Corvid [RWBY/Naruto]

I try as much as possible to avoid authors notes so just advanced warning. This is an insert fic of a character from Naruto into RWBY, and will have lots of elements of fix-it and things along those lines.

I wasn't a huge fan of the story beats of RWBY after S3 and kinda fell out of love with it over time but wanted to write a fic in the universe for the longest time so i picked this idea out of my idea trash and decided to try and flesh it out. As as a warning this will be flagrantly AU, mostly using worldbuilding and characters from RWBY but not much else especially after S3 (Though i may be a filthy character thief later on). I usually exclusively post to AO3 but i wanted to try a different source of criticism for this one.

Please let me know your thoughts. Story itself is outlined through to arc 7 and i'm pretty set on a path, but if you have any advice on SPAG or tenses and especially on characterisation and dialogue then please feel free!

My first time posting here so please be gentle

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Prelude

“You know you may just be one of the more unique clients I’ve seen come through here.”

I awaken with a start, heart racing as I gasp for breath. I was fading away and then without any transition at all suddenly I am jumping to full wakefulness.

“Brother!?” I look around in a panic.

The strangest part is waking at all.

…I’m pretty sure I just died for the second time.

What?

I’m sat in a basket chair of some sort, at a desk, in some sort of busy terminus. Undefinable shapes of people wander the hall, moving paperwork or sitting in front of desks. The room seemingly stretches on for quite a distance.

I don’t recognise this place at all. Where am I?

I reach for a weapon, anything to arm myself with to feel less out of place, but all I have is a plain white jumpsuit.

Is this hell?

“No it’s not hell.”

I turn to the desk with a start.

On the other side of the desk is a person, I can’t quite make out features or gender, and though I know they have a face, I can’t seem to process it.

“You are a bit of a conundrum aren’t you?”

“You know who I am?”

“Of course. I know everything there is to know about you.”

A heavy red book slams on the table. Long skeletal fingers open the book and starts to browse.
Even with my head seemingly trying to hammer nails into itself, I recognise some of the pictures. I can feel my heart racing as I try to make sense of my surroundings. Where am I? What happened to me? The stranger's words only add to my confusion. How could they know me? The weight of the red book on the table seems to press down on my chest, and I can't help but feel a sense of foreboding.

“Genocide, murder, multiple times over. Torture. Child killer. Destroyer of villages. Working directly against the free-will of the human race of your little planet.”

The being stops reading. And looks at me over glasses that definitely weren’t there before.

“You do have a rather varied rap sheet don’t you.”

I sit in silence. If I am to burn for my sins. If Yomi is my final end, then it’s nothing I don’t deserve.

“And there it is, that self-sacrificing stoicism that you are famous for. As I said, ‘unique’. Never before have I seen someone who made literally every wrong choice for the right reasons. This-“

The being gestures at the book.

“-should be condemning you to the deepest darkest pits of the bowels of hell itself. And yet somehow. You. You of all people will be offered a chance most can only dream of.”

The being shakes its head.

“You were a child yourself when you were trained to kill. You were a child when you followed the order to eliminate your entire clan. You were an adult when you committed the crimes in assistance of the upstart Sage’s leftovers. But then you had to go and kill yourself trying your very best to atone. Twice.”

It sighs.

“Like I said. Unique.”

It turns it’s full attention on me, and suddenly I feel naked before its gaze.

“One chance at redemption. One chance to wipe that red from your ledger. What will you do little raven? Will you stay true to form? Live a life of deception and self-sacrificing pseudo-pacifism?”

The being sighs.

“Usually we offer a choice to take spiritual punishment until you atone, or enter a mission of reincarnation for us, but well, child killer. So unfortunately you aren’t getting the choice.”

I sit for a while in bemused silence as the being observes me, I feel like it is waiting for me to speak. My tongue is thick in my mouth, had I the option, I would not reincarnate.

“What do you require of me?”

I feel, well not approval from the being, but a slight self-satisfaction maybe.

“How very dutiful. That attitude has gotten you in trouble before little raven. Be careful with that in future.”

The red book jumps from the desk and slams into my chest, disappearing into my body with a sharp shocking pain.

“We bear our sins. We carry them with us until they are expunged. I have to wonder, with everything you have wrought, can you truly wipe the book clean? I suppose we will see won’t we.”

And with a startling burst of clarity, as my headache clears and my vision unblurs, I realise exactly who this is.

“Shinigami?”

I sense a smile, toothy and beastly, and hear the swish of a blade deep within my being.

“And now the ‘hero’ realises the truth.”

A new book appears on the desk between us, this one is green.

“You have no choice in your fate, so I will offer you this one single choice.”

Two images. One, A city by the ocean, bigger than anything by far in the nations. Despair and pain in equal measure. A world desperately crying out for a hero. An enemy to end all enemies. A world of decay, where hope itself is under siege.

The second, much the same in peril, but a world of wonder and fantasy. Beset by beasts of fairy-tale and legend and defended by desperate souls. A remnant of a once great world, crying out for a chance for more.

“One of these worlds will offer you the quicker, but more painful path to redemption. It will tempt you and challenge you in equal measure. This is the world the person that you became would choose. A world where a man like you can thrive in the darkness assisting the light as you have for your entire adult life so far.”

The Shinigami gestures to the other image.

“The other, will offer you slower, and dare I say more relaxed path to redemption. This is the path of healing, of truly becoming something other. But it is also the path that will challenge your core beliefs most strongly. This is the path of the idealist. But in neither of these worlds will your particular brand of pacifism be your saviour.”

The God of Death looks me in the eyes, and the shroud preventing me from perceiving them drops for just an instant as black eyes surrounding a yellow sclera look straight into my core.

“So what will it be, little raven. Will you walk the darkened path, and drag them back to the light from within your own darkness? Or will you walk the shattered path, and help them and yourself to heal? This is your last opportunity. There will be no other chances at redemption after this.”

“Will I retain myself?”

“You will, in your entirety. Better, even. As you won’t be weighed down by disease, and especially by the curse of your family any longer. Once pulled from the heavenly path of Samsara in your own world, you will no longer be haunted by those two endlessly warring brothers, as you and all of your extended bloodline are.”

“What would you advise?”

“Me?”

The Shinigami chuckles and shakes it’s head. A murmur. Something I possibly wasn’t supposed to overhear, but one that resonates through my soul regardless.

“Don’t make this harder than it already is.”

The chuckle ends, and the God turns a knowing eye to me.

“It’s not for me to decide, I will however say this is not a trick question. Both options are right. Free will means that it is perfectly acceptable to live within the darkness or light. A great man once said, "It's not about what you've got, it's about what you use." A man of darkness who yet fights for the light will be thought of more fondly in judgement than a man who hides within the light but refuses to tender aid.”

We sit in silence as I ponder the choices set before me. I was aware my afterlife would be unlikely to be a friendly reunion with the family I slew, or the brother I tortured into near insanity. But this place, this choice, this being.
This was not what I expected. I expected my actions to be inflicted upon myself, the great wheel of Karma taking the debt from my soul.

But the chance to live again? The chance to make the right choices? Do I even deserve it? Am I mentally sound enough to even take it in my hands?

I want to pick the first world. Living how I have for the past seven years makes it the logical choice. It is the choice that will match up to my natural skillset best. Some of the threats depicted are beyond even my power as it is now, but my clans legacy would possibly allow me to reach this level eventually as the leader did with eyes that weren’t even his own.

But is that truly what I want? I already gave up my childhood to be the warrior of the dark.

The second world looks magical, it looks almost too inviting. But then I suppose that is the point of a fairy tale. The threats shown are far more numerous, but comparatively much weaker than the first. The threat being more societal and mental than physical.

I could make a truly massive difference in this world even if I never got any stronger than I am now. With a clear breath and free of that damn disease I feel better dead than I ever did alive.

My mind is made up. I do not shy from a challenge. And I would rather take the chance and fail to change, than condemn myself to another life like the past seven years.

“I will take my chance to be better.”

The Shinigami’s expression turns to a soft smile, almost human in countenance.

“You know, I bet you would pick that one, but I assumed you would pick the other. Your personal struggle will be greater but hold fast. I look forward to seeing what you teach this world.”

The world starts to grow, or am I shrinking?

“What is happening?”

“Your true crimes started at fourteen, when you slew your clan, but this was a manipulation. Your unforgivable crimes started when you were sixteen, and you had the choice to spare innocents, but refused to risk it. So you will start somewhere between those two points.”

“You said I would retain myself.”

The Shinigami chuckles.

“And you will, I’m just taking a little off the top. You will get it back. Well, most of it. Some of it will come when you deserve it.”

My eyes start to burn.

“Your little brother left these lying around. Would be a shame to see them go to waste.”

Wait.

“The Etern-“

It interrupts me.

“Not straight away of course. In this there will be no negotiation. Some power is granted, and some is earned. And young one. There is no generational curse of reincarnation forcing you to witness tragedy in this world. Find the other way.”

I slump in relief. I won’t have to lose anyone else to be what I need to be.

“Goodbye little raven. Hopefully next time we meet the slate will be clean.”

I nod.

“You have my word. I will find the path to peace.”

The sad smile is back again.

“Do not be so obsessed with finding peace for others that you fail to find it for yourself, or this lesson will have truly been in vain.”

My vision fades as my eyes roll back, and I feel myself falling.

“Good luck, Uchiha Itachi. I place you at a great schism in fate. Make the right choice this time.”

…

“Are you sure this was a good choice Hagoromo? You could have nominated the Namikaze instead.”

“A good choice? No, this was the final act from a theatre performance of bad choices. The redemption arc at the end of the story.”

“For the boy, or for you?”

“For both.”

“And the Shinigami?”

“They’ve agreed, as long as I agree to project my power no further than this single dimension while he is alive.”

“I wouldn’t think you would be happy about being confined to this world for any amount of time?”

“I just want to rest now brother. I’ve done my part; I’ve elevated our replacements. Now it is time for me to seek.”

“I’m surprised that you managed to deceive the god of death. His brothers eyes?”

“The Shinigami knew exactly what I was doing. The boy won’t succeed with Indra’s heritage alone.”

“I hope you made the right choice brother; the boy is damaged in a way that makes him… volatile.”

“No more than you were when we fought mother. He reminds me of you more than anyone else.”

“I suppose we will see then.”

 

Prologue Arc – A New World.

Chapter 1 – Summertime Sadness

I am falling seemingly forever, light, sound and scent pass me by as a black chill in the air arises. I feel cold all the way to the center of my being, curling into myself to try to ward off the endless biting chill of winter.

Then, a transition. From spirit to solid. So quick it almost leaves me with whiplash. I awaken in a snowdrift, frozen to my core.

As I rise to my feet, trying to find my strength. I look over myself, seemingly in the body I left to join Akatsuki in, cloak included. As the windchill hits me I frantically start channelling my dwindling chakra to ward off the insane cold.

The moonlight is thankfully enough to navigate by, but something is wrong. The moon has been shattered. Not entirely, no, but something has happened here that has completely shattered a part of the moon, massive chunks of a full half of its surface can be seen in the sky floating next to the lunar satellite.

What could have such power as to do such a thing here. Even in the world I come from, I cannot fathom this level of destruction.

I am shocked out of my investigation of the moon by the sound of the clashing of metal not far away, through the dark and snowy woodland. Checking my gear I start to stumble toward the only sign of life so far.
“A schism in fate. I suppose this is my cue then.” I murmur to myself.

I am thankful beyond measure that at least I am fully equipped.

Finally managing to start cycling my chakra to my legs, I take to the trees. My chakra is sluggish, my body bruised and painful. As I tumble through the branches within the darkened woods, the sound of combat gets louder.

I finally arrive at some sort of large, ruin dotted clearing. Two women, surrounded by a pack of snarling beasts, are facing each other over the clearing while I observe from a large tree above. The beasts feel incredibly off to my chakra sense. It feels like they are literally made of killing intent and not much else.

I make sure to shroud my presence, I have a feeling being caught here would not be a good idea. Thankfully chakra presence suppression seems to be keeping me covered.

“I’ll never give up Salem!”

One of the women, deep red haired and draped in a white cloak, with some mechanical contrivance in her arms is killing monsters, every recoil of the object in her hands preceded by the sound of an explosion. It seems to be some sort of boregun, but nothing like the ones we had back in the elemental nations. Those unwieldy things the samurai load with a ball and a stick is a far cry from this monster.

The other woman, pale skinned, white haired with eyes black as coal watching over the fight with a cold, calculating expression that wouldn’t be out of place on Madara’s face.

With a swipe of her hands more of the beasts appear, walking wolves with red maws, hulking boars and bears. All matter of beasts swirl from the shadows surrounding the clearing.

The red-haired woman is a ballet in motion, her rifle, now suddenly in the form of a spear twists in her arms as she appears and disappears in a scatter of petals. Not a Shunshin, but something similar.

Watching her puts me in mind of Shisui.

I am entranced by the fight as the woman, a veritable reaper, twists and twirls through the clearing, her spear seemingly lengthened into the form of an immense scythe, bladed on both ends.
I’ve seen faster, but I don’t think I’ve seen more graceful.

“Enough.”

The pale woman, Salem, swipes her arm and a black portal rips itself in the air between the two women.

Out of the maw comes a beast comparable to a small scale Summon. A great ape of purest black, plated in white bone armour and possessed of two massive wings of shadow.

“Why did you come here Summer Rose? To commit suicide for that fool? Did he make you believe that your eyes would put fear into me?” the pale witch sneers at the other woman, regal and imperious.

“I came here to put an end to your schemes Salem. I came here for my people!” her opponent yells back at her, panting, trying to draw breath but struggling.

“Then die for your ‘people’.” The witch replies with a tone of finality.

No more words are exchanged, the beast bounds across the clearing, far faster than its size would suggest.

The girl freshly identified as ‘Summer Rose’, however, is faster. In a burst of petals that brings to mind the cherry blossom of the Konoha spring festival, she engages in combat with the beast.
I want to jump in and help but with my chakra severely curtailed as it currently is, I need to pick the correct opening.

Summer Rose dances with the great ape, as they exchange blows, her weakness becomes apparent.

She can hit incredibly quickly, but the attack momentum has to be built up between movements. She can’t hit hard enough to penetrate the beasts armor, and it can’t move fast enough to hit her.

Then a sudden strike, a rumble of lightning as she does something and empowers her weapon with pure electricity. I raise myself in interest, she isn’t using Chakra, I would sense that! But she manages to use the strange power to remove the beasts arm.

Unfortunately she fails to dodge the return attack, a roaring burst of shadow from its mouth and catches her in the face.

As she ragdolls backwards, the beasts around the circle close in on her. However they stop at a hand signal from ‘Salem’. Her expression twisted in a rictus of fury as she gestures casually at the ground.

Summer Rose is spent, lay on the ground panting as the earth itself moves to bind her. The seems out of it, head lolling back as if boneless.

“That fool of a man should pick his tools better.”

With nought but a gesture, a conflagration of sickly green fire erupts, bearing down on the woman in white.

I don’t have any time to think, calling up a shadow clone I have it use the replacement technique to replace itself with the woman, while draping itself in an illusionary copy. Chakra reinforcement will hopefully allow it to remain long enough for the conflagration to cover its popping into smoke. For good measure I place a secondary illusion over it on the ground of Summer Rose writhing on the ground. I wince as my already abused chakra system protests at the overuse.

Unfortunately I am unable to retrieve her weapon. But hopefully she will forgive me for making the more prudent choice.

Placing the barely conscious woman over my shoulder, I flee into the tree canopy. Thankfully for now, seemingly undetected.

…

I run for what feels like hours, Summer Rose is thankfully light as I don’t think with the energy I have remaining I could have run for very long with someone much heavier on my back. My only navigation tool is a small frozen river running downhill. If I follow survivors logic, the river should eventually terminate at a lake or an ocean, both of which increase my odds of finding civilisation.

The sky is brightening, which is at least in my favour. I don’t think I could have continued if it were to get darker, or colder. As it is I am already severely underdressed for this weather, as is my unaware partner.

Before long I find myself on the precipice of a truly enormous cliff, below me stretches a valley, and a very wide river. Across the valley, set lower than the icy plateau I am stood upon is what looks like the start of a much more inviting forested flatland.

The valley seems like some ancient fault in the terrain. It reminds me a little of the Valley of the End had the valley formed naturally.

Behind me, I can sense the beasts still roaming the terrain, something clearly has them riled up and while they aren’t following me directly, they are definitely following something.

Possibly sensing Summer Rose? Maybe the presence of life itself. Regardless, I’m not sure but I’m not taking chances. The cliff is steep but not quite vertical. If I take it slowly I can use Iwa’s mountain goat chakra technique to descend to the valley floor.

The trip is perilous, but I’ve suffered worse in the past. Some of the missions for Root had me navigating terrain much more dangerous than this, and in a much worse state.

The woman over my shoulder is delirious, babbling and muttering in her unconscious state. I don’t know if she is under the influence of some sort of technique from the witch, or if the beasts shadowy roar had some other form of mentally damaging technique, but I can’t risk diagnostics or healing this close to the enemy.

I cross the river at a clip, water-walking making short work of what would otherwise be impassable terrain. I also take the opportunity to seal some water away in my survival kit, no idea when I will have opportunity to gather running water again.

I’m getting hungry, and my bone tiredness is not getting any better with the forced march through sub-zero temperatures. I simply don’t have the chakra to compensate with how drained I was on my bodies formation here. I have some survival rations, but given there is no sign of civilisation here nor any sort of distant landmark that could identify a direction to move in, it likely won’t be enough. There are signs of animals however, so I have to just hope they aren’t beasts of shadow like the ones I have left behind in my mad dash.

I need to find shelter as soon as I have mounted the other side of the valley, I cannot risk passing out in the open. The terrain here is warmer and though that dark presence still lingers in the air it feels slightly lighter here.

What happened to this world for it to be so choked and corroded by this ever-present darkness? My chakra itches as if warding off an attack constantly.

Even Kabuto didn’t feel this slimy.

The climb feels much longer going up, even though the distance is lower. My legs are like jelly and my head is an ever-present ache. But I grit my teeth and press on. To be a shinobi is to endure. I have faced narrower odds before.

Finally cresting the other side of the valley I take stock. Quickly eating a survival bar I rehydrate and then attempt to call up my chakra.

My capacity is incredibly low, though taking in the fresh calories has kickstarted my regeneration. I don’t have enough to keep warming myself and Summer Rose the way I have been.

The trees here are old, and very large. Some form of oak though I don’t recognise the genus. Which makes sense given this isn’t even my own world.

Looking round I identify a tree large enough to make a blind in. Using a wind enhanced kunai I quickly cut back branches up near the canopy and lash them by the trees massive roots into a loose shelter. Slow and careful chakra manipulation allows me to sink and compress the ground down as much as I dare.

In the morning fire will at least, come incredibly cheaply and easily given my blood.

Looking over my work, I am satisfied. It’s nothing long term, but I’ve slept in worse on a mission. I need to stay close to the valley edge as I will be following along the large river below come morning.

Hopefully my unwitting partner will be awake and cognizant by then.

Weary beyond all comprehension, I cover Summer Rose in an a freshly unsealed seal-heated blanket. A quick set of seals to set a perimeter so wake me up on movement, an absolute requirement on solo missions, Then, finally I am able to set my head down inside the wood and leaf shelter.

Her breathing is at least evened out. I fall asleep uneasily to the sound of nature, wary of the days to come.

 

Chapter 2 – Red Like Roses


I awaken with a blade to my throat.

With a very careful swallow I open my eyes to a set of glaring silver orbs. I didn’t notice her eyes last night while she was fighting, but her eyes are uncommonly attractive. Her eyes bring my mind to a Hyuuga, but the presence of a pupil takes the eyes from creepy and cold, to expressive and frankly, quite beautiful.

“Who the fuck are you, where the fuck are we, and where the fuck is Salem?”

I am a little taken aback that somehow she managed to get a blade to my throat without me waking up. But sleeping within the detection field of my seals means that they wouldn’t have covered her actions within the boundary anyway.

It’s still a little embarrassing that she’s snuck up on me though, I must have been more tired than I thought.

“I am Uchiha Itachi, I don’t know where we are because I don’t know where I am, and if by ‘Salem’ you mean the white witch who was about to incinerate you, then if she hasn’t moved since last night she will be about sixty miles in that direction.”

I indicate with my eyes, as the knife is still digging quite tightly into my trachea.

“Are you one of her little minions then? Did you bring me out here to kill me, huh?”

I look around the wooden lean to with a deadpan expression. She mirrors my look before putting her other hand on the back of her head in an apologetic expression.

“Uh right, you are right this doesn’t look like an evil minion castle. What happened last night?”

The knife loosens slightly. In all honesty I could disarm her at any time but I need to establish trust first, which is easier from a position of weakness at this moment with how frantic she seems.

“I was lost in the woods and followed the sound of fighting, I came across you and the pale witch in a fight, you lost, badly. She was about to incinerate you after the ape thing knocked you out with its breath. I used a technique to pull you out of the fight with an illusion, and carried you here with the beasts at our back?”

She looks at me in frank disbelief.

“You expect me to believe you, a little kid, carried me over what? Sixty miles, more? Away from Salem, with the Grimm at our backs? Without being found?”

“I don’t know what a Grimm is, but if you mean the beasts then I am very very good at hiding.”

She drops the knife and backs away from me an expression of stark shock on her face.

“How can you not know what a Grimm is!?”

…

After finally getting out of the lean to, and lighting a fire, I try to come up with the words to explain to Summer Rose the situation I am in.

I find I can’t. She will think me frankly insane. Instead I tell her that I fell into a strange portal near my hometown and ended up out in the woods here.

She can’t quite believe that not only do I not know what a ‘Grimm’ is. I also have no sign of having something called ‘Aura’?

“So let me get this right, you use something called ‘catra’ to use your abilities?”

“’Chakra’ and yes. Chakra is the combination of physical and spiritual energy and is required to use my techniques.”

She sits back deep in thought as we share my rations.

“Can it be taught?” She asks me with a slightly giddy expression on her face.

“Yes, anyone with Chakra can be taught to use it which is everyone since…”

She has no Chakra signature.

None.

Impossible in my world, but this one must run off different rules.

“You don’t seem to have Chakra however, so I wouldn’t be able to teach you to use it. As far as I was aware that was impossible though so something must be different here.”

She slumps.

“Damn, seemed like it would be a good addition against Salem and the Grimm.”

She munches through another ration bar, and I end up having to put them away given she’s just eaten about ten thousand calories of rations in one sitting. I have quite a few, but not enough to keep up with that rate.

She pouts but nods in understanding not long after.

“So what is Aura?”

She coughs and ration bar fragments burst out of her mouth, hitting me in the face. As the remnants of now wasted survival food bounce off me, her expression turns sheepish as I turn a dry look to her.

“Imsorryimsorryomigoshimsorry.” She’s wiping my face with her cloak while fretting with her other hand.

“Please calm down, it’s fine, I’m clean now.” I hold both my hands up in a calming gesture and also to ward of her ministrations.

She slumps back against the tree, red-faced with embarrassment.

“I’m sorry, it’s just… shocking to find someone so far out in the frontier without knowing what Aura is. Especially someone armed like you. Even if you are a kid.”

At the word armed, she looks around in alarm.

“Where is Piercing Rose??” she starts frantically looking around the small camp. I’m not sure where she thinks I would have hidden her weapon.

I feel like I’m about to be in great pain.

“I’m sorry, I had to leave it behind, it was you or the weapon.”

Her shoulders slump as she turns to me with a dead expression.

“I’m glad you chose me, b-but my baby!” she sinks to her knees and seemingly sinks into a deep sadness.

“I apologise.” I’m not sure what to do she seems very attached to the weapon.

“You’re pretty well spoken for a kid aren’t ya?” Her mood snaps back to happy as she seems to be watching me carefully. Her moods change like the wind.

“My Father made sure I could converse well, yes.” I’m not sure what she’s alluding to.

“He must be a cool guy, would love to meet him one day if he raised a kid like you.”

“He’s dead, both my parents are.” I state back calmly.

She looks back at me with wide eyes, cheeks once again reddening.

“Im sorry, I cant seem to stop dropping myself in it.”

“It’s no problem, they died a good while ago.” I leave out that I was the one to pierce their heart. I feel like it would be a poor start to communication.

I turn to break camp and feel her move behind me. Her arms wrap around me from behind but I feel no threat.

“Thank you, for saving my life.” She whispers into my back.

“You are welcome but thank me by not dying.”

She backs off and nods, before reaching her hand out.

“We didn’t get introduced properly yet, so let me do it properly. Hi Uchiha, I’m Summer Rose, Huntress extraordinaire!” she looks from her hand to me and back as if encouraging me to shake it.

She is as excitable as a fresh born kitten.

“My given name is Itachi. Shinobi of Konohagakure.”

“Ohhhh you do the family name first like Mistral! Good to know! Just call me Summer!”

I’ll need to remember that, given name first, family name second. Unusual, but likely not the first lesson I will need to learn. I also make a mental note about Mistral.

“So why were you fighting the witch?”

Her expression sets into a frown as we sit back by the fire, thoughts of moving on abandoned for now.

“If you don’t know about Grimm, or Aura, then you really aren’t from around here and there’s too much to explain right here and now. I’ll summarise, humanity exists on ten percent of the world that we know of. The rest belongs to the Grimm. And she is either the source or directly connected to it. I’ve been hunting her for a long time. But she wasn’t supposed to be here. This was just a lead so I could find where her base is supposed to be.” She grits her teeth and clenches her hands, seemingly done for now.

“Alone?” I state calmly.

She looks at me in askance.

“You have been hunting the source of, if you are correct, a force that has infested ninety percent of this world’s land, on your own?”

“Remnant.”

I look at her questioningly.

“The world is called Remnant. And yes. On my own. Everyone else gave up or was too cowardly…”

I won’t back down from this.

“Not cowardly. Sane.” I state calmly.

He eyes seem to light up as she glares at me. Something in her expression tells me to move carefully.

“Do you have a family Summer?” I ask.

Her expression softens, and she nods.

“A husband, Taiyang. And two daughters. Yang, my oldest, is eleven. And my youngest, Ruby, who is nine. Yang is my stepdaughter but I love her as if she were mine.”

She is bound by duty. I can see it in her bearing and I can’t judge her. She left her family behind to go and hunt the source of danger to them. Can I really say I had done any different? I ended my entire clan to safeguard my brother, and my village.

I’m no hypocrite.

“You shouldn’t have been alone, but I won’t judge you. I would have done the same.”

She seems taken aback.

“That bastard Qrow wouldn’t agree with you.” she spits out through gritted teeth. “He was supposed to be my damn teammate but he just followed the headmasters orders like a good boy, I left Taiyang to protect the girls and hunted that bitch myself. The headmaster said my eyes were one of the keys to beating her.” She seems on the edge of tears.

“It may surprise you to know, I have my own history with eyes of power.”

She looks over at me in surprise. In response, I activate my Sharingan, black bleeding into red as my perception of the world shifts. She rocks back in response.

“Wow, they’re so pretty.” Suddenly she’s in my face with her hands on my cheeks looking into my eyes.

Sharingan…pretty?

I body flicker to the other side of the fire as she pouts.

“No fair. I wanted to look at the pretty eyes.”

“Most people say they are intimidating.” I reply.

“How could glowy purple eyes be intimidating?”

…Purple?

I pull out my forehead protector, buffed to a mirror shine and look at myself in it.

My Sharingan is activated, but no longer the blood red it was previously. Instead the eyes are a deep glowing lavender purple, with the three tomoe present, but black lined white instead of pure black. And I can unfortunately see what she means by pretty.

Am I wrong for being annoyed? Red was much better for intimidation purposes. And what else is now different about them other than color? I will need to do some testing, and make sure they work the same way before I utilise them in combat.

Summer looks over my headband with undisguised interest, before looking back into my eyes.

It’s easy to forget this is not my world, people don’t know not to look us in our cursed eyes here.

“So, I’m pretty sure you have no idea where we are do you Itachi?” Summer interrupts my pou- , no, musing on the changes to my eyes.

“I have no idea, apologies. I was going to follow survival logic and follow the water downhill to the ocean.

She laughs, but it’s a humorless thing.

“Right idea usually, not here though. This is the continent of Umbral which is the most north-westerly continent of the civilised lands if you weren’t aware. Which you probably aren’t because let’s face it you don’t seem to know anything about the world. We are in southwest Umbral to be exact. People… don’t live here. Haven’t for a very long time. All you will find here on this continent is ruins and extremely powerful Grimm.”

She pulls a map out of one of her pouches and shows it to me.

It’s a rough, hand drawn thing, but the point is made. She quickly points out a few points of interest for me on the map.

“So to our south-west across the sea is the Kingdom of Vacuo, that’s where I was before I was here, I was attacked by assassins there and one thing led to another and I ended up getting some intel that there was a major bandit hideout here on the edge of Umbral that had connections to Salem, didn’t think she would be here herself though.”

I hum.

“It was likely a trap, difficult to believe assassins would be stupid enough to carry clues to their origin.”

She sighs.

“I knew that that was likely, but it was the only lead I found in the past two years of travelling and searching backwater and ruin for any trace of her.” She slumps down next to the fire and blows an errant piece of hair from her face.

“I have a question burning in my mind. Why aren’t there literally armies of people hunting for this woman if she is connected to the Grimm, and they are such a problem?”

“Because only about eight people know she even exists, and of those eight only two really have any chance against her in combat. Me and Headmaster Ozpin.” She replies flippantly.

I think there’s probably a piece of info I am unaware of that makes her so casual about that. I can only deduce there is some sort of Op-Sec reason for keeping the queen of the Grimm a secret.

“Why wouldn’t you tell more people so they can prepare though?” I question her earnestly.

In response, I get another sigh.

“Itachi I don’t know where you are from, but I know that wherever it is you somehow don’t have any Grimm. You have to understand that that is… unbelievable to me. So I may say things thinking you have basic understanding of something. Im sorry if I do that, let me know if I do okay.”

I nod, as she reaches her hands out to warm them on the fire.

“The Grimm are attracted to negative emotions, if people knew that there was a dark queen of the Grimm, and that she was so powerful that there were maybe two, possibly three people on the planet who could probably face her in combat and survive, then the feelings of negativity would spike, and the Grimm attacks would increase. We could possibly even end up with another Grimm tide or two, which is where a massive congregation of Grimm attack a location all at once.

Add on to that that Salem is literally immortal and can only possibly be killed by someone with my eyes as far as I know, then you have a recipe for disaster if more than a few people know about her.”

I nod, and rest back against the tree deep in thought. I’ve dealt with immortals before, Madara and Hidan come to mind as does Orochimaru. But something tells me that this is a different situation altogether.

Summer joins me and starts explaining the map she has with her while I analyse the situation.

She points out all the major city states, Vale, Mistral, Atlas, Vacuo and Menagerie. Spread across five continents of varying size. She then explains to me the academy system.

“So, usually people have a pretty standard route, you go to a primary combat academy till ya hit seventeen, and then you attend one of the main schools where you will pass or fail with a team of three others. Hunter teams always work in fours as Aura has a magnifying effect on the Grimm negativity attraction thingy. We only unlock the Aura of as few people as we can to get by so that we don’t end up overwhelmed.”

She pauses to make sure I am still listening.

“The main schools are Beacon, for Vale, Haven, for Mistral, Atlas, for Atlas, and Shade, for Vacuo. I’m from Beacon, and was on a team with my Husband, and a brother and sister from a family called Branwen. Raven and Qrow. Raven is Yang’s mom and was my best friend. The four of us worked closely with the headmaster against Salem. Well until we split up.”

I don’t pry, I want to but I sense she wouldn’t appreciate it right now. She ends up rambling about Beacon, and the staff and lessons and I let her. Content to absorb more information about my new world.

Dawns light is fully upon us and the sun is raising up into the sky.

“So what are you going to do now Itachi? With your family gone as you said and with you having no way back home?” She asks.

“I will probably hire myself out as a mercenary, I have no friends or family in these lands, and no other way to make a living as it stands.”

“That’s not going to happen.” She retorts.

I look to her in askance.

“You saved my life dummy, did you think I was going to leave you to make your way in the world all by yourself? Especially when you don’t know anything? No. You are coming home with me.”

“Uh” Is my eloquent reply.

She smiles at me, but I don’t understand the emotion she is trying to convey.

“I’m not letting a fourteen-year-old boy out into the world on his own with no support. Especially not after what you did for me. You will come home with me and I will introduce you to my daughters and Tai and we can make room for you to stay until you are sure about what you need to do. Qrow sometimes teaches at the Signal primary academy on Patch so I can ask him if he knows about any other portals too.”

I feel bad about lying about the Shinigami. But I have a feeling it won’t be impressed if I reveal its existence here. A cold shiver up my back tells me I am correct in my assumption.

“Anyway, let’s head out, the forests will be filling back up with Grimm if Salem has left and dropped her close control. We need to get ahead of their spreading back out. I have a boat down by the tip of the south-eastern peninsula!”

She orients herself somehow and dashes off without a second thought. There’s nothing left in our temporary camp so I quickly move to catch up. Taking to the trees I catch up with her and then overtake her.

“Hey no fair!”

 

Chapter 3 – Beneath Courage, Nothing


The trip southeast is perilous, as we get close to the coast the constant patrols of Grimm thicken. Multiple times we are forced to stop and take stock. Illusions, at least the ones not empowered by my Sharingan are tough to use on the regular Grimm. I am thankful that the Illusion I used when rescuing Summer was instinctively cast using my eyes or I would have been in real trouble.

Using my eyes brings a whole other set of problems though. The chakra cost is astronomical.

I suppose it makes some sort of sense, the Sharingan specifically gets stronger and more efficient with age and experience and technically this body is new. At least I hope that’s the reason because I’m probably burning Hatake Kakashi levels of chakra when I keep my eyes activated at the moment.

For now I will stick with regular shinobi skills, they seem effective regardless.

I was worried that the Grimm would be reporting back what they knew to the witch, and that we would be in trouble with her learning of Summers continued survival, however Summer assures me that they don’t seem to work that way. More like mindless soldiers directed to a place, they get more intelligent with age but seemingly have no reporting structure.

That’s not to say it’s impossible, just unlikely from what she knows.

That…doesn’t fill me with confidence but I suppose I don’t really have much of a choice but to believe it. We just have to make it to the coast and we should be clear. Even if I have to grab Summer and run on the water under the cliffs.
Hopefully it won’t come to that.

The terrain roughens and the treeline becomes much sparser as we leave the blackened icy ground behind for intermittent grass and snow. The terrain finally turning to something more familiar.

The temperature however is still burning through my chakra like nothing else. Whatever this ‘Aura’ is of Summers it must be having a similar effect as she isn’t showing any sign of being affected by this insane cold.

Then we arrive at ‘The Wall.’

A sheer cliff of ice, jutting out at an angle that makes descent impossible on foot. And I don’t see any ropes or stairs anywhere. On my own I could likely fashion a descent gear from wire to allow me to reach a point that I could chakra walk down at least part of this.

But with my chakra store as low as it is combined with the increased chakra cost that seems to be in place here, it just doesn’t seem like a good idea.

“We made good time Itachi.” Summer says though heavy breaths.

“So how do we get down, head up the cliff line until we hit a descent?”

She chuckles.

“Only if you want to travel the same distance we just did again. No, we are headed through a cave system, a remnant of some old ruins that cuts through the ice.”

Not at all ominous.

…

The ruins lie not far from where we are, south along the cliff edge from our initial arrival point.

When she said ‘ruins’ I expect a few ancient decaying houses, maybe a temple or something along those lines.

What I didn’t expect was a large metallic structure, made of some unknown metal and dotted with green lit crystal. Carvings and scripture of a sort I have never before seen dot the cracked and crumbling stone pillars that are seemingly haphazardly placed to support the creaking and rusting structure above.

“What is this place?” I query.

She just shrugs in response.

“Who knows? There are things like this all over Remnant. Maybe something from the ancient days, could be some sort of aura tower or something someone tried to build to fend off the Grimm. That’s a job for dusty old archaeologists like Prof Port at Beacon. For a Huntress, all we need to know is ‘Are there Grimm or bandits around.’ And in a place like this the answer is almost always ‘yes’ to Grimm.

My curiosity unsated, but without the time to really explore, I sigh, and follow Summer to a stone and metal inlaid door, at the center of one of the many metal spires dotted around. The door is already ajar.

“This is how I came up originally, there wasn’t much inside, a few small Capyvara, burrowing rat-like Grimm. But nothing major. With them all riled up from the fight at the black ruins though…” she trails off looking uneasily at the blackened depths ahead of us.

“We move with stealth?” I ask, a feeling of unease deep inside my chest as I look to the threshold.

She nods and moves into the door. As she moves to enter, I slap my head as I remember my scrolls.

“I have a spare weapon for you while we move, give me a moment.”

I pull out my storage scroll. Only there’s an extra scroll here. The symbol on the scroll is the Shinigami’s symbol. With a note.

“Open me.”

Shuddering internally I move the scroll to the bottom of my pack. I think I will leave that one for later. Grabbing my regular scroll I pull out my backup ninjato and hand it to her. She looks over my scroll in interest.

“Cool trick.” She says, undisguised curiosity clear in her expression. “Thanks Itachi, been a while since I’ve used a sword but I think I can make it work.”

She inspects the blade in interest, pausing over the hiltless handle seemingly expecting something different from the weapon, before nodding and sheathing the weapon at her hip.

Sword in hand, she makes her way into the doorway, and to a set of stone steps below.

…

A large and winding spiral staircase opens up into a cavern of pure black ice below. For what purpose would such a structure be made? The carving of the tunnels seems deliberate, some sort of defensive fortification? Against what? The Grimm? Are they so powerful to require geological engineering of this sort?

Regardless, the tunnels are warmer than they should be, so something strange is afoot. The tunnels ripple and shimmer as we walk in silence.

Most of the caverns are lit through some unknown source, flat green lights embedded in some of the walls, no source of energy discernible.

Summer stops every so often to pick something up from the ground. A trail maybe? I’m glad she seems to know where we are going as I am beyond lost. Maybe I should have used the Sharingan to memorise the route so far. Well hindsight will not aid me now. I just have to rely on Summer.

As we walk, we are occasionally harassed by rats, black as the night sky with great bleached bone masks inscribed with red symbology. Summer flickers up the tunnel taking them out one by one, but I can tell she is tiring. Still nowhere close to recovered from yesterday, even with the nights sleep.

Occasionally I catch her looking at me, deep in thought. She is still wary of me, I can tell. But she tries to cover it up with jokes and overacted smiles.
I don’t blame her.

The rumbling of rocks is our only warning before a veritable avalanche of ice is charging towards us from further up in the tunnels.
“RUN!” Summer screams and starts flickering forward in a burst of petals.

Not needing to be told twice I start body flickering after her. I am no Shisui, but I can hold my own. We flicker down the main tunnel, deeper and deeper into the ground before Summer stops at a junction and grabs my attention.

“We cant go any deeper! This part goes properly underground. It’s not safe!” she screams, darting into a side tunnel marked with a red piece of cloth.

We charge into the side tunnel intent on continuing our mad dash, however we are blocked by a writhing mass of umbral flesh. A veritable avalanche of Capyvara is undulating towards us.

Without pause summer reaches into the pouch at the side of her chest and pulls out a red vial.

“Was hoping I wouldn’t need to use this.”

She holds the vial and her borrowed blade together, before popping the cork and pulling out what looks like shimmering red grains of sand. She glows red as the blade lights up in an inferno.

Flashing forward the air between us and the mass of rats is lit up with blazing slashes of fire. Their bodies dissipate in a cacophony of screeches as she clears the way.

She wavers, exhaustion clear on her face but she turns to me with a nod as we continue our mad dash through the tunnel system, slightly uphill this time.

As we reach the end of the lit part of the tunnel we are in, a light ahead promises freedom. Natural blue light from the daytime sky outside.

The ground crumbles as a black pit opens beneath our feet. I am able to stop in time but Summer is not so lucky. She falls into the blackened pit with a scream.

Not today. I didn’t save her life from that pale Oni to lose her here. I pull my ninja wire and attach it to my kunai. Diving into the pit after her I start layering thrown wind enhanced kunai into the icy ceiling above.

I catch her halfway through her fall into the cavernous pit below, the ground below scattered with hundreds, no, thousands of Capyvara, screeching and hissing all the while. My cable pulls as I desperately channel chakra to winch me in. My arm yanks painfully before a snapping sensation at the shoulder tells me I have just dislocated my shoulder.

The chakra cost of everything is cursed! My damn control is in the wind as I fail a basic chakra control exercise I learned in the damned academy. The cracking of my shoulder indicating an improperly applied winching manoeuvre. What the hell is going on with my chakra. Control is my speciality!

She gasps in relief clutching her ribs where I grabbed her non too gently as I gasp in pain from my currently useless arm, hanging from ninja wire as an avalanche of snow and ice pours from the hole we fell through, crushing the beasts below.

Summer grasps onto my chest looking at my dangling arm in fear as blood drips from the wire lashed wounds on my forearm.

“Summer, I need you to move to my back and grab on as tightly as you can so I can swap arms on the wire.”

She nods, white with fear and clutched onto my back in a piggyback as I gingerly swap my left arm over to carrying my weight and uncoil the cable from my right.

My arm is a mess, but we have bigger things to worry about right now than a bit of blood.

“Summer, can you reset my shoulder from there or will we need to be on the ground.”

She looks a little green at the thought.

“I – I can do it here Itachi. But it will hurt, don’t drop us ya hear!”

She puts on a faux tone of humour but I can tell the fear is real.

I wrap the wire tightly and brace myself as she yanks my shoulder back into the socket. I hiss as the joint pops from being relocated. Channelling my rapidly dwindling chakra to the area I start the healing process.

The pouring snow and ice has stopped now and I should hopefully be able to pull us up to the original tunnel. It’s slow going with one properly functional arm, but the chakra winching technique carries me through and I manage to get us back up into the tunnel.

Summer drops to her knees on the solid ground offering a prayer to some unknown deity.

Then she glomps on to me in relief.

“That’s two I owe you kid.” She whispers as she clutches me like a floatation aid.

“We need to move on, get into proper light so we can check our injuries.” I don’t miss how she is clutching her ribs, likely one or more cracked from the force I stopped us with and how hard I grabbed her.

She lets go and with another worried glance at my arm, she leads the way up the tunnel, slower this time. The way behind us is blocked now, filled with ice. We were lucky in a way that the hole on the floor opened up as it allowed the avalanche to drain into the caverns below instead of blocking what looks to be our only way out.

We exit the upward tunnel into another cave of ice, but this one has a vista out to the open air below. Looking out of the gaping hole in the wall, we are at an equivalent ruin as the one above, this one an outdoor staircase and bridge structure leading over to thankfully green woodland.

The terrain and weather in this world is wild. Seeing no movement behind us but not wanting to take the chance, we close and bar the inner door behind us, and take stock.

My arm is thankfully not broken, I may have messed up the winching technique somehow but my reinforcement at least saved the bone. The muscle wasn’t so lucky I have strains and sprains up and down my arm from my wrist to my shoulder.
Summer unlatches her outer vest and pulls up her shirt at the side to show black bruised ribs on the lower left half of her chest.

“I don’t think theyre broken Itachi but cracked is a certainty. My Aura will heal it but I don’t think we have time to stop, and I am low on Aura as it is.” She says while wrapping her ribs and reclothing herself.
Wrapping bandages around the wire burns and cuts on my arm, I nod in acknowledgement.

“My chakra is low, and my control is not working properly in this place. I don’t know what is going on but everything is incredibly expensive compared to how it usually is, and the control ratios are completely different.”
She grimaces.

“It might be because we are on Umbral. Aura doesn’t work right here either, I usually have a lot more staying power than this. Something about this continent saps energy from people, it’s why there are no settlements here, well of anyone not aligned with Salem anyway.”

I pull out some more survival rations and hand a few over to Summer before taking a soldier pill and more than the usual amount of rations myself. My food is half gone now, but after that experience we need to move with alacrity and I don’t have time for natural restoration. The combination of added calories and the chakra pill gives me a much-needed boost.

Finishing our meal, I check over my wounds for one last time, comfortable that I am at least fully combat fit, if a little in pain while my chakra heals me.

“Let’s go.”

 

Chapter 4 – A Paragon of Virtue


After escaping the ruins and finally making out way to properly green lands, we pick up speed. Summer is not comfortable at first given the state of her ribs, but for every mile that passes our speed increases as our amplified healing starts picking up some of the slack.

Our run is going well, and we are making good time to the coast. Summer is unbelievably fast for someone without a hint of Chakra.

Inevitably however, we are stopped by one of the roaming packs of Grimm at a narrow pass without a reasonable way around. And I finally get my first up close daytime look at the full-sized Grimm.

They are disgusting, both in bearing and to my chakra sense. Something about them causes my very spirit to recoil in utter disgust. The rats were bad, but their size made them much harder to sense as individuals, feeling more akin to a rolling tide of corruption. These ones that actually have an individual presence of their own feel much worse.

And there are people who ally themselves with these… things. Willingly?

Despicable.

This is a pack of ‘Beowolf’ according to Summer. Though more armored than the usual sort apparently.

“Let me deal with this Itachi.”

She smirks and reaches back to her holster. Her weapon-less empty holster. Then she sinks down to the ground in despair.

“I promise Piercing Rose, even though your new little sister will be an upgrade in every way I will never forget about you.” she whispers.

“Do you need a moment?” I ask her in a deadpan voice. She looks at me with a playful glare.

“I’ll deal with them with the sword!” she suddenly exclaims.

“Don’t bother, you said yourself your Aura is still quite low and your ribs aren’t in a great condition. Let me handle these.”

I draw a kunai in my left hand. Let’s test the durability.

I flicker to the rear of the pack, quickly stabbing my Kunai into the back of one of their necks between bony spines where there is no armor. It drops like a stone.

Flickering back to Summer I have to ask.

“Are they usually this fragile?”

She looks on in disbelief.

“They act like injuries that should affect them in certain ways do. If you black out an eye, they get less accurate almost mathematically to the percentage of eyes you have taken out as an example. Take an ear and they’ll barely be able to hear you. Don’t assume they will act like a real beast or follow real life logic; they’re not made of flesh. So yeah, giving them a spine severing injury should dissipate them like it would end a normal person.”

Good to know.

“How are they with fire?” I smirk.

“Normal fire doesn’t do much. Dust enhanced fire it depends on the potency really.”

I speed over to two stragglers and take them out in the same way as the first. The rest are grouped up which means one thing. I need to test my core techniques anyway.

I weave my signs and incant.

“Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!”

Leaping in the air I aim the technique down into the pack, controlling the technique for heat intensity rather than size. I don’t technically need the hand signs anymore, but for tweaking the output on the fly it’s much less taxing on the chakra. Taking a deep breath and breathing out the Uchiha signature technique into the crowd, the beowolves go up in a massive gout of red-hot flame without any chance to dodge.

When the fire burns out, there is nothing left of them.

Flickering back to Summer, I nod at her and indicate for us to move on. She doesn’t listen though just stares at there the pack was previously stood with her jaw dropped.

“That. Was. Amazing!!” She grabs me by the shoulder and starts recounting the fight. “You were like bam pow swish zoom. ‘I’m not taking any crap from you today Mr Beowolf, eat weaponised sign language!’ Fwoosh boom! And without dust too? Is this your semblance? Do you even have semblances wherever you are from? Can you make more fire? Bigger fire?” She continues on like this at a breakneck speed I can barely understand for a few minutes before I finally manage to get a word in edgeways.

“I can show you more later, we need to make toward your boat do we not?” I ask in exasperation.

“Why didn’t you do that in the tunnel though? Burning rats and all?” she pouts.

“I was low on Chakra, and while the pill I took at the ruin exit kickstarted my chakra regeneration you can only take one per day and I won’t be able to make more once I run out unless you have equivalent plants here somewhere. In addition, firing off fireballs in a tunnel made of ice feels like a poor plan. And with my control shot how it is I’m not using nonprimary elements until I can test them, thoroughly.”

She nods in understanding, and we make to move on.

With nothing more to say, we head for the coast. The tree line is thin enough here that I can see glimmering snippets of ocean off in the distance, downhill from us the bay is quite a way ahead of us still.

While we run I reflect on the chakra usage from my fireball test. It used roughly what I expected it to. Compared to back at home.

There’s some sort of theme here I know it. I just need to tease out the connection. Illusions and elemental techniques come easily, more easily than they should given my apparent age. Non-elemental techniques and personal enhancement is much more expensive than back home, even compared to back in the academy when I was barely five years old it was easier to enhance myself than it is now.

…

After a long dash punctuated by dead Beowolves, we arrive at the bay as the sun hits passes its zenith. Intermittent attacks by Grimm are fended off with relative ease and Summer seems pensive the closer we get.

“We will be sailing straight for the island of Patch, where Taiyang and the kids live and where I am from...” She says with a tense expression before continuing.

“I’ve… not been back in over two years now. I’ve been a little obsessed with my hunt. Tai might not be happy to see me so im just letting you know in advance in case it ends up in a spar or something. Don’t want you jumping in you hear!”

I nod, it’s reminiscent of how father and mother used to resolve arguments.

“Good, because when I tell him I’ve basically adopted a fourteen-year-old, oh boy he’s gonna be maaaaaad.” She chuckles.

“Adopted?” I look at her in disbelief.

“What else do you call inviting a fourteen-year-old kid to live with you when he has nowhere else to go?”

Okay so maybe she has a point. But I don’t need a replacement family.

“Let’s not move too fast, I will stay with you for a few days but I don’t promise any more than that. I refuse to sit idle nor will I go to one of these “primary combat schools” you speak of. My schooling was over seven years ago I have no interest in returning.” I make my point cleanly. 14 years old this body may be, but I am a twenty-one-year-old man and I don’t need adopting or schooling.”

She nods knowingly.

“Trust me kiddo, once you’ve eaten my cooking for a few days, you’ll never want to leave.”

She smirks and dashes off toward the beach with me stuttering in tow.

She trusts too easily. If she knew what I was…

…

“What is that?” I question her in disbelief.

The ‘boat’ she mentioned is basically a skiff, barely seaworthy from the looks of things.

“This is my Braver, she’s sailed me through thick and thin she has.” She nods with a self-satisfied look.

“Please tell me you are joking and this is just a raft we are using to get to the real boat.” I plead with her.

She laughs uproariously.

“Itachi my boy, let me introduce you to the wonders of MECHASHIFT!”

She kicks out at the skiff and it starts to change, nothing major, it’s still a very small vessel, but it at least doesn’t look like a collection of scrap metal and prayers anymore. It even has some sort of engine on the back. And an actual mast.

Without realising it I sigh in relief.

This just makes her laugh all the more.

“When we get back to Patch, I am putting you on some sort of remedial education. The books won’t kill you, but it will feel like they will!”

I shake my head as she pushes the boat into the ocean waves.

I take a seat opposite her as she starts the engine and deploys a sail from somewhere in the mast. The mechanics of it hurt my eyes.

Maybe I do need some sort of education on the things possible in this new world.

“Hey Itachi, do you trust me?” she asks as we move out to sea.

“I do.” And it feels strange that I can genuinely say I do. She reminds me heavily of my mother, crossed with Uzumaki Kushina. Maybe that’s why I find it so easy to travel with her.

“Close your eyes and reach deep into yourself for your very core.”

So when she says trust she means actual trust. Thinking back to the Shinigami’s last words to me, I decide to take a leap of faith.

I close my eyes and feel Summer reach out and put her hand on my face.

…

I want to trust Itachi. I really do. His eyes are so sad, too sad for a kid his age.

He’s powerful too, in a way not many people are. Strength comes easily to him, you can just tell. No-one is so quietly competent at what they do without a long story behind them. And to be this powerful at his age? Those stories aren’t the ones with happy beginnings.

But it’s too convenient. He has no Aura at all, I’m pretty talented at feeling Aura and his is non-existent. Whatever he uses to do all the crazy shit he does, some of it casually and without thinking. Well, it definitely isn’t Aura.

But that gives me an opportunity.

The kid needs a family, you can see it in every glance, In every action. He’s like a cat, that was abused for too long and doesn’t know how to live with a family anymore. And he saved my life too! Twice! Plus, cool fireballs are always a great addition in my eyes.

But I can’t bring him near the girls, near Tai, without being sure of his intentions. He was lying about the portal but I got no sense of lies from him when he said he wasn’t with Salem. His lack of knowledge… It’s strange, and unnerving.

It’s almost like he’s from another world entirely. But that’s stupid right? Maybe he’s from some distant unknown village in Mistral…

Him not having his aura active is an opportunity. If I activate his Aura for him, then I will get to feel his soul brush up against mine.

And I will know for sure. Hopefully he will forgive me for not trusting him, especially after he saved my life twice over. But weighing up my daughters lives, I have to know.

What are you Itachi Uchiha?

He closes his eyes; I knew he would. We’ve come to understand a little of each other on our long sprint through the wilderness.

“Reach down into your very depths and feel for that thing that makes you, you. You will know when you find it.”

I put my hand on his face, as I did for Ruby all those years ago.

“For it is in loving that we achieve immortality. Through this we become a protector, of friends and of family. To give acceptance above all. Infinite in distance and unbound by death, I release your soul, and within my arms, accept thee.”

And then I feel it. The core of his being.

The warrior, the guardian, the orphan, the reaper.

The pacifist.

I feel his love for a lost family member, I feel the heartbeat of his soul, beating through his being. Beautiful and boundless. The remnant of an ancient curse, broken through will and way.

His Aura is a beautiful shimmering light blue-violet colour. He is incredibly powerful, his Aura vast and full of that spark of life.

This is no servant of Salem, no infiltrator or assassin sent to end me and mine. This is a kid who took on too much, too soon. A proud and fearless warrior, protecting the light from within the depths of the dark.

He opens his eyes and looks into mine in fear, and not a small amount of longing. As I feel his soul, he too feels mine.

I take him in my arms as he weeps openly, for the first time a soul free to experience the world from the black cage it had been locked within.

And I feel love once again for another kid, again not one I made myself, but no lesser because of it.

Then his eyes roll back into his head and he faints. Breaking the moment.

I have an awful lot to teach you kid.

…

I don’t know what to expect when Summer puts her hand gently on my cheek.

What I don’t expect if for her soul to brush up against mine. I feel warmth, and love as she teases out the very core of my being from deep within my hara. My chakra explodes within my coils, surging and crashing like waves against the eight gates as the ceiling on my capacity is shattered, and images flash across my mind.

I see love, and family. Duty and honor, all warring with innocence and hope. I see conflict and care but above all a deep longing for safety. Not for herself, but for the people she loves. I see a pair of silver eyes looking deep into the very core of my being, and accepting what I am. They tell me that I am not irredeemably evil, not broken by the tragedies I have witnessed, and caused. But tempered by them. In one solitary moment they accuse me and then absolve me as if in a single heartbeat. And I am washed away with the immensity of love.

Is this how other people love all the time? I only ever got close to this with Sasuke.

I feel a strange heat, a power raising up from my feet and raising to my head. It caresses me, free like the wind but hot like the fire of my family. It wraps around my eyes, around my chakra coils. It’s curious, almost, innocent. Teasing and tugging at me, touching my chakra and almost jumping back with a laugh as the chakra chases it around my body. My spiritual energy surges and I almost feel the laughter as they entwine and reinforce each other.

I feel physical manifestations of Susanoo, Tsukuyomi and Amaterasu leap to my defence from behind the cage protecting my mangekyo, and then lay quiescent inside my very being, content that this is not an attack. I feel the latent Kamui, and Izanagi and Izanami rest in fitful sleep as if realising they are not needed right now. I feel the corpse of Kotoamatsukami as the fear of that kind of power being too powerful for any hand to wield is washed away by the very power of my soul itself burning it from existence.

And I feel beyond it, to a library of other Mangekyo abilities, not native to the main branch of the Uchiha but lying dormant for every Mangekyo Sharingan. Sat just outside space and time. Waiting for their call to arms.

And I finally feel at peace, for the first time since father first took me out onto the battlefield and forced me to commit every death to memory, until the stress was too great and the Sharingan was awakened, committing every death and every tragedy to its photographic memory. And as I bask in a feeling I have never felt before in my life, tears stream down my face.

And it is glorious.

I feel myself passing out from the sheer weight of knowledge, as Summer looks on in panic.

…

I awaken to the sound of waves, lay in the core of the boat I look up to see Summer concentrating and looking forward.

I groan as my muscle protest at me.

“Hey sleepyhead, welcome back to the waking world. How are you feeling?” she asks, with a guilty smile.

And I feel better than I ever have before in my life.

“I feel…incredible. It’s like I’ve eaten sugar and caffeine and had stimulants injected directly into me. What in the world was that you did?” I am more open and animated than I’ve ever felt like being but something about this feeling just makes me want to shout it to the world.

Summer looks down in guilt.

“I had to be sure you know, I’m thankful for what you did but I had to know. So I activated your Aura for you. When our souls touched, it guaranteed we would feel the intentions of the other. I wouldn’t have done it Itachi, but I had to be sure before you met my daughters. I hope you understand.”

And I do.

I don’t feel angry, I don’t feel betrayed or hurt. I don’t feel that Uchiha madness, that dark angry flame that comes with betrayal is absent.

And in spite of myself, I laugh out loud. Not a cruel and mocking laugh as I was wont to use previously, but a real laugh.
“Thank you for this gift.” I reply.

And I actually mean it. I feel like I’ve spent my life until now as a blind man. The height of irony given my family.

I sink into meditation as I look to wrench my hyperactive chakra back under control.

There is another energy there, lay just under the surface of my skin, just waiting to be unleashed. I won’t be touching that until I get some proper answers.

…

Finally coming down from my soul induced sugar high, I take stock of our situation. My skin is itching and my chakra is incredibly overactive at the minute, jolting through my coils like lightning looking for something to ground on.

We have been at Sea for a while it seems, the coastline behind us is barely even a blip in the distance, the great black mountains of Umbral slowly fading off into the sea mist.

Ahead of us, the open water, though somehow Summer seems to know where she is going. Not long into the journey she takes a strange device out of her pouch, but glares at it and murmurs to herself.

“Damn, still out of range.”

She looks at me apologetically.

“I usually use my scroll to navigate on the longer trips but the network doesn’t reach out this far so I’m kinda playing it by ear right now. As long as we keep sailing in this general direction though we should get a network soon and then I can veer us toward Patch.” She explains.

“Are we at full speed?” I query her.

“Wind’s not great, but engine power should get us there soon enough, I have enough fire dust in the engine to keep us going for a good while.”

I really need to learn the intricacies of this ‘dust’.

“How much wind can the sail take? I am assuming it isn’t as fragile as it looks?”

She returns me a flat look.

“My baby can take any wind thrown at her.” She states imperiously.

Let’s test that and give my hyperactive chakra an outlet shall we.

I start making hand signs as Summer looks on in undisguised interest.

“Wind Style – Great Breakthrough”

A gale picks up, toward the direction we are currently sailing. I hold the final seal of the sequence to keep a constant wind going. The technique is a lot cheaper than I remember but controlling it is taking all of my concentration. It’s almost like my chakra is eager and alive and desperate to fuel the technique and is falling over itself to be consumed.

“Wahooooo yeah now this is what I’m talking about.” Summer has her hands in the air and is yelling in happiness as the sail billows and we start moving rapidly.

She turns to me, red faced and grinning.

“If nothing else Itachi, you have a lucrative career as a sailor in front of you if you are ever low on cash.”

I nod and smile, too engrossed on keeping my unruly chakra in line and controlled. The strange pattern continues, the elemental technique being incredibly easy, almost eager to be utilised and costing barely anything, but in exchange being heinously difficult to control. The secondary energy, my ‘Aura’ content to simply experience the technique, touching itself to my chakra but not immersing itself within it.

I feel strangely excited to see what aura can do compared to my chakra.

 

So i'll rarely do this. And i already have a few potential ideas but i thought i would open it up see what everyone else can come up with.

What do you think a good Semblance for Itachi would be?

The rules?

It cannot be something usable in combat. A. Itachi already has more than enough combat effectiveness as it is but also B., mans a pacifist and semblances are a reflection of the soul. So if you want to suggest one then the rules are simple, it cannot in any way have any effect in combat. At all. That means if its a healing semblance, it can only be used in a hospital scenario, not as a combat medic, maaybe some sort of long setup as an example. Think Lie Ren as an example of the type of semblance Itachi would have, and if you can link it back to something canon to Naruto then all the better!

 

This chapter kicked my ass, the next one is kicking my ass worse. Chapter 7 and 8 are technically ready to post now and that should wrap up the prologue arc before the timeskip to 'Canon' times but damn is writing meaningful dialogue and personal interaction a killer. Please let me know what you think about the dialogue in this one and especially in the next one because it is literally my biggest weakness as a writer and i want to get better at it.


Chapter 5 – A Return of Sorts


Once the wind technique was in place, it was only a matter of time before we made our way back to signs of civilisation. Summer has warned me that there are aquatic Grimm the size of the ruins we left back on Umbral so while I handle the propulsion, she is keeping watch.

Thankfully, this time our luck does hold. Summer switches her ‘scroll’ back on and jumps in glee as she gets the connection she is looking for.

And before long, following her directions, the glimmering lights of Patch are lit up on the horizon.

She starts talking, mostly to herself but I obviously can’t help but overhear.

“Maybe I should call ahead, but its been over two years summer don’t be stupid. They probably hate you by now. What do I say. “Sorry Tai, I did exactly what Raven did to you even if it was for a different reason.”. What if he has moved on already?”

I interrupt her before she gets herself locked in a loop.

“Summer, are you okay?”

She looks over at me with a look of dread.

“I’ve been gone for over two years, closer to two and a half now and I haven’t called or written or anything. I had my crusade and until nearly dying snapped me out of it I’ve not cared about anything but killing that bitch to fix my te- to save the world.”
She hangs her head.

“I hope they can forgive me.” She says in an extremely depressed tone.

“Listen, you are probably in for trouble. You know that. So face it head on. It’s not going to get any better if you leave it another two and a half years. Unless you plan on dying and leaving your daughters without a mother, then you have nothing to lose and everything to gain from just ripping off the bandage.”

She looks deep in thought.

“You are right, but I never thought it would be so hard. Part of me thinks ‘Did I ever expect to return?’ Ya know?”

I have no answer to that.

…

The main town on Patch seems … eclectic. Not that we actually enter the town itself. Probably not much smaller then Konoha all told, though much looser packed on the outskirts than Konoha is. Many of the houses are simple log cabins, but there are all sorts of differing forms of architecture interspersed including higher rise buildings off in the distance toward what I assume is the town center.

The only overarching theme is that everything seems intentionally designed to be quick to rebuild. But given the state of the world I have to assume that that’s the case mostly everywhere. There’s a palisade wall of sorts, of a technology i do not recognise, but I have to assume that Grimm attacks are quite rare here as it isn’t very large. Well patrolled though, I can make out three separate angles of guard coverage only from the small segment I am observing. So they take defense seriously at least.

Summer docks us at a wooden jetty, not far outside the town limits and far enough from the wall that even if we are seen we are unlikely to be recognised. Well Summer anyway, if anyone recognises me here then there are bigger things to worry about.
We head out into the woods, far enough that the sounds and signs of civilization are far behind us. This place is a huge contrast to the forest we left back on Umbral, even the green forest. The evil in the air is much thinner here, and we have seen no sign of Grimm whatsoever.

And the for the entire trip Summer is mumbling, wringing her hands. A few times she seems like she is going to turn back. Only to square her shoulders and push forward. Freshly determined all over again.
Then I see it, a large wooden cabin in the woodland, a garden, signs of children and dogs scattered around the expansive yard. Smoke billows from a large chimney as we approach. The lights upstairs are dimmed but there are still lights illuminating the ground floor.

We stop at a shaded door, lanterns flutter on either side of us as Summer builds up her courage.

She knocks. Once, a determined and yet hollow thing. And I hear movement and grumbling inside the expansive building.

“Who the hell is knocking at this time, this better not be those punks from town playing pran-“

The door cracks open on a chain, inside a blonde man of imposing figure is stood, looking at Summer with a look of utter shock on his face. As pale as if he had met evil spirits at his door.

Then the door slams shut and I hear the frantic sound of fumbling with a chain on the other side of the door, before the door slams open again fully this time.

The man, Tai reaches out as if to touch Summer, before pulling his hand back and simply gaping.

“Hey Tai, hows everything go-“

He snaps his hand up and Summer closes her mouth with a gulp.

“It must be the first of April or something because I’m pretty sure a dead woman just knocked on my door as if she didn’t abandon her family three years ago.” He spits out through gritted teeth.

“Well it’s closer to two and a ha- okay shutting up now.” She grimaces as his expression twists between grief and rage.

He continues to just stare, his eyes flickering to me and then back to Summer.

“Are you just going to make us stand on the doorstep Tai or can I come in and explain myself.”

He steps aside.

“Feel free, its your house as much as mine isn’t it. Don’t wake the girls. I don’t want them getting their hopes up for the third time they get abandoned by a mother.”

A flicker of hurt on Summers face, replaced quickly by acceptance.

All I can think is ‘third time?’.

…

Taiyang leads us through the door into an expansive living room. It’s well furnished, Bookshelves and paintings dot the outskirts of the room and a strange illusionary screen rests on a wooden shelving unit seemingly dedicated to it. A green lounging set dominates the center of the room, arrayed around a low table.

The decoration couldn’t be more different from home, but it is homely for certain.

“Hey, you decorated, it looks good!” Summer cringes at herself as she sits down on the bigger of the two cushioned chairs and pats the seat next to her in invitation.”

Taiyang is in what looks to be a kitchen, off through an open threshold to our immediate right, puttering around and muttering to himself around what looks to be a kettle of sorts. Before long he returns with a teapot and cups, hands shaking and shoulders tense as he pours.

The tea is strange compared to home, but quite delicious as he pulls a single person chair to the opposite side of the table from us and sits, watching us drink without saying a word.

He seems to be waiting for Summer to speak first.

“She was going to come for Ruby, Tai. I had to find her first and at least try to use my eyes to stop her.” Summer starts, but he simply rolls his eyes.

“You are a fucking idiot Summer.” He growls out.

She’s taken aback for a short moment, before getting a dangerous glint in her eye.

“An idiot for protecting our daughter Tai?”

“Did you come here to give weak excuses Summer? If that was all you wanted to do you may as well have skipped us and headed out to Beacon. Ozpin might accept your weak shit but I won’t. The girls. Come. First. You don’t understand. Just like Raven didn’t understand.”

Raven?

As each second passes i feel more and more out of place witnessing this argument. I should have stayed outside while they hashed this out.

She rears back. Unwilling to back down.

“And why do you think I left! I had to basically exile myself to the other side of the fucking continents after Tyrian fucking Callows himself cornered me in Windpath and told me his goddess wanted my eyes to disappear. I barely got out with my life!”

Taiyang however is absolutely not backing down.

“And what did you think we would think when Qrow found your fucking backup weapon abandoned in a destroyed Inn in Mistral? Your old clothes, covered in blood? An entire village, massacred! Did you not think it was maybe a good idea to call?”

“We don’t know if the network can be trusted! You know that! Ozpin told you himself about his worries about what Atlas or Mistral could do. If Tyrian wanted my eyes to disappear, then he had to want to come for Ruby as well. I had to make the first move. I had to lead them away. I had to Tai I can’t lose anyone else.”

She starts to sob and I see a flicker in Taiyang’s expression.

He still cares for her.

“It’s not enough that I couldn’t even see you or the girls for the best part of three years. Couldn’t even risk contacting Oz as you know how trusting he is of Ironwood and how much I can’t stand that man. Lionhearts a nonentity and who knows what Vacuo are up to at the best of times. I’ve almost been assassinated four times! And I finally find a lead to where Callows is holed up and instead I run into Salem herself!”

He goes white. Before looking at me and frowning.

“Is it safe for the kid to be here listening to this? Who the fuck is he anyway? You picking up strays Summer?”

She turns red with rage.

“Don’t disrespect him. He’s the reason I’m still alive. Twice. When Salem ambushed me with an army of Grimm he was the one who extracted me. When I fell into a fucking alpha nest of Capivara he was the one to dislocate his arm pulling me out.”
He looks to my bandaged arm and then back to me.

“Kid, can you clear out for a second, I need to talk to my wife in private.”

Summer goes to yell again but I hold up both my hands in a disarming gesture.

“You two clearly need to talk. I’ll be on the roof keeping watch, shout me from the door if you need me.”

I body flicker to the door, before leaving and flickering to the roof.

Things are far too complicated right now. Emotions are too high. They need to hash this out between them.

There are two more life signs in the house, both upstairs directly under me for the moment. Must be the two daughters. How they’ve remained asleep is beyond me. I can still hear bits of the argument from here though my senses are probably a lot more advanced.

I lay back on the metal eaves and stare up at the fractured moon above. This place is truly beautiful.

The sound of arguing continues below me as they whisper yell back and forth at each other. I catch the odd word. Something about not being able to trust me because of where she found me. When she explains about my Aura it seemingly shocks him though.

…

“I’m going to ask you one question, and I want an honest answer Summer. You know I will know if you lie.”

He will, he always has. I could never hide anything from him.

I nod in agreement.

“Is he a Branwen?”

…What?

“What, no! Of course not, what do you think I am?”

He looks wound up and ready to burst.

“Have you looked at the kid Summer, I mean really looked at him? He’s literally a male clone of Raven when we were in Beacon.”

And he catches me cold. He’s right. I don’t know why I didn’t see it before. He really is the spitting image of my ex best friend.

“I can promise you Tai, regardless of the resemblance. He is not related to Raven. In fact. I suspect he isn’t from this world or possibly this time at all!”

Now it’s his turn to be shocked.

“…What?”

“Tai, he could throw massive Grimm slaying fireballs and move faster than me without his damn aura activated. He appeared, apparently from a portal of all things, bruised and exhausted in the middle of nowhere and only managed to help me by sheer chance.”

“He could have been lying!”

“Tai, he isn’t lying. I activated his Aura on the boat on the way over. You know the rules. You can’t activate it twice. I saw everything Tai. He is deep. Not like a well, but like an ocean. There’s so much to him he’s almost bursting. He’s got more of a past than all of us put together. He needs help. And I don’t know if the brother gods put him here, or if some twist of fate put him in my path. But if it wasn’t for him I would be dead twice over.”

He rests his head in his hands and taps his forehead. Its one of his tells, always has been. When he agrees to something but doesn’t want to appear too hasty.

“How old is he, thirteen?”

“Fourteen or fifteen, I’m not quite sure. Whatever he is though Tai, don’t treat him like a kid. He’s been fighting as hard as any hunter for a decade.”

“Since he was FIVE?” he almost yells out.

“At least. He’s an orphan now, but if whatever family he came from is alive anywhere I hope they all burn in hell.”

He nods. His teeth gritted and hands clenched. He hates child abusers more than almost anyone.

“Tai, if you want me to leave I will. I won’t challenge you on the girls, as long as you let me see them I don’t have any right to. But you have to believe me, I didn’t leave because I don’t love you. I left because I couldn’t risk losing you. It tears me up every day. It is killing me inside. I can’t even promise I would have come back had what happened over the past few days not happened. But I can promise you I love you and I didn’t want to hurt you.”

He sighs.

“There is a gravestone out in the shrouded wood for you. Qrow takes Ruby and Yang out there at least once a month when he has time. If they forgive you, I can work on forgiving you. If they don’t. That’s your answer.”

He heads for the kitchen. “Call the kid back in. He can stay for as long as you do. I can already see he has a place in your heart. I won’t stop you. I suppose it’s karma. You became the mother to my daughter. I suppose I can see about forming a relationship with your new kid.”

And you know, even though that wasn’t really what I intended.

It feels right.

…


After what feels like hours of restless meditation, Summer gently calls my name from the front door.

Making my way back into the living room, Taiyang pours me another drink.

“Okay kid, Summers explained for you, and me and the girls at least owe you one for making sure there’s someone for us left to yell at so you can stay for now. She’s explained some stuff and I’m a teacher of hunters, so maybe when you heal we can see about your abilities yeah?”

I nod, sipping from my drink.

“Must be from a long way away if you didn’t even know what Grimm are, but the soul doesn’t lie. We will need to speak to Headmaster Ozpin though, that’s non-negotiable.”

He waits for me to acknowledge.

“That is agreeable, I have no idea what to do with myself as it is anyway. I graduated a long time ago.”

His expression feels a bit like pity, but something… deeper.

“No problem. Anyway, Summer will be sticking around for a while, she has a lot to make up for to the girls and that’s my condition for letting her move back in. And while im still not happy with her, I’m not going to keep the girls from their mother. She said you were looking to stay for a few days and while my brain tells me to leave it at that, my heart tells me that you have to stay. So kid, don’t feel for one second like we are in a rush to have you go. She told me what you did. Crazy stuff. And I owe you big.”

He puts a meaty hand on my shoulder and squeezes.

“Sleep on that couch for now, I have some old sleeping gear that should fit you, if loosely. I will clear out the attic for you tomorrow and we can look to get you something proper bought up from Patch.”

...

 

Chapter 6 – What is found in Family


Sleep came poorly last night. Between frantic whispered arguments between Summer and Taiyang, followed by tearful murmurs of desperate forgiveness and reunion followed by… another type of reunion. There wasn’t much chance of me getting a decent sleep in an open room seemingly connected to every other room in the house.

I suppose things move a little faster in a world where death was never far away. Not like ANBU was any different though.

The walls in this house are thick wooden logs and yet are still far too thin for someone with my senses. And pulling them in is utterly worthless for some reason. Either the strange behaviour of my chakra or possibly something to do with this ‘Aura.’

With no chance of getting back to sleep regardless of how early it is, I take a quick shower in the downstairs facilities that were offered to me last night, before heading outside for my morning routine. The family dog follows me but I pay him no mind.

It’s warm here, even more so than in Konoha. Leaving my robe and clothes folded with the rest of my gear, I head out in my warm weather training gear. Long shorts and a vest should be acceptable in these temperatures.

I’ve always found meditation in training easiest, and I need anything to take my mind off things. I just need some time to relax.

Next to the house is a fenced off area, straw dummies and dumbells litter the area. I have to assume that this is a sort of training area. If not then hopefully Taiyang won’t take issue with me treating it as one.

Starting my Uchiha Kata, I allow myself to flow into the motions. Thought suspended as I sink into my training.

Not too long later I am joined surprisingly by Taiyang.

“You a martial artist too kid?” He queries, watching my kata with interest.

“Itachi.” I state plainly.

He chuckles warmly.

“Fair enough. Itachi it is. Are you a martial arts enthusiast?” he asks again.

“I… find it soothing. The kata are like meditation for me. I prefer to fight with misdirection and illusion due to a previous illness. But I am competent with Taijutsu and Kenjutsu.”

He nods, seemingly satisfied.

“That’s good, always better to have as many strings in your bow as you can.

He launches himself into a series of kata, much more energetic than mine. Seemingly primarily an elbows and knees art, interspersed with low, heavy kicks. His center of balance is low, he definitely likes to stay on his feet and control fights through overwhelming force. A wooden contraption with variable arms is currently the target of a series of rapid guard and parry combinations.

I continue on with my morning Kata as Taiyang works out not far from me.

“Fancy a light spar?” I am interrupted from my meditation.

Raising an eyebrow, I indicate down at my still bandaged arm and look at him questioningly.

“Rules?”

He follows my look down at my bandaged shoulder and arm and frowns.

“I forgot you are completely new to Aura and aura channelling. If you channel it to your wounds you will heal a lot faster. It will shield you in combat and you can actively channel it for a stronger shield though that is kinda advanced. If you took those bandages off then most of your skin level wounds are probably already cleared up.”

He looks me up and down.

“Martial arts only. Technique sparring only. No enhancements, semblances or similar. Passive Aura shielding will keep that arm from slowing you down. You can work on channelling later to try and help that clear up.”

I nod. Testing yourself against another opponent is a preferable training method to running kata. Rolling my shoulder I feel for any injury that could prevent me from light sparring, no sharp shock of pain greets me so I should be fine.

…

We face each other across the fenced off yard. His stance is loose, hands in a loose and wide guard.

But his eyes are flickering around. He is watching me like a hawk, sunk into a low stance keeping his balance steady.

I take the stance of the academy standard. It is designed by its nature to be of more use against physically superior opponents and with my arm still healing as it is it will allow me to take the passive role in the spar while maintaining a momentum advantage. Depending on his skill anyway.

Then he moves, and my understanding clarifies. This is a man who rests his life on his martial arts. A specialist.

Taiyang opens the spar with a low sweeping kick to test my reaction time. I lightly hop the blow, being airborne in a taijutsu spar is one of the worst ideas possible so minimising airtime is key. He seems reluctantly impressed with my dodge and throws a back elbow at me as he continues his spin. Parrying the elbow with my left hand I use the bled off momentum to return with a low knee, aiming to take him in the kidney as he spins.

Leaping back he attempts a high snap kick, which I dodge under and send a feint towards his groin.

Flinching, he moves his guard lower. Sensing a gap in his previously impenetrable guard, I attempt to take advantage with a spinning elbow to his now exposed collar. Only to take a knee to my elbow due to the counter feint he pulled off with his guard. It smarts, but not enough to prevent me returning my own kick to his bicep.

He smirks, and I find myself returning the expression. This man is an artist.

He returns at a much higher speed and I ramp up to match, exchanging a flurry of blows, parries and guards with him as he probes my defences. Delving deeper into the Uchiha style and even pulling from Kakashi’s ANBU playbook I transition into a more utilitarian mixed arts style of fighting.

Smiling in approval Taiyang shifts his style to a more forward one, exchanging parries and probing strikes for blocks and brutal counters, aiming to tire out my guarding arms. I shift to the gentle fist I copied from ANBU on Danzo’s orders, utilising pressure point finger strikes and flowing movement to dance around his much stronger attacks. We shift styles constantly, each looking to counter the others advantage.

However under the rules of the spar, there’s only really one possible winner with his physical advantage. Too slow on a dodge Taiyang’s knee catches me in the cheek as I spin from the blow.

My nose is bleeding and I am sweating like I ran a marathon but that was some of the most fun I have had in a long time. He calls the spar and I unwrap a length of bandage from my arm.

“And you say martial arts aren’t what you specialise in?” he asks.

I nod my head.

“Never had time to specialise in physical arts, I had a chronic lung disease that forced me to adopt a combat style in which I didn’t move much under my own power and would simply run rings around people with illusions.”

He chuckles in response.

“Remind me never to face you in something you do specialise in then. You are better than Qrow.”

“Qrow?” I ask?

“An old friend, my ex-brother-in-law. Used to be on a team with me, Summer and Raven, my ex-wife.” He explains.

I flinch. “Sorry for prying.”

He laughs at that. “Don’t worry about it Itachi, if you end up sticking around Patch you will see him around, he teaches at Signal sometimes.”

Plugging my nose with the torn bandage I bow to him which he returns with a smile. Turning back to the fence I catch sight of two young girls, watching us from the fence intently.

One, a redhead with silver eyes like Summer seems excited. Cheering and animatedly waving her arms in our direction. The other a blonde like Taiyang is leant back against the fence, watching me with narrowed eyes, arms crossed in front of her.

“Who are you and why are you fighting with my dad?” She challenges.

I look to Taiyang in askance but he subtly shakes his head. “Breakfast.” Is all he says. But I understand.

“I’m a family friend, just getting some sparring in with Taiyang.”

She scowls at me.

“Your clothes are in our living room; did you sleep here last night?”

“Yes, is that okay? I did have your fathers permission.”

“Hmph. Good fighting. I can’t challenge dad like that yet but im getting better!”

Oh, she’s jealous. I had these in the academy. Never did learn how to deal with them gracefully. She’s fearless though. Staring me down without a shred of worry in her eyes.

She brings to mind another loud blonde fighter with a big heart and a bigger attitude. Despite myself I chuckle.

“As long as you train you will get there in the end.”

She looks at my face suspiciously before nodding and reaching out her hand.

“I’m Yang. Don’t ya forget it!”

I shake her hand with a smile.

“Itachi, a pleasure to meet you.”

The other girl however is Summer incarnate. If the blonde is fire, then this girl is like lightning. Bouncing around like a catnip drugged kitten.

“Howdidyoukeepupwithdad?Canyouteachme?Youfightreallygood!Hii’mRuby!”

More painfully, she reminds me of Shisui in our younger years. Before ANBU had stolen this heart from him.

There is no opportunity to introduce myself in return through the verbal torrent and shake my head in disbelief.

I look to Taiyang for aid as she continues to speak at a pace I can’t honestly believe even she understands. But he just laughs and walks back into the house.

Traitor!

I follow him in with a red and black haired limpet attached to my arm asking me how to fight. I do my best to answer her questions as Yang also smirks and looks anywhere but at us.

…

Sitting at a large kitchen table after cleaning up again and replacing my bandages, Taiyang puts some concoction of bread in front of me. Apparently this is a ‘pancake’, a popular breakfast food here.

It is sweet for a morning food and despite myself I find myself enjoying it. I need to see if they have dango and pocky in this place…

If not, I may have to ‘reinvent’ them.

Breakfast is a loud and messy affair, with Taiyang trying his best to corral the two girls into eating, both hyperactive in entirely different ways. But something about this atmosphere is soothing nonetheless.

Maybe it’s just nice to see a family not bound by duty and honor, not eating in stilted silence punctuated by the tapping of chopsticks.

You can really tell how much they love each other. And how much Taiyang idolises his girls.

I can’t sense Summer anywhere in the house, and I am a little wary at the situation I am currently in. Three strangers and me at a dining table is a little uncomfortable. Catching Taiyang’s eyes I attempt to signal my confusion but he shakes his head and mouths ‘soon’ over the girls heads.

Ah, there we go, I can faintly feel Summer on the edge of my perception, making her way back from toward the town.

Tai’s ‘scroll’ device beeps and he looks it over, before looking to me and then over at the girls.

“Girls. I have some important news to share with you.”

Ruby and Yang immediately stop bickering and look to their father.

“You might be confused by why Itachi is here with us, he arrived in the middle of the night last night with someone else.”

The girls look at me in confusion.

“At some time in the days past, Itachi saved the life of someone very important to us all, someone who has been gone for a long time and who we didn’t think would be coming back.”

Ruby gasps, face lighting up.

“I didn’t want to blindside you with this last night girls. Im sorry I didn’t wake you straight away but we had some stuff to work out first.”

Summer walks in through the kitchen threshold with bags in her arms. I can see her from where I am sat at the table, but the girls have their backs to her.

“Hi girls. I’m sorry I’m late.”

They both freeze in shock, before Ruby twists in a flash, and bounces out of her chair like a missile.

“MOM!” she flies into her mother’s arms in a flash, tears of joy streaming down her face as Summer drops the bags she is carrying and catches her mid-flight. A petal floats past my face in her wake.

As the two hug and murmur at each other, Summer reaches out to Yang. The blonde girl sprints toward them, at first I think she is going to throw herself at her mother too.

Instead she dodges round the two of them and dashes out of the room and upstairs, tears streaming from her face.

Summers face sinks. A range of complicated emotions playing across her face.

“I’ll go after her.” Taiyang murmurs as he slips from the room as the sound of a door slamming sounds from above.

Ruby is still oblivious, clutching to her mother like a lifeline as Summer buries her face in her hair, tears streaming down her cheeks.

I feel like an interloper again, unsure as to why I am being included in such intimate moments, yet rather than flickering out I feel paralysed to the chair.

Summer rises to her feet carrying Ruby in her arms and walks over to me taking the chair next to me. She rests Ruby on her far knee, still sobbing over her shoulder, and puts her left arm over my shoulders.

“Thank you Itachi, you made this possible and I don’t think we can ever repay you.”

I don’t know how to respond properly to this, so I nod my head.

“You are welcome.”

She gently prises Rubys arms from around her neck and stands up, placing Ruby down on the chair next to me. Ruby reluctantly lets go of her mother as she places a kiss on her forehead.

“Ruby do you mind looking after Itachi while I go to check on Yang? He can tell you a story about we braved an ice cave together.”

She looks at me with mischievous eyes.

“A kid friendly retelling.”

I feel a shiver down my spine.

“Yes of course!” I smile and nod emphatically as Ruby sits back on the chair next to me and Summer quietly leaves to head upstairs, a lingering hand dropping between her and her daughter.

Ruby makes to follow, but sniffles a bit. Then straightens her shoulders and turns to me with red rimmed eyes focusing her attention on me as I attempt to retell our mad dash through the icy caves in a non-traumatic way.

How hard can it be? I used to do this after missions with Sasuke all the time.

…

Ruby is asking questions about my weapons when Summer returns with Yang in tow. I have kunai, shuriken, wire and senbon out on the table while I explain the differences in aerodynamic profile and ideal use cases.

She nods along with my explanation with great interest. She really loves weapons. My main chakra alloy ninjato is out, sheathed of course but she is cooing over the embossed hiltless guard and the hand wrapped handle.

Literally cooing. What is it with this mother-daughter combo and weaponry??

Yang has clearly been crying as has Summer but they seemingly have worked out at least part of whatever caused Yang to retreat upstairs. Yang has her fist clenched in Summers shirt at the hip as if hanging on to a life raft. Her cheeks are blotchy and her eyes are red rimmed but she has a defiant expression on her face.

She nods at me as they join us at the kitchen table and I return the gesture with a smile. She scowls and looks away but I catch her sneaking questioning looks at me when I am not looking.

Soon enough Taiyang re-joins us and I simply bask in now much more positive tone of the family reunion. Slowly putting my weapons away while Summer works on baking something all I can think to myself is that I could possibly get used to this.

I feel a sharp pang of loss at the thought, and my mind turns to my foolish little brother. Did he find the answers he sought in the end? Did they manage to dispel Madara? I feel my fists clench at the thought. If only I could have stayed behind to help him just a little longer.

My thoughts are interrupted by Summer. She is looking at me from the stovetop worry clear on her face.

“Are you okay Itachi, you were glowing a little. Rough thoughts?”

“Just thinking about my family, I will be fine.” I reply.

She smiles, a soft sad thing before nodding and turning back to her work. I appreciate that she doesn’t attempt to give me pity.

Taiyang chooses to speak up now.

“Ozpin is coming to see you in a few days Itachi. He has some questions for you about the you know what and the you know who.”

I nod.

“That’s fine, from what you and Summer have said if anyone has a chance to unravel what has happened then he will likely be the headmaster.”

Not that I don’t already know what happened, but if this man is as influential as these two make out, then having an in with him will likely pay dividends down the line. Especially as I will need my presence her in this world legitimised. Add on to the fact that he leads the line against this ‘Salem’ witch and it feels like all roads lead to Ozpin.

…

In the afternoon Taiyang heads out for firewood and I decide to accompany him to make myself useful and ask some questions about hunters and hunter life.

It also feels like a good idea to leave Summer and the girls to spend some quality time with each other without me present.

“So what do fighters typically do as a career if they don’t work as hunters?” I ask as we load logs onto a rickety wooden cart.

“If you are talking from a purely money perspective, mostly prize fighting. Mistral and Atlas have regular arena fights and you can make good money in those but the tournaments are typically side projects for hunters or hunter trainees with the odd professional soldier sprinkled in.”

He throws a log onto the cart with a grunt and continues.

“A lot of fighters teach, with a good reputation teaching is incredibly lucrative. One of the highest paid jobs is private trainer. Then you have the usual fighting heavy jobs. Mercenaries and soldiers are the ones who typically go after non-aura using bandit gangs and rogue encampments.” He replies, dragging a massive log under each arm.

“Seems very much similar to back home.” I reply.

“It’s rare for anyone with active Aura to not work as a hunter in some fashion given how amplified the Grimm attraction is on them. Only the elites in the armies typically have Aura but don’t spend much time hunting. It’s simply a way of life, if you have Aura and aren’t a criminal, you work to thin out Grimm. The academy system accounts for 90% of the hunting population but there are other ways to get a license that allows you to take official missions.” He states casually while preparing another log for transit.

“Such as?”

“Exemplary service to one of the city states, apprenticeship, really impress one of the headmasters. There are probably others but licensing is done by the academies or by the central governments. So there is a layer of bureaucracy to dig through if you don’t work to license in one of the common ways.”

It seems much like my old world, much of the world revolves around fighting and learning to fight. At least there’s a good reason for it here. Even though the skills learned to fight Grimm will inevitably be used to hurt other people.

I just have to find something to do that gives my life meaning. I don’t want to fall into the same trap as before, fighting for the sake of fighting, never knowing peace.

Even if the Shinigami does have other plans for me here, some greater mission. I want my new life to have a meaning other than that of the destroyer. He sent me here for a reason, he gave me a choice, for a reason. I do not want this second chance to be in vain.

As we head back toward the house, I notice a crow following us. At first I thought It may just be a normal bird if a little curious, but there is a clear pattern of evasion and observation.

“Taiyang, is it normal for the fauna here to stalk you?” I grab his attention quickly.

“What do you mean Itachi?”

“There’s a bird following us. A common crow it looks like.”

He chuckles.

“So you noticed did you? That’s Qrow. He does that.”

“I know it’s a crow…” I don’t quite get what he is getting at.

At that he laughs outright.

“No Itachi, not ‘a’ crow. That’s Qrow. As in my best friend, ex brother in law Qrow. He’s probably scoping you out. Probably saw you at the house and wanted to check out who you are.” He replies with a chuckle.

“He can turn into a Crow? That’s impressive. I tend to use Ravens as one of my core illusionary constructs due to my contract.”

He tenses at that.

“I wouldn’t recommend using that on Qrow, his sister, my ex-wife Raven, can turn into a Raven and they aren’t on good terms.” He grimaces.

“Wait, you have a friend called ‘Qrow’ who turns into a Crow, and an ex-wife called Raven who can turn into a Raven… Isn’t that a bit…” I trail off unsure as to how to finish the sentence.

He just laughs again.

“On the nose you mean? Yes me and Summer used to give them no end of grief about it.”

Before long the crow seemingly loses interest and flies off over the treeline. Taiyang tells me I will likely meet Qrow with Ozpin.

Interesting people here it seems.

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I've been agonising over this chapter for days, everything else to the end of this arc has been mostly an editing job but writing this reunion has killed me. I know it's probably not perfect but I think i hit a point i just had to get something out.