Naruto winced as the booted foot of the girl known as Romana Torch stomped down hard on the head of the last remaining member of Team ENVY.

Next to him, Ruby sucked in air, wincing herself. "That would hurt."

Naruto nodded. "I guess that's what happens when you have Professor Aurum as your team's tutor."

Naruto could see now as Emerald practically preened under the somewhat-dismissive amber-eyed gaze the professor from Haven was giving the team.

Blake, however, frowned, her focus on one of the other members of the team. "I think I've met one of them before."

Naruto whipped his head around to face his Faunus teammate, who'd leaned over the top of his chair to get a better look. "Which one?"

"The one with the really long black hair. Marseille Noir, I think Oobleck said her name was. She looks familiar."

Naruto looked towards the girl, trying a quick Observe, only for it to fail from the distance he was trying it. "You ever been to Mistral?"

Blake nodded. "Couple of times, working."

Working, meaning when Blake was in the White Fang, Naruto understood. "Might've bumped into her then, I guess."

Blake nodded. "Sounds about right. Speaking of familiar people, though, we should get out of here before the crowds start trying to talk to us. With Pyrrha and Weiss, we may just get swamped."

Ruby nodded alongside Naruto. "We can go into town, get some ice cream or something!"

To Naruto, that sounded like a brilliant idea. "I've been meaning to go investigate a few stores in town too, now that you mention it. Sounds like fun, anyone else down?"

Yang practically seized the opportunity with both hands. "Hell yeah! Shopping trip!"

Blake rolled her eyes. "I guess I'll tag along. I've been meaning to pick up some new books."

"I'd love to join you all," Pyrrha spoke, albeit somewhat quieter than usual.

"Woo! I'm with Yang, shopping trip!" Nora cheered, both arms up in the air as she nearly began bouncing upon her chair, only to have Ren take her shoulders and force her back down into a sitting position.

"I shall join, if only to keep Nora away from anything catastrophic," Ren spoke, though a smile ghosted across his face as he said it.

"I must head to the CCT regardless, so I would appreciate the company on the trip," Weiss explained.

A round of confirmations, it appeared. Naruto, de facto leader in the situation, considering Ruby was more than content to follow him, stood up and stretched, rubbing his back from where the chair had been rubbing against him. "We'd better get to the Bullhead dock now, then, otherwise it's going to be packed with people leaving."

A voice interrupted their travel, making the eight spin in place. "Actually, Mr Uzumaki, I was wondering if I may speak with one of your team."

Ozpin, leaning against his cane, stood with a passive expression on his face. "Would you be so kind as to spare Ms Nikos? I shan't take too much of your time, but it will be long enough that it would be best for Ms Nikos to catch up."

Naruto looked to Pyrrha, who seemed surprised. "Why me, if you don't mind me asking, Professor?"

Ozpin nodded sagely instead of answering. "I shall explain that in due course, Ms Nikos. If you would? My office is our destination."

Pyrrha gave a half-hearted wave to her friends and allowed herself to be led away by Ozpin, the redhead keeping pace easily with the greying man.

"Any idea what that's about, Naruto?" Yang asked, a concerned look on her face.

Naruto shook his head. "I think that's the first time Ozpin's wanted to talk with any of us besides me, so I haven't got a clue."

Naruto turned back. "Ozpin did say Pyrrha would catch up so, ice cream?"

"You want to bring my sister and her team in on this?" Winter exclaimed, a shocked expression on her face. "What experience do they truly have with tracking the White Fang?"

Qrow raised an eyebrow. "Don't tell me Ice Queen Junior didn't tell you about her extra-curricular activities. Like the time she and her team fought Roman Torchwick after a White Fang rally. Or the time she and her team discovered a hidden White Fang base in Mountain Glenn. Or the time she and her team joined Jimmy's strikeforce back to Mountain Glenn."

Winter shook her head. "I have been informed of those times, Branwen. However, there is a significant difference between investigating blatantly obvious leads and discovering new, untapped leads on a terrorist force that has completely dropped off the grid."

Qrow shrugged. "Worth a shot, at least. Unless you have any bright ideas."

Winter placed her glass down, hand coming to rest against her chin as she thought. "We could try Torchwick again. Perhaps there is something he knows that you could get out of him. He doesn't seem to believe that Atlas can do anything, but you may be able to sway his opinion."

Qrow gave it a moment of consideration. "Eh, might as well. After that, though, we go track down your sister and her team."

Winter acquiesced with a nod, standing from her seat and grabbing her coat. "I suppose we should get started."

Torchwick stared his guard in the eyes, watching his every movement.

The guard made no impression of awkwardness, no sign of discomfort. Atlas had finally wizened up, it seemed. The last one had began stammering and stuttering, and the one before that had actually opened the cell door and tried to pick a fight.

That had almost been too funny. 'Elite soldiers' his ass. More like kingdom-sponsored thugs. He'd seen more intimidating school-children. Hell, they were responsible for him getting stuck in here in the first place.

Not like Roman had much to complain about, really. Three square meals, occasional conversations where he had all the time he wanted to make his interrogators look like fools, and a somewhat-comfortable bed. He'd had worse, much worse. He missed his cigars, sure, but it was a small price to pay.

The door to his cell buzzed, and the guard he'd been staring at stepped inside, rifle trained on the master thief.

"Oh, another guest? I do so appreciate the company."

A gruff voice greeted him in reply. "Heh, that's not something I usually hear when I enter somewhere. Heard my niece kicked your ass."

Roman stood. "Your niece? Which one? There are a few little brats roaming Vale nowadays."

Qrow laughed. "True, I guess you would be confused, considering how many 'little brats' have kicked your ass in the past few months."

Roman swore internally. He'd walked himself into that one, and from the look on his interrogator's face, the man knew it.

Another figure stepped in behind him, one that Roman recognized. "The illustrious Ice Queen herself greets me in person? What is today, did something happen?"

"Would you like to know something interesting, Torchwick?" Winter asked, throwing Roman for a loop. Normally the woman would've taken the bait.

"Oh, and just what would that be?"

Qrow was the one to answer. "Vale's council is the only thing stopping Atlas from subjecting you to some more, let's say, 'enhanced' forms of interrogation, something you seem to be pretty happy pointing out."

Roman remained silent.

"See, thing is, I'm not here on Atlas authority, and neither am I here on Vale's authority. Name's Qrow Branwen. You and I, we're going to have a long chat, and you're going to learn that Atlas considers some of my methods barbaric. Perks of growing up in the Branwen tribe, but I bet you already knew that."

Roman paled.

Pyrrha was only somewhat nervous to be standing in the headmaster's office. She hadn't done anything wrong, at least, not to her knowledge.

Right?

"Apologies for the wait, Ms Nikos, General Ironwood should be here within moments."

It was so perfectly timed, the moment the headmaster finished his sentence was the moment the elevator doors dinged open, and out stepped both Ironwood and Goodwitch.

"Apologies for my tardiness, Ozpin. I was assisting Winter and Qrow with a request. Ms Nikos, a pleasure to see you."

Pyrrha, in a mild amount of shock at being addressed, simply nodded a greeting, somewhat unable to trust herself to form a polite, coherent sentence.

"I imagine you are wondering exactly what it is that we've called you here this afternoon to speak about, Ms Nikos."

Finally, something Pyrrha trusted her own voice to answer. "Yes, sir. I had been wondering."

Ozpin nodded, a genial smile on his face. "If you were not, I'd imagine we'd called you here for the wrong reason."

That caught Pyrrha off-guard.

"I understand that you are nearly completely aware of everything Mr Uzumaki knows about his semblance?"

Pyrrha nodded. "He did tell both myself, the rest of AWBN and all of RRYN about his semblance."

Ozpin hummed acknowledgement. "Then you are aware of what he calls magic?"

Pyrrha glanced between Ozpin, Goodwitch and Ironwood. "Yes? Some of his skills use Mana, if I remember correctly, and he calls those spells. I guess they'd be classified as magic."

"Yes. His semblance is a little more than just a semblance, as I believe we all suspect, but would you believe me if I told you that there is more magic in the world than just Mr Uzumaki?"

Pyrrha thought for a moment before replying. "I would have to, I suppose. I've already seen evidence of it, so to hear that Naruto is not the only one would not come as the greatest surprise."

"Hmm. When I say magic, I don't quite mean the kind of magic Mr Uzumaki has access to. His is, well, an entirely different class of magic. His is more… foreign. Perhaps I'd best start from the beginning, and go from there. Tell me, do you have a favorite fairy tale?"

"Woah…"

"Woah…"

Ruby and Yang were practically echoing each other, staring at a display stand that held what Naruto could only really call an amalgamation of a motorcycle and a scrapheap.

Blake was standing next to the two, having noticed the plaque. "The Spitfire, a vehicle designed for complete modularity. Easily turn from a sleek two-wheeler to a rugged four-wheeler, using a deep integrated system of advanced Storage Tech and our own custom-designed modular locking systems."

Naruto had to admit, it was pretty cool. Yang was salivating over it from a vehicular standpoint, and Ruby was salivating over it from a mechanical standpoint, but Naruto had the ability to look at it from both points of view.

Until he saw the price-tag.

"Holy crap, that's seventy-thousand Lien!"

His exclamation was enough to snap Ruby and Yang away from it, one in shock, the other disappointment.

"Damn. Bumblebee was only like, twenty-thou," Yang remarked. "And that was after all the modifications and stuff I bought for her."

"I guess you pay premium for the 'modularity', whatever that'd come in handy for," Blake pointed out, as they rejoined the rest of the group in the large shopping strip they'd been wandering around in. "Though I can't say I really see the need for it. Anyone who could afford that could afford an armored car."

Ruby answered her. "The modular stuff is actually pretty easy to replicate. It's just a series of joints and magnets. You can probably get a whole array of different parts for it, like an anti-personnel turret, or fit it out for rough terrain."

Yang nodded. "Yeah, it's a specialty vehicle. The rich Hunters buy 'em, and then rarely use them. I'd say they're pretty much only useful in urban areas, and how many urban areas are there that you need a friggin' tank for?"

"Atlas, to be fair. I've seen a fair few of those around the Academy," Weiss said, emerging from a rather expensive boutique. "They're usually bought for the rich students. You won't find a Hunter willing to ride one unless they've stumbled across a lot of wealth, and feel like treating themselves."

Naruto laughed. "Is it bad that I kind of want to buy one?"

Weiss rolled her eyes. "My point exactly. You've definitely stumbled across wealth, that's for sure."

"True, but that thing'd put me in the hole faster than you can say 'broke'. I kinda need my Lien for supplies."

"Ooh, Naruto, that reminds me! We should go pick up a bunch of supplies, so we can start training your crafting!" Ruby exclaimed, the excitement palpable.

"It's at the top of my to-do list, don't worry. I figured I'd start by making some metals from ore, that seems like a good idea."

"There's a place that sells that sort of thing wholesale on the outskirts of town, so it's probably best if we save that for last."

Naruto looked to Ruby with a sly smirk. "You just want to get ice cream now, don't you."

Ruby decided to copy one of Naruto's mannerisms, scratching at the back of her head, somewhat abashed that Naruto had seen straight through her. "Kinda?"

"Oh my gods you two are too adorable," Yang let out.

Ruby rounded on her sister in an instant, leaping with a snarl that seemed like it achieved a world record for 'least intimidating snarl ever'.

Ren, ever the bringer of peace, pointed towards a small store not too far from where they were standing. "That's a nice little place over there, if we want to head inside."

Naruto quickly snagged the back of Ruby's hood and hoisted her off her laughing sister. "Come on, you two."

Nora was already bouncing at the door, waiting as patiently as Nora could ever truly be, excited at the prospect of sugary treats. It wasn't pancakes, of course, the indisputable king of breakfast, but it was almost as good.

They all entered, and soon were digging into a wide assortment of frozen goodies.

"I… I don't understand, Headmaster."

"I was afraid you wouldn't. Tell me, what is it you do not understand?"

Pyrrha couldn't very well say all of it. Strictly speaking, she did understand.

Underneath Beacon was a massive vault, in which only one thing was stored, a comatose woman who possessed magical powers that could be passed on only when the current holder died, and would only be passed on to women, either by being the last thought of the recently deceased, or at complete random should the last thought be of something else.

Also, Ozpin wanted to give her the power of what he was calling the Fall Maiden, because the current holder was incapacitated, with no hope of recovery.

Due to the fact that she was attacked and drained of a part of the power.

She understood all of those words individually. It was combining them all together that it became a little harder to swallow.

Oh, the last thing was that she wasn't allowed to speak of this to anyone else. That part made the least amount of sense.

"Why can I not speak to Naruto about this?" Pyrrha asked, finally settling on a question.

Ozpin shook his head sadly. "Like it or not, Ms Nikos, Naruto presents a very significant danger to the existence of the Maidens. If he were to come into contact with Amber, it could very well shatter the cycle, and we do not know the wrath that could wreak upon Remnant."

Pyrrha had to note that Ozpin hadn't actually explained anything about that. He'd pretty much just reiterated what he'd already told her.

"And we can't tell Naruto not to go see Amber, but inform him of everything else? As far as I know, he's the expert in magic."

Another shake of the head. "Mr Uzumaki's magic is, as I've said, completely foreign. It would not translate, nor would it help. And, unfortunately, the risk is too great."

Pyrrha nodded, accepting the answer for what it was, even if the older man refused to explain any further. She had no real reason to distrust her Headmaster regardless, and the man seemed to truly care about not only Amber, but herself as well.

She moved onto her next question instead. "Headmaster, why me? What have I done that makes me so… eligible, in your eyes?"

She spoke carefully, picking and choosing each word with delicate deliberation.

Ozpin allowed himself to smile at her. "You are one of, if not the most, capable female students Beacon has had in a number of years. Not only are you and your team most likely the strongest, most capable team in Beacon right now, you and Mr Uzumaki are probably the strongest individual students, closely followed by Ms Xiao Long, in fact. And seeing as Mr Uzumaki is indisputably male and also already in possession of his own brand of magic, this responsibility falls to you."

Pyrrha frowned slightly. "And why not Yang? If Naruto can't come into contact with it, for whatever reason, why give it to his partner?"

"A good point, one that Professor Goodwitch brought up," Ozpin began. "The reason is that we believe Ms Xiao Long to be somewhat more… flighty, than you. She is powerful in her own right, but somewhat less of a believer in structured responsibility. Giving her a power of such… capability… may very well backfire on us."

Pyrrha rounded on the headmaster in an instant. "You think Yang would, what, betray you?!"

Ozpin seemed surprised that she'd fired back with such haste. "No, Ms Nikos, I said nothing of the sort. I merely mean that Ms Xiao Long is not the kind of person to act with an incredible amount of patience. I am not exaggerating or embellishing when I say she has a habit of acting somewhat… rashly."

That Pyrrha couldn't deny. It was pretty much Yang's whole semblance, and the blonde had admitted as much in their many training sessions together. Her father and uncle had apparently called the semblance the 'temper-tantrum', and Pyrrha wasn't at all ashamed to admit she had laughed at that.

Ozpin was still going, though. "Keep in mind, Ms Nikos, it is not the Maiden power that cannot come into contact with Mr Uzumaki, but Amber herself coming into contact with Mr Uzumaki's semblance. The combination of magics would only prove to be dangerous in proximity when the Maiden power is damaged in any way. Placing it within you would alleviate that issue completely."

So Pyrrha decided to move onto the most important question, and one she was mildly ashamed to not have thought of before. "If I agree, what happens to Amber?"

Ozpin stalled for a moment, deep in thought. "I.. We… We don't know. The best case scenario is that Amber wakes up from her coma. Worst case… she does not."

Pyrrha took a step back. "I… If it's alright with you, Headmaster, I need some time to think about this."

Ozpin placed his now empty mug upon his desk. "Of course, Ms Nikos. Take all the time you need but… please, think quickly."

It took all of her self-control not to sprint out of that office.

Naruto didn't know why he hadn't expected to be able to purchase any amount of ore from a store that sold it. It was strange, honestly, that he hadn't expected the essence of capitalism to have stretched to every nook and cranny of the global market.

Now, he was somewhat more laden with materials for his crafting, two inventory slots taken up by twenty-five copper ore, and twenty-five tin ore, which, according to his crafting menu, he could process into ingots at his forge.

He wasn't entirely sure how accurate that was, but then again, his semblance liked to play liberal with reality on a daily basis, so what more was this?

Nothing particularly ground-breaking, to say the least.

And to think, all the ore had only cost him 3550 Lien in total. He'd managed to whittle it down from 5000 thanks to the combination of his Charisma and the Salesman perk, and now, his mind was elsewhere.

Pyrrha had never caught up, but she had sent him a message, basically saying not to wait for her, as she had some stuff to do back at Beacon.

He hadn't thought much of it at the time, accepting it without further consideration, but now, back at the Arcave, it wouldn't stop plaguing his mind.

She was fine, physically, at least, he'd seen her when the group had returned from their shopping trip, but she'd seemed distracted.

He'd ask her after his little crafting trip this afternoon. His partner not only needed to be in the right mindset for their doubles match, but she was also his friend. If something was wrong, he'd make sure to help fix it.

Naruto took the stairs one at a time, entering the workshop basement, pushing some of his hair out of his face as he did so. It'd gotten pretty long lately, and even shaggier, if that were a possibility.

Ruby had shown him how to operate many of the tools and workstations, and Naruto quickly set about heating the forge, getting it ready for his first attempt at processing ore.

He took one of the chunks of copper ore from his inventory and placed it inside the forge, and watched as, before his eyes, it seemed to simply mould itself into a bar shape, smoothening out, and turning a deep orange color.

He grabbed the tongs from the hook next to the forge and grabbed the newly created metal bar, dunking it into the barrel of water next to him, surprised to find that he found the sound of hissing metal cooling rather satisfying.

[Copper Ingot Created! +100 XP!]

The ding echoed out once the bar had finished hissing, and he withdrew it from the water, dropping it straight into a new slot in his inventory, already grabbing the next chunk of ore.

He repeated the process and received an identical notification, followed by a new one.

[Crafting has reached level 5! You can now craft Bronze Ingots and components!]

Well, that was nice. Forethought was useful, after all, and having gotten a bunch of tin ore along with the copper had turned out to be a good choice.

It took him twelve more copper ingots before he was level 6, with each ingot being worth 125XP, thanks to his increased level.

No new unlocks at level 6, unfortunately, but he'd keep going until he was out of materials.

The rest of his copper and seven tin got him to level 7, and the rest of his tin got him close to level 8.

Now, the final stretch. Naruto placed a single ingot of tin and a single ingot of copper into the forge, and waited.

With breath abated, Naruto watched as the two ingots seemed to simply congeal together, the orange ingot and the pale metallic blue ingot becoming a darker, duller bronze-colored ingot of, well, bronze.

It only took three bronze ingots to get him to level 8, and from there it was only onwards and upwards as fifteen bronze ingots got him from 8 to 9, and his remaining seven ingots worth took him to a third of the way through level 9.

And it had taken nearly a half-hour to do so.

Now, though, he had twenty-five ingots of bronze to do something with.

As to what he could do, he wasn't entirely sure.

According to his semblance, a single bronze ingot was worth around 275 Lien, which was more than double what the ingredient cost was, so he could make a lot of money, but that wouldn't exactly be XP-efficient. Not that he had to be, but he felt like Lien was a lesser priority.

Armor, maybe?

He'd been in need of a new set for some time, ever since his rather fateful experience with that King Taijitu, so why not make some?

Then again, bronze wasn't exactly known for its incredible strength against Grimm. It was really just a stopgap for civilians, to give them a slight chance. It would be almost negligible on him, at least, until he got some materials that were a little stronger.

Even his cheap steel platemail he'd had was better protection.

Naruto decided he'd just keep the bronze, for now. Maybe later he'd come across something that would need it, maybe he wouldn't. It was too much too soon, and he didn't quite know what to do with it.

Maybe he'd ask Ruby.

Five minutes later, after Naruto had shut off the forge, and stepped out of the Arcave, he realised his crucial mistake.

He'd forgotten to equip his Designer title.

Son of a bitch.