SevenKings is here to give an announcement. Monty Oum has died on February 1,2015. In order to honor this great man, I binge-watched his works including Dead Fantasy which you can find on the Youtube Channel,montyoum;RWBY and Red VS Blue Season Eight through Ten.

I also decided to create a fic called 'The Hunting Gunslinger' which will be a Borderlands X RWBY Crosssover since there's not that many on the site. As such, after one update on every fic I have. I will be placing them on hiatus for a few weeks to get the RWBY fic rolling. There will be a preview at the end of the Chapter if you wished to take a look.

Status of the Chapter: Unbeta'd (Now hiring)

A Thankyou to JonnyBoboTheFirst for a little tip for a little mistake that had a huge impact on character dynamics. Keep it up,my friend if you continue to read my story.

Chapter 4: The Forest

Namikaze House

Kushina sat in the living room of the house that she, Minato and their child were going to live in. It was nothing big nor special, just a two-story house with a yard. The place was mess with dust and cobwebs all over the place but she didn't care;not when the the piece of paper in her hands was the cause of the ache in her heart.

The picture was a crude drawing of Konoha complete with a smiling sun. It was something a child would make as they learn how to draw. Kushina took a closer look at in the middle as two people were drawn. One was a young boy with blonde hair and blue eyes, the other person was a woman judging by the long red hair, and an honest attempt of womanly curves.

Kushina was told by Sarutobi who had taken it in hopes of using a scent from it along with several other items; that Naruto had made it just a few days before her return and his kidnapping. Kushina knew that there was a chance that Naruto was dead but she wrote him off once before and look at what happen. She looked at the woman again, at first glance she thought it was her. Kushina guessed that Sarutobi told Naruto about her appearance but she knew better. Closer inspection showed that the woman had small red tufts near the head in the shape of feline or fox ears and nine red lines behind that which she thought as heat waves at first. The woman in the picture was the Kyubi, the one who had the maternal bond with her son.

She hated the biju, now more than ever. The creature had taken her spot as Naruto's mother but she hated herself more. While she was out getting drunk and gambling along with Tsunade, Kyuubi was doing her best to nuture Naruto, to comfort him when he was scared and no one was willing to help, to teach him when no else inculding her would. She was in his life while she had completly abandoned to his fate.

Kushina knew that the villagers of Konoha would never be kind to the Jinchuriki especially after the Kyuubi Incident, and the shinobi would only tolerate if only because of the potential to be a weapon of Mass Destruction. But did she care no, she was someplace else drinking and generally having a pity party for herself. Looking back, she wished things had been different,if only to stop the ache.

Next to Kushina on a table was a bottle of Sake, Kushina in a condition-response grabbed it and just before she took a drink, threw it at the wall. It was the drink that had dulled her maternal instincts when her anger and grief wore off so from that moment on, Kushina swore that she would never drink again. She would also wait for her child to return, no matter how long it took.

Danzo

The old warhawk was finishing some of the paperwork on his desk. The paperwork was one of the reasons why he had stop going for the Hokage Seat, if being in the shadows had so much paperwork that Danzo was forced to read since every paper had something to do with a threat or dirty secret to be used to defend the great Tree.

'I pity my old friend, truly the enemy of all authority is not each other but paperwork.' Danzo thought as he finally finished.

The door to his office entered and a pale man with a snake's eyes entered with some of his Root Agents. "You wanted to make a deal,Danzo?"

Danzo nodded,"What do you want in exchange?"

"The DNA of the First and Second Hokage."

Danzo raised an eyebrow, "That's it? No Sharingan to which I have plenty of?"

"Oh, no, you see I prefer them fresh. You can keep yours since if I can have Sasuke-Kun."

"Deal."

"Pleasure doing Business."

When he left, a guard who despite her training in Root, had to shiver at the malice and insanity the man had. "Danzo-Sama, is it really such a good idea to have Orochimaru of all people working with us?"

Danzo had to rubbed his forehead with his only hand,"Despite the man's lack of morals, he's the greatest scientist the Elemental Nations has to offer besides Hiroko. I know he's just waiting for a chance to destroy Konoha to the ground and pick the remaining leaves to use in his experiments."

He took a breath,"That's why I'm keeping him in my sight. He thinks we share the same goal of killing Sarutobi for different reasons. All I have to do is watch and wait for an opportune moment before taking him out." He smiled, "Never thought I'd be so grateful for my reputation as a warhawk right now."

The Empire:Still in the wagon.

Natala was a happy-go-lucky kid so when he was kidnapped, he didn't cry or scream like some of the others. He was also the kind of guy who enjoyed adventures so he treated this like one. It only got sweeter when this cute black eyed girl and another blondie dude like him had the guts to talk with him although he had to rely on the girl to translate and even then it was sketchy at best.

"Alright, Alright already, you can stop saying your name over and over." He whined as the now-named Storm kept saying it over and over and over again with rising tempo. It was funny the first few times but now it was annoying.

"Kare...do...teishi...namae." (He said stop name.) Kurome translated slowly sounding out each syallabe. Unlike her elder sister, Akame, Kurome only had less than than two years to study her parent's language before they died leaving Akame and her as orphans. It was a miracle that she could even translate at all.

"Gomen'nasai." The blond foreigner sheepishisly said. Natala didn't need a translator to see that Storm was actually sorry.

The wagon ride stopped abruptly launching the three into one another. The door opened and the adults stood in the doorway. The adults step into the wagon and removed each child one by one. Natala was the first to exit but before he did, he turned around and said with a cheeky smile, "End of the line, pray to whatever God you believed."

A child's voice cried out, "Shor,Mara,Dibella,Kynareth,Akatosh,Divines,please help me. I don't want to die!" and a "Shut up!" was the reply from the adults.

As the other two exited the wagon, the three of them stood together as if it was them against the world. In front of them was two men standing side-by-side on a podium for each, the one on the right was wearing armor without a helmet. He was blond with green eyes and in his hands was a katana with a red hilt and black sheathe. On the hilt was writing that Natala couldn't read. Natala could see that the man was staring into the sea of children almost as if he was calculating their worth.

The one on the left on the other hand was wearing a white cloak with the hood on shaped into a beak. Multiple pouches were seen around the waist and hip area. The other thing of notice was a white mask with black marking on it that appeared similar to fangs. A pair of bronze gauntlets were on his hands as he crossed them.

The white masked man used a hand and pushed his mask into place, "I'll keep things brief for you maggots. You are here to be trained as some of the best assassins and soldiers the Empire has to offer. However, I look into the sea of you maggots and all I see is wasted space and energy." Hearing this, some of the children began yelling and were going to stomp over to the masked man before some of the guard begin to aim their guns.

The man continued,"Go ahead, I don't mind weeding the weak out right now." He paused for a second to see if anyone was brave enough, with no one volunteering. "Now that we have that sorted out, let's begin. We the Empire, don't have the resources or strength to train all of you. So we're going to separate the weak and unfortunate from the strong and lucky ones. If you look to your left." The man pointed.

The children did as they were instructed including Storm who was relying on the physical cue from the man and following the crowd to do so. On the side was a huge forest with the trees and branches so thick that they couldn't see past the leaves."Your mission should you choose to accept and you will, is to cross the entirety of this forest in seven days. Failure to do so will bring rather 'undesirable' consequences." A roar in the forest had the children shivered with each of them making a promise to themselves to never to meet the beast that made that roar.

"Of course, we're aren't going to send you to your deaths without a way to defend yourself." The man pointed to the right this time. "Each of you get three minutes to collect two weapons. I suggest something you're familiar with."

After that mess sorted out, our three friends were sitting next to each other. Natala was equipped with a spear that was about twice his height and a shortsword. Kurome was equipped with a katana and a six shot revolver. Storm also had a shortsword but he also had a dagger that he hid in his belt.

"Naze?" (Why?) Kurome asked when she saw the weapons Storm had taken from the armory.

Storm tilted his head and Kurome would have elaborated if she hadn't heard her name being called by someone she knew very well. She turned around and a slightly older girl who looked similar to Kurome except with red eyes had ran over to Kurome, hugging her.

Natala looked at the new girl and slided up to her, "Well, hell..." he began before he was kicked in the groin by the new girl. Natala then fell to the floor lamenting what happened, "Why do they always go for the balls?"

Kurome managed to get out of the girl's grip and tried to help Natala, "Onee-Chan, don't hurt my friends."

The red-eyed girl's eyes widened as she help Natala up to his feet. "Sorry, I was afraid for my sister, please forgive me." The girl bowed her head.

Natala waved his hand, "Water under the bridge, name's Natala and the blondie over there is Storm." He pointed to Storm who was sitting there wondering what was going on. Kurome tugged the girl's skirt, "Onee-Chan, the guy speaks Kaa-Chan and Tou-San's language, you know the one that they wanted us to learn."

The girl smiled, she had tried to teach it to Kurome but Kurome couldn't seem to get it so it was nice to speak it again considering it used to be spoken by her and Kurome's parents. She went to him and and with a her hand outstrecthed, `Kon'nichiwa, watashinonamaeha akamedeari, sore wa anata o mitasu tame ni ureshīdesu." (Hello, my name is Akame. It's nice to meet you.)

Storm's eyes went wide when he finally understood someone clearly for the first time since he could remember. He grabbed Akame's hand and shook it furiously, as Storm opened his mouth, the man in the mask spoke loudly getting the attention of everyone. "We are finally done with the distruibtion of weapons. Now, if you're still alive, I asked that you to not tried to leave or injure any of the adults. Unfortunately, some of your peers tried to and they aren't among the living anymore."

The man stopped to let it sink into their heads that despite the weapons being given to them, they were under-skilled and under-powered in term of fighting capabilities against the seasoned men and women. The man pulled a pistol out from his holster and aimed into the air, "Remember, seven days and GO!" He then fired into the sky.

The team of four ran straight without thinking and it was good idea since some of the children were attacking their peers. They did it with the intention that if a majority of them died, the sooner the test would be over. The man in the mask walked over to the armored one who cheekily smiled, "So,how was it?"

The masked man merely stood still before pushing his wrist outwards near the man's groin, showing a hidden blade was in one of the gaintlets. The armored man had drew his katana halfway with the blade dangerously close to the man's chest. A few moments passed before the masked one withdrew his weapon, "Next time, don't leave the speech to me." He said before turning.

In the Forest

Natala, Akame and Kurome had to stop when their stamina was reaching the limit. As they stop to rest, Kurome looked around to get a head count,"Hey, where's Storm?" Both Natala and Akame looked around to see that Storm whad disappeared due to the chaos of the starting line.

"We have to look for him." Natala stated with Kurome backing him.

"No," The two buddies were shocked at the decision Akame made,"While I would like to look for him, we have to watch over those that we can meaning ourselves first."

Kurome slapped her sister in the face,"How can you be so mean,Onee-Chan?"

"I'm trying to look out for you!" Akame yelled. A moment of silence had passed before Akame spoke again, this time with her voice low and her head down, "You're the only family I have left."

Natala closed his eyes and steeled his heart, "You're right." Much to the surprise of the two girls, "We can't be chasing down phantoms in this huge area. Besides, if Storm can surive a storm then I'm sure we'll meet him in the end."

Kurome, outnumbered, argree to go with the plan made with her sister and friend. As they ready themselves for another run, Kurome couldn't help but wished luck on her other blonde friend.

Another part of the Forest

Storm was looking around trying to find his lost friends. He was hoping that his friends were safe and that they woud meet each other soon. As he was searching, he could hear growling from all around him. Looking around he could see green-coloured four-legged beast with yellow eyes and a mouth full of sharp teeth.

Storm looked around hoping to find a way out of the mess. Seeing that the beasts had cut off all paths, he drew the shortsword and dagger he had on him. The rapid breathing and the sweat seemed to set off the beasts as the largest ran towards him.

'Is this how I'm going to die. I didn't get a chance to speak to with Akame yet.' Storm thought to himself. 'I... want to live. I WANT TO LIVE!'

After the thought had passed, his world went dark.

The edge of the Forest

"You feel that?"

"Of course, Gozuki. You have to be sensory-deprived to not feel it."

At the edge of the forest, both men were watching and waiting for when the new-bloods come out when a powerful intent had appeared, knocking out most of the guards and the rest had to fall to their knees breathing hard. The only ones not affected were the armored and the white cloaked man. Right now, each were arguing on who was going to take the person.

"I'm taking that person into my squad, Desmond and that's final." The armored man stated as he gripped his sword's hilt in case of a sudden attack.

"You're delusional, Gozuki. I'll be the one to teach him or her." Desmond retorted as his wrists were aching to bring the hidden blades out to and stab the egoistical bastard.

"We still have about six more days so how about we decided who gets him the old-fashioned way." Gozuki offered.

"Sounds fine to me."

Six Days Later

The next six days were fairly easy for the 'assassins-in-training' since most of the animals didn't want to leave their homes until they were sure the apex predator had left their forest. Natala, Kurome, and Akame were among those who survived and were waiting for their missing friend. Gozuki and Desmond were standing side-by-side while watching the time from the pocket watch that Desmond kept with him.

"In five four three..." Desmond counted down before a rustling in the forest was heard and an another child had left the forest alive. Kurome and Akame were sighing in relief while Natala had a wide grin on his face. "Told you he'll make it." Natala bragged.

Desmond walked up and grabbed Storm's shoulder which caused the blonde to blink and looked around. When Storm saw his friend, he tried to run towards them but couldn't since Desmond had a tight grip on Storm. "Nuh uh, you're coming with me. I'm heading out first with my apprentice, Gozuki."

Storm had a frantic look on his face as he tried to escape the iron grip. With no way out, he looked towards his friends and wanted to say something but something hit the back of his neck knocking him unconscious.

Done, truth be told. This was very difficult to write since I don't know how things play out. I also had to do a little tampering with character history,personality and reasoning. Trying to make sure everyone stays in character and all that. It's difficult and I have to give props to actual authors and fanfic authors who can write a full series.

And now for the preview

'Your mission is to take General Najenda and her assissent Lubbock.'

"I can offer you a way out of here."

'Never did get a chance to say,"I love you."'

"KUROME!"

"You'e not the only with a Teigu."

And finally the preview of 'The Hunting Gunslinger.'

In a torture room, Nisha the sheriff of Lynchwood was working out some stress by punching a man who had his eyes closed with rubber gloves due to the low watt electricity that flowed from his cuffs at all hours.

"You know you can't hurt me like that." The man chuckled slightly, his body was numb from the constant shock they added when some idiot decided to graft Stalker DNA into him among other more 'Frankenstein' experiments.

"I know but it still fun for me since you killed me a few months ago." Nisha smiled. The two of them once had a duel against one another on the Main Street of Lynchwood before ultimately losing to the man. It irked her that anyone was better at drawing their pistol than her.

The room shook slightly and Nisha looked around before returning onto the imprisoned man,"Looks like your Vault Hunter buddies are here,better go greet them. Don't worry through,soon you'll see each other." With that Nisha left the room.

The camera zoomed into the man's face showing his face contained burned tissue scars and multiple bruises on his face. The man opened his eyes showing the camera that his left eye was brown while the other was cybernetic since it was a glowing shade of blue.

The man smiled,"You ready?"

A female voice answered back,"Execute Phase Shift."

Good Bye Good Night Good Luck