(Chapter 3: Part 1The Prince's Power: Personal)
Ruby and Yang excitedly entered their next class alongside a curious Blake and Weiss. It was Tuesday and this would be their first day of Field Survival taught by their very own commander. The room was decorated with a lot of hard wood unlike most rooms which featured marble. The desks were mahogany and the walls were painted a forest green. Various posters depicted pictures such as plants, a sun timetable, and star charts for the different seasons. All in all, the room gave off a very woodland feel to it.
As they took their seats they saw Naruto leaning against the front of his desk flipping a throwing knife in the air before catching it on its decent and throwing it back up once more. A man with wild green hair with a fairly large coffee mug was zipping around him from one side to the next before stopping in front of him and repeating the process.
"You are…a right bastard…!" The man said pausing only to take a sip from his mug. "If you ever touch my…coffee again, I will…humiliate you in such…a way, that you will…wish you were…dead!"
Naruto looked bored as he used his free hand to pick at his ear. "I'm sorry, Bart. I couldn't make out a word you just said. You sound kind of high-strung, maybe you should cut back on drinking so much of that stuff. If you want, I could always help you with your addiction."
"Don't touch…my coffee!"
"Oh get over it! Your coffee would have stayed safe had you done your damn job and properly monitored the Emerald Forest like you were supposed to!" Naruto said in annoyance before snatching the man's mug and throwing it over his shoulder out an open window. "Now get lost, I have a class to teach."
"My coffee!" Bartholomew yelled before jumping out the window after it.
The entire class stared at the exchange dumbfounded before Jaune raised his hand and asked. "Uh, sir. Will he be okay?"
"Ah, he'll be fine." Naruto said waving the question off with his hand. A loud crash and a cry of pain could be heard from outside the window not a half-second later. "We're only on the third floor."
"Uh…huh," Jaune said doubtfully.
"Now then!" Naruto said addressing the whole class never once pausing in his knife flipping. "Welcome to Field Survival, I'm your professor for the class, Naruto Uzumaki. I know some of you may be wondering why you have to take such a stupid sounding class. I mean it sounds like I'm just here to teach you some hardcore camping. Short answer? Because it's a requirement set up by Professor Ozpin, quit your bitching and get over it."
A couple of students laughed while others looked unimpressed.
"For those actually interested in learning, this course is required because when you make it to your third and fourth years you will start taking missions that will lead you into the wilderness and deep into Grimm territory. There won't be any hotels for you and setting up a watch system for when you sleep will do you very little against the creatures that will gladly swarm you when you are at your most vulnerable." The tension in the classroom rose as Naruto seamlessly shifted from the carefree young professor to the grave toned experienced Huntsman. "Some of what you will learn may seem stupid like recognizing which plants are edible or telling the time by the placement of the sun. Others may seem more important, like telling what direction you're travelling at night via the stars, how to treat serious injuries without the proper tools, or how to set up traps and warning systems to buy you time when the Grimm come for you at night. And trust me, they will come."
A few audible gulps could be heard throughout the room and even the members of Team RWBY felt a little intimidated by their commander.
"Everything in this class, no matter how stupid, pointless, or redundant it may seem, everything is meant to increase your odds of living during a mission. That is why this class is required and that is why you will be expected to pass it with a minimal scoring of ninety percent."
All of the students were shocked by that declaration and they suspected this class would be one of the harshest classes they would be ever take. Naruto was about to continue his lecture when he saw a boy in the back of the room staring at a girl one row down and two seats over. His throwing knife had just reached the peak of its ascent before his hand shot up to grab it by the tip and he threw it with deadly accuracy. The knife whistled through the air before lodging itself into the boy's seat not a few inches from his head. The student cried out in fear and stood up from his seat to put distance between himself and the knife. The class looked wide-eyed at the knife then back at their teacher.
"I'm sorry," Naruto falsely apologized with an all too innocent smile. "I didn't realize the pretty girl you were staring at was more important than my lecture. While procreating is indeed an important aspect of the survival of Remnant's two races, it isn't a subject covered in this class. Now either pay attention or get the hell out of my classroom."
The boy quickly apologized before taking his seat, his eyes constantly drifting to the knife beside him.
"Oh, you can go ahead and keep the knife," Naruto said before rolling back over the top of his desk so that he was now standing behind it. He opened the top drawer and pulled out another throwing knife that he immediately began flipping with a smile. "I have a whole drawer of them. Now, anyone else feel like wasting my time?"
The rest of the class period passed smoothly after Naruto's little demonstration. No one wanted to be the target of one of his throwing knives. He managed to finish outlining the course and their future assignments and unlike the other professors, he didn't waste time with attendance. He believed that if you didn't care to show up, then he didn't care to teach you. He managed to make it halfway through the first chapter by the time class was about to end.
"Be sure to finish the rest of the chapter by Thursday and remember to take notes. Memorization is a key factor to passing this class." Naruto said as the bell rang. "Team RWBY, if you wouldn't mind staying after for a moment. I have something I need to discuss with you."
As the rest of the students filed out, Team RWBY approached their commander. The blonde professor was still happily flipping his knife as he took a moment to gaze at each of them. "As you know, tomorrow is our first training session as a squad. Since you're all here I figured I'd give you the details before sending you on your way."
"Just tell us what to do, Naruto!" Ruby exclaimed excitedly. While her first class with Naruto hadn't gone the way she had expected it to, she was still looking forward to getting the chance to train with a fully-fledged Huntsman.
Naruto smiled at the younger girl and ruffled her hair much to her annoyance. "My personal training ground is training ground forty-two. I expect you all to be there tomorrow at eight in the morning and come dressed for battle. Be sure to stretch before you show up, I'm sure you all have learned today how much I hate wasting time."
The four girls paled as they remembered the knife throwing incident at the start of class.
"Any questions?" He asked getting four "no's". "Alright then, I'll see you all tomorrow morning. Be sure to go to bed early tonight. You'll need all the rest you can get."
XxX
The next morning the four girls were making their way to Training Ground forty-two and were gaining a new appreciation for just how large Beacon Academy was. All around them they could hear the sounds of gunfire, yelling, and the clanging of weapons. Yet despite all the noise they would only on occasion come across a team of students training.
"So…" Yang said trying to get a conversation going. "What do you think Mr. Prince has in store for us today?"
Ruby was excitedly bouncing on the soles of her feet. "Oh, oh! I bet he'll have us beat up a King Taijitu!"
"No," Blake blandly answered.
"A herd of Beowolves?" Ruby tried again.
"Nuh-uh," Yang denied.
"A-a…Giant Nevermore?" She hesitantly suggested.
Weiss groaned. "Are you stupid? How would he even get the Grimm to the training fields to begin with? Besides, after the last Giant Nevermore, I am in no hurry to fight another one."
"Well, then what do you all think he'll have us do?" Ruby asked.
"He already told us we'd go through introductions today. So it's probably a meet and greet, then us running drills." Blake stated.
"Aww, but we ran drills all the time at Signal." Ruby whined. "I was hoping for something more exciting."
"Well, we'll find out for ourselves soon enough. We're here." Yang said leading them into the training ground. Training Ground forty-two was a wide open grassy field with plenty of room to move about freely and outlined by trees. As they made it to the center of the field they saw Naruto leaning against a well towards the back corner of the field with his arms folded. He soon noticed their approach and glanced up at the sky before looking back at them with a smile.
"Good, you're all about ten minutes early. After what happened Monday, I had some concerns." He teased getting the girls to give him a sheepish look. "Well, no time like the present so go ahead and get comfortable." He said waiting for the girls to sit down. "While I've gotten to know some of you, there are those I haven't yet gotten the chance to speak with so before we begin let's go around and introduce ourselves. Likes, dislikes, dreams for the future. You know, things like that."
"Maybe you should go first since you're the teacher here, Prince." Yang grinned at him
"You just want to know all my dirty little secrets," He shot back before going through his introduction. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki. I like pranks, training, my precious people, my motorcycle, and the food of the gods, Ramen! My dislikes are paperwork, people who are judgmental, and worst of all, traitors. My dreams for the future…making you four the best damn Huntresses to graduate from Beacon."
Team RWBY wasn't sure what to make of that introduction. He seemed to be a mix of serious and carefree, but it did seem to fit his personality when they considered their past interactions with him.
"Okay, now it's your turn. Let's start from the left and work our way down the line." He said pointing at Yang.
"Hi! I'm Yang Xiao Long! My likes are my baby sister, Ruby," She said wrapping an arm around her sister nuzzling her hair with a smile much to her sister's embarrassment. "Punching things in the face, my motorcycle, trying to make the Prince of Beacon blush, oh! And strawberry sunrises with cute little umbrellas! Hmm…I don't have too many dislikes, I guess old men hitting on me would be one and people picking on my baby sister would be another. My dream for the future is to graduate from Beacon and beat up a hell of a lot of Grimm!" She finished with a smile.
Naruto nodded his head sagely, "Punching something in the face is indeed a pleasure few people appreciate."
"I know right?" Yang excitedly agreed.
Blake rolled her eyes, Weiss face-palmed, and Ruby looked at the two grinning blondes like they were aliens.
"I swear, it's like looking at twins whenever those two get together." Weiss grumbled.
"They do seem to have a lot in common," Blake added. "More than Yang and Ruby at least."
"Wha!?" Ruby cried out.
Yang gave her sister a one-arm hug. "Don't worry, little sis. No one could ever replace you."
"She's right," Naruto agreed. "If I replaced you as Yang's sibling it would make the moments we flirt with each other extremely creepy."
"Ya see? Your position as my sibling will be forever safe."
That just earned the two blondes face-palms from Blake and Weiss and a face-fault from Ruby. Of course, their reasoning would be something stupid like that.
"Okay, moving on. It's your turn, Red." Naruto said with a clap trying to get things rolling once more.
Ruby seemed to do a complete mood change and excitedly stated. "I'm Ruby Rose, the fearless leader of Team RWBY! I like my sister, Yang, helping people, seeing the many different weapons people use, and stopping bad guys! I dislike when people tease me," She said as she glared at Naruto and Yang who were looking away and innocently whistling to themselves. "People who hurt others, and broccoli! Yuck! My dream is to become a Huntress and help keep everyone safe!"
"Aww, that's so cuuuuuuute." Yang said hugging her sister and shaking her back and forth.
"Cut it out!" Ruby said in annoyance elbowing her sister's gut to get her to let go. Yang retaliated with a punch to Ruby's shoulder. The two sisters glared hotly at each other and were about to duke it out when two pebbles roughly pegged their foreheads. Ruby and Yang redirected their glare at the one responsible while rubbing the pain away.
"No fighting each other unless it involves pillows and giggles, remember?" Naruto said as he crossed his arms once more. "I'd like to move on to our actual training session sooner rather than later. So, Weiss. If you would?"
The girl nodded, "I'm Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Corporation. I like singing, studying, and professionalism." She said glaring at Naruto. The blonde's eloquent retort was to blow a raspberry at her. Weiss growled out her dislikes. "I dislike immaturity, irresponsibility, and the Faunus, especially those associated with the White Fang. My dream is to take over my family's company and become a famous Huntress." Weiss finished her introduction to see two stares from Ruby and Yang, a glare from Blake, and a neutral look from Naruto. "What?"
Naruto sighed, "Weiss, while everyone has a right to their own opinion, not every opinion should be freely expressed."
"Excuse me?"
"Your discrimination against the Faunus!" Blake said hotly.
"Thank you, Blake. But I'll take it from here." Naruto chided before looking back at Weiss. "I could honestly care less how you feel about the Faunus. Like them, hate them, whatever. But Beacon doesn't tolerate discrimination. We, teachers know it happens, but can only react to what we see. So if-"
"Now just hold on a second!" Weiss snapped. "You're blowing my words way out of proportion. All I said was that dislike the Faunus, that doesn't mean I'm going to go out of my way to belittle and attack every Faunus I see!"
Naruto saw Blake was still displeased but knew it was something he'd have to deal with later. "So long as we're clear. Let me tell you all something. After you graduate, you won't always get the liberty of choosing who you work with on a mission and there will be times you'll be expected to work with someone you don't like. Regardless of the reason, you must always act in a manner that benefits the mission and not yourself. So when you come across a situation where you are working with someone you don't like or approve of do your best to ignore them and complete your mission. The mission is what matters because our mission as Huntsmen and Huntresses is to protect the world. Don't let your personal feelings endanger others. Now let's wrap things up. If you would be so kind, Blake?"
Blake frowned but did as asked, "Blake Belladonna. I like reading, moments of peace and quiet, and the Faunus." She finished glaring at Weiss.
"How can yo-" The Schnee heiress started, but was cut off when a pebble struck her forehead with a second one striking Blake's.
"Pillows and giggles!" Naruto repeated with annoyance.
"Why did you hit me too?" Blake said giving him a heated look.
"Because you said that just to piss her off. Now, I will hear no more on this subject, understood?" He asked. Both girls refused to answer so instead he called upon his aura and focused it on them. The air grew heavy as he repeated severely. "Understood?"
Two quiet "yes, sir's" later and Blake continued her introduction. "My dislikes are people who judge others before knowing them, people who are loud and obnoxious, and people who think violence is an acceptable means to an end. My dream is to one day see a world where Faunus and Humans can live together free of hate."
Naruto nodded his head with a smile. "That's a good dream, Blake. I hope to see that day myself." Clapping he pushed himself off the well and stood up. "Well now that, that is out of the way let's get started with today's training."
Team RWBY got back up to their feet and followed their commander to the center of the field. As they were walking, Ruby came up beside him and excitedly asked. "So what are we doing, Naruto? Hunting Grimm? Practicing with our aura?" Her excitement completely died at her next question. "…Running drills?"
Naruto laughed out loud before ruffling Ruby's hair. "Drills? Screw that! If you need me to tell you how to run drills, then you shouldn't be in Beacon to begin with."
Ruby gave a silent cheer as she fixed her hair once more. She was starting to think it would be a good idea to stay out of arms reach with Naruto.
"So then what are we doing?" Weiss asked, her annoyance with Blake forgotten.
"Today, each of you will spar against me." Naruto said as he turned to face them. "I've see a lot of your battles from either your previous school or your time in the Emerald Forest. But seeing and experiencing are two separate things and I wish to know for certain what you can do."
"That's it?" Yang asked surprised.
"You make it sound like this will be easy. One thing you will know for certain when you leave this training field is that no matter how skilled you are there are still people out there who can make you look like you're at your worst when you're fighting at your best." The four girls looked confused prompting Naruto to continue. "Yang was one of Signal Academies top students before coming to Beacon, Ruby has been moved ahead two years because of her talent and potential, Weiss was personally tutored by a number of exceptional teachers, and Blake passed the entrance exams with flying colors despite never having gone to a prep-school. The four of you are also on the same team and that means that amongst the first years, Team RWBY is seen as one of the highest ranking teams in your year if not the highest."
The four smiled when they heard just how exceptional Team RWBY was viewed. At least, until Naruto started speaking again.
"So I'm going to face off against you one at a time, learn your strengths and weaknesses, then shatter your pride in front of the rest of your teammates so you don't ever let your standing go to your head." The whole time he was saying this he was giving the girls an eerie smile.
"Wait, shouldn't you be facing us all at once? We are a team after all." Weiss said while the other three nodded. For some reason the idea of fighting Naruto one on one sent shivers down their spines.
"Oh I could, but then you would all start bitching about how you would have done better had so-and-so not gotten in the way or how a plan would have worked had someone done something differently." He said. "You've been a team for less than three days and have only fought one battle together. Do you honestly think you can pull off another victory like you did against the Nevermore?"
Team RWBY was hesitant to answer.
"The answer is, no. Being put together and calling yourselves a team, doesn't actually make you one. You demonstrated great teamwork against the Nevermore, but you four still don't know each other's fighting styles or mentality well enough to efficiently and effortlessly work together. That is what we will focus on every session after today. Getting you four so comfortable with each other that you will know what your teammates will do before they even act. So I expect you all to pay attention to each spar and take note of how the others fight because I will be giving you an assignment before you leave today."
"Um, Naruto?" Ruby inquired. "How can we take notes of the spars when we don't have notebooks or pens?"
Naruto scratched the back of his head looking uncomfortable. "That was a figure of speech, Ruby. But yeah, I kinda, sorta, totally forgot to tell you four to bring notebooks and something to write with so…" Naruto stuck one hand in his coat pocket and another inside his coat pulling out four notebooks and three pens. "Here ya go."
The four girls each grabbed a notebook and a pen…or three of them did.
"Wait why don't I get a pen?" Weiss asked.
Naruto hand his hands interlocked behind his head before dully stating. "Did I forget to mention the person without a pen is the one who gets to spar with me?"
"Dammit!" The Schnee heiress whined.
"Heh heh, sucks to be you, Weiss." Yang commented as she, Blake, and Ruby moved to the far side of the field.
"You just wait until my spar ends. You're next!" She shot back making Yang sweat.
"I, uh, meant I'm sorry you have to go first?"
"Hmph!" She sniffed crossing her arms. "Too late for that."
"…Crap."
"Hey! Are we gonna fight or do you plan to kill me with boredom?" Naruto shouted.
Weiss took her place opposite of him on the field. "Don't you have any patience?"
"No!"
"Ug," She groaned in frustration before drawing her rapier, Myrtenaster. The two faced off for a minute, then two. Finally Weiss shouted. "Aren't you going to draw your weapon!?"
Naruto who had been casually standing with his hands in his pockets put up an act of being surprised. "Oh crap, you're right. Can't forget that!"
Weiss started trembling in anger while the rest of Team RWBY watched Naruto with anticipation. Ruby especially, she always loved seeing the weapons people used. Naruto dramatically reached into his coat with one hand and pulled out…a throwing knife. Team RWBY did a collective face-fault as he began tossing the knife in the air.
"What the hell is that!?" Weiss cried outraged.
"It's a throwing knife," Naruto happily explained. "I can cut, stab, and as the name implies throw it. It's like a multi-tool only it isn't bulky or come with eight different features you'll never use!"
"And that's the weapon you use in your career as a Huntsman!?"
"Huh?" He asked looking surprised. "Oh hell no! Are you nuts?"
Weiss nodded her head. That's what she thought. "So…what are you waiting for? Draw it!"
"I already asked if you were nuts!" Naruto shot back. "Why in the hell would I use Mort and Minnie on you!? If I did that I'd have to carry you to the infirmary!"
"And you consider that dinky little knife a proper substitute!?"
"Umm, yeah. Why else would I be carrying it?" Naruto deadpanned.
Weiss stomped her foot and pointed an accusing finger at him. "Are you mocking me!?"
Naruto looked offended. "Of course not!"
Weiss was about to speak again, but was cut off by Naruto.
"I'm mocking all of Team RWBY. You didn't honestly think I was going to change weapons when I fought them did you?" Naruto felt a spike in the girls' aura and knew he just pissed off the whole group. He smiled when Weiss lost all sense of composure and used her semblance to slide across the field with her weapon aimed for his heart.
Naruto waited till just the last second before his arm flashed up and he used his knife to parry her rapier to the right while stepping to her left and sticking his leg out to trip her. Weiss stumbled a few feet and fell forward just barely managing to catch herself in time. Before she could stand back up, Naruto was behind her and kicked her in the rear sending her crashing forward. She quickly rolled to her feet with her weapon raised and ready to intercept Naruto, but he was just standing there watching her with amusement and tossing his knife. Weiss' free hand moved to rub her sore bottom.
"You call that fighting!?" She shouted offended that he would do something so degrading to her.
"That's what I should be asking you." He answered smirking. "I'm not a Grimm, sweetie. Using a move with that many openings is gonna cost you."
Weiss growled before taking her stance once more and charging him again. However, she was more levelheaded than last time and used a shorter charge that stopped her a foot and a half in front of Naruto and thrust her blade forward. Naruto parried it and quickly leaned his head back to avoid a swipe to his face. The two exchanged blows a number of times, but no matter how hard Weiss tried she couldn't seem to truly put him on the defensive. All Naruto did was parry her blade or turn his body in a way that had him narrowly avoiding her attack, but not once did he ever take a step back. He was in complete control of their encounter.
Despite her frustrations, Weiss had to admit she was impressed. Even her tutors hadn't been this good. Still she hadn't gone full-out yet. She suspected Naruto knew this and that was why he had yet to really fight back. He was waiting for her to step it up. Weiss broke off the engagement and leapt back to put distance between them.
"Done playing?" Naruto asked her with a knowing smile.
Weiss smirked. She was still a little pissed he was still only using a throwing knife of all things and literally giving her a kick in the ass, but at least now she knew he wasn't all talk. She pulled back her weapon and used her free hand to slide down the guard where the dust-chambers were. Myrtenaster responded to her aura as the cylinder stopped on the fire-dust chamber and a red glow covered her blade.
"Well, that looks dangerous." Naruto idly commented as Weiss once more charged him like she had at the start of the match. She was about halfway to him when he threw his knife and cut a deep graze into her forward leg causing Weiss to once again stumble forward but before she fell to the ground she was blasted back when her blade had touched the ground and released the fire Dust it was charged with in an explosion.
"Weiss!" Ruby yelled from the sidelines.
Weiss hit the ground hard and rolled a few feet before coming to a stop. Naruto started walking towards her only stopping to pick up her fallen weapon and his own thrown blade. By the time he had grabbed his weapon, the Schnee heiress was back on her feet weakly holding herself up. She had a couple bad burns on her exposed skin and her once pristine clothes were marked by tears and burnt fabric. Naruto stood his ground ten feet away before tossing her weapon towards her. She watched as it sailed through the air and buried itself tip first into the ground at her feet.
"We can stop now or keep going." Naruto said. "Personally, I think you still have some fight left in you."
Weiss hesitated. Her whole body was screaming in pain and begging her to stop. She glanced at her weapon then back at him before her eyes hardened and she firmly gripped the handle of Myrtenaster and took her stance once more. Naruto watched his student proudly as she chose to keep fighting. Weiss switched chambers once more before performing a pirouette with a wave of her sword creating six small glyphs that she launched at Naruto by pointing her blade at him.
Naruto's eyes widened behind the goggles before rolling to the side avoiding the first three glyphs. As he shot to his feet he pivoted to avoid the fourth and performed a backflip to allow the fifth one to pass under him. However, the sixth glyph struck his leg when he landed and he now found himself locked in place. He looked up in time to see a wall of jagged ice speeding towards him and his aura acted in response to the threat intercepting the attack and keeping any of the ice from piercing his body. Despite this some of the jagged edges did knick him. However, the real damage was realized when he found both legs up to his hips frozen in ice. He looked to where Weiss was standing only to find her missing. A shadow on the ground warned him where she was and he looked up in time to see her falling from the sky with her blade tip angled at the ground and glowing white.
Naruto knew he was in trouble and started actively calling upon his aura as Weiss slammed a foot in front of him and he was swallowed in a giant chunk of ice. The rest of Team RWBY were shocked. She had been losing the whole fight and here it looked like she managed a come from behind victory and possibly even killed their commander. Weiss stood up panting in exhaustion and was about to cheer in victory when a glowing orange fist bust through the ice and grabbed the front of her dress pulling her into the wall with enough force to break it. As she was pulled inside she had a brief second to realize the inside of her attack was hollowed out before she slammed into the opposite wall hard enough to break through it.
Naruto calmly strode out of the ice and walked towards Weiss' prone form. "You still awake."
Weiss just groaned.
"Good, that means you can take notes as I beat down the others." Naruto pleasantly stated as he picked her up bridal-style and carried her over to the others before going back to grab her weapon. "I gotta admit, you surprised me there at the end. Your form and technique aren't bad, but I'd say you do your best when you're strategically using your Dust."
"I don't get it, I really thought Weiss got you at the end there." Ruby said replaying the battle over in her head.
Blake answered her. "Naruto wasn't taking her seriously from the start and was holding back the whole fight. No matter how good you are, when you hold yourself back you make it possible to be caught off-guard. That's what happened."
Weiss weakly pushed herself up to a sitting position. "What I want to know is what you did to avoid my last attack. I remember what I saw when you pulled me into the ice. It was hollowed out!"
"That would have been my semblance." He answered. "It's called Aura Shaping and grants me a large capacity of energy to draw upon. All I did was take the standard defensive use of aura to project a force field and took it to the next level."
Naruto demonstrated his technique for them and began to let off a bright orange glow before a dome of ethereal energy of the same color appeared around him. Releasing the technique, he explained his semblance with a little more detail. "It takes a lot of concentration to perform something of that level so most of the time I only focus on creating smaller shields like the one I used to wrap around my arm when I punched through the ice. I can also use my semblance to turn my aura into a powerful weapon, but that skill not only requires a lot of focus, but is incredibly exhausting. So don't expect me to demonstrate that."
"I'm still confused. How is that any different from the regular force field we project with our auras?" Yang asked.
Naruto took a minute to think how to better explain it before speaking. "Imagine the field you project as a shield you carry on your arm. Its level of resistance is only as strong as the arm that holds it up. When I create a shield through my semblance, it's more like throwing up a reinforced concrete wall between me and whatever is attacking me."
"So you used that dome to break the ice trapping you and shield you from my second attack." Weiss analyzed.
"Yup," Naruto said.
Weiss was upset with herself. She had never been as handedly beaten as she was just now. "Damn, I was hoping I'd do better."
"Weiss look at me," Naruto ordered getting her to look up at him. "You exceeded my expectations. You even managed to do some damage." He said gesturing to the tears in his pants where small shallow cuts could be seen on the exposed skin. "You were the first to fight me and didn't have the benefit of getting to see how I would fight back like those three. You went into a completely unknown situation against a superior foe and did a great job. Could you have done better? Sure, but you could have also done worse. So be proud of yourself and your accomplishments."
Weiss gave him a small smile before nodding her head in thanks.
Naruto smirked at her before saying, "Now comes the fun part. You get to choose my next victim."
Weiss got a devious grin before looking over at Yang who was quickly waving her hands back and forth with her pen pinched between her fingers. The Schnee heiress daintily reached over and plucked the pen from her fingers getting the blonde to hang her head in defeat.
"Who does it suck to be now, Yang?" Weiss asked her.
Yang sighed before getting up to follow Naruto to the center of the field. "…Me."
Student and teacher took to the field and faced off against one another. Yang expanded her bangles into the gauntlets she called, Ember Celica while Naruto casually flipped his throwing knife.
"I hope you're ready, Prince! Don't think I'm afraid of punching that cute face of yours!" Yang exclaimed as she took her stance.
Naruto kept flipping his blade as he brought his free hand up to make a come hither motion. "Bring it on, Yang."
Yang threw her fists back behind her and fired off her gauntlets propelling her at Naruto. She pulled her right fist back and thrust it at his head. However, her commander wasn't keen on taking the blow and ducked under it and avoided the dust-round that always accompanied Yang's punches. Undeterred, she brought up her knee hoping to catch him in the face but Naruto blocked it with his free hand and thrust his body forward slamming his shoulder into her gut and sending her back a few feet. Yang quickly recovered her balance and was about to retake her stance when she heard something hit the ground at her feet and the weight of her belt and half-skirt combo was missing from her waist. Looking down she saw said apparel laying on the ground. A quick inspection showed that her belt had been cut clean.
Yang looked back at her commander with a glare. "You're paying for a replacement, you know?"
Naruto shrugged. "Meh, at least now I have some eye-candy for the rest of the match."
"Pervert!" Weiss yelled from the sidelines.
"Enjoy it while you can, Prince." Yang said before charging him again. Once more the two were locked in hand to hand combat, but just like his battle with Weiss, Naruto was choosing to fight more defensively sticking to dodging her attacks or occasionally parrying her gauntlets with his knife. She decided to switch things up and went for a high-kick, but was countered when Naruto went low and swept the foot she was standing on. As she was starting to fall, she twisted her body and threw a punch that managed to catch Naruto in the chest. The blast from the punch propelled them away from each other.
Yang hit the ground rolling and quickly pushed herself up to her feet. Naruto on the other hand landed on his back and quickly kicked up to his feet. The two started circling each other Naruto noticed the girl's hair was now covered in flame, but her eyes remained violet. Yang studied him for a minute before standing up continuing to circle the blonde at a casual gait prompting him to do the same. The flames in her hair didn't die down though, if anything they grew more intense.
"I wasn't sure at first, but now I know!" She said across the field to him. "You're like me! A brawler. Your hand to hand is too good for someone used to a weapon like a sword, axe, or mace."
"I could have just had training, you know?"
Yang shook her head. "It was hard to tell because of your goggles, but you haven't once looked at my face. Your gaze as firmly been planted on my upper body watching every subtle motion I make so you can anticipate my attacks."
"Or I could be just staring at the biggest rack in Team RWBY." Naruto felt two auras spike with ill intent on the sidelines and guessed them to be Weiss and Blake since Ruby would have just been shocked speechless and a blushing mess from a line like that.
Yang just smirked not rising to his bait. "I'll thank you for the compliment, but as I was saying. Your kicks are another indicator. Fighting with your feet is always a risk because you can be grabbed and they can be read pretty easily even by people with no fighting experience. Yet, you show no hesitation when you use your feet to strike. You know the dangers and only use your legs when you know the risk is low or nonexistent."
Naruto gave her an annoyed frown. "You're just going to keep spouting off reasons until I give you an actual answer, aren't you?"
"Yup."
"Fine. Yes, I like getting in close and pummeling the crap out of my opponent, but my style isn't the same as yours and I don't wield a pair a gauntlets so get whatever assumptions you've been making out of your head. Happy now?"
Yang turned to face him completely with a grin before slamming her fists together causing an explosive flame to pulse from her body. "Ecstatic!"
Her charge was faster this time and she didn't even need the assistance of her gauntlets. Naruto started backpedaling but was forced to roll to the side when Yang threw her fists behind her with an explosive blast to quickly cover the rest of the distance between them. Her fist slammed into the ground where he had been and created a foot and a half crater. Quickly she locked her eyes on him and launched herself in his direction with another blast from her gauntlets. Naruto tried to keep up with her frenzied assault. He ducked, weaved, and parried as many blows as he could, but she was moving faster than him now and soon enough he took an uppercut to his gut which left him open for a punch to the face, and was finally launched back with a jump-kick to the chest. He was launched several feet back and was only stopped when his back harshly impacted one of the unbroken sides of Weiss' ice shell putting some cracks in it.
Okay, that hurt. Fun's over. Naruto thought as he stood up and flicked his throwing knife.
Yang didn't even move as the blade seemed to pass over her head. "What's wrong, Prince? That last combo give you double…dou…ble…" Yang watched in horror as a few strands of her blonde hair fell right in front of her face. Naruto's knife had cut her hair! "You…bastard!"
With a roar her eyes burned red and she came at him ready to beat him within an inch of his life for messing with her precious golden locks. Naruto had a sinister smile as his student charged him in a blind rage. Just when she was a few feet away he leapt up and used the ice dome as a launching point to jump up and over his student. As he sailed over her, both hands shot out and grabbed two fistfuls of her hair before he spun and landed on his feet behind her. With his new purchase he pulled her around him counter-clockwise before throwing her face first against the very ice wall she had launched him against. Before she could recover and kill her commander for messing with her hair again, Naruto jumped up and slammed a kick into her back that had enough power in it to force her through the wall she was pressed against and through the only non-broken side causing the ice shell to completely collapse and break apart.
She slid against the ground and started to push herself up to keep fighting when Naruto was once upon her once more. The blonde professor had jumped up and drove his knee into the small of her back causing Yang to cry out in pain before grabbing her hair once more and pulling her head back before slamming it against the ground. He pulled her hair back once more to take a glance at her face. Dirt and grass marred her beauty and a small trail of blood from a split lip could be easily seen. So too could the fight in her angry red eyes prompting Naruto to slam her head into the ground twice more. He was about to go for a third blow when he saw she was unconscious. He gently let her head fall to the ground before standing up with a sigh.
That ending had been more brutal than he intended, but Yang had certainly been right about one thing. They really did have a similar approach to fighting as Naruto knew he would never quit unless he won, died, or was knocked unconscious. Ruby ran over to her sister and rolled her over on her back. It was a testament to how tough Yang was when the blonde started to groan and wake up soon after. Her eyes opened to reveal that they were violet once more. She looked at her sister who gazed down at her with worry then over to Naruto.
"That really hurt, you know?" She said giving him a cute pout. "I'm going to have a week long headache thanks to you."
"Sorry," Naruto honestly apologized with a sheepish smile. "But in my defense I didn't see a faster way of taking you out. Besides, we both know you'd just keep fighting until I found some other way to knock you unconscious."
"I'd have only kept fighting because you broke a sacred taboo for us girls." Yang protested as her sister helped her sit up. "Hasn't anyone ever told you not to mess with a girl's hair?"
Naruto waved her complaint off. "You girls have too many rules for us simple-minded males to keep track of. Don't ask her age, don't mess with her hair." Naruto paused to make an obvious showing off looking below Yang's neck line. "Don't stare at her breasts for too long."
Yang looked at him oddly when Ruby shouted. "Yang! Your jacket!"
The blonde brawler looked down to see that the two buttons that held her jacket closed had been ripped off, likely during her slide on the ground and her yellow crop top had multiple tears in it from the small rocks she skid across that revealed she was wearing a black bra. Yang grabbed both sides of her jacket and pulled them together to cover herself with a blush. Even she wasn't willing to show that much of her body off.
Naruto fist-pumped and cheered, "Yes! First blush!"
Yang and Ruby looked at him confused, but the older sister quickly caught on to what he was saying. Growling she used one hand to keep the front of her jacket together and her other hand to point at him. "Mark my words, Prince! You will be a drooling mess on the floor when I'm done with you!"
Naruto bent over with a victorious smirk. "Boast all you want, cowgirl. I'm not a virgin."
Yang sputtered while her sister went as red as her cloak. She even lost her hold on her jacket and gave Naruto another peak of her bra before quickly covering herself up again with a blush.
"Ha! Now, I have a two point lead!" He cheered again.
Yang was furious that he had gotten her to blush. Twice! In less than five minutes even! "That's it, Prince! You wait right there while I go change! I'm going to kick your ass!"
"Sorry, Yang. I still have two more students to embarrass so you're just going to have to deal." Naruto said as he directed her to the sidelines where Blake and Weiss were waiting. Bending over, he quickly snatched Blake's pen and tossed it at Yang.
"Hey!" She protested. "Why don't I get to pick your next opponent?"
"Because you would just refuse to grab a pen until I agreed to fight you again." Naruto deadpanned.
Yang pouted. She wasn't that obvious, was she?
Blake calmly set her notebook aside before walking to the center of the field with Naruto following behind her. He didn't bother looking for his thrown knife and instead reached into his coat to pull another one out.
"I'm willing to bet that someone as calm and collected as you, won't be making the same mistakes Weiss and Yang made." Naruto mused
The black haired girl nodded. Both Weiss and Yang had started to relax after managing to strike Naruto. Weiss had assumed she accidently killed him and was caught by surprise when his fist burst through the ice to grab her while Yang had gotten cocky and left herself open for Naruto to exploit an emotional trigger of hers that he discovered from her fight in the Emerald Forest.
"You drew out the fight to see what they could do and only ended it when they started to think they might win after all." Blake explained.
"Knowing that, I suspect you have a plan for this fight?"
She nodded drawing her weapon. "I'll give it my all and aim to end your life."
Naruto gave her a feral grin. "Those are the words I was hoping to hear."
Unlike the first two girls, Blake chose to start things off from a distance and switched her weapon, Gambol Shroud immediately to its pistol form and started shooting at Naruto. The blonde was forced to stay on the move to keep from being shot. He knew he could just use his semblance to block the shots as he charged her, but where was the fun in that? Soon enough, Blake was forced to reload and Naruto took that time to quickly close the distance. She finished reloading and was able to get a shot off, but Naruto rolled under the bullet and swiped at her with his knife. He was caught by surprise when his knife passed through her and quickly raised his free hand up and called upon his semblance to generate an orange shield over his head intercepting three more bullets. Blake landed with Gambol Shroud back in its ninjato form and pulled the sheath from her back before skillfully swinging her blades at the blonde. Every strike was followed with her using her semblance to create a shadow clone while she moved to strike her commander's flank.
Naruto wasn't having too much trouble keeping up with her. While Blake was fighting him alone the way she moved to attack was similar to fighting multiple opponents and he had plenty of experience with those kinds of fights. The trick was to keep your head turned to the side almost all the time to catch sight of any potential attack from your peripheral vision. If they weren't within your line of sight, then the odds were good that they were attacking from your blind spot.
He was admittedly impressed with his squad so far. Weiss focused on pinpoint strikes, but excelled with Dust making her good at range and support, Yang was a pseudo-berserker and only got more dangerous the longer the fight went on making her a perfect tank and front-line fighter for the team, and Blake was well versed in blitzkrieg tactics hitting fast, hard, and with a lot of misdirection. There was just one problem with someone who relied on blitz tactics. They don't tend to stand up long against an opponent that can match or surpass the speed of your hit and run approach.
Naruto caught sight of her appearing to his right and used his free hand to project a large orange shield that slammed into Blake and temporarily stunned her long enough for him to move in and elbow her across the face with his right arm and followed it up with a knee to her gut. He then proceeded to grab her arm mindful of the weapons she still held and threw her over his shoulder. Blake used one of her shadow clones to help her recover in midair and landed on her feet with one hand rubbing her sore jaw and the other holding her abdomen.
Naruto stood up straight studying his student. "As I thought, you're more used to avoiding hits as opposed to taking them."
Blake put her sheath away and switched her ninjato to its handgun form. "You say that like it's a bad thing."
"Well, I can't come right out and say it is." Naruto chuckled. "Standing still and taking hits is just stupid. But at the same time, constantly avoiding an attack means you're going to hurt more when someone does land a blow."
Blake nodded as she tied the ribbon wrapped around her arm to the handle and trigger of Gambol Shroud. "Then I'll just have to try harder at not getting hit."
Blake threw her weapon at Naruto who parried it with his knife. A quick tug on her ribbon and the weapon fired before returning back to the young professor. Naruto performed a back flip over the weapon before retorting. "That won't work against someone with more skill and experience than you!"
Naruto tried his best to charge her knowing if he got close enough she would have to shorten her weapon's lead. If he could manage that, she wouldn't be able to hit him from so many angles. Blake was also aware of this and was constantly taking steps and leaps away from him while trying to fend him off with Gambol Shroud. More than once, Naruto was forced to throw up a shield to block a dust round or the weapon itself when it got too close for comfort.
Sadly, Gambol Shroud was still limited by its number of shots and Blake was forced to reload once again and like last time, Naruto capitalized on it. The distance was much shorter than when Blake had opened up with her handgun and so by the time she finished, Naruto was already upon her. She ducked under his swipe and used a shadow clone to avoid his kick while putting enough distance between them for her to begin twirling her ribbon and spinning Gambol Shroud with incredible precision. Naruto cursed his luck. While he suspected she could wield her weapon in this state at close range, none of the recordings Beacon had of her combat skills had shown her doing so. She was even more deadly like this as her weapon was moving too fast for him to parry forcing him to dodge and back off.
The two stared off after Naruto had retreated. The blonde smirked, he'd seen enough and now he had a plan to put an end to the fight. "Seems you got a real pair of claws on you, Blake."
Blake's eyes widened in surprise before she cursed as Naruto charged her once more. She threw her weapon at him expecting to dodge or shield himself from the attack, but was shocked when instead used his free hand to grab her weapon by its grip, turned, knelt, and stabbed his knife through the ribbon attached to Gambol Shroud pinning it to the ground. Blake cursed once more as she released her end of the ribbon. Even if she managed to free her weapon, Naruto would be too close for her to make use of it. She grabbed her sheath from her back and started thinking of a plan. She didn't once let the thought that he was unarmed and at a disadvantage enter her mind, he'd proven himself by now to be a more than capable fighter.
She made a show of swinging her weapon, but it was all meant to be a distraction. A shadow clone meant to get him to dodge as she leapt over him to get to the other half of her weapon. That's what was meant to happen. What had really happened was Naruto reaching up to grab her ankles as she jumped over him and slamming her into the ground on her back. Her shadow clone hadn't distracted him at all. All the air in her lungs was forced out as Blake gave a voiceless cry of pain. Before she could even hope to recover she felt a hand at her throat and opened her eyes to see Naruto's fist heading for her face. She shut her eyes tight and braced for the hit…that never came. Opening her eyes cautiously she noticed his fist and inch from her face.
Naruto let her go and stood up. "I thought I told you that technique won't work on someone with more skill and experience than you."
"Why didn't you finish it?" She asked as she tried to recover her breath and gingerly picked herself up off the ground.
"Again, we've already established you can't take a hit. The fight was over the second I had my hand on your throat and pinned you down."
The two walked over and recovered their weapons. Blake took a minute to examine the damage to her ribbon and smiled when she noted it would be simple to fix. They then made it over to the sidelines to see a fuming Weiss and Yang.
"What's wrong with you two?" Naruto asked
"We're pissed off!" Weiss shouted.
Yang nodded in agreement. "She got off way easier than we did!"
Naruto nodded in understanding before giving them a deadpanned look. "First, she took the fight seriously from start to finish. Second, she didn't let her emotions get in the way of her spar. Third, she knew she was going to lose from the get go. Finally, she's better at avoiding hits rather than taking them so anything I did to her after I slammed her against the ground would have been pointless and cruel."
The two glanced at the dark haired girl who only rolled her eyes at them before taking a seat and asking for Ruby's pen. Naruto looked down at the shivering girl. "Ready, Red?"
"Um…no?" She hesitantly tried.
"Good! Let's get to it!" Naruto cheered as he headed back out to the field. Ruby followed him slowly with her shoulders slumped and head hanging in defeat. She really wasn't looking forward to this match like she had been at the start.
The two squared off in the field and though he didn't show it, Naruto was watching her with more intensity than he had with the other three members of Team RWBY. She had the least amount of experience, but one of the most dangerous semblances. Her ability to move at high speeds was not something to be underestimated and while he had no proof to support him, he suspected that she didn't suffer tunnel-vision when she moved. He doubted she could change direction while moving at high speed as her record only ever showed her moving in straight lines, but that didn't matter too much if you couldn't follow her to begin with. Sadly, his greatest advantage was one he would be forced to give up.
Ruby wasn't the kind of person who would aim to kill a human or Faunus for that matter. Robot? Grimm? No problem. But something with a soul? She just wasn't ready for that kind of fight yet. The criminals she fought the night they first met was proof of that. She had used non-lethal means to take them out and while they all ended up with pretty bad bone breaks on various parts of their bodies, none of their injuries proved permanent.
The two stared off for just an instant before Ruby seemingly disappeared and then reappeared right in front of him swinging her scythe, Crescent Rose down on his position. Naruto's eyes widened before he rolled backwards avoiding the attack. Her attack kicked up a lot of dirt and much like Yang's failed attack from earlier, left a small crater in the ground. He didn't even need to see the weapon itself to know Ruby had come at him with the back end instead of the blade.
She disappeared once more and reappeared again at his side swinging her weapon like a baseball bat. Naruto quickly maneuvered his blade to intercept and grabbed the hilt with both hands to reinforce his block. Ruby flinched when the two weapons met and she felt the vibrations travel down her weapon and up her arms. Naruto went to attack her, but she once again disappeared and reappeared a few feet away taking the chance to shake her arms a bit before gripping her weapon properly once more.
"Stop holding back, Red." Naruto ordered.
"I-I'm not," Ruby stuttered, unsure of what he was talking about or why he sounded so upset.
The blonde leveled a hard look at her. "If that were true you'd be coming at me with the blade of your weapon!"
The red-cloaked girl flinched at his cold toned accusation. "B-b-but I could hurt you! You can barely avoid my attacks as it is!"
Those were clearly the wrong words to say as an oppressive aura started weighing down the field and the four members of Team RWBY felt it get a little difficult to breathe. "So my cute little student thinks she can actually beat me." Naruto drawled as he put his knife away.
"N-n-no, I-I never s-said that." Ruby was honestly beginning to feel fearful. The aura coming off her commander wasn't just blanketing the field, it was being directed right at her.
"But you did, "I could hurt you" "You can barely avoid my attacks"." He said repeating her. "That tells me, you don't think I can measure up to a first year student. I had hoped my display against the rest of your team would have made you take this seriously, but it appears you are the one who needs the most humility beaten into you. Now, attack!"
"B-b-but you…" She started, not wanting to attack her unarmed teacher.
"Do it! Now!" He barked leaving no room for disagreement.
Ruby once more disappeared from his sight and reappeared attacking from the same angle she had first tried, a vertical strike downward. Naruto calmly through one hand up projecting a shield that met her weapon and caused it to bounce back from the collision. He proceeded to wrap a hand on the pole of Crescent Rose, get right up into Ruby's personal space, and slam his head harshly against hers. Her head snapped back and she was stunned by the assault, but her hold on her weapon only tightened. The Prince of Beacon grabbed Crescent Rose with both hands and turned to throw it and subsequently, its wielder away from him and across the field.
"Again!"
Ruby slowly picked herself up, but complied as she dashed forward once more with the aid of her semblance and performed a diagonal strike downward. However, Naruto was already crouched low and swept her feet out from under her. He quickly stood up and kicked upwards catching the small of Ruby's back and causing the young girl to cry out in pain. Before she could continue falling, Naruto once more took hold of her weapon and threw her away.
"Again!"
Ruby picked herself up again, but couldn't take a stance and instead was forced to lean heavily on Crescent Rose. The small of her back was screaming in pain and every time she tried to stand up straight the pain would flare up. Hoping to buy herself some time she quickly asked. "How did you know the direction of my attack? You were already moving into position as I was swinging Crescent Rose!"
"I didn't," Naruto admitted. "I expected a horizontal attack, not a diagonal one. Now quit stalling and attack me!"
Ruby cringed as she tried to get in position, but knew she was still hurting too much. Instead she collapsed her scythe to its gun state and took aim.
"Taking a play out of Blake's book, huh?" Naruto rhetorically asked her. "Let's see how well that would have worked for her if I was being half as serious as I am with you."
Ruby opened fire on her commander, but much like the woman she had fought against with Glynda, Naruto just blocked her shots with his hand reinforced with aura. There wasn't even an orange glow or evidence of his semblance. He was just casually walking forward as he intercepted her attacks. The few times she aimed at his legs, Naruto would just step to the side just as she pulled the trigger. Each shot came slower than the last as she felt her will to fight leave her. He was three feet from her when she dropped to her knees and hung her head in defeat.
Was she really expected to come at him with the blade of her weapon? She couldn't do it! Killing Grimm wasn't a problem, they were heartless monsters with no souls. But a person? A living, thinking, feeling person? She let go of Crescent Rose to stare at her hands but her vision was becoming blurry with tears.
Naruto watched as Ruby seemed to sink in on herself and started closing the distance. He saw Yang about to rush over and comfort her sister, but he waved her off. This wasn't something big sis needed to fix, this was a reality Ruby needed to come to terms with. He knelt down and took her hands in his own and quietly said, "It's never easy. Taking a life that isn't a Grimm."
Ruby continued looking down. She gave him a quiet sniff and a hiccup before asking. "Then why? Why are we expected to do it? People have friends and families they love! So why must we take them from the ones they love!?"
By the end, she was yelling her troubles. Naruto gave a quick glance over at the other three showed them looking away and feeling uncomfortable. They had come to terms with this issue themselves, but had yet to make their first soul kill as it was known to Huntsmen and Huntresses. Naruto just gripped Ruby's hands tighter before answering. "Because sometimes, humans and Faunus can be bigger monsters than the creatures of Grimm will ever be…"
Ruby looked up at him with a shocked, tearstained face.
"Creatures of Grimm will kill you because that's all they know," He continued. "There's no planning, no reason, no agenda. All a creature of Grimm does is kill because that is what it exists to do. But something with a soul? Human? Faunus? They can kill with or without reason. They can consider the rights and wrongs and still decide murder is okay. They can kill and say it served a higher cause. That the lives they take are meaningless in comparison to the reason they took them."
"It's not right." She muttered.
"That people like that exist or that we as Huntsmen and Huntresses are expected to stop them?" Naruto countered. Her tightening grip on his hands gave him her unspoken answer, both. "Then hold on to that feeling, Ruby." She looked back at him, only to see his kind smile. "I'm not asking nor expecting you to go out and kill every criminal you see, Red. I'm asking you to be prepared for when the day comes and you're forced to make that choice."
"W-will it really come?" She mumbled looking down.
Naruto's smile dropped. "Yes. More often than not, when a Huntsman or Huntress is called in to deal with a situation involving criminals it is because they pose an immediate threat to innocent lives. It's in those situations, to save the lives of those who've done nothing wrong we will be expected to take the lives of those who did."
The young girl didn't respond having too much to think about. Standing up, Naruto turned to the rest of his squad and said loud enough for them all to hear. "I think training is done for the day. Be sure to stop by the infirmary and get your injuries looked over. Go over your notes on each spar and write a two page essay on how you would incorporate each other's fighting styles with your own. That's two pages per person, so a total of six pages altogether."
Ruby slowly stood up when Naruto placed a hand on her shoulder telling her to wait.
"The other day I gave you some advice on leadership," He said. "Here's another piece for you to think over. One of the biggest curses for those in our position, is making the call that no one else wants to. Few people have what it takes to make a truly tough decision. You are now faced with your first."
"What do you mean?" She asked
"You have until next Wednesday to find the resolve to use that scythe the way it was meant to." He saw her want to protest but cut her off with a gesture of his hand. "Out of the four of you that sparred with me today, you are the only one who didn't give it your all."
"But I-"
"You gave only what you were willing to give, Ruby." He said interrupting her. "If you can't come at me the same as the rest of your team, then I can't leave you as leader. This goes back to my first lesson with you."
"Doing your best so that those who follow you do theirs?" She asked receiving a nod. Sighing she asked him. "Do you still think I should be the leader after today? It's only the first week and I certainly don't seem to be meeting your expectations…"
Naruto ruffled her hair. "It's not my call right now. I already said you have to next Wednesday to make your choice. Besides you shouldn't get so down on yourself. I have a feeling regardless of who I chose as leader I'd be spending the first few weeks tearing them a new one."
Ruby gave him a soft smile, nothing near the kind that usually adorned her face. She picked up her weapon and holstered it before jogging over to the rest of her team only to pass by Blake halfway. "Blake?"
The dark haired girl looked over at her. "Go on with the others. I have a few things I wanted to discuss with Naruto in private."
Ruby nodded before running over to Yang and Weiss following them out of the training fields. Blake watched them go before turning to see Naruto was once more leaning against the well towards the back of the field. Approaching him she said, "Professor, I was hoping we could talk about what happened this morning?"
Naruto gave her an annoyed look before crossing his arms. "I thought I made my opinion rather clear."
"How can you be so dismissive!?" She heatedly asked.
"Because, Weiss has told me all I needed to hear. So long as she continues to ignore, but tolerate the Faunus that's all that matters. Stop acting like she's committing some personal attack on you, Blake. She isn't even aware you're a Faunus."
Blake was speechless. She took a moment to compose herself before asking. "How did you know?"
Naruto quirked and eyebrow at her before pointing at himself and deadpanning. "Squad commander of Team RWBY and professor at Beacon Academy." He then pointed at her. "Squad member of Team RWBY and student at Beacon Academy. Why wouldn't I know?"
Blake flushed in embarrassment. It certainly seemed like a dumb question when put like that. "So then what should I do about Weiss?"
"Nothing," he answered plainly. "You can't force someone to change how they feel. You can guide them or encourage them, but never force them. Forcing someone to change their views breeds tension and resentment. The White Fang will learn that lesson soon enough when they push things too far. So all you can do is either work with her slowly over time or ignore her."
"I'm sorry," She apologized. "I just don't think I can really ignore her hatred of the Faunus."
Naruto shrugged. "I don't recall ever hearing her use the word "hate", but if you want to try and change her opinion, then you should try to become her friend."
Blake looked at him, surprised at what he was suggesting.
"Get to know her and let her get to know you. Build up some trust in each other so that when she learns your secret she can still see Blake the girl and her teammate instead of Blake the Faunus."
Blake looked uncertain. "Do you really think the others will learn the truth?"
"Undoubtedly. You will be working with Team RWBY for the next four years. They will learn eventually."
She gave a tentative nod before perking up and remembering something that caused her to glare at her commander. "You've been making cat puns in my presence since we first met."
Naruto gave her a teasing smile. "Only on occasion and nothing obvious enough to give away your secret."
She scoffed before crossing her arms and giving him a defiant glare. "You really get a kick out of teasing others don't you?"
The blonde's grin grew wider. "I will admit, it is fun as hell."
She rolled her eyes before turning and walking off the field. "People would take you more seriously if you didn't act so immature, you know."
"When you become a Huntress you'll learn to appreciate the quieter moments in life." He called out. "If you don't you'll have a permanent stick shoved up your ass."
Blake didn't even bother responding to that. Not that it stopped Naruto from taking one last parting shot.
"See ya in class tomorrow, Glynda Jr."
XxX
Glynda was drinking tea with Ozpin who had a cup of coffee when an inexplicable rush of anger came over her causing her to grip her teacup with enough force to shatter it. Tea shot out covering the two teachers, but mostly splashed on Glynda. Ozpin calmly grabbed a napkin and started drying his hair and face as Glynda did the same.
"Naruto?" He asked her.
Glynda glared at him, but nodded. "Naruto."
XxX
That night, Ruby was laying in her bed having spent most of the day thinking about what Naruto had said. She was so confused. She always wanted to be a Huntress because she wanted to help people, but she never really considered what that entailed until today. She glanced over at the adjacent bunk where her sister was trying to find a comfortable position to lay down. The nurses in the infirmary had done a good job patching them up, even healing Yang's split lip, but had left the bruises. According to them, they would heal on their own and get the girls used to working through the pain, whatever that meant.
Weiss was in the bathroom performing her self-imposed mandatory thirty minutes of grooming while Blake was out doing…whatever Blake does on her own late at night. Ruby knew she needed help coming to a decision. She didn't want to give up her leadership, but the thought of killing something with a soul just terrible for her. Thankfully, she was alone with the one person she trusted impeccably. "Hey, Yang?"
"Hmm?" Yang hummed before rolling to her side with a wince to look at her sister, using her left hand to prop her head up. "What's up?"
"This morning…when Naruto told us we would one day have to kill someone while doing our duties as Huntresses…how did…" Ruby hesitated to ask. "How did you come to accept that?"
Yang's face grew solemn as she rolled on her back and put her hands behind her head while she stared at the ceiling. "To be honest, Ruby. I don't really think I have…"
"Huh?"
"I mean, I know it will happen someday, but it's not like we're expected to go out any time soon and start killing criminals, you know?" She quietly admitted. "If anything I've more or less ignored it and came to the decision that I'd burn that bridge when I get to it."
"B-but how could you fight like you did today!?" Ruby exclaimed. "Everyone seemed to have no problem trying to kill, Naruto! Weiss almost did!"
Yang snorted before she burst out laughing. "Is that what you saw? Seemed to me we all got our collective asses kicked." She rolled back on her side and looked back at her younger sister. "Ruby, Naruto is a fully trained Huntsman. He's been fighting life or death battles since before we ever picked up a weapon. Do you honestly think any of us really posed a threat to him?"
Ruby sat up in her bed and poked her fingers together. "Well, you and Weiss managed to hit him and Blake managed to fend him off the longest."
Yang held up a finger before she started to counter Ruby's claim. "First, he kept himself from becoming a Prince-sicle with just his semblance." She raised a second finger. "Took three punches from me in my heightened state before fully enraging me and then serving me my ass on a silver platter." She frowned as she remember the damage he had done to her beautiful hair before holding up a third finger. "The ease at which he took Blake out proves he could have done it at any time…actually extend that point to the rest of us as well." She then held up a fourth finger. "Fourth…well I don't even need to remind you with how badly he took you down so I'll just move to my last point. He kicked all our asses with a throwing knife and his semblance! Nothing else. We were never a threat or a challenge to him."
"So, you're saying even if I had come at him like he were a Grimm it wouldn't have mattered?"
"Yup," Yang said with a nod before speaking softly to her younger sister. "Ruby no one is asking you to kill anyone yet. So instead of worrying yourself over something that isn't likely to happen in the near future, focus instead on being the best Huntress and leader that you can."
Ruby laid back down contemplating her sister's words. She still had a week to come to a conclusion, but maybe her sister was right. Why worry about something that was going to happen way down the line? It wasn't an immediate issue yet. A soft smile graced her lips. Even if she didn't agree with taking a life, she could at least do her best to become as great a Huntress as she could.
(End of Chapter 3: Part 1)
So it's been eighteen days since my last update, but chapter 3 is officially done. For those who've been reading my profile you all know that chapter 3 quickly became longer than I anticipated and so I was forced to break it into two parts. The combined length is like 22k words and that's just way to long. I do apologize for the delay, this has been a rough couple weeks what with the death of my favorite comedian, Robin Williams and the Ferguson, MO. Riots which are less than a twenty minute drive away for me. So yeah, I was watching those closely.
Anyway, a lot of you who've reviewed may have noticed the things I discussed with you didn't occur in part 1, you will see it in part 2. Part 2 will be posted in two days so look for it on the 24th. If you enjoyed the chapter then please review. I really do appreciate them and try to thank everyone who does with a response.
For those who are curious, Chapter 4 is already outlined and I will begin work on it tomorrow.