My finals have finally arrived. Hard to believe it's already been more or less 15 weeks of classes. But now it's here: the end of my college time. Once my finals are done, it's time for my commencement on May 17th followed by one final class during the summer to get my last few units to get my degree… sigh, if only the one lab class I took last semester was worth more than just 1 measly unit. They really ought to change that for future students; it'd really make things more worth it and help them get a few more units faster if they'd do that.

That said, since my summer class will be starting May 25th following a few other things that I'll be taking care of, I can't immediately say when the chapter after this one will be started, but hopefully it won't take me too long to do. Alas, I also finally plan to start working on my second original story whilst simultaneously trying to get my first one actually published (wish me luck guys!) so that will also factor into the time spent on this fic. But worry not, for this is one fic I will be finishing come hell or high water (hopefully not literally).

Now onto the chapter.

Chapter 21

"You plan to sit on that bench for the rest of the day?" Yuko chided softly as she approached the person on the bench.

It was none other than Takehiko.

It has now been a full week since the assault by Surma upon Beacon Academy and since Katsu's untimely passing. A funeral had been held for the man just the other day, one that was attended by a number of military personnel including James Ironwood himself. Takehiko, Yuko, and the other ancient magi had attended as well, but remained in the background, wishing to avoid drawing any sort of unwanted attention from everyone else there, especially since it seemed as if Katsu had had a reputation for keeping his personal/social life a secret from those who worked for or alongside him in Atlas' military.

After that, the magi had met briefly following the funeral, all of them having very much been in a somber mood. Having had a quiet toast to Katsu's memory, they had discussed their next move and ultimately had decided it'd be best to stay as close together as possible.

However, while their sticking together was key for their continued survival, there was one little roadblock: life itself. Takehiko, being the well-off owner of a popular high class club, was more than capable of doing whatever he pleased, his club perfectly capable of functioning without him around. Daisuke was a wanderer who did freelance handyman work on an infrequent basis and as such had a lot of time to himself. As a result, the two men were able to move around however they pleased. But this didn't apply to Naruto, Miki, Ryuichi, and Mari, who are a part of Beacon's faculty and couldn't afford to just up and leave indefinitely, especially in the wake of the assault upon the academy still. As for Masami, she had much work to do as CEO of her own company and Yuko herself was a 'simple newbie schoolteacher' as she put it and therefore they didn't have the luxury of being able to move about as they pleased, at least not for a particularly long period of time.

Which is ultimately why Takehiko was with Yuko now, seated as he was upon a random bench outside the school that the red eyed magus worked at. It had been decided upon for Takehiko to stick close to Yuko while Daisuke would hang around with Masami, effectively leaving them as pairs while Naruto, Miki, Ryuichi, and Mari remained a magi quartet, with Hanako also being around as well.

This was so that the Holy Knights wouldn't be able to pick them off one by one via guerilla tactics.

That, of course, didn't mean that the ancient magi had to like it; they had no other options as it now stood, with them still being clueless on how to track down the Holy Knights.

"Maybe," Takehiko finally commented in response to Yuko, his agitation and sorrow still showing through a bit.

Yuko looked at him softly before taking a seat next to him. Right now, it was the beginning of lunch break for the school anyway, so she had a good 45 minutes to spare. As she sat down, she leaned back into the bench. Staring off vacantly into the sun, completely unbothered by Vacuo's usually aggravating weather, she spoke. "We'll get back at them," she whispered. "The Holy Knights can't be hiding forever from us."

This got a sigh from the other magus. "I know." Takehiko ran a hand through his hair in frustration. "Still doesn't make me feel any better right now. Katsu was a close friend and now…"

"He was my friend too, you know," Yuko muttered. "He was the others' friend as well, even if all of us didn't get to see each other that often. So we're all hurting as much as you. All that we can do though is just move on as best as we can and think of a way to locate those bastards before they make another move."

"Yes…" Takehiko hunched forward a bit, placing his elbows on his knees while clasping his hands together before his face. His expression of frustration and sorrow gave way slowly to a more contemplative one as he mulled over something. "If nothing else… Katsu was able to pass onto us what one of these so-called Holy Knights could do. And that right there counts for much. A shame there's no way to track this man personally though."

"Mhm. Then there's also what Naruto and Miki told us too… the attack on Beacon," Yuko also added.

The words made Takehiko shake his head in disbelief. "Incredible, to think that the Holy Knights would be foolhardy enough to attack that academy of all places… if those four hadn't been at that conference with the damned councilmen, things would've gone much differently…" he growled out, his mind playing out the 'what-if' scenario he was painting with his words.

Then, almost suddenly, the man paused upon realizing he was letting himself get a little too worked up. "…Come to think of it," he then said in a noticeably quieter voice. "The four of them, mainly Mari, spoke of something else that had occurred… those girls becoming pseudo-magi, yes?"

Yuko sighed and nodded. "And most likely those other three teens too… team JNPR I think they said."

When the magi had met up after Katsu's funeral, Mari, having since then shared her newfound discovery with Naruto, Miki, and Hanako, had proceeded to tell the others of the new status of team RWBY. And since this was due to the strange machine Masami had brought to Beacon Academy a while back, Mari had also speculated that the same thing had happened to Nora, Pyrrha, and Ren as well. It was a speculation that had been proven right when she finally had the time to personally check on the NPR of team JNPR.

"So what do you believe will happen regarding them?" Takehiko inquired, wanting to hear Yuko's opinion. He was still reeling from Katsu's death along with being much more focused on tracking the Holy Knights. As such, he couldn't bring himself to think too much on this particular issue. However, Yuko was clearly able to focus more on other things, hence his question to her.

"Honestly, I can't exactly say I know… but if those seven teens really have become pseudo-magi as result of that machine, then I think it would probably be best to try and awaken them," Yuko replied with a shrug. Given that the two teams were dedicated to helping them out, trying to see if they can be awakened would definitely do wonders for their self-confidence following their completely ineffective attempt to fight Surma. Furthermore, it would certainly bolster their overall ability, which could potentially help fight the Holy Knights depending on what kind of magical abilities, if any, they end up developing.

This remained unsaid, but Takehiko was able to suspect as much and he nodded his head absentmindedly in agreement. "I see. That would be a big help. And given that they were able to sense that beast despite its attempt to remain hidden, I wonder if maybe they could track it…" He paused, now pondering this possibility. Teams RWBY and JNPR have now been in very much close contact with the strange beast, so surely they've gotten a very good feel for the sort of magical aura that it gave off. "In that case, have the others been trying to awaken them as pseudo-magi?"

"Mari said they'd try to do so. But as we all know, awakening requires a near-death situation or extreme levels of determination following trauma… and so far, there's been nothing on that front," Yuko said in slight distaste. Being a longtime schoolteacher that looked out for children, the thought of putting teenagers through such things intentionally felt wrong to her. She thought this while knowing full well the sort of things she and her fellow magi have had deal with long ago when they had first awoken as magi. "But they're going to try and see if they can work around that somehow. After all, if the Holy Knights could pull it off along with that Torchwick punk, then surely these kids could do it too… we just have to figure it out first."

Takehiko sighed once again in frustration, but he nodded in understanding. As artificial or pseudo-magi, it'd make sense that there will be differences between them and the real deal. So it was on that note that it can be expected for there to possibly be differences in how to awaken them as well, he'd reason.

"Well, whatever they ultimately decide to do, I certainly hope they don't take long to do it…" he muttered.

And on that particular note, Yuko agreed with him. The Holy Knights wouldn't be sitting around for long. If they were to make some kind of comeback, then it was going to have to be soon.

In regards to said Holy Knights, currently in their own base, they were in the midst of a meeting with all of their members, much to their slight surprise. It was a bit rare for this to happen.

And so in what could only be described as an unofficial conference room, complete with even a large table for the Holy Knights to be seated at, all said people sat there in uniform save for Cinder. The reason for the fourth seat to remain standing is because she was in the midst of an official introduction.

"My apologies for the wait, friends," she began in her usual voice. She walked around before the seated Holy Knights, all of whom had their eyes on her with varying levels of interest. "But now I can finally make some proper introductions.

With a swift motion of her hand, four people came forth into the spotlight for the Holy Knights to see. "Allow me to finally and properly introduce to you four new comrades: Adam Taurus, Neopolitan, and my two dear little minions, Emerald and Mercury."

As she spoke, the aforementioned people walked forward. Although the four of them physically looked the same as they did before, the Holy Knights could feel the difference in power between now and then. The four people had become just like Torchwick.

"Hmm, their power is considerable," Heracles spoke in approval, nodding his head. He grinned as he looked to Adam, said Faunus retaining his usually stoic expression even after having been talked into this 'experiment.' "And it'll do some good to have another Faunus on our side."

"But just how did you get Roman's companion to join us?" Indra then spoke from his seat, quirking an eyebrow towards the naturally silent girl who seemed almost amused by the current proceedings. She had the look of a trickster about her, Indra silently noted.

Cinder simply chuckled. "Turns out she's quite loyal to the man; I simply mentioned he went through the same process and she all but agreed to do the same right off the bat." She paused and then gestured to Emerald and Mercury. "And as I said…"

But before she could continue, Mercury cut her off. "We can talk, you know? We're big kids now," he spoke, the grey haired young man sporting a massive grin. Always a childish person, the man looked as if he had awoken recently to discover it was Christmas and a particularly good one at that too. He raised his left leg and did a few practice kicks, noticing how much faster said kicks were. All but bouncing on his feet afterwards, he laughed. "Have to say, how come you never had us undergo this process or whatever before?"

"Probably because I still thought you were too immature," Cinder replied with a smirk, watching as Mercury pouted a bit, though it seemed like the comment hardly affected him.

As for Emerald, the young thief simply looked to her hand and clenched and unclenched it over and over again. She let out an indecipherable hum after a moment or two. "Still, Cinder… you didn't have to hold out on us like this. I, at least, would've gone through this if it was for you," Emerald said as she looked to Cinder.

Her words got a chuckle out of both Apophis and Morgan. "Look who has a fangirl," the latter said with a smile. However, if one listened very closely to Morgan, they'd hear she was somewhat lacking in her usual good humor.

Emerald shot said woman an angry glare that went unnoticed. Cinder on the other hand just smirked. "Oh I don't know about that," she said, making Emerald look at her in appreciation. This lasted until Cinder continued speaking. "She doesn't shriek quite as loudly as the usual fangirl."

The third and fourth seat shared a laugh together while Emerald's face proceeded to sport a considerable blush of both frustration and embarrassment.

"Uhm…" Kalma then spoke softly, drawing all eyes to her. She flinched a bit, not used to all the attention, but pressed onwards. "Where's the captain?"

"And Torchwick too, now that I think of it…" Apophis added immediately after Kalma spoke, the man blinking as he noticed the criminal wasn't around.

"I'm here…"

Nearly everyone jumped as the captain seemed to almost suddenly appear out of nowhere, entering the room so silently that it wasn't until he had spoken whilst nearing Cinder that everyone had finally noticed him.

The captain thought nothing of it and spoke yet again. "As for Roman, I asked him to do me a little favor and get in touch with one Hei Xiong," he said. He then paused, seeming to mull over something before continuing. "As I made an error in mistaking when the magi would be at Beacon Academy, I decided it'd be best to have another source of information available. And from what I'm told, Hei Xiong is the best information broker in all of Vale."

"So you sent little Torchwick to get in touch with this man, eh?" Heracles asked as he leaned his massive frame back in his seat, said object squeaking mightily as it tried to hold up his heavily muscled body. "Why do so, captain? Don't you yourself specialize in gathering information?"

The captain nodded. "I do. However, my magical weapon can't be used all the time. And its 'sight' isn't a perfect thing. But this man has many informants and serious connections… it'd be a waste to now not utilize it."

"Junior, huh…" Mercury chuckled, remembering having met the big man once. "I wonder how he'll take seeing Torchwick again…"

"Whatever sort of history the two may have together," the captain, Vidar, began. "Matters little to me. Although from what I've been told by Roman, they are on amicable terms. But in any case, Roman is to try and tap the man's network to see what he can learn about the situation at Beacon as well as what Vale's council may now be up to… those councilmen have always caused people a number of problems…" Vidar sighed. The council was a very nosy bunch and it had been surprisingly hard to keep everything hidden when they'd always snoop around even the least suspicious of incidents that resulted from his handiwork.

"Yeah, not to burst your bubble or anything, but you do know the man is not gonna get much info from Junior today, right?" Emerald spoke up as she folded her arms across her chest.

"I'm well aware of that. Information does take time to gather. Most definitely Roman will have to pay the man a visit at a later date in order to know the going-ons of Beacon Academy and the council." Vidar paused. "And it's on that note that I'm here to talk to you lot." He motioned to not just Emerald, but also to Mercury, Adam, and Neo.

"What for?" Adam, to the mild surprise of everyone, finally said. He had been a most taciturn fellow, so to hear him speak now of all times was rather noteworthy.

"I'd like for two of you to go along with Roman whenever he will have to go back to Hei Xiong for what we wish to know," Vidar requested. "You may call me overly cautious or perhaps even paranoid, but this information could prove vital and I will not have anything interrupt this."

"Sir, why not have one of us go instead?" Lugh then asked as he stood, confused and curious as to why the captain would ask such a thing of four people that were considerably less powerful than he and the other Holy Knights.

"Because you and Apophis killed Tyr," Vidar replied, turning to face Lugh. "No doubt the ancient magi will be on high alert and the very instant they sense your mana, they will come to investigate. Since these four here are able to suppress their mana better due to the power difference between them and yourselves, they'd be able to avoid detection. And that aside…" Vidar looked back to his four new pawns. "You four, from what I've gathered, have all met Hei Xiong at one point or another, so it'd most likely be easier for any of you to blend in better with the crowd in his particular area."

"And so I say this once again: will two of you accompany Roman whenever he has to go back?" Vidar said after a moment of silence.

Not even a full second after he spoke, everyone hardly even blinked as Neo raised her hand, indicating she'll go along with Roman. Given how long the two of them had seemed to know each other, the Holy Knights would've been far more surprised to see her not go.

Vidar nodded to her in thanks and then looked to Adam, Mercury, and Emerald to see who else would step forward. As he did so, the Holy Knights looked to the three as well, intrigued to see who would volunteer.

Under the eyes of everyone now, Emerald and Mercury couldn't help but shift about unconsciously as the eyes of the Holy Knights, even the delicate and shy Kalma, seemed to be piercing right through them.

But whatever tension that had begun to mount was dissipate when Adam took a slight step forward. "I'll go," he said in a slightly gruff voice. And with reason; he knew well of the sort of attitude Roman had when around his fellow White Fang members and it angered Adam considerably as it brought up less than pleasant memories from the past when he and other Faunus were openly discriminate against by humans. He'd have no problem in openly admitting to want to actually kill Roman if given just cause, but alas that was something that'd have go onto the backburner for now. For when Cinder had first approached him about obtaining power that could help greatly advance the White Fang's cause, she'd made it very clear that if he accepted the offer, he'd have to play nice with everyone else unless stated to do otherwise. And Adam considered himself a man of his word, no matter how much he'd grit his teeth around the criminal.

Alas, volunteering for this duty was good way to prove his word to the Holy Knights and perhaps even provide him with the chance to see Roman screw up enough for him to be killed. Two birds, one stone.

The enhanced Faunus was roused from his thoughts by a light chuckle from Vidar. "You have my thanks. Once Roman returns, then, you two speak with him to find out when you must leave."

Both Adam and Neo nodded in response.

Vidar then turned to his apprentice. "Is that all for now, Cinder? Nothing else on our agenda for the time being?"

"None at all. I simply wanted to make formal introductions to the others," she replied.

"Good. Then I shall finally be returning to my experiments… all of you are dismissed until further notice," Vidar said.

And without waiting for any kind of reply, the man left the room, his mind already focused on other things.

As things came to an end for now for the Holy Knights, things were only just beginning now at Beacon Academy.

Currently, classes were in session, having resumed just earlier today. All of the students, who would normally be bored from one thing or another, now seemed to really be throwing themselves into their resumed classes, eager to move on as quickly as possible from the events of a week ago.

All of the students were particularly focused on their combat classes, all of them training and fighting as hard as they could in order to strengthen and hone themselves. Such a continually fierce sight simultaneously warmed and saddened the hearts of the teachers, knowing full well that the attack by Surma had forced the students to try and improve out of both a sense of genuine determination to better themselves and great fear.

Both teams RWBY and JNPR were among the forefront of these students, having pushed themselves especially hard today, though not just for the same reasons as their fellow students.

They, save for Jaune, were trying to awaken.

Having been informed by Mari and the others by what the machine had done to them, both teams realized immediately the potential they now held within them and the possible turn in the tide it could cause if they could awaken their now latent artificial magical abilities.

That being said, they were having a very hard time doing so, a fact that Yang in particular was making very well known.

"Damn it all!" she exclaimed, having to make an actual effort to keep from pounding the table she sat before.

Currently in an empty classroom, Yang sat at a random table along with the rest of her team. They were not the only ones there; team JNPR, Naruto, Miki, Hanako, Ryuichi, and Mari were there as well.

"Calm down, calm down…" Miki said softly. "Getting worked up over things isn't going to make something happen."

"It'd be great if it did though…" Ruby muttered. While not yelling like her sister was, the young girl was very much frustrated as well and it showed in the frown that marred her face.

"Master," Hanako suddenly spoke, looking to Naruto who sat at the teacher's desk with his legs propped up on the desk. "What do you think? What could be making it so hard for them to awaken?"

Naruto's eyes were closed, but the man himself definitely wasn't asleep. The grimace on his face made that much quite clear. "I wish I had a good answer to that, Hanako," he began. He opened his eyes and looked over both teams there, sizing them up. From their spots in the room, his wife as well as Ryuichi and Mari did the same.

"Do you think it could be a matter of mindset?" Ryuichi then suggested.

"Mindset?" Weiss then spoke up. "What do you mean? We're trying as hard as we can here!"

"That's not what my hubby meant." Mari paced a little, nearly bumping into Miki in the process as her mind wandered. "He meant in regards to how awakenings usually work, that being via extreme determination or trauma… but said things are born from life or death situations. At least, it was in the cases of genuine magi."

"So…" Jaune began from where he sat. "Are you saying maybe they aren't awakening because they're not going out there getting nearly killed?"

Not long following the attack on Beacon, Jaune had to be placed in an emergency ward due to how badly Surma had beaten him. During his time there, he had been in and out of consciousness and the only reason why Naruto hadn't used Da Capo Zero to immediately heal him was because by the time the magi had returned to Beacon, notices had already gone out to the families of the students and so he had to hold off until Jaune's sisters had come to visit. It hadn't been until after his seven sisters visited him that Naruto was able to finally heal him up without worry. And Jaune would be the first to say just how great it was to be suddenly healed. But while he had been physically healed instantly, mentally he was still something of a wreck; the helplessness he had felt as Surma had its way with him had all but imprinted itself deeply into his very memories, nearly haunting him as much as the near-death experience itself did.

And it was that particular memory that came calling back right now at what Mari said. Being told a few days ago that his teammates had been turned into pseudo-magi alongside team RWBY had been shocking enough, but to now hear that putting them through a near-death experience may be the only way to awaken them? That was crossing a serious line in his mind right now.

"Don't tell me you actually plan to-," he began, sounding agitated and worried. He knew intellectually that death was just a natural part of life, but now with the Holy Knights being willing enough to attack Beacon was something of a different matter… especially since, in order to prevent such a thing again, he and his friends would have to go on the frontlines and fight. He was willing to do what he could to become a hero worthy of people's respect, but the possibility of his friends dying was something that didn't sit well with him at all.

Naruto held up a hand to placate Jaune. "No, no, we're not going to try and kill your friends if that's what you're thinking," he said quickly, sounding appalled that Jaune would ever think such a thing. "We may be intrigued to see what'll happen too, but putting them in genuine danger isn't on our minds."

"But…" Blake now said, drawing all eyes to her. "What if a near-death situation really is needed for us to awaken?"

"Honestly, I'm beginning to doubt that," Miki replied as she walked up to the nearest wall and leaned against it. "Yes, you are pseudo-magi, but that's just the thing too: you're not actual magi so our rules may not be your rules…"

"Okay, so training our asses into the ground, even with your help, isn't doing the trick and nearly getting killed might not cut it either," Yang proclaimed, her frustration still very noticeable in her voice. She spread out her arms as if to say 'well what then?' while standing up. "Then what do you think we should do? Because I don't want to get thrown around again by that thing. Seriously, even if we had had our weapons then, the thing still would've mopped the floor with us."

"Sis…" Ruby said slowly, almost hesitatingly so. She seemed worried that Yang's fiery temper may blow its lid right now, not that she could quite blame her. It was frustrating her just as much to know that these Holy Knights outclassed them so damn much.

"Professor," Pyrrha suddenly spoke as she motioned towards Naruto. "Your wife has told us recently of the sort of abilities you possessed – while you had gone to heal Jaune. Can't you maybe use your abilities to help us awaken?"

At those words, all eyes there looked to Naruto to see what he'd say or do. The blond magus simply sighed as he now stood up slowly. "No, I can't. The magical abilities I got long ago from beating Tatsuya ji-san focus around manipulating the four absolutes of this world and can even create them to an extent. That doesn't mean I can directly manipulate the mana within you to awaken." A pause ensued. "I could make you immortal, just like how Tatsuya ji-san was… but I'll never do that. I saw firsthand the sort of pain that caused him. I'm not gonna make anyone go through that if I can help it."

"I… I see…" Pyrrha said, sounding defeated. Indeed, when Naruto had gone to heal Jaune with Da Capo Zero, she and Nora and Ren had inquired as to how Naruto could perform such a feat given how extensive her beloved leader's injuries were. In response to that, Miki had explained to team JNPR just what sort of abilities Naruto had at his disposal. Needless to say, it boggled their minds to now know what he was capable of. And to that same token, it was almost physically painful to hear that for all his power, he couldn't help them awaken anymore than they could help themselves.

"Well…" Ryuichi then said, clapping his hands together once to immediately get everyone's attention. "For now, let's leave aside this current issue and focus on something else. Namely: information gathering." He took a bit of a deep breath before speaking again. "If it wasn't clear before, then it became clear following this attack that the Holy Knights know more than a little about us. And with the exception of what Takehiko gleamed from Katsu about the two that had attacked him, we're all still in the dark on the Holy Knights in turn."

Saying Katsu's name brought bitter expressions to Ryuichi's own face as well as the faces of his longtime friends. Even after all the friends they've already lost over the centuries, it didn't make Katsu's death any less easy to deal with. Nonetheless, Ryuichi continued. "Simply preparing ourselves isn't going to do the trick. If we're to really make a counterattack, then we're going to need information."

"That's right," Miki said, nodding vigorously in agreement with Ryuichi. "Information can cause people to lose or win battles and that's definitely never changed." She pumped her left fist in something akin to excitement. "Even a bit of information about the Holy Knights could potentially be a game changer for us."

"But how?" Hanako asked. As goofy as she naturally was, she was first and foremost a humanoid tactical magical weapon. Information was especially critical to her, given her Mimisbrunner. "The Holy Knights have remained underground for who knows how long, building up whatever resources they currently have to use against us. That this is literally the first time we've begun to learn of them says a lot as to how well hidden they've remained from the entire world."

"Maybe so… but in hindsight, they've made one mistake," Ryuichi said, now beginning to grin a bit.

Everyone perked up at that. Even Mari looked to her husband in confusion, but then a moment later, a thought occurred to her that made her eyes go wide. "Torchwick!" she said, snapping her fingers as the thought came to her. "What Yuko told us that one time… that Torchwick guy is at least affiliated with the Holy Knights!"

Ryuichi nodded. "Exactly. And Torchwick is much more well known than the Holy Knights are. So if we could somehow track him down…"

"…Then we could possibly get our hands on some information regarding the Holy Knights!" Mari finished for him. She all but threw herself into Ryuichi's arms, kissing him suddenly and deeply. "You're a genius!" she said in between kisses, the normally relaxed woman becoming much more excited than teams RWBY and JNPR could ever recall seeing her.

As for the other three people there, they simply smiled in amusement as Ryuichi halfheartedly tried to talk in between his wife's kisses. Having been friends with them for so long, Naruto, Miki, and Hanako knew how giddy and physical Mari could be whenever she really got worked up.

That said, they made sure to stay focused on the matter at hand. "That's true though," Hanako said, amazed at Ryuichi's words and ashamed such a thought had never crossed her mind. "And given how Roman operates, he's bound to have a plethora of people around that know how to get into contact with him or something."

"But then how are we going to track Torchwick down?" Miki then questioned as she folded her arms under her breasts.

"Oho, I think I got you covered there," Yang spoke. Any traces of frustration or outright anger had vanished from her voice and even her very being, the blonde brawler sporting a wicked smirk. "There's a guy named Junior who runs a bar here in Vale. He's an information broker and the one time I did 'business' with him, he's pretty much hinted to have lent good old Roman some of his boys for a job."

"Then that'd mean," Ren, surprisingly, spoke up. "That if we can talk with this man, he could potentially help us find Torchwick."

"Oh, or maybe even where those Knight bastards are!" Nora exclaimed giddily. Evidently she was aching to return the favor to the Holy Knights for sending Surma here to Beacon.

"Then it's all decided," Yang said with a grin. She stood up. "I've met the guy before so I'm sure he'll be willing to 'talk' to me again. I'll go later today-!"

"No."

Whatever good mood had been building up quickly died as Naruto suddenly uttered that one word. When everyone turned to look at the blond magus, they did so with a hesitant slowness, instantly noticing how the atmosphere in the room became much heavier and with reason.

Naruto's mana, which he always went to great pains to keep under control, was beginning to literally seep out of the blond, the ocean blue mana saturating all around him, seeming to force reality itself to try and do something to stop it but to no avail. The ground all but rumbled from the mere act of him breathing and it was becoming a little hard now for them to breath.

With an absolutely devilish grin on his face, Naruto, having the complete attention of everyone, spoke. "I'll go talk with this… Junior guy."

At that simple declaration, everyone's eyes went almost comically wide, but none more so than Miki's and Hanako's. "Naruto… are you serious?" Miki asked her husband as she walked up to him, appearing to be much less affected by his leaking mana than everyone else. "Why? You don't have to particularly go and do this."

"But I do, Miki," he replied quietly. "You've already had this damn beast try to ambush you, Ryuichi here had to fight one Holy Knight and Mari had to lend a hand too… not to mention Takehiko and Daisuke have already fought one and Katsu died to two of those bastards. Even then, he'd spent his last breaths passing on information to us." He took a deep breath, reining in his mana and suppressing it ruthlessly so that everyone could figuratively and literally breathe easier. "Masami went out of her way to get that machine for us and Yuko fought Torchwick and came into very brief contact with a Holy Knight too. All of you have done one thing or another about this whole situation save for Hanako and me. And it's about damn time I change that."

Turning so suddenly that the two teams nearly jumped out of their seats, Naruto looked to Yang. "I'm going to need the name and location of where this Junior can mainly be found."

"U-Uh sure," Yang actually stuttered out, reeling still from Naruto's 'outburst.' It startled her greatly to feel just how heavy his mana had been. With her ability to sense mana now, she and the others felt firsthand just how impossibly vast it was. And it was absolutely terrifying. Just how can he hold back so much power? Even with all the time he's had to learn such control, it was astounding to think he could actually be so successful at doing so.

"When do you plan to leave, Master?" Hanako then asked. "Tonight?"

Naruto shook his head. "No, not tonight. And not tomorrow either. As much as I'd love to, we all still have to help the academy get fully back on its feet. I'm going to have to wait until this Friday to go and see Junior. And even then, it won't be until around night on that day."

"Well, if it makes you feel any better," Yang spoke again. "The guy owns and personally runs his own night club. It's open pretty much every night, so he'll be there from sunset to sunrise on Friday."

Naruto smiled slowly, making for a sight that sent shivers visibly running down the spines of both teams while making his wife and friends almost begin to feel sorry for Junior. The blond magus' smile was positively predatory.

"Good. Him and I will have all Friday night for a nice long chat then…" he said before chuckling.

The wolf was finally going to come out to play.

Elsewhere, and by no means a coincidence, one Hei Xiong froze in place as he walked behind the bar counter. It took all he had to keep from breaking out in a cold sweat.

"Maybe I should go back to bed…" he muttered as he finally unfroze a good moment later, going back to checking the shelves, making sure everything was stocked.

"What's got you all wound up?" spoke someone.

Junior grumbled under his breath as he looked to the speaker, none other than Roman. "Nothing, just been feeling a little tired lately."

As he turned around to face Roman from the other side of the bar counter, Junior just wasn't sure to think of the man. Roman had just walked in a few minutes, looking to be without a care in the world while simultaneously appearing to be a little concerned about something. A paradox if there ever was one. Junior simply wasn't sure how to describe it. It didn't help that something felt different about the criminal, like seriously different. But once again, Junior was unable to determine just what the difference was, a fact that served as a considerable blow to his pride as someone who knew how to read people.

But the sooner he got this talk over with, the better, he silently decided. "So what do you want now?" he asked the criminal.

Roman looked all around the room, nodding in appreciation. Recalling how much of a wreck the club had been turned into all that time ago, it looked better than ever now. "Your boys fix this place up? If so, you may want to use them as manual laborers instead of enforcers; they did good."

Junior grimaced. "Roman, I'm not in much of a mood for your small talk. It's been hell these past few weeks making sure everything was back in order. So talk."

Roman paused in his movements, looking to Junior. Then he nodded. "Alright then." Taking out a cigar, he lit it by subtly channeling his mana into it, acting as a pseudo-lighter. Although he knew not how Roman did it, this was a small act that didn't go unnoticed by Junior. "Remember those people I'm working with?"

"Yeah, those guys who were keeping you out of the dark," Junior confirmed, recalling that much from when they last spoke. "What about them? Did you finally ditch them or something?"

"Nope. Just the opposite; I've pretty much joined them for good." Roman took a bit of amusement out of Junior's stunned expression. "Yeah, never thought it'd happen too. But that's beside the point now… look, Junior, I'm finally in on the know and let me tell you, it's pretty damn big, the things that these guys know. That said, they're in need of some info and I'm here on their behalf."

Junior apprised Roman once again, looking at him from a new perspective, figuratively speaking. "And what is it that they and you want to know?"

Roman placed his hands on the bar counter. "Whatever you can tell us about Beacon Academy. Namely, the names of the faculty and their routines. And it'd also be a big help if we knew about the council's future actions too."

If Junior wasn't surprised before, he was now and not in a good way. "Are you fucking nuts, Roman?!" he rasped out. "Beacon is a damn fortress and not just in the literal sense either. Same goes for the council and you want to know about them both? For what? To put a hit on someone?" he asked, assuming this would be the only reason why Roman would be requesting the names of all of Beacon's faculty members. That in and of itself wouldn't be too telling, but that Roman had also requested information regarding their routines said much more about his intentions.

"That's for me and my new acquaintances to know…" Roman began.

"Oh don't try and bullshit your way out of this," Junior growled. "You either tell me the reason you need to know this for or you get nothing."

Roman had to keep from sighing. He knew this would happen. But telling Junior about the Holy Knights wouldn't be good; the last thing he needed was any mentioning of them being whispered around Vale, not even in the criminal underground. So he was going to have to be smooth about this. "Look, Junior, I can't tell you the full details… but my new allies have something revolutionary – literally revolutionary – going on and some people at Beacon, who are members of its faculty, have the power to seriously disrupt their plans. And as for the council, come on, with how much they like to micromanage their shit, why wouldn't I be asking about what they'd do next?"

Junior grunted. "I get that much, except for that first bit. Too little to go on. Never mind the fact that getting any dirt on Beacon is damn tough, even with my own network."

Roman smirked. "Tough… but not impossible, right?" he commented, trying to appeal subtly to Junior's ego.

Unfortunately for him, Junior saw the ruse. He smiled tightly at the cane twirling criminal. "Maybe. Still doesn't mean anything unless I know what I'm getting myself possibly involved in."

Junior and Roman had an impromptu staring contest, trying to see who'd balk first. As Junior, being an information broker, naturally held the leverage of information over Roman, the criminal backed down first. "Alright man, alright. I seriously can't tell you much, but yeah, we more or less plan to take out some – just some – of Beacon's faculty. Preferably as soon as possible and with as little trouble as we can manage; we nearly fucked up already and we don't want a repeat."

"For some revolutionary goal, huh?" Junior inquired.

Roman pointedly ignored that remark. "Look man, if nothing else, can't you just give us the laydown of the academy's faculty? We can figure out their routines ourselves if need be. But we're going to need the names."

Junior folded his arms across his chest, thinking on what Roman was saying. Even his idiot henchmen could take a look at Roman and tell that he was holding a good deal of information back from him and for a purpose that was all but alien to him too. Furthermore, what Roman was asking of him wasn't just some run of the mill thing; if anyone from Beacon Academy or the council caught wind of this, Junior could kiss key informants goodbye when either group comes knocking.

On the other hand, simply procuring a list of names shouldn't be too difficult a feat, albeit a tedious one. The council one would be much more difficult to accomplish though. That said, if he could pull this off, then Roman and by extension his new mysterious comrades would owe him one. Given that these enigmatic conspirators seemed to have enough power and/or influence to rope Roman in, Junior was beginning to get the idea that they could really help him branch out if need be.

It was with a heavy sigh that Junior finally spoke again. "Fine…" he grumbled out, massaging his forehead from the headache the thinking was giving him as he tried to keep from delving any deeper into this issue.

Roman smirked in glee. "Thanks, Junior."

"Don't thank me just yet," Junior retorted. "You're seriously asking for a lot here and it's going to be difficult to pull off without fucking up. At any rate, I can get you the names of Beacon's faculty, but their routines are going to be your job to figure out. And I make no guarantees about the council either."

"I think we can deal with that," Roman replied, referring to the Holy Knights. To be honest with himself, it was really the faculty list that he needed. The rest were simply bonuses if Junior were to actually deliver on that. "Just how long will it take you to get the info?"

Junior leaned away from the bar counter, pondering that. "I'll start having my guys look into later tonight. Might take a few days, so just come back this Friday. Preferably as soon as the club opens, that way-."

"-All the noise will keep any pesky people from overhearing us. I know the routine," Roman commented in good humor. "Seriously, thanks. I won't forget this."

"Yeah, yeah. I expect you to return the favor one day," Junior muttered.

Roman started to back away from the bar counter and began to head towards the exit. "Oh I will. I will."

And with a two fingered salute, Roman left with a grin on his face. Looks like this Friday was going to be quite a day for him.

Oh yeah, now it's time for things to really start ramping up. Get ready, people, because I'm going to start kicking things up a notch, one chapter at a time.

That said, as stated in the above AN, summer class will be starting on May 25th and other stuff will be going on, so you can probably expect the next chapter to be coming out near the end of this month, if not early June. Nonetheless, I'm going to be trying to work on this when I can.

Until next time, everyone. Take care!