Training was never anything but a relaxing affair, at least mentally. Physically it was demanding, that was required for it to be classified as training, he supposed, but it had that kind of zone-out and smack things kind of vibe to it.

Currently, what Naruto was doing was not training, in the typical, more classical sense.

What it was that he was doing was creating a full skill training plan, a regime to stick to that would maximise his XP efficiency, something he could run constantly in a loop.

Unfortunately, he barely got any XP from training combat-skills outside of combat, it was, as it turned out, extremely inefficient to fire a Mana Bolt at 1 XP per cast, because it turned out that he needed a little over forty-two thousand casts in order to level once.

Non-combat skills seemed to gain XP somewhat faster, thankfully, and even ones that would have combat applications, but were less reliant on combat for usage, seemed to gain XP faster.

For example, a single Regular Soul Orb gave five-thousand XP on creation, and seemed to increase XP gain as Soul Harvest leveled, and increase even more between Minor and Regular Soul Orbs.

It also only took one hand to constantly cast, had no cost that he was aware of, and was useful for a number of things, namely his Bound Souls.

So, that effectively made it a training priority, and eliminated his left hand from doing anything for the majority of his training lap.

Two free legs and a free right hand meant that he could effectively train Sprint and Jump, rapidly bounding around the clearing with both speed and height, looking to all the world as if he was a madman learning he had superpowers.

So, that eliminated his legs for the time being. Surprisingly, Terrakinesis appeared to be a combat skill, in the same terms as many of his spells, so simply molding terrain seemed to give less XP than killing a Grimm with it, so that ruled that out, but he still had a list to go through.

So, in Naruto's right hand, he twirled his improvised lockpick between his fingers.

Each lap was definitely wearing him down, and he could feel the physical strain building up.

It was almost strange how the physical strain had almost no effect on his SP, though. It was a weird quirk he'd noticed, something that seemed almost strange, or stranger than normal, at least.

It was pretty much because he wasn't doing anything that was so physically straining that he would run out of stamina, though. His SP regen was high enough that he didn't even notice the impact on the bar, and if he stopped, he had no doubt the mild ache he could feel would cease.

'Another hour or so of this, then I'll get some experimentation done, then I'll head back up, try my hand at the new Crafting skill,' Naruto thought, mid-Jump. 'Who knows, I might even be able to keep that threat I made about Weiss and the SDC.'

Naruto doubted it. Considering he expected that most of the ingredients that went into making a potion would only drop due to his semblance, there was a pretty hefty chance that it wouldn't be anywhere near as scalable as a proper business. Maybe he could sell excess potions that he didn't need, or hand them to those who needed them more, but as it was, if all he could make were Stamina Potions, he didn't see much use for them.

'Of course, Crafting has more potential than just Alchemy. According to that menu, there's a lot of things.'

More laps passed Naruto by, not that he even noticed.

'Maybe Ruby is right, I could use a ranged weapon that doesn't rely on the System. Not a sniper rifle or a shotgun, those are a little too far on either side when it comes to range. A rifle, or a pistol?'

Naruto decided that he would put that one off until he got the option to have a proper discussion with Ruby in regards to a firearm.

Naruto snapped out of his thoughts as his scroll beeped, a new message indication causing him to nearly fumble his makeshift lockpick, dropping and then subsequently catching it. He inventoried it, and withdrew his scroll.

Not only had he received a message, he also noticed he been training for nearly an hour already. Time passed way too fast, but those thoughts disappeared as he read the new message.

'Naruto, I need your help with something important. Can we meet in my dorm?'

The message, from Ruby, gave Naruto a reason to be concerned. Knowing Ruby, it was probably nothing, despite her emphasis on how important it was, but it was the simplicity of the message that made him worry.

So, Naruto headed back up his new staircase, headed back for Beacon's campus.

And he'd been so close to maybe getting another Stat Point, too. Next time.

"Ruby, when you said important, this was not what I thought you meant."

Ruby looked at Naruto, almost scandalized. "How is this not important? How am I supposed to hide this from Professor Goodwitch?!"

"Arf!" The dog that was currently sat in Naruto's lap added to the discussion.

"Yes, thank you for your input, Zwei, helpful," Naruto snarked.

"Arf!"

Naruto looked up at Ruby, ignoring the argument that the corgi had decided to use as his main defense. "Ruby, why did you think I was the best choice for hiding a dog?"

"You hide a heap of animals!"

A sigh escaped his lips as he brought Cadejo out into the dorm room, the wolf immediately latching his attention to the much smaller canine in the room, and quirked his head to the side.

"Ruby, I'm not hiding animals. I'm summoning the converted souls of enemies I've killed and then revived through ritualistic means. I think."

"You think?"

Naruto threw his hands in the air. "It isn't exactly a precise science!"

Ruby shrugged, unaffected by his misery. "Eh. Can you hide Zwei?"

"Why haven't you asked your co-conspirator Yang, or your co-conspirator Nora? Or even Ren? Actually, now that I think about it, we're the responsible team. That's depressing."

"I can't ask Yang because she's busy with Weiss, who I definitely don't want to know I'm breaking a bunch of rules, and I can't ask Nora because she's more likely to parade Zwei through the halls, and I can't ask Ren because if I ask Ren Nora will be super-duper jealous and swoop in anyways!"

Naruto opened his mouth to disagree, but found that no argument came forth. "Okay, fair enough. Pyrrha or Blake?"

"Pyrrha's busy with Yang and Weiss, same reason as before, and Blake… well…"

Naruto nodded. "Blake and dogs do not mix, not without a lot of time for her to get comfortable. Wait, why do you already have all those reasons prepared? Was I your last choice?"

Ruby shook her head violently. "No!"

Naruto quirked an eyebrow.

"Weiss is my last choice. You're second last!"

The innocence made the insult all the more effective. "Thanks, Ruby. You really know how to make me feel useful."

Ruby ignored his complaints. "Can't you just make Zwei invisible?"

"Make him… invisible? How would I even go about doing that?"

Ruby's dead-stare barely fazed him, as Cadejo stepped closer to Zwei, giving the much smaller dog a tentative sniff, which was returned in kind.

"I don't know, Naruto, can you make things invisible?" Ruby asked.

"Not that I know of, at least at the moment," Naruto answered.

Ruby's pout was legendary. "Now what do I do?"

Naruto shrugged once more. "Just keep Zwei in your dorm. I doubt Professor Goodwitch will have a serious problem with him, considering some of the other things we've done. I'm pretty sure she may think that taking care of Zwei will teach us responsibility, or something."

Ruby sighed. "I guess. I was kind of hoping you could make Zwei invisible. That way, when he inevitably escapes the room, he wouldn't be hunted down by the Professor."

"Escapes the room?" Naruto asked, looking to where Zwei was.

Zwei was not there. Neither was Cadejo.

"Oh no."

Naruto had most definitely expected this to be the way his afternoon went.

"Zwei! Cadejo!" Naruto called, wandering the campus.

Ruby, next to him, echoed his calling, scanning the terrain around.

"Why is Cadejo not listening to you?" She asked, as if the idea had suddenly come to mind.

Naruto didn't know. "Maybe Zwei secretly has a semblance that allows him to mind control other canines?"

Ruby accepted this. "I mean, it would make sense. This isn't the first time he's convinced another dog to help set him free. I get why he likes to roam, but I don't get how he manages to open the doors! He's like, six inches tall!"

"Who's six inches tall?" Pyrrha asked, noticing the two passing by.

"Oh, hey Pyrrha. You aren't with Weiss right now, or Yang, are you?" Ruby asked, darting over to the much taller redhead.

Pyrrha shook her head. "No, I gave all the help I could, but Weiss has far more experience with this kind of event, and Yang is making sure it doesn't end up as an Atlesian, um, 'bore-fest', I believe were her words. Why?"

"Zwei's escaped!" Ruby quickly said, in her attempt to catch Pyrrha up to speed.

"Ruby now has a dog with a talent for escaping from rooms. He also seems to have convinced Cadejo to help. We're searching the campus for them now," Naruto clarified.

"Convinced Cadejo?" Pyrrha asked, confused. "I didn't think that was possible."

Naruto shrugged another time. "In combat, I doubt any of my summons would risk it, but I think Cadejo is just having some fun. Not the biggest deal, I guess, the problem is if he gets seen, and some opportunistic Hunter decides to do the world what they think is a good deed."

It was at this point that a loud grunt, followed by a series of 'arfs' in varying pitch, sounded out over the courtyard they had neared.

"Oh. That's probably not good," Naruto remarked, surprisingly calm.

Cardin Winchester stood, fists clenched, panting heavily, as Cadejo paced back and forth in front of him, a cocky glint in his eyes. Atop Cadejo, balanced carefree atop the wolf's back, stood Zwei, the tiny corgi preparing for another 'arf'.

Ruby was quick to disappear in a cloud of rose petals, appearing next to Cadejo and scooping Zwei up into her arms, the dog's mood changing in an instant, tail wagging.

"Naughty, Zwei! Stop running away!" Ruby scolded, and somehow the corgi seemed like the lesser of two puppies.

"Cadejo, sit," Naruto called out, approaching, Pyrrha following closely. Cadejo did as he was ordered, planting his rear on the ground, that cocky glint not leaving his eyes. "Troublemaker. You did this on purpose."

Cadejo's tail wagged back and forth in response to Naruto's accusation.

"What the fuck is going on?" Cardin asked breathlessly. "That's a gods-damned Grimm, what are you doing?!"

Naruto ignored Cardin, running his hand through the fur on the top of Cadejo's head, giving the wolf a scratch behind the ears.

"You… you bastard! Answer me!" Cardin shouted, grabbing Naruto's shoulder.

Cadejo moved in an instant, leaping at Cardin, who flinched backwards, landing on his rear.

"Down, Cadejo," Naruto ordered. The wolf backed up, sitting down next to Pyrrha, who absentmindedly stroked his head.

Naruto only had a few seconds to come up with an explanation, and he latched onto the first one that came to mind, as Cardin climbed to his feet, somewhat shakily.

"It's my semblance, Cardin."

Cardin's mouth opened and closed like a gaping fish.

"You train Grimm? That's your semblance?" The teen asked, almost repulsed.

"No, you idiot. I summon creatures like this," Naruto explained, noticing an uptick in XP in Deceitful Speech.

Cardin glared harshly at Cadejo, who was too busy enjoying the head scratches to pay the boy any attention.

"Yeah? Well, if I had my weapon, it wouldn't be so strong. Fuckin' bitch."

No one was around to laugh at the poor attempt at an insult. "Cardin, you know that he can't understand you. You're trying to insult a dog."

Cardin looked like he didn't know what to make of that.

"Yeah, you're right. It's just a mutt. Not even a threat."

Naruto quirked an eyebrow. "You're really trying to sell that angle. Any particular reason why?"

Cardin responded by flipping Naruto off. "Get outta my way, Narutoy!"

Naruto shrugged. "I don't know, Cardin, I think Cadejo scared you."

Cardin stopped trying to leave, scoffing. "Me, scared? Bitch please, I don't get scared."

Naruto smiled calmly. "Then turn around."

To his credit, Cardin's face didn't lose any color. "Sure thing, I was just leaving anyway. Don't want to spend any more time with you freaks anyways."

And, as Cardin turned around, he was suddenly face to face with a very large bear.

It was at this point that all the color drained from his face, and Cardin Winchester hit the ground, having fainted.

"Not scared. Right."

"You have a bear!?" Ruby exclaimed, after they'd vacated Cardin's final resting place. None of them wanted to be anywhere near the teen when he woke, if only to avoid any more potential annoyances in the form of his inflammatory comments.

"Yeah. Her name's Callisto," Naruto replied, looking up at where Ruby rode Callisto, balanced ever so precariously atop her furry body.

Callisto, unsurprisingly, didn't notice the weight a single bit. Not to say that Ruby weighed all that much. Actually, come to think of it, Ruby probably weighed less than her weapon.

"Why are all your summons so adorable!?" Ruby exclaimed, somehow legitimately expecting an answer.

"I… don't know?"

Zwei, being carried in a hug by Pyrrha, released an objectionable 'arf' at Ruby. The red-cloaked girl, obviously able to speak corgi, waved off the dog's concern.

"Aww, Zwei, you know you're the best doggy!"

Pyrrha and Naruto shared an amused glance.

"So, Naruto, this is your public semblance now, I suppose?" Pyrrha asked, gesturing her head towards Callisto and Cadejo.

Naruto shrugged. "I guess so. I mean, if Cardin decides to spread it to the student body, anyway. And other people probably saw Cadejo, and I have no doubt that at least one person's spotted Callisto, she stands out a little."

"That's an understatement," Pyrrha remarked with a laugh.

"Yeah, I think the bear is truly out of the bag now, Naruto," Ruby said, her nonchalant delivery betrayed by her beaming grin she was struggling to hide.

Naruto just glared at her. "Your sister is a bad influence on you."

Ruby shrugged. "Not that that's anything new. I've had to live with her for nearly sixteen years."

Pyrrha laughed again. "Frankly, it's impressive you've made it this far without getting into trouble."

Ruby shook her head. "Nah, I get into trouble all the time. I just look so innocent that people wave it off."

The brutality of her honesty was refreshing. "Oh? Do tell, troublemaker," Naruto joked.

"I mean, I've gone against the rules so many times to fight bad guys it seems to be my sole character trait. I've done it more than Blake has!"

That gave Naruto and Pyrrha pause. "Wait, more than Blake?" Naruto asked.

Ruby shrugged again. "Mmm, probably. I don't think either of us keep count."

Pyrrha quirked an eyebrow. "Maybe we should have Yang perform an intervention?"

"Yang trashed a bar less than an hour after I was accepted into Beacon early."

Pyrrha looked as if she wasn't prepared to hear that.

"Ruby, you can't just lay that on us without context. Even I haven't trashed a bar!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Ruby Rose, have you been leaking my secrets?!"

Ruby vanished into a cloud of rose petals, giving Callisto something to snack on, for… some reason. The bear summon seemed interested in the red petals, giving one a half-hearted chew.

"Damn, she ran. I should've been prepared for that. Hey Naruto, hey Pyr. Hey… giant bear," Yang greeted, faltering as she finally noticed Callisto.

"Yang, Callisto. Callisto, Yang," Naruto introduced, gesturing between the two.

Callisto gave a very non-committal bear-roar.

"Somehow, I'm still surprised. Every time. Why are you walking around with your summons in public? And, Pyrrha, why are you holding… Zwei?" Yang seemed as if every single piece of information was at odds with her current understanding of reality.

'Arf!' Zwei replied, as if this answered anything.

It did not, as far as Yang was concerned.

"It's a long story. Sure, not the longest I've ever had to tell, but still," Naruto said. "Short version is that Ruby lost Zwei, Cadejo helped Zwei escape, and the two went on an adventure. Cardin found out, and I had to come up with a quick excuse. So, now my semblance is publicly known as summoning, I can summon Callisto, and everybody has seen them."

"Naruto, that was quite literally everything that happened, aside from a few extenuating circumstances," Pyrrha remarked quietly. "I would say that both the long and short version were about the same length."

Naruto shrugged. "Semantics. You might want to give Zwei over to Yang, by the way. Unless we need another animal to rile Blake up."

"Yang, what are you…" Weiss asked, stepping out of the hall and into the courtyard out the front where they'd stopped to talk.

"Nope, not explaining it again!" Naruto said loudly. "This one's on you. Either of you."

With that, Naruto left a nonplussed Yang, a confused Weiss and an amused Pyrrha behind, as Cadejo and Callisto kept pace.

He had a chemistry lab to find.

Thankfully, Professor Peach didn't care one way or another what he did in the chemistry lab, as long as, when he was inevitable caught for creating hard drugs, he said that he had snuck in, instead of getting permission.

Her words.

Professor Peach was always the laxest of teachers, that much was certain.

Naruto was somewhat coherent when it came to listening to her albeit brief safety lesson, and he had the amazing ability to heal injuries, so as he put on his safety glasses, because repeating the eye-melting incident was most definitely not the top of his list of priorities, he got started.

Well, he didn't quite get started. What he did was open his menus, navigate to the Alchemy section, and study it in more detail.

[Alchemy]

[Creation]

[Research]

Two options, one being creation, the other research. Tapping Creation led to a screen with a series of greyed out options, like before, but Research led to something slightly more promising.

One option, though that was to be expected.

[Deconstruct 'Regular Potion of Stamina'?]

[Yes/No]

Naruto tapped yes, hoping to all the gods above and below that this wasn't a stupid idea.

Then again, what else was he going to do with it, drink it? Who knew what it would do to him. It could turn him into a blond, male version of Nora. That was dangerous.

He was so lost in thought he didn't even think about what he was doing, relying entirely on instinct as he withdrew the small bottle from his inventory and poured it into a larger flask, setting it into the chemistry set somehow, and proceeding to perform all sorts of tasks to it.

In his mind, he could not explain what he was doing, other than relying completely on his gut telling him what to do. Or, more accurately, his semblance.

It took a couple minutes, but Naruto was left with various bits of residue and liquid, and what could only described as a terrible smell, something that Naruto had once smelled before.

"Why does it smell like one of Ren's god-awful juices?" He asked himself, intrigued.

The answer came in a burst of information that Naruto received from Observing the residual materials.

"Ingredients comprised of inert Dust powder, alchemic reagent, and… algae?" He spoke aloud, before recognizing the smell. "No, there's no way that Ren was telling the truth. Algae really is good for your energy?"

Ever since that fateful lunch, the first time Pyrrha had to visit the infirmary at Beacon for a reason that was not combat related, Naruto realised that Ren was a dangerous man. He had to be, to have lived with Nora that long, and it was obvious that she was not the only quirky one of the pair.

He'd been right, though, despite Naruto trying to block out that memory due to the trauma. "Aww, now I have to drink that stuff!"

Well, he didn't have to, and his SP regen was much bigger than the rate he consumed it, so right now, he could avoid the agony.

Another notification proceeded to pop up, startling him from his introspection.

[New recipes learned!]

[Potion of Stamina learned!]

[Alchemic Reagent learned!]

Well, those were nice at least. He could replicate the potion, without much trouble, and the ingredient he had no idea about was now listed in his alchemy tab.

As for what alchemic reagent was, he was unsure, but a quick check would alleviate that lack of knowledge.

Dust powder, and… alcohol.

"Well, that's unfortunate. This isn't very specific."

If Naruto wanted to continue learning Alchemy, something he was very willing to put time into, he would have to either brew his own alcohol, or buy some.

Which would be harder, he was unsure.

Then again, he knew Yang, so maybe it wouldn't be so difficult. As for Dust powder, he was the leader of a team that featured Weiss, heiress to the biggest Dust conglomerate on Remnant. That was one thing he wasn't necessarily short on.

And he had plenty of inert Dust from killing Grimm, so that was good. And there was no doubt that Ren had a bunch of algae just taking up room in the shared fridge, to be avoided at all costs.

And maybe he'd use it all, just so Ren could have Stamina Potions. The teen needed all the energy he could get, Naruto supposed. It would get XP for Crafting and make him seem like he wasn't doing it to get rid of the algae.

It might even unlock him some new potions, who knew?

Regardless of all that, it appeared that deconstructing, decanting, whatever it was that Naruto did to the potion to turn it into the residue, had given Naruto only five XP towards his crafting skill. This was, expectedly, fine, as Naruto hadn't expected to gain much from this method anyways.

So, that was today's alchemy lesson was done. Not much else Naruto could do, concerning it, so he turned off whatever he'd left on, and left the room, closing the door behind him.

Someone else could clean the equipment. Beacon had janitors, right?

"I'm still unsure, ma'am. He's hiding it well."

Professor Aurum turned to face her student, resting her elbows against her desk. "A shame, Emerald. Here I thought you said you would find out more than Torchwick ever could."

Emerald wouldn't meet her eyes. "I'm sorry, ma'am. Either he's incredibly good at Aura manipulation, or he's a genius at hiding it. I was watching him train, down in the Emerald Forest, and all the things he was doing looked like typical, if advanced, Aura manipulation. Nothing I could see looked out of the ordinary, even if it made him look like some kind of Aura prodigy."

Cinder frowned, standing and walking to her window, looking out over the campus. "Then it may be a false alarm, and he may just be able to project his Aura as his semblance. Are you certain, Emerald?"

Emerald waved her hand in the air. "Fifty fifty."

Cinder turned her head to glare at her subordinate, who promptly remembered who she was talking to.

"I mean, there's not way to be certain at the moment. I'll need to watch him longer. I don't think it's his semblance, though, the Aura manipulation. The way he uses it, it makes him seem like he has no idea how an actual semblance works. I think he just figured out Aura manipulation, and is trying his absolute best to master it."

Cinder hummed in thought, watching as various students passed her office by, walking through the courtyard her office looked out onto. "I see. Continue your surveillance, I want to know what his semblance is, and if it is what we are looking for."

Emerald nodded. "And if it is, ma'am?"

"That, Emerald, is something that does not concern you as of this moment... " Cinder began, before trailing off.

"Ma'am?"

"Is that Uzumaki?"

Cinder's question caught Emerald off-guard, and she quickly stepped up to the window, peering out.

Outside, in the courtyard, stood Naruto, accompanied by Ruby Rose, Pyrrha Nikos and what looked to be a large wolf, and a larger bear.

Cinder glanced at Emerald. "Now, with this information in mind, does this change your opinion?"

Emerald stared wide-eyed at Naruto. "I… This makes it much more likely, ma'am. If you give me some more time, I can confirm it."

Cinder agreed. "Make sure you do, Emerald."

[Stats]

[Name: Naruto Uzumaki]

[Title: Huntsman; Trained]

[Level: 31]

[XP: 192,040/357,492]

[HP: 370/370 (1.85/s)]

[SP: 370/370 (7.4/s)]

[MP: 620/620 (6.2/s)]

[AP: 2960/2960 (0.74/s)]

[STR: 24]

[END: 37]

[AGI: 17]

[INT: 31]

[WIS: 31]

[CHA: 17]

[LCK: 13]

[Stat Points: 75]

[Lien: 24,445]