

...or was it?

She had heard tell of men who fought like animals, or fools, masters of something called the drunken fist, or some such.

Father-NO!-fought like none of them, yet all of them, weaving through the withering web of steel with ease, that smug smile never once leaving his face.

And Winter...she looked just as frightening, if not moreso for the wild gleam in her eyes.

She'd never seen her sister let her hair down or smile like...like some feral beast!

It was terrifying.

"En guard~!"

Naruto slapped Winter's sword high, forcing her guard open with it; then stepped in, stomped down with one foot and Punched. She felt the punch deserved capitlization given what followed.

Winter rocketed backwards.

Backwards, up, down, left and right and ever other cardinal direction as she proceeded to crash through no less than four buildings...and a particularly unfortunate cabbage stand, much to the dismay of its owner.

Weiss could hear the poor fellow wailing from here.

Ruby bounced in place beside her, veritably vibrating with unrestrained energy as she hollered encouragement. "Thaaaaaaat is our dad! Kick her butt, pops!"

Traitor of a sister!

Weiss huffed, furiously indignant. He was no father of hers, no matter what Mother said! "Teach him some respect Winter!"

She didn't have a chance to; because Naruto pivoted and sketched a bow, preening like a peacock. "Thank you, thank you very much~! I'll be here all week!"

A shadow fell over him.

He was still bowing as Winter's weapon whistled over his back, just shy of his head. Without missing a beat, the beaming blond bolted back up and drove the back of his skull into her sister's face, stunning her, leaving her wide open to the followup. The spinning kick to her jaw -and the awful crunch that followed!-made even Weiss wince.

Winter staggered back, paused, turned her head inside, and spat out a bloody tooth upon the pavement.

It looked...painful. Beastly. Downright brutish.

How gauche!

Yet for all that, the smile Winter turned on their so-called sire was inordinately smug. "You've gotten slower."

"And you've started running your mouth," he chided, wagging a scarred finger her way. "I taught you better than that."

"You certainly did." She licked away a thin line of blood from her lips, touched a hand to the hilt of her sword and drew a dagger...

"Don't tell Qrow about this. He'll never let me hear the end of it.

...except it wasn't a dagger at all, Weiss realized belatedly; because her amazing big sister placed it against the hilt of her sword, twisted it, and suddenly both became...

.

..

... something else entirely.

Gears whirled and clicked as the twin engines within whirled to life; as she looked on aghast, Winter drew yet a third smaller dagger from her belt and pressed into the mass of constantly shifting metal, turning it within as one might a key.

A shape was taking form, one Weiss recognized.

Her eyes bulged even as her lips parted, forming a small round "O" of surprise.

Ruby's gaze sparkled as she clasped her hands together, hopping up and down like an excited child. "Is that...?!"

It was indeed.

Or should she say they were?

Winter broke her transformed weapon apart at the base; come the end, once the metal had settled and the final gear ground down, she was left wielding not one, but two scythes in hand, a pair of wickedly warped weapons not unlike Crescent Rose itself; but unlike hers these were decidedly sleek all black, iron and steel, simple, and effective. The rightmost weapon was smaller than the left, but no less deadly for it. While it crackled with iced dust, the other flickered with an unnatural flame, not quite black, but neither could one call it white, either, no, it was almost as if the very weapons themselves were alive...

Ruby squealed! "I WANT those!"

"No," Winter hummed slowly, "You don't."

Naruto arched blonde brow, bemused by the display. "Mechashift? Really? I hadn't thought you the type."

Now it was her big sister's turn to preen. "You will learn all sorts of things in the specialists."

"So it would seem." He raised his right hand and beckoned to her, making the cum hit motion with four of his fingers. "Show me, then."

Her eyes flashed, the once-blue eyes sparking with a flicker of red...wait. Was that chakra? No, surely not. "You may come to regret those words."

Weiss," Her-not-father sang musically, "You and Ruby might wanna step back."

Ruby gulped. "How far back?"

Flame flickered at Winter's lips. "Yes."

Weiss huffed, blind to the byplay. "That's not an answer at all."

Naruto sighed. "You really should move back."

"I'm just fine where I am-YEEK!"

Her reply cut off as Winter rocketed up into the air, wreathed in eerie black-on-white fire. She hung there for a moment, defying gravity, then came crashing down like some molten meteor; bringing her rightmost scythe roaring down on Naruto's position.

Nor did it stop there. Ruby saw what was coming and bolted backward in a rush of rose petals. Not Weiss. She could have -should have!-used a glyph to fling herself away, but she was too slow; frozen by fear. A torrent of eerie fire and flowed forth to fill her vision, ready to rip through her aura like so much cardboard-

'Oh,' she realized, eyes widening in mute horror. 'I'm dead; I'm going to die here, aren't I?'

A hand parted the blaze, forcing the fires away.

With it, a broad back filled her vision.

"Winter, Winter, Winter." Naruto waved his arm, now charred and blackened by the blaze, utterly uncaring for the stated of his ruined limb. "What did I just say? Watch the kids. They haven't learned to use their chakra just yet, they're still fragile."

Her sister scoffed. "You would've protected them regardless; I had faith in you."

"Fair enough."

Weiss slumped to her knees, gasping for air that refused to come. Ruby reappeared at her side and laid a hand on her shoulder, murmuring something that might've been reassuring, but she couldn't hear a thing; her ears were too busy ringing and her heart was beating so frantically; she was certain it would burst out her chest. She didn't blame Ruby, couldn't blame her; she'd doubtlessly though she could escape under her own power; the fact that she hadn't fell upon her and her alone.

Against her better judgement, she dared to look up.

All around her the street was scorched and pitted, a sure sign of the fate that would've befallen her if...if he hadn't stepped in.

'I thought I was strong...but...am I really this weak...? Is the gap between us this truly this great...?!'

It was a humbling realization.

"Still," Naruto raised his ruined hand and inspected it, fingers furling into a fist. "Not even twenty-five and you can already do this?" Naruto wiped a frozen tear out the corner of his eye. "Papa's so proud."

Weiss wasn't. She felt weak. Ashamed of herself; humiliated.

This was the power of chakra, a power she had scorned, a power that she believed herself beyond. But she wasn't, was she? In her hubris, she thought herself strong even with her chakra blocked off; thinking she didn't need it.

If her Fa...Fath...Father -how the word burned!- hadn't blocked the backlash from that attack just now, she'd be dead. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, and for what? Her arrogance? She felt her face burn with the shame of it all, the gall; the realization of how weak she truly was.

Winter wasn't weak. She was strong. Maybe...maybe she'd been wrong all along.

Her sister spared her a sympathetic glance, then looked back to their sire. "I believe the children have learned their lesson, no? They should step back."

Weiss scuttled backward like a drunken crab to a safe distance, dragging Ruby with her.

Winter granted her the merest of nods.

"Shall we continue then?"

Ice coalesced across her left scythe once more as she spoke, a stark contrast with the flame brimming in her right, the breeze of which sent her long hair flying wildly behind her back. She truly was fire and ice. Her reach had now doubled, while Fa-Naruto!-remained very much unarmed. Surely victory would be hers...wouldn't it?

"Not going to summon any Grimm?"

Please, we both know that wouldn't work here." Her gaze flicked up and down the length of him. "And what of you? Won't you wield your staff and those truth-seeking orbs of yours?"

He flexed his burnt arm as she looked on and shook his head. "I don't particularly want to erase you from existence, so no."

"In that case...

A glyph bloomed underfoot, ripped him from his feet and yanked him forward at breakneck speed. He twisted in the air as best he could given his disadvantage, but not quickly enough; Winter sliced his burnt arm off at the elbow, sending the limb sailing through the air to land at their feet. It twitched their once and fell still.

Ruby yelped.

Weiss went green.

Winter most assuredly did not; with but a flick of her scythe, she pivoted to face their Father once more. "You've gotten sloppy. In your prime you would've dodged that."

"Maybe." He shrugged his good shoulder, seemingly uncaring of his grievous injury. "You still leave yourself wide open after each attack, though. You're not hitting as hard as you could, either."

"I do not-ACK?!"

Naruto's fist slammed into her stomach and out her back in a shower of blood, impaling her upon his limb.

Weiss cried out. "Winter?!"

Slowly, almost lazily, Naruto cast her off, flinging her sister down to the ground. She fell to a knee and spat red, gasping for breath.

"Perhaps I wasn't clear." He raised his still-crimson fist, wearing a bemused smile. "You. Me. Hard as you can. Are we clear? Unless you'd rather lose another life?"

Weiss balked. "Life...?"

What had he meant by that just now?

Winter staggered up, uncaring of the freaking hole in her torso. Her eyes flickered red again, scarlet sparks seething within her sclera.

"...understood."

So speaking, she vanished in a swirl of mist.

Literally became invisible before their very eyes.

It wasn't motion, a flicker of movement, or any such thing - she, quite literally, disappeared.

Naruto's brow vanished into his hair. "I didn't teach you that one!"

Her scythe materialized behind him as it swung past, hooked him under the chin and slammed him into the street. Ice burst beneath the blond's back, skewering him through the chest; but you never would've known it by his laughter; the fingers of his lone hand twisted, forming a series of strange seal she couldn't recognize. Winter must have; because she tried to draw back-not in time. A strangled snarl pierced the air as an earthen trap snapped up and seized her left foot.

Rather than be held captive like any sane person, Winter lopped off her own leg at the ankle, freed herself, and stabbed Naruto in the stomach with both scythes.

The moment she did, a bullet of wind caught her in the chest, hurling her down the street.

"Sacrificing a limb to win, I see!" Naruto righted himself with a merry laugh, uncaring of the bloody tears in his torso. "Good! What else do you have in store for me?"

Winter reclaimed her footing, somehow balancing upon one her right leg despite her grievous injury. As she looked on aghast, her sibling conjured a crude caricature of the foot she'd lost, forged from fresh ice and warily balanced herself upon it.

Ruby gasped a little. "That's so metal...

Brandishing her weapons, Winter smirked at the man who'd given her life. "Come and see."

"Already have~!"

Naruto reappeared behind her, touched a hand to Winter's back and-

THWOOM~!

Weiss didn't see the explosion that followed -it was much too bright and she had to avert her eyes!- but she certainly heard it; because her ears popped. Ruby doubled over, clutching at her head, unable to see what came next; and that was a mercy.

Because she saw and sorely wished she hand't.

Winder staggered out of the smoke, uniform in tatters, hair badly burnt nearly to her scalp, back sorely blistered, leaning on her good leg.

Despite that, she never stopped smiling. "Cheap shot...I actually lost another life there...

Again with this talk of "lives"! What were they on about?!

Of Naruto there was no sign; until quite suddenly there was; he burst of the haze with nary a sound on Winter's flank, crouched low to the ground.

Her sister saw him coming, whirled with a grimace and struck for his face with her left scythe. He darted forward, took the hit on his shoulder without a care in the world, ducked the retaliatory swipe that followed and, swept his palm up and drove a spiraling sphere of ferocious blue light up into her unprotected chest.

For the first time since the "spar" began, Winter cried out in pain.

The jutsu ripped her sibling from her feet and smashed her headlong into a warehouse, but only for a moment; the smoke hadn't even begun to settle when she came crashing through it again. Weiss glimpsed her wound as she did and winced, spying bits of blood and bone therein.

How was she still standing...?

Winter laughed -actually laughed!- and fell upon Naruto like an avenging angel, scythes a whirl of death. Naruto met her halfway, fists swinging, cackling all the while.

From there they went to war with one another; there could be no other war for it.

Blood flew through the air. Chakra flared. Aura buckled and shattered. And still they kept fighting, ripping into one another without a care in the world, heedless for what they lost. An arm, an eye, an ear, they wounded and maimed each other without fear.

Her eyes begin to sting.

They weren't fighting, were they? This wasn't a spar at all. No, they were trying to kill one another.

What was the point of this? Why were they fighting like this at all?

This...it was barbaric! They would die! She didn't want that...!

Stop.

Naruto'd head snapped backward as Winter's burning scythe carved into his face.

Please stop.

He shattered her ribs with a punch, leaving her reeling.

Just stop already!

Her frigid scythe tore out his right eye...!

"STOP!" Belatedly she realized cry had come not from Ruby, but her; she was already moving, rushed between them, arms flailing. "Father! Sister! Please! Cease this very instant!"

They looked a sorry state now, more walking corpses then people...so why were they smiling?

Tears burned in her eyes. "Stop, please...just stop...

They didn't look like they would; each seemed ready for a duel to the death. Weiss latched onto Naruto before he could step forward, desperately trying to hold him in place with what meager strength she had. Something came loose deep within her chest and tears flowed freely down her face.

"Daddy, please...just stop...

Naruto paused and looked down at her. A slow, satisfied, smile, split his ruined face from ear to ear. "Did you just call me daddy?"

She sniffled, utterly out of sorts. "Would you idiots kindly stop trying to kill each other if I do?"

Winter paused. Looked to Father, now. "I think we've driven our point home, haven't we?

Weiss balked. "What...?"

Ruby was giggling madly behind her, clutching her sides with both hands.

Traitor!

"Weiss, they're fine. Look."

She looked back, baffled by her words.

Naruto cracked his neck and casually regenerated his injuries in her arms, restoring himself even as she clung to him for dear life.

Winter did the same much to her chagrin, restoring her face, regrowing her lost arm, and as she looked on the foot she had lost. It simply reappeared, sans her boot. She even grew back that wonderful white waterfall of hair she'd lost, and then some!

Wait. Speaking of growing...was it just her imagination or was Winter...well...bigger?

"Blast it all." Her elder sister ran a hand through her ivory locks, sulking at its length, now spilling down well past her hindquarters, then touched a hand to her bosom and backside for good measure besides. "I swear, they get bigger every time I regenerate. To say nothing of this!" Scowling, she pinched a strand of pale hair between her thumb and forefinger. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to maintain my hair when it grows to this length, Father? Qrow will never leave me be now!"

Naruto shrugged and offered a selfsame smile. "It's a good look for you. Reminds me of your mother."

Winter's pale face went red like roses and she visibly gagged. "Daddy, no."

"Daddy yes! Just think of all the jutsu you can use with that hair!"

"That is by far the least of my concerns!"

Weiss felt her jaw pop open with an audible click.

Had it been possible, it would've been resting on the floor.

"I...you...how?! Explain!" She stomped a foot furiously, he was clicking against the fractured street. "Explain yourself now! RIGHT NOW!"

"Surprised?" Naruto tousled her hair with an impish grin. " Don't be. My blood flows through your veins, just like your sister's. Winter is simply more...attuned to it." He gave her sister a proud grin. "She's had most of her life to master her gifts; I made sure of that."

"Attuned, he says." Winter scoffed, tossing her head in a vain attempt to tuck her copious white mane behind her shoulders; it looked longer than Yang's now, and that was saying soemthing. "You made me lose five lives! I hope it was worth it, they take forever to recover...

Naruto ignored her sister, merry blue eyes focused firmly on her instead. "Heh. You really did call me Dad...

Weiss flushed to the very roots of her hair. "Perhaps I did. Do not read into it!"

"Oh, I'm doing a fair bit of reading...

"DO! NOT! READ!"

Warm arms enfolded her. "Give daddy a hug!"

"No!" she squirmed furiously in his grasp, hissing and spitting and kicking in a fit that would've made Blake proud. "Release me! Winter nearly died because of you!"

Winter laughed at that, startling her. Naruto joined in, confusing her further still.

"Winter can't die, silly. She has nine lives. I saw to that myself."

Weiss felt her jaw click open anew and stay open this time.

In the end, she managed a single, strangled sound.

"Ha...?"

A/N: If you got the reference to the whole nine lives, you win?

Aaaaand scene. Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Better yet, would you like weekly updates? Do let me know!

As ever, the "Embers" rule remains in effect for now. If folks don't like this...well, I won't be able to continue it. Truly, it pains me to say that, but I work two jobs, and days off are a thing of the past for me as of late. Reviews are the fire that keeps me writing. Without them, I cannot put pen to paper. Simple as that. Every bit of feedback matters, large or small~! Your voice matters! Speak up! I repeat, every bit of feedback matters...even if people think it doesn't. And there we have it.

So in the immortal words of Atlas... ...Review, Would you Kindly?

Here, have a preview! Hope they make ya laugh.

(Preview)

Qrow shuddered.

"Why do I have a bad feeling about this...?

x

Ruby clapped happily. "Hooray! Training time!"

Yang and Blake and Weiss groaned into the dirt.

Kyojuro nodded proudly. "That's the spirit. Now, now, up you go! Its time for round two~!

x

Raven sheathed her sword, unsheathed it, stowed it again.

She eyed the crimson portal before her.

Did she dare?

x

Salem sneezed.

x

What the hell is he?!"

He was a one man blender, that's what he was! A human meat grinder ripping through the gang. He shot one man dead in the head, crushed the skull of another underfoot, and impaled a third on his fist. All this without a sound. No reaction. Just that same, eerie, blank look upon his face. Gunmen opened fire, only for him to whirl, using his latest victim as a shield against their hail of bullets. Their body bucked and slumped. Someone tried to reload. That was a mistake; the moment they did, he surged forward. A single leap carried him the rest of the way and then he was among them, leaping their makeshift barricade.

He threw the corpse at them. "Catch."

A faint beeping reached their ears.

And then. There was fire.

He strode through it, trailing shadow and flame.

A wise man once told me something. There's a monster inside all of us. Its a simple matter of knowing where to look. Now, then...

All the smoke, huh?" he turned his head aside and spat out a bullet. Blue eyes gleamed red as a wide grin spread across his face. "Alright. You've got my attention. I hope its what you wanted."

It was not.

...TIME TO LET THE MONSTER OUT."

x

"Oi."

"What have you done?"

He grinned. "Scorched earth."

R ~!