NITL

Volume One

Arc One: Beginning of a New Story

Chapter Four: The Master of Oz


Silence.

That's all there was.

Silence.

Naruto blinked as he looked around the dark room that he was in. Behind him was a barred window and in front of him was a steel door and a steel table. Above him was a single lamp that shined its light on him and his companion.

Oh, that reminds him. After being sent to the room, he was soon joined by a fellow teenager, this one a girl, and far shorter than him, being 157 cm tall. She had short black hair that ended with red highlights. Her eyes were silver, and she was pale skinned. She wore a black blouse and corset with red lacing. Her bottom half was covered in a black skirt with red trimmings that was held up by a belt with some sort of rose symbol and what appeared to be leggings (or maybe stockings or pantyhose, Naruto wasn't entirely sure). Her feet were covered by a knee-high black boots with red lacing. Hanging from her shoulders was an awesome red hooded cloak held up by two crosses.

To be perfectly honest, the girl looked completely adorable in his opinion, especially when she was fidgeting and looking around in anxiety. She would take small peaks at him before suddenly turning her attention elsewhere.

A few minutes have passed by before the two turned to each other.

"So-…"

They paused, having started at the same time.

"I-…"

Once more, they stopped.

"Hey, uh-…"

"Well…"

"Meep…"

"How's it-…"

The interruptions soon ended as the two began giggling and laughing. The tension now broken, Naruto introduces himself, "Naruto."

"Ruby," The girl answers, smiling at him.

A soothing quiet soon followed as the two looked around.

"So… what're you here for?" Ruby asked.

"Got sent here after fighting a couple of White Fangs who tried to raid a coffee shop before this old man came and stopped them."

"Oooh, that's pretty cool!" The redhead quipped. "Any idea who the 'old man' was?"

The blonde shrugged, "Heck if I know. Any guy who's older than me by a couple years is 'old' to me." Ruby giggled at that, agreeing with the odd logic. Smiling, Naruto asked, "So how 'bout you?"

This time, Ruby grumbled as she crossed her arms and pouted, "Got caught while trying to stop a Dust Shop robbery…"

Naruto blinked. "… and… they arrested you for that?"

"I know, right!? Why would she arrest me!? I was only trying to help! And the shop keeper even said I can! It's not fair! I mean, sure I got to meet a super awesome Hunter, but that's beside the point!" Ruby ranted, "I only came to restock on some ammo, and maybe switch off some illegal parts of my weapons with legal ones, but suddenly some robbers busted in and tried to rob me! Of course, with Crescent Rose, I beat them up, but then this weird orange head with a fedora and a cane came out of nowhere and- mur mur mur, murerar, mumuhuh…"

Naruto had to admit, even with her mouth being covered by a hand, the fact that Ruby still managed to talk as if everything was normal was pretty awesome. That took some skills.

At that moment, the door opened.

Quickly separating his hand from Ruby's mouth, the blonde straightened up his seat. Pouting at not being able to finish her story, Ruby simply nudged her chair to the right, trying to leave enough room for both her and Naruto to move around in case the one opening the door was some sort of green ninja monster who came to attack them.

She quickly became disappointed that it was only the Hunter lady who arrived to help with the robbery earlier that night. Already recognizing her to be Glynda Goodwitch, one of the professors of Beacon Academy, Ruby immediately put up her best innocent face.

"What is she doing…" was the expression that ran across not only Naruto, but also Glynda's, heads.

"Now then," Glynda suddenly began, "Before we begin, I would like you both to greatly reflect on what just happened a few hours ago." Pacing the room while viewing her Scroll, the woman continued, "You placed, not only yourself, but many others in great danger."

The look of innocence soon turned to one of shame, as Ruby slowly faced downwards. Naruto raised a brow, not understanding the situation very well.

"But but but, they started it-!" Ruby started before she was interrupted.

"Even if that were to be true, it still does not explain your complete disregard to the consequences of your actions!" Glynda scolded back, forcing Ruby to flinch under her authorized voice. The woman then turned to her fellow blonde. "And you… fighting the White Fang without any back up is far more disregarding. You could have been killed! You could have others killed!"

Backing up to take a breather, Glynda continued, "If it were up to me, I would have you both sent home."

Ruby had a look of horror of a second.

"With… a pat on the back."

The look changed to one of relief.

"And with a slap on the wrist!" Glynda ended with her riding crop hitting the table, nearly hitting Ruby's own wrist. The younger girl squeaked, quickly moving her hands away from the table.

Naruto snickered at the act before clamming up as Glynda glared at him. The woman sighed.

"Well, while I would love to do just that, there is someone here who wants to see you," She sighs again, moving to the side to allow the steel door behind her to open.

Naruto raised a brow at the same man who helped him earlier today, viewing the old man the same way as he did when he first saw him. With skepticism and suspicion. However, the small squeal that came from Ruby as her breath suddenly hitched told him that the man was actually someone with great importance.

The man walked in, holding the same coffee mug from the coffee shop as well as a plate of cookies on his right hand. Naruto slightly inched away from Ruby when he heard the sound of a hungry man – err, woman – drooling for food after a week or so of starvation.

"Ruby Rose…" The man began, taking a glance at the girl in question. The man then suddenly leaned forward, breaching their personal bubbles. Looking at Ruby, he comments, "You have silver eyes…"

Despite her gaze on the cookies, Ruby held more common sense by uncomfortably moving back. "Umm, uhh…"

Smiling, the man stands straight. Looking ta Naruto, he nods, "Naruto. Quite odd to find yourself without a surname, is it not?"

Naruto shrugs, "Never really was a problem back home, so why make it one?"

"Quite," Ozpin agreed.

"So!" Startled at the sudden change, Ruby and Naruto both jumped slightly. Laying down the plate of cookies while gesturing to the Scroll in his coworker's hands, the man continues, "Where did you two learn to do this?"

Ruby blinks, gazing at the Scroll to see her doing those awesome scythe moves and martial art kung fu combat. Smiling awkwardly, she answers, "S-Signal Academy…?"

"My village taught me," Naruto answered bluntly.

"Is that right?" The man wondered, the Scroll now showing Naruto performing sword strikes at random White Fang members. Smiling at the quip "yep" from Naruto, he continues, "And your Academy allows you to wield what might possibly be the most dangerous weapon ever designed? A scythe?"

"Well, one teacher in particular," Ruby mumbles, busy taking a bite out of the cookie in her hand. It was then that Naruto noticed that all the cookies have already been eaten. He frowns at the empty plate, then at Ruby who notices his frown. He wanted some cookies too!

"I see…" The man pauses, taking the time to sip his coffee mug. "It's just that I've only seen that level of scythe wielding by only one other person…" The man smirks, "A dusty old crow…"

"Oh, y'mean Old Man Qrow? / That's my uncle, Uncle Qrow!" The two asked and shouted at the same time.

The two blinked, looking at each other.

"How do you know-…?"

They blinked again.

"Well…"

"You see…"

"He's…"

The two stopped only to start laugh again, remembering a similar incident before their interrogation. The man smiles while Glynda rolls her eyes.

"Now that tensions are down," The man began, "Do you both know who I am?"

"Nope," Naruto immediately answered. Glynda and Ruby both stared at Naruto as if he grew another head while the man simply looked at him in understanding.

"How do you not know him!?" Ruby asked, gesturing to the man, "He's Professor Ozpin, 'The Great and Powerful'! One of the six strongest Hunters in all of Remnant! And he's also the Headmaster of Beacon!"

"… Of Bacon?"

"No, of Beacon."

"Beckon?"

"No! Beacon! As in Beacon Academy! One of the best Hunter Schools in Remnant!" Ruby yelled.

"Well, I wouldn't call my school the best, but thank you for the compliment, Miss Rose," The now named Ozpin thanked the girl.

She gasped before flushing a bit, embarrassed that she screamed like that in front of the Headmaster. "S-sorry…"

"Not to worry," Ozpin smiled, "However, I do like to know why two teenagers have dedicated themselves to learn how to fight."

"That's simple," Naruto answers, "I wanna protect people!"

Ruby smiles this time and with upmost confidence states, "I want to be a Hunter."

"You want to slay monsters?" Ozpin reworded.

"I guess-…" Naruto began before-

"Yeah! See, I only have two more years to study at Signal – oh, that's my Pre-Hunter School, by the way – and then I'm going to apply for Beacon! My sister's starting this year, and she's trying to become a Hunter too! And I want to become a Hunter because, well, I wanna help people! And my parents always taught me and sis to help other people, and, well, I thought, hey! Might as well make that as a career! I mean, there's always police, or even detectives – they're pretty cool, eheh – but being a Hunter and slaying monsters are just way more dramatic and exciting and cool and really, ooooh my gosh, it's just soooo ahahahaha, y'know!?"

And with her answer given, Ruby stopped to take deep breaths while simultaneously calming down.

Again, Naruto had to admit, even though the girl spent nearly 3 minutes explaining her whole reasoning, the fact that she was able to do so in one breath – while speeding up towards the end – was pretty awesome. That took some skills.

Well, either that or she was just being really, really, really ecstatic.

Ozpin chuckles. "You want to attend my school?"

"More than anything," Ruby answers.

Ozpin looks back at Glynda who merely scoffs and looks away. Looking back at Ruby, he smiles again, "Well okay."

Ruby gave a wide smile while Naruto looked between her and Ozpin. He blinked, "Wait, so does that mean I have to go too?"


A/N:

Merry Christmas Everybody!

And so we finally get to see the beginning of RWBY-canon! Some funny talking in sync, interrogations, cookies were eaten, and the introduction of Glynda and Ruby! I wonder what the next chapter's gonna be about!?