"Furthermore, the Vacuo Campaign left several thousands…" Oobleck shot out rapidly, unaware that several of his students were having trouble following along. Naruto was doing his best, but this 'Great War' stuff was just sounding a lot like what he had been taught back in the Ninja Academy, about ninja villages fighting massive wars against each other throughout their history. "Indeed, the real reason is thought to be dangerous weather patterns, as well as…"
It had only been a day since initiation. Everyone had been given dorms, lockers, and uniforms, and they were expected to settle in quite easily. Of course, Ruby had been excited to be sharing a room with Yang and Naruto, while Yang had quite fiercely defended the bed closest to the corner as her own. Blake had just sat down on a bed and started reading, while Naruto had lain back and tried to sleep.
Which led them to their class the next morning, in Oobleck's class. He was going over the founding of Beacon Academy, which for some reason required the retelling of the 'Great War'.
Naruto felt a nudge in his side, and he glanced over to see Ruby doing the nudging. She whispered, "Do you think the King actually did that?" Naruto frowned at her. Damn. He'd been too busy thinking about Konoha to hear what Oobleck had said.
"Um…" Naruto whispered back. "Yes, probably." In a blink, Professor Oobleck was in front of him. Naruto jumped in his seat.
"Do you have something to add, Mr. Uzumaki?" he asked.
"No, no Professor!" Naruto blurted out.
Oobleck scowled, "It's Doctor." He returned his attention to the class, and Naruto let out a breath of relief. "Now, as I was saying, this led to the King…" Naruto glanced at Ruby with narrowed eyes, only for her to act innocent, mock whistling while looking away from him.
Eventually, after what felt like hours, Oobleck's class finally ended. Naruto drudged out the classroom behind his team, hunched over with his arms hanging. "I've never been so stressed by a professor in my life," Naruto groaned.
"Sorry about that, Naruto," Ruby apologized sheepishly. "I didn't mean for him to catch you. Still, that king was like the first huntsman, huh?" She continued, wonder in her voice. "I wonder if it really was just violent weather?"
Yang shrugged, bored. "Probably, lil' sis. Something like 'Ooh, look at that king fighting in the storm! He must be causing it!' Or something like that," she joked. "So anyway, Ruby, what do we have next on our list?"
Ruby pulled out the school-issued scroll they'd all been given the previous night, "It looks like… Oh, we actually don't have a class for a few hours. So, I guess we have some free time to do whatever we want. Hey, guys, what is there to do here for fun?" She turned to her team to ask them. Blake wasn't paying attention, while Yang and Naruto just shrugged. "Well then, there's only one answer!"
"And what is that?" Naruto asked.
Ruby gave a sly grin, "I'm glad you asked, my dear teammate. Ultimate Ninja Death Battle Two!" Naruto perked up briefly at the mention of ninja, then frowned at the weird and over-the-top name.
"I- What?" he asked. Blake had raised a brow at Ruby's suggestion, as well. "Ultimate Ninja… Death Battle?"
"Two!" Ruby repeated. "It's a video game that I can totally beat anyone at, like Yang, for example." Yang glared sideways at her sister.
"You wish, little scamp. How many times have you beaten me again? Go ahead, count them out. Then I'll list the times I've beaten you," Yang challenged.
"Hmph!" Ruby crossed her arms. "You're just jealous of my incredible ability."
Yang rolled her eyes and chuckled, "So, anyway, you guys wanna go and watch me beat Ruby a bunch?"
Blake shook her head, "I wanted to talk to Naruto, actually. What's our next class, and when do we have to be there?" Everyone stared at her for several seconds.
Ruby checked her scroll again, "Looks like…. It's Grimm Studies, and it's at noon. Why, though? How come you wanna talk to Naruto?"
Blake waved her off, "I just wanted to talk to him about some stuff from initiation. Nothing big." She turned to Naruto, "That's not a problem, right?"
Naruto scratched his head, "I guess not, but is it that private?" Blake answered by grabbing his arm and pulling him down a side corridor. "See you guys later," he called to Ruby and Yang.
"We'll see you at Grimm Studies," Blake echoed him. Yang and Ruby both gave confused waves of goodbye.
Blake dragged Naruto along for a minute or two, until they finally stopped in an empty hallway. She turned to him and asked, "Do you remember how you told me yesterday that you could teach me to use that chakra?"
Naruto paused. Seemed like the possibly and probably impossible promise he made was already catching up to him. Oh well, he had said he would train her. He just hoped that if she didn't have it, she was able to take that news well. "Yeah, I remember," he answered.
"So, there are training rooms on the campus somewhere. I think we'll probably get to see them later today, if we have combat class. I was wondering if maybe, this weekend, we could use one of the training rooms to teach me?" she asked, sounding almost hesitant.
Naruto nodded, "Yeah, we could do that, I guess. But why not just do it outside?"
Blake glanced sideways, "I, um… Well, I just think it would be better this way, don't you?"
Naruto thought for a moment. He learned to manipulate his chakra outside, in the academy courtyard. Same with the Shadow Clone Jutsu and the tree climbing stuff, too. To him, training was just an outside thing. Especially when that training could get as destructive as his Rasenshuriken training had been. But, as long as it was just simple stuff, it would be fine, right?
But of course, there was a secrecy Blake was going about all this with. She didn't seem to want to talk about this around Ruby or Yang, and something told him that she wanted to do it inside to be away from prying eyes and ears. But why would she care? Was he just being paranoid?
"Yeah, I guess it would be okay to do it inside. We should invite Ruby and Yang, too. That way we can all train together, you know?" Naruto probed. If she really was trying to keep it a secret for some weird reason, this would give it away.
Right on the money. Blake didn't just glance away, she completely faltered for a second when he asked. Only a second, though, to her credit. "Are you sure? It would probably bore them. They both seem less like training types and more like learning-in-combat types."
Naruto shrugged, "I guess. Alright, so, this Saturday?" Blake nodded. Naruto decided that, until he knew why it was the case, he wouldn't try to probe into this secrecy game of hers. For all he knew, it was a really important reason. He didn't want to diminish it just to get an answer out of her. Not to mention, it wasn't as though they were lifelong friends. They met yesterday; she probably wouldn't want to spill her life story to him so easily.
Whatever the case would have been, at his agreement, Blake smiled just a bit, happily saying, "Thanks, Naruto. I'm looking forward to learning."
Good lord, Naruto had never been so bored in his life. He thought he was prepared for the worst Port had to offer. He was wrong…. He was very wrong.
Fifty minutes. Fifty whole minutes. For Port to talk about his weapon's name, and how it perfectly reflected him as a huntsman, with his bravery, his valor, his tenacity, and his might. And Naruto STILL didn't know the actual name of the weapon, after all of that.
Needless to say, the two hours class covered very little involving actual Grimm. Until, however, Port decided to give a demonstration. "Now, who among you believes you exemplify these traits?" he asked, finishing a short speech about the essence of a true huntsman. Most students just glanced around nervously at their friends, but a few, more interested students paid closer attention to Port and the cage on the classroom floor. Seemed like whoever answered would get to fight.
'I do, Professor!" called Naruto, raising his hand. Since no one else was going to, he figured he could get some practice in. Plus, after almost a full two hours of being sat down, he wanted to stretch out.
"Ho-ho! Naruto, this is a surprise! Come down and prepare yourself!" Port exclaimed, making his way to the cage and waiting. Naruto came down the few rows of seats, and waited opposite from Port and the cage. "Are you ready? Where is your weapon?" Port asked.
Naruto pulled out a kunai, "This is all I've got." There was a chuckle around the room as Naruto answered, along the lines of 'what a pitiful, little knife.' Port himself looked aghast.
"Mr. Uzumaki, surely you must possess a more formidable weapon than that!" Port cried. There was an undertone to his voice that said 'By now.'
Naruto grinned, "Don't worry. Just let them at me."
Port frowned, but raised his axe, "Begin!" He brought the blade down on the lock on the cage, and a boar-like Grimm burst out. This must be one of those Boarbatusk things that Naruto had seen on the boards in this room. Whatever it was called, it wasted no time charging him down. He braced himself, and when it hit him, he rolled over top of it, plunging his knife between armor plates as he did.
Of course, to everyone else, it just looked like he was hit by the Grimm, and there was a collective gasp and a few chuckles around the room. Naruto landed on his feet, whipping around to face the Boarbatusk as it turned. It clearly wasn't bothered by the knife in its back, but perhaps it would make it more difficult for it to maneuver? Whatever it would do, it was pretty clear that this thing was as weak and as tough as its brethren. Slow-moving, too. Oh, well. Naruto had hoped for a little practice, but it looked like he wouldn't be getting it here. Probably best to just kill it and be done.
He pulled out another kunai. He could have waited for the Boarbatusk to charge him again, but he wasn't going to give it the chance. He hurled the kunai across the room in an attempt to stun the Grimm, before charging forward himself. The kunai struck the armor on its head with a loud pang, bouncing off and away. As Naruto drew closer, he caught it in the air and plunged it down through the Grimm's throat.
The Boarbatusk staggered several steps, as if trying to walk off the mortal wound. However, in the end, it began to fall over, dissolving before it even hit the ground. Port roared, "Well done! If I may, however. I noticed you make a few key mistakes, my boy. For example, if your weapon had been coated in Dust, I find it likely that your very first strike would have slain the beast. But there is an important lesson there!" He turned to the class. "Never be content with your current level of skill! Always look to improve yourself. Why, even I still constantly find new ways to fight that I never even considered!"
Naruto scratched his head out of habit, wondering what exactly that Dust stuff was. Oobleck had said it was a weapon used to fight Grimm, back before the school year started. Port had said something similar, in much less detail. However, Naruto hadn't been given any to use himself. From what he had been told, he could buy it in Vale, but he didn't exactly have any money to use. Not to mention, the way Dust was referenced made it sound less like a weapon and more like elemental chakra. And if it was more like elemental chakra, why could he just use his chakra?
Granted, it had been a while, but Asuma had taught him how to manipulate his chakra to coat a weapon. His kunai were a little too frail for the technique, though, as he had discovered back when he was first learning. One stab with them, and the blade would typically rip itself in half. And given that he had no money to get new kunai in this world, he figured he needed to be conservative with the kunai he had. Speaking of which…
As the bell rang and class ended, Naruto went to pick his two kunai up off the classroom floor, only to be blocked by his team. Ruby congratulated him, "That was cool, Naruto, how you grabbed the knife out of the air like that!"
Naruto rubbed his head, "Ah, it was nothing. Just an idea I had on the fly. I didn't even this it was gonna work, since I've stabbed Grimm in the neck before."
"It wouldn't have normally," Blake said. "But a Boarbatusk's neck is one of its few weak points. The one most people attack is the underside."
"It didn't have armor underneath?" Naruto asked. "I wish I knew that. It would have been so much easier to get it that way."
"Yeah, but you got it good with that attack. If it ain't broke, don't fix it," Yang added.
"Team RUBY," Port interrupted, "I have a class coming in soon. If you could please clear out now. It was a very good fight, but you may continue talking about it outside the classroom."
Team RUBY apologized, let Naruto pick up his kunai, and left. Not a few seconds after they were out, Ruby stopped Naruto, "Naruto. You need a real weapon."
Naruto cocked his head at her, confused. "But I already have my kunai and shuriken."
Ruby waved him off, "Yeah, and while the whole ninja loadout thing is really cool and everything, you can't fight Grimm with tiny little weapons like that all the time." Yang and Blake watched in silence, Yang stifling a giggle.
"But I haven't ever had any issues with these," Naruto defended.
"It doesn't matter! Weapons are like a part of you! You, Naruto, need one!" Ruby demanded. Her tone got a little more eager, "If you want, I could help you with it."
Naruto sighed, looking to his other teammates for support. Blake seemed to find the ceiling very interesting all of a sudden, while Yang was trying to keep her laughter held in. She managed to explain, "Ruby's a little bit crazy for weapons. She probably just wants an excuse to make one."
"Hey, that's not true!" Ruby shot. She whispered to herself, "Entirely." Yang raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Whatever! Naruto, lemme help you make a weapon!"
Naruto sighed and shook his head, "Alright, I guess. But just don't go too nuts?"
"Well, duh," Ruby said. "You'll be helping anyway, right? Maybe we could go ahead and work on it this weekend or something?"
Naruto glanced at Blake, who just shrugged. Plenty of time on a weekend, after all. "Sure, why not?" Naruto agreed.
"In our archives, there was no mention of any such thing as a ninja village or a Land of Fire," Oobleck explained. He was stood in front of Ozpin's desk, while the headmaster himself studied the dark, nighttime grounds of Beacon below. "Based on that alone, I believe that his theory of his world being different to our own is correct."
"But?" Ozpin asked.
"But I also believe that perhaps it may be the case that our archives are incomplete."
"That seems far-fetched, Oobleck." Ozpin turned around to face his subordinate. "Even I've never heard the name before, and I traveled all over the place as a young man."
Oobleck nodded, "Even still, there may be some place that you simply missed, somewhere small and secret."
Ozpin shook his head, "The boy made it sound as though his village and the others around it were very large and very powerful. I doubt that those could be kept a secret. Not to mention, he shows an unbelievable level of precision and skill. While his intelligence might be lacking, based on his lack of Dust use, he makes up for it with power and speed. Wherever he is from, they are capable of training warriors to be that strong at an age younger than any of our students."
"Indeed, Professor Port was singing his praises highly earlier," Oobleck agreed.
"Exactly. That boy is as talented as a professional huntsman, perhaps even more than most." Ozpin sat down, gesturing for Oobleck to do that same. The Doctor complied. "Imagine what we might learn from him, or even better, his home. On that note, did you uncover anything about Nature Energy?"
Oobleck shook his head, "No, I'm afraid not. I assume that the boy mentioned it? Something his people use?"
Ozpin nodded, but said nothing.
"Very well. I shall continue my search through our archives, but I do not expect to find anything new, headmaster."
Ozpin sighed, "That's fine. Even just a hint of the name is fine. If it's really a different world, then we'll need to get Ironwood involved. We'll need Atlas's technology. I'd rather avoid that, if at all possible."
Oobleck nodded, and got up to leave. As the elevator closed behind him, Ozpin pulled up a video on his scroll once again. He watched through one more time. The video playing was a close up of Naruto's face, on Beacon Cliff. Orange markings appeared around the boy's closed eyes, just before the platform he was on sent him flying into the woods.
Naruto was something new, that was all Ozpin could be sure of. Something new that might finally tip the scales in Remnant's favor.
So, that's another one down, one step closer to getting to fun parts! Not that I don't enjoy writing all of these, of course.
Now, before I get to reviews, a quick note: Just because a character thinks something or says something, it doesn't make that an absolute fact. It just makes it the character's thoughts or assumption. And assumptions can be wrong.
Moving on:
OreosAreYummy: While yes, it is fanfiction, you should never arbitrarily decide to give a character a new talent just because. The only change I'm trying to abide by is that Naruto was somehow moved to Remnant. As for your second part, it's a very good idea, but there's a problem with it. Ozpin has the relic locked in a vault that can only be opened by Raven, who has gone rogue. And unless Ozpin demonstrates the ability to open the vaults himself, I'm going to assume only the Maidens can.
prism123: Thanks. I look forward to getting to Naruto and Blake training. As for Jaune, I'm not sure what may have happened to him. See, my reasoning for Weiss being with Pyrrha is that, despite Pyrrha not having met Jaune in this version, due to different circumstances around the arrival of new students, I believe that Pyrrha would still have saved Jaune if she saw him flailing midair. However, if you recall, Weiss was nearby to where Jaune ended up. Pyrrha likely would have wanted to reclaim her weapon. The logic, as follows, is that without being distracted by Ruby, Weiss would have more slowly made her way to where Pyrrha's weapon hit, trying to force herself to be on the same team as Pyrrha, someone she thought to be the best in their class.
Sorry for the rant, but it's a bit of explanation I need for a later review anyway. Now, continuing. Pyrrha retrieves her weapon, and the new partners head out, leaving Jaune alone in the woods. But what would have happened to him? I have to assume that he was either eaten by Grimm, or removed from the exam along with everyone else who had to have failed. There are 3 kinds of chess pieces, not counting King and Queen, which I believe aren't used in the initation, with two colors of piece. Anyway, that means that only 6 teams are available, meaning only 24 students could pass.
This response still isn't done either, good lord. As for Ozpin, while he isn't a bad guy, he does seem to be manipulative in the way of trying to achieve his goal. If you've seen Volume 6, you may recall his reaction to everyone being about to learn the truth of Salem.
Finally done.
SlyFox9: Agreed, interactions were lacking. You weren't even the only person to say that it seemed rushed. And I agree, I think that more time needs to be spent on individual ideas. I hope I've improved that in this chapter, and I will hopefully continue to do so. As for giant Grimm fights, unfortunately there just isn't any tension to be had from that. Naruto's skills are too extreme for Grimm to give much of a challenge. And I don't want to just nerf him into the ground for no reason.
TheSilentFan: I responded to your PM with another PM.
Fuyuriku: There are definitely things that could use more detail, I agree. As for specific, reviews… Well, sorry. But, you could just not read them. And thanks for the corrections.
Ignisha:
SPOILERS
What did you think of the season finale? There were a few things I think could have been improved, such as adding a scene of silence before seeing everyone cheering, but overall I thought it was really good.
SPOILERS END
Please, see my overly long response above to find out what happened to Jaune.
TampaBayMike65: We'll have to see how the characters interact as the story goes on. No pairing is entirely impossible, but no pairing will happen without a good reason.
Archleone: Good god, this is gonna take a while. Oh well. First off, thanks for the review. Now then
See, about the assumptions everything is the same, imagine if someone came to you one day and told you that they saw with their Gertalshtark, which is a word I made up just now. You'd just assume they meant what you see with, eyes. The idea is that both are assuming that there couldn't be any other sort of mystical power, and/or that everyone would have to have what they know as life energy(In Naruto's case, with chakra)
I have to agree with you on the pairing front, especially your points about Naruto's romance life. Blake makes the most sense to me at the moment, with Ruby being a very close second. If you really want, I'll explain my ridiculous reasoning for this next time.
Yeah, even Jiraiya and Kakashi kept secrets from him, even up to keeping the key to the Nine Tails seal from him, something his father intended for him to be given. And personally, I think it would be boring to focus too much on Naruto's improvement in combat on Remnant. He can already dance with the best of them, there's not much he needs to change. Thinking about it now, it may have been more interesting to focus on how awkward Naruto would have to be at normal interaction with people. Not exactly something for a fanfiction, though. At least, if someone did do it, they'd have to be way better than I am to pull it off.
Your next paragraph I'm going to skip, as it gets into spoiler territory.
I think I said as much last time, but I basically am just going for the idea that people around Naruto are forcing a weapon on him, rather than it being something he wants himself.
Brawler Naruto isn't something he has actually been since the original Naruto series. Frog Kata is an actual refined fighting style that he learns, even if it's only used in Sage Mode. As such, I think his fighting style should be more poised than just punching wildly. I still haven't even decided on a specific kind of weapon for him, either. And yeah, it was always gonna be Ruby who made him get one. And probably who made him one.
In reference to your comment on Wind-Chakra-coated kunai, I'm inclined to agree. I read a fic one time that had him fully cut down a tree with one kunai coated in Wind Chakra. And, as I recall, part of how Asuma demonstrated wind chakra to him was by throwing a kunai at a tree, and it definitely didn't cut it down. It just made it pierce deeper. Wind Chakra seems to improve cutting power. In addition, Asuma makes it a point to mention that his knives were made from a special metal used to channel chakra. So, I've taken that a step further in that normal kunai and shuriken are probably pretty frail, being mass-produced and all.
As far as I remember, the only pushy person when it came to Semblances was Blake. Ruby asked offhandedly, but that was it. As for Blake, I'm not sure if it's ever made clear that characters name their Semblances, but I assume they do. And if you hear someone shout out your Semblance's name, you'd probably wonder about that.
It would be weird for everyone to automatically assume that someone is using a power that isn't something they're familiar with, like Dust, Aura, or a Semblance. Ozpin and Port both watched Naruto closely during his fights, enough to see that no Dust was used. Ozpin out of curiosity, and Port because he was teaching a class in which you can apparently bring in live Grimm.
It would probably be interesting to read a story with the perspective on the Schnee family.
Thank you for the review, once again.
aaronduque: As I've said, we'll have to see how the interactions between characters play out.
Rio Skyron: Not to worry. But indeed, after thinking it over, I don't think he will appear. See, originally, the idea behind him was that he was Orochimaru, but he lost his mind after living for so long. Eventually, changing bodies just became second nature to him, and he ended up doing it every few dozen years in order to keep living. And yeah, but what else am I supposed to name them? RNBY? RBNY? RYBN? That last one could actually work. You know, pronounce it like Robin? Or Ribbon? And of course, I have no idea what to call the new Team JNPR. Ideas? I'm probably gonna have Pyrrha be the leader.
Guardian of the Inheritance: Thanks.
SlyUzumakiVii: I enjoy Neo, too. Probably one of my favorite characters, although I don't like that she survived. She fell thousands of feet. Is she Mary Poppins? I guess so.
Guest: I never explicitly said they had Chakra.
uchihaNaruto247: Thanks.
JAYSEN: Thanks.
Wana1: Thanks.
Unwanted Empathy: Yeah, that's probably the best idea. As I've said, whatever pairing happens, it has to happen organically. It can't just exist on the whim of the writer, it has to make sense.
Guest: There is, of course, a question: Why would they have chakra?
avidreaded: There's honestly only one, very specific way that everyone could get chakra on Remnant, and it's not even within grasp yet. If you can guess what it is correctly (You can guess once per chapter), I'll confirm that it's my idea that might, but might not, happen.
Guest: Thanks!
Angry Guest: See above.
And that is it. Some very long reviews this time around, which is great.
Now, no one asked, but I may as well explain. The reason I'm so dedicated to following a logical progression, besides it just making sense, is that the way I improved my writing over the last year and a half is by writing a D&D campaign for my friends. And in that, things always have to proceed logically, I can't just shoehorn something in because I want to. I use the tools I have given myself already to write well, rather than changing things to suit my wants.
Again, no one asked, but I just wanted to explain. Bye now, see y'all next time!
