38. Chapter 38 The Friends Face Metal

_**Disclaimer: First Chapter**_ _**Story Start!**_

Naruto's friends were forced to wait a long, difficult waiting time for the news of how Naruto was doing. It had been a full day since they had been allowed to even go to the waiting room, the hospital in Vale had different rules that prevented those that weren't at the scene of the accident or related to the patient from waiting in the waiting room until after the family had made the choice of what they wanted done with the patient.

They had all been worried sick about their short time, or long time, friend.

The most affected though, among the non-family members, was none other than Naruto's best friend and rival Pyrrha. She hadn't slept a wink since she had heard about the accident, and for once in her life she had nearly planned on busting a doctor's face in when he told her to leave the waiting room. She had done as she was told, because it was either that, or never be allowed to visit him ever.

In her arms though, was the largest stuffed animal she could find.

She wasn't the most rich girl in the world, but she did well for herself with her modelling and letting Pumpkin Pete's cereal use her image for their cereal box. She had bought a stuffed animal, of Naruto's favorite kind of animal, and she had bought it in the largest size that she could find. Of course, that size just happened to be over 5 feet tall, and the animal that she had gotten, with lots of red ribbons tied around it's neck, was a large fox. She was hugging it tightly to her body, to the point she might actually rip the fox in halve.

"Hey, listen... I am sure Naruto will make it through, guy carried all of us through a forest while he was poisoned, with broken bones, and saved our lives. We have to believe he can save himself now." Jaune tried to comfort Pyrrha, sitting next to her... with the foxes butt shoved against his face. Even now he could see that Nora was struggling with her depression and her desire to laugh at him being the ass of the joke.

She didn't laugh though, now was not the time to laugh.

"Yeah, and when he wakes up he is going to call me Monty and make a monk joke like Monty Oooooommmmmm because of my clothes. Do I really look like a Monty?" Ren asked Nora, who looked at him for a moment.

"You kind of look like a Mulan to me." Nora admitted to Ren, who looked at his hand for a second, before he palmed his face with it and shook his head.

Ask a stupid question, get a stupid answer.

"Yeah, and you look like a Thor to me because of your hammer." Ren talked back to Nora, who only nudged him with her shoulder. It was nice being able to talk about something other than if Naruto was going to live or die... she hoped that he didn't die. She didn't want to go through losing a friend again.

She and Ren... lived in a small village outside of the Kingdom of Vale, and awhile back they had lost some very important people to them.

"I hope Naruto likes pancakes." Nora said as she showed her own gift to Naruto for him to get better. She had, had Ren make for Naruto an entire stack of heart shaped pancakes with the words 'Get Well' on them in chocolate sauce. She SO wanted to eat them, but she didn't, because they were for Naruto. She figured since she had pretty much molested him with her tongue, licking his body of all that sticky syrup that covered him.

There was no good way to say sorry for that one, she had pretty much tongued the hell out of his chest in her desire to eat that syrup.

She liked syrup and other sweet things, loved it actually.

"He was in an explosion, there is no way he will be allowed to eat solid foods... I don't think his family will want us to see his condition." Weiss said with a frown on her face. He was in an explosion, a fire, and had a building collapse on him... that was on fire. Naruto's body would NOT be looking pretty, if anything she was forcing herself to be prepared for the worst. She didn't want to be shocked and say something about his body that would make him feel selfconscious.

Blake sat down next to Weiss, her arm in a sling, with heavy burns on it.

She had been waiting for Naruto outside of the police station, and while she hadn't been hit by the explosion. A flaming piece of rock had smashed into her body, hitting her right in the arm and knocked her into the street. Her hair covered her head, but she did have to get stitched on her forehead for a deep gash. She was lucky that she hadn't died, but she wouldn't be able to use her arm for over a month until it finished healing. She was still getting headaches from the hard hit she got to her head, but she had pain pills to take care of that, and the pain in her arm.

She had seen Naruto's body when it was being taken away.

She had also seen the strange orange body that had replaced the missing parts of Naruto's body, with only a small amount being made of flesh.

6 arms and 3 heads, dressed in strange robes as well.

He truly did gain the body of an Asura when he had lost his real body.

'... His Semblence... I don't think it is as simple as growing more arms, or having more personalities... I think Naruto's Semblence is another entity inside of him... and he only survived because that entity gave Naruto a body.' Blake guessed to herself, since if his Semblence was ONLY growing arms he wouldn't be able to make an entire body out of it. She nearly threw up just remembering the state his body had been in when it was carried away.

He should not even be alive.

Yet, she had a small ray of hope, since he had yet to die that meant that the chance of recovery was slim, but possible.

"Thanks Jaune, that means a lot. Is that the newest X-ray and Vav comic?" Pyrrha asked when she looked at what Jaune was reading.

"Yeah... Naruto snagged me a copy... before he went to the police station. He is a great friend, that is why I am going to be there for him through his recovery." Jaune told Pyrrha with a grin on his face, and Pyrrha smiled at him.

"You're a good person Jaune... can I read that?" Pyrrha asked as she looked at the comic, and he raised an eyebrow at him.

"You read X-ray and Vav?" Jaune couldn't help but hide his shock, he had yet to meet a single girl that was so much as interested in his favorite comic.

"I'm a bigger fan of Vav than X-ray, but I like the comic. Of course, you don't seem done so I can wait... Do you think Naruto will like Fuzzy Buddy?" Pyrrha asked Jaune as she looked at the nametag on the stuffed animal.

"Jaune?" Pyrrha asked, and he jumped for a second.

"I'm sure he will... like it... it is the thought that counts heheheh." Jaune laughed, not sure how to tell Pyrrha that giving a boy a stuffed animal could often times be seen as demeaning, or disrespectful. Of course, he didn't know Naruto all that well, so he may like it.

"I am sure he will love my get well gift, since his pipe was no doubt destroyed in the fire, I got him a new one." Weiss said as she pulled a pipe out of her sleeve. It was a very carefully, hand carved, pipe made from a very hard wood and coated in a way to resist flames very well. It wasn't dual action like Naruto's pipe where he could breath in Fire and Ice Dust, he could only breath in one at a time before he had to refill with another... but it was the thought that counted.

'... I was so sure he was dead I didn't get him anything to wish him well.' Blake thought, a little disappointed in herself.

"I got him a card and wrote down Monty as the name, I figured he would get a kick out of it." Ren said with a twinkle in his eye. He did have a sense of humor, despite what people thought, his sense of humor was just more subtle than others. He would make small comments that weren't as funny as others would think, but he DID understand humor and he could make jokes.

"He would... he loves messing with people." Pyrrha said with a soft voice.

Pyrrha nearly jumped when she felt the nurse's hand touch her shoulder, and she looked around and saw the nurse was smiling at her.

"Your friend is awake now, and he is stable... he is ready to have visisters besides family now. If you would all form a line, I will be more than happy to take you to his room." The nurse said with a bright smile on her face, but before anyone could respond she looked at them seriously. "Be warned though... your friend is very different. You may want to brace yourself." The nurse warned them.

"I don't care what he looks like now, he is my... best friend." Pyrrha finished softly, remembering that Naruto and she were in a secret relationship. She didn't care if Naruto could never walk again, or if his body was ruined... she would still care greatly for him. She wasn't bothered by such things, she was more interested in the emotional relationship the two of them had.

They started to follow the nurse, and they walked onto an elevator music started to play the second that the nurse hit the floor for the fifth floor.

"Buuuuuuurp!" Nora burbed loudly, having just drunk a large soda not to long ago. Everyone looked at her with strange looks, before Ren palmed his face. Nora had to do something to ruin the awkward silence that had fallen over them.

"Nora..." Ren said with an annoyed tone.

"Oh gawd, what kind of soda did you drink. That is NASTY!" Jaune said, waving his hand in front of his face, since she was right next to him. His hand blew the belch stench in Weiss' face, and she gagged for a moment and punched Jaune in the arm for what he made her smell.

"I am not saying so-burp-rry." Nora said, and this time she even burped on purpose to prove a point that she could.

"Sorry, she isn't suppose to have carbonated drinks, they give her the burps." Ren apologized for her, and the nurse raised an eyebrow at that. The elevator opened up, and they walked out before turning the corner. The nurse stuck her head into one of the rooms, and the group suddenly became nervous.

What were they about to walk in on?

This was the body of a person that had been blown up, set on firem and smashed with a building that collapsed on top of him.

"Okay, he is ready to see you now." The nurse said as she left them to walk into the room. They all walked into the room one after another, and they were greeted to the sight of Naruto with the covers pulled over his body so that they couldn't see him. Ruby and Yang were flat on their faces, their chairs on the their sides.

"Ow!?" Ruby shouted out as she held the back of her head.

"Hahaha! Now THAT is spunk!" Yang called out with a grin on her face.

"You guys okay?" Jaune asked as he helped Ruby back to her feet, while Ren silently helped Yang back to her feet.

"Yeah, he wasn't expecting you guys to show up... kind of freaked him out." Ruby answered back, and Pyrrha walked up to the bed with the giant fox in her arms. Yang pushed it out of her face, not liking the fact that Pyrrha was pushing a fox's ass into her face without even thinking about it.

"Hey Naruto... you alright?" Pyrrha asked her boyfriend with a soft toned, kind, and loving voice.

She got no response, but she did see the sheets above his head start to nod. Naruto seemed to be hiding something. She sat down on the side of the bed, before Nora leaned over him and peeked under the gap of the covers. Her eyes widened and seemed to gain a happy sparkle to them.

"This is so AWESOME!" Nora shouted with an excited jump into the air.

"Naruto... please show your face to us." Pyrrha said, and Naruto slowly started to sit up, before he lowered the sheet from his body. He looked away from them, and they could see the strange parts of his neck and the fact he had exhaust fans replacing his ears. His neck seemed to be a different material to the skin on his face.

Nora was the first person to do anything, first she set the plate of pancakes down, before she pulled a black marker out of her skirt pocket and leaned forward. She then drew 3 black lines like whiskers on both of Naruto's cheeks.

"There, now you look right!" Nora said with a grin on her face, and Naruto looked at her with surprise. He was more surprised when Pyrrha slyly reached out next to her and held his hand while nobody was paying attention to her.

"You look great." Ren told Naruto truthfully.

'Robot?' Weiss thought with a frown on her face, having zero knowledge that such technology even existed in this day and age... by all means, it had never been attempted before.

"Good for you Naruto." Blake told Naruto as she placed her hand on his thigh, and she raised an eyebrow when she looked at his crotch.

Well THAT was going to be awkward for him in the future.

"Oooooh, that is so cool! You are like a crime fighting robot now!" Jaune said with an excited smile on his face. The boy was way to easily impressed, but he had to admit that this was impressive.

"Thanks everyone... and you too Ren." Naruto said to Ren, without using his nickname for the guy. Ren smiled for a second, before Pyrrha leaned forward, she was preparing to kiss Naruto, before she stopped herself.

She was getting swept up in the _feels_ of the moment.

She felt something press againsts her lips, and her eyes widened when she saw that it was Naruto that was kissing her... and in front of his siblings no less. Yang dropped her scroll on the ground, while Ruby looked stunned, like she couldn't even move.

His lips... were still soft, despite the fact that she could _feel_ that his body was made of metal, that he wasn't a human anymore.

The two of them were seperated forcefully, and Pyrrha gulped when she felt like she was about to get murdered.

A large male hand was on her shoulder, and on her other shoulder was a smaller female hand.

Taiyang had returned to the room, and both he and his daughter were NOT pleased with what they had just seen.

"This is HAPPENING!" Nora shouted, and Ruby unfolded her scythe and started to walk out of the room after Taiyang and Yang, who were dragging Pyrrha out of the room by her underarms. Naruto went to stop them, but the second he took a step out of bed... the shape of the end of his legs got to him, and not knowing how to walk on them he tripped and fell onto his face.

"Don't worry Son... I just want have a conversation with this young lady... we will be back in a little bit." Taiyang spoke with a serious, dead serious, tone.

It was the Dad voice, the voice that showed that he was about to threaten Pyrrha within an inch of her life.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure they don't kill her." Ruby said with a smile on her face, and Naruto started to stand up. Jaune let Naruto use him as a crutch, while he placed a hand on Naruto's chest to keep him stable.

"Don't worry, I got you buddy. Just take small steps and get used to it... I know how much it... wait, can you feel pain?" Jaune asked his now robotic friend, who gave Jaune a glance.

"Yeah, but that didn't really hurt." Naruto admitted, and Blake came over and took Jaune's place and started to help Naruto to the bed. They were the same height, so for her this would be easier to adjust to Naruto's height.

"Don't worry, take your time, I am sure that they won't hurt her." Blake assured Naruto, despite having stayed in the shadows for the most part.

"Are you okay Blake, you're still hurt. Don't strain yourself." Naruto told her, seeing her arm and the stitches on her forehead, despite them being well hidden by her bangs.

"I'm fine, you need to think about yourself." Blake told him quietly, and Naruto started to stand up, before he started to walk around a bit again. Naruto slowly started to get the hang of walking, around, it would seem the programing for the body was starting to take over, and become second nature to him. Naruto took a few practice punches, before he spun around and kicked nothing but air with a spin kick. Naruto stomped his foot on the ground, and cracked the tile, before he raised his fist up.

'This is a weapon's body.' Naruto thought with no small amount of annoyance.

This body was built for fighting, going through the motions of fighting had almost instantly gotten him used to the movements of the body.

"Here are some pancakes to help with... whoops, I eated them~!" Nora said cutely as she showed him an empty plate of pancakes.

"You need professional help." Weiss told Nora, who looked away from her and started to giggle to herself.

"When? How?" Jaune asked, having not even seen her start eating.

"So, how long have you and Pyrrha been dating?" Weiss asked the important question, having been rather shocked by the kiss.

"Not long... and we wanted to keep it a secret... but I don't want to put her through that. I almost died... without treating her like a boyfriend should treat a girlfriend... if something happens to one of us... I don't want the other to regret a thing... I want happy memories." Naruto admitted, while he agreed that keeping thier relationship secret would be smart for both of them... neither of them would be happy.

He wanted an open relationship.

"So how are you... alive in there?" Blake asked Naruto, while she looked at his ass... despite being a robot now, he had been built with a nice backside... sure, it was pointless for him to have, but when he wore clothes it would be good to make him look a little more human.

Naruto grabbed Ruby's scroll, before he showed them a picture of his opened up body that she had taken.

Inside of his chest there was a glowing orange orb the size of a balled up fist.

"This is my soul... and mind brain was downloaded into super advanced memory cards... right in here." Naruto said as he pointed to his head, and it was at that moment that Pyrrha walked in with the rest of his family.

"I don't like it, but I will approve of this." Taiyang said with a grunt, while Yang frowned.

"You are too young to date." Yang told Naruto, with a thumbs down.

"I was the tie breaker, you and Pyrrha can still date!" Ruby said with a double thumbs up, something that Naruto really liked.

Pyrrha walked over to Naruto and looked down at him and hugged him.

Man or machine, she didn't care what he was.

He was Naruto.

HER Naruto.

_**Chapter End!**_ _**Please Leave Me Lots Of Nice Long Reviews, But No Flames Please!**_