As Roman Torchwick emerged from the shop to confront Ruby personally, Stephen King stepped back into the shadows, his eyes now glowing with stolen immortality and power, leaving Naruto to face a reality he had never imagined: the reality of limitation and vulnerability in a world far more dangerous than he had arrogantly assumed.
From his weakened position, Naruto watched as Roman Torchwick twirled his cane, facing off against the red-caped girl. The criminal's orange hair gleamed under the streetlights as he aimed his cane at Ruby, the bottom flipping up to reveal a targeting sight.
"You were worth every cent, truly you were," Roman said sarcastically to his fallen henchmen before focusing on Ruby. "Well, Red, I think we can all say it's been an eventful evening."
Ruby adjusted her grip on her massive scythe, her small frame belying her incredible combat prowess. Her silver eyes narrowed in determination as she prepared to engage the notorious criminal.
Naruto struggled to his feet, his once-godlike body now feeling heavy and unfamiliar. The street was still filled with Roman's thugs—some recovering from Ruby's initial assault, others emerging from the shop with stolen Dust crystals. Despite his weakened state, the shinobi couldn't just stand by.
"I can still fight," he muttered, forcing his hands into a familiar sign. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Nothing happened.
Naruto stared at his hands in disbelief. Where once he could create thousands of perfect copies of himself with a mere thought, now there was... nothing. No chakra response, no clones, not even a puff of smoke to signify a failed attempt. Stephen King had truly taken everything.
"Fine," Naruto growled, his handsome face hardening with resolve. "I still know taijutsu."
As Ruby launched herself at Roman in a flurry of rose petals, Naruto charged toward the remaining thugs. His body might be weaker, but muscle memory remained. Years of hand-to-hand combat training hadn't been stolen along with his chakra.
The first thug swung a red-bladed sword at Naruto's head. In his prime, the shinobi would have simply phased through the attack or countered with a Rasengan. Now, he was forced to duck and weave, feeling the blade whistle past his ear by inches.
Naruto countered with a palm strike to the man's solar plexus, followed by a sweeping kick that took the thug's legs out from under him. The impact sent painful shockwaves up Naruto's leg—another unfamiliar sensation for the formerly invincible shinobi.
Across the street, Ruby was engaged in an elegant dance of death with Roman. Her scythe whirled around her body as she fired off shots from its integrated sniper rifle, using the recoil to propel herself at impossible angles. Roman blocked her attacks with his cane, his face a mask of irritated concentration.
Two more thugs surrounded Naruto, one wielding a machete, the other a heavy cudgel. The former immortal settled into a defensive stance, his movements notably less fluid than before. Still, he managed to dodge the first attack, grabbing the machete-wielder's wrist and using the man's momentum to throw him into his partner.
"Not bad for a normal person," Naruto panted, already feeling fatigue setting in—yet another new experience. Without his limitless chakra reserves, each movement drained him, each impact hurt, each breath became more labored.
A third thug approached from behind, raising an electrified baton. Naruto sensed the attack too late, his once-superhuman reflexes now merely human. The baton connected with his shoulder, sending electricity coursing through his body. Naruto cried out in pain—real pain, not the performative kind he might have displayed before to make his opponents feel as though they stood a chance.
He dropped to one knee, muscles spasming from the electric shock. Across the street, a massive explosion erupted as Roman fired a Dust-powered projectile at Ruby. The young huntress managed to dodge, but the distraction gave Roman time to start climbing an emergency ladder to a nearby rooftop.
Gritting his teeth, Naruto forced himself back to his feet. His perfect hair was now disheveled, his immaculate outfit torn and singed. But in his eyes burned something new—determination born not of absolute confidence, but of genuine struggle.
"I may not have my powers," he muttered, facing the remaining thugs with nothing but his fists and his will, "but I'm still Naruto Uzumaki."
With a burst of speed that surprised even himself, Naruto charged the thug with the electric baton. He ducked under a wild swing and drove his fist into the man's stomach, following with an uppercut that sent the criminal sprawling backward. Pain shot through Naruto's knuckles—another unfamiliar sensation—but he pushed through it.
The remaining thugs exchanged nervous glances before rushing him together. Naruto spun into a sweeping kick that caught one across the shins, then rolled forward to avoid a downward strike from another. He came up behind his attacker, grabbing the man's arm and twisting until he dropped his weapon with a howl of pain.
"Not so tough without your toys, are you?" Naruto taunted, delivering a precise strike to the base of the thug's neck that sent him crumpling to the ground.
The last thug backed away, fear evident in his eyes. He turned to run, but Naruto closed the distance in three quick strides, launching into a flying kick that connected squarely with the man's back. The thug hit the pavement face-first and didn't get up.
Breathing heavily, Naruto looked up to see Ruby firing her scythe-rifle at the rooftop where Roman had fled. Using the recoil, she propelled herself upward, landing gracefully on the roof's edge. Without his chakra-enhanced abilities, Naruto couldn't follow as easily, but he spotted a fire escape on the side of the building and began climbing as quickly as his now-ordinary muscles would allow.
By the time he reached the roof, Ruby was already facing off against Roman, who stood at the edge near a hovering Bullhead airship. The aircraft's searchlight illuminated the rooftop, casting harsh shadows across Roman's smirking face.
"End of the line, Red!" Roman called out, tossing a Dust crystal at Ruby's feet.
As Naruto pulled himself onto the roof, he spotted a woman inside the Bullhead—a stunning figure in a red dress, her face partially obscured by shadows. Her amber eyes gleamed with an unnatural fire as she watched the scene unfold.
Roman fired at the crystal, creating a massive explosion. Naruto lunged forward instinctively, trying to reach Ruby, but he was too far away and too slow without his superhuman speed.
Just before the explosion reached them, a purple barrier materialized. A tall blonde woman had appeared on the rooftop, her riding crop extended as she manipulated the protective glyph that had saved them. Glynda Goodwitch, her green eyes sharp behind her glasses, flicked her crop again, sending a barrage of energy projectiles toward the Bullhead.
Roman stumbled into the cockpit, taking the controls as the mysterious woman in red moved to the ship's opening. Her hands began to glow with fiery energy, and she launched a counterattack at Glynda. The huntress blocked it, but the distraction gave Roman enough time to stabilize the aircraft.
The woman in red—Cinder—gathered her power again, creating rings of fire beneath Glynda, Ruby, and Naruto. Glynda flipped backward, pulling Ruby with her telekinetic semblance. Naruto, lacking any special powers, was forced to dive awkwardly to the side, singeing his already tattered outfit.
Ruby transformed her scythe into its rifle form and fired several shots at Cinder, who deflected them with casual waves of her hand. The Bullhead began to pull away, Cinder's fiery eyes the last thing visible before the aircraft's hatch closed.
"You're a huntress," Ruby said to Glynda, her eyes wide with admiration. Her serious expression dissolved into excited fangirling as she clasped her hands together. "Can I have your autograph?"
Glynda's stern expression didn't change as she turned her gaze from Ruby to Naruto, who was brushing dust and debris from his clothes. "You both need to come with me," she said firmly. "Now."
Two hours later, Naruto found himself sitting in a detention cell at Vale's police headquarters. Through the small window in his door, he could see Ruby in an interrogation room across the hall, where Glynda was pacing while a gray-haired man with a cane and a mug of coffee spoke to the young girl.
The former immortal shinobi sighed, leaning his head against the cool concrete wall. The cell was small and sparse—a far cry from the luxurious accommodations his previous godlike status would have commanded. His enhanced healing factor was gone; the burns and bruises from the fight refused to fade, each one a painful reminder of his new limitations.
"From immortal hero to common criminal in one day," he muttered to himself, looking down at his handcuffed wrists. "Stephen King really did a number on me."
From across the hall, he heard Ruby's excited voice rising in pitch as she spoke with the gray-haired man. Something about cookies and scythe techniques. Naruto closed his eyes, wondering what this strange new world had in store for him now that he was just an ordinary shinobi with extraordinary problems.
Hours passed in the cold cell as Naruto sat on the hard bench, his mind racing. What could he do now? Without his powers, without his immortality, without the Nine-Tails chakra that had defined him for so long... he was nothing. Just like in his younger years when the village shunned him, before he'd mastered any jutsu or gained respect.
"I have nothing now," he whispered to the empty cell, his once-perfect voice cracking slightly. "Back to zero. Back to being the dead-last ninja that everyone overlooked."
He stared at his hands, trying once more to channel chakra, to feel that familiar energy flowing through his pathways. Nothing. Just the dull ache of bruised knuckles and the lingering sting of burns from the rooftop confrontation.
And what was that Stephen King person even talking about? What audience? What fanfiction? The words made no sense to Naruto. It was as if the strange man had been speaking to someone else through him, addressing some invisible witnesses to his humiliation.
"I don't even know what he was saying," Naruto muttered, running his fingers through his disheveled golden hair. "Immortal Narutos everywhere? Other dimensions? What was he seeing that I couldn't?"
The confusion only added to his sense of displacement. In one moment, he had gone from being the most powerful being in existence to... this. A prisoner in a strange world, with no friends, no powers, and apparently the target of some interdimensional editor with a vendetta against fictional characters.
"If I ever find that Stephen King again..." Naruto began, then stopped, laughing bitterly at himself. "Who am I kidding? What could I even do to him now? I couldn't create a single shadow clone."
He leaned back against the wall, closing his eyes. Without his accelerated healing, fatigue was setting in heavily. His muscles ached in ways he'd forgotten they could. His eyelids felt like they were weighted with lead.
"Guess I'll have to do it the old-fashioned way," he sighed. "Start from the beginning. Train. Learn about this world. Figure out how to survive without relying on powers that I no longer have."
The sound of footsteps approaching his cell made him open his eyes. The door swung open to reveal the gray-haired man he had seen speaking with Ruby across the hall. In one hand, he held a steaming mug of coffee; in the other, a silver-headed cane. Behind him stood Glynda Goodwitch, her stern expression unchanged.
"Mr. Uzumaki, I presume?" the man said, his voice calm and measured. He adjusted his small, tinted spectacles with his middle finger, studying Naruto with intense curiosity. "My name is Professor Ozpin. I'm the headmaster at Beacon Academy."
Naruto straightened up, suddenly aware of how disheveled he must look. "How do you know my name?"
"Ms. Rose mentioned you while we were discussing tonight's... incident." Ozpin took a sip from his mug. "She seemed quite impressed by your hand-to-hand combat abilities."
Glynda tapped something on her scroll, and a holographic display appeared, showing footage of Naruto's fight with Roman's thugs. "No weapons," she noted, her voice clipped and professional. "No Dust. No visible Semblance activation."
"And yet," Ozpin continued, "you managed to incapacitate four armed men with nothing but your bare hands. Most impressive for someone whose Aura doesn't appear to be unlocked."
Naruto blinked in confusion. "Aura? Semblance?"
"Interesting," Ozpin murmured, exchanging a glance with Glynda. "You're not from around here, are you, Mr. Uzumaki?"
"That's... complicated." Naruto rubbed the back of his neck, a nervous habit from his youth that he'd long since abandoned—until today.
Ozpin pulled up a chair and sat down, leaning his cane against the wall. "I have a proposition for you, Mr. Uzumaki. Clearly, you're skilled in combat, even without the advantages most warriors in our world rely upon. Such natural talent is rare."
"I'm not sure I'd call it natural talent," Naruto admitted. "More like years of training that's now all I have left."
"Even more intriguing," Ozpin said, his eyes revealing nothing of his thoughts. "Beacon Academy trains the next generation of Huntsmen and Huntresses—warriors who protect our world from the creatures of Grimm and other threats. Given your unique... situation, I believe you could benefit from our resources. And perhaps we could benefit from your perspective."
Glynda's eyebrows rose slightly, but she remained silent.
"You want me to join your school?" Naruto asked incredulously.
"I'm offering you a path forward, Mr. Uzumaki. A chance to rebuild whatever it is you've lost. Training, lodging, a community." Ozpin stood, retrieving his cane. "And perhaps more importantly, a purpose."
Naruto stared at the man, trying to read his intentions. In his immortal days, he would have scoffed at such an offer. Now, sitting in a jail cell in a strange world with nothing but his basic skills and the clothes on his back, Ozpin's proposition sounded like a lifeline.
"What's the catch?" Naruto asked, his shinobi instincts still sharp enough to be suspicious.
"No catch," Ozpin replied. "Though I will admit to a certain... academic curiosity about you. We have many questions about your fighting style, your origins, and how you came to be in Vale at precisely the right moment to assist Ms. Rose."
Naruto considered his options, which were admittedly few. Stay in jail? Try to make his way in a world he didn't understand with no resources? Or accept this strange man's offer of sanctuary and purpose?
"Yes," Naruto said finally, standing up and extending his hand. "I'll join your academy."
Ozpin smiled, taking Naruto's hand in a firm handshake. "Excellent. Welcome to Beacon, Mr. Uzumaki. I believe this may be the beginning of a most interesting chapter for both of us."
As Glynda led him out of the cell, Naruto couldn't help but wonder if this was exactly what Stephen King had intended all along—forcing him to grow as a character by stripping away his powers and placing him in a situation where he'd have to rely on more than just raw strength.
If so, the mysterious "author" might be surprised by just how adaptable Naruto Uzumaki could be, with or without god-like powers.
Meanwhile, in an abandoned warehouse in Vale, Cinder Fall paced back and forth, her amber eyes glowing with barely contained rage. Roman Torchwick leaned against a stack of stolen Dust crates, casually flicking ash from his cigar.
"You had one job, Roman," Cinder hissed, flames briefly flickering at her fingertips. "One simple job. Steal the Dust. Don't get caught. Don't draw attention."
"Hey, I didn't expect Little Red Riding Hood to be taking evening classes in how to beat criminals,'" Roman retorted, twirling his cane. "Or that weird blonde guy in the orange jump suit. Vale's getting strange these days."
"Excuses," Cinder snapped, her heels clicking sharply against the concrete floor. "Our plan requires precision. Subtlety. Not... whatever display of incompetence that was."
The air in the warehouse suddenly grew heavy, a strange pressure building as if reality itself was being compressed. A swirling purple and gold portal materialized in the center of the room, expanding rapidly.
Roman adjusted his bowler hat nervously. "Uh, Cinder? Please tell me that's one of your fancy dust tricks."
Before Cinder could respond, two figures stepped through the portal. The first was the unassuming man in plain clothes that Naruto had encountered—Stephen King. Behind him hulked an enormous purple-skinned giant with a pronounced chin and a golden gauntlet on his left hand.
"Thanos, meet our local talent," Stephen said casually, gesturing toward Roman and Cinder. "As you can see, they're... underperforming."
Cinder's eyes widened in shock. "Who are you? How did you get in here?"
"Just think of me as the editor of this little story," Stephen replied with an enigmatic smile. "And I'm making some revisions to the cast."
Roman pointed his cane at the intruders. "Listen, pal, I don't know what you're selling, but—"
"Thanos," Stephen interrupted, "our friend Mr. Torchwick here seems to have outlived his usefulness to the narrative. Would you mind?"
The purple titan nodded solemnly. "The hardest choices require the strongest wills." He turned toward Roman, who backed up against the Dust crates.
"Now, hold on a minute—" Roman began, but his protest was cut short as Thanos suddenly turned around and bent over.
In a move as unexpected as it was ridiculous, Thanos clenched his massive purple buttocks and backed up toward Roman at alarming speed. The criminal barely had time to scream before he was caught between the titan's powerful gluteal muscles and the stack of Dust crates.
"What is happening?!" Cinder gasped, her normally composed demeanor completely shattered by the absurd display.
With a heroic flex that sent shock waves through the warehouse, Thanos crushed Roman between his cosmic cheeks. The criminal's final sound was something between a squawk and a wheeze before he was completely enveloped.
"I call that move 'The Mad Titan's Clap,'" Thanos announced proudly, straightening up and adjusting his armor. Where Roman had stood was now just a flattened bowler hat and a bent cigar.
Cinder, her face a mask of horror and disbelief, began backing toward the exit. "You're insane. Both of you."
"Insane? No," Stephen replied, walking calmly toward her. "Just tired of predictable villains with predictable plans. Speaking of which—" he reached out suddenly, his hand grasping her forehead, "—I believe you have something that doesn't belong to you."
Cinder screamed as golden energy began flowing from her eyes and into Stephen's arm, much as it had with Naruto. "No! The Maiden powers! They're mine!"
"Were yours," Stephen corrected, his eyes beginning to glow with the stolen power. "Now they'll serve a higher narrative purpose."
As the last of the Maiden's magic left her body, Cinder collapsed to her knees, gasping. "Who... what are you?"
Stephen snapped his fingers, and another portal opened beneath Cinder. "Just someone who appreciates a good plot twist."
Cinder fell through the portal with a shriek, landing with a splash. The portal remained open just long enough for Thanos and Stephen to see that she had landed in what appeared to be an enormous toilet bowl in some bizarre dimension.
"The Porcelain Realm," Stephen explained as the portal closed. "Every villain needs a humbling experience. Some more literal than others."
Thanos nodded sagely. "Perfectly balanced, as all things should be."
Stephen turned to his purple companion. "Now, shall we continue our editorial revisions? I believe young Mr. Uzumaki is headed to Beacon Academy."
"After you," Thanos replied, gesturing toward a new portal that Stephen had opened. "I've always wanted to see if I could clap the Grimm between my cheeks."
Stephen paused before stepping through the portal, a satisfied smile spreading across his face. "At long last," he said, golden energy of the Maiden powers swirling in his eyes. "The story is finally getting interesting."
Thanos cracked his massive knuckles, the Infinity Gauntlet gleaming in the dim warehouse light. "What's next on our editorial agenda?"
"Ozpin," Stephen replied simply. "The chess master needs to be removed from the board. His plans are too... predictable."
Thanos nodded solemnly. "Consider it done."
The portal closed behind them, leaving only Roman's flattened hat and the lingering scent of cigar smoke in the now-empty warehouse.