AN: Hey guys! So I read through your reviews and I found myself agreeing with what some of you guys said. Yang was a little too forward. Yes, her personality is straightforward and confident, but the way I had written her was too forward and confident. So, this is the revised version, with more interactions and a spar. Enjoy!
4. Weekend Shenanigans
Ruby was shaking on her bed. Not in any negative way. Rather, she was excited! Beyond excited!
The weekend was here!
No more homework, no more lectures, no more people! Pure. Bliss!
And with the Bullhead Transit System working, she might even be able to make a trip down to Vale! Maybe see some sights, eat some ice cream, buy some ammo, replace some illegal and worn out parts. You know, all the normal things a girl her age would do during a day about town.
Shaking with unspent excitement, she snuck her way out of her dorm. She couldn't just stay in bed, sleeping the morning away, not when she was this excited anyways. Besides, if she stayed in bed any longer, she might just jiggle a hole straight through her bed and fall down on Weiss.
That didn't sound like a particularly good way to start the weekend.
So, with too much anticipation on her mind, Ruby left the warm confines of her bed and wandered Beacon's grounds. At some point, her mind wandered back to the events of the past week. From Weiss's tirade against her role as RWBY's leader, to their reconciliation, to Naruto and Pyrrha's spar. Just recalling that high-octane fight made her squeal quietly to herself.
The way Naruto flipped onto Pyrrha and then slammed her into the ground? Amazing.
How quickly they moved? Shocking.
Beyond herself, she'd never seen anyone move so quickly! It was obvious, even to her, that Pyrrha was an amazing fighter, but Naruto was even more so! They could both switch weapons on a dime, move so fast their weapons looked like solid beams of reflected light, and brawl like they were fighting for their lives!
She thought they were fast. Then, Naruto just disappeared! He moved so fast, even she couldn't see him and her entire shtick was moving faster than the eye could see!
"I wonder how he moved so fast?"
"Wonder who moved how fast?"
"KYA!"
Unlike the average girl, who got scared and just screamed in terror, Ruby added a dangerous element to the reaction. Screaming at the top of her lungs, Ruby swung Crescent Rose with panicked strength. With her eyes closed, she came to a horrifying conclusion: she might've just killed someone!
"Well, good morning to you, too!" Hanging upside down, Naruto had caught her baby by the blunt edge.
"Naruto!" she gasped. "You shouldn't scare people like that! What if they're carrying deadly weapons?"
"You mean like this one?"
"Yes!"
"Aw. Don't worry, little Red. You're still a little too young to hurt me."
"Am not!" she huffed.
He patted her head, smiling as Ruby crossed her arms and puffed her cheeks.
"We can find out tomorrow if you want," he offered.
It was an offer Ruby was too eager to take. Who wouldn't wanna go head-to-head against the guy that gave Pyrrha freaking Nikos the smackdown?
"Promise?" She offered up her little pinky.
"Alright then." He wrapped his pinky finger around hers. "Promise."
"So… why not today?" Ruby bounced on the balls of her feet, as giddy as ever. "I mean, we could fight right now! Right here in the Forest!"
"Sorry, Ruby." he apologized, walking back towards Beacon. "Promised my team we'd go into Vale."
"Oh! Could we tag along?" She caressed Crescent Rose with boundless affection. "I need to get some fresh ammo and a few replacement parts for my baby."
"Sure," he shrugged. "Don't think they'd mind."
Walking back to Beacon, Ruby lost herself in their conversation, even spilling some less-than-legal details about her Crescent Rose.
"It's not like I meant to break the laws! It's just… the laws changed and the parts I used got banned… and I just forgot to replace them!"
"Too complicated," Naruto moaned. "Too many parts, too many functions. If something broke in the middle of combat, you wouldn't have anything to fall back on!"
"That's why I take care of my baby!"
"And what if you run into someone who could break your baby?"
Ruby gasped and hugged Crescent Rose in its sniper form to her chest. Heresy! Blasphemy!
"Remember that Deathstalker?"
Ruby pouted. How could she not?! Her baby couldn't even cut through the stupid bug's armor! It wasn't her baby's fault though! That stupid thing's armor was just too thick.
"What do you do if your weapon just doesn't cut it?"
Ruby groaned. Oh no. There was a pun in there. Her sister might just come running any minute now.
"Then what would you do?"
She was actually curious. This was a problem she'd run into before. According to her uncle, if a Hunter lost his weapon… well, it was game over. That's why any Hunter worth his salt made darn sure his weapon never left his hands.
"Having back up weapons comes to mind." Naruto pulled up his sleeves, revealing a series of intricate tattoos. "I have an armory's worth of weapons to fall back on in case I lose something or I need something for a special situation."
"But! But! Money~," Ruby whined.
"I'm not saying you need to get a second custom multi-stage weapon," Naruto reasoned. "You just need to have something, be it a skill or a weapon you can fall back on."
"Well, I do have my Semblance!"
"And if someone else's Semblance has an advantage over yours?"
"Pfft. As if anyone could beat my speed!"
To show him just what she meant, Ruby disappeared in a flurry of petals, dashing around him faster than most people could hope to perceive, let alone react.
"See? I'm… fast…?"
Her jaw dropped as her brain finally caught up to what her eyes were seeing. Dangling from his outstretched hand was her hood and cape. Just to make sure what she was seeing was real, she reached behind her back, rubbing at the back of her collar.
Yup. Those were hers.
"And?"
"H-How?" she squeaked.
"I used to be faster," he shrugged. "Speed isn't everything, Ruby. There will be a day when you just won't be fast enough. One day, your speed will fail you."
She looked down, unable to meet his eyes. Failure, huh?
"You are an irresponsible child!"
"Ozpin made a mistake."
"Then… what am I supposed to do?"
"You learn. You improve. Crescent Rose isn't your weapon." Her head snapped up, ready to refute such a ludicrous claim, with her baby in her arms. "You are the weapon. Your Semblance, Crescent Rose," he listed, shaking his head, "are just tools."
She looked at Crescent Rose, folded in her arms, recalling the fight between Naruto and Pyrrha. From the way Naruto used his weapons, switching them to fit his needs, to the way he used nothing but his own weight and muscle strength to flip Pyrrha over like an oversized pancake.
"Can… can you teach me?"
"Sure! Tomorrow!"
x-x-x-x-x
Blake followed after Naruto. She was visiting one of her favorite bookstores, but, to her horror, they had closed down for the day. From across the street, she had watched as he slid open the door and slipped inside. In his hand was something that made her want to squeal in delight and jealousy. There was a joke to be made somewhere around here about cats and curiosity but it was the last thing on her mind.
"H-How did you get your hands on that book?!"
She had been anticipating its release for weeks! It was the next of her favorite book-
"Ninjas of Love 2?" He held the book up - so close! - and showed her the cover. "I wrote it."
The words took a second for her brain to process. When her brain did manage to decipher their meaning, her cheeks flushed.
"You wrote it?!" She flicked her gaze back and forth, checking the bookstore for anyone who might overhear her. "You?! You're The Sage?!"
"Yup!"
She didn't believe him until she saw the tiny stamp in his hands, depicting a chibi wolf. Her copy of Ninjas of Love was in her hands in an instant.
"Can I have your autograph?!"
Her stomach flipped and flopped as Naruto held out his hand, pen in the other. She couldn't have handed it over any faster.
"'To my dear friend, Blake Belladonna. A good friend, an avid stargazer. May you never lose your page and may the knowledge you gain guide your way. Sincerely yours, The Sage.' There."
With a stamp of his insignia next to the signature, Blake took her book back. And squealed.
"Hey! Who's making all that noise out here? Can't you see we're closed?!"
She hid behind Naruto, her newly signed book clutched tightly to her chest.
"Yo, Tukson."
"Oh. It's you, kid. Ready to get your next book published? Your last one flew off the shelves."
She watched the exchange happen. She was witnessing history in the making!
"I can't believe it!" she whispered in awe as they left Tukson's Book Trade.
"Can't believe that I'm the author or that the next book is going to be published so soon?"
"Both!" she gushed. "The first one was-." She blushed to the roots of her hair. She ducked her head at the quiet chuckle he gave. "You're judging me, aren't you?"
"Not at all, actually." He shrugged. "I've read worse when I was thirteen."
"Worse?"
"My godfather was an author," he explained. "And his series was a lot more… adult-oriented."
"Oh." On the surface, she appeared to have accepted the idea, but her thoughts were a completely different story. "Even raunchier than this?!" Her mind began to wander. "Not in public, not in public!" She shook her head, clearing her thoughts and allowing her to focus on the important matter at hand. "Do you have any of his copies on you?"
Oh how she hated that knowing smile.
"Stupid stupid stupid!"
"I do." He looked at her from the corner of his eye. "Why do you want 'em?"
"Research purposes!"
"I won't judge. I'll let you borrow a copy."
"Yes!" she screamed in her head. "Thank you."
"Come on. We gotta go find our wayward teams before they get themselves into trouble."
"I highly doubt they could get into trouble in half an hour." Naruto stopped in his tracks. "What is it?"
"You did not just say that." His eyes were wide. His face pale. "You really did not just say that!"
"W-What?"
"We gotta go!" He grabbed her by the arm.
"Wait! What's the rush?"
"You jinxed it!"
She really didn't think-
The sound of a distant explosion killed that train of thought. She blushed under Naruto's accusing glare.
"You did this!"
x-x-x-x-x
"We really do have to stop meeting like this, Red."
Yang gave the criminal in front of her a once over. The dapper hat. The cane. The orange hair.
"Roman Torchwick," Ruby cried, "you won't get away this time!"
"Oh! And you brought a friend! Sadly, we'll have to cut this meeting short."
"Fat chance, buster!"
Neither she nor her sister waited for the criminal to respond. Ruby closed the gap between them. Yang followed right behind her sister.
The thugs were of no trouble. Between Ruby's scythe and her own combat skills, they were sent sprawling in seconds. The main problem lay in the mastermind of the operation. Rather than fighting them, the thief was more concerned with getting away with the stolen goods.
"This is where we part ways once more, Red."
The thief fired at a Fire Dust crystal, detonating it alongside a fire extinguisher, kicking enough smoke and fumes to cover his retreat.
"Not this time!"
Yang followed behind her sister, whose Semblance and scythe scattered the explosive smokescreen.
"Yang! Up!"
A brief flicker of movement on the top of a nearby building told her where the crook had disappeared to. Grabbing onto Ruby's scythe, she held on tight as sister launched her into the air. She dropped onto the rooftop, tucking and rolling before chasing after the runaway criminal. She heard Ruby land behind her, hot on her heels.
"Hey! Quit your running!"
"Not on your life!"
She tried to continue her pursuit, only to find herself stopped by an extended arm.
"Naruto! What are you doing?! We have to get him!"
"Ruby, Yang. There's no one there."
"What?!" Ruby yelled. "He's right there!"
How could he not see? Torchwick was right there!
Naruto's hand clasped onto Yang and Ruby's shoulders. They gasped as pure energy poured through them and the image of Torchwick shattered like a pane of glass.
"What the hell?!"
"What?" Ruby whined. "That's not fair~!"
"Semblance, I think," Naruto hummed. "Some kind of illusionary ability."
"Ugh," Yang groaned. "Cheap!"
The three of them dropped down to the floor level. With the explosion that occurred, Vale's police force was already there, inspecting the crime scene and rounding up the defeated thugs.
"Why steal Dust?" Naruto whispered, almost to himself.
"Uh… to use?" Yang offered. "Kinda obvious."
"If it was anyone else, I would agree with you," Naruto conceded. "But according to the police reports, Roman Torchwick is a thief, a crook. He doesn't use that much Dust in general, so why bring heat upon himself and his people just to steal Dust he could never hope to use?"
"So you think something big is going on?" Blake asked as she joined them.
"Yea," Naruto nodded. "These robberies have been getting worse. They're creating artificial scarcity and insecurity in Vale." He shook his head. "If we don't stop them or find where all of this Dust is, Vale is going to be in trouble."
"How?" asked Ruby. "How does… scarcity and insecurity affect Vale's safety?"
The four watched the crime scene units from afar, keeping themselves behind the crowds that had gathered.
"Food production, energy production, weapon ammunition." Naruto shrugged. "All of Remnant is dependent on Dust in one way or another. Prices for everything goes up. People become worried about their livelihood. Hunters and Huntresses would only be able to buy so much ammunition on a Hunter's salary. City's defense takes a hit. People worry more. Which means…"
"More Grimm," Blake muttered. "A positive feedback cycle."
"A posi-what now?" Ruby squeaked.
"A bad situation that makes things worse," explained Naruto. "Rinse and repeat."
"Dang," Yang muttered.
"But enough about that," Naruto smiled. "There's not much we can do about it now with the crook gone and the evidence in police custody. Why don't we finish this shopping trip and get back to Beacon?"
"Are you offering to help us shop, Naruto?" Yang smirked.
"Uh… sure?"
The uncertainty was cute. She grabbed onto one arm, Ruby took the other. Sadly, for him, he didn't have a choice in the matter.
"No take backs~," she sang.
"Oh! We gotta go buy the replacement parts!"
"And I gotta stock up on Dust shells. Who knows if the prices will hike up again!"
"And Crescent Rose needs more lubricant!"
"Lubricant?" Naruto blinked.
"Like the kind for your sword!" Ruby cheerfully replied.
Yang snorted to herself. The quiet little giggle behind her told her that Blake caught the double meaning as well.
"Can we not talk about lubricating my sword?"
She giggled, still pulling Naruto forward alongside her sister. She could feel the amusement pouring off of Naruto as he continued to tease her sister without her knowledge.
"Why not? It's always important to keep your sword lubricated!"
She bit her lip to keep herself from bursting out into laughter. A smack from her hand to his shoulder told him that he should stop before things got out of hand. She didn't want to corrupt her baby sister. Not yet anyways.
"I take it, I'm here to carry your stuff back?"
"What do you think?" Yang smirked.
"That my team just called me and I'm needed elsewhere?"
"Ruby?" Yang prompted.
On command, her little sister tugged on Naruto's arm. Her silver eyes round and teary. Her bottom lip jutting out ever so slightly in a shaky pout.
"Please?"
"Gah! Critical damage!"
x-x-x-x-x
"So this spring goes around this barrel?"
"Yup!"
"And the blade mechanism goes here?"
"Uh huh!"
Pyrrha watched as Ruby explained the intricacies of her weapon to her partner. It had come as a surprise to all of them when Naruto admitted that he had no idea how their weapons worked. In fact, he didn't have any kind of Dust weaponry within his arsenal. Ruby, being the weapons enthusiast she was, took it upon herself to teach him all about hers.
"I never attended any of Remnant's academies," he shrugged.
"And you clapped The Invincible Girl's cheeks?" Yang asked, incredulous. "Wow."
"Such a crude way to phrase it!" snapped Weiss.
Pyrrha said nothing. What was there to say? Naruto had beaten her fair and square. Besides, there were more important things to focus on. Like the way Naruto was studying Ruby's weapon, from the spring-loaded mechanisms to the Dust cartridges.
"Hmm."
"What are you thinking of, Naruto?" Pyrrha asked. The curiosity on his face was as plain as day. Along with a cold, calculating glint.
"How to take this baby apart," he answered, "mid-fight."
"What?!" Ruby yelled. "You can't do that to Crescent Rose!"
"Well, I did promise to give you a fight tomorrow." He shrugged. "I have to learn all I can about you beforehand."
Pyrrha perked up. This was the first time she'd heard of this. Had Ruby wanted to test her mettle against Naruto? Or had Naruto gotten curious of Ruby's abilities and asked for a demonstration?
"Wait wait wait," Yang interrupted. "You're fighting my baby sister tomorrow? And you didn't invite me? What gives, Whiskers?"
"It would be interesting to see how we measure up against someone who could defeat Pyrrha in single combat…" Weiss muttered to herself.
She watched as a silent agreement passed between the three girls. She was worried, but she too was curious about what Naruto was capable of.
"Now we just need Blake!"
But… would Naruto be able to face the four girls of Team RWBY on his own? She knew he was strong, yes, but Team RWBY was definitely no pushover. Ruby and Yang could serve as the frontline, facing Naruto in direct combat while Blake and Weiss could whittle away at his defenses and support them.
"Well, if you're going to get Blake in on the spar, tell her that if you guys win, I'll let her borrow a book. She'll understand what I mean."
"How come she gets a prize, hm~?" Yang crossed her arms. "What about the rest of us?"
"Don't think of it like a prize, but more of an incentive to fight," he explained. "Besides, what if Blake doesn't want to fight me otherwise? What would you do then?"
"Don't change the subject, buster. We want some kinda reward too if we win."
"Uh…" he stammered. "What… what would you girls want?"
"Cookies!"
"A sparring partner!"
The others turned to Weiss, watching her struggle to come to any reward for herself.
"Could… could I tell you in private?"
"Oh~. Weiss Cream's keeping some secrets from the team~," sang Yang.
"It's nothing like that!"
"Oh? So what is it like, Princess?"
"None of your business, that's what!"
Naruto gave chase to the irate heiress after she walked off. None of them could hear what the two were talking about but none of them missed the way Weiss smiled at him before leaving.
"Wow. I didn't know Weiss Cream could smile like that."
"Me neither! And she's my partner!"
x-x-x-x-x
"Hello!"
Pyrrha found her greeting unmet as she entered her team's dorm. Not because it was empty, but because the only other occupant was occupied. Seated in the center of several unfurled scrolls was Naruto, focused solely on what lay before him.
Pressing her hand to her lips, she quietly slipped into the room, taking a moment to glimpse through the sprawled out scrolls. To her surprise, she found herself unable to recognize the script that lay within. What appeared to be long, meandering lines of ink made up indistinct characters that she couldn't even begin to make heads nor tails of.
"Naruto?" she queried. "Naruto."
Still without a response, she could only smile, taking a seat behind him as he continued to focus on what lay before him. She took that time to ponder her partner's abilities.
Rapid movement similar to Ruby Rose's semblance. Regular weapons that can cut through heavy Grimm armor, something she assumed to be aura manipulation of some kind. Teleportation or, at the very least, spatial control of some sort. How else would he be able to store his weapons in the heat of combat? Energy transfer or at least biological revitalization? She had never seen them before. Similar abilities, yes, but never in conjunction and in the arsenal of a single person.
"Oh! Pyrrha! Sorry! I didn't hear you come in."
That bright smile of his brought a flush to her cheeks. It was nice to have someone see her for who she was. The abashed way he rubbed at the back of his head, she realized, was a nervous tick.
"It's okay. You seemed occupied so I didn't want to say anything."
"I… uh… I get that way sometimes with seals."
"Seals?" She had never heard of them before. "Are they… like Glyphs?"
"Similar in theory, but very different in practice, I guess you could say." He shook his head, containing the pride he felt for whatever it was he had accomplished. "Anyways! I need your help."
That alone placed her on guard. Had it all been a lie? Was it all a trick to get these favors from her? What was he going to say?
"Could you… help me unlock my aura?"
She blinked. Confused emeralds searched through sincere sapphire.
It wasn't a trick.
"Of course," she smiled. "But… if you don't have aura, then how did you fight me during the exhibition match?"
"Something I learned from my home," he answered vaguely. "They taught me how to harness my own life energy to fuel myself in combat."
That… still didn't answer much. As more questions came to mind, Naruto held out his hand. A sphere of bright yellow energy bloomed into existence.
"Like this." She half-listened to him as she stared into the brilliant sphere of energy. "We can use our life force to affect reality around us."
"Like a Semblance?"
"Kinda, but more universal," he explained. "Anyone who learns how to control their life force can do practically what everyone else can."
"Can I learn this?" She hoped the eagerness in her voice wasn't too audible.
"I can't teach it the way I learned it," he winced apologetically. "You would have to be born with it. But I could try to recreate it with aura and teach it to you that way… if you want."
"That would be grand," she smiled. They stood up together upon her request. She said nothing about the absence of his green vest, though she did make note of the muscles on his chest. With her hand. "For it is in passing," she recited, holding her hand to his chest, "that we achieve immortality. Through this we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all, infinite in distance and unbound by death. I release your soul and by my shoulder protect thee."
She could feel her aura draining with every word. By the time she'd reached the end of the mantra, she felt her aura flicker into existence around her before disappearing. Exhaustion took its toll, pitching her forward and right into her partner's arms.
"Whoa! You alright?"
She nodded, exhausted to the point of collapse. It was the first time she'd ever had her aura drain from full to zero in only a few moments. Given the position she was in now, she wasn't going to complain. Not one bit. Naruto's strange abilities came in handy once more, as she felt the warmth and energy emanating from his hand chase away her fatigue.
She hesitantly pulled away, apologizing for the slip in decorum. Coming face to face with him, she gasped.
"Naruto! Your eyes!"
"My eyes?"
"Of course he can't see his own eyes!"
She felt like slapping herself for that lapse in judgment. Taking his hand, she dragged him towards the bathroom.
"Wait! Pyrrha! We just met a week ago! Isn't this a bit fast?!"
She ignored the burn that those words brought to her cheeks. The lights came on with a flick of the switch. She presented him to the mirror with a wave of her hands.
"Look at your reflection!"
He did as she demanded. The teasing smile on his lips melted away. Shock was all that remained.
"Oh."
Definitely an 'oh' moment.
What had once been beautiful ocean blue eyes were drowned out by golden sunfire.
"Oh, I don't like that color." She didn't either. "So how do I…"
Slowly, the sunfire receded until only his original eye color remained. Then, they came back. On. Off. On. Off.
"So this is what it feels like to have weird ass eyes." She giggled at his comment. "But it does kind of look badass."
"Yes, very intimidating," she agreed.
Intimidation, however, was the last thing on her mind. Her imagination had replaced the bright lights of their dorm's bathroom with the dimly lit space of her bedroom. Those glowing eyes peering down at her.
"Oh. Goodness."
"Hm. Pyrrha?"
"Yes, Daddy?"
Fortunately, her mental fortitude held firm, preventing her from voicing her thoughts. Those burgeoning feelings never stood a chance as she stamped them down with the might of the Atlesian military. Locked them up. Threw away the key. Nuked from orbit.
"Yes, Naruto?" she smiled.
"You can let go of my hand now."
x-x-x-x-x
"Are you ready, Weiss?" Ruby asked.
Was she ready?
"Well? Are-"
"Of course I'm ready!" she snapped.
She wasn't. As good as she was, she didn't think she could stand up to Pyrrha bloody Nikos of all people. If she had no faith in herself to defeat The Invincible Girl, what chance did she have to beat the guy who did?
"So, Blake," Yang asked her partner, "what is this book Naruto was talking about?"
"It's nothing." None of them believed her, of course. "Just a fantasy book I haven't been able to get my hands on."
Weiss didn't care about this book or whatever it was Blake was so fixated on. Her incentive was less tangible.
She wanted him to train her.
He'd smiled at her. Rather than dangling the prize over her head, he'd told her he would help train her regardless if they won or lost. There was nothing on Remnant that was going to keep her from taking advantage of his generosity.
"Weiss."
A poor choice of words; she didn't mean it quite so literally. She was not her father. She meant she would accept his help, regardless of what he threw her way. But first, she had to impress him.
"Wait." Her thoughts ground to a halt. "Not like that!"
She was Weiss Schnee! She did not do the impressing! If anything, he should be the one trying to her!
"Weiss!"
"What?!"
"It's time!" proclaimed Ruby.
The lively girl was even more maddening than usual. She tapped her feet with an incessant energy. Music had been blaring from the headphones hanging around her neck. Not that she didn't share the sentiment, but she kept her excitement and anxiety to herself.
Which explains why Myrtenaster was getting sharpened to a molecular edge.
"Let's go~!" Yang proclaimed.
She followed her team out, lost in her own thoughts to try and cover anything their team might have missed during their nighttime planning. As far as they knew, they had covered all their bases for what he's already shown them so far. He couldn't possibly do much worse than what he'd shown during the exhibition match with Pyrrha.
Right?
"You girls ready?"
The calm voice of Naruto snapped her out of her musings. There he stood. Their opponent. Some distance away, she saw Lie Ren, Nora, and Pyrrha, watching from the sidelines.
Her stomach twisted into knots. Somehow, she knew that Naruto would be a stronger, deadlier adversary than even the Arma Gigas that scarred her.
"But at least I won't be alone this time."
She gave her team a once over. A dynamic girl with a penchant for swinging a weapon as tall as she was. A buxom blond - no jealousy, no jealousy - who punched first and asked questions later. A quiet, pragmatic girl who was as much a people person as their leader was. They were her team. More than that, they were her friends.
At least, she hoped they were. She quite liked this ragtag group of personalities.
"Ready!" cheered Yang and Ruby while she and Blake nodded her agreement.
"If you're ready," he stated, "then be sure to come at me with the intent to kill."
His words shocked her team into silence.
"W-What?" Ruby whispered, though she might as well have shouted it out loud in the silence.
"Isn't that a little too serious for a spar, Whiskers?" Yang asked.
"Not at all," he smiled. "After all, I will be doing the exact same thing to you." Weiss held herself in place, barely keeping herself from flinching under his gaze. "Holding back would only do a disservice to you as future Huntresses. Holding back would only hinder your growth." His words, she noted, had helped to relax and assuage her team's fears.
"There may come a day in your lives, in your careers, where you may be fighting for your life or the lives of those who stand beside you. And sometimes, the only way to make sure you and yours come out alive, is to make sure those who are coming after you… don't."
Those words sent a chill down her spine. It was the chill of confronting a fact of their lives that she knew to be true, yet never truly understood.
"So if there are no more questions, then we will start once this rock hits the ground."
There was a lull in the world around them. She didn't know if it was brought about by the weight of what lay before them nor the anticipation within her heart. Her world narrowed, everything else forgotten, cast aside, as she focused on the falling stone.
Thump!
She had barely gathered her bearings when Naruto disappeared. Her eyes widened, her pupils narrowed. Her instincts screamed at her to move and she did. She was just too slow.
"Weiss!"
A force pulled her backwards. Crimson petals gathered in the corner of her vision. Ruby, for all her flaws, had come to her defense. Crescent Rose had stayed Naruto's weapon, a sword of pure white light.
She steadied herself, regaining her footing and stopping her backwards momentum. A Glyph sprang to life beneath her feet. Martynaster's blade pierced through absolutely nothing. Naruto had already disengaged, disappearing in another burst of speed. A flicker of black, yellow and green told her Yang and Blake were his next targets.
Good. It bought her time.
Martynaster's cylinder rotated, clicking the vial of Gravity Dust into place. A large Glyph sprang up beneath Naruto's feet, slowing his advance against her teammates. Yet, he soldiered on, pushing through the gravity field like it didn't exist.
Ruby didn't care though. She took the slight opening she had perceived and went all in. Crescent Rose came down like a guillotine. Busy holding back both Yang and Blake, who had yet to let up on the teen, Weiss thought it would have been a crippling blow to his aura.
Future her would look back on this moment and laugh.
Bending backwards, Naruto guided Blake's katana Gambol Shroud straight into Crescent Rose. A three-way blade lock. Bent back parallel to the ground, he should've been vulnerable to Yang, who was now free to wail on him. Should've.
No one on their team could've ever seen it coming. It just shouldn't have been possible. Naruto's left hand grabbed onto Crescent Rose's blunt top and heaved himself up, until he was standing on top of the scythe, effectively pinning it beneath his weight. A mule kick from the teen would've seen Ruby reeling had Weiss not intervened.
The black Time Dilation Glyph beneath Naruto dissipated. A white Motion Glyph sprang up, guarding Ruby from the kick. Rather than throw him off balance, Naruto kicked off the impromptu platform and drove his knee into Yang's guard. Blake, having freed her weapon from under Ruby's, unloaded several ice rounds onto the ground beneath Naruto. The transition from grass and soil to ice did nothing to faze him.
"Blake!" Weiss called out. "We need to give Yang and Ruby an opening!"
Her friend nodded. Gambol Shroud snapped back into its katana form. The two confronted Naruto as Yang was sent sliding back from a particularly vicious right hook. For the first few slashes and stabs they sent his way, Naruto backpedaled. They thought they had him on the ropes.
Until he slapped Martynaster's flat edge away with his bare hand and forced the blade into the earth. Blake's clone took a strike for her, one that would've split her from hip to shoulder. A hastily erected Glyph prevented Weiss from taking the full force of a slash towards her midsection.
"Hiya!"
Ember Celica landed its first Dust round on Naruto from behind. A pane of sunfire sparked to life, marking the first dent in Naruto's aura. Naruto's kick sent Weiss back and away from her weapon.
Her aura took another hit. Her aura wasn't low enough to put her out of the fight, not by a long shot, but from the brief glance she'd given her Scroll, the aura loss her team had taken, as a whole, didn't even come close to justifying the tiny scratch they'd done to Naruto's.
Hers was still around seventy five percent. Green, if only barely.
Ruby's was in the yellow, nearly fifty percent, a clear indication of the cost of her Semblance.
Blake's clones had taken the worst of the damage for her, so her aura was the highest out of all of them. A solid eighty five.
Yang, on the other hand, was down in the yellow. Forty and falling.
"We have to help her!" Weiss argued. Already, she was coming up with a plan to aid the brawler, but Ruby's voice stopped her.
"No! Yang's biding her time! She's building up her Semblance!"
"Her Semblance?" Blake asked cautiously, still firing the occasional round alongside Ruby to try and give Yang an opening.
"Burn. Any damage she takes, she could return two-fold!"
A burst of aura from the boxer marked the activation of her Semblance. Blonde hair burned with coronal light. Eyes of lilac were now an angry crimson.
"Ha! Bring it!" Naruto laughed.
Ruby squawked in surprise when he didn't back down. That sword of his disappeared. He met Yang head on. Their first punches met, kicking up dust and dirt as two unstoppable forces collide.
Weiss could see a bloodthirsty smile come across Yang's face. With a yell of exertion, she rushed him. Punch after punch. Not a single movement was wasted. Every strike carried with it the strength of her Semblance and the rotation of her body.
Naruto met every single one head on.
"She's doing it!" Weiss exclaimed. Although none of the attacks had gotten through, Naruto's aura was getting chipped away. But in the same vein, so was Yang's.
Aura shattered. Semblance faded. Yang stumbled forward as her strength left her. To their shock, another Naruto - a clone! - caught her in its arms and carried her away from the battle.
"One down."
The ominous declaration snapped her team out of their stupor. Ruby gulped beside her. Blake gripped her weapon tightly.
"Oh cra-"
Looking back, Weiss found herself agreeing with Yang's assessment of what followed.
Team RWBY got spanked.
x-x-x-x-x
Naruto stared at the stars, lost in his own thoughts. It had been an interesting two weeks. First, he'd realized that he had inherited his dad's predilection for redheads. It was either that or he just found his partner to be particularly attractive. Then, there was Team RWBY. From their adorable leader to her straightforward sister, he found himself caring for the dysfunctional group.
"What are you still doing here?" he asked without turning around. "I thought you'd be gone already."
He stood up, now looking back at the newcomer. Satsuki, dressed in her gear and cloak, stood at the balcony doors. In her hand, she held onto the scroll he'd left in her dorm that morning.
"The Kyūbi told me that you won't be returning with me." Her Sharingan burned in the night. "Why?"
"He has a name, y'know." Naruto scoffed. "Why do you care if I don't anyway? As far as you should be concerned, I'd be doing you a favor. Indra and Ashura, separated by two different worlds. Our eternal struggle ends. No more fighting. Isn't that what you want?"
"And everyone back home? Your… precious people?"
"What about them?" He turned around, not catching the surprise on Satsuki's face. "The people I give a damn about are dead. So if you want to bring about your revolution, go ahead."
"Then why did you fight me at the Valley?"
"To protect everyone that was still alive. To protect you," he admitted. "Then I realized, you don't want to be saved."
"And the Tailed Beasts?" Her eyes narrowed at him. "Why give them to me?"
"It was Kurama's idea," he chuckled. "He trusted me to kill you in that moment when you would be most vulnerable. And I hesitated." Cold, sardonic laughter spilled out of him. "Three years in ANBU and I couldn't do what needed to be done the moment it mattered the most. I am a goddamned failure. Comes with being an Ashura, I suppose. Stronger than almost everyone else, yet we always fail to protect the people who mean the world to us."
She didn't say anything as he approached her.
"I'm tired of fighting you, Satsuki. You're the Sage of Six Paths now. Go back and do whatever it is you want to do. I couldn't stop you..."
He brushed past her, that tired, careworn smile still on his face.
"... even if I wanted to."