Fusion of Forces: Remnant's Maelstrom

While severely pissed when he found himself sealed into yet another Uzumaki, Kurama was grateful that at least Naruto's seal let him scratch any itches he had and didn't involve having sharp pointing things stabbed into his body.

But Kurama was nothing if not vain and as such he took pride in his lustrous fur. The moisture in the sewer that was Naruto's mind was hell on his fur and it had taken months to remedy the damage done to it.

There was no way in hell Kurama was voluntarily going back in that cramped hellhole.

Naruto knew all of this and enjoyed using the threat of the seal on the normally high and mighty Kitsune.

However team RWBY had gone through things they didn't want to discuss in pursuit of the fox and so were not satisfied with just scaring Kurama.

Stalking over to her fellow blond, Yang invaded Naruto's personal space bubble and vehemently spoke, "Foxy, if you know what's good for you you'll hand over that evil ball of fur. Right. Now."

Naruto looked between the angry visage of Yang and Kurama trying to be as cute as was possible and weighed his options. On one hand Kurama was an important part of his life and had grown to become something of a close friend within the past year or so. On the other hand Yang was a girl he had known for only a few days. However if there was one thing Naruto had learned in his seventeen years of life it was this; when a girl is angry and you have a way to make her happy or appease that anger, you better damn well do it if you want to live.

Shrugging Naruto spoke, "Sorry buddy, Yang scares me more than you do."

Grabbing Kurama by the scruff of his neck, Naruto tossed the crying fox to a maliciously grinning Ruby and Weiss. Yang's once angry face became her usual cheeky grin and she addressed Naruto, "Aww, you know just what to say to a girl."

The buxom blonde offered Naruto a flirtatious wink before walking off to join the rest of her team in exacting revenge.

Naruto offered a quick prayer to Kami, asking that Kurama retain his sanity and the will power to survive the wrath of four angry teen females.

The blond male was surprised when he turned around to see Pyrrha standing just behind him with a curious look on her face. No doubt she had just seen the last of the exchange between Naruto and team RWBY and was wondering what had happened to lead up to the odd scene she had walked in on.

Naruto just shook his head and patted the red head on her shoulder, "It's best if you don't know."

That only raised more questions in Pyrrha's mind, but looking at the way the normally stoic Blake was grinning like the cat who had caught the canary as she and the others left, the deadly beauty of team NNPR agreed that maybe it was best she didn't know.

Switching topics, Naruto decided to ask the question of why Pyrrha was in the cafeteria as well.

The red head smiled and replied, "Well Ren said you had come to get us some food, but that was a half hour ago so I figured you might need some help carrying up all the food."

Naruto chuckled nervously only now realizing how long he had been standing there "concentrating".

"Whoops?"

Pyrhha giggled at her friend and captain before gesturing at the carts that sat in the corner, "It's fine, but let's grab a cart and head up to the room. I don't think Nora can go any longer without her pancakes."

Knowing that denying Nora her pancakes was like denying him his ramen, Naruto agreed and grabbed a cart before helping Pyrrha to pile the food on top of it.

As the two teens made their way back to their room, Pyrrha decided to sate her curiosity over Naruto and his weapon.

"Hey Naruto?"

Hearing his name, the blond turned and acknowledged Pyrrha with a nod, wondering what she was going to ask him now. Part of him already knew she was going to ask him some question that had to due with his past or something with how frequently they had those kind of conversations.

It wasn't a bad thing really and they often talked about other random things on the way to class or during their down time, but anytime Pyrrha saw him fight or he vaguely mentioned something about his home, the red head would eventually come to him with questions.

Not that he minded at all. It felt good to talk about Konoha and his friends with someone who was genuinely interested in him and what he had to say.

"Well I know you said that names meant a lot back in your home village so I was wondering why you named your weapon The Will of Fire."

Naruto smiled as he almost immediately lost himself in memories at hearing the phrase that had shaped and given birth to his childhood dream, a dream he had before he even truly understood what it meant.

"In my home village we had this...philosophy that each of our warriors fought and died for, the belief that their sacrifices were not in vain. Our leader, the Hokage, was supposed to be the epitome of this, they were to see the entire village as one big family - their family. Growing up an oprhan, well the one thing I always wanted was a family and what better family could you have than your entire home village?"

Pyrrha couldn't help, but to grow even more respect for Naruto. He had aspired to become the leader of his home, not out of an attempt for more power or authority, but because he wanted to have a family, he wanted to have a reason to fight. Of course it was hard to miss the almost factual manner in which Naruto admitted to his having grown up an oprhanIt seemed that because of this Will of Fire, Naruto understood what it meant to be a great and compassionate leader.

She was surprised though when Naruto continued further, delving deeper into his past.

"But my godfather taught me a different part to the Will of Fire. He believed that not only could it make Konoha a safe and amazing place for all people, but that by spreading the Will of Fire, through loving each other, peace would be possible."

It was this statement that made Pyrrha pause in her steps, shocked at not just what her blond friend said, but also the conviction with which he said it. Turning to look at Naruto, Pyrhha was awed by not only the sheer belief Naruto put into those words, but also at her own thoughts that maybe this young man - who was brash, unpredictable, and most often a goofball - could pull it off.

Peace was something that almost all Hunters and Huntresses strode for, in some small capacity, whether that peace be peace with one's self or with those around you. Pyrhha was no different. However it was clear that Naruto wasn't aiming for something like that. No he was aiming for something on a much larger scale.

And some small part of her actually believed Naruto was fully capable of achieving that.

Coming back to her senses, Pyrrha realized that they had managed to make it back to their room without anything odd occuring.

She giggled though when she saw how childishly excited Naruto looked as he hurriedly opened the door and plopped himself down with his several bowls of ramen. It was amazing how quickly the blond could go from speaking with the charisma and passion of a leader who fully believed in their cause to being the goofball he usually was.

Grabbing her own plate of food, Pyrrha joined the rest of her team as they chatted, a smile on her face as she allowed her mind to have one last thought on the topic, 'And I wouldn't want it any other way.'

:::

Book 1 available to download.

You can now access all my latest crossover stories and exclusive content on Ko-fi! Visit ko-fi.com/queenofkings2000 to dive into new adventures and support my writing journey.

Thank you for your amazing support!