Greetings and salutations! I have emerged from the depths of a 104 degree fever to finish this chapter one day late. I posted on my pa+reon to let those who check know that, but I couldn't really post on here since I found out that non-story chapters (even if they're temporary) are supposedly a big nono.

I came into a glut of time and have begun to board out all of F&C a little more clearly. As such, I will be releasing chapters as I write them (that means no schedule) on my pa+reon for the time being. Thank you all who have supported me on that site as well as those of you who are commenting along. I've read just about every comment on this fic at least ten times over and have responded to quite a few people as well. Funnily enough the people I've messaged rarely message me back XD

When I combined the fact that I spent a little longer on Red and White than I originally intended with the fact that I wanted the Cinder bit to be sufficiently lengthy I ended up feeling the need to split them into two separate chapters. Assuming God doesn't smite me with a second plague you'll be seeing the next chapter on Sunday as normally scheduled.

The Coverart was drawn by artist Moonlight. If you'd like to see your art featured please send it in to me!

Chapter 24

Chaperone

Did the laws of dibs not apply anymore?

Like, okay, maybe it was a little childish to assume that just because she saw him first that meant he'd be her best friend. Even if it was immature it was just barely! Really, Ruby swore it was a fair assumption to make. How was it possible that she was the least close to the first friend she'd made at Beacon?!

He swooped in like some sort of fairytale knight to save her from a spazzed out Weiss. If life was a storybook that should have meant they'd have been fast friends already! The fact that they weren't was, as Weiss had said about many things already, completely unacceptable! But Ruby Rose was not going to take this affront lying down. Especially not lying face down on her bed, mumbling complaints to no one in particular as her team looked at her like some kind of weirdo. Definitely not that! Well… no more of it at least.

She had resolved herself to confront Naruto about a much-needed session of hanging out, drinking soda with sugar content high enough to render her semblance superfluous, devouring the saltiest of snacks, and video games she'd been playing since she was old enough to realize the controller Yang had been handing her to 'play along' wasn't even plugged in. In essence, it was the picturesque day for two friends to hang out and have the bestest of best times! So of-fricking-course on the morning she went to the NNVR dorm to ask him he wasn't there, nobody was. What a world!

Ruby wasn't going to be deterred by any setbacks. She guessed — correctly she might add — that they were probably doing some Saturday morning training. She felt a small tinge of guilt for not having set up one for her very own team that weekend, but this was important! Plus it wasn't like Naruto trained his team regularly at all, so she was as a model leader in comparison! Kind of. Maybe… ish. Honestly, that was a bit of a stigma with her. Naruto's team, her own team, even a stranger he'd never met would follow him into a thousand grimm if he told them to. She knew her friends would listen to her in a pinch, but that was because they knew her. She didn't have that aura of leadership that Naruto did.

The plan was working. Ever since the docks, Naruto had slowly but surely been returning to an image closer to that of the boy she had first met. Not talking about his past was a small price to pay to have her friend back. Ruby hadn't known what to expect after that dark and rainy night. As harrowing as it had been she should be grateful that everything was going as smoothly as it was. She should be happy that their plan was working and he was becoming friends… with his team… and not her.

So. Flipping. Happy.

So when she returned to their room a few hours later and Ren broke the news Naruto had left again she was a little bit steamed. Ruby asked if they knew when Naruto would be back. It was Pyrrha that responded, saying he was going into Vale with Velvet to get some custom made weaponry. Any jealousy Pyrrha might have been giving off was completely dwarfed by Ruby's sense of total betrayal. Custom made weapons and Ruby Rose practically belonged in the same sentence at all times! Instead of going with her, fellow team leader, same year in Beacon, first friend made at a new school, adorably cute, weapon-obsessed Ruby Rose to shop for weapons he went with his eighth friend?! What the frick?!

She'd had to force herself to calm down at that point. The complete betrayal of her faith aside, if he went with a normal girl like Velvet then weapon shopping shouldn't take all day. She'd just drop by later and they'd adapt her plan for a fun day into a plan for a jam-packed afternoon. Ruby checked again a few hours later, carefully making sure enough time had passed that it wasn't weird that she was checking again. Instead of finding one person more she found two less — Nora and Ren had gone out to train for the second time that day and Naruto was nowhere to be seen.

Ruby wasn't messing around anymore. She asked Pyrrha to tell her the moment Naruto got back. Even if part of the afternoon was gone she would shove so much fun into whatever time was left that Naruto would always want to hang out with her! It turned out that fate, along with a certain red-head, had conspired against her. Pyrrha had not informed her when Naruto got back. A fact that Ruby only found out when she went to check their dorm for the fourth time, only to find it locked and probably empty of any people. At that point the red reaper had no recourse but to throw her hands in the air, shouting faux-swears as she stomped back to her room, a human-shaped package of grouchiness.

So Saturday was a bust. Okay. She would overcome. Saturday had come and gone and it was now the morning of Sunday. In a completely normal and not at all warranting an explanation way Ruby was peering past the bookshelf she was concealed behind to stare wide-eyed at Naruto. It looked like he was using the library to do some homework. If the multitude of books spread open, surrounding him like a pack of grimm was any indication she'd guess it was Oobleck's class. For all the things he was good at Naruto was almost bad enough at world history to make up for all of them in one fell swoop.

If anyone had been watching her like she had been watching Naruto then Ruby would have pointed out there was nothing weird about what she was doing. She was just a girl attempting to hang out with her friend. Her motives were unimpeachable! Silver orbs tracked every minute movement of her fellow leader. There was no escape this time. Today was going to be the awesome-mega-mostest-fun day he'd ever have!

Until their next one, obviously.

Finally, freedom. Naruto thought to himself as he poured over yet another page of Oobleck's veritable tome of assigned homework. He had to admit that of all the classes he was in that Oobleck's was the most worthwhile. Port's class was useless. Not only was it useless for the obvious reason — that of Port being an indescribably terrible teacher — but also the fact that grimm studies as they were intended to be taught were quite useless to Naruto.

He was fairly interested as to the exact nature of those black creatures. A class that studied them, their habits, their intents or anything like that would have been interesting. The class appeared to be much more pragmatically focused on factoids about grimm that would help you kill them. At least that was what Naruto had gleaned the few times the stars aligned and both Port said something worth saying and Naruto bothered to pay attention. Learning the weaknesses of something that would have difficulty putting a scratch on him if he tied both hands behind his back was a task as thankless as it was pointless.

Learning the history of a world he knew very little about so his secret didn't get outed was laudable in comparison. Naruto couldn't tell whether it was a manifestation of gratitude or revenge that caused Sky to assert himself as his personal history tutor. He was beginning to worry that his lack of knowledge had shifted from funnily dopey to oddly dubious. So Naruto had decided to redouble his efforts into learning the history of his place of residence in his free time. It would be more accurate to say what free time he had.

The kids had been relentless in their desire to spend time with him. Naruto didn't begrudge them for that or wish they'd stop. In a way it was kind of fun playing at being a teenager again; having a day in the library doing homework and chatting with schoolmates being the height of his responsibility was just the vacation he'd originally intended. That didn't change the fact that he was old and used to silence. For reasons beyond his reckoning, his headaches had finally obeyed his request to cease and desist. Far be it from him to look that particular gift horse in the mouth. Near the tail end, they had ceased to be pains of the brain and had begun to enter migraine territory. Whyever they were gone, they would not be missed.

A majority of your life spent sleeping with your back to a tree trunk left one with a penchant for places devoid of any noise past the chittering of insects or the tweeting of birdsong. With Pyrrha occupied with her rendition of the Third Kazekage's Iron Sand Technique, Ren occupied with Baa-chan's signature technique, and Nora occupied with badgering Ren to learn the aforementioned technique as fast as humanly possible Naruto had found himself with the gift of free time for the first time in a week at least. As the mountain of history homework prevented him from enjoying any quiet time enjoying the sound of the breeze through the trees he opted for the sound of quietly shuffling feet and turning pages. Naruto wasn't a book guy by any definition of the term, but he'd take any edge he could get to minimize his chances of being detected.

It hadn't taken him more than ten minutes of being in the library to realize he hadn't minimized them enough. Ruby had tracked him down with the tenacity and ability of one of Kakashi's ninja hounds. For reasons unbeknownst to anyone but the small girl, she had chosen to 'hide' behind a bookcase as she watched him. Naruto was loathe to use the word 'hide' to describe anything the young leader was doing as her hair hanging around the bookcase would have given her away to any dullard as clearly as the blazing intensity of her gaze could be felt on his back. Naruto's ability to sense the energy of a person was an unneeded excess as far as locating the little reaper.

On a positive note, her bizarre form of watchfulness gained him an extra half hour of peace. Some may have found being so obviously watched to be distracting, uncomfortable, or in some way disconcerting. Unsurprisingly after five years of leading his own village, he found a single pair of teenage eyes to be a non-factor. Naruto had given addresses to his people about how they'd provide food, shelter, and water. He had grown used to people looking at him for the answers of how they'd continue to live. That thought turned out to be a slippery slope as he soon found himself daydreaming as he wondered how Aluguard and the rest of the Maelstrom were faring.

"Ummm… Hi!" Naruto wished his peaceful quiet time a fond farewell.

"Hey, Ruby. What are you doing in the library?"

The reaction to what Naruto felt was an overly normal question was itself not remotely normal. "Well I- you know… just here for books! Homework… stuff and things."

Naruto gave her a reassuring smile as he motioned to the seat across from himself. "Well if you want you can do whatever stuff you need to do here. Things as well!" He smirked.

Ruby pouted a bit at the needling tease as she took a seat across from him. For all her claims about books, homework, and stuff there wasn't a single thing she had brought with her that would constitute any of the three. Stuff was vague enough that you could stretch it to mean just about anything, Naruto supposed.

"Are you doing anything after your homework?" Ruby asked. Naruto had been reluctant to address the reaper from her hiding place, loathe to give up what little free time he had managed to find. Looking at her face — full of hope and anticipation — Naruto found it hard to remember why free time had seemed so important minutes ago.

"I was just going to go and train a little bit. If you wanted to do someth-"

"What kind of training do you do?!" Ruby asked with completely unfettered curiosity brimming over her entire being. That had not been the reaction Naruto expected. Not at all.

Ruby wasn't letting herself be distracted from her original plan. The super-awesome-mega-fun day was important! But I mean — who could resist knowing how he trains?! She thought to herself. It was a question in the minds and on the lips of just about everyone, and she meant everyone, in Beacon. He had a strong semblance, strong hand to hand skills, strong weapons skills, strong leadership, and those were just the things they knew about! Strong was just the perfect way to describe him.

Despite being as good as he was no one had ever seen him train at Beacon. Ever. Whenever he trained CRDL he'd just give them things to do and then watch them do it. He'd spent a few weeks avoiding everyone and Ruby assumed he'd been training then. She actually had no idea what Naruto did in his free time. What did he do for fun?

"Physical training and aura control," Naruto responded, a small smile spreading teasingly across his lips as he delivered the completely unsatisfactory answer.

"Well, duh!" Ruby exclaimed. "I meant what do you do to train? Like, specifically?"

"Physical training and aura control."

"Naruuuutttoooooo," Ruby whined and gave the blond her best puppy dog eyes. This was a calculated manipulation honed through more than a decade of being Yang's little sister. Her dad, her sister, the clerk at the candy store, these eyes had plied sweet treats from each and every one more times than Ruby cared to admit.

And Naruto was no exception. "Damnit Ruby," He grumbled. A well-recognized precursor for when her dad prepared to give her the ice cream she'd been begging for. "I do about four hours of push-ups, sit-ups, handstand push-ups, pull-ups and every other type of basic workout you can think of and then meditate for another four to practice controlling my aura. So like I said; Physical training and aura control."

Huh? The single exclamation sufficient in describing Ruby's attempt to grasp what he'd just said. Eight hours of training? Did he mean in a day? Four hours of which was just doing pushups and stuff like that? Nope! That was impossible. Ruby had done push-ups before. She could do a whole twenty before her arms decided they'd rather not be attached to her body and gave out if she dared to attempt twenty-one. Doing those for four hours? Nope! Not possible!

"If you want you could tag along for the first bit and train with me." Naruto offered. "Probably shouldn't stay for the entire time. It's a bit long for a normal person." Someone like Pyrrha would have taken that as a challenge. Ruby might have too if the challenge had been anything remotely reasonable. Four hours of something she barely did four minutes of? She was perfectly content noping all the way to Nopeville.

That didn't mean she was going to give up a chance to see how he trained. "Sure! Should we meet up by the track?" Ruby had heard from Cardin when they hung out at the library that they did all their training in the outdoor track and field area.

"I actually have a special place I train." Naruto confided in her. At least it felt like a secret to Ruby — a special place to train? "It's a bit too far to travel if you're joining up. Why don't we meet at the edge of the Emerald Forest? By the launch pads?"

Ruby couldn't agree fast enough. Finally, they were going to hang out! She'd take a brief detour from the super-mega-awesome-special fun day to see what voodoo magic training he did. After that, there would not be a force on Remnant that could stop her from dragging him to the RWBY dorm to play video games and all the rest.

"Well, I still need to finish all this homework before I head out. You okay to meet there in two hours?" Right. He was in the middle of being surrounded on all sides by the vicious history homework. Ruby decided that there were some battles he would have to fight on his own. It was a selfless decision, not at all influenced by the fact that she'd been avoiding homework herself and wanted to keep that bliss as long as possible.

"Yup! Is there anything I need to bring with me other than Crescent Rose?"

"I'd bring some water and maybe a snack. I don't know how long you'll be staying. Worst case you can always just head back to Beacon if you get hungry, thirsty, or bored. I don't intend to stray too far from the perimeter and risk running into any grimm."

"Alright!" Ruby's voice was more than a bit too loud for a library, but nobody was there to say anything about it. "This is going to be awesome!" She was already shifting the schedule in her head to make sure the super-mega-awesome-special-yougetthepoint fun day would still be a go. She'd ask him as soon as she'd finished impressing him with feats of prowess not related to the dreaded push-ups. Maybe she'd even figure out if he was actually faster than her! Not that she was worried about that or anything…

She waved goodbye as she skipped out of the library back to her dorm. She'd grab her water bottle and let her team know what was going on before heading out. She had to make sure she warmed up perfectly to put her best foot forward! No way could she let anything mess up today!

It's going to be perfect! Ruby smiled at no one as she resisted the urge to use her semblance through the hallway. Finally, a day with her first friend!

"Going to be honest here," Naruto said as he eyed her dubiously. "You weren't the shorty I was expecting."

A reluctant sigh was accompanied by a shaking of her head. "Please believe me when I say that this was in no way how I intended to spend my Sunday afternoon. I was rather much looking forward to some much needed quiet time."

"Ruby roped you into this?" Naruto asked, a bit puzzled.

"Not so much." She admitted. "Ruby dropped by our room and told us that she would be heading out to the forest, alone, with a boy. Quite obviously not what she said, yet equally obvious that it was what Yang had heard. So she demanded that Ruby be chaperoned."

Naruto chuckled at Yang's sisterly protectiveness, unnecessary though it was. "Still not sure where you come into this."

"I'm more worried that Yang would be in need a chaperone than her sister." Naruto opened his mouth as he held up a finger to protest on behalf of his fellow blonde. A few seconds passed as he really thought about it. The result of her findings had him lowering his hand and closing his mouth. "Exactly."

"Well, thanks for sacking your Sunday for this Weiss. I'm sure Ruby appreciates it too."

The heiress shook her head. "Compared to what it could be this is a worthwhile endeavor. Ruby told me this whole venture was to the end of seeing how you trained?"

"You're welcome to train with me." Naruto offered readily. Weiss could understand that. Being watched while you trained could be uncomfortable at the best of times. "Where is Ruby? I can't tell if I'm less surprised she's late or more surprised she wasn't here an hour early asking to get started."

Weiss' attempt at indignification on her partner's behalf came out as more of a smug, tight-lipped smile. "Yet another thing you can thank me for. It took her all of fifteen minutes of arriving back and telling us what was going on before she was ready to drag an obliging Yang along to the library to see if you couldn't leave 'just a little early'."

"I owe you one," Naruto admitted as he massaged the bridge of his nose. Weiss' lack of laughter did not signify an absence of amusement. She smiled and patted him a solitary time on the shoulder.

"Please believe me; I know how much of a handful that pair of sisters is. You have my deepest condolences for managing to attract both of their attention." Weiss consoled him with seriousness you'd expect of someone delivering a person their last rites. The dryness of the delivery was enough to make Naruto's eyes sparkle as he laughed, giving her a light slap on the back in the process.

"Be nice to them. You'll be teammates for your entire life." Weiss believed she had talked to more people over the years than anyone on her team. When you combined the massive volume of forced association with the exact type of people she was forced to associate with you achieved a perfect recipe for someone who could recognize a meaningful statement hidden in the innocuity. Too often did some well-off CEO spend copious amounts of time buttering her up with conversation only to then remember they had failed to introduce her to their son. Miraculously the male heir to their company was always a bachelor. Fancy that.

Weiss realized what he'd said was important to him, even if the exact specifics of why it was so escaped her. She didn't have enough information to do something as definitive as deducing the meaning behind his words. That being said she was more than confident she was well informed enough for an educated abduction. She knew that he'd been on a team prior to Nevermore. She knew he considered them his friends. It wouldn't be too much of a leap to draw from what she'd seen in his behavior to say he considered them his best friends. It might explain why he seemed hesitant to form bonds with his own team initially. Weiss didn't think that was all there was to the bizarre coldness that frosted over him at times, but it seemed probable enough that it may be a contributing factor.

She was confident enough in stating that his choice of words confirmed that his old team was very important to him. So much so that he would go as far as to say one's team is for life. That begged the question… "You'll have to introduce your old team to us sometime. I'd be interested in meeting anyone who was capable of working alongside such a handful of a leader."

Naruto snickered at the last bit. Weiss' social skill identified that it was the remark upon his leadership that amused him. Until that point… Weiss could have sworn he had been immensely melancholic when she asked about meeting his old friends. She only doubted herself because she had difficulty believing such intense emotion could be so easily swept away.

"When I came here it was under the agreement that I would never return home. Sasuke, Sakura, Kakashi, and Sai… I'll never see any of them again." Naruto's wistful sadness returned in full force only to give way to sniggered laughter as quickly as it came. "But- snrk- the idea that I lead Sakura or Sasuke? Pfffft!" Naruto slapped his knee as he bent over in laughter. "I think I can count the number of times Sakura did what I told her on one hand. I don't think all the hands in Beacon would be enough to count the number of times I did what she told me to."

Weiss' mouth parted in surprise as a small girlish giggle escaped her lips completely unbeknownst to the heiress. "You? Having trouble with a woman? If such a thing were possible you'd have long since perished in our current pool of acquaintances — especially before CRDL began joining us more regularly." Really, they'd been an almost entirely female clique before that. It would be difficult to say there had been two men considering Ren's fairly unmasculine nature. That wasn't a bad thing in Weiss' opinion. It made her doubt whether or not he'd provide Naruto with sufficient male camaraderie, whatever that entailed.

"She's a hell of a woman. Feel free to ask me about her some other time. It uh… hmmmm…" Naruto scratched his head. "Not exactly sure how to explain this. I guess it helps to know someone here is thinking about her. Just knowing someone other than myself will remember her for a bit longer means something I can't quite explain."

Weiss gave Naruto the first real smile he'd received from her. There came a point where details were irrelevant when compared side by side with intent. Weiss could tell that Naruto loved his teammate in a way that Weiss may have been beginning to feel with her own. Other than Blake's general cattiness with the Schnee name at times, the only reminder of the fact that she was an heiress was left by herself. She was nowhere near as obsessed with the idea of normality as Pyrrha, not by a long shot. Still, she had found being just Weiss to be substantially more liberating than she ever would have anticipated. At that point in time, she could tell that her feelings towards her team were but a fraction Naruto held for his own team.

She felt a twinge of sorrow for Nevermore. The team Naruto considered his team for life was not in his present. His eternal team was spoken of like a memory of the past. To be barred from ever returning from his home — what did that mean? Weiss had several theories that could explain it, though none of them sounded particularly plausible. What she didn't have was time to think about it. It was for much the same reason she presumed Naruto had called their conversation to a close.

"Sorry I'm late!" Ruby shouted as she ran down the small slope towards the launchpads where Weiss and Naruto stood. Weiss and Naruto had been waiting on the cliff overlooking the Emerald Forest as they had agreed. Weiss hadn't understood how Ruby could have been late when she was ready to be more than an hour early. Gallon jugs of water in each hand were indication enough of what had happened.

"No big deal," Naruto assured her. "I figure one of the boys gave you the advice to bring some water."

"It was more like a dire warning." Ruby giggled as she set the water down by her feet, the water inside sloshing noisily about with the little room she'd not managed to fill. "Here Weiss, this is for you!" She said as she tapped one of the jugs with her booted foot.

"Is that one of the plastic containers they sell milk in?" Weiss asked, inching herself away from Ruby as imperceptibly as possible.

"Yup! I made sure to clean it out before I filled them up obviously. Even if there's a little bit of milk in the water I can always taste it." Ruby stuck her tongue out a little like the very thought of it managed to light up her taste buds.

"That won't be necessary," Weiss assured her partner. "I made sure to bring my own." She pointed to a half liter water bottle that she had set down next to her.

"That's what I said! Russel basically forced these on me anyways when I did. He bet me five lien I'd thank him for it!" A mischievous glint flashed through Naruto's eyes when he heard that. Weiss assumed that meant he sided with Russel on the issue. That didn't matter — Weiss sided with Ruby on this matter. RWBY was not to be held to the same standards as Thrush and his ilk. The thought did bring up an interesting point in Weiss' mind.

"I must admit to being rather curious. How do you train those CRDL lugabouts anyways?" Weiss questioned Naruto. Their physical conditioning had been rapidly improving considering how short a time they'd spent under Naruto's tutelage. They had been faring better in their classroom spars the past week than the week before. Well, if she discluded Winchester that is. The leader of Cardinal had been making an absolute buffoon of himself as he began to wield his giant cudgel in his right hand and use a shield in his left.

It was specifically the shield that Weiss took issue with. Winchester treated the thing like a slab of metal forcibly equipped to his arm. His team explained that she wasn't wrong in her assessment; Naruto had told him he'd be using it one day and from that point forth he was expected to do so. From her point of view, it was a needless attempt at optimization that was causing more harm than good. The improvement in Winchester's physique had been enough to keep his capability comparable to when he first began in spite of cumbersome shield that would have served better as a massively oversized paperweight than it had in protecting its bearer.

"I've just been focusing on their physical conditioning. Focusing on weapon techniques at this point would be pointless." Naruto said.

"Why?" Ruby asked. "They still aren't winning any of their spars against any of us. Isn't that because they still aren't the best with their weapons?"

"Dove is actually pretty damn good with that sword of is," Naruto responded. It may have sounded like he was defending the CRDL member, but his quick reversal rebuked that theory instantly. "His problem is that his conditioning is so damn bad that if he doesn't win quickly he doesn't win at all. You girls are either too skilled, too sturdy, or too quick for him to do much about it. Try just using your weapon against him some time, you'll lose."

"My disbelief aside, that doesn't answer Ruby's question."

"How to explain it… did you bring that oversized garden tool with you?" Naruto asked as he faced Weiss. She knew it obviously wasn't a question directed at her, as did the person it was meant for.

"War Scythes are a traditional weapon spanning centuries of use!" Ruby defended her precious baby as she grabbed it from her waist. The normally large weapon was compressed down portably into its storage mode. "Crescent Rose is a direct improvement on technology that has stood the test of centuries and you-"

"Don't care." Naruto finished Ruby's sentence. Any protest was cut off by Naruto bulldozing through it with his explanation. "So you're pretty comfortable twirling that thing around. Do you think you could use it the same way you did now if it was twice as heavy?"

"Of course she couldn't," Weiss answered for her. A courtesy gift of being Ruby's partner was knowing about the sniper-scythe almost as much as she knew about Myrtenaster. Ruby wasn't the strongest huntress where physical strength was concerned. Trying to strike the perfect balance between durable and lightweight had been a labor of love for the RWBY leader. By comparison, Myrtenaster was much lighter than Crescent Rose, so a doubling of weight would be less noticeable, yet I would still be more than enough to throw off her entire fighting style. "What does that have to do with our current topic?"

"I've been putting them through some pretty intense exercise to tone up both their muscles and stamina. So far their aura has worked like I expected it to and has been shoring up the damage as we go. There's some complicated science and biology stuff that Sakura explained to me and I'm not really good enough to explain it back. Healing with your aura isn't some super magic or anything like that, it's just stimulating your bodies natural healing process at an accelerated rate. When it manages to heal people out of a life-threatening situation it might look like magic, but you just don't die because whatever it healed didn't have long enough to kill you. I figured with that if a normal person needed to rest for a day after working out-"

"Someone with aura could just rely on it to assist with the process of cell division." Weiss finished. "That's actually quite clever. Strengthening a muscle is simply your body's natural selection at work. When you exercise the cells in your muscle begin to die if they are thoroughly strained. From there the body decides which cells to replicate, naturally choosing the ones that were able to function properly in the stressful situation to better increase its chances of dealing with such strenuous circumstances in the future."

In theory, it was more than just clever, it was genius. The linchpin holding it all together was the premise that aura didn't magically heal the body, instead speeding it through a more natural recovery. An interesting theory to be sure, but it was just that — a theory. Or was it? CRDL was a shining example of that theory put into practice. The progress their physiques had made in the past month was far beyond what would be considered normal.

How had no one thought about this? Why was no one talking about this? You would think an aura scientist in the world would have studied and published at least something on the matter. Why couldn't she recall a single study on the topic? It was a brilliantly simple thesis: Is aura's effect on injury healing or recuperative? Is it magic or a stimulation that accelerated what could already be accomplished given sufficient time and energy for the body to do so? It was easy to dismiss aura as a magical force when you saw swords and bullets bouncing off of people. Was it really?

"You understand it better than I do." Naruto laughed happily. "That's basically what Sakura told me. I just don't understand it well enough to recite it like that. I just know a lot about regenerative energy. Cardin and his team were actually an experiment I was running to see if their aura would work like mine."

"Why wouldn't it? What's different between your aura and theirs?" Weiss asked scholarly. Ruby was tragically forced out of the fast-paced conversation about things she didn't really understand completely.

"Strength and control." Naruto shrugged off the question. "My aura is more potent than the average person. Wasn't sure if things that worked for me would carry over to a more standard huntsman."

Weiss responded without missing a beat. "That is reasonable. Despite some truly ludicrous uses of your semblance I've never seen your aura meter drop below full." And as far as she knew nobody had. Some of the things he had done would have bankrupted the aura of a normal student. As curious as she was Weiss bit her tongue. Pressing further would definitely constitute defying the statute of staying out of his business.

"Ummm… hello?" Ruby interjected at the first possible lull in their conversation. "I'm still here."

Naruto grinned apologetically and mussed Ruby's hair. Weiss had seen Yang do the same action several times before as a means to annoy her sister, so why did it look like Ruby was leaning into it? "Sorry about that. I spent a lot of time studying aura before I came to Beacon. Definitely got a little carried away with my first conversation partner."

"It was an interesting conversation to have. It has given me quite a lot to think about." Weiss smiled. It had been an interesting conversation. It felt like that wasn't quite it, as if that alone didn't paint the full picture. There was more to it than a purely academic discussion.

Naruto felt warm. There were so many words that could be used to describe a person that she would have considered more apt in almost any circumstance. However, in this case, no descriptor suited him quite like that of being warm. It was silly, really. They'd had a conversation about a scholarly pursuit — something completely intellectual in nature — and yet she found herself feeling like she was wrapped in a warm, hand-knitted quilt just by being around him. Her interactions with Naruto initially had… not been the best, to say the least. Was this how his friends felt around him?

Did he consider her a friend?

"You two ready for the Uzumaki special menu?" Naruto asked. Weiss snapped out of her torpor and nodded her head.

"Heck yes!" Ruby cheered. It was apparent she was more than ready to do something that she could sink her teeth into.

"I believe you," Naruto responded, careful emphasis placed on the last word. "You may need to sit the first exercise out Weiss. I don't know if you're going to be able to do it with footwear like that.

Weiss tutted. "I assure you that many people have underestimated me due to my choice of attire. I am more than proficient enough in a combat skirt and heels for anything you'll be able to throw at me." Ruby nodded alongside her in combat skirt solidarity.

"I have my doubts, but if you say so. Let's get going!" Naruto's voice was like a call to charge into battle. There was a winding pathway down to the forest beneath that would have taken them all of five minutes to make their way to. Weiss supposed it had been too much to hope for that they'd be taking that as Naruto free jumped off the cliff. Clearly, pathways were far too banal for the NNVR leader.

Really, how hard could it be? Weiss thought to herself. It's just a workout after all.

Weiss had smoothed out some of her rougher edges since she came to Beacon. Naruto gave her a helping hand to acclimatize with her team and then that team became the sandpaper responsible for ridding her of the more jagged parts of her personality. And yes, if anyone was wondering she did find sandpaper to be the perfect analogy for how her team had helped her. It had been coarse, rough, and altogether an annoying experience changing from her much more upscale lifestyle to living in a singular room with three other girls.

It would be gross oversimplification to say that she'd been exhausted into submission. Her teammates- her friends had done much more than just that. However, to deny that exhaustion had played its part would have been an outright fallacy. She was nothing if not resilient, thus it took weeks of ridiculously long showers by Yang, childlike tendencies from Ruby, mute indifference from Blake concerning her attempts to better her team, and lord knew how many other instances of frustration to build up her tolerance and patience. To drive Weiss Schnee to submission was a siege that required substantial resources and attacks on multiple fronts.

She liked to believe that at least. Right now she wasn't so sure. Naruto's first exercise — if one could call it that — had been tree running. She'd thought he'd said it in jest when he first told the two of them. Thirty seconds of jumping and swinging from tree to tree like some sort of monkey killed that hope before it was given any time to flourish. Weiss had done more in heels by the time she was seventeen than most people would do in their lifetime. Tree running, however, was not on that list.

The way her heels caught and snagged in branches quickly left the annoying territory, easily passing into infuriating within the first half hour. She'd hoped she would have adjusted given time enough to do so. The problem was she couldn't confirm or deny that theory due to her muscles gradual stiffening throughout the process. She wasn't accustomed to the act of tree running in the slightest. Following behind Naruto she could see that his motions were fluid and relaxed, letting as much work be done by gravity and momentum as could be allowed. By comparison, her landings and launches were jarring, putting immense pressure on her bones and muscles with each passing jump, fall, or swing.

Naruto called for the two of them to stop a few minutes after the first hour. Weiss didn't acquiesce so much as joyously agree. Ruby had fared much better than she had, though Weiss was sure that was only because this was one of the few situations in which her heels were actually disadvantageous. The path they had taken was circular so that they would find their way back to where they'd left their water. With as much composure and grace as she could muster Weiss tried to avoid looking too greedy as she guzzled down the water. Ruby wasn't any better in that regard, draining a quarter of the container's content in one long pull.

"You guys can take as long of a break as you need. I'm going to get started on the next segment, so you can join in whenever you want." Naruto told them with a voice completely unmolested by even the smallest, remotest indication of fatigue. He looked the exact same as when they'd first started the whole ordeal.

While Ruby and Weiss recuperated he dove straight into a variety of push-up variants. He started with about fifty traditional ones before spreading his arms to a smidge less than twice shoulder length. Weiss knew the wider stance was aimed at working out his shoulders. After another fifty of those, he moved on to one-legged push-ups. Seeking to add further difficulty he would erratically move his free leg in the air to force his core muscles to compensate for the motion. Naturally, when he finished another fifty he sought to do the same while switching the roles of his legs.

When he prepared to do his next set without so much as a bead of sweat Ruby couldn't resist the urge to intervene. "No more… please… my arms hurt just looking at you."

"Errr, okay?" Naruto agreed to her request. Though he listened to the request she made it was obvious he either did not understand the intent behind it or didn't care about it. In an impressive feat of physicality, he kicked off the ground from his push-up position into a full handstand. Where, of course, he began to do more push-ups. Ruby groaned as she let herself collapse onto her back in complete resignation.

Weiss was impressed with Naruto's physical conditioning. He was easily one of the most in-shape people she'd ever seen and that was what surprised her. Naruto had two semblances that completely invalidated the need for a hands-on approach to combat. Being so proficient physically seemed almost needless when he would almost certainly be more effective fighting with his sand or polarity. The fact that he'd chosen to dedicate what was most assuredly a large glut of time into learning his ridiculous sword style, as well as his training, spoke volumes about the kind of person he was.

Having gained a new understanding of his personality she decided to give him the benefit of the doubt — assuming the display he was putting on was unintentional. Obviously, when one did a handstand they would be affected by the gravitational forces of the world just like any other time. It was that exact reason that a handstand push-up existed in the first place. It allowed you to put the entire weight of your body on your arms while also working the core as you attempted to balance in the process. Simply put it was an exercise meant to utilize the effects of gravity.

Of course, there were other side-effects as well. Naruto's hair was not set in stone and strands of his hair gravitated towards the ground. The legs of his sweats had also sunken slightly lower before finding their grip on thicker sections of his legs. What had not found such convenient purchase was his shirt. It fell so low that she thought she could make out the underside of what appeared to be pectoral muscles with such textbook perfect definition it was almost laughable.

What she didn't need any imagination for were his abdominal muscles. Naruto's six-pack abs were on full, unobstructed display for the two teenage girls in his company. Weiss had often heard the term 'sculpted' thrown around to describe muscles of superior definition and tone. Having been a Schnee she'd been featured in magazines from time to time and was well aware how much touch-up was done in post as far as modeling was concerned. She'd assumed that sculpted abs were a mere fabrication of photoshop made by the media.

Maybe she needed to revise that theory.

It was being made plain that abs could, in fact, be sculpted with sufficient work. So if that was the case then the muscles in his six-pack expanding and contracting — balancing his body as he moved steadily up and down — was the sculpting. She in no way thought of Naruto romantically, but one did not need be in love with an artist to admire his art. At present, it felt like art was a fairly apt description.

Weiss had to shake herself from such lurid thoughts as she regained her senses. Naruto clearly didn't notice or care about what was going on as he focused on his training. This is fine. Nothing about this is weird. The only way things will be weird is if one of us makes them weird. Weiss assured herself. That thought gave rise to a shot of panic — what was Ruby doing? If Naruto caught her staring that would be a level of awkward she was unequivocally unwilling to deal with.

When Weiss looked over she had to take her reflexive reaction and murder it quietly and without mercy. Ruby was a deer caught in the headlights as she watched his rippling abs at work. That was natural, she was fifteen years old, not nine. A healthy interest in a person of the opposite sex was completely and totally acceptable. That was the logic Weiss was desperately trying to convince herself of, but the idea just wouldn't take.

When she saw Ruby's lips purse, the reaper's tongue licking them unconsciously, Weiss decided to adopt a Rubyism. Nope! Weiss immediately came to the conclusion it was time to shut this down. "Naruto." She grabbed his attention before it could stray to her partner. "Ruby wanted to ask if you'd be alright with coming to our dorm for a game night of sorts. Your team is welcome to come if they want."

"Sure. As long as I don't have anything I need to do I'm fine with that." Naruto answered without so much as slowing his pace. At the very least it had the desired effect on Ruby, breaking her from her trance as she snapped to.

"You'll come? Really?!" Ruby gushed excitement as her eyes lit up.

Naruto's familiar chuckle was was slightly different given his state of misdress. Yet another factoid that Weiss would have been more than content not knowing was how well laughter could be seen in the muscles as well as heard. "You don't need to act so surprised. When is it? I'll do whatever I can to make sure I'm free."

"Ummmm… now?" Ruby asked/informed him nervously. Naruto blinked, processing the information he'd just been given. Normally Weiss wasn't one to just spring such an event on somebody, but if it got her out of explaining the events of the day to Yang by distracting her with a party then she was more than willing to make Naruto pay the price of keeping her occupied. After all, it was entirely his fault there was anything awkward to explain in the first place.

"Works for me," Naruto agreed with remarkable ease. "Not like I'm getting much out of this workout anyways. Way too light for me."

Part of being a member of team RWBY had been learning to budget her limited supply of annoyance towards things that actually mattered. Because of that Weiss was too relieved that his shirt was once again covering his body to bother being annoyed at his inadvertent insult that they weren't in shape. She wasn't near the point of collapse or anything so dramatic, but Ruby's water jug was beginning to look far more tempting than it should have. She took her victories where she could find them as far as Naruto was concerned.

"Really? Like right now?" Ruby jumped from the ground looking prepared to semblance her way all the way back to Beacon.

"Down girl," Naruto laughed as Ruby's expression deflated into a pout. "Let me kick by my room and see if anyone on my side wants to join. Is this happening at your dorm?" Ruby nodded vigorously. "Then I'll meet you there in an hour with any of my team that wants to go."

Weiss let the scene unfold without any further input. She was more emotionally drained than physically by the end of their 'light training'. If things stayed the course she resolved to pull a Blake and find a nice corner of their room to quietly be ignored in. This whole ordeal had been far more stressful than it had any right to be.

Well, that was pointless. Naruto grumbled to himself as he made his way back to his room. He didn't mind spending time with girls from RWBY, he just wished they had suggested their little event in the first place. He'd failed to work up a sweat and the exercise he did was poorly tailored to helping them develop in any substantial way. In the end, the whole outing had felt rather pointless.

He could afford a small bit of grumpiness primarily because he was walking alone, having decided to take a middle of the road pace. Ruby bolted back to her dorm at a breakneck pace, leaving rose petals in her wake as she went. Weiss, looking completely and totally spent, opted to wait at the launch pads for a few minutes to recharge. Naruto's sensible jogging pace left him in a league of his own.

It could have been worse. Weiss and I got on pretty well. That's a win. Ruby seemed happy too. Naruto rationalized. Maybe he was being a bit too uptight. They were just kids. It wasn't normal here to move from one life or death battle to the next. He was a weapon forged under unimaginably intense heat and pressure, they were not. They hadn't seen friends and loved ones die because they weren't strong enough to do anything.

He almost lost Hinata in the fight against Nagato. He almost lost her again when she tried to protect him from the ten-tails. The only reason he didn't was that Neji protected her, giving his life in the process. If he'd been stronger he could have stopped Nagato from ever killing Jiraiya and maybe saved his life in the process. If he'd been stronger Guy-sensei wouldn't be living out his life in a wheelchair. Shikaku, Inoichi, and countless others all dead because he'd not been strong enough to shoulder the weight.

Never again. He vowed to never again allow the people around him to suffer because of his weakness.

A growl inadvertently slipped past Naruto's lips as he drew closer to his dorm. He forced himself to calm down as he emptied his mind of those thoughts. He'd been over them thousands upon thousands of times only to resolve himself to the same path each and every time. There was no point torturing himself with it any further. This world was to be his vacation from such responsibilities. A chance to waste time with inefficient training with friends. He didn't need to train from dawn to dusk because whatever war Remnant was in was not his to get involved in.

He'd managed to clear out the cobwebs in his mind by the time he made it back to his room. He wasn't sure if any of them would be there to ask to the party. For all he knew Nora would keep Ren awake and training until he mastered the technique. He felt a little bad for subjecting Ren to that, but only a little. Call it small revenge for the difficulty he'd been given by his teammate in the beginning, even if Rens' wariness was warranted.

Unfortunately, his good mood had been swept out as well, caught in the crossfire. Naruto caught a lucky break when he opened the door to his room. The first thing he saw was Ren, collapsed onto his bed like a puppet whose strings had been cut, his orange haired partner poking him to verify he was alive. Naruto's happiness was reignited, albeit more self-satisfied and superior than it'd previously been.

"What's up? Why aren't you training?" Naruto asked his near-comatose teammate.

"I know, right?!" Nora voiced her loud agreement. "We only got four hours in before Mr. Lazybones started whining about how exhausted he was!"

"Only four hours?" Naruto sandwiched his cheeks between his hands in faux shock. "I guess if that's all he's capable of we'll just have to wait for him to recover."

"I know..." Nora agreed glumly.

"It's tragic, but we'll just have to wait that much longer before I can try and teach you the super-special technique." Naruto threw himself onto his bed, laying on his back, crossing his left leg over his right. His fingers laced relaxedly behind his head. "I really wanted to teach it to you too. Oh well, guess there's nothing that can be done about it."

"Rennnnnnn!" Nora whined as she shook him, rocking him left and right as she tried to flip him onto his back. Ren was obstinance given human form as he stubbornly dug his face even further into the mattress.

"I hate you." Ren groaned just loud enough for Naruto to hear him through the muffling of his comforter. Raising his voice any louder would have been far too much effort.

"Hey, in my book someone who hates me is just a prime candidate for friendship." And boy was that truer than they knew. He'd had to almost break his fist on Neji's chin before they transitioned from enemies to friends.

"You have my word that the first person getting punched when I get this technique down is you, friend." Ren seethed rather toothlessly. Threats were much less effective delivered when you were functionally immobile on a bed. Was it just him, or had Ren been getting more and more sassy recently?

"Oooh oooh!" Nora's perked up as she dove for Ren's nightstand cupboard, opening it and withdrawing something from its depths. "Speaking of friends, somebody left you a letter!"

"Who?" Naruto asked. "And why was it in Ren's nightstand?"

"Well it wasn't sealed, you know," Nora's eyes shied away from Naruto's as she focused on the latter half of the question. "So I thought, you know, would it really hurt anyone if I snuck a peak? I mean, if I did I could even tell you who it's from right now."

"How benevolent of you," Naruto deadpanned as he snatched the letter from Nora's hands. "Thanks for keeping this safe, Ren."

"You can thank me with a clear shot later."

"I give you my thanks, I give you a way to get stronger, and this is the thanks I get?" Naruto groused playfully as he opened the letter.

Naruto,

I desire to thank you for asking me to play with you in class. If your dance card isn't already full, why don't you join me for dinner tomorrow night so I can express my gratitude? We have a great many things to discuss in depth with each other. Meet me at Le Palais De Vale, I've secured a reservation for two, my treat. I hope you will reciprocate and treat me with your company.

Cinder

"Well now." Naruto smiled. A smile was an expression of joy. The one Naruto wore was no different. That didn't mean all joys were the same. The happiness he'd been getting from the kids at Beacon was like a soothing balm. That happiness was exactly the reason he'd decided to come to the academy in the first place.

His current smile expressed a very different facet of happiness. Cinder's letter was like an iron poker stoking the darkest flames of his soul. His desire to face an enemy and triumph was a hard-coded need in his very DNA. It was the smile of a colossus facing down a kitten who fancied herself a tiger.

He wasn't here to solve this world's problems. He was here to relax and enjoy himself after a lifetime of hard and thankless work. So if his goal was to have fun… why not oblige her?

Thank you all for reading! If you wish to support me go to p a treon . com (slash) Faulkner to do so. I'll probably have F&C Chapter 2 up sometime this week for people to read there. See you guys next time!