Disclaimer, I do not own RWBY or any of the franchises referenced in this work
Chapter 19: Ninjas of love
Inspiration: Naruto
"Welcome back, this time, something a little less heavy. This world should be familiar to at least one of you." Blank said as his audience returned.
"Familiar? How is that possible? Unless… this is another one set in the past?" Goodwitch asked.
"Not quite. The events of this viewing take place in a separate universe entirely, but, those events have already been recorded in your world as literature." Blank answered.
"So… it's a storybook?" Ruby furrowed her brows and tried to wrap her head around the idea of another world already recorded in their own.
"Sort of, technically. Consider this the film of the book if you must."
"Hmm, if it's a book than I guess Blake would know of the story?" Weiss turned to regard her teammate with a questioning glance.
"I guess, but I've read a lot of books, there's no way to tell if I'll remember this one." Blake simply shrugged her shoulders in response.
"Oh you'll know, you'll know. But first, since we're no longer on a darker world." Blank flickered once and Jaune appeared with a flash of light.
"I'm back!" Jaune gave a small wave before immediately being pulled into a bear hug by Nora, the ginger busy shaking down her leader for more goodies.
"Gimme gimme gimme!"
"Gah! Hold on Nora, if you don't let me go I can't give you the blueprints." Jaune said and the pressure immediately eased up as Nora let him go and started bouncing in place.
"Here you go, I found this among the things for the Doom Slayer universe. It's the lightning gun, as in it's a gun that shoots actual lightning, how cool is that?" Jaune held out the data pad and blinked when it vanished from his hands.
"Oooh… very nice…" Nora was salivating as she poured over the information inside, she could barely wait to return and start tinkering. First the gravity hammer and then the lightning gun, the goodies just kept on coming in this place.
"Is that wise?" Ren asked Jaune, his mind filled with horrible images of Nora laughing as she zapped her opponents indiscriminately. He could already hear the screaming.
"Sure it is…" Jaune trailed off as Nora started cackling madly.
"Maybe?" He amended after a pause. Jaune didn't have time to say anything more when Yang snuck up behind him and pulled him back into the seat, plopping herself down on his lap afterwards.
"Enough, hugs. Now." Yang ordered and Jaune complied, wrapping his arms around her waist. She grinned proudly and gave a thumbs up, ignoring the frustrated growling from Pyrrha and Taiyang.
"Dear, behave." Summer admonished as Taiyang looked to start up his overprotective dad mode again. By their side, Qrow was already brandishing a bottle, ready to give his teammate a quick nap on command.
"Fine. But if his hands go any lower…" Taiyang grumbled and folded his arms unhappily.
"Ahem, we're ready to begin." Blank said, getting the mumbles to die down as the movie started playing.
Storm clouds blanketed the battlefield, lightning flashed intermittently followed by the crack of thunder. But there was no rain yet, the heavens held back their tears while two armies faced off below, the clash hadn't begun yet.
"Well, we're off to a good start." Roman's voice was dripping with sarcasm as the 'less heavy' world wouldn't have looked too out of place in a war film.
"Eh, this story is lighter but that world remains a screwed up one." Blank clarified.
"Hmm… those uniforms… they are familiar…" Blake wracked her brain trying to recall where she'd seen them before. And the formation displayed, one homogeneous set matched against a coalition, she'd seen it somewhere before.
Pyrrha's mouth set in a grim line as she gripped her xiphos and shield tightly, surveying the enemy army arrayed against them. Exhaling slowly, she gathered her strength and braced for the oncoming storm, this would not be easy, not even for her. Their forces were outnumbered four to one and there were three enemy maidens among the opposition, to say the situation was bad would be a severe understatement.
"Explain? Please." Ozpin said as his grip on his mug tightened.
"An overlap of sorts, unlike your world where there are four maidens of equal strength, in that world there are nine of them in total and each with a different amount of power." Blank said.
"Ho? So the wizard split the power into more pieces and made them uneven? That just makes collecting them and draining them easier." A face splitting grin crossed Cinder's face at the idea.
"You're… not wrong on that point, although those maidens are not the same as your world's. Putting the powers of the maidens back together there means the end of the world."
"What?" Ironwood blinked, not expecting that answer. As far as anyone in the know had theorised, putting the powers of all the maidens into a single individual would just create some kind of super maiden, not bring about extinction.
"In that world, the maiden's powers did not originate from the 'wizard' but the 'witch'. Putting it all back together breaks the seal on her and leaves her free to slaughter everyone. I won't go too heavily into details but I'll just say that there are forces at work trying to make that a reality, and they've been manipulating the entire world to keep it at war, this is just another one of their machinations." Blank said.
"Oh." Ozpin said and put down his mug before he could squeeze it hard enough to break the handle. Despite the differences, it was still eerily similar to the way Salem operated, keeping humanity divided and unable to oppose her plans.
"Ma'am, can we win this?" Pyrrha turned to face a nervous soldier, she was acutely aware of the pervading hopelessness spreading through the ranks as the enemy numbers continued to swell, reinforcements still pouring in by the boatload.
She smiled bitterly as she recalled the failed mission to push back the invaders at the beaches. The unexpected arrival of enemy maidens had decimated their initial counter push when she was tied up elsewhere on the frontlines, and the enemy beachhead was secure.
Pushing aside her own doubts and regrets, she put on a confident smile with practiced ease. "Of course we can, we just have to hold here long enough for reinforcements to arrive. I've received word the Hokage himself is on his way."
"Hoka…ge? No… way…" Blake breathed out, undisguised awe in her tone.
"Ah? You know which story it is now?" Weiss asked.
"Oh yes." Blake whispered, there was a small flash of light and a hardcover book dropped into her arms. She caressed the book lovingly before handing it over to Weiss.
"Hmm? Ninjas of Love… wait, isn't this your smut!?" Weiss looked up at Blake with wide eyes.
"For the last time, it's not smut! It's adult literature!" Blake corrected angrily.
"Whoa, hold up, we're watching porn now!? Hell yeah!" Mercury cheered before getting swatted on the back of his head by Emerald.
"Uncultured swine. You wouldn't know a good story if it bit you in the ass."
"And what would you know about it eh?" Mercury challenged.
"No comment." Emerald deigned not to reply as she averted her eyes, there was no way in hell she was admitting her tastes in literature to Mercury of all people.
"Filth? Filth! Filth!" Ruby declared, jumping up and pointing at the screen.
"Ahem, before you all panic, I assure you this is most definitely not porn." Blank said.
"Blake?" Yang looked over to her partner for confirmation.
"Yeah, if this follows the plot correctly, there's no sm-adult stuff at all. It doesn't happen in this book." Blake said.
"That's a relief." Taiyang heaved a small sigh.
A bolt of lightning split the sky and the rain began pouring down in earnest. Taking that as the signal, the larger army started charging, war cries blending in with the sound of thunder and the howling winds to create a maddening cacophony.
Pyrrha held firm with the rest of the army, waiting for the enemy to close the gap and enter their range. While the others readied their own attacks, she kept a firm lookout for the enemy maidens. It irked her that she couldn't help with the main mass of the enemy but her responsibility was to hold off the other maidens. If even one of them made it past her, they would wreck the defensive line beyond repair and open up a path to the capital.
"W-will reinforcements make it in time Ma'am?" The same nervous soldier from earlier asked.
"They will." Pyrrha detected the tell-tale sign of the maiden's powers activating, easily spotting the three glows in the distance through the rain.
Taking a deep breath, she activated her own powers, a crimson cloak surrounded her and her eyes glowed scarlet. Exhaling softly, she kicked off the ground, shooting straight towards the centre glow with blinding speed and causing the enemy lines to buckle on contact.
Her xiphos reflected the distant flashes of lightning as she carved a path towards the enemy maidens, leaving a trail of blood and bodies in her wake. All around her, weapons and elemental jutsus were flying everywhere and the world descended into madness.
"Magic? Bu-but they can't all be maidens! How can they all use magic!?" Cinder sputtered in disbelief as more than a few of the 'spells' on screen were frankly beyond anything she could do at the present.
"Again, it's a different world, different rules. Instead of aura and semblances, they have chakra and ninjutsu." Blank said.
"Ya know, for ninjas, they aren't very good at the whole being a ninja bit. What part of this fits the stealthy ninja image?" Roman commented snidely getting Neo to chuckle silently.
"Oh they can be stealthy, but right now they just want either the total eradication of the other side or a clear shot to the capital city as fast as possible. Pitched battle is the fastest way to achieve those goals since the defenders don't really have a choice. Try to fight like actual ninjas and it's a delaying action at best as the bulk of the enemy will make it to the capital, and if that happens the war is over." Blank said.
"I can see that. With that kind of firepower, no city will be able to remain standing for long once the enemy has breached the gates." Winter said.
"I… thought this was supposed to be lighter… I'm killing a lot of people here." Pyrrha said unsurely, the words spilling from her mouth sounded strange even to her own ears.
"It'll be fine Pyr. It's just a movie." Jaune offered a reassuring smile before grabbing her hand and giving it a squeeze.
Pyrrha flinched as she detected a huge build up of energy approaching her. Drawing from her reserve of power, she threw up a wall of red energy around her to protect herself. A lance of orange light struck the barrier dead on and detonated, engulfing the entire area in an almighty explosion.
When the dust settled and Pyrrha could see again, her eyes narrowed as she saw the giant blast crater she was standing in the centre of. The enemy ninjas that had been surrounding her were gone, not even ashes left to mark their passing.
"Hard to kill as ever, but today that changes. End of the road Nikos." Cinder strode into view, flames coated her hands as her own maiden powers were on display. A look of annoyance was plastered across her face as though all the deaths caused by friendly fire was just that, an annoyance.
That complete indifference only served to anger Pyrrha as she glared at the monster in human form. "Fall. You murdered your own men and all you're concerned with is fighting me?"
"Soft, just like the rest of you tree huggers. Everyone is expandable if it brings victory, shame you lot never figured that out. I only regret they weren't enough to distract you enough for me to end you with that attack." Cinder smirked as Pyrrha grew incensed as expected, her long red hair already waving in the wind as her aura increased in strength.
"Fine, you want to kill me so badly, come and get it." Pyrrha slid into a combat stance as she felt the other two maidens approaching from the sides.
"Hahhaahha… if you say so." Cinder's smirk grew in size as her allies arrived and the three maidens began a joint assault on Pyrrha.
"Oh come on, three on one! That's cheating! Fight fair!" Nora yelled as she watched the on screen Pyrrha struggle against her opponents.
"Naïve, winning is the only thing that matters, ah so I get to watch myself bring down another maiden, this brings back memories." Cinder laughed as she recalled the last time she 'fought' three on one against a maiden, she would have succeeded too if Qrow hadn't jumped in at the last minute.
"Not quite." Blank said simply.
Pyrrha leapt backwards from another energy blast that levelled the area she just vacated before charging back in. Ramming the edge of her shield into Cinder's throat, there was enough force behind the strike to get her to start choking even through the aura cloak.
Spinning back to roundhouse kick one of the other maidens trying to sneak up behind her, Pyrrha growled and dug deep, countless golden chains made out of her power shot out from her back, wrapping around the enemy maidens and smashing them to the ground repeatedly.
"I… there are chains coming out of me, why are there chains coming out of me?" Pyrrha stared at the screen in disbelief.
"It's something of a special ability that some members of your bloodline have, you could say it's similar to the Schnee's glyph semblance but it's not exactly the same thing." Blank answered.
"Kinky, I could think of a few uses for those chains." Yang giggled and waggled her eyebrows suggestively at Jaune and Pyrrha, getting them both to blush and avert their eyes.
"Blake?" Weiss looked over for confirmation or hopefully denial. She just sighed when Blake started looking everywhere but her, unable to meet her eyes.
"Annoying pest, just die already!" Cinder shoved aside her fellow maiden when Pyrrha tossed the woman straight at her with her chains. Massive amounts of energy built up between Cinder's hands, coalescing into a ball of destruction as she readied her ultimate.
Releasing a soundless yell, she fired as soon as the third maiden had Pyrrha locked down and unable to react to her attack. If both maidens died… well, acceptable losses really, it wasn't as though they were from the same nation at all, might as well eliminate a potential future threat before the inevitable betrayal.
Cinder's face fell when her attack failed to connect. Right before it would have landed and reduced her targets to ash, there was a flash of yellow light and her attack simply vanished. The sound of a distant explosion drowning out the noise of the storm and the battlefield coming from the direction of their supply lines indicated where her attack had gone.
There was a momentary lull in the battle as both sides tried to figure out what was going on. All eyes turned to where the maidens were fighting and the solitary blonde standing between all four of them.
Jaune Arc had arrived on the battlefield. The rain beat down on him and his hair was plastered to his skin, when lightning flashed overhead, it illuminated his eerily calm face and his eyes appeared to glow with a supernatural radiance, coupled with his white cloak billowing in the wind, he made for an imposing figure.
"Woah." That one word was the only thing Jaune could manage as he stared at his other self.
"Woo! Fearless leader is here to save the day! Suck it evil old lady!" Nora cheered and booed Cinder.
"W-wha!? W-who you calling old!" Cinder sputtered in surprise, not expecting such an insult to be thrown her way.
"Well, you know how-" Mercury's mouth snapped shut when Cinder turned to glare at him with eyes promising eternal torment if he said another word.
"Ah… so Jaune's the yellow flash then." Blake said, nodding to herself.
"What's that?" Ruby asked.
"His title, he got it during this battle if I recall, when he pretty much singlehandedly ended the war." Blake replied.
"Hmmph, I hardly believe just one man can do that. They're so badly outnumbered and outgunned it's a wonder they haven't already surrendered." Cinder rolled her eyes, unable to see how just one newcomer would be able to turn the tide.
"Uh, Cinder? He um, he's kinda among the strongest shinobi to ever exist." Emerald pipped up, before shifting in her seat uncomfortably when she found herself the subject of an intense glare.
"And you know this how?"
"I um… no reason?"
"You alright Pyr?" Jaune asked as he kept his focus on Cinder.
"Yeah, showing up at the last minute again? It's becoming a habit." Pyrrha jested before rising back to her feet.
"Hahaha… sorry, my bad. I did make it in time though." Jaune chuckled before sliding a tri-pronged kunai into each hand, his eyes flicking between the maidens and the enemy army that had mostly finished regrouping by this point.
"I'm sorry to ask but, can you-"
"I'll hold the maidens here, you deal with the army." Pyrrha cut him off mid-sentence, easily able to tell what he wanted.
"Right, thanks. I'll end this in a flash and then come back to help." Jaune gave Pyrrha a curt nod before vanishing in a yellow flash of light.
Pyrrha shook her head with a rueful smile her mood lifted just by Jaune's arrival. 'When did you get this reliable? You used to be so flaky.'
"Oh." Jaune lowered his head at the sniggers that came flying from Pyrrha's comment.
"Ah cheer up lover boy, she said you used to, that means you're clearly not anymore." Yang flicked Jaune on the nose to get him out of his funk.
"I'm sure the other me didn't mean anything by it." Pyrrha consoled and ruffled his hair.
As Pyrrha charged towards Cinder, a soft smile played across her lips as she recalled their meeting so long ago.
A much younger Pyrrha stood in front of the classroom, she glanced around nervously as the teacher introduced her to the class at the shinobi academy. Having just immigrated to Konoha, she was a stranger in a strange land, her friends weren't here and unfamiliar faces stared back at her.
"Hello again, I'm Pyrrha Nikos, nice to meet you all?" She offered quietly once the teacher motioned for her to step forwards.
There was a moment of silence before laughter burst out from the students and the teacher failed to calm them down. She took a step back in shock before lowering her head as the mocking words registered, all of them laughing at her red hair.
"Grrr… just lemme at em…" Nora growled out, thoroughly ticked off by what she was seeing. Ren and Jaune had matching angry expressions but surprisingly, Pyrrha herself was fine with it, having put up with worse slander during her days in the tournament circuit.
"What's… wrong with my hair?" She asked in confusion.
"Red hair is exceedingly rare over there so it's an easy point to pick on." Blank answered.
"So just because she's different, it's fine to pick on her?" Jaune said through gritted teeth.
"That's just how it is isn't it? People don't like those who are different from them. Pretty much any faunus will tell you as much." Blake said in a tired voice.
"It's still wrong." Jaune argued back.
"Maybe, but it happens anyway. Relax, she'll be fine."
Pyrrha's eyes were shrouded by her bangs as her classmates continued to mock her even at recess. It wasn't enough to laugh at her, no they were now busy calling her names, trying to find one that stuck, and the current leading suggestion was 'tomato'.
Her teeth gnashed together in frustration as her temper built to a boiling point. Finally, once one of them had the audacity to start poking at her, she snapped, ramming a solid fist into his face for his trouble.
Roaring in anger, she went to town on the bullies surrounding her, demolishing them in a one versus all match with unparalleled fury. As she laid the smackdown and reduced more than a few of them to tears, she caught sight of a blonde seated several rows away.
Unlike the fear filled visages of the other students, he simply watched her rampage with a calm expression. She'd give him points for not being afraid, but that long messy hair that left him looking a little girly took those away and left him in the negative. Ah well, it wasn't important, she had people to finish beating up first.
"Okay… not getting P-money angry would definitely improve your odds of survival." Yang commented.
"My hair isn't that bad!" Jaune protested.
"It's… an acquired taste." Ren snickered and Jaune shot him a look of betrayal.
"Hmmph, while I'm glad Ms Nikos can stand for herself, surely such blatant violence won't be without repercussions." Goodwitch said disapprovingly.
"They're fine with it actually." Blank corrected.
"Pardon?" Goodwitch turned to stare at the ball of light.
"It's a ninja academy, violence isn't just par for the course, it's encouraged. As long as no one is crippled or killed, occasional unsanctioned fights just helps to keep the students on their toes, to learn to expect an attack at any time."
"That's… one way to do things." Qrow said with a sneer, recalling his time in the Branwen tribe and their old 'training' methods.
Pyrrha spat out a glob of blood and watched as the Genin ran off with his tail tucked between his legs. She'd been here for several months now but the insults never ceased no matter how many beatings she dished out.
Eventually, they got the hint that they simply weren't strong enough to beat her and one of her regulars had the bright idea to call in his older brother to try and beat her. It was a hard fight but she succeeded in serving up a double knuckle sandwich for both of them.
A chill wind blew through the area, causing the cherry blossoms to sway in the wind. Turning back and craning her head to look up, she found Jaune standing on one of the branches, once more looking at her with that same calm expression he had the first time she noticed him.
"What!? Just watching again? You're not going to help because I'm a foreigner?" Pyrrha shouted at Jaune. Watching, always watching, he never joined in with the rest of them picking on her, but he never exactly lifted a hand to help either.
"What? No! I just got… here." Jaune raised a hand before slowly lowering it, Pyrrha had already run off before he could finish his sentence. He sighed and cursed his social awkwardness for the millionth time.
"I just… stand by and watch? I don't even try to help?" Jaune squirmed uncomfortably in his seat.
"Eh, the fatal flaw of that version of you is your belief that others can handle things just fine on their own. And most of the time you're correct, it's just not very polite." Blank said.
"…Do I make up for it at least?" Jaune asked.
"You do, in style." Blake confirmed, her eyes glued to the screen.
Pyrrha sighed as she kicked off her sandals and stepped into her house, the place feeling more and more like a prison every day. To think she'd been in the village for a year already, she huffed as she recalled exactly what she had to show for it.
Maiden powers she never asked for and had to keep secret, guards that shadowed her around the clock to keep her safe and a grand total of zero friends.
"Come to Konoha they said, it'll be great they said, nobody mentioned this." She complained bitterly and walked down the silent hallways. Sliding open the doors to her living room, she was hit with the stench of blood and death instantly.
Eyes widening in shock, she stared at the bodies of her guards lying on the floor. Several figures stepped out of the shadows and she backed away in fear.
"Ack!" There was a pinprick on the back of her neck and when she reached up to scratch it, a small needle coated in purple liquid fell into her palm. Already, the sedative was coursing her veins and her vision was starting to swim, her focus was shattered and she wasn't able to draw on her power to fight back before being captured.
"What are they trying to pull?" Ironwood frowned at the kidnapping attempt.
"Can't you tell? It's so much easier to take down a maiden and drain her power while she's still weak and inexperienced." Cinder replied with a small shake of her head, unable to believe Ironwood of all people needed something that obvious pointed out.
"Why you-" Ironwood started by Ozpin interrupted him.
"Then it's a good thing the attempt fails isn't it? Since there's already confirmation that Ms Nikos is a maiden in the future." He said and sipped from his mug, Ironwood let out a small 'ahh' before settling back down, mollified somewhat by that fact.
Pyrrha fought back the encroaching darkness, she could hear the alarms ringing in the distance, the next shift of guards must have discovered the bodies and found her missing. If they could find the trail she'd been leaving, there was a chance of rescue yet.
Wincing as she ripped out several more strands of hair and let them fall to the ground, marking out the path for her rescuers. Her hands were bound behind her back and she was being carried like a sack of potatoes, but fortunately her hair was still long enough that she could reach up and pluck it.
Night had fallen and worry was building in her as another lock of hair fell to the ground. The same darkness that kept her kidnappers from noticing her ploy would be hindering her own allies as well, if they didn't notice her red hair in the dark…
She shook her head to wipe away the thoughts and fight off another bout of dizziness. When Pyrrha opened her eyes again, it took her a few seconds to notice the oddity. The ninja bringing up the rear of the formation was missing. He'd been following the procession through the tree tops and keeping a look out, and now he wasn't.
"How?" Roman asked.
"Ninjas being ninjas." Blake answered succinctly.
Pyrrha blinked again, her blurry vision just barely making out another of the rear guard being dragged off into the shadows. When it happened again, she was sure it wasn't her tired eyes playing tricks on her.
Hidden in the foliage above, Jaune waited for the struggling and gurgling to cease before ripping the kunai out of the kidnapper's throat, leaving the body to rest on the branches. He exhaled softly and waited for another opportunity to present itself, four targets remained including the one carrying Pyrrha. One last one in the trees and three on the ground in a loose triangle formation.
Despite the crappy situation, he'd gotten lucky. The Kumo shinobi didn't have a sensor among them and this was his neck of the woods where he practiced often. Finding the trail of scarlet hair on his way back from training was sheer coincidence. With the enemy ninjas going slow and running silent to avoid detection, catching up to them was a piece of cake.
Taking an alternate route to intercept them up ahead, Jaune hid in the shadows until the lone Kumo nin on the trees passed his position as predicted. Arms shooting out of the darkness, his left hand wrapped around the man's mouth and his right jammed the kunai into his jugular.
The fatally wounded shinobi's eyes bulged from the sudden attack and his body spasmed briefly before going limp and Jaune slowly rested it against the tree trunk. "Three to go. Now… how do we go about this…"
"Efficient… if a little brutal." Winter said, she could appreciate the tactics and their flawless execution, but the whole assassinating from shadows bit didn't sit right with her.
"They are ninjas, that makes them assassins too sister. It is to be expected." Weiss said, hiding her own disquiet.
"He should have called in reinforcements instead of trying to save her himself." Ironwood commented, getting Qrow to shake his head in disagreement.
"Yeah, that's not gonna work Jimmy. Call in backup and you might turn this into a hostage situation. Something tells me if they get caught, they're the kind of people to dispose of the hostage if only to deny their enemy an asset. And that's assuming reinforcements get there in time before they're home free."
"Correct." Blank confirmed.
Pyrrha blinked in surprise when one of the kidnappers when down with a scream, a kunai lodged in the back of his neck. She grunted in pain when the ninja carrying her dropped her without warning as he drew his weapons and turned to see his downed comrade.
There was another gasp and the loud crack of bones breaking, another ninja fell to the ground, his neck bent at a sick angle. As the body hit the ground with a thud, she caught a flash of yellow out of the corner of her eyes escaping back into the treetops.
The lone kidnapper remaining was now on high alert, his eyes darting every which way as he searched for the invisible assailant and prepared for an attack on any front… any front except his collapsed kidnapping target.
He let out a shocked cry when Pyrrha kicked him in the back of his left knee, bringing him down to one knee. He growled and snapped his head towards Pyrrha, a fatal mistake. Jaune dropped in behind him and reached around his neck with another kunai, a split second later and his flak jacket was stained crimson.
Pyrrha struggled to stand up but her legs held no more strength. She growled in frustration as Jaune knelt down to support her. "Are you alright? I came here to rescue you."
"How did you find me?" She asked as Jaune shifted her into a more comfortable position before picking her up in a bridal carry.
"I noticed the trail of hair you left." Jaune said as he started making his way back to the village, leaping through the tree tops.
"I thought no one would notice in the darkness." Pyrrha admitted while allowing herself to relax for the first time since the ordeal began.
"Heh, there's no way I could miss your hair, it's beautiful after all."
"R-really?"
"Yep. I noticed it the first time I saw you." Jaune looked down at Pyrrha and gave her a bright smile at the same time he burst through the treeline, leaving him framed against the moon.
Pyrrha was left speechless as Jaune continued beaming at her. A luminescent blush coloured her cheeks as she averted her eyes unable to meet the brilliant blue ones staring back at her. Warmth suffused her being as an unknown feeling blossomed inside, but right now, all she cared about was that being carried by Jaune was surprisingly comfortable. Her eyes closed as she fell asleep with a smile on her face.
"Damn, that was smooth lover boy." Yang whistled before craning her head upwards to stare at Jaune's embarrassed expression.
"So, do you think my hair is beautiful?" Pyrrha turned to Jaune with an expectant look on her face.
"Of course I do, what kind of question is tha-" Jaune descended into nonsensical babbling as Pyrrha grabbed his face and crushed her lips against his.
"Thank you." She giggled as she pulled away from the mess she left the boy in.
Back in the present, Pyrrha was the image of a goddess of war. Her chains and hair whipped around in the rain as she kept all three maidens focused on her and away from the frontlines. Their battle had dragged all four of them deep behind the coalition lines and away from Konoha troops just as she intended.
Dodging an energy blast, the beam went sailing for a cadre of Iwa nin in the distance and obliterated them before they even knew what hit them. Pyrrha retaliated with her own powers, sowing even more chaos among the enemy, buying Jaune more time to complete his plans.
"Give up! You cannot win this! It's obvious by now!" Cinder roared in frustration, Pyrrha was good but nowhere near good enough to take on three maidens at once and win. All of them could see that, but at the same time, she wasn't going down easily.
"I don't have to win, I just have to stall long enough for your army to be crushed." Pyrrha fired back, sending her chains forwards to try and spear Cinder through her cold blackened heart.
Cinder snarled and somersaulted over the offending chains, blasting away those that came close with fire from her hands. "You are insane, you're hopelessly outnumbered, Konoha cannot win this, it's over!"
"Outnumbered? That just means more targets, I hope you have enough coffins for your men." Pyrrha said with supreme confidence.
"How is he going to turn the tide anyways? There's just one of him and a lot of enemies." Taiyang asked.
"He's an army killer. Those special kunai of his are teleportation markers, he can warp to them and instantly kill anyone nearby before warping to the next one and the one after that." Blake answered.
"So being near one of those things is an immediate death sentence huh? Damn… I'm not sure which is scarier, the magic those maidens are throwing around or this." Roman shrugged, just happy that he didn't have to put up with anything like that on Remnant.
"A scalpel and a sledgehammer, I suppose." Ozpin commented.
Jaune stared at the mass of bodies in front of him. Konoha's lines were still holding for now, but it was just a matter of time before they broke under the strain, already it was buckling in places. Sucking in a deep breath and wiping the rain out of his eyes, he gave the signal.
The shinobi he handed out the tri-pronged kunai to hurled them into the air and started weaving a series of hand signs. As the kunai came down, there were countless pops and the few dozen became a few hundred courtesy of the kunai shadow clone jutsu.
With the howling wind, the kunais dispersed over the battlefield and landed among the enemy in an uneven spread. There were several screams when the kunai were lucky enough to find their mark in flesh but that wasn't the point of the attack.
Jaune closed his eyes and exhaled, mentally syncing up with every marker on the field, plotting out the course to inflict maximum damage. Once he was done, his eyes snapped open and he vanished in a burst of light.
Yellow streaks of light marked his path as he scythed through the defenceless shinobi. All over the battlefield, hundreds were dropping dead as soon as the flash appeared near them, their throats opened up or a stab wound appearing where their hearts should be.
The coalition shinobi didn't even have the time to start panicking before nearly the entire army was wiped out, hundreds dead in a matter of seconds.
Jaune reappeared in another flash of golden light in the centre of the battlefield, calmly surveying the survivors he wasn't able to reach due to his kunai being blown off course and leaving the enemy with 'safe' zones. But the enemy didn't need to know that.
"This is your one chance to get the hell out of my home! I suggest you retreat before you're all exterminated." Jaune shouted out, using a jutsu to amplify his voice to be heard over the storm. Even if he couldn't reach them with his technique, there was always the old fashioned way, since Konoha now outnumbered the survivors ten to one, it'd be a one sided slaughter with everyone out for revenge.
Jaune grinned when the enemy shinobi broke and ran for it. Ignoring the cheers of victory that came from his comrades, Jaune flashed away again.
"My god." Goodwitch breathed out in shock at the raw carnage inflicted in the blink of an eye.
"That's more than just super speed or teleportation." Winter said.
"It's… some kind of spacetime technique. The book never went too much into detail about it but the leading theory is that he's folding his own spacetime on top of the teleportation, it's how he can attack that fast and still be accurate." Blake said.
Cinder paused in her attack as a signal flare shot up into the sky from the direction of her HQ. "What!? What do you mean retreat!? We're winning!"
Pyrrha grinned and wiped away the blood from a cut above her eye. "Sounds like we've won and you've lost again."
A familiar flash of gold light marked Jaune's return to her side. "It's done then?"
"It is, took out most of them, the survivors are on a full-scale retreat now." Jaune confirmed, bringing a smile to Pyrrha's face.
"No! It can't end here! I won't allow it! Nikos dies here!" Cinder roared and shoved away her fellow maiden when she tried convincing her to follow the retreat order.
"Too bad, that choice isn't yours to make." Jaune pulled out a roll of explosive notes and ignited all of them before tossing it towards Cinder. Grabbing Pyrrha and pulling her into a bridal carry, he gave a brilliant smile before flashing away with his passenger.
"ARC!" Cinder roared as the roll of explosives detonated, causing the area to vanish in a blinding explosion. When the smoke cleared, she was left bleeding from multiple wounds and her eardrums had ruptured with her quarry nowhere to be found.
She howled to the heavens as the reality of the situation sank in, she'd lost. The alliance had lost and Konoha remained standing despite everything.
"Whooo! Way to kick ass Jaune-Jaune!" Nora cheered before turning to boo Cinder again. The fall maiden merely grinded her teeth and remained silent as yet another version of herself had lost.
"Any chance we could replicate that technique on Remnant?" Ironwood asked Blank.
"Slim to none I'm afraid. Even in that world, replicating it was impossible, it's one of a kind. But, there is always the possibility that someone will manifest a semblance with that kind of ability." Blank answered.
"I see… pity. Something like that would make Grimm extermination a cakewalk when we can't bring our heavier weapons to bear." Ironwood sighed.
Jaune reappeared in the centre of the Konoha camp and was immediately greeted by cheering and clapping from the people there.
"You certainly made an impression." Pyrrha said, making no move to leave Jaune's arms.
"Eh, I did? I was just trying to end the war." Jaune admitted.
"Pretty sure you did with the bulk of their armies gone. Here, a reward for the great hero." Pyrrha reached up and pulled Jaune down into a kiss that he reciprocated immediately. And all around them the cheering and catcalling grew louder.
"HELL YEAH!" Blake and Emerald shouted, cheering along with them as the screen faded to black and the lights came back on.
"Emerald!" Cinder hissed out as her mint haired underling instantly regretted her faux pas and shut up quick. Mercury snickered silently in the corner until Emerald reached over and smacked him on the back of his head.
"You're awfully excited about this." Weiss commented as unlike Emerald, Blake showed no signs of calming down.
"Are you kidding!? Do you have any idea how long I've waited to have the Ninjas of Love series get a live action adaptation?" Blake regarded Weiss with a manic look that disturbed the heiress slightly.
"Oh… um… good for you?"
"That's it for this viewing feel free to go freshen yourselves up." Blank said as his audience dispersed.
Author's notes: A little late, but here's the V Day chapter. Schedule is all out of whack now thanks to classes. Hope you enjoyed this one.
Cast list:
Jaune Arc as Minato Namikaze
Pyrrha Nikos as Kushina Uzumaki
Cinder Fall as random enemy Jinchūriki
