The Vale Police Department was in an uproar, a complete uproar. Naruto Uzumaki, the Architect himself, had finally been cornered and arrested and one could currently find damn near the entire office celebrating in various ways… all except for the two SWAT teams and the officer who had arrested him. Speaking of Naruto, he was being held in an interrogation room in nothing but his black tank top, his cargo pants and his boots, as his duster, gloves, belt and weapons had been confiscated upon arrival at the station. His hands were, well, handcuffed and said cuffs were attached to a pair of cuffs around his ankles, there were four SWAT officers at each corner of the room, another two outside the door and who knows how many others on the other side of the one-way glass partition.
He found this funny, he truly did. He could escape at any time if he really wanted to, but at the risk of garnering more heat and more international attention, and he wanted to spare himself and his team that kind of attention. So, with a chuckle, he turned to the officer that was behind him, to his left.
"Hey Bill… you don't mind if I call you Bill, right?" Naruto snidely asked with a smirk on his face. Silence was his answer, so he continued with his train of thought. "Mind at least giving me a cigarette or something? I'm getting bored to death in here for God's sake!"
Silence once again befell the room when it was broken once again by an audible shrug by Naruto. "So uptight. You boys need to relax, it's not like I'm going anywhere anytime soon… or for the next eighty or so years, most likely. You'd visit me, right, Bill?"
"Shut up." The officer Naruto had named 'Bill' answered gruffly.
And about that time, the door opened to reveal a man with gray hair and a suit whose color scheme seemed to fit black and green, a cane with some type of crossguard and glass spectacles to top it off. The man's gaze was impartial and he coolly stepped into the room and stood in front of the desk where his gaze settled onto the blonde in front of him.
"Naruto Uzumaki." The man addressed Naruto. "The Architect, the Mad Fox of Vale's underworld, the one your underlings call Professor and the one your enemies call the Yellow Reaper. You're a man of many names, many monikers… and yet, you're still just a man, are you not?"
"In a manner of speaking… Professor Ozpin." Naruto acknowledged the man in front of him, to which Ozpin hummed in response to.
"Quite the rap sheet you've accumulated since your time at Signal, what, three years ago now?"
"Indeed, indeed." Naruto nodded. "And let me guess… you're here to try and conscript me into being a Huntsman in exchange for the charges being dropped, am I right?"
"Right to the point, I see." Ozpin hummed. "In any case, yes, you are right. I have the power to extend to you this one-time only offer. Accept, and you're a free man. Refuse and I'm afraid it's to Atlas with you."
"Have you ever been to Atlas, Professor?" Naruto asked, seemingly on a whim.
"I have." Ozpin decided to play along. "Quite a remarkable place, I must say."
"They're not the leading military power for nothing, after all. More specifically, Professor, have you ever been to Castle White?"
"The Schnee family estate? No, I can't say that I have."
"I have." There was mischief in Naruto's voice. "Multiple times, and none of those times an invited guest. It's no secret that the Schnee family outright hates my species, Professor… and if you were to talk to some of my people, it's no secret that I hate them right back. Their Heiress, one Weiss Schnee, I believe she's to be one of your new students this year. She and I know each other; we've had run-ins on different occasions. And Robb, her Father and the current CEO of the Schnee Dust Company? We know each other as well. You see, on each occasion that we would meet, he'd try to have me killed, he hates my guts with the most visceral of passions and that hatred has passed down to his daughter… I guess you could say it's my fault, but I don't really care."
"Why are you telling me all of this, Mr. Uzumaki?" Ozpin suddenly cut in.
"Don't worry, there's a point to all of this. Long story short, when you see her, and if you even care to remember, ask her about the scar that runs down her left eye and ask her if she enjoys the Mad Fox's mark."
And in all one moment, Ozpin's eyes, albeit minutely, widened in surprise when he saw a flash of… something appear in Naruto's place. This… thing had red slit eyes, fangs, claws and a bloodthirsty smirk plastered on its face. Its eyes were lit with both the fires of hell and the sparks of insanity and the smirk, those fangs peeking out over his lips, seemed like they thirsted for fresh blood, like they yearned to tear apart anyone and anything that dared challenge them. For that brief instance, Ozpin swore he saw not a boy in front of him, but a new breed of Grimm, and as a consequence he gripped his cane a bit tighter, as if readying for an attack that never came.
"So, with all of that…" Naruto's voice broke the Professor out of his reverie. "My answer is no. Thank you for the offer, but I'd rather not tie myself down… not just yet, anyway."
"I… I see…" Ozpin managed to say as he quickly rose and composed himself. "Well, it is regrettable, but it is your life, Mr. Uzumaki. I hope the courts are kind to you… good night."
"Well, there goes our only solid offer of amnesty." Kurama sighed. "You trust those friends of yours that much, kit?"
'I trust them implicitly, Kurama.' Naruto inwardly said to the Bijuu. 'They know what to do in a situation like this. All we have to do is sit back and wait.'
Minutes passed, those minutes then turned into nearly two and a half hours of just sitting in the interrogation room until the officer responsible for his arrest entered.
"Good news, Uzumaki." The officer said with a smirk. "Atlas forces have just arrived to pick you up. General Ironwood himself is with them."
"Ahh, I get to see James again?" Naruto mused, a smirk of his own plastered to his face. "Hurry up and take me to him, we must have words."
"Shut up, flea bag." The officer suddenly snapped. "You don't get to order me around. Now, stand the fuck up!"
A quick tug to Naruto's collar rose the blonde to his feet, his smirk now turning to a scowl.
"You wanna run that by me again, chucklehead? What did you just call me?" A slight growl made its way into Naruto's tone.
"I called you a fucking worthless flea bag. You gonna do something about it, Faunus? Huh?"
And right at that moment, the lights of the station shut off, shrouding the entire place in darkness. The sounds of chains breaking, followed by the sound of a body thumping to the ground. Naruto had knocked the officer out, opting not to kill him because, again, he didn't want to bring even more heat against himself and his friends. After knocking the racist officer out and taking his pistol, Naruto easily made his way through the darkened halls of the station thanks to his night vision, where he eventually came upon the door to the station's armory. Promptly kicking said door in, Naruto then tossed the pistol aside and reequipped himself, cracking a smirk when the Dust inlays of his clothes began to glow once again. After taking his katana by the hilt, with the sheathe still on, he began to traverse the halls once again, traveling at breakneck speeds knocking out officer after officer in the confusion until he reached the entrance and immediately sent a straight heel kick into the sternum of the final officer, sending him barreling through the doors and onto the streets outside.
"About time you got here, Naru!" Frost greeted his friend as he effortlessly dodged a few blows from another officer's nightstick before promptly knocking him out with a well-placed right hook to the left temple, the blow being even greater thanks to the pair of oversized silver brass knuckles that he was brandishing.
"Ellie and Garnet should be returning shortly!" Iago added as he batted yet another officer's nightstick away and knocked him out using the blunt end of a spear he was using.
"This was MY idea! Thought I should mention that!" Topaz added as she rendered her opponent unconscious thanks to a harsh shield bash.
These were the weapons that Naruto's crew had built themselves. Frost's oversized brass knuckles were named Aurora, which sat upon his left hand and Blizzard, which sat upon his right, and they both could fold out and transform into a pair of semi-automatic pistols. Iago's spear was made of red steel and it could transform into a sniper rifle, which he had named Longshot.
Topaz's shield was a black miniaturized tower shield named Onyx and it also had a hilt-like protrusion coming out of the top of it which, if she pulled on, would reveal a blade made of red plasma named Sanguine Razor.
And as if on cue, Ellie and Garnet came running out brandishing their weapons just as Naruto joined the fray. Ellie's weapon was a greatsword she named Oblivion, and it was made with the five primary Dust types folded into the blade itself and it had a trigger close to the crossguard that she could pull to switch between the dust types, and therefore power the blade with the current element used. Garnet's weapon was a double-barrel shotgun that had blades on the underside of the barrels, and if she wanted to, she could click one of the safeties in to detach one of the barrels and swivel it around to create a double-bladed sword, and she named this weapon Twilight Sentinel.
And there the six friends and comrades were, holding off wave after wave of Vale police as they either arrived on scene or woke up from their unconsciousness, until finally, an order was given over loudspeaker.
"Lethal force has been authorized!" One of the lead officers screamed out. "Prepare to fire!"
"Naruto?" Iago glanced over his shoulder to their leader.
"They're about to light us up, Naruto. What are we gonna do?" Garnet asked.
"… We go lethal." Naruto finally decided.
"Are we ready for that kind of heat?" Topaz asked.
"Hell yeah we are!" Ellie exclaimed as she pulled the trigger of Oblivion, imbuing the blade with Fire Dust.
"One massacre, coming right up!" Frost agreed as he shifted his brass knuckles into their gun forms and took aim.
Iago merely tightened his grip on his spear and settled into a more aggressive stance, Garnet transformed her shotgun into its double blade form, Topaz gripped the hilt of the Razor and gave it a good tug, which activated the red plasma blade just as she settled into a stance that favored her shield for the moment and Naruto himself settled into an Iaido stance as the Dust inlays of his clothes began to glow brighter by the second.
"FIRE!" The lead officer screamed out once again and in that one moment, all hell nearly broke loose.
Just as the officers began to fire, a Bullhead came swooping overhead, firing upon the officers with the chin-mounted miniguns, sending them scrambling for cover. After granting the six some leeway, the doors of the Bullhead swung open, revealing full squad of Junior's men, who were beckoning Naruto and his group to quickly board.
"On the Bullhead!" Naruto managed to scream out over the noise. "NOW!"
And without any question, his friends complied and each filed into the Bullhead until Naruto himself was the last aboard, and once he boarded, the doors swung shut and the VTOL took off once again.
"That was a close one, kid!" Came the unmistakable voice of Roman Torchwick as he strolled out of the cockpit.
"Ellie and Garnet cut power to the station, all six of us have a standoff in the parking lot and you show up at the last second to drag us out of the fire?" Naruto asked while chuckling. "Why do I think you set all of this up?"
"Theatrics aren't my thing, Blondie." Roman shrugged. "Besides, Miss Queen Bitch sent me personally to collect you. She knew your crew would bust you out, so she sent me and these fine gentlemen as added insurance. She seems to think very highly of you, kid."
"In any case…" Naruto sighed as he took a seat in one of the empty seats. "Glad you showed up when you did, Roman."
"Yeah." Iago agreed. "A massacre was about to occur."
"No need to have you all being irreversibly blacklisted just yet." Roman then leaned against one of the walls of the VTOL. "And with this little escape attempt, you're gonna have to find a new location to lay low, Blondie. Your bar's no longer safe."
"Butch knows what to do with the bar, don't worry about that. And as far as laying low goes… I believe we're finally ready to fully integrate with Cinder and her plans." Naruto said, mildly shocking his friends, but they had ultimately seen this coming sooner or later.
"HAH!" Roman suddenly busted out laughing. "Welcome to the team then, kid! Been a long time coming! Queen Bitch is gonna be thrilled!"
The remainder of the ride to Cinder's main base was spent in silence until the trip was over and the Bullhead settled into a landing pad. Once the doors swung open once again, Roman, Naruto and his crew filed out of the VTOL and headed deeper into a mysterious complex of buildings, most likely situated on a waterfront somewhere, judging from the ports and dry-docks. After a few minutes of walking, the group came upon a warehouse and promptly entered the building. Therein waited Cinder and two other people.
"Well, holy shit, you actually made it." Came the voice of a man.
"To collect on the Lien you owe me, Mercury." Naruto said with a smirk as he and the now identified Mercury shook hands. "Emerald." He then nodded his head in Emerald's direction.
"Whiskers." Emerald returned the nod with a smirk.
"Good work in retrieving them, Roman." Cinder's voice cut the reunion short as she sauntered up to Naruto. "And congratulations on breaking out of jail successfully, Naruto."
"No, Cinder, thank you for bailing us out of a difficult situation." Naruto returned the deceptively sultry gaze with a knowing smirk.
"Then, I suppose with you all here, you've decided?"
"Yes. We're ready to integrate. My katana is yours, Miss Fall."
"I'll bet it is…" Frost muttered, gaining a few muffled chuckles from Roman, Iago and Ellie, but a stomp on the foot from Garnet.
"Not that katana!" She sharply whispered.
"Very good." Cinder managed a contented smile before turning on her heel and walking away. "Naruto, you shall be joining Emerald and Mercury as my personal confidantes and you may keep command of your group and Mafia friends. As far as your responsibilities go, you'll be helping Junior manage our information network and will also be helping Roman on his raids whenever is convenient for you. Other than that, welcome to the winning side of the coming war."
"Glad to finally be a part of it, Cinder." Naruto nodded to her in agreement of his new responsibilities.
"Now, everyone may go, I have no further need of you all. Roman, you and your men kindly show Naruto's friends to their quarters. Naruto, you, Emerald and Mercury may stay."
"What's up?" Naruto asked once the four of them were finally alone.
"As you well know, Beacon is going to be welcoming their new first-year students sometime this week." Cinder began as she sat upon a wooden crate and crossed her right leg over her knee. "I want you to infiltrate and get me an estimate of how many make it through Initiation, and, if possible, dossiers on the teams that will no doubt be formed."
"Sounds easy enough. Consider it done."
"Very good. Emerald?"
"Yes?" Emerald asked.
"You and Mercury will be making a diplomatic trip to our friends in the White Fang. Secure an alliance if you can, and if you can't, then reassure them of our overall goals."
"Got it."
"And that's it. You three are dismissed. Emerald, show Naruto to the VIP quarters if you would."
After nodding, Emerald began walking off towards another warehouse, followed by Naruto, who fell into step beside her, lost in his thoughts.
'Infiltrating Beacon… should be fun.' He thought with an outward smirk. 'I get to meet Weiss again, and I get to truly test just how far Ruby and Yang have come since my walking out on Signal. Hopefully, none of them disappoint, I've been aching for a serious fight for some time now, and that little spar with Ruby did nothing for me except exacerbate the situation. Even if they don't measure u, there's always Ozpin… but that'd be overstepping my boundaries. An all-out fight with a Headmaster would accomplish nothing, gotta be careful to limit myself to just the prospective Huntsmen and Huntresses-in-training.'
'Besides, it's been awhile since I've stretched my legs! You gotta let me loose, Naru!' Came another voice from his subconscious.
'Patience, Kira!' Naruto inwardly scolded the voice now known as Kira. 'I'll let you out when we meet an appropriate enemy. It wouldn't do to reveal you, my Demonic alter ego, to the world just yet.'
'Why are you playing this safe?! You could have conquered this pitiful excuse of a world by now! Together, we can do anything! So why are you content to waiting?!'
'Because there's more to gain by playing things safe. I'm biding my time, waiting for the right moment to expose us. Be patient, Kira, we'll have our time soon enough.'
And with that, Naruto cut the connection with his alter ego and took in a big breath of the salty air of the docks. Tomorrow was gonna be a good day, he could feel it.
'Yang, Ruby, Weiss… I'm coming for you all. And you BETTER bring your A-game. The Mad Fox is on the hunt once again…'
AN: Sooo, what do you guys think about this one? Did you like the custom weapons for Naruto's crew? Don't worry, things will be heating up for the next couple of chapters because the Mad Fox is finally being unleashed! Also, what do you think of the introduction of Kira as Naruto's insane Demonic muse? Pairing is still undecided, and the tension between Cinder and Naruto is mounting. Note, that the pairing will probably not be Naruto x Cinder… unless you guys give me some good reasons as to why I should give her the victory over either Blake or Yang (who are my favorites for the pairing right now). Give me reasons for Cinder if you feel so inclined. Hell, give me reasons for ANY of the girls we've seen so far if you feel inclined to do so, I want some feedback! Until later! This is ZeroDivisionRaijin, signing off!