*Story Start*

Ruby floated through the abyss without a care. She had come to know everything and anything to exist.

She had witnessed the birth and death of every life-form to exist in the ninja world. She was a God. What was the left to do but ascend beyond-

"Ruby Rose, aren't you a sight for sore eyes..."

Lurching towards the source of the sound, she came to face a blue-eyed spectre emerging from the surface of the moon.

Two horns jutted out from the sea of jagged white hairs that tapered at his waist. The pale-skinned figure had three thick black streaks marking each cheek, with several similar markings seen on the visible sections of his skin.

Despite the seemingly endless void, his alabaster cloak seemed to bellow in some unseen wind.

The biggest shock was that he had his cloak was tight to his body and revealed that he had an androgynous appearance along with dense muscles.

"Naruto..." Righting herself, Ruby quickly found herself pulled into a tight hug.

"I can't believe that you are here. It's been so long I almost forgot what you looked like. Take a seat. Tell me, my memories get a bit hazy, what's happening." With a wave of his hand, tatami Mats manifested beneath them. Wooden pillars, shōji and roof panels quickly encased the room. Lastly, a wooden table and pillows appeared in the centre. Taking a seat, Ruby joined him on the opposite side.

"I uh got an invitation to the Huntsman Academy. I'm there right now. Physically, I mean. So what happened? That lady kicked me away so I didn't get to find out what happened." Saying that Ruby saw Naruto visibly react. Reaching up to rub his neck, he looked off to the side.

"It's a long story. The TL;DR of it is we constantly fought for I think a decade. Or was it a century, I stopped counting after a while. Enough of me; tell, tell, what's new with you?"

"Just getting ready for the test, but I'm not sure. Compared to …you," Ruby gestured towards Naruto's entire body "I can't clone myself, I can't breathe fire or create a death ball in my hands. The average ninja can move mountains, redirect oceans, flood cities with molten rock; me, I'm just a girl who can run fast and use my gun/scythe. That's nothing, I'm just a child on a sugar rush and a sharp toy."

Staring at her, Naruto waited to see if there was more before talking.

"Done belittling yourself? Okay good. Now never, ever talk about yourself like that again. You're right, you are just a girl, but take pride in it. You have the option to live a life as you want, no grand fate dictating your future, no prophecy stating that you will have to save the world by fighting some grand evil. If you wanted to, you could retire from being a Huntress right now and open up a bakery or a Smithy. You have the ability to choose what you want to be without worrying about your home conscripting you to wipe out a rival village."

"But I'm meant to be a Huntress. I'm meant to help people, but I'm nowhere next as strong as you. How am I supposed to protect people if I can't protect myself? I was able to move Glynda out of the way, but then I was helpless. I … I don't think I'm ready. It was one thing watching the world through your eyes, but I saw everything to ever happen to everyone everywhere in your world. I don't think I could ever match up to that." Shaking his head, Naruto placed his hand on Ruby's shoulder.

"You aren't meant to match up to that. Ninja are as strong as they were because they have to. If they weren't, then they died. No-fuss, no muss, that's just the end of it. I know you Ruby, I know more about you than anyone else could ever hope to. I know that you are going to be a Huntress, and there's nothing anyone could do to stop you. So I will give you a hand."

"How? No offence, but I doubt you could help much with us being... wherever we are right now."

"I am not the same person who you knew all those years ago. What you just witnessed was a fraction of a fraction of the life I lived. So long that I have seen everything could ever happen ever. So what's one lifetime spent helping you. I have ascended to a level where manipulation of reality at a fundamental level is easier than blinking. Helping you become stronger is easy, and you will become stronger. More powerful than you could ever imagine. Strong enough to move heaven and earth. So … do we have a deal?" Ruby eyed the outstretched hand with caution.

"What do you want in return? If it's really been that long, how do I know if you are still the same after all that time."

"It doesn't matter how much time passes, I'll still be the same person. As for why, well I just want you succeed in all your dreams. You are a good person, by helping you, I can make sure everyone you care about is safe. I promise that you will have everything you ever wanted or needed. Now, I ask again. Do we have a deal?" Slowly reaching out, Ruby shook his hand. With the pack completed, Naruto stood up.

"Excellent, now … let's begin." Reaching out, he placed his hands on her forehead and applied pressure. Slowly, the centre opened up and revealed a black abyss. Before she could properly react, Naruto pushed his hands into the opening, with the rest of his body being pulled in tow.

As he vanished, searing pain radiated from her head.

Ruby snapped awake in a hospital bed. An IV drip connected to her one arm and an EKG while a blood bag fed into the other.

Peeling the blanket off, she noticed that she was wearing a simple gown. Had she always had that many scars?

Sliding off the bed, she disconnected the equipment and forced herself to a shaky stand. Again she noticed dozens of small scars on her body, none of them were fresh or painful, but she would have noticed them a long time ago right?

"RUBY!" The door burst open and a tanned blond in a flame patterned yellow gym wear ran over.

"Hey, uh what's going on?" Trying to walk over to the stranger, she quickly backpedalled and fell back on the bed.

Careful. You gave everyone a real scare. Hell, even the doc was a bit nervous for a while. Guess you proved them wrong, they predicted that you'd be out for a month." She continued to talk about several things that the doctor said, but she couldn't really focus on that.

Focusing on the blond, she scanned her face. The blond hair didn't give anything away, but the lilac eyes were pretty much a good hint. Blond lilac eyes=

"Yang…"

"Yeah, what is it Rubes?"

"Did you..." Ruby paused to try and choose the right phrasing, "ah get a new top?"

"Oh yeah, I grabbed it a little bit ago. But…how are you feeling? Do you know why you are here?" Yang asked as she sat beside her and pulled her into a one-armed hug.

Thinking it over, she shook her head.

"The doctors couldn't tell what happened, but your body just seemed to ... stop working. Like, shouldn't be here but somehow are. So I'll ask again, how are you feeling? Dad left a while ago and he wasn't me to make sure."

"I'm fine I think," Ruby paused to look at Yang, "I think my memory's a bit scrambled. I… could've sworn you weren't so uh tanned."

"I'm not sure what to say? I've been about this tan for over a decade. I think you need to rest up. Maybe you should sit out the exam-"

"NO. I mean, I came all this way and spent all this time training. I'm not going to let anything stop me. I can't let something like this stop me. So grab my clothes and let's get back to the room. These gowns aren't comfortable. I'm sure that all I need is to get my blood pumping and I'll be fine. Honestly. Now lets out of here. The disinfectant smell is driving me crazy." Nudging Yang, Ruby pulled herself to a standing position.

"Alright, but," Yang held Ruby's hand to steady her, "We are going to get the doctor's go ahead first. Just to be sure ok?"

Ruby wanted to disagree, but a gentle hand squeeze stopped her.

"Are you sure you don't want to stay. The doctor was heavily implying that you should stay so they could run more tests." Yang asked as she helped Ruby to her sleeping bag.

"I'm fine. I just needed to get out of there and rest. I'll be fine. Now go explore Beacon, I'll stay here and get some rest. Really, I'm just going to get some sleep." Nodding, Yang sat Ruby's back beside her and left.

Stretching out on her sleeping bag, Ruby fished her Scroll out of her bag with one goal: Find out what's going on.

Opening her photos, the first photo was of her and a tanned Yang in dresses.

Scrolling back further, every picture of Yang for the last decade showed the exact same thing: having a visible tan.

A notification on the screen stopped her, 'CEO OF SCHNEE INDUSTRY MAKES STATEMENT ABOUT RISING PRICES OF DUST AND ROBBERIES'

'What's happening?' Clicking on it, a video from Atlas started playing.

Centred on camera was a white-haired pale-blue eyed lady with a faded scar running from under her right eye to her left cheek. Smoothing out the wrinkles of her light purple jacket, she addressed the camera.

"My name is Willow Schnee, the CEO of Schnee Industry. As many of you have noticed, there has been a steady increase in the price of Dust. This is because of a Terrorist Group known as the White Fang attacking our shipments. Diplomatic Measures have been attempted and failed, lest we forget the Bombing last year," Willow briefly stopped to touch the scars across her face before continuing,

"These Terrorist are a group of violent Thugs that sprung up out of Menagerie. I have made numerous attempts to get them to deal with their issue before it spread, now they have taken over several cities in which they harass good people and commit acts of terror. Until Menagerie reins in their group of Terrorist, all non-essential transport to these settlements are now restricted. This will stay in effect until the attacks on shipments are finished. We offered you an Olive Branch, and you spat in our face. Schnee industry will not yield to a group of degenerate scum."

The video ended and Ruby just sat her Scroll down.

"I can't believe it's come to this." Turning towards the door, the black-haired teen in simple grey workout gear.

"Oh hey, you're Weiss Schwartz, right? Sorry, I didn't mean to have it too loud. I'm just … trying to make sure I remember everything right." Nodding, Weiss leant against the doorframe and gestured towards Ruby.

"Are you ok? I mean last I saw, you were bleeding and convulsing. Shouldn't you be resting?"

"Yeah, I got the doc to clear me as long as I get some rest. I was just making sure everything in my head was in the right place. I should probably get some rest, uh talk later ok? It looks like you were about to hit the gym."

"Yeah, I need to get some practice in with my new weapon. I lost my old one a while ago and I need to get used to this new one." Reaching into her storage crate, she pulled out a vintage sabre/rifle. Before she left, Ruby coughed and drew her attention back.

"If you want, I could make you something that would fit you better? I'm fairly good at making weapons."

Thinking it over, Weiss leaned her weapon on the wall before nodding.

"I'd like that. Though I don't think I could pay you what I should for it. My family has most of the money, I haven't really talked to them in a year or so."

"That's fine. You're going to be a Huntress and I'd rather have someone who's comfortable with their weapon fight alongside me then not. Plus you can always pay me back when you can. So just write out what weapon works best for you and I'll start it when I can."

"Thanks. I'll leave you to get some rest. I hope you feel better." With that, Weiss took her sabre and left Ruby to rest.

Finally alone, Ruby tucked her items away and pulled herself into her sleeping bag. Thankfully, rest seemed to come quickly and Ruby fell asleep. Minutes passed before she sat up, blue eyes scanning the room before rising to a stand.

A flick of the wrist was all it took for a black robe to appear around her. Another and she vanished in a crackle of lightning.

I also setup a Ko-fi account so if you want and are able to, feel free to toss some pocket change at me. Ko-fi /thatmaker

Remember, only donate if you can. I'm not expecting you to, nor will I stop writing if not. It's just if you want to.

*End*