Hey there, everyone. Hope you all have been doing well. I have, for the most part. Just tired of college in general is all as I keep approaching my graduation.

You know, this may seem kind of sudden, but Monty Oum's untimely passing has been on my mind for a while now and I couldn't help but be… I don't know, aware. Of our own mortality. He had a wife and some very good friends at Rooster Teeth and all of his life's works. He had so much that he wanted to do and with his passing, these are now things that'll never get done in addition to the fact that he will no longer be with his loved ones in this life…

Seriously, as much as we writers love to do our writing and get our stories out there for others to enjoy, it's how people like Monty suddenly die that really open my eyes to the fact that at almost any time we could die. If that ever happened, I'd no longer be able to be with my family or my friends or do any of my writings. If I were to die, my original story would never get published, this fic would be left unfinished, all of my other ideas would never even be written… you get the idea.

So I hope that I get to live a good life with little difficulty in the ways of potential death situations. The same thing goes for you all; I sincerely hope all of you (and of course my loved ones and yours) will live long and hopefully happy lives.

That said, if this fic ANDmy profile page go without ANY kind of update for say… 7-8 full months, then assume the worst, I guess.

I know that this is probably a pretty weird/sudden/depressing AN for you to read, but I just felt that this had to be said. Because there is no way I'm ever going to willingly stop writing fanfics, guys.

So with that said, I hope you will enjoy this chapter. And sorry again for the longer than usual AN.

Chapter 14

Naruto sighed heavily. Not out of frustration or worry or some other sort of negative emotion, but rather out of something akin to relief.

"I have to say, guys… I'm actually kind of thankful for this," he began.

Someone groaned.

"I mean it. Seriously, Ryuichi and the others have been pretty busy lately, so I haven't really been able to do much of anything with them. Doesn't help that it seems like the Holy Knights are staying on the down-low now," the blond magus continued, unperturbed.

Another person groaned.

"Not to say that it isn't nice to spend some time with you four or anything. That's not what I meant. And this is also beneficial to you guys too, isn't it?" He asked the others, taking a brief second to crack his neck.

Someone else groaned.

"Granted, we've only just begun, so to speak, but I think you did pretty well. You're all still rough around the edges, but that's to be expected. Given time, I'm sure you all will definitely shine," Naruto spoke.

The fourth and final person there groaned.

Said person also finally found the strength to actually speak rather than just makes noises of pain. "Professor…" Jaune spoke up. "No offense, but the more you talk, the more you seem to be rubbing it in our faces…" With a very tired and pained expression on his face, Jaune swept his arm across the room, as if to show the blond magus/professor his own handiwork.

Standing in the dead center of the arena, Naruto stood there in his casual clothes, following Jaune's sweeping hand motion. Save for himself and team JNPR, the arena was entirely empty as it was a weekend and the vast majority of students and faculty had chosen to spend this time elsewhere.

In a way, this was probably for the best. For if anyone had been present to see the current scene, they'd be left in a state of both awe and absolute fear. For lying around the arena were the beaten and battered bodies of team JNPR, hence the groaning.

Earlier today, Naruto had finally managed to find the time to start the 'training' for team JNPR. And for their first day, he had chosen to spend it sparring with all four of them, having told them to come at him with the intent to kill him. In turn, when they had (at first) reluctantly obliged, the blond magus had retaliated with considerably much more power than they ever would've expected. Naruto had done this in order to push them to their very limits and beyond, thereby letting him see just what exactly they were truly capable of, both individually and as a working team. He had to say that he was rather impressed. Although they were only first years, they were already skilled enough to probably do battle with some of the more skilled second years and stand a decent chance of winning. Except for Jaune though; the leader of team JNPR had done the poorest of the lot in terms of pure skill. But he had made up for his lack of skill with almost supernatural willpower, refusing to stay down when struck and showed himself to be surprisingly strong whenever one of his blows got blocked by Naruto. He had potential, that much was certain, probably more than the rest of the team combined.

Incidentally, whereas Naruto would walk away feeling rather pleased with the sort of potential he'd be nurturing under his wings, team JNPR, still very much in a great deal of pain and exhaustion, found themselves silently questioning if asking Naruto to train them was going to be a good thing.

Nora, very disoriented while lying up against the wall that Naruto had thrown her into, giggled. "Heh heh… such pretty ponies…" she said, not thinking very clearly.

Naruto and Jaune, the latter being the only one who remained fully conscious after the one-sided slaughter, could only sweat drop at the girl's odd words.

"See? You hit her too hard," Jaune muttered.

"Ugggghhhh…." Both Pyrrha and Ren moaned in pain, slowly coming to. At least at first; as soon as they even tried to stand up, they suddenly collapsed, losing consciousness yet again.

"You hit them pretty hard too!" Jaune said, doing his best to try and ignore all of the parts of his body that he knew for certain would be sporting massive bruises later. Which was to say, all of his body really.

"But evidently not you…" Naruto shot back sarcastically, though he did little a tad bit sheepish. "That aside, you all did pretty good; better than I was expecting actually."

"If only we felt that way too." Jaune, having been lying on his back, tried to roll over, careful not to accidentally jab himself in the side with Crocea Mors or his shield. As he tried to stand, he couldn't help but grunt as he looked at his shield, noticing a small yet still noticeable dent that had resulted from the clumsy block of one of Naruto's 'light' punches. The blond team leader had to suppress the shiver he felt trying to run up his spine; even when Naruto had been holding back immensely, he had still been able to dent his shield when not even a full on attack from a Grimm like a Deathstalker could so much as scratch it.

He was snapped out of his thoughts when Naruto suddenly walked up to him and held out his right hand towards him. "Da Capo Zero."

An ocean blue runic symbol suddenly appeared in front of Naruto's open hand, nearly blinding Jaune in the process. But this only lasted for only a fraction of a second and when the runic symbol disappeared and Naruto lowered his hand, Jaune could only look himself over in complete shock.

Although he was still feeling very tired and in pain, all of his wounds were gone as were the small tears that had been inflicted upon his clothes. Even the dent on his shield had vanished. It was as if he had never sparred with Naruto at all.

"W-What did…?" Jaune began, finally looking up from himself to look at Naruto. Only to see the blond magus now standing over the slowly recovering Nora.

"Da Capo Zero." The runic symbol appeared again and Jaune could only watch dumbfounded as all of the damage Nora had suffered to her clothes and to herself simply vanished, being rewound to an undamaged point.

This process had been fast, blindingly so; if Jaune had so much as blinked, he would've missed the entire thing.

Ignoring his stunned expression, Naruto calmly went on to do the same thing to Pyrrha and Ren, who were beginning to stir once more.

When he finally finished healing them all with Da Capo Zero and looked back at Jaune, he was met with the boy's dropped jaw. "H-How did you do that?" Jaune asked him, too shocked to feel tired or in pain anymore.

"That was my unique ability as a magus: Da Capo Zero," Naruto began almost nonchalantly. "It lets me revert people and objects – rewind time in other words. As you saw, it can easily be done to rewind people or objects to an undamaged state, though it won't restore stamina or fully get rid of pain. That said, if I felt like it, I could rewind something to before it even existed."

At the brief explanation, Jaune didn't bother trying to suppress the shiver anymore. "That's… pretty overpowered," he stated bluntly, unable to think of adequate words to use in this situation. "Like… seriously overpowered."

Naruto simply chuckled. "Well it has another 'natural' function too," he replied. "And over the centuries, I've come with some interesting tricks with it…" He paused, watching silently as the rest of team JNPR slowly got to their feet. "You guys alright now?"

"Yeah. I think…" Ren muttered, rubbing his head. Hearing his words, Nora could only groan in agreement.

"I see. That's good. Now I know just what exactly I'm starting with," Naruto, his small smile slowly morphing into an unnerving grin.

Immediately, this set the tired team on edge. "What is it?" Pyrrha slowly asked the magus.

"Oh nothing. Just go and rest up for today. But tomorrow… meet me back here at 7am, sharp. Because by then, I would have figured out just how to go about honing your skills individually and as a team…" Naruto started to walk away, a little chuckle escaping him as he did so.

Team JNPR could only shiver as they dragged their still pained and tired bodies out of the arena. Perhaps they've made a mistake asking Naruto to train them after all.

Meanwhile, with team RWBY, the four girls were currently in Ozpin's office. In addition to themselves and the headmaster of Beacon, Glynda, Miki, and surprisingly Daisuke were there as well.

"So the four of you are still well?" Ozpin asked before taking a sip of his coffee.

"Yeah. We've been checked out and everything, headmaster," Ruby spoke up.

A whole week has passed since the faculty lounge incident. Since then, team RWBY along with team JNPR have been going to the infirmary on a regular basis to ensure that whatever the machine had been hadn't somehow injured them in some way. As team JNPR had been taken away by Naruto earlier for training, they've had to receive their last official check up whereas team RWBY had received theirs just now, hence their current presence before the headmaster.

"That's good." Ozpin could only nod his head in relief. "Still, to think that this strange thing would just explode… tell me again, just how did that happen?"

At that, Yang had the decency to blush. "I may have given it a little tap…"

The blond brawler was stopped from talking any further by the glare that Glynda then gave her. "And it never crossed your mind that perhaps tampering with it could be bad?" the deputy headmistress growled out.

"Glynda, please calm down," Miki now said, speaking up for the girls. "While I'm a little peeved too over this, it's much more important to know that the girls are alright."

From beside her, Daisuke nodded his head. With his eyes closed as usual, the girls could only look at him somewhat mystified by how he goes around without bumping into things like that. They all started just a bit when he suddenly turned to them, his eyes still closed. "Miki-chan has a good point, Glyndy…" he began, calling the deputy headmistress by a little pet name. "After all, it wouldn't do to have your students exploding or something." He let out a little laugh.

"Err… just why are you here, anyway?" Ruby asked the ancient magus. "What happened to Masami?"

"Masa-chan had to get going back to work," Daisuke answered. "And me? I'm just a wanderer, so I pretty much travel all over. When Masa-chan told me what happened, I decided to drop by."

"Oh…" Ruby nodded, accepting his answer easily enough.

"Still," Daisuke continued. "Kinda sucks that the machine's all caput now."

"Agreed," Glynda said. She folded her arms across her chest, a slight frown on her face. "Although it no longer appeared to be working… for the most part, it'd seem… studying it could've told us just what sort of technology these Holy Knights had been working with."

At that, all of team RWBY couldn't help but look a little down. Indeed, the strange machine could've very well been a good lead.

"Guess that never really crossed our minds, huh?" Yang said, scratching her head in thought.

"No use crying over spilled milk," Ozpin spoke, getting everyone's attention. "As it is, we should be thankful to still be able to study its remains, damage from the explosion aside. Even if identifying what it had been used for is no longer possible, it could still hopefully lead us to some other clue."

"He's right; if it's genuinely custom made and we can figure out what sort of materials were used to make it, it could probably limit the 'search field' for the Holy Knights. After all, it's not as if one can find all of the materials needed to build something so close by to one another," Miki said, shrugging her shoulders. "Not even the Holy Knights should have that an easy a time doing so, unless one of them has a special ability of some sort to get around that."

"Miki-chan has a good point." Daisuke's usual smirk dropped. The ancient magus appeared to be deep in thought. "Even with a weapon much like my Field Changer, it'd still take time to gather the parts needed to build something like this, not to mention how some parts needed for the machine would probably have to have been stolen from somewhere."

"Then," Weiss suddenly spoke up. "Wouldn't it be best to look at the specific parts used to make this contraption, identify their make/model and trace it to whichever facility manufactured them?"

Although the heiress said no more than that, everyone else there was able to piece together the 'run on' of such a plan: if they really could identify all of that, then perhaps they could investigate and see if there had been any reports of break ins or thefts from those facilities. From there, perhaps there would be more clues as to where these Holy Knights may be.

"But what would that really work, Weiss?" Blake felt she had to ask that one question. "They're no longer at their old base and I don't really think they're going to start stealing new pieces so soon to make another one, assuming they still even needed that thing."

"Maybe…" Ruby surprisingly spoke up now. "But wouldn't there be more clues left there? I mean, these Holy Knights seem pretty confident in themselves. Maybe since they were sneaking into places like that, they didn't really think to hide their trails from magi instead of the usual guards?"

The young leader of team RWBY could only tremble a bit as everyone else in the room locked eyes on her, their eyes wide and their gazes piercing. Even Daisuke had opened his eyes wide to look over the girl.

"Huh." Daisuke was the first to speak. "Honestly haven't thought of that… good going, kid." He flashed Ruby a smile as his eyes closed yet again.

"E-Eh, really?" Ruby asked with a hopeful smile.

"Yeah. That was a pretty good idea," Miki replied, beaming. "Given how confident they were against Daisuke here and Ryuichi, it wouldn't surprise me one bit if they didn't bother covering up any sort of trail that only magi could follow, assuming they even broke into these sorts of places at all…"

"I'll go and make a few calls then," Glynda said before quickly walking out of the room. Her expression had still been as stern as usual, but if one had looked closely enough, they'd have seen the beginning of a proud smile on her face, the woman glad to see that maybe bringing the team into this was a good idea after all.

Ozpin too had a smile on his face, though it was hidden well by the angle at which he was holding his cup. "As much as I'd rather avoid having any of my students going to 'war'… I can't help but feel proud of them."

Indeed, they seemed to be contributing more than he had originally expected. Given the massive power gap between magi and these Holy Knights when compared to hunters and huntresses, the headmaster had long since come to the silent conclusion that staying on the sidelines and offering some support was the best that even people such as himself could do to help his longtime friends. But now… now it seemed like teams RWBY and JNPR could be changing just that. He doubted they'd be out on the frontlines, fighting the Holy Knights directly in any capacity, yet even then for them to actively try and participate nonetheless… it just made his heart feel warm.

"Perhaps their joining us had been a blessing of sorts…" the headmaster thought as he took another sip of his coffee.

This was a statement he genuinely debated on even as they all continued to further discuss what else could be done.

Elsewhere, with the Holy Knights, the captain was currently in the process of running yet another trial. Hidden safely away as to avoid any potential backlash, the man could only hum in silent triumph as he proceeded to look over the results.

"So now it's finally beginning to fully stabilize… good," he thought. "With just a bit more time, I can finally…"

He was disrupted from his train of thought when he heard his scroll give off a ping, indicating he had received a message. Slowly looking away from the printout he had been looking over, the captain pulled out the scroll and opened up the message.

"He is awake," was all it said. No name was given as to who had sent it nor did it elaborate any further than that.

But such things weren't needed; the captain knew very well who had sent it and what exactly it was about. So it was with a push back of his chair and his standing up that the captain proceeded to exit his room, locking the door behind him as he did so.

Walking across the new base he and his Holy Knights had taken up residence in, the captain silently nodded to the White Fang members that were flitting about, hard at work with whatever new task their superiors had given them.

Eventually, he reached one particular door on nearly the opposite side of the base, well away from any room that would potentially contain any people and with reason: he wouldn't want for something go awry and cause an explosion now, would he?

Opening the door, the captain walked into the room, a large and plain white room filled with all sorts of different equipment and machinery. Though no one would ever quite know just how exactly to go about studying let alone work this machinery, to him and to his apprentice, the complex machinery was as easy to operate as it was easy to breath.

And thinking of his apprentice, there Cinder stood over the foot of a bed placed in the corner of the room.

Lying on the bed was none other than Roman. Dressed in a plain white shirt and pants, he looked noticeably different than when dressed in usual apparel, which the captain took perhaps a signature look of sorts.

"You truly are up…" the captain muttered as he approached. "Tell me: how do you feel?"

Roman, lying down yet very much awake, could only grin from ear to ear as he wiggled his fingers around, as if to test them. "You know," he began. "When I had agreed to let you do your little science jig on me, I honestly hadn't been expecting too much."

"But now?" The captain allowed himself some amusement.

"Now… I couldn't be more glad to have taken the risk." Roman couldn't help but chuckle. It had certainly been a tedious process, rather long and boring as the captain had spent the first day or two simply studying his physiology and taking into account "other characteristics" as he had put it before finally putting him under to work his science magic, but now Roman could say that the process had been worth it.

He didn't look different in the slightest. He wasn't suddenly on fire or had glowing veins or morphing features. He wasn't taller nor shorter. His physique didn't hulk out nor did it thin. In all respects, Roman physically looked the same and he acknowledged this readily.

And yet.

He felt so different. Energized. Stronger, enough to take on the largest and strongest of Grimm and walk away victorious.

"Hmm…" Cinder focused very little of her attention on Roman or her master, instead looking over a chart she held in her hands. It was Roman's medical chart, updated as of an hour ago. Finishing looking it over, she smirked a bit, pleased. "He's fully stable, master."

The captain nodded in acknowledgement of her words. Roman, on the other hand, simply perked up a bit at what Cinder had said. "Stable, eh?" he muttered.

"Of course," Cinder replied. "You didn't think we'd just let you tell us whether or not you feel well and let you run around again without making sure of it ourselves, yes?"

Whereas before her tone of voice would've sent the criminal into a muted conniption fit, now it only made him snort in what could've been bemusement. "Well, whatever you say, nurse." He looked back to the captain. "I'll say this much: you sure can work a miracle, mystery man."

The captain chuckled a bit. "Perhaps so. Try to stand up, please. Slowly."

Wordlessly, Roman complied and did so with only a bit of a wobble. This didn't bother the man nor the captain and Cinder at all; considering that Roman had been confined to bed rest for a few days without moving a single muscle, it was expected for him to be just a tad bit slow and twitchy from a physical standpoint.

The captain microscopically nodded to himself. "You seem well enough. Try walking around a bit." He then stood to the side and motioned for his apprentice to do the same.

Once Cinder cleared out of the way, Roman proceeded to walk directly towards the opposite end of the room and back, his legs faltering only for half a second at first before this ceased, the man quickly acclimating to his body again. "Ta-da…." Roman jeered in good humor as he made it back to his bed.

Nodding again to himself, the captain then motioned for Roman to go and collect his stuff, which they had left sitting atop a desk nearby.

Once he gathered his clothes and Melodic Cudgel, Roman followed the captain and Cinder out of the room. "So what now? Since I'll be sticking around to see what you have up your sleeves, I'll be in the loop this time as was agreed, right?" the man asked.

"Of course. I'm a man of my words, Torchwick," the captain spoke. "All I ask now is for you to take care of one little errand for me. And once you return, you will be told in full detail what I and my Holy Knights are up to."

Before today, Roman would've found this tiring and frustrating, having to deal with this carrot-on-a-stick kind of proposition. But today was different. So without any frustration or resignation, he spoke. "And you'll deliver on that?"

"Yes," the captain replied unhesitatingly.

"Alright then." Roman shrugged his shoulders as he twirled his hat around on his index finger before flicking it onto his head. "What's this errand you want me to run?"

Although he was wearing a mask, Roman and Cinder could almost feel the slight smirk the captain was sporting. "Although my machinery and technology are 'homemade,' the parts they're made from aren't…" he began. "I've had to often take a few items here and there in order to make them."

Roman blinked slowly. "Let me guess: you want me to cover up your tracks before anyone picks up on it."

"Exactly. And while the probability of it happening is very low, it would still be possible for someone or multiple someones to track us down. In which case, I'd like for you to perhaps go and pay the places I've been to a visit."

Roman could only smile. "Hmm, dunno… I get to go by myself or something?"

"If that's what you wish then by all means go ahead," the captain replied. "But if you do and have to fight… consider giving your weapon there another look over. I've taken the liberty of… making a few changes to it as well."

At those words, the criminal's eyes went wide before glancing down to Melodic Cudgel, which was held tightly in his right hand. The shock he felt only lasted for several seconds before he let out a genuine laugh, startling a few members of the White Fang that had been passing by.

"Well damn, you just love giving me surprises, don't you?" Roman gave Melodic Cudgel a good twirl before taking aim at a random wall. Pretending to pull an imaginary trigger, he looked to the captain and to Cinder, who watched him, completely unfazed by his sudden antics.

"Alright then," Roman said with a big grin on his face. "Just what facility do you want me to hit first?"

Elsewhere in the facility, Morgan Le Fay was in the midst of some reading. Or at least it'd seem that way to anyone who watched her from afar. She did indeed have a book open before her, but it certainly wasn't reading that she was doing.

Instead, upon the pages the book was open to was a clear image of what was taking place with her captain, namely his conversation with Roman.

"Hmhm, that's the captain for you," Morgan commented airily. "Always trying to make sure there are no loose ends."

She closed the book – her Relic, simply called the Book of Spells – and leaned back in her seat, a bit of smirk upon her face.

Her beloved captain, now with his experiments almost fully completed and with his Holy Knights ready, was finally going to be starting the 'war' officially against the ancient magi. Furthermore, the man had even gone as far to somewhat bolster his forces with the now enhanced Roman…

Morgan could lick her lips as she thought long and hard on this. The criminal was by no means on par with a Holy Knight, but he was definitely now a force to be reckoned with for any group of hunters/huntresses even if he were to rely solely on sheer brute strength. Against the ancient magi, such might though will be little more than a slight speed bump for them to overcome, but the more allies they had, the better, Morgan silently supposed.

"I wonder if our dear captain is also picking up on this fact…" she thought off-handedly. She was most certain that he was. After all, until Roman had brought up the idea in the first place, this idea of empowering a non-Holy Knight was one that had never crossed the captain's mind. But given how excited – albeit low-key excitement – the captain was prior to putting Roman under to perform the process, the third seat was quite sure he was at least entertaining the idea.

"Well, at any rate, we'll soon be showing ourselves to the world," Morgan thought aloud. "And with our arrival comes salvation."

She had to suppress ruthlessly the urge to laugh. She could hardly wait for the fun to truly start.

Meanwhile with the captain, who had just seen Roman off, he traveled back to his room now, his business with Roman and Cinder complete for now.

Much like Morgan had thought, he couldn't help but dwell on how he had empowered Roman and such an idea's… appeal in general. "However, they'd be more little more than foot soldiers, whoever I'd empower like I did him…" he muttered to himself, hands placed firmly behind his back as he thought on.

This right here was the main point of concern. He had no need of anymore Holy Knights and even if he did, there were no longer any more Relics as they were called – which is to say, 'mythical' items to use as a sort of basis for the Holy Knights – for him to find and while creating his own would be possible, the sheer amount of time needed to do so was beyond what he had available to him. As such, anyone empowered like Roman was would not be on the same level as a Holy Knight. Not even close and therefore of no real threat to the ancient magi.

"But on the other hand… sometimes quantity can trump quality." The captain was very reluctant to think such a thing as he's always preferred quality over quantity. However, against the ancient magi who were relatively few in number yet incredibly powerful and skilled, he was going to need every single advantage he could get his hands on. As it is, he's long since equipped his Holy Knights with more than just their Relics, but those were simply things or safety precautions meant to aid in their battle, not actually empower them any further. Theoretically anyway.

"I suppose this is something I'll have to seriously look into," the captain thought after a moment, finally reaching his room.

Indeed, there were far more pros and cons concerning this idea to be weighed. As such, this wasn't simply a decision to be made quickly or half-heartedly; it'd require just a bit of time and effort on his part to see the consequences to the end.

But with him and Holy Knights now rather officially, if only to themselves, declaring 'war' on the ancient magi, the captain could only wonder if perhaps he'd be able to make the appropriate decision in time. Because if he didn't, then it could very well spell his end.

And that wouldn't do at all. He didn't live this long and dedicate so much of his time to end up with nothing. No, he had to succeed at all costs. Not just for himself, but also for the sake of his dream and for his 'friend.'

Soon enough, he'll bring salvation to this entire backwater world. He wouldn't dare let the ancient magi or anyone else try and stop him.

And so with his resolve once again reaffirmed to himself, the captain entered his room for an early rest, already eager to see how tomorrow will play out.

And that is that. Yeah… not much else to say really; I pretty much already said what was on my mind in the beginning AN so… yeah.

As always, I'll be trying to keep a consistent updating schedule, but classes will inevitably change things up. Nonetheless, I'll try my hardest.

Until next time, everyone. Please take care!