8. Chapter 8
Chapter 8
The next morning was interesting to say the least, especially when Naruto was woken up to the sound of soft giggling and a bright flash of light. Years of training was the only reason Naruto hadn't jumped out of his bed, grabbed one of his daggers, and driven it through the offenders necks. That and when he tried to get up he found a still sleeping Yang laying on top of him, her face pressed into the crock of his neck, sending not entirely unwelcome shivers through his body. It was also at this moment that he saw who had taken a picture of him; Pyrrha and Blake stood there, still in their pajamas, with scrolls in their hands.
Unfortunately for them, Yang had also chosen that exact moment to leave the realm of dreams, in which she was very much enjoying herself, and realize what was going on.
Normally Yang would just straight up attack them in a fit of unholy rage, both for waking her up and for trying to get blackmail material of her and Naruto in the same bed, but maybe making them a bit flustered would be more fun. So, sitting up in a way so that she was straddling Naruto's lap, Yang stretched her arms above her head, pulling her night shirt up to reveal very well toned abs, and sent both girls a smoldering grin.
"Ready to take me up on that Blake sandwich?" between the look Yang was sending her, both blondes conforming to her secret kink of sexy blondes with abs, and Naruto's own smoldering gaze, Blake all but passed out right where she stood.
Pyrrha just stood there, her face slowly starting to match her vibrant red hair, and nearly let out a whimper when both blondes turned their gazes up her. It was like she was being stared down by a massive dragon and a hungry wolf, just waiting for a moment of weakness to go in for the kill. Her flinch was all the invitation they needed.
"What about you, I always heard redheads were a lot of fun," Yang said as she grabbed Pyrrha by the front of her shirt and pulled the girl in close, a little surprised when the infamous "Invincible Girl" didn't put up a fight.
"I-I-I-I," was all Pyrrha could get out.
"Think she's a screamer?" Naruto asked, sitting up and putting his arm around Yang's lower back, never taking his eyes off Pyrrha.
"Lets make her one."
And...Pyrrha passed out, landing right on top of Blake. Both blondes shared a glance, a little surprised that actually worked, before pulling out their scrolls at the same time. Revenge was a bitch after all.
"Wait, lets pose them first," Yang suggested.
"It's like you read my mind," Naruto agreed, an evil glint in both their eyes.
Jaune briefly woke up to the sight of his team leader and Yang posing Blake and Pyrrha together in the same bed. Deciding it was best not to get involved, he still remembered his sisters and how evil they could be, he wisely chose to go back to sleep. He was gonna need it after all; Naruto had informed them
that they would be doing some early morning training before classes even started. Jaune, for the first time since coming to Beacon, wondered what it would have been like if he had been made leader instead.
There certainly wouldn't be any early morning training, he liked his sleep too much.
An hour later and team RYBJP was making their way to the only training area open to students without needing a teacher present. It was little more than a large stone platform elevated four feet high, but it would more than do the job they needed it to do. Naruto and Blake were the first ones to enter the ring, the bow wearing girl still couldn't look her leader in the eye, but the moment Pyrrha started the match everything changed.
Jaune expected some taunting, maybe some cool attack to start off the match, he'd seen it plenty of times when reading his comics or watching tv. Yet both combatants just stood there staring at one another, with Naruto's one hand holding the sheath of his blade while the other lightly gripped the hilt and Blake with only her shorter blade in hand. Jaune glanced at Yang, expecting the adrenaline junky to complain about the lack of action, only to find her watching the two fighters without even so much as blinking. Pyrrha was much the same way, only there was a slight bit of anticipation in her eyes. Jaune just wanted to know what was going on!
Jaune blinked once and, in the time it took him to open his eyes, Naruto and Blake stood opposite to where they started out and had their backs turned. Another thing was Naruto had his katana drawn and held lazily at his side, but that couldn't be right. He must still be tired or something, there's no way anyonecould move that fast!
That's when Jaune saw it, the two katana wielding teammates blurred and the next thing he saw was them now locking blades! This time there was no long drawn out pause after their latest clash, their blades locked only for a split second before they both really went at it. Blake was more aggressive in her strikes, landing two quick blows against Naruto's blade due to her own blades shorter length. Naruto responded in kind by making a slash at her midsection, which Blake did manage to block just in time but it forced her back a few steps. His blade spun gracefully through the air, drawing Blake's gaze long enough for Naruto to get within striking range.
"HA!" Blake shouted, her katana suddenly switching into it's kama/gun form, and a close ranged fight suddenly turned into a ranged one.
Naruto actually had to bend as far back as he humanly could just to avoid the bladed weapon when it came flying right at his head, being used like a kusarigama thanks to Blakes strangely elastic and durable ribbon. Blake didn't give Naruto time to recover and yanked on the ribbon attached to Gambol Shroud, causing the weapon to fire as she spun it around in a wide ark, aimed right for Naruto's legs.
'Not bad,' Naruto thought as he flipped back onto one hand before landing back on his feet, a bit of a grin on his face, 'She's a clever little fighter and knows what her strengths. After not being able to keep up in close quarters, she switched to medium range where she had more room to move.'
Blake went to sling her weapon at Naruto again, this time he only managed to dodge thanks to turning his body just a bit to the side, but it's what happened next that no one saw coming. Instead of moving in for the kill, so to speak, Naruto actually dropped his katana while at the same time grabbing Gambol Shroud by its hilt. Blake suddenly found herself flying through the air thanks to a hard tug, the ribbon attached to Gambol Shroud being used against her, and was only saved by releasing her hold of the weapon.
Blake went to attack again, but Naruto raised his hand as a signal to stop.
"Not bad Blake, not bad at all, whoever taught you clearly knew how to play to your strengths," Naruto said, holding out her weapon, but noticed his her gaze shifted to the ground as if she was ashamed or something, "I think I understand you a bit better now."
"How?" the question itself was simple enough, but the answer was as difficult as explaining one's emotions.
"It's a bit hard for me to put into words, but basically I can tell what a person is feeling when I fight them. Not what their next move is, but more like who they are as a person. Like this criminal I fought before coming to Beacon; he gave off a mask of confidence but really he was deeply scared of something," Naruto explained, walking over to pick up his discarded weapon and sheath it once more.
"So what about with me?" Blake may have sounded as emotionless as ever, but Naruto saw a bit of nervousness in her yellow eyes.
Naruto just gave her a smile, "I'll tell you later. So who wants to be next?" Yang was up on the stage before Pyrrha could even raise her hand.
"Don't worry," Yang smashed her gauntlet covered fists together, a mocking smile forming, "I'll be gentle."
"I'm sure," Naruto smiled back, "But remember, just like with Blake, I've seen you fight and have had a few days to figure out how to beat you.
Yang just continued to grin, letting Naruto subtle warning wash right over her, almost like she still believed she could power her way to the situation. Naruto kind of had to respect her tenacity, she set her mind to something and didn't let anything get in her way, but that could also be a dangerous mindset. So, moving to opposite sides of the ring while Blake jumped down next to the rest of her team, both combatants got ready. Yang slipped into her traditional boxing stance, both her fists raised and her feet spread apart, well Naruto did something none of them quite expected. Instead of pulling out one of his many weapons, of which there was no real shortage of them, the blonde Branwen instead slipped into his own hand-to-hand stance.
He didn't often go into fights without a weapon, he was primarily a swordsman and that's where the most of his strengths lie, but that didn't mean he hadn't been taught to fight without one. Raven actually insisted upon it. His feet were shoulder width apart and angled slightly to the right while his knees were slightly bent inward. His arms were raised up in a similar way to Yang's, except his hands weren't clenched into fists but were instead open and aligned with the center of his body. It was a looser stance, one that didn't dedicate him to throwing a punch as his opening attack.
"You're not to fight me with one of your weapons?" Yang actually lowered her guard as she looked at Naruto with uncertainty.
"It wouldn't serve any purpose, we wouldn't be able to measure our skills against each other if I use my sword or my spear. They both give me a certain amount of range that you don't possess with your gauntlets," Naruto explained before shooting Yang a taunting grin, "Besides, who wouldn't want to get it up close and personal as they could with you?"
"You tease!" Yang fired her gauntlets behind her, which ended up propelling her through the air and towards Naruto, her right fist raised to deliver a devastating attack.
Naruto didn't move from his spot, not even an inch, it was like watching a mouse stand before a dragon. Closer and closer Yang came, but it was at the last moment that Naruto acted. Just by shifting his feet a little bit to the side, Yang's punch glided past his chest, but that wasn't the end of it. Naruto's arm looped around Yang's extended one, his free hand found purchase around her throat, and one of his legs intertwined with hers. It was like watching art in motion, all the way up to the point that he slammed Yang into the ground.
Yang was dazed for a moment, her lilac eyes blinking around in confusion, until they focused and found one of Naruto's fists right in front of her face. She blinked a few more times just be sure that she wasn't seeing things.
"You charged in thinking you could overpower me, like you've done everything else that you've fought, and didn't even consider the fact that I'd be able to survive your first strike," Naruto said as he lowered his fist, stood back up, and held his hand out for Yang to take.
"You sound like my dad," Yang sighed as she took Naruto's hand and was lifted back up to her feet.
"Maybe this proves that he has a point?" Naruto pointed out as he backed up a few steps and took the same stance, "Again."
Yang took her own stance again, but this time she actually looked before she leapt. She knew her own strength well, hell she was punching holes in trees by the time she was Ruby's age, but from what she just learned, brute strength alone won't always work. So she would take it slow, feel out the way Naruto fought.
She approached him cautiously, slowly inching forward until her fists practically grazed his open palm, and then the strikes came like from a jackhammer. Yang might not be the fastest fighter out there, but being so close to her opponent it didn't really matter.
Right jab! Right jab! Left jab! Body shot! Low kick! Spinning back hand!
The blows continued to rain down upon Naruto like a never ending downpour, but that didn't mean they all got through. Naruto seem to have accounted for almost all of Yang's attacks and only really got hit by the initial right punch to the face. Also, the longer Yang fought him, the more Naruto was able to see the predictability of her strikes. She was an emotional fighter, no doubt about that. Her eyes were already turning red and some flames began to dance through her hair.
It was with one final punch, not to mention some built up frustration, that Yang accidentally released one of her concussive rounds. The round slammed right into Naruto's chest at the exact moment that her fist did, which actually lifted the blonde up off the ground by a few inches and sent him back more than a few feet! Everyone else looked worried, Yang look like she just crapped herself.
"Oh shit, are you all right?! I didn't mean to do that, please don't be dead!" Yang shouted as she ran over to a downed Naruto, who was just laying on his back of looking up at the ceiling, while the other members of his team jumped up onto the platform and ran over to him.
"I'm okay. I'm okay!" Naruto grimaced as he slowly sat up while holding his chest, his aura flickering slightly, feeling like he had just been hit by a train going full speed.
Yang still continued to fuss about him, and almost the exact same manner as she did to Ruby. She pulled his hand away from his chest and found a fist sized dent had been put into his armor with scorch marks branching out around it.
"We should take you to the nurse," Pyrrha suggested as she moved to one side of Naruto, looping his arm over her shoulder, while Yang did the same on his other side.
"I'm fine, I just need a moment to catch my breath," Naruto told them as he pulled himself off their shoulders and sat down on the edge of the ring, moving his hands to remove the chest piece of his armor.
"You really should go see the nurse," Blake pointed out, her brows knitting together in an actual concerned look, but Naruto just waved her off.
"My armor took the brunt of the damage and I don't feel any cracked or broken bones," Naruto said while
feeling around his chest for any possible internal damage, but found none.
"I didn't mean to do that, I'm so sorry," Yang did feel bad, she didn't like hurting her friends let alone nearly putting a hole through their chest.
"My guess is, is that it was a reflexive attack. That's how you usually fight the Grimm; waiting until your strike lands and then firing one of your concussive rounds for maximum damage. To be honest, it was more so my fault for wanting to take you on in hand-to-hand," Naruto laughed a little bit at his own hubris, "I really let my pride get the better me this time."
"Well, you are about as annoying to fight is my dad," Yang softly, for her at least, punched Naruto on the shoulder as a sign of affection.
"Ouch, you're so mean to me."
"Are you sure you're okay?" Pyrrha asked, still looking concerned.
Naruto just nodded his head, "I'll be fine in a few minutes, this isn't the worst I've had."
"What do you mean?" Jaune asked, having never really ventured outside his family home and almost never getting into actual fights that weren't with his sisters.
"Well I got these from a Grimm when I was a kid," Naruto moved his spiky blond hair out of the way and pointed to the scar marks on his cheeks, which still resembled gruesome whisker marks.
"What possessed you to fight Grimm as a kid?" Blake asked, but Naruto just smirked and shook his head.
"I was actually watching my mom fight the Grimm, I even had a guardian with me at the time, and when she was done I ran out to greet her. I got maybe a few yards away when suddenly this massive shadow loomed over me and the next thing I knew was pain. I don't really remember what happened after that, only that my mom managed to kill it before it could kill me, and that not long after I asked her to start training me," Naruto actually smiled at the memory, he doubted he would be the person he was today if that hadn't happened.
"Your mom sounds awesome!" Yang shouted, having looked up to a strong woman all her life, not to mention her biological mother was supposed to be really strong herself.
"What other stories do you got?" His fellow male blonde asked.
"Well there was this one time I was fighting two Deathstalkers with a broken hand and a dislocated shoulder."
Naruto never did get around to fighting Pyrrha and Jaune, but in the long run that wasn't so bad. He told them a few stories about his time in the desert, obviously not saying what he was originally doing there or that he was even in the desert, but it was still kinda nice. Maybe this mission won't be so bad, but the real question is what happens when the missions over? What happens after he kills Ozpin?
By the time lunch rolled around, Naruto's chest was feeling a whole lot better, although his armor piece was pretty much scrap metal at this point. He could melt it down and re-forge it, or maybe even go out and buy some higher-quality metal, but before he could do either of those things Yang had swiped it from him.
Now he sat at his lunch table, his team sitting on one side while Ruby's sat on the other, enjoying the surprisingly well tasting food that the cafeteria served. Nora, the one Naruto really wasn't all that familiar with, was telling a rather over exaggerated story about a dream she's been having, at least according to Ren. It involves some Ursa, somehow selling their skin as rugs, and making some money off of it. Logically this would be a great idea, aside from the fact that Grimm vanish after they're killed and not many people would want to buy rugs made out of their hide.
"Hey, are you okay?" Blake asked, having noticed the way Naruto was absentmindedly playing with his food instead of eating at.
"Not all that hungry, especially after Nora's last story," Naruto thought he had heard and seen the most grotesque things on the planet, but Ruby's hammer wielding teammate had quickly proved him wrong.
"Please don't remind me," Blake shuddered, growing even paler than she already was.
Naruto was about to make a snarky remark, Yang's bad habits were quickly rubbing off on him, but the sound of someone crying out in pain quickly caught his attention. Years of honed instincts allowed Naruto to quickly scan the cafeteria for possible threats, noting everything from the students to the security cameras made to watch over the cafeteria itself. But it was Cardin Winchester that quickly caught his
gaze and the poor girl he was terrorizing. The girl was actually pretty adorable, especially with those long bunny ears on top of her head, but at the moment her face contorted in pain.
"Atrocious," Pyrrha hissed, but made no move to get up from her seat and help the poor girl, "I can't stand people like him."
"You're not the only one," Blake practically hissed, the bow atop her head twitching again as if to display her aggravation, and yet not even she got up to help.
"It must be hard being a Faunus," not even Yang, the most overprotective one of them all, got up to help.
Naruto just looked amongst the people at his table, for the first time he felt a small bit of irritation towards all of them. They all said how they found such acts to be despicable and yet they did nothing to stop it. There were no less than nine well trained fighters at this table, including Naruto himself, and yet none of them got up. So, taking in a deep breath to cool his slowly boiling anger, Naruto suddenly put a smile on his face and began walking towards Cardin's table.
The closer he got the Cardin, the more attention he gained, but it was the look on the blonde's face that was the most shocking. The way he lidded his eyes, how his grin stretched into something truly unsightly, just screamed arrogance and superiority. If Yang didn't actually know him then she'd likely beat the shit out of him on principle alone. A lot of people thought he was another bully about to join in on bullying the poor rabbit eared girl and averted their gaze.
"Ha, I didn't know they allowed animals at this school!" Team NYBJP couldn't believe their ears, Blake looked more horrified than the others; not that they noticed.
Cardin seemed to finally take notice of Naruto's arrival, letting go of the bunny eared girl he and his team had been tormenting, and gave the blonde a similarly smug look. The bunny girl in question seemed to look down in shame, the tray in her hands shaking.
"I know what you mean, this place smells like a zoo. I'm Cardin Winchester, of the noble house Winchester, it's nice to meet someone else that recognizes these animals for what they are," Cardin said, standing up and holding out his hand for Naruto to shake, but the young Branwen just glided past him.
To everyone that thought Naruto was just another bully, their jaws hit the ground when he put his arm over the bunny girl and pulled her into his side. Said bunny girl actually looked up at Naruto with her own fair share of surprise, not to mention the way her cheeks turned a light pink. Only her family and teammates would hold her so close.
"I was talking about you four dogs, picking on such a cute girl, especially pulling on these adorable ears," Naruto's mask of arrogance instantly shifted into a condescending one as he lifted his hand from the girl's shoulder to lightly scratch the base of her ears.
Her right foot began to bounce up and down as he did so. "What did you say?!" Cardin shouted, but Naruto just scoffed.
"You're hard of hearing too? Man, no wonder you have to flirt with a girl like a little kid. What's next, you gonna pour sand in her hair?" Naruto asked with a drawl, rolling his eyes in a manner that would make any Branwen proud, "I know what it is, your balls never dropped and you have a baby dick. So the only way you can get it up is by acting like a bitch."
The entire cafeteria was dead silent now, aside from Yang having to bite her knuckles to not fall on the ground laughing. Cardin, on the other hand, looked like he was about to explode, prompting Naruto to move the bunny girl behind him.
"Say one more word, I dare you," Cardin threatened, trying to make himself as big and threatening as possible; Naruto thought he just look constipated.
Naruto leaned in close so only the douchebag himself could hear, "Like. A. Bitch."
'And three, two, one.' Naruto thought, grin still present, just seconds before Cardin's fist slammed into his jaw.
Naruto had to admit, that punch had some force behind it, if the fact that he was actually a little dazed was anything to go by. Yet the facts still remained, Cardin struck firstand anything from Naruto was self defense now.
"I'll break your stupid face!" another punch came Naruto's way, but this time the ending would be different.
Naruto caught Cardin's fist in his right hand, with seemingly little effort on his part, before dropping the
taller teen to his knees with a swift kick to the balls; a kick that lifted him off the ground by a few inches. He then moved around the teen, twisting his arm behind his back and forcing him to practically bow to the bunny girl.
"Apologize," Naruto ordered.
"Go to AAARRG!" his arm was twisted to the point of almost being dislocated.
"I'll break it," Naruto commented lightly as he pinned Cardin's teammates with a soul scorching glare, "Don't think I won't."
"I'm...sorry," Cardin practically whispered, only to yelp when Naruto twisted his arm even more. "So she can hear you, dumbass."
"I'm sorry! For fuck sake, let me go!" and like that he was released, able to fall back onto the ground as he clutched his family jewels tenderly.
As Cardin limped out of the lunch room, followed closely by his wannabe team, Naruto walked back over to the bunny girl. Now that he actually took a moment to look at her, Naruto just couldn't understand why anybody would want to pick on her. With her long brown hair reaching all the way down to her thighs, and innocent big brown eyes, the rabbit ears atop her head were like icing on the cake.
"Are you all right?" Naruto asked, his red eyes glancing up at the tips of her ears that Cardin had been pulling on, "I hope that moron didn't hurt you."
"I'm okay," she said, glancing away from him, her right ear twitching a bit while her face grimaced.
"Come on, you should go see the school nurse, just to make sure he didn't do any permanent damage. Besides, it wouldn't sit well with me if I left a pretty girl while she was in pain," Naruto said, holding out his hand for her to take.
The bunny girl seemed to mull over his words before slowly reaching out and taking his hand, getting a smile so charming that it should be illegal. Naruto led her out of the lunch room a moment later, ignoring the looks he was getting from his fellow begin students and his teammates. It was a little sad that they found such a site to be so surprising, but he couldn't find it in himself to care.
"Velvet, my names Velvet," the bunny girl whispered, her accent really was something else. "Nice to meet you, I am Naruto."
Naruto decided to skip the last two classes of the day, he wasn't really all that concerned about his attendance record, and managed to sneak off school grounds. One transport ship later in Naruto was back in Vale, the city obviously, wandering around the many storefronts with no real goal in mind.
Walking into a weapon shop, Naruto began browsing around the many basic weapons afforded to the public. There were rifles, swords, knives, and even bows, all of which Naruto was completely able to use. He'd need a type of weapon that people wouldn't be able to trace back to him, or at least wouldn't suspect him of using.
"I'd go with the bow," a voice suddenly said from behind him.
Turning his head ever so slightly, Naruto was greeted by the sight of Cinder, still dressed in her rather alluring dress. She honestly was the poster girl for a seductress, or maybe Naruto was just reading too much into it. Still, she wouldn't approach him for no reason and that could only mean she'd been following him since he got into the city.
"You now, if you wanted to talk then you could've just called," Naruto said as he lifted the bow off the rack and begin examining it with a critical eye; a badly crafted weapon was as much a danger to himself as it was to his enemies.
"You never know who's listening in, besides maybe I wanted to see you," Cinder laughed softly as she moved to stand next to him, her glass heels clicking against the floor.
"Well I don't have much time, the less transport back to Beacon leaves in a few hours and the next one won't start till early in the morning. So what do you want?" Naruto inquired, pulling the bowstring to test its draw weight and see if it was what he was comfortable with.
"Tell me something, do you recognize this man?" Cinder asked, pulling out her scroll and showing Naruto a picture of an orange haired man with a black bowler hat.
"You could say so, I fought him my first night here. He was good, I was better."
"Roman Torchwick is an associate of ours, one that we use to control the criminal element in the city. He's currently about to be transported to a maximum security prison deep in the countryside. I need you to break him out so he can get back to work," the blackette explained, placing her hand on Naruto shoulder and leaning closer she can whisper into his ear, "I'll make it worth your while."
"I was hired to steal an artifact from beacon. I don't like changing the deal," Naruto said, noting the way that Cinder's eyes narrowed and her smirk fell just a bit; she didn't like to be denied.
"I..."
"But I'll do it," Naruto cut her off, sending her his own look, "After all, you'll make it worth my while."
"I've already sent all the information to your scroll, you have two hours before his transport takes off. Good luck," she lifted herself up and gently pressed her lips against Naruto's scarred cheek, leaving behind slightly reddish skin when she pulled back.
If Cinder had stay just a moment longer, then she would've seen a bubble of sickly red energy wash over her little going away present and leave Naruto's skin just as clear as it had been before. A few moments later and Naruto walked out of the store with a large case resting over his shoulders, and a pure white face mask clutched in his left hand.
It was time to get to work.
Meanwhile, perched atop a nearby rooftop, Cinder stood with two more individuals behind her. "We could've handled busting that guy out of there," the male one said.
"I'm sure, but this will give us a better look at his capabilities." "I don't trust him," the female one said.
"He's a mercenary, you'd be a fool to trust him, but he has his uses," Cinder's words may have been cold, but her yellow eyes glowed with desire for power that Naruto held within him.
The VPD (Vale Police Department) building was a massive fortris designed to keep law and order within both the main city and smaller settlements that lined the nearby areas. It had massive stone walls, guard towers, automated defences, and security cameras lining almost every square inch of the place. There had been twenty-nine escape attempts since its founding, only three of those attempts ended with the criminal getting away alive. Now many may be wondering why a police department was built like a prison. The answer to this is simple. It's because it is a prison.
This prison is for the more common criminals, those without connections in high places or enough money to buy their way out, and this was the very reason Roman Torchwick was being transferred to a more secure location pending his trial. His reputation wasn't unfounded after all and the police knew they wouldn't get another chance to keep the man behind bars, so security was tighter than a Shnee's ass; or so the Faunus liked to say. It's such a shame that this would be known as the fourth successful escape.
Naruto stood on one of the many rooms just outside the complex, now wearing a zipped up hooded jacket they stole from a street thug, with his newly acquired bowl held in his left hand and his mask held in his right. His red eyes scanned over the guard patrols, noting subtle changes to their patterns, what guard would stop to talk with their buddies, and any other irregularities. When two guards stepped into the shadows to take a quick smoke break, Naruto knew his window was open. So he slipped on his mask, drew one of the arrows from the quiver on his back, took aim at the guard tower, and fired. Trailing from the end of the arrow was a thin, yet incredibly durable, rope. The arrow dug deep into the concrete and Naruto began his infiltration.
"So, I heard your little sister was trying out for Beacon Academy, did she make it in?" One of the guards asked his buddy, lighting his cigarette before handing the lighter over to his fellow guard, completely unaware of the figure they just passed overhead.
Naruto landed on the middle catwalk as silently as he could, which was apparently quite enough because no guards came running, and a swift swing of his knife cut the rope he just came in on. Making sure to keep low, Naruto moved along the catwalk until he came upon an entrance into the department, one with a camera monitoring it. Another arrow quickly solve that problem, but it also meant that eventually someone would notice; he have to move quickly. The door itself wasn't much of a problem, everyone in the Branwen tribe knew how to pick a lock, but the three security guards on the other side made up for it.
Naruto is on them in a matter of seconds, moving to knock them out instead of kill them, which is easier said than done. The first one was taken by surprise, having Naruto's entire body slam him into the wall and effectively knock him out. The other one went for his stun baton and even managed to get it out, but quickly found the electrified end twisted around and press right into his own chest. The last one actually
went for his gun, even managing to get off a few rounds, but that all changed when one of Naruto's arrows tore through the barrel and ripped it right out of his hand. He was then put into a sleeper hold and everything went black a few moments later.
After swiping the security badge from one of the guards, Naruto was able to move deeper into the compound and this time he made sure to stick to the shadows. Water pipes running along the high ceiling, air ducts and wide open areas, and even a few heavy-duty lights hanging from the ceiling allowed him to avoid detection.
Eventually he overheard some guards talking about a high-priority prisoner being taken out to the landing pad ahead of schedule, to throw off any possible escape attempts or breakouts. Naruto cursed at this, he would have any more time for subtlety. Instead of sneaking his way up there, Naruto practically bulldozed his way, leaving more than a few guards with broken bones and dislocated joints. Still, they would live.
The landing pad was lined with high fences on both sides and a narrow path leading from the door all the way out to where the transport sat. Being led there, surrounded by two dozen men and at least five sharpshooters, stood Roman Torchwick dressed in a yellow jumpsuit. Naruto slid down into a kneeling position, an arrow already knocked into his bow, and fired it into the close is guards leg. In the time it took for the first guard to fall, Naruto had already released at least four more arrows with each of them hitting their mark.
"Freeze, drop your weapon!" One of the guards yelled as he and the others turned to engage Naruto while two stayed back with Roman.
Naruto said nothing as he drew another arrow, although this one had a strange red tint to it, and when he fired it was aimed at the ground. An explosion rocked the area, throwing up a cloud of dust that hid everyone from the sharpshooters, and this was exactly what Naruto wanted. He dove into the cloud of smoke and began taking apart the guards with practiced ease, showing far more skill now than he had when he was fighting against Yang. Mostly because he didn't think dislocating his teammates shoulder would've made a great first impression to his training methods.
When the smoke began to clear, Naruto prepared to take care of the sharpshooters next, they would be difficult but not impossible. However, just when he had a clear site on where they should be, Naruto found they were already on the ground. He then turned to look where Roman was and found an odd site. Standing in front of the man was a young girl.
The girl looked to be about Yang's age, although that's where the similarities ended. She had an odd coloration of hair, being brown, pink, and white all mixed together. Her eyes were also two different colors, but that was by far the least strange thing about her. Her outfit consists of a white tailed jacket with a pink interior and one white broad tail, brown pants, black gloves, and black-and-white boots with very high heels. Under her jacket she were brown corset, a bit old-fashioned but who was Naruto to judge, exposing her hips. She also had multiple necklaces hanging around her neck. Yet the cherry on top was the parasail she held in her hand, seeing as it had a blade coming out the end of it.
"Bravo," Roman said, clapping his now freed hands, "What a wonderful show, I dare say it almost brought me to tears."
"A mutual friend of ours asked me to break you out here, but I get the feeling that wasn't necessary," Naruto said, glancing at the strange girl who just smiled and winked at him.
"My dear Neo always has my back, but the real question is who are you? I don't recall you being one of that woman's friends, I certainly would've remembered someone is interesting as you," Roman said as alarms began to blare, catching everyone's attention.
"Perhaps questions can wait to were out of here, unless you really did want to go to jail?" Naruto asked, tilting his head ever so slightly.
"Well, my dark mysterious new friend, you may have a point there. Neo, if you'd be so kind as to drive."
Neo just smiled and nodded before literally skipping over to the transport, because apparently they were now going to steal from the police as well. Naruto wasn't going to complain, he still had to sneak in the Beacon Academy before got too late and now everything was going to be borderline lock down. He'd have to hurry.
After managing to get away pretty much scot-free, and Neo throwing the tracking device out the window, they landed at the docks of all places. There was no one around, not this late in the day, so they didn't have to worry about being seen. It was at this point Naruto found himself sitting on a crate, Neo sitting across from him swinging her legs back and forth just a few inches above the ground, waiting for Roman to come out of one of the bathrooms. When he did, he was back to wearing his normal attire, bowler hat and all.
"So, can I have a name to put to your ominous face?" Roman asked as he twirled his cane before stabbing into the ground and casually leaning up against it.
"You've actually met him before," Cinder's voice came from the shadows, "Roman?"
"Yes Satan?" Roman whispered, although Naruto still heard him, as he turned around to face the raven haired woman, "Cinder, how lovely to see you again, I'd almost thought you forgot about me!"
"As amusing as you attempt to brown nose me is, I believe it's time we all officially became acquainted," Cinder pointed out as two more individuals walked out of the shadows behind her.
"Oh great, the kids are here to," no one could mistake the sarcasm in Roman tone, "But I suppose you're right. After all, I'm still curious as to who I mysterious rescuer is."
"Like I said, you've met him before, not too long ago in fact," Cinder motioned for Naruto to reveal himself, which he reluctantly did.
"I would say am sorry for beating you up," Naruto said as he lowered his hood and removed his mask, "But you were picking a fight with a fifteen-year-old little girl."
"Ah, the man responsible for me going to jail in the first place, how ironic that you'd be the one to break me out," Neo smiling face suddenly turn into a ugly snarl as the blade on the end of her parasail extended, only to be stopped when Roman put a hand on her shoulder.
"Now now, Neo, no need for that."
"Naruto here was unaware that his contract aligned with our plans, so you're winding up in jail was an unfortunate miscalculation. However, now that you're free, we can return to business as usual."
"You mean you guys can," Naruto told Cinder, "I still have to get back to the Academy."
Cinder frowned again at how Naruto spoke out, this time her eye twitched in annoyance, yet it was one of her little friends that spoke up in her defense.
"You'd find it best to do what you're told, or face the consequences," the female one said, but Naruto just scoffed and rolled his eyes.
"I'm not paid to do what you guys tell me, I even did this out of a courtesy really. Besides, you lot aren't exactly the scariest people I've come up against," Naruto said before turning around and making his way towards the exit, only to tilt his head to the side as a basketball sized fireball went sailing passes said.
Naruto was taken aback for a moment, where the hell did that fireball come from, but when he turned back he got his answer. Cinder stood there, her arm outstretched, with power literally glowing around her eyes. She looked mad, Naruto just kept grinning.
"You work for me, understand?" She growled out, all previous thoughts of flirting having been washed away by Naruto's brazing declaration that he wouldn't bow to her well.
"Ha, you know I would find that intimidating, if you are actually intimidating," Naruto snarked. "Are you mocking me?"
Naruto just gave one more wink before exiting the building, not even bothering to close the door behind him. He just found a happy tune as he walked back towards the city, wondering if he could still make it in time for that transport.
As it turns out, Naruto did manage to get back in to Beacon without being noticed and even managed to make it all the way back up to his room. Of course by this point the sun had already set his teammates were no doubt asleep, which he couldn't really blame them for. Still, after the day he's had, all Naruto wanted to do was crawl into his bed and joined them. Sure enough, when he opened the door almost all of them were passed out in their beds, but there was one person still waiting up form. Sitting there on his bed, dressed in her night clothes and with a magazine resting in her lap, was Yang.
"I didn't expect anyone to still be up," Naruto said as he took off his school jacket and his new weapons hidden inside the case given to him.
"I thought you somehow got expelled from school, we had to cover for you during the last two classes," Yang pointed out as she closed her magazine and got up from Naruto's bed, walking over and getting right in his personal space.
"I felt I was lacking a ranged weapon, so I went out into town to get one. That and I wanted to clear my
head," Naruto admitted as he went to undo his vest, only the pause when he felt Yang doing it for him.
"You were mad at us, weren't you?" Naruto didn't know how to respond to that; on one hand he was a brutally honest kind of guy, but on the other he didn't want to hurt Yang's feelings for some reason.
"Something like that," Yang finished unbuttoning his vest and pushed it back off his shoulders, allowing it to fall to the floor.
"I was thinking about it all day, about why you'd be mad at us, but it was actually Blake that figured it out first," Yang said as she looked down and focused on removing Naruto's belt, "She said you were mad because all we did was complain about Cardin, we didn't even do anything to help that girl. Were some of the best fighters of our year, but it never even crossed our minds to stand up to that guy. You were the one to do it, you even got him to hit you first and just so you could say it was self-defense."
"Yeah, it was a bit disappointing, but it shouldn't have been all that surprising to me. I can even spin it the other way and ask why Velvet didn't stick up for herself, she is a second year student after all. Maybe, as your guys team leader, I should've made my thoughts more apparent before acting," Naruto scratched the back of his head, only to let out a sudden yelp when Yang gripped both ends of his unlocked belt and shoved him up against the wall with her body now firmly pressed against him.
"Why do you make me feel like this?" The little berserker growled as she reached up and gripped the front of Naruto's shirt.
"Yang?" Naruto was more than a little confused, until he was suddenly met with a vibrant red eyes staring into his own.
"Whenever I do something good, I like it when you praise me. I like it when you laugh at my stupid jokes, or when you tell even stupider ones. I got so mad when Cardin hit you that I nearly went berserk right then and there. When you walked out of the cafeteria and ignored us, I felt like Weiss just froze my heart," Yang half whispered in half yelled, trying not to wake their teammates but wanting to get her point across, "This isn't like with my other friends, or even when Ruby gets made at me, but it's also not like with any of my ex-boyfriends either. What the hell are you doing to me?"
"Yang," Naruto whispered gently, gripping her wrist lightly and pulling her hand off his collar, "I think we're both tired and need to go to bed."
Yang's red eyes slowly turned back to normal, her anger giving way to a soft dejectedness as she backed away and moved to go towards her bunk. But this time it was Naruto that reached out for her, gripping her hand.
"I'm feeling a little cold tonight," was all Naruto said.
Yang's eyes suddenly lit up slowly, a bit of relief shown through, "You just want to sleep with a pretty girl."
Qrow stood outside and all-too-familiar house, flask in one hand and scroll in the other. The door opened to reveal a very tired looking Taiyang, dressed in only a T-shirt and a pair of shorts.
"Qrow?" Tai asked, rubbing the sleep from his eyes, "What are you doing here?"
"I um, I need to tell you something. I was at Beacon a few days ago and there's something I need to tell you."
Up above the two men, a raven flew across the moon. A raven with red eyes.