Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Halo, or RWBY.

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Black Steel

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Chapter Eight

"How are you feeling?" Kurama asked cautiously as her scarlet holographic image flickered into existence above her DC Chip. A few minutes after leaving his 'room', Naruto had gone down into his 'father's' private workshop where 'Remnant Naruto's' Kurama had been created and now, nearly half an hour later, he was sitting in the chair at his father's desk, looking through some of the files on late elder blonde's computer.

"I'm fine now, Kurama." Came Naruto's answer and while it seemed like a rather normal response for him, all the way down to his facial expression and tone of voice, Kurama noticed something...off. Something different about him. His response...wasn't as robotic as it once sounded. It seemed far more genuine and...natural. The two fell into silence immediately after for several more minutes as Naruto kept looking through the folders and files on the computer before he finally take a deep breath and sighed quietly. Pushing himself a few inches further from the desk, Naruto stopped messing with the computer to look at his partner's holographic image. "I...want to apologize, Kurama. For how I've been acting. I...have been bottling everything up for far too long and with everything that's happened since coming here, I had finally reached my limit. I couldn't handle the stress I foolish forced upon myself and because of it, I've caused you and the others undue stress in return. I'm sorry, Kurama."

"What's...What's gotten into you all of a sudden, Naruto?" The AI questioned, staring up at her partner's face with a scrutinizing and mildly suspicious look on her face. Naruto allowed himself to smirk slightly, even though it was devoid of humor. "You were never so willing to admit something like that before. What's changed?"

"I changed, Kurama. I had to..." Naruto answered rather cryptically as he thought back on the very strange dream he'd had not that long ago, his response confusing the AI. "There's something you should know, something that I think could explain everything that's been going on with me since we came to this world."

"Naruto...What are you talking about?" Kurama asked nervously, unsure of whether she wanted to have this particular conversation or not. Once more, a humorless smirk formed on the blonde's face as he leaned back in the chair slightly.

"Kurama..." Naruto began slowly as he locked eyes with his digital partner. "What do you know about interdimensional travel and other theories relevant to it?"

xXx

Later that day, a couple hours after the sun had risen, Naomi stood across from the large viewing window that showed her family's personal training room, leaning back against the wall with her arms crossed over her chest. Inside, Naruto had gathered up most of his old belongings such as his old weapons and a couple old replacement parts for his Olympus suit and various other things. They were set up on a workbench that rose up from the floor at one end of the room while he gradually went from one thing to the next, examining it as if he was remembering them for the first time. She could only assume that it was because of his amnesia and him trying to remember what had been forgotten.

'He never did like being left in the dark about things.' Naomi thought to herself as she watched him pick up his old Hydra launcher, refamiliarizing himself with it. She let a small, solemn smile cross her face as she watched him. 'I guess some things just don't ever change.'

"There you are. We were wondering where you went." Ryan spoke up from just down the hall with the four female members of Team RWBYN trailing behind him. "Naruto's gone missing again."

"He's not missing." Naomi answered without glancing at the others, her eyes firmly locked on her brother. Nodding her head slightly towards the viewing window, the others were inclined to look over before they all took notice of him in the large, circular training room. The four young women that were her brother's team mates and friends were relieved to find out that he hadn't disappeared on them again. Smiling a little more, Naomi pushed off the wall and started heading back towards the exit where the group of five had just come from, ushering everyone to go with her. "Come on. Let's leave him alone for a little bit. He's trying to remember what he's forgotten and I think it's best if we leave him be for right now."

Ruby, Yang, Blake, and Weiss hesitated for a few moments before following after her and Ryan. Out of the four of them, however, it took Weiss a few seconds longer to walk away, her thoughts currently circling around the towering blonde and the fact that she had woken up in the bed when she remembered drifting off in the chair last night. It had her confused, emotionally...and she didn't know how to feel about it all or what to think of it. Maybe she'll talk with him about it later when she got a chance...

"Hmm...Same design as the UNSC's model and everything. Only better." Naruto mumbled in outspoken thought as he pressed the Hydra's stock into his shoulder and peered through the mini-rocket launcher's holographic targeting sight. The weapon was a few pounds lighter than the model he had used back in the UNSC, it had twice the ammo capacity with smaller and more compact rounds, the targeting sight was about sixty to seventy percent more accurate, and the 'test fire' mode showed that it had a thirty to fourty percent quicker lock-on than the one from his home world. Also, judging from some of the files on his father's computer that he had glanced through, it was easily customizable and there had even been blueprints for potential compact models that could be integrated with their armor suits among a few other weapon types. They just hadn't been built yet or even confirmed on being able to work or not.

"So...what do you plan on telling the others?" Kurama finally asked, her chip still situated in the pouch on Naruto's left bicep. Sighing as he set the weapon down, Naruto lightly ran his hand over the SAW light machine gun previously owned by his interdimensional counter-part.

"Naomi and the others believe that I have amnesia. I think that, for now, it is for the best that they continue to think that." Naruto answered quietly as he picked up the shotgun that was amongst the weapons he had scrounged up earlier. Looking it over for a few moments, he finally shouldered the weapon to stare down the sights as he continued with his response. "I don't think they would believe the truth behind everything. I barely believe it myself and I'm the one that's actually experiencing it...No, I don't think I'll be telling them the truth for quite some time."

"If you say so, Naruto..." Kurama returned softly, yet a little hesitantly. While they had been in the workshop, she had finally admitted to having known about certain things since the beginning and while Naruto hadn't exactly been pleased to find out that she had been withholding critical information the whole time, he himself had admitted that it might have been for the best in the end. If he had found out before his 'spiritual awakening', so to speak, he might not have been so calm about it. As Naruto continued going through the items he had found, Kurama finally thought about something. "Hey, Naruto...Do you think there are any schematics on the original suit your...'other you' had? They might help solve some of the issues we've been encountering with some of your projects."

"Hm." Naruto hummed thoughtfully as he lowered the DMR in his hands, having been looking through its scope just as Kurama brought up the subject. "Now that you mention it, I think there are. There might even be a few prototypes and blueprints for upgrades stashed somewhere around here, too."

Setting the semi-automatic rifle back down on the table, Naruto immediately turned on his heel and left the training room, heading back to his father's workshop. His computer was linked with everything in the house and the underground facility beneath it. If there really were design schematics on his counter-part's suit, they'd be on his father's computer...

xXx

"Thank you for letting me know, Miss Rose." Ozpin finally said after a few moments of silence, having just been given a brief summarization of what had happened over the past couple days by Team RWBYN's leader. "While I would have appreciated a call sooner, it is better late than never. I'll arrange for your team's retrieval. The Bullhead should arrive within the next half hour. One last thing, Miss Rose. I want to see the five of you in my office the moment you arrive. We have much to discuss concerning your collective actions over the past two days."

"Yes, sir." The youngest member of Beacon Academy returned meekly. As she and the silver haired Headmaster ended the communication a few moments later, Ruby turned around to find Naruto exiting his sister's home with a rather large and heavy looking black duffle bag hanging off his left shoulder by its lone strap. Having a keen eye for details and estimations as a speedy little sharpshooter, Ruby could immediately tell that the bag easily weighed a couple hundred pounds at the very least and yet the titanic blonde carried it as if it weighed nothing to him; just how strong was he? "Professor Ozpin's going to send someone to pick us up. They should be here soon."

"That is for the best, I believe." Naruto answered quietly as he came to a stop beside the petite fifteen year old girl, staring off into the distance out of contemplation as the mid-afternoon sun bore down on them from above. Thankfully, the weather was still transitioning from the last days of winter into the beginning of spring, so it wasn't too hot. Without turning his gaze towards her, Naruto took a slow breath before speaking up again a few seconds later. "I have already spoken with the others individually, but I want to apologize to you the most, Ruby. I have caused you all quite a bit of trouble these past couple days. It will no doubt cause more problems for us as a whole, but it does not change the fact that my actions will reflect poorly on everyone, but none so much as you, Ruby, being the leader of this team. For that, I can not apologize enough..."

"I-It's okay, Naruto. I'm sure it's nothing we can't handle together as a team." Ruby hesitantly dismissed, smiling a little awkwardly as she waved off his concerns. Naruto simply smiled faintly at her humility and humbleness; Ozpin really did make the right choice when it came to appointing their team leader. Although ignorant and naive to a lot of things, Ruby was a pure-hearted and innocent soul. Loyal to a fault, always seeing the good in people no matter what, always striving to keep the peace and resolve any problems within the team. While she might be young, a 'child' in the eyes of some, Ruby was a natural-born leader, whether she knew it or not. "Besides...What are friends for if we aren't there to help each other out?"

"Hm. Fair point." Naruto mumbled in agreement as he stared off into the dense woodlands surrounding the home his...sister...lived in. While it was a couple miles outside of Patch's main settlement, the property was well secured with defense systems such as automated turrets in most areas designed to exclusively target Grimm and Grimm alone while an uncountable number of motion sensors and security cameras scattered all throughout the property vigilantly watched for anything else. From the main security control inside the house, Naomi would be able to see anyone or anything that set foot on the property so that she could react accordingly. If she so chose, she could manually reset the automated turrets to target anything and everything that moved within their firing range.

It had been because of those very same security measures that she and Ryan had known he had been coming the other night, giving them the chance to ambush him.

"Sooo...What's in the bag?" Ruby, ever so curious, asked as she eyed the duffle bag he was carrying. Resting a hand on top of it, Naruto glanced down at the tiny young woman with a blank expression before smirking a little bit and looking back off into the distance.

"Just some old belongings that I want to take back to Beacon with me." The blonde haired giant answered vaguely. In truth, he had gathered several of the weapons and a few other devices from his...family's armory. Sure, it would be simple to remake his own back at Beacon, but his would be more heavily influenced by UNSC design while the ones he had collected were purely of Remnant make. Not only that, but he also had a couple portable hard drives filled with information he had found in the main computer data base earlier that morning. Hopefully, he'd be able to make some progress with his little projects once they were back at Beacon. "They might help trigger a memory later on when I'm not so preoccupied."

"True..." Ruby mumbled back, though she honestly didn't have much of an idea of what he was talking about. Yeah, he had amnesia and sometimes old momentos could help those lost memories resurface, but she didn't understand how they would help him later on if they weren't having much of an effect, if any at all, already. Silence fell over the two for a few minutes as they simply stood there before Ruby eventually had enough of the quiet, giving in to the urge to question her friend and team mate some more. "Have you...remembered anything from your past?"

"A few things. Most of what I can recall is vague and uncertain, bringing only more questions without answers. It is...strange, knowing that I have family, but not having any substantial memory of them other than the knowledge that they exist. It is something that will take some time getting used to." Naruto internally grimaced without showing anything on the outside as the words left his mouth. While he wasn't exactly lying to the girl, or the others, he still wasn't telling the truth either. However, it was for the best. If he told them the truth, that he had actually come from a different dimension and had switched places with the real Naruto that came from the world of Remnant, they would believe he was insane, spouting madness and nonsense. Perhaps one day he could tell them the truth without the risk of breaking or damaging the bonds he had formed with the four girls he was teamed up with. 'Since when did you start caring about bonds, Naruto?'

"Well, don't give up, Naruto." Ruby reassured with a warm, confident smile as she looked up at him. "I have faith that it'll all come back to you eventually. You just gotta keep going forward and not let anything stop you from regaining your memories. Just remember that you're not alone anymore. We're all here for you..."

"Yeah..." Naruto whispered under his breath while glancing back over his shoulder to find the three remaining members of their team standing a few yards away from them, Naomi and Ryan standing amongst them.

Yang gave him a cheeky grin and a thumb's up, Blake nodded her head in agreement with Ruby's declaration while maintaining her usual cool demeanor, and Weiss stood a little straighter while her pale blue eyes portrayed her full support and trust in him. Clad in her personal suit of armor that Naruto recognized as a near-exact duplicate of the UNSC's 'Wetwork' MJOLNIR model was Naomi, the armor plating having been primarily painted a solid pitch black that seamlessly blended in with her pitch black bodysuit while a number of dull bubblegum pink stripe-like designs cut through the obsidian metal all across her armored frame. Naomi kept her sapphire-lensed helmet cradled under her left arm as she gave him a kind, loving smile that communicated her hope to one day have her brother returned to her in his entirety. Although a little reluctant to be there due to him holding a bit of a grudge against Naruto because of their fight the other day, even Ryan gave him a curt nod of agreement and to show his respect for him as a skilled fighter with his muscular arms stubbornly crossed over his wide chest, his battle hammer set on his back like always.

"I guess you're right." He whispered under his breath as he faced forward again, his dark indigo eyes easily spotting the distant silhouette of a Bullhead heading straight towards them from the direction of Vale...

xXx

"You might not remember everything, if anything at all, but I want you to know that you're still loved and to remember that you'll always have a place to call home. Take care of yourself, Big Brother, and make sure to stay in touch. Your Little Sister, Naomi Namikaze."

Naruto flipped the photo back over and stared at the image depicted on its surface, studying every little detail on it. Naomi had given it to him as they said their good-byes when the Bullhead had arrived. It was a picture of him, Naomi, and their parents from a little over a year ago, when they had all gone to the same fundraiser he and his team had gone to just a handful of days ago. Below her hand-written message was her personal Scroll number and the exact address to the house. It had been almost a week since that day and Team RWBYN had been confined to the campus grounds for the next month with restricted priviledges because of everything that had transpired along with mandatory 'campus community service' twice a week for the same amount of time, but that was about it.

Glynda Goodwitch had pressed for a stricter punishment, considering the amount of chaos that had been created in such a relatively short amount of time, but Ozpin had been strangely understanding of everything Naruto had been going through and had made sure that they weren't disciplined too harshly for the fiasco the cobalt eyed juggernaut had unintentionally caused. The odd man had even allowed Naruto to continue with his monthly requests of resources for his personal projects, something that confused him a little bit and made him rather suspicious of the Headmaster's intentions. Still, he would make do with what he had and see that his punishment was completed without error; he was a 'good soldier', after all.

'You're not a soldier anymore, Naruto. You haven't been for a long time now.' Naruto thought to himself in admonishment as he closed his eyes and sighed, bowing his head slightly. Placing the photo back in his locker, Naruto grabbed his sheathed combat knife before shutting the door to the metal obelisk and heading back towards the adjacent room his current class was being held; combat instruction. Just as he mounted his combat knife along his lower back as he neared the doorway that led into the corridor connecting the locker room with the sparring arena, Naruto froze in his tracks, his unflinching gaze locked on to the figure leaning against the wall next to the open doorway.

'Remnant Naruto' stood there, possessing the same blank and unreadable expression on his face as Naruto himself, with his left hand stuffed in his pocket casually and a booted foot propped against the wall he was currently leaning against. The white tank top-clad phantom of his other self was lazily and repeatedly tossing his own combat knife into the air by the tip of the blade with his right hand before effortlessly catching it by the very tip every time. Although he knew the near-identical clone of himself to be a figment of his imagination, the two dopplegangers maintained eye contact for nearly a full two minutes in total silence before Naruto finally broke eye contact and continued on his way, the spectre vanishing into thin air in the process and leaving the locker room completely empty.

Just as it had been for the better part of the last three hours with the sole exception being Naruto's recent and brief visitation...

It had been happening every so often since he'd had that dream. Sometimes it was silent momentary encounters like he'd just had and sometimes he was stuck listening to the hallucination talking away; the topics weren't always easy on his ears and often pushed the limits of his patience, sanity, and temper. There were also occassions where he would spot his other 'reflection', the hulking mass of obsidian metal that was Sierra-419 as the Spartan stood in a corner of a room or across hallways, just silently watching him. It was all quite unnerving and it was slowly gnawing away at what little sanity he felt that he had left.

As he made his way down the hallway with a slow, measured gait, Naruto took a deep breath to settle his mildly rattled nerves, never once showing any outward sign of his gradually destabilizing mental state. Because of the dream he'd had while on Patch a week ago, he'd disposed of his original emblem, the Forerunner Reclaimer symbol, and replaced it with a stylized mountain design that had been split down the middle from peak to base by a single jagged crack; the first step he had taken to distance himself from Remnant Naruto and Sierra-419 and establish his 'new identity' as the Black Mountain.

"It happened again, didn't it..." Kurama's soft-spoken voice inquired from the storage pouch on the left bicep of his protective bodysuit, her words coming out as a statement and not a question despite how she worded it. Naruto didn't answer. He didn't need to. When it had first happened, he had asked Kurama if she saw the phantasms as well. When it was confirmed that she hadn't, Naruto's subconscious fears had been confirmed as well; he was slowly losing his mind. Even though he'd had a moment of clarity and lucidity because of that strange dream a week ago, it had not done anything to actually fix him. It had merely pointed out that he did indeed have a problem, that he was broken on the inside. Now, he was stuck at metaphorical 'dead end', having absolutely no idea or the slightest clue as to how he should fix himself. It did not help that now that he was consciously aware of his psychological issues, he couldn't stop thinking about it, which in turn, only made him all the more anxious and unsettled, though he kept it expertly hidden from everyone around him. "Naruto...You need to get help. This can't keep going on much longer."

"I'll be fine, Kurama." Naruto argued quietly and stoicly even though he knew it to be a lie. A blatant and poorly thought-up lie, at that. He wasn't 'fine', not in the slightest, and it wasn't going to change for a good long while. "It'll pass on its own. I just need to give it time."

"Damn it, Naruto! Now's not the time to get bullheaded and stubborn!" Kurama snapped fiercely, her originally soft and worried tone becoming sharp and biting as she started getting angry with her partner. "You're not fine and it's not going to just go away on its own! You know that just as well as I do!"

"We're not having this conversation right now." Naruto growled as they reached the double doors at the end of the hall. Having long since established a rule of 'silence' between each other when in the presence of others, Kurama immediately went quiet as Naruto reached for the doors. Thankful for the silence, Naruto forced aside the thoughts of his slowly dwindling rationallity in favor of focusing on what he was originally doing while pushing the twin doors open. Stepping out into the wide-open chamber, Naruto glanced over to see Glynda standing off to the side of the small circular arena stage with a clipboard-sized Scroll cradled in the crook of her left arm. With a fifteen foot radius 'buffer zone' surrounding the perimeter of the arena stage, the ten foot tall circular wall that sat just outside of that buffer zone gave way to a hundred or so seats arranged in a colliseum-like manner with the arena stage situated in the very center of it all.

Crossing the fifteen foot gap between the doors and the stage, Naruto smoothly ascended the six meager steps that led up to the metal dias that made up the arena stage, his gaze focusing on his given opponent for the day's demonstrational sparring match. Yatsuhashi Daichi. A Second-year student and the only other student currently attending Beacon Academy that not only stood eye-to-eye with him, but had the potential to match him in physical strength. Having done some research on his 'family's' Semblance, Hoplite's Shield, which was Remnant's equivalent to the UNSC's Spartans, Naruto guessed that the seven foot tall young man was a carrier and bearer of the Hoplite's Shield genes. Rather strong genes, at that.

"Are both participants ready?" Glynda inquired from her spot, her voice amplified by her Scroll to act as a microphone that was linked with the number of speakers scattered all throughout the colliseum-esque 'classroom' so that everyone heard her clearly.

"Are you sure you wish to fight me without a weapon?" Yatsuhashi asked as he pulled his giant sword from behind his back instead of immediately answering their instructor and momentary proctor for the match. Naruto simply narrowed his eyes ever so slightly while drawing his combat knife with his right hand in a reverse-grip, hunkering down into a loose stance that went to a technically formless and brutal closer-quarters fighting style he had been taught back in the UNSC during his training post-augmentations. While unable to use it while wearing his Olympus suit, it was a fighting style that was designed to be unpredictable and reactionary, mixing together bits and pieces from various other pre-existing fighting styles to make it incredibly difficult to counter. "I see. Very well then. I can not promise that you will not be injured during our match. Professor Goodwitch; I'm ready."

"And you, Mr. Uzumaki?" Glynda asked while turning her eyes towards Naruto as his eyes narrowed a fraction more, his grip tightening around the combat knife's handle.

"Ready..." Naruto answered with a mild edge to his tone of voice. Glynda frowned for a moment before nodding nonetheless and stepping away from the arena. A moment later, the lights all around the room's seating area dimmed to nothingness, leaving only the stage and its two occupants illuminated by the spot lights on the ceiling that were aimed straight down on top of them. Above them, a handful of large television screens blinked to life, each one showing a mirror-image of the same thing; a profile picture for either towering student with a green bar directly below their respectful photos that showed their current 'battle ready' Aura levels, looking much like health bars from a video game.

"Before the match starts, I will review the rules for both of you." Glynda's voice echoed from within the darkness all around them as they both stared each other down, neither showing any substantial amount of emotion nor budging an inch from their starting stances. "Both contestants will fight until one of you is either knocked unconscious, has been declared unable to continue the match by myself, their Aura levels have fallen into the red zone, or I have called an end to the match for whatever reason I deem fitting. Other than that, there are no limitations or restrictions to fighting techniques for this match; just keep in mind that this is a spar, not a fight to the death. Now...Begin!"

With Glynda's explanation finished and her declaration made, Yatsuhashi was the first to move, rushing straight at Naruto as he raised his sword for a crushing downward swing. Spinning around the attack and the weapon's wielder, Naruto countered with a solid round kick to Yatsuhashi's unguarded and exposed right side, sending him sliding sideways for a few feet from the force behind it without knocking him down. Pushing through the pain and using his Aura to numb the area where he'd been hit, Yatsuhashi regained his footing and balance before swinging back around with a wide horizontal slash. Eyes widening slightly, Naruto leaned back and let himself fall to the ground, the wide-set and heavy brass-colored blade of his opponent's sword missing him by only a few inches as it sliced through the air above his torso.

Rolling backwards into a three-point crouch, Naruto lunged forward as he kicked off the ground to quickly invade Yatsuhashi's now wide open guard with a rising knee strike aimed at his solar plexus. Barely able to react in time, Yatsuhashi positioned his free arm in the way of the attack to block with his armored bracer, the initial impact of Naruto's knee hitting his hastily raised guard being enough to knock Yatsuhashi off his feet. Landing flat on his back a few yards away from where he'd been thrown back, Yatsuhashi wheezed and coughed for a couple seconds from the air getting knocked out of his lungs by a combination of the partly blocked knee strike and the landing. A moment later, however, he was forced to roll out of the way as Naruto brought his booted left foot down on the ground with a punishing stomp that would have hit him in the stomach had he not moved, the resulting crash of sound echoing throughout the whole chamber while a couple cracks had been put into the floor from the power behind it.

'He is much stronger than he appears.' The green-clad swordsman thought warily as he shook his left arm out, trying to regain feeling in the forelimb while simultaneously blocking out the throbbing ache in his bones from blocking Naruto's knee. Deciding to switch to a more defensive strategy, Yatsuhashi brandished his giant sword again in order to put something between him and his opponent for the time being while keeping it positioned just right for either a quick counter-attack, to put some more distance between them if he has to, or to use the broadside of his weapon as a shield, if need be. That was when he took note of how Naruto was waiting for him to recover a little bit from where he'd been a moment ago, even though it had only taken the sode-wearing teen a few seconds to regain most of the feeling and use out of his left forearm. 'He has a sense of honor, at least, though I have a feeling that it is only because we are sparring and not actually fighting.'

Without the tiniest shred of hesitation or the faintest of warnings, Naruto pushed the offensive once more. Bracing his left hand against the dull back edge of his sword, Yatsuhashi brought his sword down at an angle, mostly in an attempt to force Naruto into retreating to put more space between them, but it failed when Naruto brought up his combat knife to block and then parry the much larger and heavier bladed weapon without being slowed down or staggered in the slightest. Shoving the sword back and throwing Yatsuhashi off balance as he spun around him again, Naruto lashed out with a shin kick to the dark haired teen's lower right leg, further disrupting Yatsuhashi's balance and footing.

Following through with the spin, Naruto hooked his left arm around Yatsuhashi's neck before hip tossing him, slamming the upperclassman on the ground back first with enough force to crack and partially shatter the stone-like flooring of the arena dias. Without letting up, Naruto kicked off the ground while continuing to spin, effectively transitioning into a horizontal flip not unlike a 'barrel roll', only to come down with a heel drop kick to Yatsuhashi's mid-section that was made even stronger than usual due to the amount of momentum he had built up from spinning so much and a portion of his full weight being added into the mix.

"Gah!" Yatsuhashi hacked out as his body involuntarily tried curling in on itself from the blow, his fingers losing their grip on his sword as his Aura visibly flickered over his body mid-impact as his limit was reached. Rolling backwards and popping back up to his feet, Naruto sheathed his combat knife just moments before the lights started turning back on.

"Match over! Winner: Naruto Uzumaki!" Glynda declared as she made her way to the stage, the Aura gauge under Yatsuhashi's picture rapidly flashing red as it reached the predetermined cut-off point that would have marked the end of the spar regardless of whether Yatsuhashi could still fight or not. They were a school, after all, and had to ensure that all of their students were well cared for and not put in unnecessary danger or needlessly harmed. Just as she reached the top of the short stack of stairs, Glynda was a little surprised, yet pleased to witness Naruto offering Yatsuhashi a hand before pulling him up to his feet without much of a problem, throwing one of the upperclassman's arms across his shoulders before starting to help him off of the dias, his free hand gripping the handle to Yatsuhashi's sword as he carried it along with them. "Mr. Uzumaki. Please assist Mr. Daichi to the clinic."

"Yes, ma'am." Naruto answered before doing as instructed, even though he had intended to do just that whether she had told him to or not. As they left the arena-like classroom and started making their way down the long and empty corridors that spanned the entirety of Beacon Academy, Yatsuhashi glanced at Naruto's face to find it just as expressionless as usual, but the gleam in the blonde's eye...was that guilt he saw? Although he hadn't said anything, Yatsuhashi recieved an answer to his unspoken question after a few minutes of silent walking. "I'm...sorry. I didn't mean to take it that far."

"What do you...mean by that?" Yatsuhashi wrasped out, wincing painfully halfway through his question as he used Naruto for support, finding it quite painful to breath at the moment.

"I was already upset before the match started and it only got worse once the match began. I lost control of my temper and I stopped holding back towards the end of the fight." Naruto explained without once looking at the teen he was half-carrying to the clinic for medical attention. "At the very least, I cracked at least two of your ribs with that last kick."

"...Things happen all the time. Sometimes they are good...sometimes they are bad." Yatsuhashi pointed out as they grew close to the clinic. "There was no way...you could have known that this...would have happened. What's done is done. All there is to do now...is to accept that you made...a mistake and to try not to make...that same mistake a second time."

"Hmph. Getting a little too philosophical about this, don't you think?" Naruto retorted in a vaguely noticable playful tone of voice, smirking slightly as he led Yatsuhashi through the clinic's entrance. "All I did was just stop pulling my punches because I was upset."

"Heh...True." Yatsuhashi let out a quick little laugh as he agreed, only to regret doing such as he cringed in pain from his rib cage hurting. Oh, well. At least now he would be excused from his classes for the next few days to a week or two, depending on how long it took him to heal and recover. As Naruto eased him down into a chair and propped his sword against the wall beside him, Yatsuhashi gave the blonde a smirk of his own before holding his hand out to the black-clad blonde. Glancing from the offered hand to Yatsuhashi for a moment, Naruto promptly clashed forearms with the swordsman before wordlessly nodding his head out of respect for him. "Thanks for the help...and that was one hell of a match, Uzumaki. Maybe one day we could have a rematch. Preferably without a trip to the clinic."

"Maybe. I just hope I didn't hurt you too badly. Take care, Yatsuhashi." Naruto said in return before leaving the Second-year student in the care of the school's well-funded and well-trained clinical staff, heading back to class to continue with the day's lessons. As he walked down the hall, Naruto blatantly ignored the fact that he was no longer walking alone despite the hallway being completely devoid of people, save for himself...and the phantom of his armored past-self, Sierra-419.

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