A Hawk's Plight

by The Obsidian Pen

The Fourth War was over, peace has finally been achieved. Sasuke, unwilling to let this peace be at risk, continues to train his new-found powers to make sure this peace will last. When he practices with a Rinne-Sharingan Jutsu for the first time, however, things don't go as planned and is sent somewhere unreachable. Regardless, he will do anything it takes to come home again.

14. To See The Sun Rise And Set

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Chapter 14, I've been waiting for you!

Just read, why else did you come here? Marry me? What's wrong with you?

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You'll Probably Be Red From Anger, But I'm Turning Blue From Laughter; I Hope You Don't Kill Me After This Chapter!

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Chapter Fourteen: To See The Sun Rise And Set

"Everything is set in place. The next step is to infiltrate the academy," Sasuke told his assistant. "Do you remember your role?" It was well into the evening, and the party would begin in a mere two hours.

Claire nodded. She wasn't studying Beacon blueprints for fun, and now she knew the quickest routes to nearly anything within the school. From keeping track of party crashers to police and military activity, she would make sure her boss was informed of anything and everything that may have something to do with the mission.

She had no intention of letting the mercenary or the White Fang down. After everything Sasuke had done to help her Faunus brothers and sisters, she would make sure this mission was a success, even if it was nothing more than a personal request from Adam himself.

The Uchiha was content with the look of determination on her face. In several minutes, he would have to get into Beacon and reach the spot where Sun Wukong would wander into. That was when Sasuke would disable him and impersonate the blonde Faunus.

"Good," the ninja said before he stuck his hand out to Claire, who placed a small device in his palm. "You are certain no one would be able to spot it?"

Again, Claire nodded. "This earpiece blends into the ear," she began. "They would only find it if they were looking for it, sir. And that was if they were close enough to your face at the right angle."

Looking to the miniature speaker in his palm, Sasuke could only describe it as a small skin-colored cone with a silver tip, and that was the part to go in first. He placed it deep inside his right ear, which immediately muffled everything he could hear from that side.

"Can you hear me?" the Uchiha suddenly heard from the earpiece, then looked to his assistant to see that she was speaking into the microphone of the headset she was wearing. He nodded, indicating that he heard her clearly.

Claire covered the mic of the headset and said, "remember, sir, the earpiece is one-way communication. It's all I could make with the limited time given. You're going to have to improvise if you need to tell me something." They didn't really have one at the ready, so she took a spare Scroll laying around and took out the parts needed to make the small earpiece.

She couldn't do much with the fixed scrap parts present, so Durand altered what she could and threw out the expendable to combine a cut down speaker, a shortened transmitter, and an improvised battery.

Cutting them up and making it into a single small piece wasn't easy with the amount of time and parts given to her, but she wasn't a master technician of the White Fang for nothing.

The battery in it wouldn't last half a day, but they only needed a few hours at most. Which was also one of the reasons she didn't add a microphone, as it would drain more of the battery and make the earpiece larger.

"That's fine," the mercenary told her. "You know your role, and that's all I need from you." If anything, he could call her on his Scroll if he absolutely had to reach her. But that was unlikely to be needed due to the nature of their jobs in this mission.

It was important for Sasuke to know his surroundings, not Claire. What threat there could be during this operation would only affect him since he would be in the field, so he had to trust his assistant in the safe house to know and inform him the right intel at the right moment.

Sasuke was ready as he would ever be, even if the target was someone he knew. Three freight containers of Dust would give a good push on the remaining he would need for the trans-dimensional seal. His return to who could only be considered as his family depended on it.

With that in mind, he only said two words, "let's begin." He brought his arms up and crossed his fingers into a seal, which brought six clones to appear in an explosion of smoke behind him. The copies looked to the original with a nod, then flickered out of sight.

Forming another seal, he was enveloped in the familiar smoke once more, now Shikamaru stood in place for the ninja, even though the transformation was only an extra precaution. He looked to the Faunus, who gave him a thumbs up after taking her position in front of the monitors. She pushed her glasses in place, and was ready with the tools needed to keep things up to date.

The disguised ninja didn't waste a second. He stepped out to the roof of the building of where the bookstore was, the place he called home for the past few days in preparation for the mission at the academy, his older home. 'Shikamaru' was still considered present in Beacon's system thanks to Claire, so it was important he wasn't caught outside while leaving the White Fang safe house.

To Sasuke's skills and Sharingan, the threat of cameras was pretty much the same as before, with only a few added high-end ones here and there; according to Claire, anyway. Most likely from how expensive even one of them were.

Taking a different route than usual, he was going to avoid taking the bullhead to Beacon, since they were all out of service during the celebration. He was very thankful that he wasn't caught using the wall-climbing technique, which made things go that much smoother.

Even with the Atlesian armada overhead.

He hid from any passing aircraft, not willing to risk being caught so soon out of carelessness. Instead of continuing further, he waited for a few minutes on a random building while watching the Atlesian aircraft that flew.

Then he continued waiting.

Until the effect was practically instantaneous. Several squadrons began diverging towards the industrial district, the farthest they could from him.

'Diversion is a success,' he thought with a small amount of pride. As of this moment, 'Gaara' and five of the White Fang were currently robbing a Dust shop in an area with sub-par law enforcement. The kind that would ask for help at the sign of a well-known criminal and his lackeys.

Considering they were near the outskirts, surrounding them in and closing down Vale would prove impossible, as a criminal would run away at the earliest sign of this long process that required more men and resources on all the borders. The best the military could do quickly and efficiently was locking down the district and focus on that.

Which was what the ninja wanted. And it was certainly possible with the experienced General Ironwood nearby to order such things. More so since the Uchiha pissed off the officials with his disguise right under their noses. 'A controlled vendetta would work well for me,' he thought.

No way would a proud Atlesian general not try to get back at the person who stole his Paladins.

Sasuke pressed forward in a flicker with his Sharingan active, making excellent time while avoiding the military grade cameras, that have a high chance of catching him, and the usual security cameras. He would reach Beacon in minutes, but some good news came his way from his earpiece. "As you planned, a large fraction of the Atlesian force are moving towards your clones. Expect only the bare minimum of airships, sir."

It helped that the general was going to join the party as well, and would most likely not be disturbed from simply another sighting of the elusive Gaara, besides the request for instructions. If he was, then it wouldn't do much since Sasuke would have already infiltrated Beacon. And to Vale's knowledge, the criminal group would escape to outside the Kingdoms to whatever hideout they made.

The rest of the way was like a stroll. Even with the hiding from the occasional passing airship, it barely slowed him down and was well on his way to approach the cliffs of Beacon, his angle of entry. Again, the Uchiha was thankful that he was never caught using the wall-climbing technique.

A certain nurse may have seen him walk on the ceiling, but it took a long time for Pyrrha to remember even with Deja vu, and her Aura level and strength were far from that of a civilian. Sasuke doubted a regular nurse would overcome his memory illusion.

Although, it was mostly from the lack of experience with Sharingan-induced illusions that used Chakra instead of Aura was the real reason the authorities couldn't bring those memories back from the nurse. The ninja hoped they wouldn't come up with the extremely simple answer of 'He walks on walls'.

Sasuke reached the base of the cliff, but didn't waste a second as he then leapt upwards and flickered across the face of the rocky side; reaching the top quickly with ease.

What stood before him was Beacon Academy, and it was rather beautiful in the night time. Sasuke didn't have time for sightseeing during a mission, so he immediately made his way to the intended destination. His earpiece came to life, and Claire's voice was heard.

"Considering the time, you should've just reached Beacon, and I'm here to tell you that, so far, you haven't been seen or detected," she told him. "Police activity's attention is still focusing on your clones in the industrial district. They're preparing for a kind of push, actually."

Fortunately, the clones knew that was the point. For the wild goose chase to work, they would need the 'chase' aspect. Sasuke wondered how long the armada were willing to chase his copies until they disappear on their own.

The Uchiha was being informed of the situation as he was running through the hallways, flickering and teleporting in the blind spots of the cameras, or high up on the walls that were simply walkways for him. He didn't need to worry about motion sensors out here, too many students walked through here all the time and proved counterproductive to place them there.

He ended up with a sore, tomoe-less left eye from the very liberal use of the Amenotejikara in the end, but he reached the place where his target should appear in thirty minutes or so. Thus, the waiting game began, and Sasuke was outside in a corner that dipped inwards to the building.

Or more specifically, he was crouching on the wall. And right below him, was the camera that intended to catch any intruder, and was failing rather miserably.

Looking around, the last Uchiha couldn't find a soul anywhere, even with the Sharingan scanning the area.

Sasuke waited, but wasn't without a small amount of turmoil. 'This is not the time, nor the place,' he thought to himself when he held back another sigh that attempted to escape him. 'Shinobi have done worse for less, and some have done the horrific for greater.'

If Itachi could kill all but one of his entire family for the sake of Konoha, then Sasuke could kidnap a single teenaged girl for the very same reason. While he was at Beacon before all this, he didn't have anything too positive to say about team RWBY, but they were pleasant on certain occasions. Even if Yang was far too into Remnant: The Game for his liking when the Uchiha indulged her thousandth plea for a game together.

His clone did, anyway. During the board game of conquest, the original Sasuke was busy invading an actual fortress at that time.

"The first target is coming your way, sir," Claire said through the earpiece, which snapped him from his thoughts, the kind that drifted to the unnecessary memories.

The ninja shook his head from anymore stray thoughts to focus on the mission. He only waited another minute, and sure enough, a familiar blonde Faunus came to view.

Sun looked as though he was walking absentmindedly, uncaring of where his legs took him while his mind was elsewhere. Most importantly, however, was that there was no one besides Sun that was in the immediate area.

Currently, the blonde Faunus was making his way to the spot the Uchiha designated for him to reach. Once Sun reaches the destination, he would be right under the camera and out of its field of vision. A spot that could probably only hide two people if they were to stand underneath it.

From the way he was walking, Sasuke could tell he had no focus at present time, even when he reached the corner to lean on the wall, Sun wasn't aware of his actions.

'It's time,' the ninja thought as he silently walked down the wall, around the camera, and right until he was above blonde hair. The Uchiha didn't dare make a sound, in the case the irritating surveillance would catch it. So instead, he leaned forward, and exhaled a breath on his targets head.

The effect immediate. Suns stiffened at the odd sensation, the looked upwards in confusion, before that quickly turned to surprise once more at the sight of the Sharingan.

Sasuke grabbed his shoulders before the Faunus could fall forward and into camera view. There was another reason he chose this spot, so instead of dumping him somewhere public, he used the Amenotejikara one more time to teleport himself and Sun to a broom closet on the other side of the wall, where no one would find him until it was too late.

Taking a good look at the image he was going to impersonate, the Uchiha was far from impressed at the wardrobe he picked out to take Blake to the dance with. 'Blondes. . .' he thought while unamused. Nothing but a tie to Sun's casual wardrobe.

Honestly, were blondes in Remnant all similar to Naruto in one way or another? If he found out that Glynda was into ramen, that would be it for him.

His eye stung at the teleportation to the hiding spot, and hurt worse when he used that same technique again to take himself outside and under the camera. The Uchiha didn't need a mirror to know whatever tomoe that came back during his wait for Sun and the Rinnegan to recharge were gone for a longer while than before.

Bringing his arms up to form a seal, he was engulfed by the familiar cloud that immediately dispersed. But even Sasuke knew that it wasn't short enough.

"A very small white haze appeared on the lower edges of the screen. Nothing to worry about unless the operator was extremely paranoid," Claire said reassuringly. Even she thought it was just the screen malfunctioning slightly until she remembered what her boss warned her about.

It was one of the things he was concerned with, so the Uchiha had her keep a lookout if the cloud dissipation was too obvious. And thankfully, it didn't seem as though it was clear enough for the guard watching the feeds to notice anything too out of place.

The Uchiha was not pleased with the lack of fashion sense Sun had, since now the ninja had to endure this. He may not be Coco Adel and was picky about clothing, but even the Uchiha had certain limits. But that wasn't the only irritation he had to endure for choosing Sun.

'This tail is cumbersome to control,' Sasuke thought as he looked to the conjured appendage in annoyance.

While Sun had the instinctual and passive control over his tail, Sasuke had to be meticulous on how it sways every step of the way, otherwise, it would just be just pointing towards the floor like a plastic toy regardless of his movements. If he tried too hard, then it was like a stiff, yellow, furry pole coming out of his. . .

It wasn't pleasant.

The tail itself was made from Chakra, without the bones and muscle to stop it from angling oddly. And the last thing the Uchiha needed were right-angles while moving his new tail. Which was another factor he had to consider while moving it around.

The ninja sighed. He realized that he must act out of his character to portray Sun well enough. 'Perhaps I should channel my inner-Naruto. . .' It sounded a lot worse in his head than he expected. He loved his brother-by-bond, but even Sasuke could be irritated by the large amount of boisterousness.

After a minute to get used to the new tail, Sasuke began walking out towards party and find Blake, but not before stretching his arms upward in the camera's line of view.

"Glad things went well, sir," Claire said through the earpiece. If 'Sun' stretched like that, it meant the identity theft was a success. "Blake has just left the room, so you might find her on your way. Somewhere in front of the amphitheater would be ideal."

That was good news for the mission, so the shinobi began walking toward the dance area, no longer needing to stay hidden from the cameras, which was later affirmed by his assistant. "So far, no activity indicating they're alarmed, while the military is still focused on the other group. I think we're still in the clear, boss."

The Uchiha knew that she would continue watching for any possible change, but was still cautious if there was anything she could have missed.

"I have an update about the diversion group you sent," Claire began, which brought her the undivided attention of the mercenary. "The Atlesians began chasing Gaara and his group to the agricultural district of the city. Probably to close them in somehow."

He could sympathize with the guards a slight bit. He was in a similar situation when he first saw Itachi after the massacre and attempted to attack him. 'When a goal is that close, one cannot help but chase after it,' Sasuke thought. Of course, the authority's goal was merely a construct of Chakra, but they didn't know that at the moment.

Continuing on, the ninja began hearing music that emanated from the party, that electronic genre of music where the instrument was the computer itself or altered by it. He hoped those partygoers appreciated it, because Sasuke and team SSSN worked hard to fix the place up.

All while Coco 'supervised' without tearing her eyes away from her magazine.

"Target's right behind you, sir."

The Uchiha turned and saw Blake in her dress. But more importantly, she looked much healthier than before. "You look good," he said honestly in Sun's voice.

Blake gave a small smile at that. "Thanks, and you look great in a tie," she complimented as she walked closer to him.

Either she was kindhearted, or she had low standards if a mere tie appeased her, but Sasuke wasn't playing matchmaker or here to criticize her tastes in the time being. With a smile in return, he stuck an elbow out for her to take, which she took without missing a beat, and began making their way to the party.

The disguised Uchiha looked to the Faunus and asked, "where are the rest of your team?"

"They'll be waiting inside," she replied, then sighed. "Probably to make sure I don't skip it for something else." Both of them knew exactly what the 'something else' was, but perhaps not the original Sun. "What about yours?" she asked when they got closer to the gates of their destination.

'Currently in another world waiting for me,' he thought cynically. "We'll see 'em soon, I'm sure," he said just as he opened the door to the dance.

Inside, couples danced away to the music, or simply stood and chatted with their friends or dates near the tables that held food of different varieties. All in all, Sasuke and team SSSN did a good job.

"Hello there," said an accented voice. When 'Sun' looked to the source, it turned out to be Velvet, who was the receptionist of the event. "Oh, it's you, Blake. Glad to see you up and about," she said a little hesitantly.

"I'm sure," Blake answered neutrally, before dragging the disguised Uchiha into the party. Leaving the rabbit Faunus to her job hastily.

Considering what happened just then, Sasuke was unsure of what went on between these two Faunus, and he didn't care all that much considering what he needed to do, but Sun most likely would have.

"What was that was that all about?" 'Sun' asked in confusion.

Blake frowned, but answered, "it's nothing you need to worry about. Just something between me and Velvet."

It was true, in a sense. Both Faunus met up a while back and conversed, but that ultimately led to an argument about a certain individual. Where he helped one, but betrayed the other. Velvet was adamant that there was more to the Uchiha than they think, but Blake had none of it.

The rabbit Faunus understood the gravity of what Sasuke had done, but couldn't simply accept Blake's vehemence about the traitor. Velvet used that moment to recall the time when she was bullied by Cardin, and how Belladonna merely watched while the 'criminal' came to her help, which upset and angered her counterpart further, even if partly out of guilt.

Needless to say, things were rather frosty between them. So they had an unspoken agreement to talk as little as possible, to make sure things didn't go out of hand when emotions began ruling them.

Before he could ask more about what happened, an arm of a familiar brawler wrapped around Blake's shoulders.

"Glad to see you made it," Yang said as she brought her teammate's head closer to a one-armed hug. "I thought I would have to go out there and find you." Well, that proved it to the ninja it was a good idea to go this route. "Or put up some lost cat posters."

Blake groaned at the bad joke, while 'Sun' just sighed. "Can you not?" she pleaded. "I'm here at the dance-" She unwrapped herself from Yang and took Sasuke's elbow again. "-with a date. So can I go dance now?"

Belladonna began dragging her date away to not stick around for another one of her jokes, but not before 'Sun' whispered to the other blonde, "I thought your joke was a good one, by the way." And flashed a quick thumbs-up and a toothy smile, which was returned by Yang with a triumphant look on her face.

One of her jokes was finally appreciated.

Since she had nothing better to do and, surprisingly, no date to accompany, Yang might as well join her sister in one of the balconies.

Sasuke hoped he didn't sound too cheesy while trying to blend in as the monkey Faunus. He never had much experience with social interaction outside of those who broke through the walls he put up, but the former avenger would try his best for those very people.

"Erm, Blake," the fake Sun asked 'hesitantly' before they went to dance. When he got the actual Faunus to look at him, he looked away in faux shyness. "I kinda wanna tell you something." He was really thankful his friends weren't here to see this. Naruto would never let him live it down; disguise or not.

The real Faunus blinked in confusion. "Well, you can tell me," she replied.

"It's something private." One of the balconies had a very tight blind spot, but definitely manageable. "Can we talk som-"

Before he could finish giving his request, Neptune decided to interrupt them with his presence. "Dude, you have no idea how long I've been looking for you," he said. "Can you believe how well we did to set this place up?"

Of all the times he could've been praised for anything, Sasuke would have hoped it was not during a mission where the longer he stayed, the better the chance of something wrong happening. The Uchiha hoped the luck he was infected with would last a while longer.

"Wait, you guys set this place up?" Blake asked with a raised brow. "Weren't team CFVY the ones who did it?"

Team CFVY came back from their mission a little later than expected, but they were still given the task of setting up the dance as previously planned. Ozpin stated that if they were late, then another team would have taken that responsibility instead.

Thankfully, the area Coco's team were in already had reinforcement from other Hunters. Gaara's reign had the council boost up their defenses along the borders, which meant more Huntsmen and Huntresses in generally all areas. And the student team had more people to work with against the horde that they had to take care of.

Neptune looked around to see if Coco was close by, then leaned in and whispered, "Coco forced us-" He gestured to himself and Sun. "-and some other guy to set this place up while her team practiced."

A raised brow was her first response to that. "Well, I guess we have you guys to thank then," Blake stated with a smirk. "But don't you have a date to dance with, Neptune?"

Worry struck the blue-haired warrior. "Y-Yeah, of course I do," he said quickly. "Well then, I'll leave you two be." Then he rushed off to whatever direction he decided to take.

To the Uchiha, it was about time Neptune left. Sasuke would rather not stay longer than he should have. He began thinking that it would've been best if the rest of team were put under the illusion as well.

Turning to his date, 'Sun' asked, "now that he's gone, can we talk somew-"

"Whoa, what the hell was that!?" Claire exclaimed in the ninja's ear, who held back a wince at the sudden loud noise. After that loud exclamation, he suddenly began hearing furious tapping of his assistant's keyboard.

Sasuke found the constant interruptions being bothersome, and considered tearing off the earpiece to remove one of them. But thought better of it, especially in front of Blake who looked at him worryingly.

"You okay?" she asked with concern. "You just froze all of a sudden."

"It's nothing," Sasuke replied reassuringly. "Something came to mind, is all." He cleared his throat for a moment. "Can we talk somewhere private, please? It's really important." Blake looked at him weirdly for a moment, but nodded to the request, and she followed when he gestured for her to come with him.

The Uchiha was certain he didn't need to call his assistant to know what had just happened; and he was right.

"Sorry, boss," Claire apologized. "Everything just blinked to black for a moment; it was weird as hell. I'm not sure if anybody else saw it, though since nobody is indicating any alarm yet." That was rather reassuring, actually. "Unless. . ." And that was less so. "I'll check what that was later on, but I will focus on the current task first."

That's what was important at the moment. Sasuke didn't need anybody important to be sidetracked when he was a minute away from taking his target. Especially the one in charge of the intelligence for the mission.

But that didn't mean he wasn't wary of that sudden development with Claire. Sasuke could only hope that the peace lasted a while longer. 'I'm so close.'

The couple reached an empty balcony, and it was so because people inside were focusing on dancing. None would come out there to do whatever when the party was reaching its climax back inside.

Sasuke's form began slowly walking to the far left, the corner where the railing met the wall. He didn't need to look up to see a fisheye vision camera, or whatever ridiculous name it was called. The only part that mattered was it had a very wide angle of view.

Blake followed closely, making both of them hidden from those within, but not the camera above. They should still be well within its view.

"What is this about, Sun?" Blake asked worriedly. "What is it that's so important that you need to talk to me-!?" She didn't finish her sentence, because her date suddenly pushed her to a wall, both bodies touching each other and flattening themselves on the wall, while he put his hands on the wall to her left and right, not allowing her to slide away. Faces practically a hair's breadth apart.

Right under the camera, and out of its view. "You're good, sir," Claire confirmed.

Blake wasn't suffocating, but was uncomfortable from the force from her date pushing her into the wall. It hit her then what he was doing. "Sun, you can't be thinking about doing this here?" she said in her shock. "We haven't even known each other for that long!"

With a small honest sigh, the Uchiha dipped his head down, covering his face with his blonde hair. "No, Blake, that's not why I'm doing this."

With confusion marring her face, she heard of moments when something like this would happen during parties, but Sun never seemed like the person who would do this. Hell, he chivalrously saved her from Torchwick when she fought at the docks. So it was almost reassuring to hear him say that last bit, even if still unclear.

The moment Sun looked up, everything became clear with those familiar red eyes, that Blake peered into with her own widened amber eyes. 'How could he be here!?' she exclaimed in her mind in utter surprise, but that quickly turned to anger.

She wanted to shout, to exclaim, to call for help, but with all those in her mind, not a single sound came out of her mouth. When the Faunus tried to even talk, she could only manage several choppy sounds of some kind, but none loud enough to be heard by those inside.

Blake tried to move her arms, but they would only fidget in their place. She realized that her body was paralyzed, but she wouldn't give up. She kept trying to fight whatever Aura, Semblance, or technique Sasuke used on her.

The Uchiha began activating his Rinnegan, readying to use the Amenotejikara to teleport them both out there to hide behind a bush below the balcony, where there would be no camera to see them. but he heard a warning from Claire. "A guy is headed to your balcony and will reach within seconds. If you're not out of there yet, be quick or be subtle."

The Rinnegan wasn't fully activated as it needed just a few more seconds for the right chakra to begin flowing correctly. There was an option he could use, but that didn't mean he liked it.

Blake widened her eyes further as her enemy began leaning his face in, but that shock was soon amplified when their lips met. She assumed the Uchiha had gone insane, even more so when he began caressing her face in a gentle and loving manner. The Faunus couldn't help but be confused.

"Oh!" Blake heard from her side, but couldn't see who as Sasuke's hand blocked her vision. That was when she understood what was going on. Eyes could tell a lot, so it would better if the bystander didn't see her distress. "S-Sorry!" Jaune's voice shouted before she heard him running to avoid the 'lovey-dovey' scene of two people kissing in a discreet area.

Sasuke pulled back from the kiss, and whispered to his shocked captive, "don't be mistaken. I will do what I must."

His Rinnegan was fully activated and ready to be used, but he didn't need advanced sight to know that Blake was fully pissed, if the killing intent coming off her was an indication of anything. It was honestly impr-

BOOM!

As it turned out, the Uchiha used up all of Naruto's infectious luck long ago. 'Damn it. . .' If it wasn't some random person interrupting him, it was an explosion. Why the hell not?

And who first was to break the news? It was Claire Durand, of course.

"Holy shit!" she exclaimed. "There was an explosion at the CCT tower!" That wasn't the news he wanted to hear, but she remedied that really quick with worse. "Boss, the Atlesians were just given the order to turn back by the general himself."

All this in a span of a few seconds, the general probably got to the conclusion of what he was chasing, and an assumption on who was responsible for the explosion. His troops left the area near the CCT tower, to chase an elusive enemy on the other side of the city, then an explosion occurred at the very tower.

It didn't paint a pretty picture for the ninja.

The only thing Sasuke knew was that, besides diverging the troops elsewhere, the explosion had nothing to do with him.

"What happened!?", "Something on the tower exploded!", "Was it Sasuke Uchiha?" and other similar statements and questions were heard as people moved to the balconies, Sasuke's included, to see what was going on.

Sasuke looked behind him to the CCT tower, and saw a trail of smoke climbing from the highest floor. Whoever was there either had great timing, or that the Uchiha was just really unlucky to pick this moment for the mission. "Boss, they just began closing down all of Vale. You need to get out of there, now."

Time was against the ninja the moment he had set foot in Vale once more, but he thought that he had everything in its place and everybody accounted for. How could anyone predict an event like this?

Unbeknown to him, Yang had no responsibility during the dance, and was able to join her sister on the balcony since she, unsurprisingly, too was alone. The moment Ruby spotted that black-clad person hopping from rooftop to rooftop, so did Yang. Both had different ways to approach who they thought this person was.

One explosive round from Ember Celica was all it took to ruin Sasuke's plan for discretion.

"Ah. . . Sa. . . Sssu." The Uchiha looked back to Blake, clearly trying to call for help of the audience preoccupied by what was going on. While it didn't work, it didn't mean that people would stay ignorant for long; with or without her stuttering.

It was time to leave. With the Rinnegan activated, Sasuke began molding the chakra necessary for the Amenotejikara to drop him and his target down below. But again, friendship tended to be a bothersome thing to be up against. Especially when the only member of team RWBY present in the vicinity was looking for her teammates.

"Blake!?" the Uchiha heard Weiss cry out from his side, she certainly spotted them in an intimate position even with all that's happening. "Now's not the time to-" She froze under the illusion when she saw the ever familiar red and purple eyes. The ones that caused them havoc.

Unfortunately, Sasuke may have had the heiress under an illusion, but those with the balcony wizened up a bit when they heard incredulous yelling from Schnee heiress. So when these random students looked to why she was yelling, a few saw a blonde person they found familiar, but they stiffened as his eyes were not.

Then that person vanished in thin air, but without his prey.

Why? Because he needed to get out of the city as quick as possible.

Not only would he need to use the Amenotejikara's short ranged teleportation, amongst other techniques, for himself to assist his getaway before things got even worse, but now he needed to do so with Claire as well. Straining the limits of the Rinnegan even further after its extensive use earlier.

If Blake was added to the mix, the Uchiha doubted the Rinnegan could recharge fast enough to make it in time to leave the city. Especially since he needed to go the extra distance to cover his direction.

The memories of the clones he made came back to him, recalling the dull chase he had orchestrated for a diversion. Even as clones, they were smart and sentient enough to know when it was pointless to exist and dispelled themselves.

As he landed on the river after jumping off the cliff, he heard his assistant's voice say, "all forces began diverging on Beacon and its surrounding area, the large ships began forming a perimeter around it. Seems that someone told the authorities of your latest position."

This, of course, was more trouble. The massive airships had an equally massive technological difference compared to its smaller counterpart, which means ever more extensive and powerful sensors. Those were what Sasuke needed to be wary of the most when trying to exfiltration himself and Claire out of Vale.

Sasuke reached the commercial district quickly, but had to dodge the plethora of ships that swarmed overhead. Making more use of his Amenotejikara more than he liked to.

Fortunately, the buildings that now surround him had better use for him as it held many hiding spots that he could make use of. Unfortunately, a few of those hiding spots were rendered unavailable from the amount of soldiers patrolling the areas in tight groups, keeping people attentive of anyone new or less. More often than not, the Uchiha would see a person amongst them that had the telltale signs of a Hunter.

These people he had to be wary of the most from those on the ground, due to their much better trained sensory and combat styles that could put entire battalions of soldiers to shame. Not to mention that semblances could be a real game changer, even if the ninja was sure he could manage, but he wasn't here to take part in a fight where there would be no benefit.

Sasuke reached the rooftop of Tucson's store relatively quickly, but later than he had hoped. The amount of patrols on both air and ground were extensive. Possibly brought in from other areas of Vale.

"Claire!" he called out once he entered the store, then spotted his assistant still sitting on her station still in the backroom, looking to her caller. "We're leaving Vale. Burn everything that's important, we must leave quickly."

They didn't have the luxury of taking things with them at the moment, so the next best thing was to remove anything compromising from existence.

The Faunus blinked for a moment, but finally asked, "but, sir, what about Blake? Shouldn't we stay here until it blows over and try again?"

When all of Vale was being swept like this for the Uchiha, door-to-door searching and checks would happen. Once they found out that the original owner was no longer present, they'd be swarming the store with as many Huntsmen and Huntresses as possible.

Both of them could possibly wait a day or two before trying once more, even use his transformation to be Tucson against the police who would be none the wiser. However, he could no longer take Blake from Beacon. The Uchiha very much doubted that Ozpin would be ignorant against the ninja's strategy of using the cameras' blind spots, and would surely fix that.

Not only that, but the headmaster would wonder how Sasuke achieved knowledge of them, so the natural response was to search everything that had to do with the security cameras, including the local sever room. Sasuke could only guess what new fortifications would be added.

"No, we will leave immediately," the ninja replied. "Do as I ordered quickly." Time was of the essence. With every second they stuck around, the more ground the authorities have covered.

With pursed lips, Claire turned back to her computer and typed a few commands, which led to everything electronic in the room begin fizzling into a shower of sparks. "All circuits burned, and all memory files destroyed, sir," Claire informed neutrally. She had hopes of this mission being a success, but some third party became involved at the wrong time.

All Sasuke did was nod. "Let's head back to Mount Glenn."

---

As it turned out, leaving Vale was a tad more difficult that the Uchiha had expected. Either it was from carrying his assistant, who was suspiciously pleased with the idea, or that the armed forces covered much more ground than he was comfortable with; it was a pain to find the microscopic hole in their perimeters.

Sasuke had to use his clones to misdirect the army and police from his true destination, he even had to take detours to confuse anyone that may have seen him. If he wanted to head east, he moved south. If he needed to go west, so he went north. Those kinds of detours.

If he were trace where he went on a map, it would be like a child's poor attempt to solve a maze puzzle. Lines overlapped, messy, and made no sense, with small gaps indicating the use of the Amenotejikara. Exactly how he wanted, even if it was a tiring experience.

"We have arrived," the Uchiha said as he stepped to the northern area of Mount Glenn. He then looked behind him and waited for his former assistant to come through the foliage.

Claire then walked through greenery, looking rather haggard and filthy from the trek. "How do you have the stamina for this?" she asked irritably again after pushing up her cracked glasses in place, for the twelfth time by the mercenary's count. She was a technician, her weapons were her keyboard and electronic equipment, physical exertion like this wasn't common in her job.

Instead of answering, he spotted more Grimm appearing from the alleyways between the buildings. They had been traveling for half a day in total, so finding the soulless creatures was expected, and so was their deaths by the Uchiha's hand. Claire had little combat experience, but killed her share of Grimm on the way with her pistol, even if that count was miniscule compared to the ninja's.

"Let's find the entrance to the cavern," he said without looking away from the pack of Beowulves that spotted them. "I would rather get this over and done with." Sasuke meant the debriefing with Adam, who didn't seem like the kind of person to take this news well.

When the dozen or so creatures roared and began running towards them, each one them took a few steps before an empowered kunai pierced through their bone masks and struck where the brain should be. Muscle movements ceased, causing them to ragdoll a few meters before turning into ash, as all Grimm do when they 'die'.

Claire nodded, she saw multiple times during their travel back to the hideout how Sasuke dealt with undesirables. If he wasn't carrying her to leave Vale and reach Mount Glenn faster, he was annihilating Grimm left and right.

By the way, experiencing his flickering technique for the first time wasn't pleasant, especially over long distances. She had to have him stop a few times to settle her stomach. The only reason she hadn't emptied her stomach the entire time was because it was cleared out from the first flicker break.

Even then, Claire couldn't help but enjoy the bridal carry a small bit. She asked the Uchiha to carry her on his back instead, but he argued that he was unsure if her grip strength could hold on from the G-force she was going to experience. She didn't argue.

"What do you intend to tell him?" the Faunus asked as they neared tunnel that would go into the ground.

"The truth," Sasuke replied evenly. Lying to an employer who could easily find out the truth was a very bad idea. The Uchiha had little doubt that news of Vale's situation would have reached the White Fang. 'Not having Blake would be a rather obvious detail of the outcome.'

When they reached a makeshift gateway with two White Fang officers outside, who just lowered their weapons at the familiar ninja, the Uchiha ordered, "open the gate, I wish to debrief with Adam Taurus."

The one on the left nodded and radioed in the return of the mercenary and his demand, and the guard told the Uchiha that he should head to the briefing room at the train station. Mere seconds later, the gate vertically opened to allow them in, and the two did just that.

As Sasuke walked through the ruins to reach the impromptu headquarters, he still saw many White Fang members saluting him or simply ogle his form, as though seeing some form of legend. Or perhaps they heard of what happened in Vale and weren't expecting him to come back, which was more likely.

"Sasuke," the ninja heard Claire say informally as they neared the train station. The mission was over, and he was no longer on the clock, so his role as leader was over. When he looked to her, she continued, "I'll be heading to my quarters from here, so I wish you luck with Adam."

Claire knew that her Faunus leader may take this news badly, so she honestly hoped whatever happened wasn't too bad for her former boss. Especially how the relationship between Blake and Adam were before the desertion.

The Uchiha gave her an appreciative nod, then watched as Claire bowed her head before going to wherever her place was in this underground city. In all honesty, she wasn't a bad assistant and was certainly helpful.

As Sasuke walked through the familiar building, he heard a familiar voice behind him say, "back so soon? Can't really blame you with all the trouble that happened."

When the ninja looked to the source, he found Neopolitan in her multi-colored wonder. "Neo," he greeted. "Things happened that weren't in my control. It was either exfiltration or capture, and I chose the former."

He was disappointed that he wouldn't get his monumental amount of Dust, but did feel a very small sense of relief that he wouldn't have to hand Blake over to the Faunus leader at the moment. 'All in good time,' Sasuke told himself with a sigh.

Neo nodded at that. Even she hadn't known about Cinder's mission conflicting with the Uchiha's, but that excuse wouldn't really carry weight with Adam. Especially since he was particularly excited about the reunion, which was no longer happening.

"I would rather not keep Adam waiting," he dryly told the petite woman, who giggled a bit from the sarcasm.

This time, however, she shook her head and told him, "you know that he won't be pleased with this, right?"

The Uchiha nodded, then continued walking towards the room where he was given the mission. He didn't need to turn to know Neo began walking with him. "It doesn't matter if he would be or not. The fact is that the mission is a failure, and I may need to get Blake through different means."

He may be relieved that he wouldn't hand over Blake, but it irked him that his perfect record on Remnant was tarnished. This may mean he could be hired a second time, so perhaps all wasn't lost.

Often, it was the reputation that helped win battles. The Uchiha clan had an infamous reputation to ninjas outside of Konoha, and that helped them win the psychological aspect of battles. Stealing ones hard earned techniques at a glance with the Sharingan makes things that much more frustrating for the opponent.

And thus, stories and legends about the Uchiha clan came to be, and with that, the unsaid disclaimer to avoid fighting them when possible. So Sasuke hoped his useful reputation on Remnant wasn't damaged beyond repair.

Sasuke found the door for the debriefing room, and sighed once more. 'Considering my recent luck, I might have to be prepared.' Emotions cloud the mind if rampant, so what would happen if a certain zealot was denied his desired object?

Nothing pretty could come of it.

He opened the door and walked through with Neo by his side. Inside, Sasuke could see the Lieutenant leaning on the wall with his weapon by him, Roman off to the side and staying out of the picture. And studying the map facing away from the ninja was the Faunus leader himself.

And he seemed rather agitated.

"So, how did the mission go?" Adam asked simply while still staring at the map, recalling the plan he had with Cinder. "I don't see Blake with you. Is she somewhere else?" That condescending question might as well mean 'I know you failed, child, but I want to hear it from you'.

That set the Uchiha on edge. "She remains at Beacon," he replied normally, but was ready for any violent reaction to come his way. "The mission was a failure."

At that, Adam casually reached for the sword he had propped on the wall beside him, and simply held it in one hand, all while still not turning to face the ninja. The Uchiha activated the Sharingan in response, but did not move from his spot.

If Adam wanted to kill him, he had another thing coming.

Sasuke saw the Lieutenant push himself off the wall, but did no other move other than that, his chainsaw still in reach. The Uchiha then looked to the other side and saw that Roman gulped, and Neo was frowning with her umbrella in hand and ready to be used. At least he had back up from one person.

The redhead turned to face the ninja, with the hilt of his sword aimed towards his target's head. "Tell me," Adam began unpleasantly. "How did you fail such a simple mission?"

The shinobi narrowed his eyes, preparing to take action. "An explosion at the CCT tower," he informed, Sharingan still flared. "A third party became involved at the wrong time in conflict with my own and had fouled all the planning I had prepared in the midst of taking Blake."

It was the last bit that caused for Adam to scowl heavily, before it immediately flashed back to neutrality. Sasuke saw it all thanks to the power his eyes granted him. He saw how the leader was irritated, but it became directed elsewhere when the red sword's hilt was longer aimed towards Sasuke. Well, it turned out the excuse went better than he expected.

Adam would have a word with a certain Fall. It was convenient that he was headed to the capital within a few minutes. He merely wanted to see if he should've taken care of the Uchiha before then.

"We're done here," the Faunus leader said angrily as he walked passed the Uchiha and Neo, with the Lieutenant in tow.

The large Faunus slammed the door behind him, and continued following his leader, who was going to leave Mount Glenn for Vale. The Lieutenant would be the one in charge of the White Fang members during that time.

A few seconds of silence later, Roman sighed in relief. "Glad that's over," he said, then looked to the mercenary. "Can't say I'm disappointed of not paying you with all that Dust."

When Adam left, Sasuke began relaxing his body and deactivated his Sharingan. He looked to Roman and said, "as long as he wants Blake, I may still get payed that amount for a later mission, Roman." He might ask for more with the increased risk factor, as well.

The thief deflated slightly at that. He was honestly hoping the mercenary's due wouldn't be an issue any longer. Again, he had to remind himself that it wasn't his Dust in the first place, even if he did work hard to procure it.

"What's next on my mission list, Roman?" Sasuke suddenly asked.

Neo blinked a few times, then comprehended what her companion had just asked. Even the thief was on the same boat as her.

"Wait, you want to go on a mission right now?" Roman finally responded. "Didn't you just come back from Vale?" And that journey began over twelve hours ago. So Sasuke was either being reckless, or he had far more stamina than humanly possible.

The mission's failure was fresh in the Uchiha's mind still, and so was the loss of that much Dust. He knew he should rest, but he had to have something to gain, something to make up for all the work that ended up failing, damn it!

No, he needed to rest, even if for a short while. What would his friends back home think of him attempting to burn himself out? Sasuke couldn't be reckless, he needed to have a fresh body and mind for the next mission. His body could only survive on the few soldier pills he had for so long.

'Right. . .' Sasuke thought with a tired sigh, and went to leave the room. "Prepare a mission for me when I come back later on." He could sleep for an hour, then Roman would find a series of stores or unlucky airships for him to rob. . . at the same time.

But for now, some sleep would do some good.

---

'438. . . 439. . .440,' the Uchiha mentally counted the amount of pull ups during the afternoon, while using one of the monkey bars located in a playground of the ruined underground city. His eyes twitched in annoyance as he continued, '498- Ignore them- 499. . . 500!' And with that, he dropped down from the bars.

The shirtless Uchiha walked to one of the broken benches, picked up his towel, and used it to get rid of the sweat that coated him. He looked around him, and saw Neopolitan smiling away with that far off look in her eyes while absently twirling her umbrella. Every time he went to exercise, she was always there watching him, but her mind was elsewhere.

But not only her as Sasuke could see small lens flares from the windows of the surrounding buildings. When the White Fang women weren't with him in his training classes, they would take the opportunity to watch, or photograph, the dashing Uchiha glisten with sweat some more.

As he heard them mention around the base far too often.

And this situation started happening ever since he came to Mount Glenn. Fortunately for his fans here, this was the only semi-intact playground for him to use for physical training, so they knew where to find him. And unfortunately for the ninja, he had to give conscious effort to ignore their lustful eyes. He didn't have to use the Human Path to know what they were thinking.

'Would the Human Path even work on Faunus?' he pondered, then shook his head. 'Absorbing people's souls may not be well received. . . especially for experimentation.' He would use it if it was needed, but such a situation never came up.

He often wondered if it was actually the soul being absorbed, or rather the entire manifestation of the person's Chakra, or if it was actually the soul but it passed through the Rinnegan user as proxy before it headed to the afterlife. It was of the few interesting questions about these archaic eyes that could never be answered.

"What news do you bring, Neo?" Sasuke asked as he put his shirt back on. This woman was devious, and would always have something of importance to mention when he called her out. As if to say 'I have news to tell you, but I didn't want to bother your exercising', and it would've been convincing if she wasn't eyeing him the entire time.

It seemed that even Neopolitan had hormones. . . Or just an overactive imagination of fighting with Sasuke by her side. At least, he assumed it was by her side.

"Hmmm?" she sounded while snapping back to reality. "Roman wants to talk to you by the train." Sasuke knew that she could have simply called him on his Scroll, but Neo liked to be Neo.

It had been a week since the flop of his mission at Vale, and the Uchiha spent most of that time stealing Dust left and right from multiple cities. Torchwick said that the jobs were meant to be focused in Vale, but they needed to steal from other places to keep the Uchiha employed.

Sasuke nodded to Neo. "Let's go then," he said, then looked to where the windows where the Faunus women 'spying' on him were. 'It would be best to increase the intensity of their training regimen. . . again.' He could punish them in his own way, and even get paid to do it.

"What's new on Vale?" the Uchiha asked as he walked by his companion's side. "Surely there have been updates since the mission." An explosion at the CCT tower wasn't something simple or normal.

Shrugging, Neo replied, "well, they know it wasn't you who caused the explosion at the tower. That girl, Blake, certainly affirmed that for you." Then she giggled a bit. "It turns out it was one of the students who caused it. A blonde girl named Yang, who claimed that she was chasing 'Sasuke' into the CCT." She left Cinder's involvement out.

That confirmed Sasuke's third party theory, but was somewhat surprised that Yang turned out to be the cause for the explosion within an important building like the CCT tower. It certainly fit her style, though.

The Uchiha shook his head. 'She should've been more careful,' he thought. And not only because he would have been able to kidnap Blake if the brawler had been more cautious. "So no new action from the authorities had been taken?"

"I was told that half of the Atlesian force left Vale and headed back home recently, but that's about it," Neopolitan replied as they neared where the train was placed. "Can't imagine why. . ." It might be because of the increased Gaara sightings throughout Vale.

Sasuke had been in a bit of overdrive these past few days, feeling that he was cheated out of his Dust by fate, and that he had to make up for his loss.

Finding Roman by the train, berating the Faunus for doing the jobs in an inefficient fashion, he called out, "Roman, do you have a mission for me?" Considering the overdrive, he had been meeting constantly with Roman, who always had a new mission in hand.

Torchwick turned away from Perry, whoever he was, and began addressing the ninja. "Are you the real deal or a clone?" he asked. There was one time where he met four Sasukes merely minutes apart asking for a job, and it was a very weird and confusing experience.

"I'm the original," he answered simply, to which Roman sighed in relief. "Is there something else you have for me?" Another mission would be nice, even though he was to train the troops today as his current job. All his clones had done their latest jobs, so he could take on a few more.

Pointing towards the train behind him, the man in the bowler hat said, "until the time comes for it to leave, you're gonna be protecting the train and its contents."

The Uchiha took a good long look at the massive train. He hadn't seen trains in his own world for transport like Remnant's, besides the one that tried to kill him and his team in Land of Snow, but the one in front of him was much larger than that of Yukigakure's.

Hopefully, this one had less nefarious intentions against him.

"When will it leave?" Sasuke asked. If he's gonna be on the clock to protect some old train, he might as well know how long he's going to get paid for.

Roman looked thoughtful and rubbed his chin in thought, then finally said, "probably in a few d-" He was interrupted when an explosion shook the earth beneath his and everyone else's feet. "What the hell was that!?" he exclaimed.

There was another rumble, but this one was followed by gunfire from somewhere within the underground city.

Unsealing his sword, the shinobi placed the sheathed blade back in its proper position, ready to be used on whoever gets in his way. Sasuke spent no time to activate his Sharingan, but saw nothing but bullets flying through the air in the distance.

"Sir!" shouted one of the Fang member, who was pushing the radio deeper into his ear to listen. "It's the Atlesians, they're attacking the base!"

Well, it seemed that half of the fleet that went home had another place in mind. Sasuke could only guess how they found out about the hideout in Mount Glenn, but he could ponder the 'how' at a later date, when they weren't being raided.

"Everybody, move out!" Sasuke heard Roman shout out an order, and then berated a Faunus for the train not being completely ready. Then he leapt onto the train, and looked to the mercenary. "You too, get on the train."

It probably would have been better if the Uchiha stayed back to hold them off, then regroup with Torchwick's group later, but apparently, the cargo was that important.

Sasuke heard the gunfire drawing closer, so he and Neo jumped onto the train just as it began moving into the tunnel. Last he heard, the tunnel was closed off by debris, but it seemed the White Fang cleared it out if these people were confident in going in with a train. Not exactly a good idea if a dead end was all that awaited them.

Unbeknownst to the ones in the train, four students and a professor discreetly jumped on top of the massive vehicle. Thanks to the White Fang concentrating on the Atlesian forces, these five were able to sneak around the insurgents and find the wanted fugitives, Sasuke Uchiha and Roman Torchwick.

Back in the train, the ninja saw White Fang people moving around crates and barrels. He didn't bother asking what made this cargo so important, it wasn't his place to question orders, but that didn't stop the small nag in his mind of something was not quite right.

"Keep moving the crates," Sasuke heard as he passed the Lieutenant ordering his troops. Whatever was in these boxes, they must have been important enough to hire the mercenary and have the leading officer in the area here to protect it.

Just when he was leaving the car to the next, the Uchiha noticed two masked Faunus move a large, wired-up device on top of the crates the others moved. He didn't get a good look at it, but his instincts didn't like it.

Every car Sasuke, Neo, and Roman passed were the same, where large crates were stacked on top of each other, except the open car that held a few of the Paladins.

When they entered the driver's car, the thief asked aloud to the crew operating and driving the train, "what's the situation back at Mount Glenn?"

"The Atlesians took control of the city, sir," the masked woman at the comms said without turning around. "We're on our own for-" She suddenly went quiet, which was not usually something good. "Huntsmen on the back of train!" she shouted and relayed what a few guards reported.

That disgruntled Roman. Dealing with soldiers were easy, but Hunters were another thing entirely. "Then decouple the cargo and detonate," he ordered.

'Detonate?' the Uchiha repeated in his mind with raised brows. 'What is this cargo?' When he turned to address it, he saw that Roman ordered Neo to go back and guard one of the cars, who nodded then vanished in a flash of light. "Roman, what's in this train?"

The thief looked to him and said simply, "bombs. We're gonna open a way for-" He stopped talking when one of the train cars that were decoupled exploded, shaking the cab they were in.

Sasuke, not liking what he heard from Roman and the sound, peered out one of the windows, ignored the wind whipping his hair, and saw a large hole in the tunnel's ceiling. Dropping down from the hole, a large amount of Grimm of varying species. And he knew this was only one of many explosions to come.

There were more than enough cars connected to this train.

Pulling his head back inside, Sasuke peered his Sharingan eyes to Roman again, who had his back turned to talk with the one at the comms. He asked again, "what are the bombs for, Roman?"

Torchwick didn't even look back. "We're paving way for Grimm to get into the center of Vale," he said evenly, like it was obvious. "Now go to the cars in the back and stop the Huntsman from reaching here."

Sasuke remembered then the promise of destroying Konoha and the ones responsible for Itachi's death within it, disregarding everything else for the sake of his justice, for his revenge.

For his obsession, he would destroy a whole village and people's livelihood for what he perceived was justice. Today, he still didn't like the elders for what they've done with Itachi, they were a constant reminder whenever he saw them. But if the last Uchiha followed the urge to kill them, would he fall deeper and develop the urge to destroy Konoha as well?

"No," Sasuke replied resolutely. He would steal Dust even from the poorest child, he would mutilate those who impeded him, he would kill anybody that got in his way. . . but he won't be the cause for a nationwide mass murder, especially in a world where if people escaped to outside the walls, they would be doomed regardless.

He wouldn't just be destroying Vale if allowed his, Sasuke would be destroying a fourth of an entire civilization. Much larger than simply destroying one of the many villages back in his own world. 'Could I say that I killed an entire kingdom to rejoin them? Would they accept me still?'

If he followed through, every time he saw his family back home, Sasuke would also see the thousands on top of thousands of the lives he was involved in ruining. This was something Naruto, and Kakashi specifically, would see, and one that they will find out if they were persistent enough. From the Uchiha himself, no less.

"Wait, what?" Roman said as he whipped his head to the ninja's direction in shock, having never heard of him refusing a command. "Hey, if you want to get your Dust, you better follow orders."

The two Faunus, comms officer and driver, in there with them were also surprised, as both had been on missions with Sasuke, and both of them knew how efficient the Uchiha liked to be. Especially how effective and loyal he was to the job he was given.

The shinobi stepped forward, approaching closer the thief, who had gripped Melodic Cudgel. "No," Sasuke said again. Another explosion of a train car shook the floor. "Of all the jobs you have given me, I can't allow you to succeed with this one, Roman. And as for the Dust. . ."

Eyeing the ninja, Roman asked, "what're- Agh!" He was slammed into the back with Uchiha's hand around his throat.

Just then Sasuke heard two distinct clicks of guns cocking. He was expecting the two Faunus to resist, so with electric Chakra in his muscles speeding up his reflexes, he unsealed a kunai, empowered it with wind, slashed the throat of the comms officer nearest to him, and threw it towards the head of the driver, piercing through the mask.

"Now that we're alone," Sasuke began, glaring at Roman, but was interrupted when gurgling and choking sounds were heard. When he looked to the source, it was the Faunus responsible for communication on the floor, who tore her mask away in attempt to help what breathing she was still capable of. 'Claire. . .'

Roman took this distraction as an opportunity shoot a Dust round at the controls, disabling any way to stop this speeding behemoth. His smirk of stopping the ninja was met with a fast, augmented fist to his temple, knocking him out quickly.

Turning back to his former assistant on the ground, seeing that it was indeed her. That brown hair and frightened brown eyes belonged to no other. She wheezed for air while grasping the bleeding gash to futilely stop the flow of blood going down her throat, drowning her lungs in her own blood. She turned her scared eyes to the ninja, her former boss, her eyes begged him for help.

Sasuke unsealed another knife, which widened her tearing eyes further, knowing well what would happen. He didn't have time to throw her in the King of Hell on this speeding train, which was emphasized with another explosion, so he ignored the arm she raised to stop him, imbued the kunai with electric Chakra to make it quick and painless as possible.

And that was it, a single throw of the knife between her eyes, and Claire was no longer suffering. Her muscles stiffened as the electric Chakra coursed through her body, then she went limp. And that was the end of it all.

With a sigh, Sasuke dropped the unconscious Roman from his grasp, and unsealed ninja wire to tie him up. He would need him alive to take the Dust he needed. The Uchiha only hoped that this last ditch one-shot would end his time on Remnant and return him to his home, without the need to slaughter countless civilians and the destruction of a whole kingdom.

The Uchiha heard the door to his car open, and an ever familiar feminine angry voice stated, "I thought I'd find you here." How could he forget this woman from his time at Beacon.

Without turning to look, Sasuke greeted, "hello, Coco."

This time, the Uchiha did turn to see the person who entered the driver's car. Indeed, she looked angry, then she looked around to see two still-bleeding corpses, and an unconscious Roman Torchwick. "You've been busy, haven't you?" she rhetorically asked, gripping her handbag tighter, ready for a fight.

"I will be, that is for certain," he replied casually. "I need to stop this train, Coco. So don't get in my way." He didn't doubt that she wanted that as well, but he wondered if she would even listen to a criminal. He wanted to try, at least.

The fashionista eyed him carefully, making sure not to look at his red eyes. Looking him in the eye made a lot of problems, as the statements from those effected had indicated. "Why should I believe you?" she retorted unpleasantly. "You know what you did."

"I do, and I will take responsibility for it," he replied simply with a half-truth. "Now are you going to attempt to stop me, or do you want to stop this caboose that will be the cause of many people's deaths?" His statement was again emphasized by another explosion, which made another hole to bring more Grimm into the tunnel.

When he stopped the train from bringing in Grimm to massacre the people of Vale, then that would count as taking responsibility in Sasuke's book, but he didn't plan on being arrested. In fact, he didn't plan on staying in Remnant for more than twelve hours now.

She kept eyeing him, doing her best to see if he was lying, but she simply couldn't find an indication that he was. ". . . If you run away afterwards, I'm not gonna stop chasing you," Coco coldly told the Uchiha, who simply nodded and relived a familiar memory from back home.

"Where are the controls?" she asked Sasuke, who pointed towards the destroyed equipment, which had her scowl. "Then do you have a plan?" She loosened her grip on her weapon, but stayed ready for anything the traitor could do against her if he suddenly became aggressive.

Well, he didn't think that far ahead just yet, but he had a few ideas that could be used. "I need to get topside," he told her. "Now would be best."

It was Coco's turn to nod. "Alright, we can collect my team while we're on our way, and even professor Port if he's up there still," she stated. "Might even help you, too." Unlikely, but the thought was appreciated. She stepped aside for the Uchiha to pass through the door. "You stay in front of me. I don't trust you just yet."

Sasuke had the urge to roll his eyes, but didn't act on it. He took up her offer and walked forward through the doors first, but not before he looked to Claire's dead body one more time.

He wanted to apologize, but that would mean he regretted killing her, that he would avoid it if there was a second chance. But he couldn't, he would end her life again if it was required of him. He only regretted that the Faunus was on that side while he was on the other, his own side.

It was ironic. The Uchiha took Claire when the mission in Vale was botched instead of Blake because he chose comrades over the mission, just like how Kakashi had taught him. But now, he had to kill that very same person for the reason of saving a whole kingdom. Where that would fit in Kakashi's code, Sasuke wasn't sure.

She was a master technician and loyal to the cause for equality, even to her last dying breath. He muttered a silent goodbye and thanks for her help, and with that, it was the last he would ever see of Claire Durand.

Walking through the door first, the Uchiha had to ask, "how did you find the base?"

Coco, while still alert if the ninja would try anything, answered, "can't tell you that, because we were only told to join the Atlesian force to get you." Which was true. Plus, they didn't ask how Ozpin knew the information, team CFVY were merely told to accompany Peter Port and assist in the raid of Mount Glenn.

And when they heard that Sasuke might be there, the team leader and the Faunus member became strangely driven to accept this mission from their headmaster. The mission itself was to join the fleet, and bring in Sasuke if possible. So it was a pleasant surprise when they found a few kunai around on the ground of the aboveground city, possibly a week-old from the dust these knives collected.

Sasuke just nodded. He hadn't really expected information from Coco to begin with, but it didn't hurt to try. Ozpin possibly knew a bit more than he let on, also. But he left further investigation about that for a much later time.

The closer they got to the other car, the louder both Coco and Sasuke heard metal on metal striking one another, but with the added sound of a motor.

Entering the next car, the Uchiha found Fox and the Lieutenant fighting one another, both of their weapons locked onto each other, neither giving the other leverage. But when the redhead reared his free arm for a punch, the more experienced insurgent used the shift of weight of his opponent and made him stumble forward.

And as the Faunus descended his chainsaw towards his opponent, he was suddenly kicked in the side of the head by the ninja, and was kicked away from his striking his opponent. The attack sent him flying to the other side of the car.

Shaking the spots away and looking forward, the White Fang Lieutenant became infuriated from the attacker. "Uchiha," he said as though it was poison, and stood back up with his weapon still in hand. "You would betray us this far into the mission? Can't say I'm surprised from a mercenary."

He wasn't wrong, per se, since a merc's loyalty was only dependable as far as he was paid, but this wasn't about money or Dust. "You're right, Lieutenant," the Uchiha said, drawing his sword from its sheath. "You shouldn't be surprised, but you should be concerned." He pointed the tip of his blade towards the large Faunus. "Especially if you were to get in my way. Move, I have a place I need to be."

Instead of replying, the large man revved up his weapon, eliciting a loud noise of the engine. "Traitors of the White Fang have only one place to go," he said threateningly.

"Except I am not of the White Fang," the ninja replied, then looked to the two of team CFVVFY behind him. Coco helped Fox up, and stood away the fight that was about to take place. The Uchiha turned back to his opponent, and clarified, "I never was. Only a sword for hire, as I always was." And that was true outside of Remnant, as well.

"Are you going to fight me and die?" the ninja asked, sword beginning to glow a pale blue color from the lightning Chakra empowering it. "Or will you run away and live." He never fought with the Lieutenant, but he was confident that he could handle a simple brute.

The Faunus gave an angry growl, enraged in the fact that he knew he would mostly likely lose, especially when he remembered the story of his fight with the Atlesian specialist. But more than that, this child in front of him believed so as well.

Gritting his teeth, the Lieutenant brought his weapon to bear. "Come, Uchiha, and let me show you what we do to your kind!" he shouted, allowing this child the first move, more so because the Faunus' back was at the wall, so he couldn't be attacked him from behind. He knew the mercenary was rather fond of that style.

Sasuke only raised a single brow at that, but surprised everyone when he sheathed Kusanagi back in its place. His intimidation didn't really work. "Are you underestimating me, boy!?" the White Fang insurgent yelled angrily. The Uchiha didn't answer, merely went to seals and stuck his right arm across his chest.

Coco was confused why the shinobi put away his sword, but that changed to a low whistle when his hand became coated with lightning, sparking violently while lighting up the area with its pale blue light, and the noise of thousands of birds chirping filled the room.

Looking towards the insurgent, noticing the relative short range between each other, Sasuke said, "Chidori Senbon." And whipped his hand horizontally, sending a rain of electrical needles towards his opponent.

This surprised the large man, catching him off-guard, and brought his weapon to block what he could, but his bulky and muscled body could only move so fast, and blocked only the bare minimum possible. "Gah!" he exclaimed reflexively as needles struck his body, turning him into pin cushion, unaware of the numbing effect these had. He also wasn't aware that only a few struck since most were blocked by his Aura shields before it broke.

The Lieutenant wanted to drop his guard and eye the ninja, but was incapable when his body wouldn't respond to his command. Each electric needle that hit him kept fluctuating an electric charge, paralyzing the nerve spots of the few these needles were embedded in.

"Stay there, Lieutenant," the Uchiha said as he began walking past the paralyzed Faunus. "I'm certain that many people would be interested in having you imprisoned, and I intend to trade you in for a pardon." That last statement was a lie since he won't be in Remnant long enough, but it was more so to anger the irritating man.

The statement succeeded in enraging the Faunus, as his muscles were flexing in effort release himself from his acupuncture-like binds, only managing an angry, animalistic growl thanks to the senbon on the side of his neck. Sasuke was unaware of the Aura that was slowly being gathered for one large pulse to remove the electric needles. But it would take time, long after the Uchiha left.

Turning back to look at the two of team CFVY standing by the door, and noticed the neutral look of Fox, and the rather impressed look of Coco's. "Come on," he told them dryly. "Unless you want this train to reach Vale." Sasuke didn't mind people admiring his work, but it wasn't the time to be surprised.

Coco blinked, then huffed, then looked to him with a small smirk. "I swear you're the same no matter what," she said, then looked to her teammate. "Let's get going, Fox." The other member of CFVY nodded, and followed his leader.

He didn't wait for them, Sasuke continued on his way with knowledge the two were behind him. Both of which were watching him closely if he tried anything, even though he knew that he could leave them at any moment of any given time. Whether they knew that also was irrelevant.

Nearing the car where more sounds of fighting was taking place, the Uchiha prepared to fight the only other combatant worth mentioning on this train, Neopolitan. Now this one was going to be vastly different compared to the brute force type of fighter the Lieutenant was, since Neo was more of a ninja than most of who he had met on Remnant.

That was beside the point of her being completely unpredictable at times, but the Sharingan should help him in that aspect. And if needed, the Rinnegan if her illusions were being finicky. He hadn't actually tried to see if the Rinnegan made him immune against Aura-based illusions, so a trial by fire was in order.

The closer they came to the next car they were about to enter, again, they heard sounds of combat. But not the same metal on metal he heard when he interrupted Fox's fight with the Lieutenant.

As he entered the car before the two behind him, Sasuke saw Neo fighting with her sword against Velvet, who was kicking and dodging what she could. And he had to admit, the Faunus, who was without a weapon, was doing rather well with keeping up with the small woman. Possibly because they were both agility-based fighters.

"Neo," the Uchiha called out, which brought him the attention of both of the fighting women. One looked to him with surprise, and the other with a small smile, thinking he took care of the ones who passed her.

"Hmm?" the fashionista sounded as she entered the car after the ninja, and saw how the fight between Velvet and shorty stopped dead in its tracks. But more so, was the shock on the small woman's face when she saw the two of team CFVY alive and well. "Whose winning?"

Neo looked to her 'friend' with a hope for an explanation, but only received a shake of his head. She wouldn't get an explanation or excuse, it's clear what was happening.

Taking out his sword, the Uchiha was ready to fight her, but was surprised when his former companion merely sheathed her own blade, and leaned on the wall in a relaxed stance.

"Where you go, I go," Neopolitan said in a rare moment of loyalty. "After all, we are friends." The way she said that sounded a lot more sinister than it should be. Whether she was still loyal to the employer and meant to spy on him or was actually on the Uchiha's side, he wasn't sure, but the Sharingan caught no sign of lying, as odd as it was.

After a few short seconds of contemplation, Sasuke nodded, which brought a nice, and seemingly, innocent smile from his pink-haired comrade.

"Uh, what just happened?" Velvet asked in her confusion, while still in her own battle stance. Could a fight seriously end with so few words? Even though the Uchiha only called out a name once.

"I'm not exactly sure, but I think Sasuke here has this little girl as a new friend," Coco said with mild surprise. This young'un certainly didn't seem like friendship material compared to the ninja's character.

Neo looked like she wanted to reply, but was silenced by the small glare Sasuke had given her and mouthed 'quiet', wary of what this little sociopath might say to ruin things. So instead of saying anything, she only made the motion of zipping her mouth. Hopefully, she'd stay quiet until this whole thing blows over.

"I would rather not prolong this any further," the Uchiha said, and brought the attention back to him. He looked to Coco and stated, "unless more of your teammates is on this train, I think it's time to continue."

The fashionista shook her head. "Yatsuhashi's with Port above the train, holding off the White Fang from coming in and stopping us," she replied, to which Sasuke nodded, accepting her answer.

Waiting, the ninja motioned for Neo to walk in front of him, in order to keep an eye on her if she tried in anything crafty. If she knew that, she didn't say or do anything to indicate so, and walked ahead of him to the gap between the cars.

"Sasuke," he heard Velvet call for him before he followed Neo, and turned to see what she wanted. "Are you on our side or theirs?" She sounded hopeful, but also cautious at the same time. So far, team CFVY had the right mindset when dealing with the shinobi, or any shinobi for that matter.

You can trust them on certain moments, but always question their loyalty regardless of the help they give. They lie, cheat, steal, and kill, so one must never trust a ninja fully.

His red eyes peering into the Faunus' brown, and stated, "for me, there is only one side I am on." She didn't look pleased with that answer, maybe even a little disheartened. "However, as of this moment, we both share the same goal." Her drooped ears rose quite a bit at that statement. "What you think of me after today, Velvet, may change again at one point in the near future."

And with that, the Uchiha turned to continue on his way, leaving a more content rabbit Faunus behind. "I bet you liked that he said your name," Coco quipped wryly from behind her teammate, to which Fox nodded silently in agreement.

"S-Shut up!" Velvet demanded embarrassedly, not willing to agree with her statement. "I'm just glad he isn't as bad people make him out to be."

The team leader just shrugged in response. "Whatever you say, Velvet," she said casually, ignoring her defense, even though she was also glad that it seemed to be the case, even if not fully. "Let's just get going."

Following their team leader's order, they followed her outside, where there was a gap between the cars. She saw both Sasuke and his little friend waiting for them outside.

"I would have thought you went ahead of us," Coco commented through the wind whipping past them. "Or, you know, run away."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at that second one. "If you weren't with us, I doubt Port or Yatsuhashi would believe me to mean them no harm," he replied. They would most likely think that he killed the ones who were in the train, so he was forced to wait a few precious seconds if he wanted the meeting with his former professor and the remaining member of CFVY to go civilly.

". . . Good point," the fashionista replied, coming to the same conclusion as the Uchiha. "Alright then, up you go." She pointed towards the ladder beside them, but he ignored it and leapt up to the roof of the train, with Neo following shortly after. "Show off. . ."

Above the train, Sasuke could see Peter port standing guard with Yatsuhashi by his side, both with their backs turned facing the back of the train, and keeping an eye on any Fang insurgents. He then looked to his side, seeing Neo smiling away quietly. The Uchiha didn't know for sure why she was so silent all of a sudden, but he wasn't complaining.

"Hey, Yatsuhashi, Professor Port!" Coco called out from behind the ninja, with the other two of CFVY behind her, three of them finally climbed up the ladder to the roof of the fast moving train.

Both of the infiltration group looked to the fashionista, and widened their eyes at the sight of two rather distinct individuals, one specifically known for being the enemy.

So when Port readied his weapon to shoot, Coco got in his line of sight and waved for his attention. "Whoa whoa, hold on Professor!" she shouted quickly. "He's on our side." She left the 'almost' part out, but it wasn't a lie if the Uchiha was to be believed; which she kinda did.

Port kept his weapon aimed, even at his student. "How do I know your actually my students, and not some disguised copy of the Uchiha's?" he said accusingly when he saw three of his students, but didn't want to risk shooting if it was indeed her. His accusation had the large student beside him grip his sword harder, ready for a fight.

'Because I could have killed you with your backs turned,' the Uchiha thought, and believed it sounded reasonable, but kept quiet about it.

Coco actually gave it some thought, then looked to Yatsuhashi. "I know you like flexing your muscles when girls give you attention," she said, which had the large young man splutter in indignation. Then she looked to her teacher and stated, "and you attempted to flirt with me in my first year." It was one of those memories that just wouldn't leave her no matter how much she tried.

The professor scrunched up his face, and a few moments of silence followed. "Ha ha!" Peter suddenly shouted in jubilation and lowered his weapon. "It is indeed you, my fine student!"

If he was anybody else, Sasuke would have face faulted at the casual acceptance of sexual harassment. Not only that, but apparently, that was all it took to convince this experienced and veteran Huntsman that Coco was actually Coco.

"Now then, Coco," Peter began. "What is this I hear about Sasuke Uchiha being on our side?" He made sure to keep an eye on the ninja, in case he was up to anything. Especially that small woman by his side.

The fashionista sighed in relief. "He wants to stop the train, just like we do," she informed to the professor, who nodded, but took her words with a grain of salt. Then she turned to the ninja. "You have a plan, though, right?" Stopping a train this massive at this speed with busted controls wasn't exactly easy for team CFVY.

He was about to respond, but was cut off when he felt Neo tug on his shirt. When the Uchiha looked to her for an explanation, she pointed towards what was in front of the train, and saw something extremely worrisome, a dead end. And the train they were on wasn't slow in the least, so it was approaching rather quickly. And the others also followed his line of sight, causing them to gasp from how close the end was.

Neither of them knew they were that close. None of them knew the train was even going that fast and were nearing Vale. But thanks to his Sharingan's increased perception, it was possibly less than a minute away from collision. Sasuke needed to act fast if he were to save all of Vale.

"All of you hold on as tightly as possible," he said quickly to the group he was with, not tearing his sight away from the wall they were about to collide with, and sighed. "I have a plan I must enact alone." He really hated the idea he came with.

"What're you plan-" Port stopped his question when the Uchiha vanished from sight. "Where did he go!?" he shouted, but then Neo, again, pointed forward ahead of the train. ". . . Oh no." Sasuke was a distance away from the head of the train, halfway of the distance that was left.

"What is he doing!?" Velvet exclaimed in fright. "He's going to get himself killed!" That sentiment was shared by the others. . . except one.

Neopolitan took out her sword and stabbed the metal roof, and then held on for dear life. Coco looked to her, then to her teammate, Yatsuhashi, who was staring back at her for instructions. Instead, Coco merely pointed towards the small woman, and nodded to her teammate, who nodded back and shoved his blade deep into the metal roof.

"Velvet, Fox, hang on to Yatsu," she ordered, and they followed, the three gripping what they could of their large friend's armor. "Professor, I think you can handle yourself, can't you?"

"Hmph, who do you think I am?" Peter said and axed the floor with his weapon, equally giving it the tightest grip he could. "I have survived worse situations, I assure you." Coco wasn't sure to believe that, but didn't rebuke, since she focused on holding on to her teammate.

Ahead of the train, stood the ninja with closed eyes, with a repeated thought coming to mind, 'I hate this plan.' He had to face a multi-hundred-ton train with momentum that was impossible to measure back in his home world head on.

The Rinnegan's Deva Path was out of the question; he didn't have the time to gather the Chakra needed to push away something that heavy and possessed that much force. If he had a minute, then he possibly could, but he only had a handful of seconds before this behemoth of a train struck him.

So he saw only one solution that had a chance of succeeding. One that didn't involve simple nature manipulation, but one that he achieved after much pain and suffering.

After finally opening his eyes, revealing the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan filled with determination. With the familiar pain of his whole body, Sasuke Uchiha shouted, "Susano'o!"