Fusion of Forces | Chapter 19

As Weiss made to look for Ruby she was surprised to bump into the solid wall of flesh that was Naruto Uzumaki. Not in the mood for the usually cheerful blond, Weiss opened her mouth to tell the blonde haired Uzumaki to leave her alone, but her mouth was quickly snapped shut upon seeing the look in the teen's eyes.

Gone was the normally grinning and goofy blond, instead there was a decidedly very angry and frustrated Uzumaki.

"Follow me," was all that Naruto said.

Weiss would have normally brushed off the teen with her a scoff, but she found that the look in his eye compounded with the roughness in his voice made her extremely hesitant to disobey him. As such, she quietly followed behind Naruto as he led her out to a balcony that overlooked not only Beacon, but the whole kingdom of Vale.

For a minute neither said anything, Naruto with his arms crossed staring out at the city in the distance while Weiss quietly and impatiently waited for the blond to speak. When her patience was all but gone and her irritation steadily building, the Schnee heiress was ready to simply turn around walk away from Naruto.

The low voice of Naruto put that thought process to a stop though, "I had a teammate named Sasuke Uchiha. You remind me of him quite a bit. Both of you were born into prestigious families, both of you excel in combat, and both of you also view those around you as insignificant, or as obstacles in the way of your goals at best."

Weiss raised an eyebrow as she saw Naruto sigh and his shoulders fall. Still refusing to look at her he continued, "We realized how similar we were in some ways and forged a bond. Both of us were orphaned at a young age, people never saw us for who were, only seeing the titles and masks we put on, and most importantly, we had a goal that we trained day and night to achieve. In time we became like brothers. Then something happened. One of our village's greatest traitors offered him power, power to achieve his goal and Sasuke took it. From there things spiraled out of control. Sasuke abandoned our village, he turned his back on our bond, and he tried numerous times to kill me while I foolishly fought to bring him back home."

Weiss gasped in shock as Naruto wove his tale. To her it didn't make sense. What could possibly make a person turn on someone they viewed as a brother? What possible gain was there that could justify such a betrayal? Nonetheless the Schnee heiress waited with bated breath, wondering how this tale ended.

Taking a deep breath Naruto continued, "I will say this, Sasuke got what he wanted in the end. He got the power he had always wanted. With it he was able to finally achieve his goal and kill the man responsible for his family's death. However he realized that he was still left feeling empty. He had sacrificed everything; his morals, his friendships, and his sanity to achieve this goal and for what? A selfish notion of revenge?"

Feeling the emotional weight of the situation, Weiss asked the only question on her mind, "Why are you telling me all of this?"

Naruto finally turned to look at Weiss and she was shocked to see his sapphire blue eyes looking at her with untold amounts of regret and sorrow.

"Because Sasuke was like a brother to me. I chased after him, intent on bringing him back home, thinking that I could put him back on the right path all the while watching as our team and friendship was destroyed beyond recognition. I'm telling you this, because I refuse to see it happen again. Weiss, you're strong, you're smart, and you are gifted, no doubt about that. But the minute you let that all go to your head, you become something else entirely. Just because things didn't go the way you wanted them to, the way you thought they should, doesn't mean you lash out at the people who care for you. You wanna prove to Ozpin and everyone else that you are an amazing Huntress? Then show them, but not at the price of friendships and who you are."

Again silence engulfed the duo, Weiss lost in her own thoughts while Naruto took some time to recompose himself. He hadn't told Weiss everything that had happened with Sasuke, but still it was enough to dredge up old feelings of failure and regret. To this day Naruto didn't know if that regret was over not being able to bring Sasuke back or that he himself risked so much on a fool's errand.

The Schnee heiress let out a yelp of surprise when Naruto popped up in her vision, their faces inches apart, and that same old goofy grin of his on his face now, "You got it...Princess?"

Weiss huffed as Naruto walked off laughing, hands crossed behind his head. Even still there was a small but noticeable smile on her face. As Naruto disappeared around the corner, the Schnee heiress spared the setting sun one last look before venturing off, an apology working its way through her mind.

From a balcony above the two teens a certain silver haired headmaster and his blonde haired deputy headmistress turned and began to walk away from the scene.

"Ozpin, you have to realize that we can't just let this boy continue without finding out more about him. He has too many secrets to allow him to be around the students," Glynda spoke in an urgent voice.

Ozpin seemed unperturbed by the day's events, calmly sipping his coffee.

"He hides no more secrets than you or I do and yet we are responsible for molding these young ones more than he is. Would it not be hypocritical of us to pry into his life in such a manner when we would not readily let him do the same?"

Glynda looked offended at the veiled insult but was quick to reply, "This is different Ozpin. We are adults-"

The headmaster was quick to cut Glynda off, "And they are not? We are entrusting them with the safety of Vale and its people. We allow them to waltz around carrying weapons of unbelievable danger and we trust them not to misuse them. It is only fair that we also trust them, and specifically young Naruto, to know when it is appropriate to keep secrets."

Glynda was quiet, finding no response to Ozpin's small speech.

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