Ok, here it is. Was gonna make it a tad longer, but in working out the sparring scenes near the end of the chapter, I decided it would be better to divide them up between what I had already written and what still NEEDS to be written. This way, I'm not holding up even more story from you guys.

Also, please check my note at the end of this chapter, as there are a few points that need to be addressed.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor do I own RWBY

"Cardin Winchester...Russel Thrush...Dove Bronzewing...Sky Lark...The four of you retrieved the Black Bishop Pieces," announced Ozpin, the entire student-body attending the Team announcements. The four named students stood silently as they received this recognition of their skills. "From this point on you will be known as Team CRDL (Cardinal), led by Cardin Winchester." The room broke into polite applause as the newly formed Team CRDL left the stage, and were promptly replaced by Jaune, Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren being called to the stage. The shinobi talked among themselves as the four were designated as Team JNPR (Juniper), but fell silent for a moment as they heard Ozpin's final words to the team.

"...Led by, Jaune Arc." While the rest of the room applauded, Naruto and Lee included - the two being suckers for the underdog - the ninja-foursome couldn't help but wonder just what Ozpin was thinking. After all, they had actually been at the initiation, and he had fared...average, from what they had seen of his fight against a few Ursai. Jaune's performance hadn't been particularly noteworthy, especially considering that he hadn't killed any of them, instead mostly defending while Pyrrha set up for the killing blows. Regardless, Jaune's new team seemed rather pleased, and the so-called Invincible Girl even gave him a light-hearted punch in the shoulder. A light-hearted punch to the shoulder that knocked him off his feet.

"Next up, we have Kiba Inuzuka, Rock Lee, Ino Yamanaka, and Weiss Schnee," Ozpin continued as the four named stepped forth before him. "The four of you collected the Black Knight pieces, and from this moment shall be known as Team KIWL (Kiwi)." Ino rolled her eyes. Since when did an 'L' worm its way into the word kiwi? This place really was going for that whole 'color' theme, it seemed. "Your team will be led by Kiba Inuzuka." From the side-lines, Akamaru barked out his approval - causing Blake to jump slightly before glaring at the dog - and despite being a bit put out by not being made leader, even Weiss gave a half-smile at the grinning Dog-boy standing next to her. The four exited the stage, and Naruto, Blake, Yang, and Ruby took their places.

"And finally, Blake Belladonna, Ruby Rose, Naruto Uzumaki, and Yang Xiao Long...The four of you retrieved the White Knight pieces. As of now, the four of you shall be Team RUBY (Ruby)," Ozpin said, looking to the last official team of the year to join Beacon's ranks. "Led by, Ruby Rose." No sooner had she heard the words than Ruby felt a firm clap on the back from her cheering partner, before being gripped in a tight hug by her elder sister, who went so far as to lift the girl off the ground. "It's shaping up to be an interesting year..." Ozpin mused to himself as he himself walked off-stage, followed shortly after by the newly christened Team RUBY.

Once off the stage and out of the spot-light, the group had been intercepted by Glynda, who had Team KIWL in tow. "All of you have had your Room numbers and key-codes sent to your scrolls, so whenever you wish, you may collect your belongings and begin moving them to your new Dorms," she announced, though she raised her hand when the two teams had begun to disperse. "However, before you do, Professor Ozpin would like me to inform you of the...special status of your teams..."

"Special Status?" Yang questioned, getting a nod from the Elder huntress. Glynda did her best to hide her disapproval of what she was about to tell them, but it bled through a tad into her voice, if not her expression.

"Yes," she acknowledged after a moment. "Normally, we only let the most exceptional first-year student teams go out on School assigned missions. However, due to the peculiar skill-sets of Mr. Inuzuka, Mr. Uzumaki, Mr. Lee, and Ms. Yamanaka, and their previous affiliations to one another, Professor Ozpin has seen fit to award them special status, and these four may take on missions as a special team, designated Team NIKL (Nickel), in which Mr. Uzumaki will take on the leader role."

The four girls, unlike their indifferent Shinobi-teammates, gaped in shock, but Glynda held up her hand once more to silence any protests. "This special team will exist only when they are assigned missions, and will not affect any other team-activities during the course of your time here at Beacon. During such missions, Ms. Schnee, you will temporarily be assigned as Ms. Rose's temporary partner." The two shared a look, before turning back to Goodwitch. "However, Professor Ozpin and I will be monitoring your teams closely, and if we, as well as Mr. Inuzuka and Mr. Uzumaki agree that your performances are up to par with our expectations, your individual teams may be allowed to take on missions without being divided up."

While Glynda seemed particularly unhappy with that final arrangement, the non-ninja members of Team RUBY as well as Weiss seemed both pleased and confident that they could not just meet, but exceed any expectations set. With this new information given, Glynda bade them goodnight - reminding them that they had the rest of the weekend to explore the Campus and get a feel for the school before classes began - and the teams headed to their dorms. As it happened, Team RUBY was right across the hall from Team JNPR, with Team KIWL taking the room right next to the shinobi-free team.

The rooms themselves were tiny, though Naruto was used to living in a cramped apartment until he and the others had arrived in Remnant, and had four simple beds for the students. Team RUBY, for the moment, simply placed their bags down by their chosen beds and Blake, and Yang each fell back into them, while Naruto sat at the edge of his. Ruby, meanwhile snatched her pajamas from her bag, mumbling about slimy hair and needing a shower.

There was peaceful silence for several minutes, the only sound being the running water from the shower. Soon after, a much happier Ruby exited the bathroom, clad in her pajamas. While in her everyday clothing, Ruby definitely looked like a huntress-to-be, with the black combat skirt and red-hooded cloak. But in her pajamas - a black tank-top with a Beowolf designed as a heart, and a white pair of pajama pants covered in pink roses - she looked more like the teenaged girl she was at heart.

Naruto took the shower next, as was the agreed-upon arrangement, and Ruby was the next to flop onto her bed. As he came back into the room afterwards - his orange-sleepwear undermining his ninja prowess - he stepped forward to see Yang blocking his path. "Feeling batter?" she asked, and while confused at her tone, he nodded. "All relaxed, ready for a good-night's sleep?"

"Yeah," Naruto said, now fairly weary. Whenever a girl used that tone, it meant trouble. The trouble in this case was a punch to the face by Yang, who gazed upon him with a stern look. Naruto didn't register the pain for a few seconds, before his face contorted in agony and he gripped the now-sore spot tightly. Had he not been as tough as he was, that might have knocked a tooth or two from his gums.

"Yang!" Ruby shouted. She knew her sister had a temper and a wicked hook, but to just attack their teammate was totally uncalled for.

"What the hell?!" Blake yelled, the normally stoic girl surprised by her partner's rather violent action.

"That was for getting yourself eaten just to save my sister, you idiot!" Yang announced. That honestly stunned the only boy of Team RUBY. He would always put himself on the line to protect others. It was just ingrained into his being by now. Was their something wrong with that? Before Naruto could defend his actions though, Yang had gripped his shirt collar, before pulling the younger boy close and pressing her lips to his, causing his - as well as Ruby and Yang's - eyes to go wide.

"Eww, Yang!" Ruby nearly shrieked, gagging a bit. "You can't just go around kissing people like that!" Blake said nothing, too shocked for words. When Yang finally pulled away, it turned out that Naruto was also too stunned to speak. Seeing his flustered look, the buxom blonde elaborated.

"That was for getting yourself eaten just to save my sister," Yang repeated, this time with a small smile as she sauntered past the younger blonde into the bathroom. Naruto looked to Ruby - who still looked a tad disgusted at her sister's rather blunt thank-you to her partner - before flopping face-first into his bed.

"Everything confuses me!" he shouted, muffled by his pillow. Unsure of what to do, Ruby just hesitantly patted the Blonde ninja on the back. Blake just gave an amused look, before pulling her book from her bag, picking up where she left off.

"You know, you never did tell us why you got arrested," she mused, and Naruto turned to look at her. He thought about it for a moment, but shook his head.

"Better wait for Yang," he replied. "She'll just punch me again if I tell you guys before her."

"No...no, she...I mean, I don't think...Yeah, probably better to wait," Ruby said, thinking about her sister's probable reaction to missing out on the information. She was rather impatient. Hell, she had crushed that club owner's balls a few weeks ago, and destroyed the night-club he owned afterwards. Ruby pulled her hand back as Naruto sat up, a wistful look on his face. Unbeknownst to the girls, he had been imagining what the Pervert Sage would say about his getting kissed by a busty blonde. While Naruto was no pervert, he could definitely appreciate the fact that Yang was good looking. You couldn't create something like the Sexy Jutsu without having an appreciation for the female form, after all.

He was broken out of his thoughts by the hand of Ruby waving in front of his eyes. "Sorry," she squeaked, embarrassed as he waved her hand away. "You just kinda spaced out for a minute..."

"Yeah," Naruto said with a chuckle, scratching his cheek. "Just thinking to myself." He looked up to realize that the girl was now blushing, looking toward the bathroom as though expecting Yang to exit at any moment. Before he could wonder why, she had enveloped him in a hug, if possible, stunning him just as much as Yang's kiss. Unsure of how to respond, he slowly returned the hug. The warmth of the embrace lasted until the sounds of the shower ceased, at which point Ruby pulled back and with a small smile sat back on her bed.

"I never actually thanked you for saving my life earlier, either," she explained, still blushing something fierce. Unlike Yang, who had no trouble dealing with the opposite sex, Ruby was too much of a good girl. A hug was all she could really think of to convey her gratitude without totally embarrassing herself. Naruto nodded dumbly while Blake just rolled her eyes and shook her head.

Yang came out of the bathroom, wearing her own pajamas, and had her hair wrapped up in a fluffy towel. Ruby and Naruto both sighed in relief, both afraid she would exit the shower and emerge in only a towel...or less. "So, anyway," Naruto began as Yang sprawled out on her bed. "As you can probably tell, Kiba, Lee, Ino and I aren't exactly normal in terms of hunters." He got three nods in return, and clearing his throat, he continued. "Well, since we have such special skills, Kiba and I, and somethings Lee and Ino when they aren't busy, have been making our money the last year or so by acting as hunters-for-hire, and collecting bounties."

"So...bounty-hunters?" Yang offered with a smirk, seeing as how her fellow blonde could have simply used the shorter term and saved a few words. But while she smiled on the outside, she and the others were unsure of what to make of the information. First, Naruto had claimed to be a ninja, and now a bounty hunter? He and his friends were only fifteen or sixteen years old. Either they were greatly skilled, or greatly exaggerating. And knowing what they did about the whiskered-blonde, it could quite easily be the former. The blonde just glared at the girl's teasing, before continuing.

"Yeah. Seeing as how the two of us get mistaken for Faunus, the recent actions of the White Fang tend to piss us off, so more often than not, we go after and bring in White Fang members." Nobody noticed Blake's bow twitch, or her eyes widen slightly at that. While Yang looked a bit skeptical at the announcement, Ruby practically had stars in her eyes. "We heard about a recruitment meeting they were holding and decided to crash. The plus side, we got about fifty members and potential members arrested. The down side, we got arrested and brought in for questioning with them...not sure why they arrested us, to be honest. Anyway, while we were there, Ozpin secured our release and we agreed to come to Beacon." By the conclusion, Ruby was practically bouncing on her bed.

"Hey!" she shouted. "That sounds like how I was recruited to Beacon!" It was true. She had busted up an attempted robbery - led by wanted terrorist Roman Torchwick - and was promptly detained by Ms. Goodwitch. While down at the station, Professor Ozpin had questioned her about her skills with Crescent Rose, and then offered her a place at the school. "And it all happened on the same night, too. Weird how things work out like that, especially with us being partnered today." Yang, though still skeptical, just grinned.

"Oooh, seems like fate brought you two together," she teased, unsure of what to make of the story.

"It's a coincidence," Blake mused. "As for your White Fang story, I'll need a bit of proof before I believe that." Leaping from his bed, glaring at reading-girl, Naruto had a fist clenched.

"Hey, are you calling me a liar?!" he growled out.

"No, just saying I don't know if you're telling the truth or not," she replied, her voice even-toned as she went back to reading. "There's a difference. All I know about you as of now is that you're a capable fighter for being fifteen, but your skill alone doesn't necessarily make me believe that you have been taking out branches of the White Fang." Naruto grumbled for a moment, but laid back on his bed. Blake was right. For all they knew, he was just making up some tall tales.

However, Blake did indeed believe Naruto's story. After all, she herself was a cat-faunus - her ears concealed by her black bow - and had left the White Fang shortly after their methods had shifted from protests and boycotts to riots and violence. However, she heard rumors still, among them being that the membership in the organization had been declining, while numbers of members in varying positions being caught and thrown in prison had been skyrocketing the past twelve to fifteen months. Even in her waning time as a Member before she had cut and run, she had heard of several cells being quite brutally taken down.

"Hey, that reminds me, Whiskers," Yang announced, rolling around so that her feet were slid under her pillow and her head was laying at the foot of the bed. "Those abilities you have...what are they? I've never seen anyone use Aura like that naturally, but there were too many powers that were too different to all be your Semblance either..."

"Like your clones, running on vertical surfaces, that replacement thing-" Blake began, before Ruby cut her off.

"-And your Raisin-gone, thing," she finished. Naruto nearly fell off of his bed at her mangling of the word 'Rasengan.' Though, to be fair, it was much closer to the actual name than she got earlier.

"The Head-Explodey Ball Thing," he thought. "Definitely the most creative title I've ever heard." Shaking his head, he figured he could give them a small demonstration.

"Rasengan," he corrected, holding his palm out. Before their eyes, he had formed one, and while not too keen on getting too close, the girls leaned in to get a better look. "The Spiraling Sphere. Basically, I channel my energy, and make it spin in hundreds of different directions at once, and put a shell-type structure over it," he explained. "It grinds and drills on contact, and when the shell breaks, it's like releasing the full force of a hurricane to the single point of contact." Snuffing it out, he closed his hand. "Maybe tomorrow we can go out training and I can maybe explain it a little better."

"That sounds like a good idea," Ruby acknowledged. "Really, we probably should learn more about each others fighting styles if we're going to be on a team." While she said that, her thoughts were actually more along the lines of seeing more of Naruto's powers, and coming up with ideas for what kind of weapon would suit him best. She knew, based on his straight-forward combat style -or what she had already seen of it - that he would likely prefer melee combat to any ranged weaponry. But he would probably also like something he could hold and manuever, over something like the Ember Celica that her sister wore. While Ruby was going through options in her head, Yang grinned.

"Sounds good to me. I wanna see if Whiskers can put his money where his mouth is," she said, while Blake just nodded. Sure, his prowess in combat against the creatures of Grimm was great. Astounding, actually. It would be far different fighting one of the three Huntresses-to-be, each having different combat preferences and tactics, as well as their unique Semblances.

"It would be practical. We don't have classes for a few days, so taking the time to get a feel for this team and its varied personalities and abilities can only help us in the long run," Blake agreed with a small smile. Ruby - in contrast - grinned ear to ear, before pumping her fist in the air with a jubilant cheer.

"ALRIGHT THEN!" she shouted, excitedly. "Tomorrow is officially the first 'Team RUBY Training Day'...!" After her announcement though, the energy drained from her eyes and she flopped back on her pillow. "But now it's Team RUBY sleepy time..." she mumbled, and was soon out like a light. Naruto just grinned at that, flipping his pillow onto the top of his head.

"Captain has the right idea. It has been a long day, what with getting catapulted into a dangerous forest, fighting two elder Grimm, and being eaten for the...fourth time." he joked, and despite the incredulous looks from Yang and Blake, he was soon snoring softly as well. The two young ladies just shook their heads, before putting out the lights and going to sleep themselves.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Ruby woke in a cold sweat, shooting up in bed. Breathing deeply, she felt a wave of nausea setting in and moved to the bathroom, stumbling a bit in the dark in her hurry. She flipped the light on, and closed the door to a crack. Her mind shifted back to her dream as she leaned over the toilet, coughing and dry heaving. The nightmare forcing her back into the inside of that Taijitu. She could still feel the constricting muscles, still smell the sickening putrescence of its insides as it began trying to digest her, and she found herself unable to breathe. She had thrown up after escaping the Grimm's stomach, and now - after escaping a second time in her dreams - the urge to do so had returned full force.

Amidst her retching, she remembered just how she had escaped in the first place. She had thought she was done for when - after acting solely on instinct - she had shoved Naruto out of the path of the Taijitu's gaping maw and was subsequently swallowed hole. As the light disappeared,she felt the sensation of being sucked down the gullet by the powerful muscles of the giant snake. Without Crescent Rose, and her arms pinned above her head, she had no way to try and grab onto something, anything, to halt her journey to the center of the monster's stomach. Though it was unlikely she could have gotten any sort of grip or traction. The walls of the snake's inside were covered in mucus and slime, lubricating her descent. What little air there was had been heavy and humid with the stink of the Grimm's innards, and the compression of the internal muscles of the beast made it difficult to breathe in general since her chest had trouble expanding to accommodate the motions of her lungs.

She could hear the muffled sounds of gunfire from outside - likely from Yang's Ember Celica - but it was growing fainter as her head began to swim. The putrid fumes combined with the warmth of the environment were beginning to affect her, and it would not be long until she passed into unconsciousness and was subsequently digested alive. However, through the haze, a muffled cry caught her attention. A voice that while unclear, told her to push outward with her Aura, and to calm her breathing. Mustering what little focus she could, she forced as much of her Aura as she could manage into a shielding field around her, illuminating the horrible, slimy place she had found herself. She nearly lost focus, seeing the horrid place she had been trapped in, looking at the undulating muscular wall. Ruby shuddered as a rhythmic pulsing sound began to ring her ears, horrified by the heart-beat of the Grimm that had consumed her. It took several seconds, but soon enough she was face-to-face with her blonde partner, who likewise was engulfed in a hue of glowing energy...what she could only imagine was his own Aura.

He had wriggled his way down, flipping around and wrapping his arms tightly around her, telling her to brace herself. He sounded out of breath, with made sense, considering. The red-loving huntress felt his hands move behind her - creating a hand sign of a cross and she immediately knew what he was planning. He didn't even need to proclaim the name of his favorite technique.

She snapped herself from her musings and moved to the sink, turning on the water and letting it run cold before she put her head under it. She needed to cool down. She was a Beacon student now. A Huntress-in-Training. She wasn't some scared little girl who let a nightmare get the better of her, she refused to be. Ruby dried her hair, before clicking the light off and re-entering the main room. As she moved to sit on the bed, she heard her partner's voice as he whispered to her. "You ok?" She looked as the blonde-boy pulled the pillow off his head, one eye open and wide awake.

Ruby blushed, embarrassed knowing one of her teammates - her partner, no less - had heard her retching and dry-heaving. He sat up as she saw down, and he fixed her with an intense stare, which only caused the heightening of her blush. "You ok?" he whispered again. When she sighed wearily, he moved to sit next to her. "What is it?"

"Nightmare..." she whispered back after a moment. "Guess that mess with the King Taijitu affected me more than I thought." Naruto nodded in understanding.

"Wanna talk about it?" he asked, blushing a bit as well when the girl instinctively reached out and gripped his hand. He had no clue what he was doing. He wasn't that used to comforting people, nor was he used to the various types of contact Ruby and her sister kept foisting on him. While Ino would occasionally smack him for doing something stupid, he couldn't imagine her holding his hand for comfort, or even hugging him the way the red-cloaked girl did. And the day she planted a kiss on him like Yang was the day he would profess his unbridled love for the Kyuubi. He heard a low growl somewhere from in the recesses of his mind, but chose to ignore it.

"Maybe tomorrow. I'm kinda tired," she admitted. Though as Naruto nodded and went to move back to his own bed, the girl refused to let go of his hand. "-But," she continued, "Do you think we can just sit for a while?" Naruto's confused look softened, and again, he nodded, sitting back down onto Ruby's bed. For a moment, there was no movement. Nothing said. Just her hand clenching his. Soon though, she released him, tentatively wrapping her arm around his back in a half-hug. Likewise, Naruto, equally as hesitant, gently wrapped his own arm over her shoulders.

From across the room, Blake cracked her eye open in interest, having heard most of what was going on with her cat-like hearing. The more she saw, the more she realized just how interesting her team was. Especially the younger two. She wasn't really sure that they were safe to reveal her Faunus status to, but given what she had seen of Naruto, he of all people would understand why a Faunus would hide themselves. But she was also troubled. While she had tried her best to reform and cut ties with her past, she was still a part of the White Fang, and technically a criminal. Could Naruto and her team look passed that part of her life? Would they, if they could?

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Ruby awoke once more to the sunlight streaming onto her face...and the sound of snickering. She cracked her eye open to see Yang giving her an amused look, a look that Blake - who was cleaning and checking her weapon - also wore. Deciding to ignore it and get some more sleep, Ruby snuggled back into her covers...and something else amiss. The cloud of grogginess began to lift and she began to process what was going on.

She felt - now that she was more awake -the warmth behind her, the strong arms wrapped around her waist, the steady breath on the back of her neck. With a yelp and a jerk, Ruby rolled out of bed, falling to the floor at her sister's feet with a groan as she looked up at the blonde boy sleeping in her bed. Said boy groaned a bit, rolling over and pulling the blanket over him, either still asleep, or just completely uncaring that he had just been found in bed with his partner and team-leader.

"So, you and Whiskers," Yang began, her little sister's mouth agape and face bright red in total embarrassment. "You know, as proud as I am, I always thought I'd be the first to, ya know...Chika-Chika-Wah-Wah..." If at all possible, Ruby's blush grew more intense at her sister's teasing, and she found herself unable to do more than make squeaks and choking noises. Deciding she had had enough, Blake just sighed, placing Gambol Shroud onto her bed.

"She's kidding, Ruby," the secret Faunus revealed, trying to calm her red-faced Captain. "I saw you and Naruto talking last night, and explained that you just fell asleep." Oddly, both Yang and Ruby gave her the exact same pout, Yang at having her teasing disrupted, and Ruby for being so affected by her sister's teasing. "Sorry Yang, but if any more blood had gone to your sister's face, she probably would have passed out."

"Oh, come on," Yang groaned, but the two could easily tell she was only half-serious as she ruffled Ruby's hair. "I wake up to find my dear baby sister spooning with her admittedly good-looking partner, and you have to ruin my fun? I was even gonna go the 'overly-protective sister' route on Whiskers, too."

"...You'll get over it," Blake deadpanned. "Should we maybe, you know, wake him up? We agreed to do some training." Ruby dug around in her bag as Blake spoke, before pulling out a silver whistle. While Yang's twinkled in amusement, the eyes of the Cat Faunus narrowed. If Naruto had woken up hearing Ruby in the bathroom the night before. There was no way he hadn't already awoken, or that he'd allow her to blast a whistle into his ear...Blake was wrong.

With a yelp at the shrill blast, Naruto had leapt out of bed all the way to the ceiling, and was clinging to it like he had with the cliff the day before. As he glared down at the smiling Yang and Ruby, Blake just shook her head. What in the world was this guys deal. Skilled, clumsy, aware, oblivious...

"And you're really a ninja?" she mused. "Can we go get some breakfast?" The grumbling of stomachs across the room told her that her suggestion was accepted, and while Naruto went to the bathroom to change, Ruby began to change in front of her female teammates. Within minutes, the teens were in their normal clothing, and out the door, making a bee-line for the Lunch-hall.

Upon arriving, they took note that both Teams JNPR and KIWL were already there, eating breakfast. Even Akamaru was present, lying under the table as Weiss fed him table scraps. She really did have a soft spot for dogs. Pyrrha and Lee were having an interesting chat regarding fighting techniques, while Ino and Kiba made pleasant conversation with Nora and Ren, though Nora was more interested with her food. Pancakes of course. They were waved over to the table, and Ruby instantly began doting on Akamaru with Weiss.

"So, plans for the day?" Kiba asked, shoving a whole breakfast sausage into his mouth. "We were gonna head into town, get some extra things to make our room a bit more...livable. If you guys wanna tag along."

"Eh, we can do that tomorrow," Naruto replied, brushing off the offer. "We decided that we were gonna get some team training in. Get a better feel for Team tactics, come up with some early battle strategies, you know." Ino actually smiled at that.

"It will only help. Believe me, having pre-planned strategies goes a long way. Being a part of an Ino-Shika-Cho team teaches you that really quickly," the kunoichi proclaimed. "We'll have to have our own training sessions as well. Bring Weiss up to speed."

"You gonna try to teach her about using-"

"We'll make that decision based on how well she can handle training. We don't even know if she's capable of using anything but Aura and Dust. Or if anyone in the Four Kingdoms can," Ino replied, drawing curious glances from the non-shinobi students.

"Teach me about using what?" Weiss asked, confused.

"Teach her about using what?" Ruby repeated, equally confused.

"We'll get to that later," Kiba responded. "Besides, the only non-clan techniques we could teach her are Lee's Taijutsu, basic control exercises, the three academy basics, your Rasengan, or the Shadow Clone...by the way, been wondering if you could maybe teach me that one. Planning on getting better at the Two-Headed Wolf, and I wanna see if I can make it Three-Headed." Now the others were ridiculously confused. They had never even seen anything like what these four could do, and the idea that they were able to teach others...that they were not some crazy Semblance. This whole thing was too strange.

Naruto seemed to think about it, before relenting. "Yeah, I guess I could teach you the basic Shadow Clone, but I'd think the Mass Shadow Clone would be too taxing on your system." Despite his ego screaming otherwise, Kiba just nodded, continuing the shoveling of food into his mouth.

"You guys are weird, you know that?" Yang asked as she took a bite of her own food

"What's Ino-Shika-Cho?" Nora asked, though it came out muffled, her cheeks bulging with half-chewed pancakes.

"Some old friends of mine," Ino replied, her eyes gaining a rather far away look. Despite all that had happened in recent years, she really missed those boys. Despite how annoying they could be on occasion, they were all childhood friends, their families close due to the ir fathers all being the original Ino-Shika-Cho team. If she was honest, she would give anything just to hear Shikamaru call her a 'troublesome blonde' again. "It was me, a guy named Shikamaru Nara, and another named Choji Akimichi. Shikamaru was a strategic genius. Our teacher even said his IQ was over two-hundred, and that was by the time we were twelve. He was able to utilize mine and Choji's abilities with his to ridiculous effect. He'd come up with battle strategies, and combination team-names. Hence, Ino-Shika-Cho." Ruby's eyes lit up in excitement.

"Ooh, maybe we should have fun combo names!" she announced excitedly. Putting that off for a moment, Weiss felt the need again to ask her question.

"Wait, wait, what do you mean 'teach me?" she demanded, her confused evident in her tone. "These things you do...they can be learned?" While Ino glared at Naruto for bringing the subject up before the four could even discuss it among themselves, she still at least answered her teammate.

"Again, we're not sure if you guys are capable of doing what we can, but given that we will be working with you guys on a regular basis, it wouldn't hurt to try." It was true, to an extent. Weiss was skilled for a huntress, but she would slow them down without better training. Shinobi training. "Weiss, you and I will go through explanations later today. Naruto, maybe while you guys are training, you should go through a simple demonstration of Chakra."

"Chakra?" The collective question of Weiss, Ruby, Yang, Blake, and Team JNPR rang out. It was a foreign word to all of them...well, actually, all but one of them.

"I've heard that term before. I read about it in one of my books, actually, but it was never really clear what it was," Blake announced, getting surprised looks from the ninjas at the table. "But it was a...fantasy book. I always thought it was just an altered substitute for Aura." Now she was really confused. It was just a fantasy story...wasn't it? While the shinobi looked between one-another, blown away that someone had even heard the word Chakra before they had brought it up. Things went awkwardly silent for a few moments, before Naruto stood.

"I'm gonna go change and get my gear," he announced, heading for the dorm. "Meet you at the practice field in a few..." A moment after he had left the dining hall, Ruby stood, her eyes wide.

"Hey!" she shouted, as though she had just remembered something. "We never had the Cookie Party last night!" Nine people nearly fell from their seats, while Akamaru snickered. Nora, as horrified as Ruby, quickly stood as well.

"No pancakes either!" she yelped, clenching her fist in front of her. "This is a travesty! This is an outrage! This...is...UNACCEPTABLE!"

"We gonna set up the party tonight." It was not a question from Ruby, but a statement of fact. Nora nodded with a freakish grin.

"Oh yeah, we gonna set up the biggest, best party...with Cookies, and Pancakes, and whatever it was Naruto said he liked!" Holding out their hands, Ruby and Nora shook three times, locked pinkies, bumped fists, and then pumped their fists in the air." The rest of the group just stared in total shock as the two broke away, dashing off to their respective rooms.

"Did they just come up with a secret handshake, on the spot, without even discussing it?" Blake asked, part of her sick of asking such obvious things.

"Well, strange minds, and all that," Weiss replied, rolling her eyes at the antics of the younger girl who nearly blew them off a cliff two days previous. A whine from Akamaru brought her hand back to scratching his back, and the white-haired girl swore she saw the dog smirk at her.

"Eh, they're having fun," Kiba replied, waving them off, as he now stood, finished with his own breakfast. "We'll meet up to head into Veil in an hour," he reminded them, feeling good to be the boss.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

A short while later found Team RUBY at one of Beacon's outdoor training fields, weapons loaded with low-powered dust rounds. Combined with their Aura's - aside from Naruto, of course, who couldn't use Aura - and the school's high-tech shielding fields, they could fire rounds at one-another without doing more damage than a bruise here or there. They likewise ensured that cutting weapons could leave scratches and small cuts, but could not cut any deeper. Naruto wasn't sure just how something like that could work. All he did know was how much he would have killed for a training field like that back in Konoha.

The plan was to have the four of them break into pairs, with Yang and Blake taking one side and Ruby and Naruto on the other. They decided to work in their original pairs for the first spar, a clone of Naruto off to the side with a stop watch. They would spar in two minute intervals, review how things went, take a small break to catch their breath and reload, and then proceed to spar using a new partner. Two minutes might not have seemed like a long time to a civilian, but in battle, it was ages.

Also on the sidelines, Team JNPR sat on a set of bleachers overlooking the training area. There was no way on earth that they were gonna miss out on seeing more ninja action. While Pyrrha and Ren each sat and watched patiently, Jaune had been roped into helping Nora plan the party. Essentially, that meant he was just there to be the one she bounced her ideas off of, and hopefully keep them somewhat grounded in reality. Ren had warned his team leader that some of her ideas were more than a tad far-fetched. Such as her desire to apparently have Beowolf rides at her fifth birthday party...and at her sixth birthday party...and her seventh. Hopefully her ride on the Ursa the previous morning would disabuse her of the desire to have a Grimm rodeo, but it was unlikely.

"So, fearless leader," Naruto said, grinning at his red-clad partner. "What's the plan of attack?" Ruby just grinned back, twirling her massive scythe as though it were light as a feather.

"What plan?" she joked. "I was just gonna take 'em both down before the timer hits thirty seconds." She just smiled brighter when she heard the indignant shout of her sister, felt the burning glare of Blake.

"Hey!" Yang yelled across the field. "We can hear you over here! And you, little sister, just earned a few lumps." To make her point, the bracelets on her arm began to extend and transform into their active mode, the Ember Celica.

"Yeah, right!" Ruby called back, waving off her elder sister. "Team...team...darn, I had something for us, and now I can't think of it..." Looking at Naruto, who just chuckled and rubbed the back of his head, the Fearless Leader of Team RUBY pouted.

"Let's just win the match, partner," he replied, trying to placate the girl. "We can come up with the cool name afterwards, ok?" Despite being embarrassed at forgetting the name she had come up with, Ruby nodded.

"I knew I should have written it down," she muttered as the time-watcher clone called for the match to begin. With a swirl of rose petals, Ruby had crossed the field in an instant, appearing right before Yang and poised for a horizontal swipe across the chest. While this attack might have worked against a stranger, Yang had trained with her sister for years and by this point had seen this particular attack multiple times. A backflip was all it took to avoid the slash, and the two sisters went at it.

Meanwhile, Naruto and Blake lunged for each other, Kunai and Gambol Shroud in their respective wielders' hands. Despite the larger size of the cleaver-like weapon Blake used, Naruto was more than skilled enough to bloke each of her swipes. He flipped his throwing-knife into a reverse grip, taking a wide swing at the bow-wearing girl. He hit one of her shadow clones, unfortunately, which Blake used as a platform to leap over the top of her ninja opponent. She twisted in midair in a show of flexibility and agility, swinging Gambol Shroud around with her, not surprised in the least when the blonde deftly spun and blocked the strike, the two holding their clash for a moment.

Eyes wandering to the two sisters, Naruto had to say it. "Wasn't the point of doing this to learn our different styles? Cause what do those two not know?"

"Who knows," Blake replied, using a clone to appear behind the blonde. Naruto countered with a clone of his own, which went back-to-back with his as Blake began rapidly using her Semblance to attack from as many angles as possible. "Could just be some form of sibling rivalry." Deciding on a change in tactics, she used a clone to feint another attack, while also going for Naruto's feet with a quick sweep. He didn't disappoint in his reaction.

The moment he saw her attempt at his feet, Naruto leapt into the air, his summoned shadow clone dispersing itself. This was all the opening Blake needed, however, and she fired Gambol Shroud at Naruto, whose ability to dodge would be greatly hindered in midair. She cracked a half-smile upon scoring a direct hit, but it was only short lived. The airborne blonde disappeared in a plume of smoke, revealing itself to be just another clone. Which meant her opponent could be anywhere.

"Ruby, tag out!" Hearing her partner's voice but not seeing him, Ruby leapt back from Yang, before Naruto - somehow - burst from the ground beneath Yang's feet, delivering a solid uppercut to her jaw. While her Aura protected her from the force of the blow, she was still knocked off her feet. She managed to right herself, flipping backwards and landing on her feet. She wasted no time launching herself back into the fray. She used Ember Celica to propel herself at her new opponent, who ducked beneath her right hook. The blonde brawler followed up with a left uppercut, which Naruto avoided by springing back into a hand-stand.

Taking a page from Lee's book, Naruto quickly spun, slamming his heel into Yang's shoulder. Prepared for the hit, Yang flashed a smile as she used her Aura to soak up the blow, before gripping Naruto's leg. Pulling him in close, she sent two quick, but decidedly powerful jabs directly into his ribs, sending him sprawling to the ground. The ninja stood, himself unfazed by the strikes. He was almost glad the others had gone into Veil. Kiba would have been on his ass for getting sloppy like that. He honestly didn't expect Yang to have more to her style than basic brawling. She was far more skilled in Taijutsu than he had anticipated. But that would only make things more fun.

Yang rushed in yet again, launching a flurry of punches and firing round-after-round at her fellow blonde, putting him on the defensive. While he was quicker than Yang, she definitely had plenty of experience dealing with faster opponents, due in all likelihood to being sisters with the Speedy Ruby. The one saving grace he had was that Yang - despite being a highly competent hand-to-hand combatant - had never really seen his own taijutsu style, which was a combination of several styles Naruto had seen during his genin days in the village. As such, while Lee had worked to shape him into a formidable fighter, much of Naruto's style was unorthodox in its execution and difficult even for the trained Yang to anticipate his moves in the same way she would another hand-to-hand fighter.

That said, she wasn't left completely unaware. As a swarm of clones began to lunge in, the grin on Yang's face grew to even larger proportions. Throwing her fist forward, she caught one of the replicas in the solar plexus, calling on her already massive strength to dispel the clone. With a practiced ease, she fired off a shot from her Ember Celica from the arm she had just punched with. The recoil sent her extended arm back and another clone burst into nothingness as her elbow slammed into its face with ridiculous force. This time, the clones decided to attack all at once, and Yang only made the barest of attempts to block.

Unknown to Naruto, her Semblance had been activated, and her body began to burn with a flaming aura. Absorbing more and more hits, the tenacious huntress-to-be was beginning to show signs of damage, but she wasn't going down to a bunch of cheap knockoffs. No, if whiskers wanted her to lose, he was going to have to make her do it himself. With a war cry, she sent her fist straight into the ground, surprising and dispelling the clones with a shockwave and flying debris. "Alright, Ninja-boy," Yang announced, cracking her knuckles as she looked around for the absent genin. "I doubt there's much time left on the clock...you ready to lose?"

"But Yang, why would you want to hurt me so bad? What did I ever do to you, huh?" The girl's ears twitched at the - bizarrely feminine - voice from behind her. Whipping around, she made to end the match with one final punch. However, she froze when the person standing there was not Naruto...or male...or clothed. She had Naruto's blonde hair-color, whisker marks, and blue-eyes, but Naruto certainly didn't have her figure or looks. She couldn't say much for the bust size, since it was obscured by wisps of smoke, but this girl was definitely not flat-chested. Despite being interested in guys, Yang couldn't help but gawk at the girl, her left eye twitching slightly.

The reactions of the spectators were far more energetic. Jaune had fallen off his seat, slightly dizzy and with a small trickle of blood running down his face. Ren had completely averted his gaze - finding his hands very interesting all of a sudden - and was blushing furiously. In contrast, Nora was giggling like a maniac, wolf-whistling and cat-calling to the now-female ninja. And Pyrrha had gone red in the face like Ren. Even more so, and she just continued to stare at the whiskered combatant, mouth agape.

Even Blake and Ruby - the later of which had moments before been struggling to untangle herself from the ribbon of Gambol Shroud - stared in disbelief and confusion respectively at the gender-bending that had just occurred.

So out of it was Yang, she didn't have time to react as a hand bust out of the ground beneath her feet. "Let's try this again," Naruto's voice rang out as the female clone went from innocent pouting to smirking with evil intent. The hand grabbed Yang by the ankle, and with a yelp of surprise and indignation, she was unceremoniously dragged into the earth up to her neck by Naruto.

"And, Time!" shouted the timekeeper clone, ending the first match. As the girl Naruto vanished in a plume of smoke, the original crawled his way from beneath the ground, smiling innocently at the struggling Yang. Despite her predicament the girl found herself smiling.

"Ok, Whiskers, you win. Now could you please get me out of here? I believe you and I are pairing next."

Chapter end.

So, I decided to just tie off the end of this match so that I could give you guys this chapter, and then I can spend more time tweaking the other matches for next time. It feels a bit more appropriate, and this way I'm not holding up an entire chapter. That said, I know there are a few things you all will take issue with, and am going to nip them in the bud as best I can right off the bat.

First up, the teams. I can already hear you guys complaining about team RUBY and how Naruto should be the leader, or how I should have changed the team names or even the teams themselves. My response is thus. As a fighter, Naruto is inspiring. He's creative, works well with others (usually) and is all around someone who people can rally behind. That said, while it makes sense for him to lead team NIKL for those reasons, they fall flat when putting Naruto with Remnant natives. Naruto can lead NIKL because the team is tried and tested, and the others know Naruto and trust his judgement, while to the people of Remnant, Naruto would seem like a gifted fighter, but not the most sound of mind. Ruby, in contrast, knows more about Aura and Semblance and has had formal training at Signal. While Naruto carries minor weapons, Ruby has mastered a weapon proclaimed to be the most dangerous ever designed. While Naruto was thrown out of his element in his genin days, he's mostly remained stagnant, even reverting to his pranking ways. And lest we forget Ruby's Silver Eyes. Ozpin knows Ruby is special and is trying to groom her into a real Hero, and just like in the show, he's giving her the lead to help her grow as a leader.

As for team KIWL, as Ino already noted, there is no L in Kiwi...there is also no W in Ruby. Sure I could have integrated KIWL and JNPR to try and find different combinations. But call me crazy, I couldn't see breaking up Ren and Nora, and I also couldn't find many good color-related names for both integrated teams, so I stuck with these. Monty Oum had a very clear rule-set for fan-made teams, and I intend to keep to his rules as closely as I can. That means that the teams (since I'm not using OCs and thus creating their names from scratch) will remain color oriented in respect for the Late Oum. Kiba won out as leader both from experience (being the admittedly default leader of his genin team) and his protectiveness toward his teammates (his willingness to take the brunt of the Deathstalker's rage while the others made their escapes, as well as protecting Weiss using the Two-headed Wolf transformation.) Whether you like Kiba or not, he's earned his leader position.

Next, there is the matter of Chakra vs Aura. The way I will be using it in the story is exactly as it is in their respective Canon. Aura is spirit energy generated by the soul, with the Semblance being stated to be a more tangible form of Aura. Since a Semblance is stated to be a representation of an innate, unchanging part of a person's character, it can be concluded that both Aura and Semblance fall under the category of 'Spiritual Power.'

Chakra, while its origin has been mangled by the very concept of Kaguya and the Chakra fruit, is stated early on in the series to be the combination of the spiritual forces (ie, Aura and by extension, Semblance) with the physical energy generated in the body's cells.

What this means will be explained in more detail in the story later on, as a small (but far from insignificant) plot point will be how Aura and Chakra relate to one another, but what I can say definitively, is that in my mind, it would not be possible for someone to wield Aura AND Chakra...at the same time.

Lastly, please, unless you have no account, please sign your reviews. This way I can get back to you directly when you take issue with my story. For example, when you send a review stating that I'm underpowering team NIKL, and that somehow these four (plus Akamaru) even with three years of stagnation, training in only what they know (which is only the things they knew before the timeskip), and having to take the time to learn about an entirely different culture and people, should somehow be capable of slaughtering the most powerful grimm by the thousands and crushing the other hunters just as easily, I can then PM you and tell you exactly why your reasoning is bullshit and that I'm not going to OVERpower characters just because you don't feel like they should ever lose anything, ever.

OK, rant mode over. Settling more into parenthood, but I'll try to keep this updated as best I can in the coming weeks.

Peace to all my Fans

Fan of Fanfics