May525- well tbf, he is Madara Uchiha. Even Konoha's creation and the war between Senju and Uchiha ended, people were scared off by Madara's blank stare alone, which Hashirama seemed to laugh at. I don't remember the filler ep, but it was shortly after the formation of Konoha. Then again, that could've just been people knowing who he was… oh well.

Chapter 14

Principal's Office

"Mr. Uchiha, thank you for coming on short notice." Ozpin said calmly, clasping his hands together as he looked up at the black haired student.

"What is it that you wished to speak to me about?" Madara cut straight to the chase, not wanting to waste time..

"As you probably know, there was an incident last night involving the White Fang. supposedly, over sixty members, including the infamous Adam Taurus, were apprehended with little resistance. According to local authorities, they received an anonymous tip about the operation, as well as several witnesses reporting a group of five unknown individuals fleeing prior to the arrests. I assume this was your doing, and Team RWBY's?"

"Do you plan to punish or expel us?"

"Not at all. In fact, I'm quite impressed. You and a single team of first years have accomplished in doing what the authorities, local and international, have failed to. I would like to congratulate the five of you properly, as it would also be greatly beneficial to our public image, but your actions were unauthorized, and therefore shouldn't be considered associated to our school. Nonetheless, Vale thanks you for your courage. With this victory, fear over the White Fang, as well as the crime rate, should be lowering soon." Ozpin explained, lifting up his coffee mug to Madara as a sign of gratitude.

"I see. Is that all?" The Uchiha asked, preparing to turn and leave.

"No, there is another piece of information I think you'd like to hear. It was unexpected, even for me, but we will be receiving a transfer student from across the seas. Unfortunately, all teams of four have been formed, so as such, they will be your partner. I trust that you have no objections?" Ozpin raised an eyebrow towards the boy, who shook his head.

"As long as they do not get in the way. I would much rather prefer those who can keep up with me as best as possible." Madara conditioned.

"I can assure you, you will not have to worry about that. I have faith that you will be pleasantly surprised… That is all, you will meet them before first period ends tomorrow. Have a good day, Mr. Uchiha." Ozpin said.

Madara nodded and turned towards the elevator, pressing the button and entering the cylindrical chamber to descend. "A partner… brings back a few memories." Madara smiled genuinely. "I wonder what Hashirama would be saying. He always called me a 'loner' before. When I return, if he is still there, I may just bring him here to laugh… If, of course."

Hallway

As Madara walked down the long corridor towards his room, he paused see Jaune, standing against the wall facing his door. Staring would be the more appropriate word, as the blonde seemed fixated on Madara's room. In his hand, visible to the Uchiha, appeared to be a piece of clean folded white paper, probably intended for Madara in some manner. After another ten seconds, Jaune moved closer and knocked on the door.

"Hey, are you in there, Madara?" Jaune called out, oblivious to the truth standing just a few meters from him. Receiving no answer, the boy sighed, and walked backwards to his previous spot. "Maybe he's still asleep… no, that doesn't seem like him. I'm beginning to think he's not even in his room, but then where would he be?"

"Hello, Jaune." Madara said, startling the team leader something fierce. After recovering quickly from his shock, Jaune recomposed himself and cleared his throat, trying to act as if nothing had happened.

"Hey there, Madara." he chuckled nervously. "So I guess you weren't in your room after all… Man, what a pity..."

"How long were you there?" Madara asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Umm… I'd like to say only about five minutes, but I've been here for fifteen." he admitted sorrowfully. "But now that you're here, I have some stuff to talk to you about. Do you have the time?" Jaune looked hopeful.

"...very well, but we shall do so in private." Madara agreed, walking closer, turning to his room door, unlocking, and opening it.

For someone as mysterious, stoic, and all around unique as Madara was, Jaune expected his room to be highly modified. Considering his combat knowledge, he almost expected there to be heads mounted on his walls, or a small armory fully stocked. What he was not expecting, was to see the Uchiha's room be completely ordinary. More accurately, the room looked untouched, as if nobody had used it or even stepped foot into it, let alone used it. Unlike team RWBY, who created bunk beds and filled the room with random assortments of personal preferences, Madara's room was clean. There were no pictures, posters, not even a speck of dust seemed to contaminate this almost sterilized room. The only proof that Madara had ever even been in the dorm room, was a pyramid of paper scrolls, of which Jaune dared not touch. There was a myriad of feelings that he could feel just by looking at them, all of which weren't positive to say the least.

"Wow, we should hire you for cleanup when Nora gets rowdy." Jaune commented to himself, being ignored by Madara completely.

"Now, what was it that you wanted to talk to me about." Madara turned to face Jaune, staring at him with his coal black eyes. "Those eyes… pure blue… they remind me of a certain nuisance."

"Oh, yes, uh" Jaune paused, but then cleared his throat. "Well, first, I'd like to say thank you."

"For what?" Madara asked.

"For helping me with Cardin that one time. During that time, I had sort of an inferiority complex, but since you saved my butt, my whole team has been giving me a lot of training and tips in fighting. I'll be honest, it's… a work in progress, but everyone's been supporting me a lot, especially Pyrrha, so I can't give up just yet." Jaune said sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. "That's all from me. There's also this." Unravelling the scroll, the blonde handed the single piece of paper. "This is a letter from Ren I think. He told me to bring it with me and give it to you when I saw you, but I have no idea what it says."

Madara took the scroll from Jaune, and stared at the writing on the paper. There was only a single sentence written in small yet neat letters, which suited the quiet nature of the boy. Out of the many huntsmen and huntresses in training, Lie Ren was undoubtedly the closest to a shinobi. He was analytical, composed, flexible, strategic, and cooperative. All were sought after traits in any situation, combat or not. Grunting in acknowledgement, Madara pocketed the piece of paper, before looking back up to face Jaune.

"Is that all?" Madara asked.

"Y-yeah, that's all I had to say." Jaune answered. "I guess I'll be going now. Have a good day, Madara." he said, turning the knob and leaving the room.

"Pyrrha Nikos… the 'invincible girl' was it? Quite the title, and yet I have not once seen her fight outside of grimm. I don't believe I have seen her semblance either. I would like to witness her in action. Perhaps I will challenge her during Professor Goodwitch's class another day. The festival would be far too long to wait." Madara thought, smiling expectantly. Suddenly, there was another knocking on his door. "Him again?" the black haired boy grabbed and pulled open the room door, expecting an embarrassed blonde boy. Instead, what laid in wait on the other side of the door was a familiar girl with short orange hair and green eyes.

"Salutations!" Penny exclaimed, raising a single arm high into the air.

"What are you doing here?" Madara said skeptically, almost defensively.

"Oh, were you not informed? I was transferred here from Atlas. Starting today, I will be your new partner. It is a pleasure to be working with you, Madara." Penny explained.

"So this is what Ozpin was speaking about. I'll admit, I had guesses, but for this to happen, and so quickly, I can't help but think this was planned. He continues to catch me off guard. I will have to investigate further. With my eyes, it should be of no issue. For now, there's nothing to be done." Madara decided, moving out of the way and allowing Penny to enter.

"Amazing! I haven't seen a dorm room this well kept." Penny complimented Madara, eagerly looking in every nook and cranny of the room. "How do you prevent contaminants this efficiently?"

"Nothing in particular. I simply clean often, and don't use the facilities of this room for any purpose other than sleeping. It serves me no other purpose." Madara explained,

"I see. Practicality is the most important…" for another five seconds, Penny seemed to stare at the farmost right corner, on the opposite side of the room as Madara's bed. "I was led to believe each room had at least four beds. Have they been disposed of?" Penny asked Madara, who then walked towards the pyramid of scrolls. Carefully removing one from the third layer and opening the paper, he tossed it onto the ground, revealing a set pattern of black characters and letters, similar to the rest. The scroll exploded in a massive cloud of white smoke thick enough to obscure even Penny's vision. When the smoke cleared, another bed laid where the scroll used to be, as if it was teleported to that position. Such technology, even with the most intelligent minds in Remnant, still remained in the realm of fantasy.

"Amazing! Those scrolls must create and store objects within miniature pocket dimensions. To generate and maintain the required ene-ergy to theoretically perform such a feat is completely unheard of, even as a c-concept!" Penny explained to herself, becoming more and more interested as the seconds went by.

"It's much less complex than you make it out to be, Penny." Madara corrected. "There is no use of any other dimensions. They're simply linked and summoned via the seals inscribed on the scrolls. In other words, they are stored somewhere else until called upon for use. I use the same method for all of my belongings, such as my weapon." he explained, using his finger to draw an imaginary seal into the air. "If it were the use of dimensional travel, I wouldn't even still be here."

"You're weapon… actually, I do not believe I have ever seen your weapon, even during the espionage mission the other day." Penny pointed out. "May i see yours now?"

"Hmm, since you are my new partner, I shall let you see it." Madara pulled out a small piece of unrolled paper from his pocket, with its own pattern of black markings. Just as the bed scroll did, this small paper exuded white smoke, which eventually faded, to reveal what appeared to be a staff with a rounded tip, approximately a meter and a half in length.

"Oh? Quite a… peculiar weapon, Madara?" Penny attempted to describe. "I did not expect for this to be your choice in armed combat. I would have predicted a lightweight firearm, or a pair of short blades for close quarters combat."

"This is merely a collapsed form, though it doesn't seem imposing, that is the point. Perhaps during tomorrow's assignment. You will get to witness its combat form. You will be joining me as a partner, correct?"

"Affirmative. We have been instructed to meet with Professor Peter Port at the Vale Transit station for… currently unknown reasons. We are also advised to bring only our essential items, and 'have our wills written and our moustaches stowed' as he described in his email."

"Indeed. Based on the information, it seems that this might be an actual challenge. I suggest getting as much sleep as you can. I will not allow for you to perform any less than your best." Madara declared, turning off the lights and walking straight to his bed. "Not that a machine requires human rest."

"Understood." Penny replied, approaching her own bed.

Next Day - Transit station

"Huzzah! All students accounted for, splendid!" Professor Port exclaimed heartily, looking out upon his entire class. "Now class, thank you for all being here today. It would be terribly unfortunate if anyone had been absent. Just the thought of such an event occurring is almost enough to bring a man such as I to tears!"

"Umm, Professor Port?" Ruby said with a raised hand.

"Yes, Ms. Rose?"

"Why are we in front of a bunch of trains?" she asked with a puzzled look. "I mean, isn't a field trip a little too early?"

Professor Port was well known amongst the entire student body for his, unorthodox, teaching style. One day, he would be telling a story about his "past" with varying degrees of credibility. Another day, the man would be grooming his own mustache before class even began. On more productive days, he'd have a student or two demonstrate their skill in combat, or lecture over certain types of the creatures of grimm. Regardless of whatever was going to happen each day, it would always take place within the boundaries of the classroom. However, none of the first years had expected to be outside of class like this.

"Good question, and now I shall reveal to you all the truth. Listen carefully, because this will only be relayed one time. For the past few weeks of your stays at the illustrious Beacon Academy, as first years, you have lived a relatively normal combat school life. This will be your first official 'project' as it were. Now as you can see," Port explained, pointing to four different trains with the same destination. "These trains have been reserved for us, and will take us to a newly discovered region, vastly different from the forest your initiation took place in. Through random selection, this class will be separated into four groups, and board the four trains. Needless to say, it is very likely that you will not be with your entire team for the duration of this assignment. The trains will stop at four different entrances to our destination. With a time duration of one full week, your objective is to reunite with your team and reach the northern station. Before you return though, I would highly suggest that you and your teams obtain three of twenty seven hidden items, a gold, silver, and obsidian statuette. All students are permitted combat between yourselves, and teams may collect as many sets as they wish to. Of course, murder is not permitted."

"Um, Professor Port." Weiss chimed in. "You said that each team must obtain three items, out of twenty seven, which would mean there are nine total sets. Since there are twelve teams in our class, shouldn't there be twelve sets?" She looked with a slight hint of worry in her face.

"Right you are, Miss Schnee!" Professor Port confirmed. "There are indeed, twelve teams and only nine sets. You see, there is a slight catch to this assignment. The team, or teams, that fail to complete the objective, shall be expelled upon return." he declared, in a terrifyingly cold tone.

The class erupted, shouting in confusion and voicing their views against this assignment. However, Professor Port heard none of it. Coughing into his hand, he waited until the rowdier students calmed and quieted, waiting reluctantly to allow him to continue.

"Students, understand that it is my last wish for any of you young huntsmen and huntresses to be, to lose your place. After all, you have all trained for years just to be here. However, as a professional huntsmen I can tell you, with certainty, that the true fields of battle will never be merciful. There will be times in which you must face opponents that are fellow human or Faunus, just as dangerous if not more. You must fight with everything you have, or face certain destruction. That is the goal of this assignment. Fret not, students. All you must worry about is completing the objective, nothing more."

"So this is your true self, Port. I have underestimated you." Madara thought, impressed by the sudden change in this seemingly foolish man's attitude. "To both weed out and protect the weak simultaneously can be a difficult process. This way, the unqualified students will be able to return to civilian lives… as they should."

"Now, without further ado, we will begin the randomization process. Those shown under the numbers one through four, proceed to the respectively-labelled train cars… oh yes, before we begin, there is one more piece of information I should bestow upon you. As I said, some of these statuettes are hidden within the environment. These items were hidden by, and some are carried on the persons of, second year volunteer teams. They can choose of their own accord whether to assist you, hinder, or do nothing during your mission. That is all. Please begin heading to your trains."

As the large crowd began to shuffle, the members of Team RWBY, JNPR, Madara, and Penny, gathered together to give their farewells.

"Well, good luck you guys." Ruby said.

"Pft, we'll be fine~" Nora claimed optimistically. "I mean, look at us. We got the Invincible Girl, a ninja, I can bench five of me, and our leader Jaune! We'll get together and find our figurines in no time. I'd say it's you guys who should watch your backs." she teased.

"We'll do just fine, maybe even fast than you will." Yang challenged.

"Ohohoho, you're on Yang."

"Good luck, Pyrrha." Weiss said, holding her hand out.

"Likewise, Weiss. I hope Team RWBY will avoid expulsion." Pyrrha replied, shaking Weiss' hand with hers.

"Hey, Madara, who's that?" Ruby asked, glancing at the ever-curious Penny. "Is she a new friend?"

"Salutations, my name is Penny. I am a new transfer, and the partner of Madara Uchiha. What is your name?" Penny greeted happily.

"Oh, hello Penny. My name is Ruby Rose." Ruby returned the greet. "So you're my brother's new teammate?" she looked at Madara, with wide grin spread across her face. "I thought he was gonna be a loner again. Thank goodness he's not. Keep him company, okay?"

"You can count on me!" Penny exclaimed.

"My intuition was right." Madara thought. "I'm almost restless over this new mission. We shall see who does and does not deserve to become a huntsmen."

As the crowd of classmates thinned and thinned, and as teams were broken to board the different trains, the large monitor that directed each student finally made its way to the ten. Amongst many others, Jaune, Nora, and Blake were directed to Train One. Yang and Ren were to board Train two. Penny and Ruby were to join other classmates on Train Three. Finally, Pyrrha, Weiss and Madara were the last to join Train Four.

"Good luck everyone, make sure to make it back in one piece and sets of figurines." Yang commanded with a smug grin.

"Do you even need to say something as obvious as that?" Weiss asked sarcastically, turning to her temporary teammates. "I suppose this isn't all bad. Madara's rather quiet like Blake, but I have seen his combat prowess before from those sparring matches against Yang and Ruby. Though, those White Fang jerks got in the way of me seeing him fight, anything could have happened. Pyrrha, on the other hand, man I wish I could've had her on our team from the beginning. I wonder if I can convince her of that too if I show my stuff enough. That's it! If I can save her and her team from expulsion, she'll be super grateful! Even if we're not on the same team, we can still be great friends."

"Schnee, your smirk." Madara lifted a finger from his crossed arms to point out the rather wicked smile she inadvertently had.

"I have an uneasy feeling that this will not go smoothly…" Pyrrha grimaced. "Nevertheless, we must prevail. I can't disappoint my team members and friends. I only hope they will be able to manage separated."

Unknown Location

"Now that I have gone through all of the trouble of finding you, and allowing you to live. You will tell me this so called 'prophecy'."

"...very well… there is One tale of Ten demons. Nine beasts and one man. Ten tails to Nine minds gathered to one. One journey with ten thousand miles, one man, one goal. From three eyes to two, all will be one. Broken worlds… in one united. It was the Decree of Fate, pantheons foretold of a second story: the witches and wizards will be hunted. The flowers will wilt or sprout. The ice will melt or water will freeze. Great flames will starve and fade, or embers will set ablaze. Denizens of shadows will hide no more, brought to light exposing their core. Through word or through hand, all beasts will bow or stand. One god shall rise from a world in limbo. All power, complete dominion, as creation and destruction intertwine, will be unto them alone."

"Hm, is that so? If this is the legend exactly, then only I may be called 'god', and he will see without a shadow of a doubt that I have won… I have no more use for you, any last words?"

"...Witch."

END