Disclaimer: I do not own either "Naruto" or "Rwby", they are the property of their respective owners, and this is made only for entertainment purposes.

Reborn through Remnants

Ch.1

Rebirth

The boy was running.

This alone wasn't a huge upset; after all, he was an orphan. Worse, he was an orphaned Faunus. A seven-year-old runt of a kid living on the outskirts of Atlas, running was the only way he knew how to survive.

No, the fact that he was running wasn't a huge surprise, the trouble arose when one saw the reason why. Unlike the other times, he wasn't running to keep a hold of whatever scrap of food he'd managed to steal or to escape the bigoted jerks who made up the Atlesian Police Force. No, at that moment he ran for only one reason: Fear.

He had heard about them, of course, the Schnee Dust Company. There wasn't a Faunus alive who hadn't heard of them, just as there wasn't a Faunus alive who didn't speak about them without some level of either fear or hatred in their voice. At night, when he'd lie down in the abandoned alleyway he called home, the group would fuel his nightmares, and when he'd lie awake, too hungry to sleep properly, he'd pray to whoever would listen that they wouldn't find him. Unfortunately, it would seem that his prayers had gone unanswered, as that time had come.

He knew about their Dust Mines. More importantly, he knew what they meant for any Faunus unlucky enough to end up in them. Death. Plain and simple. In those Mines, they either worked you until you died, or you got lucky enough to escape. There was no middle ground, and he held no delusions of escape if he got caught.

So, when a group of four masked men with the Schnee symbol sewn into their clothes found him that day in the alley, he didn't waste time asking questions, he just ran. This prompted the four men to give chase, placing him into the position he currently found himself in.

He'd been running from them for a straight two hours, the chase taking him and the group of four out of the city proper and onto the cliffs surrounding it. He was faster than them, of that there was no doubt, but the fully-grown men had him outnumbered and had longer legs, so they were able to stay behind him, just out of reach as luck would have it. Unfortunately, his luck had just run out.

Though it was true he had them beat in speed, it had been several days since he'd last eaten and his body was beginning to run out of steam. That wasn't to say he couldn't keep running (he'd kept moving through worse conditions) but the loss of energy made him sloppier. This would prove to be his undoing. Normally when he ran, he kept his tail wrapped tightly around his waist, keeping it clean and out of reach of any pursuers but, on this day, as he lost focus, he let it drop and trail behind him, suspended in midair as he continued move forward, never the wiser.

Immediately capitalizing on this new opportunity, one of the men reached forward and plucked the long and furry orange, white tipped foxtail from its place in the air, dragging with it the small boy attached to it before he could correct his mistake. Despite all his efforts, he had been caught.

That was when the beating started. Punches, kicks, clubs of some sort, all impacted against the boy's tender flesh, bruising skin and cracking bones as they did. Rather it was payback for the time the chase took or to stop him from fighting back later, he didn't know nor did he care. All that mattered at that moment was the pain.

Then, it happened. One of his attackers urged some Aura into a kick, just enough to make it stronger than normal, and punted the boy's body forward. Under typical circumstances, the others would have congratulated him for his efforts, but as they followed the body's descent with their eyes, they saw the boy's head connect with a nearby rock with a sickening 'crack'! His body, previously writhing in pain, suddenly went unnaturally still and the air, until now fill with his screams of pain, became deathly silent, an ominous line of red beginning to leak from the crown of his head.

"CRAP!" The man who had kicked the boy cursed.

"Dang it Coal, you killed it!" Another of them yelled out in annoyance at the little freak's death "Now how are we supposed to get paid?!"

"Sorry Manchester" the one called Coal said sheepishly, nervously scratching the back of his head as he felt the others glaring at him "Guess I got a little carried away."

"Yeah, yeah" Manchester replied still annoyed "Ain't nothin' we can do about it now but clean up the mess."

With that said, he began edging the boy's body away with the tip of his boot, not willing to dirty his hands actually touching the little beast. His companions watched with disinterest as he slowly edged the body over the side of the cliff and out of sight. By now this was a common sight for them, another part of the job.

Besides, it was just a Faunus.

0

Unbeknownst to them as they made their way back into the city, day gradually bleeding into night, the boy's body slowly came to a stop at the base of the cliff after its impromptu fall. A few moments later, it slowly began to shift before ever so delicately sitting up. Banged up and in pain though he was, the boy was alive, albeit with a searing headache.

Knowing full well from experience that sitting still while injured would only cause him more problems, especially in a Grimm infested forest after dark, the boy forced himself to his feet, tightly wrapping his tail around his waist as he began to shamble his way forward in search of something to help patch himself up. Clutching the top of his head with one hand to try and prevent further damage, he slowly made his way deeper into the forest opposite the city, pushing what he'd just been through to the back of his mind. He'd worry about his next move and getting back on his feet later, now was the time to lick his wounds and attempt to fix himself up.

Stumbling forward almost drunkenly, he slowly but surely made his way through the myriad of trees marring his path, feeling his way along, his vision spotted at best until, all at once, he was driven to his knees by a sharp and sudden pain, ripping its way forward from his head. Before he could even begin to question what had happened, both his eyes and mind were assaulted by a sudden vision.

He saw the Moon. Not, as he was accustomed, in a shattered state drifting slowly through the heavens, no, the moon he saw now was nothing short of a perfectly unified sphere. Instead of a comforting and mysterious silver glow, this moon shone down with a sinister crimson light, lined with rings and dotted with odd, slightly curved and circular markings, glowering down at the Lands of Remnant as if it were the eye of some angry and omnipresent god.

Just as quickly as it had come, the image receded, taking with it any explanation behind and leaving an extremely confused boy in its wake.

"W-What the…?" he gasped out in shock, clutching at his head with both hands.

Forcing himself up, he threw himself forward in something resembling a dead sprint, slowed only by his still injured body. On and on he ran, ignorant of the sharp branches and thorns harshly biting into his skin, spurned on in equal measure by the somehow familiar sense of despair the image had invoked and his own desire to gain distance from the image itself.

It was all for naught.

The images continued, pouring forward in a rapid stream as if encouraged by his rapidly growing retreat, each more strange and bizarre than the last and bringing forth emotions foreign to the nameless child.

A strange bat-like humanoid creature, too grotesque to be any sort of Faunus, with long pale blue hair, dark brownish-grey skin and two large, malformed, hand-like wings sprouting from its back, holding what looked like a sphere of black lightning in its outstretched right hand and glaring at him with pure loathing… A strange looking old man with knee length spiky white hair in a high ponytail and odd red "tear" lines drawn underneath both eyes smiling down at him…Another strange man, this one with bright and spiky orange colored hair, accentuated by a medley of piercings through his nose and an oddly ominous pair of pale, violet colored-eyes, each with a set of concentric rings, much like the moon in his first vision, staring at him with indifference in a barren wasteland…A girl, no, a woman, a beautiful woman, with a head of dark bluish-black hair and a shining pair of pale, lavender colored eyes, looking upon him with pure and honest admiration, perhaps even more.

On and on the onslaught continued, unbidden as the boy sought only to escape, no longer caring for the damage he put his body through. Each image brought with it a powerful emotion, sorrow, happiness, rage … Love, each came and was just as quickly torn away as the image left him, and the inner turmoil this caused was threatening to overwhelm him. One thing was for certain, if they did not cease soon, he would either be confronted by their origin, or driven to madness.

Finally, unable to withstand the mental trauma any longer, he collapsed to his knees once again, this time in a large forest clearing, which was home to a small reflecting pool. It was here, under the silver glow of Remnants shattered moon that he was struck by another vision, this one striking him with a level of ferocity yet unseen. One so great he could only pray that it was the last, screwing his eyes shut in pain as it came upon him.

Opening his eyes slowly, the boy was met by a sight which convinced him of what he now perceived as his total descent into insanity. There, sitting on its haunches in front of him in a pool of ankle deep water, was a fox. Not just any fox, no, but a fox which streched at least 100 feet tall, with dark burnt orange fur (the same color as his tail he noted absently), piercing red eyes which bespoke of a feral nature, and nine, yes, Nine huge tails swishing in the air behind its back.

This vision came through with a greater sense of clarity than the others, allowing him to take in the Beast's full appearance as it sat in what appeared to be some sort of sewer. Absently taking note of what looked like broken cage doors on either side of the creature, he had stop himself from letting out a yell of surprise as he saw the Fox extend a large and furry fist towards him in invitation. As something resembling a smile spread across its fanged visage, the boy felt the distinct urge to run, deeply ingrained survival instincts pushing him to attempt some form of escape. However, before he could listen to them, the Beast's next action froze him where he stood, as his eyes bulged out in shock.

It spoke.

IT SPOKE!

That's right; the 100-foot-tall 9-tailed fox spoke in plain English. Smile still firmly on its face, the Fox spoke in a rough, deep, and guttural voice, denoting its primal nature "Ready to give'em Hell, Partner?" it asked with a sense of both bestial amusement and eagerness in its tone, not unlike what he would expect from a predator which had found a new form of prey.

Let it be known that he could have attempted to run right then. At that point, having discovered a creature large enough to dispatch entire packs of Ancient Ursa and intelligent enough to speak, he would have been totally justified to attempt a fear fueled retreat. Yet, something held him back.

For some reason, standing there in that pool of ankle deep water, staring up at the gargantuan creature before him, it wasn't fear that he felt. No, fear was the furthest thing from his mind. If anything, as the Fox held out its fist to him, he felt excitement. Pure unadulterated exhilaration, as if nothing in the world could stop him.

Without any conscious effort on his part, he felt his body reach out a fist and bump it against the Fox's before hearing himself answer. In a voice far stronger and more confident than he had ever recalled himself using he replied to the Fox's question with "You have to ask? Let's go kick some tail Partner!"

After making his declaration, the boy felt a shift, somewhere deep inside of his being. All at once a keen sense of understanding overtook him, as if a light had illuminated a longstanding darkness in the pits of both his mind and soul. As he stood there, arm still extended, the image of the smirking Fox having long since faded away into a white nothingness, he felt as though he might finally be able to understand who he was.

But something still wasn't right.

He knew of his own life, and he knew of the life shown in the Visions. He knew that he'd played a part in that life, and in the lives of the people he'd seen. He understood he'd been a hero.

But he didn't know who he had been.

The information was there. He could feel it, just beyond his reach, but something held it back. Frustrated, he forced the nagging sense of longing he felt to the back of his mind until he could afford to devote his full energy to it.

Shaking his head in a vain effort to clear it, the boy began to hobble his way forward before collapsing at the edge of the reflecting pool on all fours, exhausted both physically and mentally.

Taking a moment to try and recompose himself, he began to examine his own appearance in the pools water, trying to get a grasp on how badly he was hurt.

Battered, bruised and covered in grime with a disturbing line of red marring the center of his forehead though he was, he was still able to make out his most distinct features. Two deep, ocean blue eyes stared back at him from the waters depths, reflecting his exhaustion with the almost total lack of light behind them. His unmistakable head of bright and sunny blond hair remained visible, even if it was matted down by a mix of dirt and dried blood. Finally, through the layer of dirt that covered him, he was just able to discern a set of six, whisker-like marks overlaying lightly tanned, sun kissed skin, three on each cheek, denoting his Faunus heritage and giving him a slightly feral look.

It was then that something strange began to happen.

As he took in his own appearance, the Visions that had forced their way into his consciousness began to resurface, stronger than they had at first. The longer he sat there, the stronger they became, seeming to resonate within him, practically screaming in their quest for some form of acknowledgement. On and on it built in his chest until finally, mercifully, he was left with a one, single outstanding message. It was a single word.

"Naruto"

He said the word out loud slowly, as if testing it. It felt foreign and odd, and yet, at the same time, somehow familiar. With a sudden spark of recognition, a huge grin split its way across his face, as all at once everything seemed to fall into place.

On an impulse, he dunked his head forward in to the cool, clear water, clearing it of a large amount of the debris marring his visage. Resurfacing a few moments later, he threw his head back in an uproar of joyous laughter. Falling back onto his back, he called out for the entire world and even the heavens to hear: "MY NAME IS NARUTO UZUMAKI!"

Lying there, staring up at Remnants shattered moon, bathed underneath its silver glow, the previous nameless boy had no way of knowing.

He had no way of knowing that on that day, seemingly like any other, the World of Remnant had gained a new champion. On that day, the Legend of Naruto Uzumaki was not born, but Reborn.

Authors Note

Hello Ladies and Gentleman of the Internet, my name is Reflective599, and I'd like to welcome you to my first official fanfic!

Alright, first things first, let's talk about this story. I plan to take it through all three volumes of Rwby and the upcoming Vol.4 once it comes out and finishes. The romance in this may (key word, there) evolve into a harem later on, but Naruto x Nora is assured, so for those who came in for that, bear that in mind.

Understand, my ability to write romance is, limited, but I know what I like to read. Any relationships I write, no matter how farfetched, will always pan out slowly. I prefer letting them develop, and grow overtime instead of forming instantly.

Now rather I can manage that convincingly or not is a different story, but know that that is my intention, if that doesn't interest you, I apologize. I'm not fully adept at writing deeply involved romance or action scenes as of yet, so when those start popping up, feel free to give feedback and CONSTRUCTIVE criticism!

No Flames!

Okay, now that that's out of the way, I'm gonna be perfectly honest: I didn't expect this story to get any kind of popular anytime soon. That's part of the reason it didn't originally have an Authors Note. However, now that it does have people following it, I'll try my best to get out chapters as quickly as possible, but, at the same time they may also take awhile. I want to put my best foot forward with this story, so it may take time to get them to the highest quality possible. Between that and heading to college, they may not come for some time.

Please feel free to Review, Favorite and Follow. Let me know how I'm doing so far. Any support is well and truly appreciated, but like I said, NO FLAMES!

So, with all that said, I'm Reflective599, and thank you for reading, PEACE!