22 -Chapter 22-

-Last Time-

'Oh thank Oum, it's finally over.' Pyrrha thought with overwhelming relief, even as her vision slowly started to fade into black. She could just hear as her teammates rushed to her side and called out to her, but their words sounded like they were so far away.

She could feel as her head was turned so that she was facing upwards, and the last thing she saw was Naruto's glowing ruby eyes staring into hers worriedly before the blissful embrace of unconsciousness took her.

-And Now-

"… she alr…"

"Rela… your fr…end is fin… the opera…. went …fectly."

"Sh… better b... lady, or else… pancake you."

"Hey, …you… me than a… her yourself, she's starting to come too."

It was these words alongside a barrage of dull aching pain throughout her body that one Pyrrha Nikos found herself gradually awaking too. Slowly opening her eyes, a weak groan escaped her lips and her eyelids scrunched up from the blinding amount of light that seared into her unprepared pupils.

Blinking several times rapidly as her eyes adjusting to the lighting, the redheaded warrior was confused as she found herself staring at a pristine white ceiling of the med wing instead of the wooden roof she was accustomed to in her team's dorm.

However, before she could ponder about this oddity for long, her vision was filled with the faces of her two male teammates. "Pyrrha! Oh, I'm glad that you're awake. We were so worried about you." Jaune said with a smile as he knelt by the bed the redhead was laying on.

"Huh? Jaune?" Pyrrha murmured with a slight slur as she tilted her head towards her blonde team-leader/crush, wincing as the action caused several parts of her face to throb painfully. "What's going on? W-where am I?"

"You don't remember?" Ren asked, getting Pyrrha to look towards him in confusion.

"Remember? Remember whaaaaa…" The redhead trailed off midsentence as the memories of last night came flooding into her mind like an avalanche, causing her eyes to widen in horror before she shot up from her bed. "Oh Oum, Naruto!"

"Whoa! Easy there Pyrrha, calm down." Jaune said as he and Ren tried to hold the panicking girl down.

"But Naruto-"

"Is fine, he's right over there." The leader of team JNPR cut Pyrrha off, causing her to stop and follow the direction he was pointing, and saw Nora sitting in a nearby chair with Naruto peacefully asleep on her lap.

They weren't the only ones there though, as to one side was the members of team RWBY with the R of the group also asleep in an unknown blonde man's arms, and on the other was Winter, Penny, Prof. Peach, Prof. Glynda, and another unknown blonde only this one was an elderly woman.

"I'd suggest you stop moving around so much, I just finished patching your kuso up and I'd rather not have to do it again." The mystery lady said as she walked up to the bed and effortlessly pushed Pyrrha back down onto the bed.

"I believe Ms. Senju meant we treated you," Prof. Peach added calmly, getting an eye roll from Tsunade in response. "But I do agree that you shouldn't be moving around so much Ms. Nikos. Now please, try and relax a little, stressing yourself out in your current condition is not a good idea."

Nodding her head in understanding, Pyrrha took a few deep breaths and let the tenseness in her body slowly ease away. "How long was I out?"

"A little over a day and a half, though to be honest you're lucky to be awake at all." Tsunade stated bluntly, "That stab to your shoulder nicked the axillary artery, add that to your finger getting chopped off and you would've bled to death long before we even got to treating you if it wasn't for the little spit trick of the funsui's. Even then, it was a damn close call."

As the woman was speaking, Pyrrha's gaze drifted to where her right arm laid, wrapped entirely in immaculate white gauze from fingertip to the middle of her forearm. Lifting it up slightly, she held back a wince as a dull pain spread through the appendage. "…were you able to fix this?" She asked hesitantly.

"Well, yes and no," Prof. Peach said with a sigh, causing the redhead to look at her in confusion. "While we were able to recover your finger in the aftermath of this horrible event, it was in… less than ideal condition."

"Oh, don't beat around the bush, damn thing was burnt to a crisp." Tsunade cut in, earning a dry look from the pink-haired professor that she ignored. Walking out of sight briefly, the older busty blonde came back with a small metal box with a glass top, allowing her to see her roasted pinky inside, and a pair of scissors in either hand.

"Here, figured you'd want it back anyway." She said, placing the box in the palm of Pyrrha's good hand before grasping the other gently and began cutting through the gauze. "However, while that one was too messed up to use, we did end up finding a suitable replacement."

'Replacement?' Pyrrha wondered, opening her mouth to voice her confusion aloud, only to stop cold as she saw her hand become unveiled. Most of it looked just it normally would, albeit a bit pinker and slightly swollen, with the exception starting around the pinkie knuckle. The area around the joint was a deep puffy red, with small incision marks here and there that were barely noticeable.

The big eye opener though, was the instant transition from that to pristine pale porcelain colored skin as it extended past the knuckle and onto the PINKIE. "H-h-how?"

"You can thank the Ikite iru ningyō and Aka zukin-chan over there," Tsunade said, idly pointing towards Penny and Ruby who smiled sheepishly as she looked over the hand thoroughly, "They were the ones to come up with the idea of using some of the former's spare parts for this."

"Ms. Senju, I do not believe it is wise to remove the bandaging so soon, it's only been a few hours since the surgery. You're increasing the odds of infection by nearly 90%." Prof. Peach said in concern, only to be waved off by Tsunade as she began peeling off one of her gloves, revealing a pure white palm that shimmered as the light reflected off it.

"Relax Peach-san, I know what I'm doing." The elder blonde said as she grabbed Pyrrha's wrist with her still gloved hand, snapping the girl out of her shocked daze, and wrapped her palm around the girl's.

Immediately upon contact, Pyrrha couldn't help but shiver as a warm slimy ooze was lathered over her hand. After a few seconds, that shiver returned twice as strong felt pins and needles everywhere the liquid touched.

"You're a faunus?" Blake asked with a surprised look as Tsunade finished covering Pyrrha's entire hand then let it go as she slipped her glove back on.

"No kidding, what gave me away?" Tsunade asked back sarcastically, getting the disguised cat faunus to look away awkwardly. "Now shut up and watch the magic happen."

"Fascinating," Prof. Peach murmured as she and Pyrrha watched the swelling on the latter's hand slowly die down and the skin regained its light peach complexion. "What kind of faunus are you that allows you to secret such a useful substance?"

"Believe it or not, slug." Tsunade said, chuckling at the surprised looks she got in response.

"Umm, if you could do that the whole time why did you wait till now?" Ruby asked with a raised hand.

"Because, unlike with the funsui's magic saliva, I have to wait for a wound to set before being able to use my mucus to treat it. Otherwise, the wound wouldn't heal right." While she talked, Tsunade grabbed a clean washcloth from a nearby counter and started wiping the excess slime off.

"Oh, okay," Ruby murmured with a nod of understanding, before pausing. "Wait, did you say mucus?"

"Why yes I did," Tsunade chuckled again as she saw the raven-redhead's face turn green alongside most of the teens in the room. Deciding to screw around a little, she smirked mischievously and tossed the mucus covered rag towards the girl while adding. "And yes, it's just like the kind that comes out your nose."

"EEEEW!" Ruby shrieked as the rag flew towards her. Acting on reflex, she grabbed the nearest possible thing she could and held it out protectively. Unfortunately for Yang, that thing just happened to be her and before she even realized what was going on, she was greeted with a face full of cloth and slime.

"Gross!" The busty blonde yelled, pulling the gooey cloth off and tossed it directly into the trash. While trying to wipe the remaining goo off, she sent a red-eyed glare directly at a laughing Tsunade. "This had better not mess up my hair."

"Oh relax gaki, I was just kidding about the snot thing. It may be mucus, but it is much different kind than what you're thinking of." Tsunade said as her laughter died down, but never losing her smirk. "Besides, thanks its restorative properties, that mucus happens to make an excellent skin cream and hair conditioner. I mean, just look at myself, I'm forty-five years old yet with just a little work I still pass off as being twenty-eight." She said while striking a half-hearted pose.

"Okay I'm so calling bull on that." Yang said as everyone looked the woman over from head to toe. Subtract the small amount of grey in her hair and crow's feet around her eyes, which could easily be from a stressful lifestyle, and Tsunade did in fact looked to be in her late twenties to early thirties. However, it was two particular details that cemented the younger blonde's belief.

"There is no way you're that old with that chest." Yang said while walking up to Tsunade and jabbed one of her fellow blonde's boobs with her finger, causing the soft lobe of flesh to jiggle.

"Ah, what's wrong? Jealous that your rack isn't the biggest around anymore?" Tsunade asked with a smirk, crossing her arms under her chest to emphasize her breasts tauntingly. "If you don't believe me, just ask Goodwitch-san. With her serious attitude I wouldn't be surprised if she has my entire profile memorized already."

At these words, everyone else in the room turned to said blonde professor, who simply sighed before pulling out a shiny new scroll out of her pocket and opening a file with Tsunade's picture. After zooming in on the section for personal information, she flipped the scroll around for them all to see.

"Well holy shit." Yang couldn't help but say as she saw that Tsunade was indeed in her mid-forties, barely even reacting as her father smacked the back of her head for swearing. "Man, most women would kill for that stuff."

"No kidding, I can already imagine how much I could make if I sold this on the open market. All the Sake I could buy and gambling I could do." Tsunade said with a giddy laugh, while everyone else in the room swore they heard the soft *cha-ching* of a cash register in the background.

After reveling in these thoughts for a few more minutes, she shook her head a few times and turned her attention back to Glynda and Peach. "My work here is done, I'm going back to my room and calling it a night." She said, not waiting for a response before she headed for the door.

"Hold on you! We still need to talk!" Nora whisper-yelled as she carefully handed Naruto to Penny and chased after the woman.

"Um, not to sound rude, but who was that?" Pyrrha asked, the question having slipped her mind until that moment.

"Tsunade Senju, the ambassador of Konohagakure." Glynda stated, leaving the redhead stunned once more.

"She's also a renowned medical genius thankfully," Prof. Peach said as she took Tsunade's spot and began looking over Pyrrha's hand with intrigue. "I was still ill when you were attacked, so she and her apprentice were the only ones nearby who could stabilize you."

"I guess I owe her my life then." Pyrrha said, only to blink in surprise when Winter scoffed loudly.

"More like she owed you, it was her man that put you in that condition after all." The snow themed woman said.

Seeing the shock, confusion, and alarm rapidly forming on Pyrrha's face, and rapid beeping of her heart monitor, Prof. Peach elaborated. "One of Ms. Senju's guards, the man who attacked you, appears to be a double agent who had snuck into her envoy. After the assault, we went through his belongings and found a large amount of Elementian currency and a contract for having-"

"Naruto killed." Pyrrha finished with a deep frown as the professor nodded. "Does this mean the treaty is off?"

"…No, with all the evidence we found pointing to this Mizuki character being a rouge operative, the council of Vale agreed to let the matter slide." Glynda said stiffly.

"Which is just the nice way of saying they're sweeping it under the rug the best they can." Blake said in her usual monotone as she stood up from her seat and handed Pyrrha her scroll with a news clip on screen.

[Late at night on September 23rd, Pyrrha 'The Invincible Girl' Nikos was attacked and horribly injured at Beacon Academy by an as of this time unnamed male assailant.] A lovely brown-haired woman said as a picture of Pyrrha's bandaged form appeared beside her.[The motive for the attack is uncertain but is currently believed to be because of a mysterious young faunus child that has been drawing attention all over Vale.]

At this point, several pictures of Naruto were played. [After a thorough investigation, it was revealed this child, who's name is Naruto Valkyrie, is a cousin of Ms. Nikos's teammate, Nora Valkyrie, and had been recently orphaned in a Grimm attack. Or was it?] The woman asked ominously. [Shortly after an explosion that was believed to be the assailant's work, a student was able to catch the following footage. Be advised, it contains highly graphic content.]

The screen changed to show a shaky clip of the remains of NNPW dorm, right at the time that Naruto was 'treating' Pyrrha's shoulder, though because the angle of the shot, the distance away, and his tails constantly getting in the way, it simply looked like he was checking if she was alright.

Pyrrha couldn't help but shake a bit as she watched Mizuki once again pull himself out of the rubble and for herself and Naruto to 'vanish' from sight. She continued to tremble as the entire clip played, watching as the burned madman ranted and raved while looking for her and Naruto's hidden forms.

The video continued, all the way to point where Nora and Ren showed up, and she saw Mizuki once again get massacred by Nora and Naruto's combined efforts. Then, for the first time, she got to witness as the rest of her friends, several teachers, and the headmaster showed up and began to tend on her unconscious form while Nora comforted a trembling Naruto.

[As you all saw, this deranged man was clearly focused on the child, and appeared to hold some form of personal grudge against him.] The woman said once the video ended. [Authorities later confirmed that this man was the founder and only known member of a new anti-faunus group and had been the true cause of young Naruto's orphaning. With this knowledge it is then easy to deduce that his goal was to finish the job by ending the poor boy's life, and anyone else's who got in the way.]

[In the end though, we can all be thankful that this man is no longer a danger, and that according to medical professionals that Ms. Nikos will make a full recovery. However, there are still many questions left unanswered, such as the young child's interesting abilities. Stay tuned to find out more, I'm Diane Simmons of channel 5 news signing out.]

"Better get your story straight soon, cause I'm pretty sure the reporters will be hounding you like they have been us once you're out of here." Blake said dully as she took her scroll back, while Pyrrha groaned at the thought.

-Meanwhile-

"Why are you following me? I thought you wanted me to be as far away from you as possible." Tsunade said with a raised brow as she stared down at the orangette following her with a distrustful glare.

"I do… but I also want answers that only you can give me." Nora said, her gaze not letting up for a second.

Stopping in front of the door to her room, Tsunade turned her full attention to the teen and asked. "What do you want to know?"

"Why does your country want Naruto dead?" Nora asked back coldly.

"Ah that, well to fair, not everyone in Konoha wants him dead, though the ones that do are not small in numbers." Tsunade admitted. "As for those who do want him dead, want it so for one very simple yet stupid reason… fear."

"Fear?" Nora parroted in disbelief, "You're saying people are honestly afraid of a child?"

"Is it really so hard to believe? Most kids his age can barely go to the bathroom by themselves, yet that little funsui is able to bite through solid metal with ease, enjoys eating highly volatile minerals as a snack, can use the elements themselves like toys, and that's barely scratching the surface." Tsunade stated while Nora frowned, unable to deny her point.

"Okay fine, they're afraid of him, doesn't mean they have the right to try and kill him."

"I agree with you, but people have a tendency to be rather idiotic when it comes to things that scare them." Tsunade said with a resigned shrug. "For example, from what I understand, many faunus that join that White Fang group I've been hearing about to get rid of humans, is because their afraid of being oppressed. They believe that everything will be better if humanity was gone because of this fear. But, do you know what would most likely happen if they succeeded?"

"Uh, they'd live peacefully?" Nora answered unsurely.

"No, they'd end up with basically the exact same situation they have now after a decade or so, only it would be faunus against faunus." Tsunade said, her voice filled with certainty.

"…what?" Was all Nora could say in response before the busty blonde elaborated.

"The only reason that the faunus are as united as they are right now, is because they have a common feared/hated enemy, humans. Once humans are out of the picture though, those feelings would begin to disperse over time and along with it, the faunus unity as a species. Then, before you know it, some idiot or idiots will get the idea that they are better than others because of some stupid reason, like perhaps that they're a predator faunus or a mammal faunus."

"And then they'd end up oppressing others for being 'inferior' to them, thus starting the whole thing over again." Nora said as what Tsunade was saying clicked in her mind.

"Exactly, in the end wiping out humanity wouldn't really fix anything, but most faunus can't see that because they're too afraid to think that far." Tsunade said with a nod. "In the same way, the people that want your gaki dead can only see what they fear, someone with a large amount of power that could be dangerous to them, and not as the innocent child he is."

Nora growled softly as her frown deepened as she found herself once again unable to argue against the greying blonde's point. "It's still not right." She mumbled quietly while looking down.

"Like I said, people are idiots. As long as they can get rid of what scares them, they don't care if it's right or wrong." Tsunade said while turning around and reaching for the doorknob, glad the girl was satisfied with half the truth. She did not even want to imagine the headache it would give her if she had to try and explain the true reason Konoha's people were terrified of Naruto, for the beast that he contained.

"Hold on, I still have another question."

"Ugh!" Tsunade groaned as Nora grabbed her arm. "Fine, but this better be the last one."

Nodding, Nora looked Tsunade straight in the eye and asked. "Why do you have Naruto's sister?"

"…say what now?" Tsunade asked dumbly while Nora's gaze narrowed.

"Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about. The baby." Nora stated firmly as her grip tightened. A look of understanding spread across Tsunade's face at those two words, before she promptly burst into a fit laughter much to the teen's confusion and annoyance. "What's so funny? I'm being serious."

"Hehehe… sorry, it's just, Mito is not your gaki's sister." Tsunade said once she managed to get her laughter back under control.

"Bullshit! They look just almost identical to each-other!" Nora yelled angrily.

"I never said they weren't related, just that those two aren't siblings." Tsunade said while she held up her hands up in mock surrender.

"So what, she's his cousin? His niece?" Nora demanded, only to not receive an answer as Tsunade turned around again and opened the door to her room. "Hey, answer me!" She yelled but was ignored as Tsunade stuck her head into the other room.

"Karin, get over here." The busty blonde called out before stepping away from the door as the young redheaded girl Nora had seen briefly last time nervously walked out with Mito in her arms like usual.

"W-what do you n-need Tsunade-sama?" Karin asked with a slight stutter.

"I just need Mito for a moment, need to introduce her to someone important." Tsunade told her, getting Karin to glance at Nora, who had a very confused expression on her face.

"…Okay T-Tsunade-sama," She said after a brief moment of hesitation, reluctantly handing the infant to the blonde.

"Thank you, now you go to bed little lady, it's late and you need your sleep." Tsunade said, nudging the girl back into the room as she expertly cradled Mito with one arm. Once Karin was back inside, the elderly woman closed the door and returned her attention to the orangette. "You consider yourself the funsui's Kaa-san, correct?"

"I don't consider it, I am his mother." Nora stated, wondering where the woman was going with this, before blinking in surprise as the woman smirked.

"Great," Tsunade said while holding Mito out to the orangette. "Then allow me to formally introduce you to your granddaughter."

…

…

"B-b-b-but I'm too young to be a grandma."

-End Chapter-