Reading Remnant's Maelstrom Shinobi

By SandewrPally

Original work by MothBallz

Naruto sat stock still as he looked at the woman in front of him His mind was going over the woman he had met in his mindscape when he faced the Kyuubi. Even after going over the features several times he could only come to one conclusion as his eyes started to tear up.

The woman in front of him was Uzumaki Kushina, his mother.

Said woman was sending her son a confident and warm grin, her hands on her hips as she regarded not only Naruto but the members of teams RWBY and JNPR. She noted several girls that she already liked form first impressions, and could tell that two couples were already sort of 'there'. Before she could further scrutinize the girls she had to brace herself as Naruto hugged her fiercely. Closing her eyes she wrapped Naruto in a just as fierce hug, both son and mother basking in each other's presence. Kurama merely smirked, rather happy that his container and partner had this chance to bond with his mother.

The reactions between the two Beacon teams was mixed to say the least. Yang had a smile that was a little forced, a little jealous of the mother son moment that was happening in front of her. While she had never gotten anything like that from her biological mother memories of Summer came to the fore front of her mind. She then realized she was being petty, as Naruto had never had his mother in his life. Actually donning a happy smile that didn't look forced she looked on the moment happy for the whiskered blonde.

Ruby looked on in wonder at the woman in front of her. She was everything she would think a kick-ass ninja mom would be, even down to the presence she felt. While she didn't have many memories like her sister Ruby had always remembered the feeling of love and warmth that her mother had, and knew without a doubt that this woman had just as much as Summer did.

Weiss had to hold back a look of longing as she stared at the hugging mother and son. While her mother was still alive she had never been close to her, seeing Winter as a more motherly figure than anything. She sighed as she looked back on the days were her mother was still kind and not done in by her father's obsession with the company and war on faunus. She did give the pair a small smile, happy that the teen they had met could have this moment.

Blake had forgone reading ahead as she looked at the woman that Naruto had identified as his mother. The similarities were there, such as the face and similar smile. Blake had a pang of guilt as she realized that she hadn't contacted her parents in a long time, and made a note to call them once they took a break from reading the story.

Pyrrha was somewhat stunned as she stared at the woman embracing Naruto. The woman's hair was so similar to hers that if she had a similar eye color she could have been the woman's daughter. Getting over her momentary shock the Spartan girl wondered just how the woman came to be here, as she had thought Naruto was an orphan. Her thoughts were replicated in her teammates, though Nora was just excited to meet another ninja like Naruto.

"H-how?" Naruto weakly asked, his emotions overwhelming him at the moment.

"I can offer an explanation." All eyes turned to the new voice, only to get incredulous looks of surprise and one growl once they spotted the newcomer to the room. The girl was dressed in a plain velvet blue dress, accessorized by different shades of blue. The only differences in color were the buttons and stockings that the girl wore. Golden hair was held back by two butterfly pins connected to a headband, while a calm face stared back at the group of faces with piercing yellow eyes.

'Be careful with this one Naruto. She has more power than her appearance suggests.'

"I am Lavenza, a worker of the Velvet Room." The girl bowed as she introduced herself, before continuing "I am sure you have already met my sister Margaret."

"The bookstore clerk…" Blake muttered in surprise, having a feeling the woman was involved in this since she was the one to have given the book to Blake.

"Indeed, though we are much more than simple bookstore owners." Responded while she took a seat on the stool that she had brought. "Those of the velvet room are watchers of humanities potential, though in the past year or so we have broadened our horizons so to speak."

Taking a seat with his mother following Naruto asked the question that had popped up when the girl first spoke "What do you mean you can explain what's going on?"

The girl adopted a frown before taking a deep breath and speaking. "I trust you remember the seal that you had found in your world?"

"Yeah. It was one of a kind that was for sure."

Lavenza smiled at Naruto's praise of her and her sister's hard work. "Thank you. Unfortunately, something corrupted the matrix, depositing you here instead of merely transporting you to the Velvet Room. We decided to merely allow the flow of the seal to let you arrive here, rather than try to force you to the velvet room itself."

"Space-time seals are a fickle thing." Kushina commented, remembering the numerous time's she had helped Minato correct and adjust his own space time seals. Surprisingly Kurama nodded in agreement, having seen the complexity of seals from several generations of Uzumaki's and more importantly the Sage of Six Paths himself.

"Indeed." Lavenza responded to Kushina's statement before holding up the book that Blake was given. "A similar seal was put in this book to bring you everyone else to the Velvet room, but we had to adjust it so that Naruto could arrive here without having any serious injuries."

"Does that mean you can send me back?!" Naruto leaned forward with excitement, not noticing the various looks of hurt that crossed some of the other teen's faces. While he had only been there a short time the teens could tell that the boy was fun to be around, though they realized that being abruptly taken from home would want to go back as soon as they were able to.

"Unfortunately no." Lavenza responded, some guilt in her tone as she continued. "The amount of power we had to expend to get you to Remnant safely was greater than we expected, and as such we don't know when we'll have the power to reestablish a connection to your world."

Before the blonde ninja could have a downcast look his mother promptly smacked him over the head before she spoke. "Just think of it as a vacation Sochi. Even better I get more time with you!" Kushina promptly brought her son in for another crushing hug, though the teen was unprepared for it and as such could hear his bones creaking in abuse.

"Are you also responsible for Miss Kushina and Kurama's arrival?" Weiss asked as the rest of her team were watching the interaction between mother and son with some amusement.

"Indeed. We had enough energy to bring one more person into the picture and Uzumaki Kushina was….adamant about being able to spend time with her son. Kurama was merely given a body composed of his own power to roam outside." Laveza finished with a wince as memories of that particular beat down for her to be temporarily resurrected to help her son came to the forefront of her mind. A polite cough got the attention of mother and son as she brought out a scroll for them.

"My second purpose was to give you supplies for your time on Remnant. Scrolls, both Remnant and shinobi, and various shinobi supplies including weapons, such as the one your other self uses."

Excited at the prospect of having the weapon his other had Naruto quickly unrolled the scroll and summoned it. Clearing the smoke away Naruto smiled as he felt the weight of the weapon in his hands.

Before it was promptly taken from said hands by a flash of red and roses.

"Yeah…You're not getting that back for a while." Yang said, knowing that her sister's weapon fetish was in full force at the moment. She remembered the last time she had tried to take Crescent Rose from her when she was in this particular mood. She would rather not have her arm almost ripped off for taking a weapon from her sister when she was in 'Weapon nut mode'.

Or cookies depending on the day.

"….Noted."

Lavenza merely smiled she regarded the people before her. "As a final note remember that while some things might be different, others can be the same. We'll be keeping in touch to let you know the progress of sending you back." As she sat the book on the stool the girl left the room before dispersing into a multitude of velvet blue butterflies, signaling her departure to the Velvet room.

Back in the common room the group of two Shinobi plus chakra beast and two Beacon Teams regarded the book with more than a little wariness, the cryptic last words of the girl going through their minds. Before it was promptly shattered by Kushina opening the book and starting to read, the screen displaying the story going on again as well.

The Creatures of Grimm, monstrous and beastly creatures whose sole reason for existence was to bring death to mankind. They did not hunger for meat, vegetation, or any other "normal" food source. In fact, when observed, it seemed like they did not need to eat or drink to survive like any other living creature on Remnant. However this did not mean that they lacked a desire to eat.

The one thing these creatures seemed to crave, to hunger for, was human flesh and blood.

"That is not normal." Naruto commented, getting shrugs form the Remnant teens. It was more of an accepted fact by everyone in Remnant at this point. Kurama merely narrowed his eyes as he regarded the various Grimm the screen were displayting.

No one on Remnant had any one hundred percent proven idea as to what Grimm were or even how they came to exist. Scientists were not able to properly observe Grimm due to how hard it was to keep even a young one in captivity. What made it even more difficult to study the Grimm was that, upon death, their bodies would fade from existence, leaving not even a hair to be examined.

"What like ash?" Kushina asked.

"Kinda similar but they don't leave anything." Yang answered, remembering the multiple times she had seen a Grimm 'die' when training with her dad or Qrow. Everyone else nodded in agreement.

The only concrete facts the people of Remnant knew regarding Grimm were thus: Grimm were drawn to dark emotions such as jealousy, hatred, and greed. The monsters had a fondness for human flesh and they were capable of learning from experience.

Both Naruto and Kushina paled, knowing that had Grimm existed in their world it would be an all you can eat ramen stand due to the consequences of four wars. Not a pleasant thought if their description was anything to go by. While he would never admit it Kurama was more than a little disturbed by the fact the creatures could seemingly sense emotions, in particular the negative.

Naruto could add something else to that list though. His godfather and mentor, Jiraiya, had been a powerful man, known across the Elemental Countries for his prowess in the art of Ninjutsu and Fuinjutsu (Sealing Arts). Jiraiya and his two teammates had earned themselves fame and infamy in their youth, becoming known as the Densetsu no Sannin (Legendary Three Ninja).

The three shinobi in question popped up on the screen. While Naruto was glad to see two of them the third, Orochimaru, caused the blonde Uzumaki to clench his fists as several rather painful memories surfaced. Noticing her son's tense posture Kushina placed a hand on his shoulder. Naruto gave his mother a grateful smile before snickering at the Remnant team's expressions.

Giving Jiriaya a passing glance and shivering at the snake-like man the women on both Team RWBY and JNPR silently compared themselves to the woman on the screen, wondering what kind of freaking Ninja genetics would allow a bust of that size. None more so than Yang, who was wondering if this was how Weiss felt whenever she would tease the heiress about her small breasts. Said heiress was grumbling about 'stacked blondes' shooting both Yang and the picture of Tsunade rather jealous looks.

Both Jaune and Ren had crossed their legs while resisting the urge to make sure they weren't having any nosebleeds for some reason.

Out of the various skills Jiraiya had passed down to his godson, chief among them was the skill that had earned the now deceased shinobi the title of Gama Sennin (Toad Sage). The skill was legendary even among Naruto's people and was known as Senjutsu (Sage Technique). The technique allowed the user to gather the very energy of Nature herself and blend it into their body, bolstering both their physical and mental prowess to otherwise unachievable heights.

At the questioning looks from everyone he shrugged and promised a demonstration at a later date.

As such the practitioners of Senjutsu were seen as Sages and even when they were not actively using Nature Chakra, even novice Sages were keenly aware of it and those who could use it. As such Naruto was thoroughly shocked when he noticed that the Creatures of Grimm were comprised almost entirely of Nature Chakra.

"Wh-what!?" Naruto exclaimed wanting to suddenly go into sage mode to get a feel if the Grimm were similar to the story. Luckily a certain nine-tailed chakra beast was there.

"It's true. I can sense them form here, and the nature chakra is…..not corrupted but rather infused with more malice."

"Thus disrupting the balance of nature chakra that nature needs." Naruto finished, having a rather disturbed image of how that was possible. Noticing the stares he was receiving form the Remnant teens.

"We'll explain later."

"It feels like you are going to be saying that a lot." Ruby responded getting a chuckle from Kushina.

It answered a lot of the questions the people of Remnant had and explained a lot more as well. The reason the body of a Grimm faded upon death was because the Nature Chakra it was made up of was returning back to the planet or moving into the nearby plant and animal life. This was also the reason they showed such apathy to other animals and why they had such a hunger for humans.

"Wait wait wait, so what you're saying is that we screwed up so bad that mother nature considers us the enemy?!" Yang exclaimed, while the rest of the Remnant teens gaped in shock.

Suffice it to say that mankind had somehow screwed up so badly in the past that Mother Nature had felt the need to fight back by giving birth to these monsters.

Yang merely sat down, sufficiently cowed by a sentence in a book. Kushina couldn't help the snicker that came before she continued to read. The rest of teams RWBY and JNPR took this new information and had several thoughts go through their mind while paying attention to the story.

Being a Sage and, by proxy, being so in tune with the planet Naruto always felt a little bad when he had to kill Grimm. Sure they seemed mindless and all, but really they were just Nature's anger at what humans had done to her planet.

His only solace was knowing that, by killing Grimm, the plant life around them would grow all the more resilient and lively.

"That does put things in perspective." Pyrrha muttered, her sentiments shared by the rest of the Remnant teens. While knowing that humanity had potentially screwed up so bad that nature was fighting back, it was good to know that they were essentially giving back whenever they slew a Grimm.

So it was with a mental sigh that Naruto lodged a kunai knife into the jugular of the rather large Ursai that had attempted to have him and Pyrrha for dinner. In all honesty the fight had been terribly one sided. He was a well trained shinobi with his fair share of experience and it seemed that Pyrrha's title of "The Invincible Girl" was well earned.

Pyrrha mentally sighed but quickly smiled as she remembered her friends in team JNPR and RWBY.

Combined, the two had taken the large bear like Grimm down in record time.

"Excellent form and teamwork." Kushina commented as the rather short fight was shown on the screen. Both teens smiled at the praise, Naruto soaking it up especially.

Naruto was also quite surprised to get a peek at Pyrrha's battle prowess. She seemed to flow like water, changing between attacking and defending with ease while still managing to dish out her fair share of blows. That fluidity also translated seamlessly into how she handled her weapon. The ease with which she transitioned her weapon from javelin, to sword, to rifle, and back again was only achievable through years of practice and dedication, though inborn talent also seemed to play a part.

Noticing the blush that was on Pyrrha's face Naruto merely sent the red-haired member of JNPR his fox-like smile. Instead of making the girl feel less awkward the blush she sported intensified until she looked away. Several of the group noticed but decided not to comment on it.

'For now.' Were also those` same people thoughts.

Stretching a bit Naruto shared a smile with Pyrrha before gesturing in the direction they had originally been sent, "Shall we?"

The redhead nodded, "Sure. Hopefully we won't run into too much opposition though."

"Eh, it was hit and miss." Yang said, getting looks of agreement and betrayal for some. Mainly Pyrrha, Weiss and Jaune. It was not fun being chased by a death stalker, or riding a nevermore. Nora merrily smiled as Ren groaned, not wishing to relive that day anytime soon.

Naruto nodded in agreement. The less he had to reveal in combat the better. He did not need people asking questions and if what Ozpin said about the teachers monitoring their progress was true, he should be all the more cautious. Passing off some of his ninjutsu as his Semblance with the other teens was easy enough. Getting someone like Ozpin to believe it? That would be a much harder task.

"A little too late for that." Blake muttered. She was a little relieved that she knew more than her counterpart at the moment. A sentiment that was shared by the rest of the Remnant teens. Naruto merely shrugged his shoulder, knowing that had he been in the same position as his counterpart he would have done the same thing. He wasn't a shinobi for nothing after all.

As he and his new partner made their way through the Emerald Forest Pyrrha was the one to strike up a conversation, "I don't remember seeing you at Sanctum, so did you go to Signal?"

"Actually Beacon would be my first official school I'm attending. We had an Academy back in my old village that trained us as well, but it wasn't reputable enough to count so I had to take the battle exam to get into Beacon," Naruto replied.

At the questioning looks from the two teams Naruto shrugged and responded "Don't think they would have taken my credentials from Konoha."

"Wait, ninjas have credentials?" Ruby asked.

In a poof of smoke Naruto handed Ruby his first credentials, which caused everyone to snicker as the makeup picture that Naruto had slipped into his official credentials was seen. Even Kushina chuckled, remembering her own prank at their first credentials. Hiruzen's face had been quite hilarious after all.

Pyrrha smiled at the chance to get to know her partner a little more, "Where are you from?"

"It was outside of the kingdoms and was built decades ago by my village's first leader, a man named Hashirama Senju. Because of all the trees that surrounded our village and acted as a natural defense it was called Konohagakure no Sato or the Village Hidden in the Leaves."

The green eyed Huntress in training listened attentively as Naruto spoke with an obvious fondness of his home. Yet still she noticed the bittersweet look in his eyes, almost as if his home held as many bad memories as it did good ones.

Everyone, especially Naruto and Kushina, winced at the mention of Konoha and Naruto's memories of it. Despite having come to terms with the hatred and anger he held the memories still hurt a little. Not to mention how his other must have felt not knowing anything about what happened after he had arrived here. Noticing her son's mood Kushina grabbed his hand and gave a squeeze, knowing more than most the life Naruto had led.

"It sounds like you really loved your village," Pyrrha said with a smile.

Naruto nodded his head and let a sad chuckle escape his lips, "It's funny really. When I was younger I used to run around screaming that I was going to become my village's leader someday."

The armor clad redhead giggled at the mental picture of a short blond kid going around yelling that he was the greatest.

Naruto groaned as a picture of him doing that exact same thing pooped up on the screen, getting everyone to laugh as the rather ridiculous image.

"That's still possible. After you graduate from Beacon you can still go back home and become your village's leader right?" Pyrrha offered.

The girl in question could only look at her other self with some pity, knowing that she would not like the answer.

Naruto shook his head, "Sadly that's no longer a possibility. Bout a year or so ago Konoha was attacked by...a horde of Grimm. We tried our best to fight back, but in the end there were too many and we were being overrun. The elders knew this and so they made a call to have anyone under 15 flee the village so they could live. I tried to stay and fight but my old sensei wouldn't let me and, using his Semblance, had me transported far away," Naruto paused to clear the lump in his throat before continuing, "by the time I managed to make my way back to the village it was too late. Konoha was burning and there was no one left alive."

"Not the whole truth but-"

"Close enough." Ruby mumbled as she had launched herself at Naruto, giving the blonde ninja a comforting hug. While shocked at first the blonde Uzumaki merely patted the rose-themed girl's hair before she cutely pouted as she went back to her seat. Neither noticed the critical look that Kushina was giving the girl, and it was probably for the better.

As Naruto had begun his little tale the two had gradually slowed down until eventually, as his story ended, they had come to a full stop. As Naruto held back the very real tears that threatened to fall, Kurama tightened his hold on his container, offering only his presence as a comfort knowing full well that despite what Naruto had said being a partial lie, a chunk of it was also very much so true.

Everyone seemed to have tears ready to fall, though both Ren and Nora seemed almost catatonic for some reason.

Pyrrha herself was holding back tears. For someone, anyone, to go through that was heart wrenching. Losing your home, your family, your friends, your people all in a single day? It was something she wouldn't wish on anybody. The worst part was then having to watch, helplessly, as it all went up in flames.

For once Naruto was glad that he had arrived after the destruction Nagato had caused, as the impact of having to watch his home be destroyed would have probably pushed him over the edge even faster.

While Naruto attempted to recompose himself he was wondering just what in the hell had made him tell Pyrrha all of that. Granted it wasn't the whole truth, it was still close enough to stir up the memories of what had really happened to leave him here on Remnant. Why had he felt comfortable enough with Pyrrha to tell her that? With him sharing this story with her, Pyrrha now knew more about Naruto than anyone else on Remnant.

Kushina knew exactly why her son had seemingly shared part of his life story with the red head. Naruto was not one that could bottle up his emotions for long, evident even more so with people he saw as precious to him. Perhaps…

Perhaps being here would help mend some of the wounds still left by his life in the shinobi world.

And oddly enough...he was ok with that. It felt good to get that off his chest. Given he had spent quite a length of time talking about it with Kurama, but that was somehow different. Telling Pyrrha even a fraction of the truth lifted a weight off the blond's shoulders and Kurama seemed to be ok with Naruto's actions, which was a sure sign that Pyrrha was a good person, given that the Kitsune had a general dislike for all of mankind with only a small handful of exceptions.

"Says the perverted fox." Kushina said, pointing a smug smile at the irate Kurama.

What? He could still hold a grudge for his treatment inside Kushina's seal!

Feeling Pyrrha's gentle hand on his shoulder he turned and offered the redhead a true smile, "Sorry about dumping all of that on you. Kinda all just came out at once."

Pyrrha just shook her head with her own genuine smile, "It's fine. I can't really blame you as that must have been a difficult part of your life. But now that we're partners know that I'm here for you whenever you need it."

"Not just her!" Nora had jumped up and raised her hand to point to Naruto. "We all will be here for you whiskers!"

Naruto could fell tears welling up in his eyes. It had been an emotional maelstrom for the last hour. TO see the confident and smiling faces regarding not with suspicion or some way they could use him…

He could fell his heart break a little at the feeling from nearly complete strangers!

Nodding at each other the two continued on their way through the Emerald Forest, the blond feeling lighter in a manner of speaking while the redhead felt happy knowing that her partner trusted her enough to reveal such an intimate part of his past.

Miles away atop the cliff that the teens had been launched from, a very irritated Glynda Goodwitch poured over the mysterious blond's records, at least what they had on him which was all but nonexistent. Before taking the battle exam to gain entrance to Beacon they had nothing. For all intents and purposes the blond may just have dropped out of the sky, or simply come into existence and they would know no better. The cheerful blond was an enigma and that aggravated Glynda to no end.

"Ah, so she's one of those 'need to know' types."

"That's putting it lightly. She wanted to inspect Crescent Rose for any 'illegal' parts. Like I would do something like that." Ruby replied, not noticing or more likely choosing to ignore the deadpan stares being directed at her. Yang knew for a fact that some parts would be considered 'illegal' had Qrow not gotten them for her while constructing it.

Glynda was a woman who prided herself on being able to pick up on even the smallest of hints that allowed her to judge anyone rather accurately. She was equally proud to call herself intelligent and yet this blond teen was pushing the limits of that.

"Dang man. Not even one day and you already have a teacher after you." Jaune said. He was both impressed and thankful that he hadn't drawn the same scrutiny when he got into Beacon with fake transcripts.

He jumped so erratically between being a normal teen boy, a seemingly veteran warrior, and a man haunted by his past mistakes so quickly that it was hard to asses just who he really was. It both confounded her and caused her no minor amount of irritation.

Naruto nodded in agreement, as it was one of the ways most shinobi that lived their lifestyle for long ended up. One only needed to look at Kakashi and Might Guy. Kushina was smiling sadly at the description of her boy, knowing that his life had been harder than almost anyone of his peers.

Ozpin meanwhile stood there as an exact counterpart to the frustrated blonde woman, calmly sipping his coffee as he gazed out at the vast stretch of forest below. There was no denying it. Naruto Uzumaki was an enigma. However Ozpin knew that Naruto was also aware of this and there would be no strides made in unraveling said enigma without the blond's permission.

For now all anyone could do was wait. In time the blond would grow to trust some and only then would they be able to find the answers to the many questions that surrounded one Naruto Uzumaki.

The Remnant teens, none more so than Ruby, nodded in agreement to their headmaster's thoughts. While they had just met Naruto, and by extent Kurama and Kushina, they had realized that it would take some time for him to reveal more personal facts

"Do you really think the relics would be in a cave?" Pyrrha asked her blond companion.

The two had stumbled upon a rather large cave opening and were now debating on if the initiation would have them go on a spelunking trip to retrieve the relics.

Pyrrha groaned, remembering the rather 'abrupt' way they had been wrong. Jaune merely paled, also remembering running for his life from the Death Stalker they had awoken.

Naruto shrugged before reaching up and tearing a sizable branch off of a nearby tree. Reaching into his jacket the blond pulled out what appeared to medical bandages and proceeded to wrap the bindings around the top of the branch. To Pyrrha's surprise the small fox kit who had seen sleeping cracked open a single eye before bringing its tail to the top of the makeshift torch. With not even a grunt of effort a small red flame flickered to life on the tip of the fox's tail before leaping to the torch, igniting it, and providing them a much needed source of light.

"Now that's one fiery fox." Yang joked. She was seemingly ignored in favor of continuing the story, though Kurama took pride that his abilities would be recognized. Now if only they could not be in the form of a horrible pun.

Now that Pyrrha was focusing intently on the fox wrapped around Naruto's neck she began to take notice of its unique features. Where other foxes where a variety of colors, Naruto's fox was a color she had never seen before. Its fur was a burnt orange color bordering on a dark red. Even the fox's tail was unique as, instead of the normal short yet fluffy tail most fox were known for, this fox's tail was quite long, long enough to easily wrap around Naruto's neck and drop down to his chest somewhat. Then there was its face. Stretching from the area surrounding its eyes and reaching up to its ears was a patch of black fur, which was also seen outlining its lips. It also had a rather long and skinny body that gave it an almost human like appearance. Then there were the eyes. A crimson so vibrant and like blood that it put her own red tresses to shame.

Both Kushina and Naruto groaned as the Bijuu in question preened with the attention he was given. Fox already had an ego the size of….well himself.

All in all Naruto's fox was different and seemed to even be able to understand human speech and conjure flames on a whim.

"What kind of fox is that Naruto?" Pyrrha asked, the curiosity nagging at her.

"That's what we are all wondering." Blake said with a curios tone as well. Yang snickered in response, a "Curiosity killed the Blake' on her lips. A pillow to the face form her sister thankfully put a stop to that.

Kurama turned and regarded the teen, burning crimson eyes staring at her with such intensity that it felt like the fox was peering through her, judging her very being. It left Pyrrha feeling uncomfortable. Seemingly satisfied with its judgement of her the fox let its head fall and its eyes close, apparently going back to its napping.

"Hmph. I would need to see more before I would make a decision." Kurama said, before melting under the skillful hands that starched his back. Naruto grinned at the purring Bijuu, fully intending to hold this over his head. Though it did make a cute picture with Ruby doing the starching.

Naruto spoke up, returning her attention back to the blond as he motioned for her to follow him into the cave, "He's not so much a fox as he is a Kitsune, a branch of the fox family though far more intelligent and powerful, something he likes to brag about."

Pyrrha just nodded her head at the vague reply, understanding that Naruto still had some secrets to keep. She didn't mind and was more than happy to wait and let Naruto tell her when he was ready. As it was he had already told her about a rather significant part of his past.

"I never was a good Shinobi when it came to that." Naruto muttered. Unfortunately his mother, a fellow shinobi, and cat-eared Blake heard him clearly. Both smirked, finding it funny that Naruto didn't adhere to the typical 'ninja' that Remnant or the Elemental Nations had.

As the two ventured even deeper into the cave, they both began to grow anxious, neither liking the dark enclosed space. As they trudged on and on, there was an odd sense that they shouldn't be there, a foreboding feeling that seemed to whisper into their ear to leave and go no further.

"Uh Naruto, are you sure the relics are in here?" Pyrrha questioned.

"Right now? Not really," Naruto admitted with a chuckle.

Deciding to cut their losses the pair turned around and began to make their way back out of the cave. However both paused in their steps upon hearing...something moving just behind them.

'Kit...you need to go...NOW!'

"In complete agreement." Jaune stated. Though still a little miffed that he had been replaced by Naruto, he didn't hold it against him.

Without even a second thought Naruto tossed the torch to the ground and picked up Pyrrha bridal style before pushing chakra into his legs and powering forward in a dead sprint. Pyrrha didn't even bother to ask what was going on, having seen five pairs of burning red eyes peering at her and Naruto through the darkness. Instead of playing the damsel in distress, Pyrrha pulled out her spear and shifted it into its rifle form before firing off a full clip at whatever was chasing them.

Kushina snickered, remembering several moments that she had fought instead of being the classic 'damsel in distress'. That one time with Minato didn't count either.

Clearly whatever it was had thick armor as she could hear the bullets bouncing off of what she suspected to be a large Grimm.

Not one to be so easily stumped in battle Pyrrha reached down to her belt before pulling out a different clip, this one full of rounds imbued with Fire Dust, giving them that much more kick. Quickly swiveling her body, the redhead looked down her sights as she fired over Naruto's shoulder. This time the bullets seemed to pierce the Grimm's armor just enough to cause it to slow down. None too soon either as Naruto sped through the cave entrance, bringing them back into the bright light of day.

Both Shinobi looked curios at the fire dust bullets in action, comparing them to some Katon jutsu that existed. The effects were more similar than just being the same element at least in the video.

Only seconds after, the cliff the cave had lead into erupted into a shower of rumble as a massive scorpion like Grimm burst through the opening, letting out a screech of hunger and power.

"Not the biggest scorpion I've seen." Kushina commented, getting looks of shock from everyone Naruto included. "Suna has the summoning contract for Scorpions. They might not be as big as Gambunta or Katsuya the boss Scorpion is a lot larger than this Death Stalker."

"Just how big is this Gambunta?" Weiss asked. Naruto shrugged before responding "About the size of a small mountain? Yeah that's seems right."

"…..Shinobi are weird."

"Says the girl with a sniper/scythe taller than her and wields it like it weighs nothing." Kushina smirked at the pouting face of one Ruby Rose.

With acidic stinger and pincers poised to tear them to shreds Naruto and Pyrrha shared a look before nodding. Turning on their heels the pair began to book it as fast as they could, intent on putting space between them and the massive Death Stalker Grimm that would like to have them for lunch.

'Why does everything I do have to end up going horribly wrong?' Naruto lamented.

"Seems like a story Whiskers." Nora said, excitement coursing through her. Who could blame her though? If she could get him to summon this Gambunta she would be Queen of Beacon and Vale!

"More than you know." Naruto responded. His mission record had been one situation getting worse after another. Though he did get to meet people that he would consider friends even to this day.

Meanwhile a certain busty blonde and her raven haired partner managed to stumble on what looked to be the remains of a long since abandoned temple. The only standing part of the ruin was a circular platform upon which stood various stone pedestals. On those pedestals were what looked to be chess pieces of some kind.

"Chess?" Kushina asked the Remnant teens.

"It's a board game that people play. It was inspired by a game from Mistral that has been around for as long as people can remember." Ren answered.

"What game was that?"

"Shogi." Both Naruto and Kushina had surprised looks on their faces, wondering how a game that, admittedly was the cornerstone for anyone's interaction with a Nara, seemed to exist in Remnant as well. Though the fact that Shogi had been around a lot longer gave the two shinobi several uncomfortable theories that they put off in favor of listening.

Yang turned to her silent partner and asked, "Think this is it?"

Blake just gave the blonde a deadpan stare before making her way to the stone ruins. Yang shrugged before following.

As the pair inspected the ruins and what they assumed to be the relics Blake spoke, "Chess pieces?"

"Some of them are missing. Looks like we weren't the first ones here."

"Well I guess we should pick one," Blake replied in an unsure tone. When Ozpin had said relics they had assumed it would be some ancient and valuable artifact, not chess pieces.

"What exactly were you expecting?" Naruto asked. He could relate to the relic situation teams RWBY and JNPR had found themselves in. While a different test altogether it had the same vibe as the bell test that Kakashi had given team seven before they became actual genins.

"How about a cute little pony?" Yang cheered.

Blake rolled her eyes, but it was easy to see the amusement on her face, "Sure."

"Well that wasn't too hard!"

The raven haired teen shrugged, "Well it's not like this place is difficult to find."

Still running for their life, Pyrrha and Naruto sneezed in sync. Despite the massive Grimm only yards behind them, the pair looked at each other before shrugging at the odd coincidence.

"Duck!" Pyrrha called out as the Death Stalker attempted to skewer Naruto with its stinger.

Naruto groaned, remembering the times he had fought against the snake summons both Orochimaru and Sasuke would use. He might have had a resistance to poison but it still hurt like a bitch! Though it was more likely to die from impalement than the poison itself with a stinger that large.

The blond reacted quickly, curling himself into a ball and rolling to avoid the no doubt toxic point of death.

Pyrrha tossed her shield like a frisbee, hoping to cause some damage only for the scorpion on steroids to easily smack it aside with a pincer. Naruto quickly ducked and weaved through the pincers and grabbed the fallen shield before performing a short flip into the air. Just in the nick of time as well, seeing as the scorpion like Grimm had attempted to catch him in one of its pincers.

"So what would be worse pincers or stinger?" Nora asked, getting incredulous looks form everyone but Yang and Naruto.

"Cut in half or stabbed through? Yang noted, before passing the verbal torch to her fellow blonde

"Or crushed and poisoned?" Naruto wondered, smirking at the reactions he was getting form two teens in particular.

At this point Ruby and Jaune had paled considerable, making them white as those sheet ghosts that people seemed to do for a lazy Hallows end costume.

Naruto fell quickly back down and used the pincer as a springboard, shooting off into the air to catch up with his teammate. Landing with a roll, Naruto was quick to recover and popped up running alongside his red haired partner. The two resumed their little "run from the scary thing that wants to kill us" exercise, Naruto handing Pyrrha back her shield as they ran for all they were worth.

"Did you hear that?" Yang asked, worry evident in her words.

Blake just nodded, an equally worried look on her face. Within the span of a few seconds the sounds of fights were erupting from everywhere in the forest. Of course Yang was more worried about her sister than anyone else. Just as Yang was preparing to go out and look for her sister, the two heard a scream coming from close by. Looking up both Blake and Yang's eyes widened when they saw a panicked Ruby falling from the sky, headed straight towards them.

"Now that I think about it I never did punish you for riding a Grimm." Before Ruby could offer a rebuttal Yang finished "Without me."

Weiss scoffed, more than used to her blonde teammates antics. What was so special about riding a Grimm? It was terrifying!

"HEADS UP!"

For the second time in two days Ruby found herself falling into the arms of her shocked sister.

Their attention was diverted elsewhere, when a rather large Ursai Grimm waltzed out of the tree lines, roaring in what seemed to be anger. Before the bear like Grimm could proceed any further there was flash of pink and a childlike exclamation of, "YEE HAW!"

"Okay I have to admit that seems fun." Naruto said. Both Ren and Weiss sighed. While they knew that Naruto was from another dimension they couldn't help but draw comparisons between the blonde shinobi, Yang and Nora.

Rolling from the now more than likely dead Ursai's back was a pouting Nora Valkyrie, "Aww, it's broken."

Her partner and friend, Lie Ren, clambered over the fallen form of the Grimm, panting and looking quite exhausted.

"Nora...don't...ever do that again," the raven haired teen said in between gasps for air.

Looking up he realized that he was only talking to himself and that Nora had made her way to the ruins, clearly entertained by the shiny golden chess pieces. Grabbing a rook she began to dance around proclaiming, "I'm queen of the castle, I'm queen of the castle!"

Ren sighed again, wondering what he had done to gain such a friend that was Nora. He smiled, knowing that he wouldn't have traded it for anything in the world. As if sensing his thoughts Nora took his hand, gloving it a gentle (for Nora) Squeeze.

Everyone wondered why they seemed to hear bones creaking for a moment before continuing.

Tired and frustrated by the day's events Ren barked out, "Nora!"

The eccentric orange haired girl immediately stopped her dance, the rook planted precariously on her head, and saluted her friend, "Coming Ren!"

Stunned, Blake was the one to voice the question on everyone's mind, "Did that girl just ride in on in Ursa?"

Both Yang and Ruby, who was still in her sister's arms, continued to gape at the very odd girl, "Uhhhh..."

Before any other questions could be asked, their attention was turned to the tree line where a running Naruto and Pyrrha emerged. Following shortly behind them was a massive Death Stalker who looked intent on having the pair for lunch, tearing up trees as it did so.

"Seems you aren't the only one with bad luck sochi." Kushina said, getting groans form everyone. They could attest to having worse luck than some others. Being chased by two massive Grimm were evidence enough after all.

Again Blake was the one to address the obvious, "Did they seriously run all the way here with a Death Stalker on their tail?"

Obviously at her wits end with all the odd occurrences happening Yang exploded...literally, "I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE! COULD EVERYONE CHILL OUT FOR TWO SECONDS BEFORE SOMETHING CRAZY HAPPENS AGAIN!?"

"Wanna bet on it?" Naruto smirked as Yang pouted. The buxom blonde knew that was a suckers bet, considering a(she had been there already and b(Naruto just seemed like the type of person to bring chaos with him.

"That's a suckers bet." Yang responded, getting a chuckle from the two shinobi.

As Yang seethed in frustration, Blake calmly stood there with her arms crossed. Ren finally caught up to the group, still slightly out of breath while Nora acted like everything was normal and stood there fidgeting. Ruby was staring at the sky with a worried look before she tugged on her sister's sleeve like a small child, "Um...Yang."

Yang let her head fall in frustration, not even wanting to know what else was going to happen. Still she and the others looked up only to be shocked yet again.

There was Weiss Schnee...flying...by hanging onto the talon of a Nevermore...a very large Nevermore.

Ruby was rubbing a bump on her head that had come from Weiss, who was still a little angry about being left hanging on that particular Nevermore by her partner.

"How could you leave me!?" The Schnee heiress managed to cry over the howling winds.

Ruby shrugged, "I said jump!"

Blake decided to chime in with her usual monotone, "She's gonna fall."

"She'll be fiiinnne," Ruby waved.

Weiss resisted the urge to give Ruby another lump on her head. She refrained from doing so because of the rather cute (adorable) pout that Ruby was sending her way in apology.

Joining the conversation Ren stated the obvious, "She's falling."

Meanwhile the still running Naruto and Pyrrha peered up at the sky seeing the falling Weiss.

Internally Naruto sighed, 'Damn my hero complex.'

While he hoped that Naruto would flummox like he had Jaune had the nagging suspicion that he would be 'bad-ass' when he went to save Weiss. He slumped his shoulders, knowing that he had been particularly pitiful the first weeks at Beacon.

Putting on the brakes, Naruto came to a sudden halt and turned to face the rampaging Death Stalker. Pyrrha came to a stop a few yards after Naruto had and shouted out the blond in worry, "Naruto! What are you doing!?"

"Something awesome." Naruto said, getting a snort of laughter form his mother. He was definitely her son.

Naruto sheepishly grinned before turning to the oncoming Grimm with a serious look to his whiskered face. The teen crouched low, preparing for something, what exactly that was no one knew. The blond tended to do the unexpected it seemed. This was further proven by Naruto's next move.

As the Death Stalker was only feet away from Naruto, the teen leapt up, landing directly on the white armor like plating of the massive Grimm. Naruto didn't stop there however, and began to sprint across the Grimm's back. In seconds flat Naruto had covered the entirety of the scorpion like Grimm's back and was running up its outstretched tail. Reaching the tip, Naruto crouched before launching himself through the air.

Using a small amount of Wind Chakra Naruto pushed himself forward, just in time to catch Weiss in his arms.

"Okay, that is impressive." Pyrrha stated, getting nods of agreement from everyone else. Ruby and Yang could imagine Qrow doing the same, as he was more agile than their father in combat. While both men were huntsman, Qrow was by far the more experienced.

Weiss was also imagining Winter doing the same, though with glyphs rather than using the Grimm.

"Fancy meeting you here Princess," was Naruto's cheeky comment.

Weiss huffed in annoyance, "Not that I'm ungrateful but what now? We're both falling to the ground in case you didn't notice."

Naruto took on a pensive look before shrugging casually, as if falling from a hundred or so feet wasn't anything to worry about.

"Really?" Weiss stared at the blonde shinobi "You just did that with no plan for landing?"

"I would survive it."

"That's not the point!" Everyone was snickered at the heiresses' reaction. Said Heiress could only blush in embarrassment before the argument could continue.

Weiss face palmed and angrily muttered to herself, "Ugh. Boys."

Without even batting an eye the Schnee heiress reached to her side and pulled out the silver rapier sheathed at her side. Pointing it below them she called upon her Semblance, creating a complex set of what looked to be runes below them. Naruto looked at the glyphs with a critical eye.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Yang exclaimed pointing at the screen "Why didn't you just do that?"

Weiss sputtered incoherently, wondering herself why she hadn't done exactly as her counterpart had done. It was something Winter would have chided her on, especially since it was one of the most simple of the glyphs that she could call on at a moment's notice. After that revelation she just sighed, letting the amused group chuckle at her defeated slump. Ruby was there, patting her back comfortingly. Instead of berating the girl she merely allowed it to happen while they continued watching.

No one noticed the interested gazes from the two shinobi. They were eyeing Weiss' use of the glyph critically, comparing it to their own fuinjutsu.

The Uzumaki clan was known for two things: their incredible longevity and their innate prowess in the art of Fuinjutsu. Their longevity allowed them to survive what most would consider mortal wounds and continue fighting. The Uzumaki talent for the Sealing Arts helped them earn infamy as one of the most powerful clans and villages around. They were so feared that during a previous war it had taken the power of three of the Five Great Shinobi Villages to take them down and even then the villages only succeeded in forcing the Uzumaki clan to spread across the different countries.

While Weiss looked interested in the mentioning of Fuinjutsu, she along with everyone else gained shocked expressions at the mention of the three countries banding together just to get rid of one. They could feel the sorrow coming from Kushina as that was mentioned, with Naruto wrapping his arm around his mother's shoulder to offer her comfort.

"Why?" Ruby asked. She was just as shaken as the rest of team RWBY and JNPR.

Naruto took a deep breath before responding. "Initially it was believed that the fear of The Uzumaki's amassed power with not just seals but their own style of Kenjutsu, or swordsmanship, and jutsu were a credible threat to the villages that participated in the assault on Uzushiogakure. Come to find out it was an agent form behind the scenes that sort everything up."

At this point everyone was paying attention, though they couldn't begin to imagine the situation he had presented to them. With a sigh Naruto continued, obviously not wanting to get into the specifics. "The person in question was behind much of the pain that everyone in the Elemental Nations experienced."

Knowing that there was more to the story, but wanting to finish the chapter itself, the group continued, getting a sigh of relief from both Naruto and Kushina.

Naruto's father, while not of the Uzumaki clan, was also a powerful and knowledgeable user of Fuinjutsu. The man's genius had allowed him to perfect the Hiraishin no Jutsu (Flying Thunder God Technique), a jutsu that allowed the user to bend space and time so they could teleport instantaneously. With the technique Naruto's father had slaughtered a whole battalion of enemy shinobi in seconds flat. It was then that he had earned his title as the Konoha no Kiiroi Senko (Yellow Flash of Konoha).

The group looked queasy at the blatant mention of so much death, but pushed through it. They weren't huntsman and huntresses in training for nothing after all.

As the son to an Uzumaki and the Yellow Flash Naruto had inherited his parents' proclivity to seals and the runes Weiss had just called upon with a whim absolutely fascinated him. Had the Uzumakis been able to write their seals on thin air they would have been that much more powerful, and probably been able to fight back the forces that had destroyed their home.

Both Naruto and Kushina could only nod in agreement. It would have boosted the power of seals immensely if they could be written in midair with just a wave of their hands. They smiled happy that that some family had made it out even with the destruction of the Uzumaki homeland. It didn't hurt that a certain Rose had glomped them with caring hugs as well.

Considering that despite Weiss taking care of the current situation, there was still a pissed off Nevermore and Death Stalker to deal with, Naruto decided to push his fascination with Weiss' Semblance to the back of his mind.

"At least you can get your priorities straight." Blake said, glaring amusingly at her own partner. Yang merely stuck her tongue out childishly before continuing.

Landing on the very solid rune formation, Naruto waited to see if Weiss was going to continue to help considering they were still quite high in the air. Again Weiss huffed before creating several of the rune platforms, all of which descended in a manner that made them resemble a staircase. Naruto shrugged and proceeded to hop his way down using the Aura created platforms.

Weiss once again lamented on her actions that day. She hoped winter never found out, though she had a suspicion her teammates would rat her out.

As they touched back down on solid ground and Naruto placed the white haired teen on her feet he began to have flashbacks to a certain pink haired teammate of his as Weiss chewed him out.

"Some hero you are! I may as well have saved myself!"

"...well why didn't you?"

"That is the question isn't it?" Kushina responded. Everyone did their best to hold in their snickers at the embarrassed blush that propped up on Weiss' face.

Weiss sputtered to come up with a rebuttal and when none came she resorted to her go to maneuver...of huffing and pouting.

'I swear she's like Sasuke and Sakura rolled into one...except in white,' Naruto quipped.

Kurama was more than happy to throw in his own two cents, 'Just be happy we don't have to deal with her. Kami knows I would end up either murdering her or myself...probably the former. In fact...'

Weiss didn't dare look at the fox at that moment, as Kurama had decided to have his own fun. As if drawn to the staring Bijuu she yelped when he licked his lips, before being punched in the head by the two shinobi.

'No Kurama we are not murdering Weiss. Remember she's the heiress to a wealthy and powerful family?'

'And you're a shinobi. You were trained for these kinds of missions!'

"That's not morbid or disturbing at all." Jaune shakily commented. Both shinobi just shrugged, as it was a part of the life.

'Ok look we have a giant ass scorpion and an even bigger bird to deal with right now, not the time to be discussing the assassination of an heiress.'

'You say that like these pests actually pose a problem. You and I both know that even the old dumbass you could handle these things with little difficulty.'

'Yea well I don't exactly want to just toss out a few jutsu and have people asking questions, not right now at least.'

The Remnant teens stared at Naruto, most in abject shock at the admittance that he would be able to take a Grimm that size when he was even younger. Naruto chuckled in response, a little embarrassed at the stares of shock and awe being directed at him.

Kurama grinned in satisfaction at his container's answer, 'My my kit you really are my Jinchuuriki (Power of the Human Sacrifice).'

Naruto resisted the urge to rub his stomach where his seal was. While he had come to accept his burden turned friendship that didn't mean the memories of his hardships faded.

Naruto chose to ignore the comment, already knowing what the fox meant by that. As he became more of a shinobi, he also became more like a fox, becoming trickier and more cunning. Funny how in the Shinobi era he had been anything but. Now during this time of Hunters and Huntresses he was becoming more like a true shinobi.

"You're the definition of irony." Blake said, giving the blonde shinobi a small smile in return. Naruto just shrugged before responding.

"Most surprising knuckleheaded ninja!" The group looked at Naruto, before Yang snorted with a laugh. Nora was quick to follow, with everyone else cascading into laughing.

'That's one of your greatest gifts sochi' Kushina though as she smiled watching the group laugh 'The ability to light up a room with just a sentence and a smile. You don't know how proud your father and I are.'

Shaking those thoughts off Naruto felt Pyrrha next to him, panting a bit with a slight sheen of sweat covering her, no doubt from the little marathon run they had been motivated to take part in.

At seeing Pyrrha's appearance Yang chose to sarcastically cheer, "Great the gang's all here! Now we can all die together."

"Hey! It worked out!" Ruby exclaimed, pointing accusingly at her sister. Yang just chuckled as she ruffled Ruby's hair, earning a pout as the rose huntress tried to straighten her messed up hair.

Ruby piped up, intent on proving to everyone there that she was just as capable of a warrior as any of them, "Not if I can help it."

Before anyone could stop the young teen, Ruby was off in a dead sprint, charging towards the oncoming Death Stalker with her massive scythe trailing behind her and cloak fluttering in the wind.

Ruby groaned, knowing that she could have handled it better. What made it worse was that Naruto and Kushina would see it!

Luckily for her Naruto was having his own trip down memory lane about his less than ….stellar moments.

Obviously worried for her sister Yang called out, "Ruby! Wait!"

Naruto meanwhile could only sigh and facepalm, 'Kami damnit.'

With a cheeky grin on his face Kurama piped in, 'Remind you of anyone?'

Naruto only responded with a glare, 'Not. A. Word.'

"Tooooo laaaaaaate." Kurama responded smirking at the depressed raincloud that appeared over the blonde shinobi. As if in response Ruby patted his back in comradeship.

Kurama said nothing more with only the sounds of his booming laughter echoing through Naruto's head as his response.

Both Ruby and Naruto decided to glare at said Bijuu in retaliation.

Sighing Naruto prepared himself for the more than likely inevitable rescuing he would have to do...again. It wasn't that he thought Ruby was weak, far from it after all she wielded that bigass scythe of hers like it was a feather. However she wasn't exactly thinking straight right now. Running towards a massive Grimm screaming bloody murder wasn't the brightest of ideas, no matter how skilled you were.

By this point Ruby had pulled her cloak up to shield herself form the teasing look of Yang more than anyone. She knew her sister. And how much she enjoyed any dirt on her!

Admittedly Yang was more focused on the story at the moment, a sense of worry going through her as she had to watch Ruby recklessly charge the Death Stalker once again.

He and the others winced in sync as they saw Ruby power herself forward with the help of the recoil from the gun portion of her scythe...gun...thing. Even still she was too slow as the Death Stalker was able to smack her aside like she was nothing but an annoying fly.

Struggling to stand, no doubt dazed from the blow, Ruby yelled out in a strained voice, "D-don't worry! To-totally fine!"

Ruby attempted to go deeper into her cloak, though Naruto pated the top of her head all the same. Looking at the blonde shinobi she could see that he had gone through something similar, if the glint of acknowledgement in his eyes was saying anything.

Turning around Ruby realized far too late that the Grimm had taken the opportunity to close the distance between them, now staring at her hungrily. Panicking she fired off a shot at its face, serving only to irritate it, and turned and began to run as fast her legs could carry her.

Yang saw the obvious danger her sister was in and began to sprint her way to Ruby. Luck wasn't with them as it seemed the Nevermore had decided to help its fellow Grimm and circled around. With a mighty flap of its wings it unleashed a rain of its own feathers, the points of which were as sharp as any blade. Like gunfire they rained down onto the ground, embedding themselves deep into the earth. Murphy's Law decided to rear its head and one of the feathers managed to catch up to Ruby and run straight through her cloak, pinning her to the ground.

"Stupid bird." Ruby muttered, mad that she had to add another stich to her cloak. At least it wasn't caused by her slicing through it again.

Several more of the feathers managed to find their way to Yang, causing her to stumble so that she could avoid being skewered to death. Racing to her feet she saw Ruby frantically tugging at her pinned cloak in an attempt to free herself.

"Ruby! Get out of there!"

A very much so panicking Ruby answered back, "I'm trying!"

Turning to look upwards as a shadow covered her, the red haired teen turned wide grey eyes to see the Death Stalker prepping its massive stinger, aimed straight at her. Clenching her eyes, the young teen prepared for the worse.

Seconds ticked by and when there was no pain she wearily opened her eyes to see a wall of ice holding the stinger of the Death Stalker back. The voice of Weiss came up as the Grimm struggled to free its tail, "Ugh, you are so childish!"

"You're the best Weiss!" Ruby shouted while glomping the Schnee Heiress.

"Get off me!"

"Weiss?"

Standing from her crouched position Weiss only continued on her mini rant, "And dim witted, and hyperactive, and don't even get me started on your fighting style. Though I...suppose...I can be a bit...difficult, but if we're going to do this, we're going to have to do this together."

Sighing in what appeared to be mock frustration the white haired teen continued, "So if you quit trying to show off I'll be...nicer."

Ruby shook her head, "I'm not trying to show off. I want you to know I can do this."

"You're fine."

Despite having been shaken off by the irate Heiress Ruby gave the white-themed girl a giant smile in return.

As Weiss waltzed off Ruby let out a breath she didn't even know she was holding, "Normal knees."

As Yang raced to crush her sister to death in a hug, Naruto smiled, 'Hmm. Guess Princess isn't as bad as we thought.'

"I think the correct term is a Tsundere." Kushina commented, smirking inwardly at the confused expression from the Remnant teens. Though Naruto was chuckling in response getting the meaning.

"I'm not a Tsundere, whatever that means!" Weiss exclaimed in response. Sure she didn't know what Kushina meant but she could imagine.

Once the teens had all regrouped Naruto decided to voice the obvious, "I doubt Princess' ice prison is gonna hold that thing for long and we also have a rather angry Nevermore circling back around."

For once Weiss was the one to voice her opinion, "Look there's no sense in dilly dallying, our objective is right in front of us."

Ruby chimed in with her agreement, "She's right, our mission is to grab an artifact and make it back to the cliffs. There's no point in fighting these things."

"Lot of good that did us." Jaune muttered.

"But it was a great fight!" Nora, Yang and Ruby shouted in response.

Everyone seemed to nod in agreement with the pair's assessment while Yang looked at her sister with noticeable pride.

Naruto shrugged, "So tactical retreat then?"

With a round of nods, those who hadn't already retrieved an artifact made their way up to the platform. Naruto observed the options before noticing that there seemed to be doubles of each piece.

'Why would they do that? Sure doubles of a piece, but to have two in the same color? Unless that whole partner speech was only half the truth and they plan on putting two pairs together to form a full team. Man this is like Kakashi's bell test all over again.'

"Good to hear he still continued that tradition." Kushina said, fondly remembering Minato's own bell test for Kakashi, Obito and Rin. Noticing the questioning looks form the Remnant teens Naruto elaborated.

"You don't immediately become a genin, the starting rank of the shinobi system, right out of the academy. Their team leader, a jonin, issues a post-academy test to determine whether the assigned team can work together. Needless to say my team barely succeeded."

Shrugging and decided to let the pieces fall where they would, Naruto grabbed a golden rook piece while he saw Ruby grab a golden knight piece. He offered a smile and thumbs up, silently praising her on her plan. Ruby giggled at Naruto's cheesy gesture before smiling back. The two walked back to their partners and their group just in time to see the Death Stalker beginning to crack its icy prison.

Yang was actually surprised at the ease which her sister, both in the story and the real world, interacted with the blonde ninja. While she had made friends with team RWBY and JNPR Ruby still had a difficult time interacting with new people. Though half of that could be explained by Naruto's presence himself. The blonde Uzumaki exuded and aura of love and friendship that Yang had very rarely seen, though her opinion might have been a little skewed because of her mother.

Ruby herself giggled at the cheesy expression story Naruto sported, easily seeing it on Naruto's face.

As it freed its stinger and shattered the ice that had held Naruto turned to the group, "And that would be our cue to get the hell out of here!"

The others nodded with him, turned, and began to book it back towards the cliffs. As they ran the sun was eclipsed by the massive shadow of the Nevermore flying above them. Spotting even more ruins ahead of them the group attempted to take cover as even more of the Grimm's feathers hailed down. Flying ahead the Grimm perched itself at the top of what remained of a stone tower, blocking them from reaching the cliffs that lay just beyond it.

To make matters worse the Death Stalker decided to make its appearance, pinning the group between it and the waiting Nevermore.

"Damn, I know there's a pun there but I can't think of it." Yang said, frustrated at her inability to make a pun of the situation.

'It's a miracle.' The Remnant teens thought.

Mentally cursing Naruto reached for the scroll at his side. As he unfurled it he and the others had decided they had a better chance of making it around the Nevermore than they did staying and trying to fight both it and the Death Stalker. Biting his thumb hard enough to draw blood, getting curious looks from the others as he did so, the blond ran his bloody digit across the scroll. What followed was a poof of smoke that obscured Naruto from everyone's vision.

"Is that how seals are opened?" Wiess asked, noting the different runes and writing on the scroll that story Naruto held.

"Higher level seals are opened with a combination of blood and chakra. Lower level seals just need chakra to activate." Kushina answered, noting with some amusement that the heiress was interested in fuinjutsu.

Swiping a hand the through the air, Naruto cleared enough of the smoke to reveal that he was now holding what they assumed to be his weapon. Gripped tightly in his hands as he stared the Death Stalker down was a shakujo, or monk's staff, that was easily a few inches taller than him. The metallic pole was a deep ebony black, seeming to absorb the very light around it. The ring that sat atop of the staff was a burnt orange color, matching the color of Kurama's fur almost exactly. Running vertically through the ring was a simple bar covered in black leather. Stitched into the leather were etchings of six magatama, comma shaped symbols. Instead of the usual rings that dangled from the main ring, Naruto's shakujo had nine short lengths of chain hanging from it.

Naruto glanced at Ruby, before sweat dropping at the sight of her cuddling with the weapon in question, scrutinizing and comparing it with the story version.

With his back turned to them the blonde called out, "You guys go and get to the cliffs! Me and Kurama will hold off this overgrown bug!"

As if to show them he was more than capable of holding the two Grimm off Naruto spun the staff around and to their slight shock flames began to dance on the chain links. Sweeping it through the air in front of him Naruto unleashed a ball of flames aimed straight at the Death Stalker.

"Katon: Gokakyu no jutsu (Fire Release: Grand Fireball technique)!"

"Huh, apparently I know fire style."

"…..I'm almost afraid to ask why shooting fireballs is normal." Jaune commented.

The Grimm, unable to move its lumbering body fast enough, took the brunt of the inferno directly to its face. The group heard a screech of pain come from the Grimm, but we're none too surprised to see it come out with only a few scorch marks on its armor. To Naruto's surprise Pyrrha appeared at his side, taking a knee, and aiming down her sights at the Grimm before unloading on it.

"We're partners, so that means we stick together," was Pyrrha's reply to Naruto's unspoken question.

Having been on a team that basically self-destructed at one point Naruto was happy that his counterpart had found a partner in Pyrrha, even if they had just met. Kushina herself was giving the redhead member of JNPR a grateful smile, knowing that her son had not been on the best team from the get go. While it had worked out in the end, it still left the mother furious at the actions of his two team mates, and Kakashi to some extent.

Yang grinned and with a flick of her arms, the yellow bracelets on her wrists extended, covering her hands and extending a few inches past her wrists. Ruby unclasped her weapon and with a quick spin it was in its scythe form. Nora giggled and twirled her own weapon around, revealing it to be a massive war hammer. Both Weiss and Ren sighed before simply pulling out their own weapons and taking a ready stance.

"Guess we make a stand here huh, Foxy?" Yang quipped as the Nevermore circled above them like a vulture.

Naruto grinned right back at his fellow blonde, "Looks like it Firecracker."

Yang laughed at the nickname Naruto had decided to give her, feeling it fit her perfectly.

"It does!" Yang chuckled before wrapping an arm around Naruto's shoulder. "I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship Foxy."

Naruto chuckled nervously as Yang drew him closer. To his credit the interactions between women his own age were nonexistent or tough love in the form of Sakura pounding his head for acting stupid.

Seeing the two Grimm closing in, Ren decided to be the voice of reason, "So what's the plan?"

Naruto let a feral grin stretch across his face, "Hit 'em hard, and hit 'em fast!"

"I like it!" Ruby chimed in.

'They are similar in so many ways.' Kushina thought while giving Ruby a warm smile. The huntress in training noticed and blushed embarrassingly, noting that the smile was similar to the one's she would get from her own mother.

Weiss could only face palm, "Of course you would like that plan."

Twirling his shakujo with his fingers Naruto crouched low, "Less talking, more fighting!"

Nora, Yang and Ruby cheered on themselves while everyone else was interested how the fight aginst the Death Stalker would go with Naruto in Jaune's place. Even Jaune himself was interested in what Naruto could do, knowing that he had been more than a little useless during the initial fight.

And with a burst of speed the blond was gone, making a beeline straight for the Death Stalker. Pyrrha nodded at Nora, giving the girl the unspoken order to follow the blond's lead as she and Ren provided covering fire. With a cheer the hammer wielding girl fired off a shot, the recoil pushing her forward and through the air.

"TenTen would love to be here right now." Naruto commented, knowing that Konoha's weapon mistress would be going crazy seeing these weapons in action.

"Who?"

Naruto turned to Blake before answering. "A fellow Kunoichi that has a healthy obsession with weapons. Imagine ruby with two buns and tanner skin."

"Really?" Ruby asked, stars in her eyes as she thought of all the weapons the two of them could make if she had come with Naruto. "Will you tell us more about ninjas?"

Naruto shrugged before answering "After the chapter. It is getting pretty late."

"Don't forget about me Foxy!" Yang called out as she chased after Nora and her fellow blonde.

Taking a knee while Ren and Blake stood next to her, Pyrrha and the two raven haired teens began to unleash a hail of bullets, hoping to cause enough of an annoyance to the Death Stalker to give Yang, Nora, and Naruto an opening to use.

Seeing that the group was more than capable of handling the Death Stalker, Ruby and Weiss turned their eyes skyward, watching the Nevermore as it circled around them. Nodding to Weiss, Ruby folder her scythe into its rifle form before taking a knee and aiming upwards. Weiss stood over her and used her Semblance to create a circle of runes that burned a fiery shade of red. Using the scope on her weapon Ruby took aim at the Nevermore as it turned to focus on them.

"I take it the fight went differently than what is happening?" Kushina asked Blake as the rest of the group got into the fighting on the screen.

"Some differences but mostly the same. Hopefully the same results." Blake answered, wondering if Naruto would become the leader of JNPR's counterpart in the story.

Finally getting the gargantuan bird in her sights Ruby pulled the trigger of her rifle, letting a bullet fly from the barrel before it collided with the rune Weiss had created. Emerging out of the circle was not a bullet, but now a blazing ball of flames, hurtling through the air straight at the Nevermore. Cocking her gun yet again, Ruby let another bullet fly, creating another flaming projectile.

Ruby clapped in honor of her and Weiss' teamwork, making note to see how many different combinations they could make. It would be awesome to shoot lightning bolts out of her baby, or giant icicles!

Seeing the blazing orbs flying straight at it, the Nevermore attempted to change its course, but due to its large size it was unable to do so quickly enough. As a consequence for its lack of maneuverability, the Grimm took both of the fireballs straight to the wing, causing it enough pain to make it screech. Still the Grimm seemed only to be made even angrier by this.

"The bigger the Grimm the more power you need to damage it, especially if you can't get good hits on its uncovered parts." Pyrrha explained to the two shinobi, who nodded. While not having fought anything like the Grimm (though that demon that Naruto had helped Shion fight could be similar) Some shinobi could be more troublesome, especially those that had more defensive jutsu or bloodline that added defensively.

"We'll have to get out and fight some of these Grimm later." Kushina muttered, remembering the mention of Grimm being composed of Nature Chakra. It created several theories, none of them necessarily good.

Glaring at Ruby and Weiss, it began to flap its mighty wings. Instead of the expected hail of feathers though there was only a heavy increase in the wind speed, enough of an increase to cause both Ruby and Weiss to be flung off their feet, tumbling away from the rest of the group.

"Mmmmmm, too bad the bird is going to disappear. A bird that size would make for some good eating." Kurama said while licking his chops. Despite being a construct of Chakra he did enjoy a good meal every now and then. And if he and his container were going to be stuck here for some length of time he would be taking full advantage of it.

Yang had to restrain her laughter when she saw Blake nodding along with Kurama's comment.

Looking up from her position on top of the Death Stalker, Yang saw her sister being flung away from the others and was quick to react. Naruto saw the same thing and knew Yang would want to make it to her sister as quick as possible.

"Yang!"

The busty teen turned to the blue eyed Uzumaki and saw him gesture to his cupped hands. Understanding the gesture, she rushed towards Naruto. With a slight hop she placed her right foot into the cupped hands of Naruto. Pushing down as Naruto pushed up Yang was propelled up and over Naruto. Firing off a shot from the gauntlets on her hands Yang used the recoil to push her further and faster through the air.

"Foxy's got some muscles!" Yang said before squeezing Naruto's arm. She wasn't disappointed in both the firmness of the Blonde Uzumaki's muscles and the massive blush that appeared on said shinobi's face.

'He's doomed' thought the rest of the Remnant teens, having been subjected to the Y of team RWBY's teasing on various occasions. Though Blake directed a small glare towards Yang, also wondering how those muscles would feel. It didn't really help that some of her more adult literature involved ninjas after all.

Seeing her partner headed towards them and seeing where she was no doubt aiming, Blake unwrapped most of the ribbon that she used to tie her weapon to her hand and flung the gun portion of it towards the flying Yang. The blonde grabbed the gun and with a heave Blake managed to swing her partner around, giving her that much more momentum.

As Yang chased after her sister Blake turned to Pyrrha, silently communicating her want to follow her partner. The redhead understood quickly and offered her shielded back in return. Blake nodded gratefully before running towards Pyrrha. With a spin, Blake changed her direction as she landed on Pyrrha's shield, making her face the direction in which Yang had gone. With a shove Blake pushed herself off the bronze surface with enough force to send her off in a fashion similar to Yang.

"You all have really good coordination, even if you just met." Kushina commented. While Shinobi and Hunters were fundamentally different they both relied on teamwork to a certain degree. The fact that the two Remnant teams had this amount of teamwork after just meeting was nice to see, especially after having been witness to Naruto's Team Seven imploding in on itself.

The Remnant teams beamed at the praise from the older Shinobi, especially Ruby.

Turning her gaze back to the Death Stalker, Pyrrha sweat dropped as she saw Nora happily wailing on the Grimm with her hammer, surprisingly causing slight dents in its armor. Naruto, while more restrained, was still as odd as he jabbed his shakujo into the few areas where the Grimm's armor didn't cover. Still all of this only served to make the Grimm that much angrier. Like a bucking bull the Death Stalker crouched and then quickly raised itself, sending both Nora and Naruto flying off its back.

Both Ren and Jaune paled at the similar gleams coming from both Nora and Naruto. They had a feeling both teens were their own forces of chaos, and combining the two was never a good thing.

Naruto flipped in the air, landing perfectly on his feet like nothing had happened. Nora was a little more flamboyant about her landing, curling into a ball and then uncurling at the perfect time to land on her feet. Flinging her arms into the air like a gymnast she called out, "Ta dah!"

Naruto held up a small white paper with the number nine written on it. Kurama unfurled his tail and on it was grasped a similar white paper with the number six on it.

Nora pouted, "Meanies!"

"Yeah!" Nora exclaimed, pointing at the Bijuu in question "That's at least an eight, nine tops!"

"Hmph!" Kurama huffed in response as he snuggled into the couch next to Ruby "My standards are of a much higher than you lower creatures. Besides I would have given it a 5 tops."

"You're a bigger meanie than story you!" Nora exclaimed before huffing and sitting back down. "See if I give you any of my pancakes."

The Bijuu shrugged, not exactly knowing what 'pancakes' were.

Ren shook his head while Pyrrha giggled at the the odd trio.

"Guys, I don't mean to interrupt, but there is still the matter of the Death Stalker to deal with," Pyrrha pointed out.

Naruto nodded as he warily stared at the Death Stalker, "None of our weapons can pierce that armor of its, even with Nora's help."

"That armor can be so annoying!" Ruby pouted "It chipped Cresent Rose even after I re-hardened it."

"You were trying to cut off a Deathstalker claw for and I quote 'a kick but trophy'. What did you think was going to happen?" Weiss responded, repressing a headache form the memory of the almop0st hysterical Ruby after that incident.

Moving as one the group evaded the pincer that had slammed into where they had just been standing, the impact causing a small dust cloud to form. The Death Stalker roared in frustration as its prey escaped it once again.

Narrowing his eyes Naruto continued his speech, "But it doesn't have any armor on its belly. That's where we gotta hit."

Taking into account what he knew of his impromptu team's abilities Naruto tried to think of a plan that would give them the opening they needed, something easier said than done.

'Man it's times like this I wish I had Shikamaru with me. He was lazy as hell, but would have had like twenty different plans on how to take this thing down by now,' Naruto sighed.

"That's the definition of a Nara for you." Kushina said, chuckling at the memories involving her and Shikaku. How such a lazy man could plan like he did would still astound her to this day. Maybe the laziness allowed for better brains to develop?

Running his gaze over the Death Stalker that was now making its way towards them again, Naruto took note of another place its armor didn't cover.

With a grin the blond Uzumaki called out, "Legs!"

The other three teens regarded the Grimm and instantly saw what Naruto meant. Having come up with the idea and being the fastest of the four, Naruto lead the charge, Pyrrha following behind him, Nora behind her, and Ren bringing up the rear. Just as the Death Stalker attempted to catch them in its pincers, the group split into its pairs, Naruto and Pyrrha rushing off to the right side while Nora and Ren took the left.

While Pyrrha wouldn't say it out loud she was excited to see her counterpart's teammate keeping up and exceeding her in some aspects. She would always appreciate Jaune for being her first real friend, but he was seriously lacking in fighting capabilities.

Firing off shots from his twin pistols, Ren was able to punch holes in the legs of the Grimm. Thanks to their weakened integrity, he was able to quickly use the blades attached to his pistols and slice through two limbs with ease.

Nora on the other hand made a show of it by using her hammer like a baseball bat, swinging at the Death Stalker's exposed limbs with enough force to turn the bones in them into a fine powder.

For some inexplicable reason Naruto imagined Tsunade with orange hair and being related to the hammer-wielder of JNPR. She sure had the strength to match. He also had a great idea for a prank when he got home as well.

On the opposite side of the odd pair Naruto and Pyrrha were handling their side with just as much ease. Pyrrha had transitioned her weapon into its short sword form and with her superior strength, cleanly cut straight the bottom half of the Grimm's leg. Tossing her shield like a deadly frisbee, she was able to just as quickly take care of the second leg.

Naruto followed behind her, and gripped the bar that lay inside the ring portion of his shakujo. With a tug Naruto revealed that hidden inside the pole of the staff was a razor sharp blade, the staff portion of the shakujo having acted as a sheath for it. The blade itself had only a single edge and lacked a curve, meaning that it was a chokuto class blade. Funneling his wind chakra through it Naruto was able to enhance its cutting power even more while also giving it an almost ethereal glow. With his sharpened sword the blond was able to easily cleave through the remaining legs of the Death Stalker like a hot knife through butter.

"It's surprising you didn't get weapons training once it was discovered you had an affinity for wind." Kushina commented, getting curious gazes form everyone. The older Uzumaki elaborated for everyone "Wind users are all about cutting power, making any bladed weapons in the hands of a Wind user much deadlier. I imagine you could achieve the same results with dust if they do something similar." Everyone turned to Weiss, as she was the heiress to the largest dust-producing company on Remnant.

"It's possible" Weiss muttered, before noticing the gazes from everyone. "The most common usage of wind dust is to enhance the speed of bullets and buffet something, though I have seen Winter attempt usage of different dust types that would be considered out of the norm."

"So something to look into." Ren commented, seeing a way for his battle tactics to improve. After seeing how much wind enhanced Naruto's cutting power it was something he could easily adapt to his fighting style.

Jumping away Naruto joined the rest of his group as they watched the now legless Death Stalker cry out in pain and collapse to the ground. Without missing a heartbeat Naruto called out, "Nora! Now!"

Giving their impromptu leader a mock salute with a goofy grin stretched across her face Nora responded, "Yes sir!"

Letting her hammer fall to the ground Nora charged straight at the immobile form of the Grimm. As the eccentric teen closed the distance between her and the Death Stalker, Nora hefted her hammer up and as the weapon was inches away from its target the orange haired teen pulled the trigger on the handle, firing off a rocket and sending the hammer smashing against the underside of the Death Stalker's jaw. Due to the recoil from the shot, the hammer plowed into the Grimm with the force of a train.

'Probably not a good idea to introduce her to exploding tags anytime soon.' Naruto thought. The happy gleam at seeing explosions vaguely reminded him of Deidara and his 'art'.

Far too distracted by the pain of losing its limbs the Grimm was unable to defend itself in any way and took the full brunt of the attack, sending it into the air briefly before it collapsed on its side. Thanks to its rounded shape, the Death Stalker rolled onto its back, exposing its unprotected underbelly.

The group of four took advantage of the opportunity presented to them and quickly leapt on top of the now thrashing Grimm. Ren was the first to attack, unleashing a hail of bullets straight into the exposed underside of the Grimm's skill and then leaping off. Using the new opening given to her by the long haired male, Pyrrha was able to jab her spear further into the flesh of the Death Stalker. As she leapt off to join Ren, Naruto jammed his own weapon into the exposed flesh, his sword now standing perpendicular to Pyrrha's spear. With a mighty swing Nora smashed her hammer against the bottoms of the two weapons simultaneously, sending both Naruto and Pyrrha's weapons tunneling through the skull of the Grimm like a pair of railroad spikes.

"I guess you really put the spike to him eh?"

"….. No, just no Yang." Blake said, as Ruby was too busy groaning in pain at her sister's painful attempt at a pun. Yang pouted before being hit with a pillow to the face. Letting the pillow fall she could see both Nora and Naruto whistling innocently, though it didn't really work.

The two sharp weapons pierced straight through the Death Stalker's skull, coming out the other side and ending up in the ground below the now unmoving corpse.

As the body of the Death Stalker began to fade into the wind the four teens began celebrating their victory over the massive Grimm. Nora let out a cheer of excitement, while Ren collapsed to the floor with a sigh and shake of his head. Pyrrha and Naruto shared a simple high five and smile.

Turning his head along with the others, Naruto let a grin stretch across his face as he witnessed Ruby coordinate her own group. The four worked in a surprisingly synchronized fashion for having only worked together for a few minutes, if that. Yang and Blake provided the distraction, with the ravenette also providing her unusually long and elastic ribbon for Ruby, creating a makeshift slingshot. Weiss then created a circle of ruins that he assumed would speed up Ruby even more.

Team RWBY grinned as their first combination attack formed right before their eyes. It was one thing to be there in the moment and another to see it from an outside view as well. It just affirmed that team RWBY kicked butt!

Naruto was proven correct as Ruby soared through the air, the combination of the recoil from her scythe's gun half and Weiss' glyphs pushing her to very impressive speeds. What happened next threw even Naruto for a loop. Ruby hooked her scythe around the throat of the Nevermore, her feet landing solidly against the cliff face. Weiss again created more runes, making a line of them that drove straight up the cliff. Ruby used the runes to stick herself to the sheer cliff wall and began to give gravity the finger by scaling up the rocky wall, dragging the Nevermore behind her.

"Well that's one thing I can't say I can do that you can't" Naruto said, noticing the rather victorious look sent his way by Ruby and Weiss.

Firing off shots at a constant rate, Ruby was able to maintain her speed and quickly cover the entirety of the cliff in the matter of a few seconds. Reaching the cliff's plateau, the body of the Nevermore was stuck underneath the lip of said plateau. Another shot and a burst of speed from what he assumed to be her Semblance and Ruby's scythe cleaved straight through the Nevermore's neck, severing the head from the rest of its body.

As the the now headless corpse began to fall down the abyss at the bottom of the cliff, even Naruto had to admit what he had just seen was pretty damn awesome. To tie all together, there Ruby stood at the cliff top, scythe in hand, her cloak fluttering in the wind while rose petals left over from her Semblance fell around her.

Ruby smiled, not knowing that she had inadvertently made such a great scene. Though moments later she had retreated into her hood when Yang commented on how cute she looked in that scene. She wasn't cute! She was being epic!

'Girl knows how to make a landing." Kushina thought. While shinobi couldn't really afford to 'pose' like that she remembered several instances of her son doing the exact same thing.

Grinning Naruto let out a whistle of appreciation at the sight.

'Impressive...for a ningen (human),' Kurama groused.

'Stubborn old fox,' Naruto retorted.

'Blond haired idiot.'

'Furball!'

'Stupid monkey!'

"Really? You guys act more like siblings with that image." Jaune commented. He had been in the middle of several of his sisters fights after all.

Both Bijuu and ninja looked at each other before shrugging. Despite their rough, borderline murderous, beginnings they had become the best of companions. Especially during the end of the Fourth Shinobi War.

Everyone sweat dropped when they turned to see Naruto choking his fox while said quadruped was clawing at his face. The sweat drops grew even larger when the duo fell to the floor, Naruto throwing punches while Kurama bit and scratched.

"TAKE THAT BACK YOU BAKA-KITSUNE (Idiot Fox)!"

"Everyone swore they saw sparks fly between the two as they twitched, more than likely restraining themselves form re-enacting their counterparts at the moment. Both grunted before turning back to the story, getting several sweat drops from everyone.

Naruto stood with his arms behind his head as he listened to Ozpin announce the names of the team that had finished before he and the others had. His suspicion about two pairs being placed together to make teams of four being proven correct. Him and Kurama had only raised an eyebrow at seeing another parallel between the military system of Remnant and the Shinobi villages'. It seemed that the saying of "If it ain't broke, then don't fix it" was a universal truth.

"I wouldn't say that." Kushina muttered. While some of the blame could be placed on Kakashi for being somewhat biased teacher during Naruto's first year as a ninja she was never a fan of the Best Shinobi and Kunoichi being paired with the dead last of their graduating year. One only needed to look at how that worked out for her son.

"Mom…" Naruto said before reaching out to grip his mother's hand. The Remnant teams wondered what that was about, though a few had an idea if the look Kushina had was any indication.

When it came time for him, Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren to step up, he did so with a grin on his face.

Ozpin turned to regard the four teens that stood before him, though his gaze lingered on the blond male of the team for a little bit longer than the others.

"Naruto Uzumaki. Nora Valkyrie. Pyrrha Nikos. Lie Ren. The four of you retrieved the gold rook pieces. From this day forward you will work together as team NNPR (Napier)."

"Napier….." Naruto swayed his head side to side considering the team name. "I like it! Much better than a stupid number!"

Nora cheered and hugged Ren, who was attempting to hide his own smile. Naruto only grinned as he and Pyrrha exchanged a congratulatory look.

Ozpin coughed to gain their attention again and continued, "The leader of which will be...Naruto Uzumaki."

"Saw that coming." Jaune said in acceptance. He had improved drastically from his beginning days at Beacon, and he freely admitted that Naruto was far better than him.

"Hooray for captain whiskers!" Nora cheered

Cheers and clapping came from the audience while Pyrrha offered Naruto a smile and a pat on the back. Ren nodded at the blond and Nora gave him a goofy salute.

Naruto for his part looked neither shocked nor overly proud at hearing his being selected as the leader of the time. Instead he dropped his arms to his sides and bowed to Ozpin with a blank face, earning a raised brown from the headmaster. His teammates were just as shocked at seeing the usually smiling Uzumaki quickly become so serious. They were however relieved to see Naruto return to normal as he came up from the bow with a foxy grin on his tanned face.

"From what I've seen he is deserving of respect. Though he does remind me of Old Man Hokage a lot." Naruto said, seeing himself in his counterpart's shoes. Kushina nodded, having been a decent judge of character for the most part. Her calling Minato out as being 'Flaky' didn't count after all.

The Remnant teens nodded n agreement, having remembered their own interactions with the headmaster himself. He was a man worthy of respect, especially in Ruby and Jaune's eyes.

Walking off the stage, the now named team NNPR bumped into Ruby and her own little group. Ruby hugged Naruto and offered her own congratulations. The moment was ruined when Yang grabbed her fellow blond in a headlock and began to give him a noogie.

"Really Yang? He could probably wipe the floor with you." Weiss said exasperated.

"Foxy knows I'm just joking around right?" When Naruto didn't respond Yang looked over to him, only to flinch at the rather mischievous gleam in his eyes. "R-right?"

"I wasn't only known as the most unpredictable ninja of Konoha." Naruto said before leaning towards Yang, who by now was getting nervous "I was also the greatest Prank master of Konoha."

Ruby really, really wanted to take a picture of her sister's face at this moment, though seeing it once was more than enough. Blake and Weiss merely reveled in the fact that karma was coming for Yang.

Escaping from Yang's grip Naruto turned to look at Blake. In return the quiet teen offered Naruto a small nod of respect as her congratulations. Weiss was the odd one out as she scoffed and rolled her eyes. Naruto, already used to Weiss' type, grinned before poking her in her side, getting a surprised yelp from the Schnee heiress and laughs from everyone else.

"Really now I do not have a –EEP!" Weiss retorted before bring poked in the ribs by Nora. The Schnee heiress face blossomed in a blush that would rival Ruby's cloak as everyone laughed. "It's not that funny!"

Before Weiss could do anything to get revenge Ozpin began calling out their names and Weiss stomped off with a still giggling Ruby.

"And finally, Ruby Rose. Weiss Schnee. Blake Belladonna. Yang Xiao Long. You four retrieved the black knight pieces. From this day forward you will work together as team RWBY (Ruby), led by...Ruby Rose."

Naruto smiled as Ruby herself smiled proudly at her receiving the leadership of team RWBY. Noticing the blonde Uzumaki's gaze Ruby blushed before giving the blonde a beaming smile in return for his silent support.

Kushina noticed this interaction of course.

Once more cheers erupted from the audience. Yang rushed to crush her sister in another of her hugs while Weiss looked oddly offended. Blake meanwhile stood there stoically, taking the news with her usual brand of apathy.

Weiss bit her lip, knowing that her reaction to Ruby receiving the team leader role had not been the best. She was thankful that Professor Port had talked some sense into her. Though she had a inkling Naruto would be somehow involved during that unfortunate episode.

As both teams RWBY and NNPR celebrated their successfully initiation and team assignments Ozpin looked on with a small smile.

"Looks like things are shaping up to be...an...interesting year," Ozpin muttered quietly to himself.

"Well that's the end of the chapter." Kushina stated before rising from her seat. "I think that's all we'll be able to read for now. Several 'ahhh' and groans came from the Remnant teens as they finally noticed the time. Bidding the two Shinobi a good night everyone went back to their rooms, though Ruby had given Naruto another hug before disappearing in a rush of rose petals. Naruto waved goodbye before escorting his mother to their room for the time being. Letting out a tired sigh he turned to the smiling face of his mother before once again collapsing into a bone crushing hug. The mother and son sniffled before starting to cry in joy.

"M-mom. I-I'm so glad to s-see oyu again."

"I know sochi." Kushina said as she stroked her sons head. "I'm so sorry I couldn't be there for you."

Both mother and son continued to hold each other before Naruto finally succumbed to the day's events. Noticing that her son had fallen asleep Kushina smiled as she tucked Naruto in. Kissing his forehead she restrained another sniffle before collapsing in her own bed. She was somewhat glad that Lavenza hadn't told her son all of the situation.

'I know that I should be wanting to get him back to the Elemental Nations and Konoha, but is it really wrong to want to live a life with him here?" The Uzumaki matriarch brought her fist to her chest as sleep started to take her as well. "Is it really wrong for me to want my son away from the life of a shinobi after all he's done for them?"

The last thoughts that Kushina had were of her and Naruto making a life here, with Naruto giving her many grandbabies that she could spoil.