Hey guys, hope you're all ready for another chapter!

I have an honest to God good reason this time! I am actually now halfway through Chapter 20! While waiting to have Chapter 17 gone over, I started writing Chapter 18 and honestly, it took a lot of work to get certain character development feeling right.

So, I have decided to stay roughly three chapters ahead of what I post. Re-reading this chapter before I am posting it after where I'm at with Chapter 20 has actually led to me tweaking a few things here and there, so I already think it's working out well.

To SonicBlast4444, I thought that I had specified it at some point, but I am guessing I didn't do the best job in implying it with Team RWBY's talk. Ruby DID NOT get violated. Absolutely, positively, can NOT do that to best girl (if I can avoid it). Most of her shaken reaction to it came from Adam's intentions, as well as knowing that she had to let it happen to keep his attention away from Weiss for as long as possible. It was just an extremely stressful situation all around and in general one of the worst situations you can find yourself in, especially for a woman.

Without further ado, I hope you all sincerely enjoy this chapter! Please drop a favorite, follow, or review if you feel so inclined!


Teams RWBY and JNPR returned to Saffron and Terra's house after their lunch. They expected Naruto and Qrow to have both returned by then as well, but only found Naruto in the back yard with Maria and Oscar. Ruby and Yang walked outside to speak with the blond about their uncle's whereabouts.

"Hey Naruto!" Ruby greeted him, nuzzling herself into the bundled cloak that she now took to using as a scarf as the cold outside air hit her face. "Where's Uncle Qrow?"

Naruto looked back and forth between Yang and Ruby, before deciding to tell them.

"He is in Patch."

"Eh?" Ruby cocked her head in confusion.

"What do you mean he is in Patch?" Yang asks with a cocked eyebrow.

"Earlier, while you guys were at the café, Qrow asked me if you all were still there." Naruto began to explain. "When I checked on your location, I also checked Raven's. She is currently on Patch, and we don't know why. Qrow had me send him to her just to make sure she doesn't get up to any funny business."

"What!" Yang exclaimed. "She's the Spring Maiden! I don't think him, and dad together could beat her! Why would you let him go alone!"

Naruto rolled his eyes in exasperation, "Do you really have so little faith in me? I sent a clone to him a while ago. It's hidden and will disperse the second anything fishy happens. I can be there in a split second."

Ruby and Yang spare a glance at each other. After what seemed like a silent conversation between the two, Ruby rolled her eyes and looked back to Naruto.

"Yang wants to know if you'll take us there." She asked the Sage.

Naruto stared blankly at the two sisters, "And she couldn't ask me because…"

"She doesn't think that you would tell me no. And I want to see him too." She said with a shrug.

"Oh…" Naruto pondered for a moment. "No. It's too dangerous to have you guys there too. We don't really know what side Raven is on."

Ruby looked at him disbelievingly, before taking on a more desperate tone, "But I haven't seen my dad in almost a year! It's been so long, and he has to be so worried about us! We just want to see our dad!"

Naruto faltered at her pleas and puppy dog eyes. Finally, after a moment, he sighed and hung his head, "Fine, but I'm going to be there with you guys too. We can't take the chance that Raven will attack either of you guys, especially now that we know Salem is after Silver-Eyed Warriors."

Ruby's pleading gaze quickly cracked into a pleased smile as Yang nudged her, "See sis? I told you!"

Ruby shook her head, though her smile didn't fade, "He's just being nice!"

With a huff, Naruto created a clone to warn Qrow that he was bringing the two girls over there. The clone vanished, and after a moment, Naruto sighed and held his hands out for either girl to grab. He looked over at Maria and Oscar, "We will be back relatively soon. If anything happens, use the rings to let me know."

When Oscar nodded, Naruto looked back to the two girls, "You guys ready?"

Ruby nodded, visibly excited to see her dad again. Yang just grinned at him, "It's always great to see them so well-trained so early on. Good job Rubes!"

Ruby blushed, hiding behind her cloak. Naruto raised his eyebrows at Yang, letting go her hand, "Maybe I'll just take Ruby then…"

"No!" Yang exclaimed with wide eyes, reaching out and grabbing his hand again quickly. "I'm sorry! I'm ready!"

Naruto let a smirk slip onto his face before he locked onto Qrow and Raven with his Ikigai and suddenly, they were gone.


As soon as they arrived in Patch, Yang fell to her knees, heaving deeply, but managing not to throw up all over the living room floor. Ruby didn't immediately fall to the ground but stumbled backward. Naruto quickly reached for her, placing a steadying hand on her lower back as she reached out and grabbed his shoulder.

After taking a moment to steady herself, Ruby brushed off the slight nausea that the trip gave her and gave Naruto a small smile.

"Thanks."

Naruto just nodded at her, making sure to remove his hand from her back as soon as she was steady, causing her to frown at him slightly. Yang struggled to her feet, "What, she gets help and I just get to sit here and heave my guts out!"

With a bark of laughter, Naruto responded, "Well I knew she wouldn't try to upchuck on my shoes, and you kinda deserved it for that last comment. What comes around and all that."

Yang glared at him, and he could see a fire lighting in her eyes that promised retribution. He knew that this would only be the beginning of a long series of back and forth attempts to get each other back, and honestly, he was ready for it.

"Yang? Ruby?" They hear from in front of him. Naruto took a step back just in time to let the scruffy blond man sweep his two daughters into a bone crushing hug.

"Naruto, I told you not to bring them!" Qrow growled out from his position beside the cot.

Naruto rolled his eyes, "Well I kinda thought that Yang deserved to see her mother after a failed assassination attempt."

"A what!" Yang yelled, pulling herself free from her father. She looked around the room frantically, finally settling her eyes on the unconscious form of her mother. She looked her over, looking for any signs of her injuries.

"What happened to her?" Yang looked back at her father for questions.

Taiyang sighed before responding, "I'm not sure. I was sitting here in the living room, and she came using her semblance earlier today. She was burned by something on her arm. It looks like lightning dust. She was also stabbed a couple of times. It looked almost like a large needle did it. I couldn't figure out what exactly."

Naruto looked at Qrow disbelievingly, "And you didn't immediately think about calling me over here?"

Taiyang looked between Naruto and Qrow questioningly, "What is he talking about Qrow?"

"Naruto," Qrow began carefully. "We don't know exactly what happened, and I don't think that healing a Maiden that—"

"Maiden!" Taiyang yelled in shock, before sending a nervous glance at Ruby and Yang. "She's not…Are you sure?"

Qrow muttered under his breath, before turning to Tai and starting to explain, "Yes, I'm sure, and they already know Tai. We fought her and another Maiden at Haven. It was a little hard to miss."

Taiyang blinked at him a few times in shock before his face slowly hardened, "You fought her?"

"She turned on us Tai." Qrow whispered after a moment. "She helped the Maiden that caused the Fall of Beacon. The same woman that Ruby stopped. She wanted to hurt Ruby and Raven helped her."

"A-are you serious?" Taiyang asked Qrow, his voice breaking ever so slightly. When Qrow looked away, he turned to his daughters for confirmation. Yang looked away and Ruby stared down at her feet.

Taiyang swallowed heavily before asking his next question, "And you said Maiden? With another Maiden? How did you even make it out?"

Qrow pointed at Naruto, who was doing his best to keep out of the way of the family discussion.

"He beat them. Killed Cinder, and honestly could have killed Raven too."

"He beat a Maiden?" Taiyang asked disbelievingly. "I have a hard time believing that, much less him beating two."

Qrow shrugged indifferently, "Honestly Tai, I don't blame ya. This kid can do shit that I didn't even think was possible."

"Language!" Ruby chided her uncle.

Naruto stepped forward, "Speaking of impossible things, Qrow, you mind?"

Naruto gestured to his eyepatch, and Qrow sighed, "You gonna heal her or read her?"

"I'll read her first. If I like what I see, I'll heal her."

Qrow looked over to Ruby and Yang questioningly. The two exchange glances, before giving Naruto a nod. Naruto reached up to his face, taking off his eyepatch. When he opened his eye, Taiyang let out a small gasp at the sight of his Rinnegan. Naruto quickly walked over to Raven, and after staring at her for a moment, reached out and placed a finger on her forehead.


He was waiting. What for, he didn't know yet. All he knew was that he was watching as Raven sat in her tent. Finally, Vernal entered the tent, carefully securing the flap behind her.

"You wanted to see me?" Vernal asked the Maiden.

Raven nodded, positioning Omen across her lap as Vernal sat opposite of her. "Yes. We need to start planning. We need to capitalize on Mistral's current state. Dealing with finding a new Headmaster, repairing Haven, and overall dealing with the backlash of the attack is going to leave their hands quite full. We need to take full advantage of that. I'm going to be splitting the tribe into two separate groups. You'll lead one, and I'll lead the other. You are going to be going—"

Her planning with Vernal was interrupted as a small explosion followed by shouting sounds from outside. The two quickly rush outside, finding Emerald setting fire to all the tents while cutting down any tribe member that dared to approach her.

With a quick look at Vernal, Raven launched herself at the other Maiden while Vernal ran towards the fleeing tribesmen. She closed the gap between her and Emerald quickly. Emerald seemed to have not noticed her approach, too focused on destroying the tribe's camp.

Raven appeared behind the mintette, slashing downward with Omen. The blade cut through Emerald effortlessly, sinking into her flesh as though the girl had no aura at all.

'Stupid girl.' Raven thought, before taking note of that last fact. 'Wait, no aura?'

Instead of blood flowing from the open wound, vines burst forth from Emerald's body, wrapping around the blade and attempting to grab Omen's hilt. Reacting quickly, Raven released the blade from the hilt and leapt backwards as the vines reached out to grab her as well.

She stared at the back of her opponent in confusion. Her confusion spiked even further as the body slowly loses its form, fading away from existence while her discarded blade clattered to the ground uselessly.

'What in the world…' Raven thought to herself.

Suddenly, a voice whispered into Raven's ear, "You almost had me! You can do better though…"

In one fluid motion, Raven attached a new blade to Omen, wildly slashing behind her, only to hit nothing. She looked around frantically, hoping to catch a glimpse of the woman attacking her home. Tribesmen were still fleeing all around her, desperately trying to get away now that the attacker was focused on their leader.

"So much for leaving me and mine alone, huh?" Raven called out, keeping her eyes peeled open. "Trying to bite off more than you can chew just like that fool of a girl Cinder?"

Suddenly, Raven felt the bite of two blades raking across her back. She felt her aura drop significantly. She whirled around, seeing nothing once again.

"Don't you dare talk about her!" A voice echoed around her.

Having enough of these games, Raven called upon her Spring Maiden powers, summoning a ring of fire and burning the immediate area around her. As the flames swept across the clearing around her, she saw the flames curl around an invisible object to her right. Without hesitation, Raven leapt forward, slashing at the area. She felt her blade being blocked by something, and she continued her assault. Finally, the invisible figure lost her focus, revealing herself to everybody present. No longer burdened by trying to keep up her illusion, Emerald countered with earnest. Raven found herself on the defensive momentarily, keeping her eye peeled for any holes in Emerald's attacks to slip her own in.

Then, Emerald telegraphed a slash from above, allowing Raven to knock her sickle to the side, then stepping into a slash, dragging Omen across her stomach. Emerald jumped back, wincing at the sudden dip of her aura.

With a small growl, Emerald splayed her fingers out towards Raven. Lightning shot out from her fingertips, arcing into the ground on its course to the other maiden. Ignoring the chunks of earth bursting from the ground with the current, Raven raised her sword, absorbing the lightning to the best of her abilities. By the time the onslaught of lightning was over, Raven's hands were numb despite her aura, completely shocking her.

With distance now between them, the two Maiden's stared each other down, daring the other to make the next move. Raven was slightly nervous, however. Although her own magic was dangerous, the amount of power behind Emerald's showed her how far behind the mintette her own powers were. Emerald showed how her magic outclassed any other Maiden Raven had met. Even Fria's magical strength in her prime, who was the most experienced Maiden that Raven knew, paled in comparison to Emerald's sheer power.

Raven suddenly saw Vernal arrive next to her out of the corner of her eye. She suddenly felt a little better. With Vernal done helping the tribesmen evacuate, she likely stood a better chance against Emerald.

The female Branwen twin readied herself to attack, knowing that Vernal would know how to follow up. Just before she leapt towards Emerald, another voice yelled out to her.

"Raven!" She looked towards the voice, seeing Vernal running towards her with a panicked look on her face. Raven stared at her in confusion, before realization set in.

She tucked her head to the side just in time for a large needle tipped parasol to miss the back of her head.

She whirled around as the real Vernal arrived at her side. The Vernal that she had been tricked by shot her a sickeningly sweet smile as she let her illusion shatter. She skipped over toward Emerald, and Raven immediately recognized the multicolored hair and eyes.

"I remember you." She said between breaths. "You were the girl that was fighting my daughter on that train in Mount Glenn. Now what would a Valean Crime Lord's right hand be doing in Mistral?"

Neo's smile only widened as her visage changed once again, taking on the likeness of a certain red cloaked huntress in training. Raven looked at her in confusion until a thin red line appeared across the girl's throat. Fake blood ran down 'Ruby's' throat, the same sickening sweet smile plastered across her face sending a shiver down Raven's spine.

"It's nothing personal Raven." Emerald said with a cruel smile. "Neo and I both have our own scores to settle, and we just need another Maiden to do it. So why don't you do us a favor. Die quietly and think about Neo here while you do."

With those last words, Emerald disappeared, and Neo once again took on the likeness of Vernal.

Between both of their semblances and Emerald's incredibly powerful magic, it was a completely one-sided fight. Neo expertly danced around Vernal, making sure that Raven never knew which was the real Vernal, and rendering her unable to help her own subordinate because of it. On top of that, Emerald was constantly picking them apart from within her own illusion.

Before Raven and Vernal knew it, they were both critically low on aura and completely exhausted. They were standing next to each other, facing Emerald and Neo, who had taken a break from using their semblances just long enough to allow their opponents doom to sink in.

Vernal took in a deep breath, before stepping forward. "Raven you have to go. The Tribe needs you. You have to escape. I'll hold them off."

Raven shook her head, "We can get out of here together. We just need to wait for an opening."

"We won't have an opening! We don't know what is what!" Vernal bit out in frustration.

The two illusionists seemed to grow tired of letting the other two have their moment. Suddenly, they seemed to fade from existence from Raven's perspective. Knowing that this was Emerald's semblance at work, Raven quickly jumped in front of Vernal, letting loose a violent ice-cold wind. The ground frosted over in front of them, and Raven quickly spot two sets of footprints running around either side of them. Feeling Vernal run to the set of footprints on the right, Raven dashed to the set on the left.

Praying to whatever god was listening that she had been paired with Emerald for Vernal's sake, she quickly began slashing at where the footprints indicated her opponent was. The sound of blades clashing together behind her told her that Vernal had started fighting her opponent as well.

Raven slashed downward, pushing with all of her might as she was blocked by her opponent's weapon. Her opponent bled into view just as she heard lightning crackling behind her. Her heart dropped into her stomach as the brown and pink hair of Neopolitan came into view. A scream of pain took her attention away from the diminutive girl straining under the weight of her sword.

She chanced a glance behind her, only to see the remnants of Vernal's aura wisping away from her as one of Emerald's sickles dug into her thigh. Vernal dropped to her knee, glaring hatefully at Emerald, who wasted no time in burying her other sickle in the side of the short haired girl's neck.

"NO!" Raven screamed in anguish. Kicking Neo away, she suddenly appeared next to Emerald. Just as she had done with Naruto, she pressed the palm of her hand against Emerald's temple, sending a concussive blast of ice-cold energy directly at the other Maiden. Emerald was sent flying away from the two women, rolling across the ground.

Raven immediately grabbed Vernal, cradling her head carefully, "No, no, no, no!"

Vernal stared up at Raven helplessly, beginning to choke on her own blood, Emerald's sickle still buried in her neck.

Suddenly, Raven found herself staring into the helpless eyes of another woman, white and red rose petals fluttering all around her as she struggled to fight off the endless flood of Grimm around her.

"Go!" She saw the silver eyed woman mouth to her after cutting down a Beowolf. Raven was suddenly drug out of her trauma induced flashback, tears dripping down her cheek as Vernal weakly tried to push her away.

"Go…go…" Vernal managed to choke out, blood bubbling out of her mouth as she forced the air from her lungs to speak.

Raven vaguely heard a groan as Emerald struggled to her feet. She didn't care though. She just kept her eyes on Vernal as she grew weaker and weaker by the second. With one more pleading look at Raven, she finally drew still, her hand that had previously been grasping at her shoulder falling to the ground.

"Well Neo, one down." She heard Emerald say in a strained voice. "Let's get this over with, then we can go and kill her precious tribe members."

At the mention of them going after the rest of her tribe, the Branwen twin felt anger of a kind she hadn't felt since Summer's death burn in her heart.

Dark red flames lit around her eyes as she raised her head to glare hatefully at her sister Maiden. A storm brewed overhead, lightning crackling in the sky above them. A single flake of snow fell in front of Emerald's face as a freezing gust of wind sweeps through the empty camp. A mixture of rain, sleet, and snow began pouring down as Raven slowly stood with the tip of Omen gently scraping the hard packed dirt of the clearing.

Emerald and Neo ready themselves while Raven continued to just stare at the two with her famous demeaning glare. Emerald, tired of waiting and anxious to retrieve her second sickle from Vernal's body, inched forward. As soon as she took her first step, a bolt of lightning struck the ground at her feet. Temporarily blinded, Emerald shielded her eyes, listening helplessly as she heard the sound of metal clanging against metal.

When she regained her sight, she saw Neo getting completely dominated by Raven. A miniature hurricane of sleet and rain swirled around the two, the winds buffeting against the shorter girl, hindering her eyesight and reactions as Raven continued slashing at her unforgivingly.

Emerald broke through the makeshift shield of rain just as Raven broke Neo's aura.

"Stay back!" Emerald yelled to her partner as she leapt in between the two. Raven was much more experienced with the maiden power, and she knew that she couldn't have anybody else in the way if she wanted to beat the enraged woman.

Neo made a quick retreat and Emerald let loose with her chosen element. Lightning arced all around her, zapping at Raven any time her guard was let down for even a moment. It was only after a few moments that Raven felt her aura reaching its limits due to the sheer power of each individual lightning strike. She had already been running on fumes before Vernal was taken down, and the realization that she was quickly losing her window to escape was a bitter pill to swallow.

Retribution would have to wait.

In an effort to create that opening, she threw Omen at Emerald, causing the woman to jump back as the blade pierced the ground between her feet. Glancing down at the blade that she had narrowly avoided had proven to be a mistake. As soon as she looked back up, Raven was right in her face. She attempted to make a downward slash with her sickle, only for Raven to catch her wrist.

After a deep inhale, Raven breathed out a torrent of flames directly into Emerald's face. Not wanting to test how long her aura could hold out, Emerald grabbed Raven's free hand with her own, channeling as much electricity to her hand as possible.

With a shriek, Raven's breath faltered, ending the flaming assault on Emerald. After just a moment, her aura finally broke, allowing the current to tear through her arm freely. With a yell, Emerald kicked her away from her blade, finally separating Raven from her last line of defense.

Neo reentered the fight, dashing in and stabbing at Raven's thigh as the woman attempted to get to her feet.

"AHH!" Raven screamed in pain before punching the parasol wielding girl as hard as she was physically able to in the face. Neo stumbled backward just as Emerald reached them. Raven tilted her head back just as the Maiden slashed at her head. While avoiding any major damage, Raven still earned a cut above her eye.

Blinded in one eye, Raven shot an elbow into Emerald's gut with a desperate scream. She gathered as much ice magic into her hand as she possibly could, determined to do as much damage to Emerald as she could.

Before she was able to do this though, Neo leapt onto her, stabbing wildly at her abdomen. After suffering two more puncture wounds, Raven decided to use what little magic she had left to create a current of wind.

With one final push of magic, Raven's two opponents found themselves ripped away from the Branwen. They were pulled well behind the woman, putting Raven closest to her blade. Raven wasted no time in getting up and limping to the sword and yanking it out of the ground.

She looked back, seeing that Neo and Emerald were already halfway to her. Emerald lifted her hand, sending a bolt of lightning towards Raven. Raven slashed at the air in front of her, creating two portals, one absorbing the attack and the other angled slightly downward in front of the two attackers. The bolt of lightning shot out of the second portal, striking the ground explosively in front of Emerald and Neo, hindering them momentarily.

Wasting no time, Raven created another portal, stumbling through it and closing it just as the two reach it.


Naruto gasped in shock as he found himself back in the Xiao-Long-Rose house. With his vision refocusing, he saw that Raven was now awake, grasping his extended wrist and glaring at him balefully.

"How dare you!" Raven hissed out through clenched teeth, wincing when she attempted to move any further.

"Mom!" Yang gasped in shock, taking a step closer to her mother. Qrow and Tai ready themselves for any possible issues. Raven may be injured, but she could hardly be called harmless.

Raven ignored her daughter, continuing to glare at Naruto, "If you ever try snooping through my head again, I'll cut your balls off and shove them down your throat! Am I clear?"

Naruto just stared at her in shock, "You were there…"

Raven narrowed her eyes at Naruto, gritting her teeth in anger.

"You were there when she died." Naruto said again.

Ruby stepped forward, "When who died? What did you see?"

Naruto shook his head, "…She was attacked by Emerald and a woman named Neo."

Grateful that Naruto had changed the subject for the moment, Raven remained silent.

"Neo?" Ruby asked with a frown. "What is she doing in Mistral?"

"You know her?" Naruto asked with a raised eyebrow.

Ruby glanced at Yang, who shrugged, "Yeah…She was Roman Torchwick's…partner? I'm not really sure, but I haven't seen her since the Fall of Beacon."

"Who are these people?" Taiyang cut in. "And why are they after Raven?"

Naruto frowned thoughtfully, "Well, after I killed Cinder, Emerald has a bit of a personal vendetta against me. The last time we fought, we were evenly matched, but I think she realized I wasn't at my best. From what it looked like when she attacked Raven, she wants another Maiden for when she decides to come after me."

"You have a Maiden after your head?" Taiyang asked incredulously. "And you're still alive?"

Naruto glanced up at him for a moment, before shrugging. "I can hold my own. I killed the last Fall Maiden and beat the Spring Maiden at the same time. I believe that your Ex-Wife can attest to that. The issue is that Emerald is a bit more powerful than your average Maiden."

Taiyang looked at Raven questioningly, who looked down in anger. Temporarily shelving his surprise, Tai made a side comment, "And we will be having a talk about that."

Raven did her best to meet his eyes defiantly, before crumbling under Taiyang's pressing gaze. It wasn't often that Taiyang got upset, but when he did, it still sent shivers down Raven's spine. She respected strength more than anything, and even now, Taiyang radiated it in his anger towards her.

With a stutter, Raven asked Naruto, "W-why was she so strong? Even the most experienced Maiden, Fria, couldn't match Emerald's power. She still has a long way to go with control, but she tossed me around like I was nothing."

Naruto sighed, rubbing his Rinnegan eye in annoyance, "That would be my fault. I got distracted when I dealt with Cinder and mixed my own…magic in with the Fall Maiden magic. My own magic has always been…potent."

"What I need to know," Naruto said, looking back at Ruby and Yang. "Is why this Neo is after Ruby?"

"She's after Ruby?" Tai asked in a worried tone.

Ruby opened and closed her mouth a few times, staring at Naruto in confusion. Finally, realization set in, "She must think that I killed Roman!"

Naruto furrowed his brows in thought, "Ok…Can you beat her?"

Ruby looked at Yang nervously, "She beat Yang in close combat. Crescent Rose is great for Grimm, but it's harder to use against people and even more in close combat. I…I don't think that I can."

Naruto nodded thoughtfully. Qrow finally asked the question, "Alright, so they didn't kill Raven. What will they do now?"

"They are either going to look for me or go for another Maiden." Raven said. "They destroyed the tribe…"

Qrow's eyes widened, "All of them?"

"Probably." Raven nodded turning her head away to avoid showing her tears. While sympathetic to her loss, most present couldn't help but wonder what caused her to care so deeply for the tribe over her own family. Yang more so than the other's found herself hurt that her own mother was upset about the loss of her tribe but had been so quick to fight her own brother and daughter just a few weeks prior.

Naruto quickly brought everybody back on track, "Alright, so the Winter Maiden and the Summer Maiden are the only two that are left right? Where are they?"

Qrow looked at Raven nervously before deciding to give the information anyway, "The Winter Maiden is in Atlas safely. She hasn't exactly been the most mentally sound the last few years, so she has been kept secured with full security. The Summer Maiden…nobody has heard from in years. The Headmaster at Shade Academy has been doing his best to locate the Maiden but hasn't been able to hear anything more than whispers."

"So, Emerald would probably be better off looking for Raven or the Summer Maiden than going after the Winter Maiden." Naruto mused.

"W-what if Neo does get the Maiden powers?" Ruby asked Naruto. "Would you be able to deal with her?"

"If she were alone, yes. With Emerald, that might be what she needs to tip the battle in her favor, especially with their Semblances working together as well as they do."

"So, what do we do here?" Qrow asked Naruto.

"We will need to ask Ozpin," Naruto said. "But I think the first goal is going to be stopping them from getting the second Maiden's powers."

"And the next goal?" Yang asked with crossed arms.

Naruto gained a glint in his eye, "The next goal is getting you guys as close to a Maiden's level as possible."

"You're kidding!" Qrow asked with a scoff. "Kid you're a hell of a teacher, but that isn't going to be possible any time soon."

"By themselves, maybe, maybe not." Naruto said. "But we have teamwork on our side. I think I can have Team RWBY as a whole ready to take down a Maiden with time."

"And how do we even go about that?" Yang asked incredulously.

"Minimizing weakness and maximizing strengths." Naruto said, before pointing at Ruby. "You need to learn how to fight without Crescent Rose."

Ruby held up her hands, shaking them nervously, "I-I'm no good with my hands."

Naruto snorted, "I'm not talking about your hands. I would have thought that you guys would have thought of this by now. You're a very light person which makes for lackluster punches, and you're a runner by nature. You have long legs, and you're nimble. You need to learn a leg-based fighting style. If you can pair that with your semblance, you would be on track to being one of the more skilled huntresses on Remnant in no time."

"Er…" Ruby groaned thoughtfully. "Thanks?"

"Don't thank me." Naruto said with a shake of his head. "I see a lot of twisted ankles and sore shins in your future."

"And me?" Yang asked.

"We need to either get you to improve on your semblance enough to use it effectively while taking less hits or get you to rely on your semblance a hell of a lot less. You're a good fighter, but tanking hits to fuel your semblance and end a fight will make you good for one fight and one fight only."

Naruto continued, "I want Blake to improve on her Shadows. She needs to incorporate it into her fighting style and use it more fluidly. Same with Weiss and her ice and glyphs, but I have another idea for her entirely."

Everybody stared at him questioningly, only to see that he had no intention of clarifying.

"Well," Raven started, seemingly uninterested in their discussion. "I don't intend on sticking around."

Naruto stared at her disbelievingly, "She will keep coming after you."

"I'll make myself scarce. She will move onto the Summer Maiden soon enough when she can't find me."

Naruto moved to stand in front of her, "Well I have absolutely no intention on dropping dead for Emerald. What happens when she decides she needs three Maiden's for me? Or all four? What then?"

"Not. My. Problem." Raven said to him slowly. "Deal with your own enemies. You already dragged me into it this much. It cost me everything!"

Naruto stared at her with narrowed eyes, "I'm not asking you to do anything for me. Do it for your daughter. That's what Neo is after."

"I am not Ruby's mother." Raven bit out harshly, ignoring the nervous glances that the others started exchanging around them at the increasingly tense environment.

Naruto reached out, grabbing Raven by the collar of her shirt and yanking her up towards him, ignoring the hiss of pain that escaped the woman as the still healing holes in her abdomen were aggravated.

"Her mother died for you dammit! You might as well be! She gave her life for her friend, and you would just turn your back on her daughter like that? Seriously?" Naruto slowly rose his voice, escalating to a full-blown shout.

Flames burst from Raven's eye, and she raised a flaming hand to Naruto's face. In one fluid motion, Naruto grabbed her wrist, before tightening and twisting simultaneously. A resounding crack echoed through the living room as Raven's wrist snapped.

To her credit, other than the initial eye widening pain, Raven managed to stop herself from reacting. Shouts of alarm rang out from the other occupants of the house as they step forward to separate the two. A glare enhanced by the piercing blue of Naruto's Rinnegan eye stopped them from interfering.

Naruto returned his icy gaze to Raven, who was still staring at him angrily.

"I have died—would have died for the people I cared about." Naruto said lowly, his hand still gripping Raven's broken wrist. "And if I found out that they would just spit on my memory like that, it would crush me."

"Naruto!" Ruby yelled firmly, stepping forward. "What is going on!"

"Tell them." Naruto said to Raven.

"You had no right to just rifle through my mind—"

"I said," Naruto began, tightening his grip on Raven's wrist. "Tell. Them."

Raven winced slightly at the increased pain in her wrist. Naruto quickly released her wrist, healing it with his sun mark just before doing so and taking a step back.

Raven cradled her wrist for a moment, before realizing that the pain had disappeared. She looked up at Naruto, not surprised to see the anger still present as he gazed at her expectantly.

"I-I-I can't." Raven said, her voice cracking slightly. Everybody gazed at her in a slight amount of shock at the unexpected weakness in her voice.

"Everything I have heard about her tells me that she deserved for people to know the truth." Naruto said unwaveringly.

"Raven?" Qrow asked hesitantly, as if scared to know the answer. "What is he talking about? What did he see?"

Raven looked up at her brother, before looking to Tai, then Yang, and finally Ruby. Her eyes filled with tears, an even rarer sign of weakness in the Branwen twin than the cracking voice they had heard earlier. Even Qrow, who grew up with her, couldn't think of more than a handful of times the woman had gotten this emotional.

"I…was with Summer when she died." Raven finally said in a defeated tone.

Silence was all she was met with, she refused to look at anybody present. Not even a single breath was heard from the Xiao-Long-Rose-Branwen family.

Finally, Taiyang found his voice, and he asked quietly, "What did you just say?"

"I-I-I was helping her." Raven said as the first few tears fell. "She just wanted help because she knew I wouldn't tell Ozpin. She knew that he would think it was too dangerous! I just…we were attacked…"

"Raven." Taiyang said, but Raven refused to look at him. She refused to go on. "Raven!"

When Raven still didn't answer, Taiyang moved to her bed, grabbing her by the shoulders and shaking her.

"Raven! Tell me what happened! Tell me what happened to my wife! Please tell me!"

By the last part, he was sounding desperate. Raven felt a small pang of hurt in her heart when Taiyang called Summer his wife, but the feeling was quickly overcome by guilt. He didn't let her go, instead continuing to shake her until she finally looked up at him. Nobody else was faring any better. Qrow was staring at his sister as if he had never seen her before, and Yang was equally shocked, though there was a hint of anger in her eyes. Ruby though, didn't know what to think.

"She…" Raven started, pausing to sniffle. "She found me in Mistral. I don't know why, but I let her explain her plans to me. And I agreed to help her. I thought that there was a chance it could work…"

"Ozpin never knew what she was up to in the year before she died." Qrow said. "And you just said that she knew you wouldn't tell him. What was she trying to do Raven?"

Raven wiped at her face when Taiyang released her. She knew that he wouldn't wait long, however.

"She was gathering Silver-Eyed Warriors from all over the world." Raven said much to everybody's shock. "She thought, if one warrior can turn the tide on a kingdom-scale invasion, then what could ten do? Or twenty, fifty, one hundred? She couldn't understand why Ozpin never thought to do it. We spent so long searching for them, but we gathered quite a few of them.

"We only managed fifteen, so sixteen total with Summer. We eventually had a meeting with them all gathered together. I don't know the details, but one of them told Salem where we would be. We were ambushed by at least a thousand Grimm. Summer was planning on starting to teach them how to use their powers that very meeting. Only one of the others knew how to use their eyes, and even then, they weren't the best at it."

"An attack of that scale would have been noticed though." Qrow said disbelievingly. "Where did you all meet at?"

"Summer chose to meet in Carrs." Raven whispered. Taiyang and Qrow reeled in shock.

"What?" Yang asked the two. "Where is that?"

"Carrs is what Summer's family called the place they lived…before it was overrun." Tai explained. Naruto saw Ruby's eyes light up in recognition before returning her attention to Raven. Raven soon started speaking again and Naruto put the observation in the back of his mind.

"One of them, a fox faunus, apparently told one of Salem's people about us meeting there. He let it slip when the Grimm started attacking, said that they would have killed his wife and kids if he didn't. I wanted to make Summer leave with me, but she knew I couldn't take all of them through Kindred Link. She refused to let them die, and I stayed with her. We didn't know how many Grimm Salem sent at the time. Towards the end, the Grimm had started slipping through Summer, the other warrior, and I and started picking them off one by one. Summer and I got separated. I couldn't get to her. My aura broke and a Beowolf got a good bite on me."

She took a break to sniffle again. Taiyang was openly crying by this point. He, like Qrow, Yang, and Ruby, had no closure when Summer passed away. They only knew when Raven told them that her Kindred Link to Summer had disappeared.

"She used her semblance, Petal Storm, to clear the Grimm from around me, but it left her open and her aura broke too. She was able to get them off of her for a second, but she told me to leave. We couldn't see the others anymore. We knew they were dead. I didn't want to leave, but an Ursa got to me, and after I killed it, I could feel myself slipping. She yelled at me to go again, and I just…left. It was before I became a Maiden. I made it back to the tribe and passed out from the blood loss. I woke up four days later…"

She faltered here, sobbing slightly, "I'd never lost a link before…I woke up when I lost Summer's Link. It burned me in my very soul, and I instantly knew…It was four days later, and in the last second of the Link, I felt her in the dead lands. The Grimm t-took her there, and she died four days later."

She sobbed again, burying her face in her hands, "We all know how cruel Salem is. I knew her death wasn't quick."

Taiyang took a step back, falling to his knees. Qrow was speechless.

"Did…did she torture her?" Ruby asked fearfully, praying that her mother hadn't been subjected to such a horrible thing.

"I don't know." Raven said shortly, still refusing to raise her face from her hands. "Probably. Can you think of any other reason to keep somebody alive for four days?"

Naruto frowned at this. Unless Salem had something personal against Summer, why would she torture her? It didn't make sense. Silver-Eyed Warriors were hunted by Salem as quickly and efficiently as they possibly could be. Salem didn't waste time in trying to kill Maria, so why keep Summer alive? It was almost a contradictive situation.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Qrow whispered. "When you told me that she was dead, you just said that you felt the Link disappear! Why didn't you tell me!"

Raven winced as Qrow ended in a shout. She shrugged, not meeting his eye, "It didn't change what happened. She was still dead, and nothing was changing that."

"You were scared." Taiyang suddenly said. "You were scared of being a mother when you left Yang and I, and you were scared then. Fear has always made you selfish. You knew that if word ever got out to Salem about exactly what had happened in Carrs, she would have found out you were there and you would have been next. She showed you that she can find out anything she wanted to. Nobody knew who was in her corner, that's why Ozpin only trusted us and the headmasters with the truth."

Raven looked off to the side, neither confirming nor denying his statement.

"You're a coward," Taiyang spat out. "And if it weren't for the fact that you gave me Yang, I would say that you were the biggest mistake of my life."

Raven's head snapped over to him, her eyes filled with hurt.

"You can finish healing…for Yang." Taiyang said quietly. "And then you can get the fuck out of my house. I share your sentiment. You chose the tribe. You don't get to come crawling back here just because they're all dead."

Raven suddenly clenched at her chest, a searing sensation passing through her, the same pain she felt when Summer died. She looked back up at Taiyang, another tear falling down her cheek as realization hit her. Though she may still have feelings for her former husband, any love that he still had for her died in that moment. She looked towards Qrow, who just shook his head at her, anger completely absent from his face, only sadness.

Taiyang got up, walking into the kitchen. They heard a chair being pulled out from the kitchen table, before hearing Taiyang throw himself into the chair heavily.

Raven looked down to her legs, still covered by the blanket that Taiyang had hastily thrown over her.

'He took good care of me.' Raven thought mournfully.

Naruto looked down at her as Ruby, Yang, and Qrow all joined Tai in the kitchen. He knew that saying anything to her at this point would only make the situation worse. He had definitely instigated the whole issue, forcing Raven to reveal her deepest secret to her estranged family. In a way, it truly wasn't fair that Naruto had just happened upon it while digging through her mind.

While the intentions were pure, wanting only to find out who had attacked the Spring Maiden, when he saw her small flashback of Summer fighting off Grimm for Raven's escape, he couldn't leave it be. Or rather, he could have until she disrespected Summer's memory. He was prepared to speak to Raven privately about telling everybody before she had made her intentions clear.

Had Sasuke, Sakura, or really any of the Konoha 12 sacrificed their lives for him, he would ensure that he protected their child in their place. It was only right. To see somebody throw away that debt because of a little thing like fear was sickening to the sage.

Regardless, this was just another thing to further Naruto's thoughts on the importance of being careful with the Ningendō Path.

Without a word to Raven, Naruto walked over to the living room couch, giving the family in the kitchen the time they needed to process the new information about their late mother, wife, and friend.

It wasn't long before Naruto started to feel drowsy. While he had truly recovered for the most part from Pyrrha's revival, he was still getting used to his slightly longer recuperation times without Kurama. He had only been awake about eight hours now, and already he was feeling tired again.

'Definitely not as good as that bed.' Naruto thought as he started drifting off. With the clone that he had previously sent here with Qrow still in the room, he knew that Raven wouldn't be getting up to anything while he slept.


It was close to thirty minutes later that Ruby, Yang, Tai, and Qrow returned to the living room from the kitchen. They took note that Raven hadn't moved from her position, still sitting up and staring at her lap, despite how uncomfortable and painful it must have been on her still healing body. Tai paid her no attention, instead following Ruby and Yang to the couch where the other blond was dozing away.

Qrow walked over to his sister, and only when he reached the foot of her bed did she look up at him. He walked around to her side, putting a hand behind her back and another on her shoulder, gently laying her down.

"I'm sorry Qrow." Raven whispered. "You all deserved to know. I was just being a coward."

"You were." Qrow agreed. He looked at her disappointedly for a moment. "You know when you and I went to Beacon, we both hated it at first. We were still so sure that the Kingdom's were big headed and needed to be knocked down a peg or two. But after getting put on STRQ with all of you, I started to feel like I gained another brother and sister."

Raven looked away, trying and failing to keep her eyes from watering yet again. "And now…it just feels like I've lost both my sisters for no reason. I know that Summer got her mind set on doing what she thought was right and there was no stopping her, but we could have honored that memory, together. You left us in the dark and we had no idea what she was doing, or what happened. You lied to me Raven, and I thought that was something we promised we would never do to each other."

Qrow shook his head, before walking over towards Naruto and the rest. Ruby was sitting next to Naruto, with Taiyang sitting on the couch next to her. Yang was standing to the side, looking out of a window in deep thought. As Qrow reached them, a small fox crawled out from under the couch, before bursting into smoke just as Ruby's eyes widened in delight. She crossed her arms together, pouting slightly that the fox clone had disappeared so quickly.

As soon as the transformed clone disappeared, Naruto sat up straight, immediately awake and alert. His eyes immediately locked on Raven, only to be slightly confused when he noticed that she was laying down and facing away from them. He looked to the other side of him, only to jump slightly when he saw Ruby looking at him curiously, a little closer than he expected.

He quickly wiped at his mouth, "I didn't drool, did I?"

Ruby giggled cutely before shaking her head, "No, we were just letting you nap for a minute. You say that you've recovered, but you have been getting tired really easily lately."

"Yeah," Naruto nodded. "Which is weird considering how well I've been sleeping."

Yang snorted, still looking out the window. She quickly side stepped a swipe from a blushing Ruby.

Taiyang looked between his two daughters amusedly, before narrowing his eyes slightly at the blond sitting just past his youngest daughter.

"Don't worry Tai," Qrow said with a chuckle. "I already got that covered. Not until she gets her license…at least."

Ruby squeaked indignantly while Naruto looked between the two older men in confusion. Ignoring Ruby's piercing glare, Tai nodded in slight relief before standing up.

"Well, let's go outside for a bit. I think there's a lot that you guys need to bring me up to speed on."

They walked outside, updating Taiyang about everything without disturbing Raven's (most likely fitful) rest, as well as making sure she didn't hear anything that she didn't need to. By the time they were done, Tai was looking at them all in shock. He was staring at Naruto in a new light, yet still in disbelief.

"Another world?" Taiyang asked, to which they all nodded. "Defeated a goddess?" Another round of nods. "A huge fox demon that would chew Salem up and spit her out without a problem?" More nods. "And you think that you could beat her even without this Kuu Ram guy?"

"Kurama." Naruto said with a smile. "And yes, now I do. I worry a little about Emerald because she has some of my chakra mixed in with Ozpin's fractured core. Even in my world, mixing two different chakra's gives you completely wild results at times. On top of that, I can't use my Senjutsu with her, which is a huge disadvantage for me. And what I saw from Raven's fight doesn't help matters. Raven really only landed one or two good hits on her, and her aura didn't look like it was damaged in the slightest. I really think the only reason Raven got away is because Emerald wanted Neo to be the one to kill her. She was holding back quite a bit in my opinion.

"Salem on the other hand, is probably a little under my current level. I haven't really trained all that much with my new abilities, so I still have room to improve. The issue is outlasting her. No good in killing her if she just keeps coming back. I'll have to seal her somewhere that none of her cronies can free her."

Taiyang stared at him for a long moment, trying to process everything he was saying, "And where would that be?"

Naruto smiled a bit, looking to Yang, Ruby, and Qrow. "That is uh…we will figure that out later. When it happens, you'll know."

"Well alright!" Taiyang said, beginning to walk back inside. "When Raven is done healing, I'll be all good to help you guys out."

"About that…" Naruto said, causing Taiyang to stop in his tracks. "We need to talk about Emerald and Neo."

"What about them?" Qrow asked.

"Neo getting a Maiden's powers is a wild card we don't need." Naruto said. "If they get a second Maiden and join up with Salem, I don't know if I'd be able to beat all three of them. Scratch that, I know I can't beat all three of them. Emerald will take away my Senjutsu, and we all know that with all three of them, they will be able to get around Tendō's five second window."

They all frowned, and Tai asked, "So what do we do?"

Naruto sighed, "I don't like this, but we have to secure the Summer Maiden. We are going to be in Atlas, so the Winter Maiden will be safe with all of us, as well as the Atlesian Military. That leaves the Summer and Spring Maiden. Since Emerald is already a Maiden, the chance of whoever is sent to find the Summer Maiden running into Emerald is high, and they need to be able to stand on her level. That leaves only two options…"

"What options?" Ruby asked.

Naruto locked eyes with Qrow and Tai, "Either I go find the Summer Maiden, or the remaining members of Team STRQ does."


Thoughts? Comments? Concerns? Let me know what you all think! I love hearing it! I had a bit of trouble with this one honestly. It was difficult imagining how Raven would act in an awkward situation like this…

Starting to get a lot more moving parts here! Getting the Relic to Atlas, worrying about Maiden's, a little backstory on Summer Rose with some Volume 8 stuffz very very lightly sprinkled in there. We are getting a move on people! And that chapter title? Maaaaan, I try to put some thought into the chapter titles, but I'm really proud of myself for this one! First person to figure out how the title ties in with the RWBY verse and what was revealed in this chapter, and puts it in a review gets a shout out next chapter! It isn't anything too fancy, just a nice play on words and information.

Let me know what you guys think, and as always, stay sexy! Qrow out!