Hey people, another new fic here, I know there's been a lot lately but I promise you that I have a set schedule of what I am planning on writing. With this fic which will include a Prologue soon to be followed by the true chapter 1.
Anyway so a couple things before we drop down into the story, for all those interested in a fanfiction centered community on discord where you can chat about stories, work on concepts, catch exclusive fics, and more come down to AizenTheGoat's server found → /EYDdRrnn
So a quick blurb about this story, there are some characters torn from other series that you will meet. They will be important main characters and I promise you will know them when you see them. As it is though I am only using the characters from these series and nothing else so I have not counted it as a true multi-crossover story. The story will still be primarily a RWBY fic with Naruto as our main protagonist.
Also this first piece is a prologue, as I said, and it will be very stylized I guess I could say. It's almost like a montage in some ways. Anyway I hope you stick around for the actual first chapter as it will follow my more normal writing style.
With that out of the way I just want to warn you that there will be references to abusive parents and violence in general. You have been warned.
On to the story.
-Prologue-
A Good Example
The little boy winced but didn't utter a sound as Summer nursed his scrapes and scratches. He was covered head to toe in small bruises and scratches like this one but he hadn't whimpered or cried about them at all. If anything he had tried to hide them from Summer when she noticed them and that was the moment that the young woman knew something was very wrong.
Summer was young, but her team had been hailed as prodigies at Beacon and given missions earlier than most for a reason. She had encountered similar situations before. Never would she have imagined it happening among her team. Never thought that the one woman she considered a sister would do such a horrible thing, but deep down she knew.
Raven was a woman driven by two things, fear and ambition. They had a deeply rooted hold over her and no matter how hard she fought it, or whatever facade she tried to throw up to hide it, those two emotions would always control her. Summer had heard of Naruto's aura and semblance activating at an abnormally early age of three. However it was passed off as him being born to two powerful hunters and having a uniquely strong lineage through his mother Raven. The Branwens were known for early access to their aura and semblance. It was a given for them to unlock it as soon as possible, being as they had been a semi-nomadic tribe of bandits for the better part of two hundred years.
Still, Summer supposed she should have suspected a year ago when Naruto unlocked them at only three. Practically unheard of outside of traumatic events like a grimm attack or something similar. She had ignored that voice in her head that thought it was suspicious. Taiyang and Raven were her closest friends after all. She had known them since she was sixteen years old and neither would ever harm their child.
Then Summer began learning some things she partially wished she hadn't. Raven was taking less missions to raise Naruto so Taiyang was hardly ever home as he was out on missions all the time. From what she had gathered, Tai hadn't seen Naruto except when the boy was already in bed since he unlocked his aura a year prior. That should have told her something, but right now she supposed she was just happy he wasn't a part of what Raven had been doing.
That woman. No, that witch, Her supposed best friend, and sister in all but blood had crossed a line that sickened Summer beyond compare. Here she was nursing a little four year old boy covered in wounds given him by his own mother. Her supposed friend.
"How could she do this…" Summer quietly murmured as she held a small bandage to a thin bloody line along Naruto's little side. He felt so small in her arms as she worked on him.
"She said it'd make me strong." The little boy said, turning his red eyes, so much like Raven's up to look at her. There was a sadness there. One that no four year old should know.
"I see." Summer said solemnly as she continued to care for his injuries. None were life threatening. But that wasn't the point.
"Naruto, where is your mommy right now?" Summer asked.
"In the house. She said she had to take a test or sumthin." He replied peeking up at her through messy blond locks, so similar to Tai's.
"Oh okay. Well. Why don't you hang out here and I will go talk to her real quick. I want you to stay here though okay. It's a grownup conversation." She said with as much false cheer as she could muster.
"Hmm, okay." He said before trotting off toward a small tree swing with a small limp. Never seeing Summer frown lightly at seeing him go.
She stood to her full height, which wasn't honestly much of a height but coupled with her hood and haunting silver eyes made her look like some foul revenant bent on revenge. In a way she supposed she might be.
Naruto wasn't totally sure what had made all the changes start from that day on. Maybe it was just that Summer had come. Maybe it was because his mom said he would have a little brother or sister on the way. Maybe it was because his dad was actually around more, though he still didn't do all that much with Naruto. He was always either talking with Summer or yelling at mom.
Either way his training stopped for a while. So that was nice. He didn't mind that it made him stronger but he wished his mom did it a different way. She always made him hurt somehow and then yelled at him to stop crying and be strong. She always said the world wouldn't let him be happy if he wasn't strong. Mom was strong and so were dad and Summer and Uncle Qrow, so as far as he knew the only person that wasn't strong in the whole world was him.
So he had to get strong. When mom stopped training him he started training himself. Until Summer caught him. She had cried for a whole day afterward and dad had been unhappy and started fighting with mom again. After that Summer had taken over his training and it had been different. It made him hurt too but differently. His muscles were sore but he didn't bleed or have scars and bruises anymore. He liked her training a lot more than….mother's. He liked Mom's training a lot more than mother's.
That was another new things. Raven was now his mother and Summer was his mom. He knew summer had only lived with them a few months but evidently she was gonna give him a baby brother or sister too. He wasn't sure what to think about it. At least dad and mother fought less then. They hardly talked to one another at all and dad spent even less time with him. He just wanted to spend time with mom or he was gone. Mother just looked at him and asked about his training when she was around him. Only Summer really talked and played with him, or Uncle Qrow when he visited.
When Yang was born things changed again. Everyone was happy for a little while. A little while. The last time Naruto remembered seeing his mother was as she stood in the doorway to their house and stared outside in the middle of the night. He wasn't sure why he had gotten up and come downstairs but he had and he found her there. She just stared for a while before looking back inside and locking eyes with him.
For a long time Naruto would remember neither of them talking. Then she did something he never remembered her doing before and walked up to him and leaned forward like she was going to kiss him. Years later he still wasn't sure if he thought she was going to hit him instead or do something else but he had flinched and she froze immediately.
He remembered tears welling up in her eyes before she stepped away from him.
"I can't be a mother, Naruto. I did it all wrong with you. Look at you, I didn't make you strong, I just made you afraid like me." The little five year old listened, though he was tired and startled and, well five...so much of what his mother was telling him went over his head.
"I shouldn't have ever had you or Yang. It wasn't right of me. I'm not a mother." She looked back at him one last time as if expecting him to say something.
Naruto didn't though. He just stared back at her. He didn't know what to say. What could he say. His mother, no she said she wasn't a mother so Raven. Raven, hadn't really asked him any questions, just said words and stared at him looking for some answer. One he didn't have. Whatever it was she was looking for she nodded at his silent stare and disappeared out the door. She didn't even bother to close it.
Naruto had remembered hearing Yang cry so he went up to the nursery and just let her hold his finger till she calmed back down. He still didn't know what to say then, but he knew one thing. Raven didn't want them. Said she never should have had them as if they were mistakes she had made and not people. He thought maybe he was a mistake, but looking at his little sister he knew that Raven was wrong about her. Yang was not a mistake, she was Naruto's precious little sister.
Over the next few months things changed again. Dad had seemed extremely sad. He held Yang a lot and even cried sometimes. He once even patted Naruto on the head, but had seemed worse off when Naruto had flinched. Naruto didn't think it was that big of a deal. He'd been to town and met other people a few times now. The only person that didn't make him flinch was Summer, well her and baby Yang.
Soon Ruby was born, his second sister. Only five months younger than Yang she was so much smaller than her. According to Mom she was premature. However she was strong and would be fine. Naruto wondered how a little baby like her could be strong when Raven had said he wasn't even strong.
When his mom and dad asked who had told him that, he said Raven had when she was leaving. Afterward they made him tell them everything about that night. So he did and told them everything. Even when she tried to give him a kiss on the head but changed her mind.
"Why did you…" Tai mumbled rubbing his hands down his face before standing and leaving the room without looking back.
Mom just hugged Naruto close to her and the girls. He left a little while after because she said she needed to feed them. He didn't really get it at the time but when he grew older he would understand she meant breastfeeding both his sisters and it made him love her as his mother even more. She fed Yang like she had come from her own body just like Ruby. That was the kind of woman and mother Summer Rose was.
The next few years were some of the happiest of Naruto's life. Summer was everything a child could want in a mother. Doting, affectionate, and loving. She was always there. She even continued to help with his training to make sure he didn't hurt himself, and it was mainly her stories about helping people as a huntress that made him want to be a huntsman. That and Qrow had killed some grimm that had wandered near their house once while he was visiting. He had looked so cool. Naruto was certain he had to grow up just like Qrow someday. His uncle had gotten red and smiled really brightly when he had told him too.
Sadly when Naruto was about ten years old, Summer had to take part in some sort of special mission despite being retired for five years by that point. She evidently had some special ability, which Naruto wasn't all that surprised by. Of course his mom had some special ability. She was the greatest person he knew in the world. The strongest there was.
That was probably why it hurt so much when she never came back. Uncle Qros said they had found her blood and weapon and some torn clothes. Likely meaning she had been overrun and eaten by grimm. Ruby and Yang had cried for days on end and dad had disappeared into his room, only ever coming out to eat or drink more alcohol.
It went on like that for several months. To the point they had celebrated both the girl's fifth birthdays without either of their parents present. Qrow had been stuck on several missions and hadn't visited since right after Summer had died. Naruto had to do his best to keep their family afloat.
He did his best. He was strong, strong like Summer was. Or at least he tried to be strong like her. She made everything look effortless. She moved and the world reacted to her rather than her reacting to it. Naruto tried his very best though and he kept things relatively maintained. At least better than any other ten year old boy would have done in his place.
He fed and cleaned up after Yang and Ruby, and their man-child father too. Slowly Taiyang had become Taiyang, and not dad for the boy. Just like Raven. On top of that he did his best to keep up with schoolwork, even while walking the girls to school himself and picking them up after. He also had to keep up with the training program that Summer had drilled into him.
It wasn't long before he had been run ragged. Exhausted he was a bit out of it when the girls were asking him all sorts of questions one night. Things about their family. Like how come Yang and Naruto had blonde hair but Ruby didn't, or how come Ruby had silver eyes and Yang had violet, and Naruto had red. That one had confused them at first.
He had to explain to them that day about Raven. As best he could. Sadly how does a protective ten year old brother even hope to properly explain the situation surrounding their parents to two five year old little girls? He again, did his very best. Then sent them to bed.
Thankfully the next day was a Saturday and Naruto enjoyed sleeping in for an extra hour. Then he was up and at em, making breakfast for the girls who were soon watching TV in the living room. Taiyang was still in his room, like always, and probably wouldn't come out unless his bedside bottle was empty when he woke up around noon. As Naruto worked making pancakes for himself and the girls, Taiyang could eat whatever leftovers they had, he stared up at the photo of himself, Ruby, and Yang wrapped up in a hug by Summer on Summer's birthday one year. Taiyang had taken the picture and Naruto felt his eyes moisten at the sight of his mom's smiling face.
He missed her so much, but he forced the tears back down when he noticed a crow with red eyes flap into the room. He almost smiled as he saw it settle on the floor before transforming into Qrow who shot him a small smirk.
"It's been a long time, Naruto." Qrow said as he reached over and tousled the boy's hair.
"I've been here, where have you been?" Naruto said playing up the act of his pout. Qrow chuckled.
"Oh all over, but mostly here and there, you know." He said getting a scoff from the boy.
"How did you get in? Girl's manage to get the window open or something?" Naruto asked as he handed a plate of flapjacks to his uncle.
"Front door." The man said as he dug in. Naruto groaned and stepped into the living room to tell the girls to close the door and not leave it hanging open.
As Naruto walked into the room though he found neither hide nor hair of the girls in there. Feeling worry creep into his chest he fought for control of himself as he stepped back into the kitchen.
"Uncle Qrow, did you see the girls when you flew in here?" Naruto asked.
"Huh? No, I assumed they were up in their rooms." He said suddenly standing worry creeping into him just like with his nephew.
"No, I would have heard them going up the stairs at some point." Naruto answered.
"Shit. The door…" Qrow hissed, getting a nod from Naruto as they both bolted back into the living room. "Where is Tai?"
"In bed, drunk like always." Naruto said as he pulled on his shoes and jacket and made for the door.
Qrow blinked before practically growling as his confused expression shifted to that of fury. He practically kicked Taiyang's door off it's hinges as he made his way in looking for his brother-in-law. He found the man sprawled across his mattress in sweatpants only with empty bottles and pieces of trash laying in a circle around the bed. Qrow sneered down at the man he had considered one of his closest friends for so long and reached out to wrap his hands around the blond's neck. This shit was was coming to an end today, he hadn't realized how bad things had gotten here since Summer died.
First thing was first though. He needed to get Taiyang around so they could look for the two...Qrow realized then that he needed to now look for three children as Naruto had already left in search of his little sisters.
"Tai, I want to hurt you so bad right now." Qrow growled as he forced a shirt onto the man.
Naruto wasn't a tracker by any stretch of the imagination, but it had been pretty rainy the last few weeks and patch was a damp island in the first place so mud was pretty typical. Ruby and Yang's footprints were plenty easy even for him to pick out and he made good time tracing their steps. He could be thankful they didn't have too much of a headstart on him or very long legs yet because he was already closing in on them.
He wasn't the only thing closing in on them though. A small pack of young beowolves circled the girls. Poor Ruby had already fainted from the fright. She had always been the more frail and timid of the two girls. Yang tried her best to look defiant and strong, but she was a five year old little girl standing before seven nightmarish wolf-like monsters. She was terrified and her entire body shook in fright and tears ran down her face.
The girl was far too frightened to move as the evident leader of the pack lunged at her. The felt herself be knocked down and beside Ruby, but realized when she fell she wasn't being attacked by the monster like she expected. Instead her eyes widened in terror once more as her big brother screamed out in pain in front of her. Deep slashes from the top right side of his head down the side and front, nearly taking his eye and leaving a trail across his forehead and down his cheek, were now present. Yang was fully crying by that point. As she watched her brother take a wound meant for her and still stand protecting her and Ruby.
He roared in pain, Naruto did. Almost like the monster had when it had gone for Yang. He launched himself at the creature, seemingly taking it by surprise as much as Yang was. Naruto slammed his small fist into the beast's boney faceplate pushing it back slightly but doing nothing but bloodying his fist before his other hand swung around in a wide haymaker catching the still stunned grimm in the side of the head. This time there was a different reaction.
The black substance that made up the grimm seemed to cave under his fist as it impacted. Bringing a knee up into it's jaw with a scream of rage and pain, Naruto shattered the thinned bone theresendign the beast to the ground reeling from the sudden strikes and surprise of this turn of events. Naruto didn't stop. He had tunnel vision as the rest of the world drained away. Nothing else mattered besides the creature that had just tried to kill his precious little sisters.
He stomped on it as it tried to stand back up. Again and again and again. He screamed and howled as he pounded his foot down onto the creature until it stopped trying to fight or escape or even move. It simply sizzled and began to dissolve into the typical mist that Grimm converted to when they were killed.
As he stopped and looked around, Naruto realized six more of the massive wolves had now circled in closer to him and the girls. Each looking more gnarly and dangerous than the last. It was sudden when they died. A spiralling pair of men. One slamming gauntletted fists into the creatures and tearing them apart and the other swinging a sword with nearly inhuman quickness and grace.
Qrow and Taiyang cleared out the remaining grimm with ease only known to veteran huntsmen of a certain prestige and skill. Then suddenly Yang and Ruby were in their father's arms and Qrow was worrying over the deep wounds on Naruto's head.
Even after finding both girls were fine, Tai remained focused on them, despite Qrow telling him how bad Naruto's injury was. The Branwen could only narrow his eyes and do what he could. He would be checking in more often now though. He wouldn't stand by and let Tai slip up like this again.
Over the next year Qrow had slowly grown more and more unhappy with the situation at the Xiao Long household. Tai had become clearly uncomfortable around Naruto, especially when on the scarred side of the boy.
Steadily he began distancing himself from and avoiding Naruto. His own son. He took the girls out often while giving Naruto money to enjoy himself as a big boy didn't need his father hovering over him. Or so he said, Qrow saw it for what it was. Tai didn't want to even look at his son.
At some point in the last year that discomfort and awkwardness had begun to shift to resentment. Tai became snappish with Naruto over the tiniest things and was harder and harder on him for small or sometimes simply perceived mistakes. He often came back to apologize, but the bouncing between avoidance, hostility, and apologetic was obviously taking a toll on Naruto.
Naruto had begun to distance himself from the girls. He seemed worried that whatever had made Tai begin to resent him would rub off on them and they would lose their last parental figure. The girls were less than pleased only adding to Tai's resentment of his son as his daughters wanted to spend time with Naruto more than they did their father.
Qrow saw all this and realized that it was only a matter of time before something sparked the powder keg that the Xiao Long household had become. He had to intervene and keep the kids safe. Even from their own parent. After the discovery of Raven's actions all those years ago he wouldn't let that happen again.
So that led him here. On the front porch at eleven at night sitting across Taiyang in a pair of wicker patio chairs. It was awkward but both sat and drank a beer quietly knowing that a tense conversation was about to take place that would likely affect the already strained relationship the two former best friends had.
The Branwen was a bit surprised when Tai spoke first. Already on the topic he had in mind. He however quickly grew angry over the words his, former, friend chose.
"I need you to take Naruto with you when you leave this time." Tai said before knocking back the rest of his bottle.
"What?" Qrow asked after stammering for a moment.
"I need you to-" Tai began only to be interrupted by his brother-in-law.
"I heard what you said. What I'm trying to ask is what the hell you are thinking? The wilds are no place for a kid? Are you nuts?" Qrow snapped.
"Qrow, you grew up out there." Tai argued.
"No Tai, I survived out there and only because I had an entire tribe of murderous cutthroats that regarded me and my sister like a prince and princess. It's not even close to the same thing." Qrow stated as he slapped his empty bottle onto the table with a hollow clunk.
The pair were silent for a moment before Qrow chuckled and looked away. Tai was confused and slowly the Branwen turned to regard him with judging eyes.
"I guess Naruto is a lot stronger than I was at the time. I mean it's not like he ever got to be a kid right, Tai?" Qrow asked pointedly getting a scowl from the blond man.
"I did my best, that wasn't all my fault you know that!" Tai defended himself.
"Your best is piss poor, and I know it wasn't all your fault. In the end though, plenty of it was though, wasn't it?" Qrow barked causing Tai to drop back into his chai and rub a hand down his face.
The two men slipped back into silence. Qrow finished his second bottle and took Tai's second unopened beer for himself despite the mild glare from the blond. They seemed to go out of their way to avoid looking at one another. It was odd. They had once been so close and friendly, now they struggled to even look at one another. One out of disappointment and the other out of shame.
"Do you seriously think it's a good idea to pull him and the girls apart?" Qrow asked suddenly breaking the silence and causing Tai to scrunch his face up in a conflicted expression.
"I just can't stand having him around anymore." Tai admitted with a heavy sigh.
Qrow narrowed his eyes at the other man. "What the fuck did you just say?"
"You want me to admit why he needs to go with you, Qrow? I can't even look at him! He's practically every big mistake and bad decision in my life wrapped into one! He has Raven's eyes. I see her glaring at me Everytime he looks at me. And those scars. They remind me of how I fucked up and of Summer and what almost happened to the girls all at once! How am I supposed to move on if I keep getting reminded of it all everytime I happen to glance in his direction?" Tai ranted only to be interrupted by Qrow swinging forward and slamming a fist in his face.
Tai tumbled backward out of his chair and blinked in shock as he felt blood gush from his busted nose. He didn't get a chance to react before he was yanked up off of the ground and hit again this time against the temple sending him crumpling to the ground again only for Qrow to hoist him up by his collar a third time and plant a fist into the blond's jaw rattling his teeth and cutting his cheek and lips on them spraying more blood across Qrow's hand and Tai's face.
"Stop." Tai choked out between bloody teeth but Qrow didn't listen instead he straddled the downed man and grabbed a fistful of his collar.
He hit him three more times in brutally quick succession before yanking the battered and bloodied Taiyang up to look at him in the eye.
"My sister might disgust me more than you still, but I just realized you're more pathetic than that bitch could ever be." Qrow snarled.
He slammed Tai backward, back into the concrete porch bouncing him slightly and making the blond's head spin even worse than it already was. As Qrow stood Tai rolled over onto his side and coughed up a mix of blood spit and beer. He moaned pitifully at the pain swimming through his face and head.
Qrow meanwhile stared up at a tree filled with black birds. A peculiar Raven among them making him briefly think of his sister. He wondered what had led them all to where they were now. Were they all destined to end up messes like this or could they have prevented it and ended up as good examples for the kids despite their own fucked up childhoods. He supposed now was a final chance to find out.
"I'll take Naruto." Qrow said as Tai pushed himself up into a sitting position.
"I'll adopt him. He'll be my son since you were never really a father to him anyway. I'm also going to be checking in on the girls at least once a month and if I, or whoever I have check in my place if I'm on a mission finds even the slightest thing wrong...I'll take them too." Qrow said as he stared down at the other man with contempt.
"Thank you." Tai said as blood dripped from his busted lips.
"Don't thank me, it's not for you, it's because of you and for them." Qrow said before actually spitting on the man he had once called brother. He then spun around and went inside to collect his son.
Tai slowly lowered himself to laying on the porch again and glanced over at a tree where a black bird seemed to glare down at him before it took off into the sky. That just caused him to sigh again. It had been a long time since he tasted his blood, or had been roughed up so bad. Sometimes he forgot that he might be a better hand to hand fighter than Qrow was technically, but Qrow was born and raised a Branwen of the Wilds. He was far from a slouch in a fist fight. Not that what had just happened could be called a fight.
Naruto hated it when his little sisters were upset. They had never been more upset the next morning when they found he and Qrow...no, it was dad now, had packed up his things. Most of it had to be left behind, they were only taking clothes and a few personal items. Dad said he would learn to properly travel light with experience.
Yang and Ruby had broken out into tears the moment they saw him standing beside the bags next to the door. It was kind of like even they had known this was coming. Naruto had immediately wrapped them in tight hugs and kisses at their cheeks and on their heads to calm them down.
It hadn't worked. They clung to him and refused to let go. They even had to be pried off by Tai and Qrow. The two little girls struggled in their arms and shouted at the men. Qrow seemed to be glaring at Tai throughout the entire ordeal.
Finally though Qrow calmed them down by telling them they would see him again. That as soon as they were big enough to go out on their own and leave Tai's house they would see Naruto again. It calmed them both down though Tai glared at Qrow for the way he had worded it. He didn't say anything though. If the beating last night had shown him anything it was that Qrow wasn't about to listen to anything he had to say.
Eventually they left. Setting out for the local airport to take an air ship to Vale and from there begin their journey. The journey was harsh once they left the city of Vale. The Wilds we're just as they sounded wild.
This region spanned every continent of Remnant between the settlements and colonies of the four great Kingdoms and Menagerie. It was lawless and primarily populated by Grimm with large numbers of bandits, fugitives, and generally desperate and dangerous people who preferred to kill first and never ask questions. This was the place Naruto spent the next three years.
He left home a young boy of eleven. More skilled than most his age but still naive and unprepared for the harsh reality of the world outside of Patch. Qrow guided and trained his adoptive son dutifully and by the time the boy was fourteen he had become something else entirely.
When most fourteen year olds were looking to start their first pre-academy schooling. Perhaps learning to forge their weapons and being taught the best methods of killing Grimm and defending themselves, Naruto was already finished with his first hand education.
Qrow had done what Raven wanted without abusing and mistreating Naruto. He had made him strong. Strong enough to step off of the airship at the docks at Beacon alongside student hopefuls all three years or more his senior. The youngest applicant to Beacon in history. To any Huntsman Academy truthfully.
Naruto could only assume he was a bit of a sight as several student hopefuls stared at him. It wasn't a shock. He knew that he would have been a comical sight in most circumstances with his massive sword across his back taller than he was when fully formed. He was sure the only reason he wasn't being teased or questioned was because of the rest of his appearance.
Naruto was tall for his age, and muscular. Years of rough training and survival in the bush of the Wilds had led to him developing ahead of his age physically. He also sported innumerable small scars across his exposed arms as well as the four large claw slashes down the right side of his face.
His current attire made it clear that despite being younger than any other applicants, Naruto had likely experienced more of the actual threats that Remnant had to offer than most of them had. He wore a snug black tank top with a magnetized bandolier on a cross strap. Loose fitting pants and rugged shoes completed his utilitarian look and with his bright red eyes and golden blond hair, Naruto drew plenty of eyes. Still the crowd of other students only stared and stepped out of the way of the...intense looking teen as he walked toward the main auditorium.
Beacon was more or less what Naruto had expected of a Huntsman academy. It looked like a warped version of the castles many settlements had popularly used in the centuries prior to the Great War. That being said it seemed to lack any real defenses beyond the staff and students themselves. Maybe the mountainous terrain or something else kept the Grimm to a smaller issue here than they would have been in the Wilds.
Joining the other students in the main auditorium of the academy he watched as the Headmaster Ozpin and his Deputy Headmistress, the same woman who had given their Orientation video on the ride in a Glynda Goodwitch if he recalled, stepped onto the stage.
"Welcome Hunter hopefuls to the Beacon Academy Orientation and Initiation. By the end of this weekend some of you will be taking the first steps to becoming official Hunters of Remnant. Others of you will be returning home to look for a different path, and still others will sadly never leave the Forever Fall forest again." Ozpin said while staring blankly down at the assembled teenagers.
"I wish you all the best of luck." Ozpin simply said before pivoting and walking away leaving the student hopefuls shocked.
Glynda stepped forward and adjusted her glasses as she peered down at her audience. She lingered on Naruto for a moment, something passing in her eyes before she continued on.
"For those of you not comfortable with facing possible death over the next two days, please leave now. You will not have another opportunity and the result of death is a very real possibility during this test." She said.
The room hesitated, but soon a single student walked out of the doors to the room, followed by another and another until less than fifty remained. Naruto was shocked. The simple threat of death had made more than two thirds of the room clear out just like that. Still he noticed Glynda seemed to watch him in particular before she straightened herself to address him and the others that had remained.
"In one hour, you will be dropped into the Forever Fall forest where you must strive to survive for the next two days. However that is not all that you must do. The first fellow student you make eye contact with upon landing will be your partner for the next four years of your time here at Beacon. I recommend you try to find someone you can work well with." She explained crisply.
The students began to murmur among each other at that. A feeling of worry descended on them even more so than when they were told they could die. Good, it meant they had Hunter's priorities. For their line of work, things like death were an inevitability and not something to worry over. As much as she disliked sending such children to their deaths she knew they were also going to become the defenders of civilization and that required certain abilities and personalities.
"That is not all though." She began again quieting the crowd. "While in the forest each student hopeful must find and defeat and collect the mask of three different grimm. I mean of course a partnered pair will need three masks between them. I wish all of you goodluck. I will see you at Dock Epsilon. Those who now wish to leave like their earlier peers can proceed to Docks Alpha, Beta, and Gamma; the airships there will take you back to Vale."
With that Glynda Goodwitch simply strode off of the stage with a series of resounding clicks from her heels. The students murmured among one another again but slowly began making their way toward the exits.
"She was sure hot and all, but everyone is acting all upset about this test, huh sis." One student's words caught Naruto's attention.
A petite girl with a large sword, though not near as large as Naruto's own, was talking to an abnormally busty one that shared her coloring and features. The speaker wore a red jacket along with extremely short cutoff denim shorts and what amounted to a sports bra as she walked beside the larger girl.
"Mordred, I know you're excited to jump into fighting the Grimm, but take this seriously. That's what the others are doing. They aren't upset." The bustier girl said.
Unlike her apparent sister she wore a white shirt with blue jeans that weren't cut off just past the crotch like the first sister's. She also had a black jacket on over her clothes looking older than he expected she truly was. Unlike the younger sister's bright blonde hair and green eyes, this older sister had paler blonde hair with honey colored eyes. He assumed she was seventeen but her attire simply made her seem more mature. Like the smaller sister, she also had a weapon though hers was a longer and thinner sword than Mordred's.
"Gah, Artoria there you go acting like mom again. Really I don't need you talking down to me all the time." Mordred grumbled as the pair passed by Naruto.
They started into an argument with the now named Artoria picking out little things that Mordred was doing wrong, even mentioning that her dressing as she had would have a greater effect if he had a more womanly body causing Mordred to make a scene among the students and yelling at her about just wearing them because they were comfortable and not trying to catch other's eyes like some cow titted slut. At that Naruto shifted his attention away. He was only fourteen after all, he didn't really plan on being caught staring at the revealing clothes of the petite sister or the natural gifts of the other.
Slipping out the door he kept to himself. He wasn't the most sociable of teens now, in part thanks to living in the wilds and in part having not gone to an actual school since he was eleven years old. It was probably in his best interest to simply avoid his possible future classmates and focus on what it was he was good at. Fighting.
Especially Grimm.
Ey folks so this was the prologue chapter, expect the actual Chapter One to release soon after.
For those interested, yes, his team are pulled from other series, however they are made to fit into the RWBY world just as he was. More will be shown for them in the soon to follow chapter 1.
On the collecting trophies form the grimm, I know they are supposed to evaporate or whatever but I am having their bones remain because there should be some sort of remains that allow for a Hunter to collect bounties or pay once they defeated them.
I know a lot of folks need to know the pairings before the story even really kicks off so I will say that at least Team RWBY will be part of it, and yes that includes Ruby but as you saw earlier in this prologue she is in fact the same age as Yang and the others only at a few months younger than Yang.