A/N: Sorry about the stupid update without a chapter guys! But as promised, here is a new chapter for "Acceptance". I was told I was going a bit too fast and I agree so I decided to try and slow it down a bit. Hope you enjoy!

The waves of the sea gently rocked a lone boat traveling west of Anima and towards Sanus. Inside, as one would expect, were passengers who mostly looked to be civilians. However, there were a few people who looked more...er...capable than the rest.

Naruto Uzumaki and Cinder Fall were two of these unusual passengers.

"Ugh...I'm gonna be sick..." Cinder muttered to herself, her face growing a light green as another wave hit into the hull of the boat. "I had no idea...it would be like this..."

Naruto could only laugh as he lied on his bed, flipping another page in his manga. "Oh come on Cindy-chan~ Can't handle a little motion on the water?" His only response was the piercing glare of the thirteen year old. He winced and scooted a little bit away from the scary girl. "Wah! Scary. You'd think I'd learn not to keep messing with her." He thought to himself.

"Sensei...how much longer?"

"Shouldn't be too long...a day or two at most. The sea parting Anima and Sanus is relatively small." His response this time was just a pained groan as the girl hunched over even more at another big wave. "Once we get to the city of Vale we can take an airship instead of a boat, kay?" He sweat dropped and placed a hand on Cinder's shoulder.

"Thank you Sensei...I think I'm gonna spend the rest of my time in the bathroom...Ugh..bleh." And with that, Cinder slowly hobbled into their shared bathroom in the cabin.

With Cinder gone, Naruto was finally left alone with his thoughts as well as the one plaguing question. Why did Qrow call for him so suddenly? Why come back to patch? Usually the two would meet in a bar to trade information, not go back to his family's home. The blonde huntsman sighed and absentmindedly flipped the page of his manga.

His eyes scanned over the contents of this page, the main characters shouting at some generic baddie. How typical. Something on the bad guy's outfit caught his attention however...it was the design of a wilted rose…

"That reminds me...I wonder how summer is doing..." he mumbled to himself, closing his eyes and placing the book on his face, shielding his eyes from the light. He smiled lightly and chuckled to himself. "Four years since I last saw her...big sis Summer. I wonder if she's come up with a new cookie recipe as of late." He hummed in thought.

With that thought, he let the waves of the sea drift him into sleep….and into a memory.

4 Years Ago

"BIG SIS! BIG SIS I'M HERE!" Shouted a loud blonde teenager as he barged into the hospital, panting and sweating as if he had just ran a mile to get there.

Multiple "SHHH"s were sent his way, along with a few glares but he didn't care about that now. He needed to see Summer dammit!

"Whoa whoa, slow your roll kid..." came a voice from behind Naruto. "...Why don't you follow me instead of creating an enemy of every person in this hospital?" came the raspy voice again.

Turning around, Naruto came face to face with Qrow, one of Summer's teammates and one of his true friends from the academy. "Qrow! Where's summer, is she alright? Has it happened yet? AM I TOO LATE!?"

Qrow grimaced at the loud screechy voice of the teen, slapping the boy upside the head with his flask before taking a swig. "What did I just say? Follow me, I'll take you to her room." Naruto grumbled, but nodded and started to follow the man.

Naruto took in the man's appearance as they walked and frowned. Qrow looked slightly disheveled, along with a few cuts in his grey jacket. His hair seemed to be matted with sweat and there was a small cut under his right eye. Not one to keep his mouth shut, the blonde inquired about his appearance.

"Well, like you, I was called suddenly. When I was called and asked to come to the hospital, I was in the middle of a fight with a deathstalker alpha. Just my luck to get called in the middle of such an intense battle. And with important news too..." He solemnly chuckled as Naruto winced.

While he wasn't told directly what Qrow's semblance was, he HAD overheard him and Raven talking about it at some point. It was such an odd semblance that it stuck in his head ever since.

Qrow glanced at the blonde haired boy and gave him a smile. "She's gonna be happy to see you. You two haven't had much time to catch up ever since you started your mission practice at school. Heck, you've only met Yang maybe twice."

Naruto stayed quiet, thinking to himself. It was true. His "On the battlefield" missions had began, the beginning of his graduation to becoming a true professional huntsman. It was an odd thing to hear but soon he would be on the battlefield for real!

"Once I complete my training and graduate, I will try my best to be in the squirts life more. I can already tell she's gonna be just like me! A fighter!" Naruto grinned to the man as they made a turn in the hallway.

Qrow chuckled again and nodded, opting to let the air fall into a comfortable silence.

Soon the two had reached room number 32 where Qrow stopped and sat down on the bench outside.

"Well?" The older man began. "What are ya waiting for? Go see her." Naruto was slightly stunned before looking at the man with a bright smile "Right!"

Opening the door, Naruto was immediately greeted by the crying of a child and the soft cooing of a woman's voice. Scanning the room, Naruto allowed a truly genuine smile widen on his face.

A small babe with hair mimicking her mothers sat comfortably in a womans arms, softly whimpering before closing her eyes and slowly falling asleep. The woman had dark black hair that faded into a dark red near the tips and was wearing a customary hospital gown, smiling down at the child with such a loving gaze that other mothers would be jealous.

Next to the woman at her bed side stood a man with a much duller blonde set of hair. He had a small amount of facial hair and was dressed in brownish cargo shorts and a tan vest with brown highlights. A orangish red piece of cloth was wrapped around his left bicep and a shoulder plate was on his right.

This was Taiyang and his wife Summer. Along with their new child who he didn't know the name of yet.

"Big sis..." He muttered, breaking the silence of the room and alerting the two older people to his presence. Summer's silver eyes widened and his face contorted into absolute joy. Tai smiled and gave a little wave at his friend, happy he could make it.

"Ruto...you came. Come here, come meet Ruby." She quietly ushered the boy over, a loving smile on her face. Naruto could only comply as he walked over to the two, glancing around the room a bit as he took his place on the other side of the bed, opposite of Tai."Where's Yang?"

"Still at daycare...we wanted her to be here but unfortunately it happened so sudden. One moment we were making dinner then the next she was making a baby pop out of her..."

"That's enough DEAR." Summer softly growled out at the man who had the decency to show his embarrassment. Naruto could only laugh as quiet as he could as he leaned over and tried to get a good look at the kid sleeping in Summer's arms.

"Ruby huh? Following that tradition of naming after colors?"

Summer and Tai both nodded at that and the woman allowed herself to shift slightly

"With Yang yellow and Ruby red, it allows for the color Orange to be made. How's that sound orange lover?"

Naruto could only grin at the little jab at his obsession with the color orange, a color he was wearing even now. "Seems like they'll both grow up to be great people with such a connection to the ultimate color. Now let's get them started on a ramen only diet~"

The group laughed to themselves as Summer raised Ruby a little.

"Would you like to hold her?" She spoke with a smile.

Naruto frowned but nodded, nervously reaching out to take the small babe.

"No, not like that you idiot. You have to take her into your arms like this, and hold her against yourself, see?" Summer demonstrated as she held Ruby close to her chest. Naruto sweat dropped and muttered "I didn't even hold her yet..."

The blonde huntsman in training then took the newly born child into his arms and held her against his chest, smiling down at her. "Hey there ya little goofball..." He chuckled, wagging his finger down at her. This seemed to awaken the young girl as she looked up at the blue eyes with her own silver ones.

"Wah, bwhaha." Ruby began to make laughing noises mixed with the typical baby gurgling.

"As Naruto smiled down at the girl Tai and Summer shared a glance with each other, nodding to each other. Naruto didn't notice as he watched the dark red head take a hold of his finger and stick it in her mouth, closing her eyes again. "She's gonna grow up to be a great person you guys...i just know it."

"We were hoping you'd say that Naruto" Tai said with a grin as he scratched the back of his head. Confusion arose on Naruto's face as he looked at the two who were looking away a little, avoiding his eyes. "What do you mean by that you old fart?"

"O-old fart!?" Tai harshly whispered. "If I'm an old fart then you're a young fart! We're only 5 or so years apart!"

"Quiet honey you'll wake Ruby. You too Ruto, we have something important we want to tell you...or more so ask you." This caught Naruto's interest as he softly handed Ruby back over to her mother.

"We'd….we'd like you to be Ruby and Yang's godfather."

With that, Naruto's reality shattered. They wanted him to be a part of their family...for real! Like, for real for real!

Summer and Tai looked at each other once more and spoke with uncertainty.

"Naruto?"

No response

"Naruto Sensei?"

No respon- wait...what was that?

"NARUTO SENSEI WAKE THE HELL UP!"

Back to the present

Cinder groaned, stepping out of the bathroom with a disgusted look on her face. She sighed and shook her head. At least she was beginning to get used to this ship travel. Didn't mean she liked it.

The young girl slowly walked over to her bed and plopped down on her bed, on the opposite side of her Sensei's. Burying her face in her pillow she groaned again, sleep making itself known to her. Glancing over at Naruto's bed revealed that he was asleep, his manga having fell to the floor and off his face.

Looking at the alarm clock at his bedside alerted her that it was already 7 PM. They had boarded the ship at 2 PM. "Gods...I've been in the bathroom for at least 4 hours or so." She thought to herself. "Some huntress I'll be..."

Standing from her position on her bed, she made her way over to the blonde and shook him awake.

"Naruto, wake up"

No response.

Frowning, Cinder shook his body harder.

"Naruto! Cmon, wake up!"

No response.

Glaring at the man, she reared back and allowed her fist to slam down on his stomach.

"NARUTO SENSEI WAKE THE HELL UP!"

Annnnnd that did the trick. A little too well…

Naruto shot up from his position and began to hack and wheeze, attempting to regain the air that was lost. The aura that surrounded his body may heal wounds but it did a damn shitty job at protecting from getting the wind knocked out of him.

"C-Cinder, wh-cough- what the hell? What...what was that for?" Cinder frowned and looked away, muttering out a small apology at going to hard on her sensei.

"Sorry sensei but you weren't waking up. Were you having a good dream or something?" She asked curiously. Naruto, catching the remains of his breath properly sat up and mused the question aimed at him.

"That I was Cinder. That I was." He gave her a grin and continued talking. "I can't wait till you meet Qrow and Tai but I especially can't wait to introduce you to my big sis. She's the one who shaped me into who I am today and therefore, by connection, who shaped you into who YOU are."

Cinder smiled and shook her head at the child like glee in her sensei's eyes. For some reason, there was a small drop in her stomach when he mentioned his "big sis" but let it slide, thinking it was just her seasickness.

"Come on Naruto Sensei, you can tell me about her on the top deck. We have guard duty starting at 8 PM. Remember?"

Naruto glanced at his clock and his eyes widened and he shot up from bed. "Oh Monty Oum you're right! Cmon let's go!" With that, he grabbed Cinders hand and dragged her out of the room and towards the stairs. Guard duty, starts now.

A/N: And batta bing batta boom! A bit of a flashback chapter that helps define the relationship between some of the members of STRQ and Naruto. Hope you guys liked it and expect regular updates every week! Thank you for reading and reviewing~ Peace!