How was this even supposed to work?
Naruto was more confused than ever as he lay in bed, ignoring the morning sun and his noisy neighbors. He was an official Hunter so he could take missions all across Remnant ranging from hunting Grimm, bodyguarding to crime solving yet he was also going to be taking classes on regular basis?
His brain hurt. This was somehow more confusing than being a genin whose jobs were the worst in the history of ninja. Like who wanted to mow lawns, fix shop signs, or the worse… Catch that pitiful cat and bring it back to that dreadful woman.
And the worse was the implication that he was going to be directly receiving jobs from Ozpin just made his blood boil. If the man would just come out and tell him what his actual plan was instead of stringing him along, he wouldn't just want to throat punch him and kick him a few times in the crotch!
"AND WHY ARE MY NEIGHBORS SO NOISY?!" Naruto roared annoyingly as he finally got up and decided to put on his Beacon Academy outfit he got last night before he decided to go 'greet' the occupants next door and show them the ninja 'hospitality' he was shown oh so well.
So, with a swift kick to open the door, he annoyingly called them out. "Why in the hell are you all so noi… WHY IS IT YOU FOUR?!"
"Naruto!" Ruby greeted at seeing her new friend and happily jumped up to meet him, despite being in the middle of hanging a bed to the roof.
And this was what Naruto saw this and immediately caught the bed. "And just what the hell are you doing? This is a death trap!"
"It's not that bad," Yang stated as she and Blake were putting books on top of another bed as they were trying to find the balanced to be able to stack another bed on top of it.
Naruto just looked at the scene in horror. "No… No. No, No!"
Pushing all four out of their room, he slammed the door shut and suddenly they heard hammering and Naruto barking orders to tear down what they had put up and to properly fix it. The four could only sweat drop as a minute later the door opened and there stood a severely agitated Naruto two perfectly adequate bunk beds.
"Are you done trying to kill yourselves?" Naruto growled as the four re-entered and looked at their beds in wonder at how he so quickly turned their regular beds into bunk beds.
"Do you have some level of carpentry training because this is very well done? Nowhere near craftmanship skill but for the time you took… I feel safe with this." Weiss wondered out loud as she was extremely impressed.
"It was forced to learn a lot of skills when I was twelve to make a living… Minor carpentry just happened to be one of them…. God, I hated D-rank missions…" Naruto answered before muttering the last part as he had just recently thought about them before…
But at least they did have minor value now when he looked at it in the end. He just didn't feel like it was worth dealing with all those hateful villagers that only would come to respect him when he saved their lives.
He wasn't bitter. Not one bit… Maybe slightly.
While the others took it in stride, Blake's bow lowered, and she looked saddened at by his words. The fact she didn't entirely understand everything behind his words didn't mean she did not understand having to watch others scrap by and fight for a living.
Looking at a clock they had set up and seeing the time, Naruto sighed. "Well, we have like eight minutes to get to class so we'd better get going."
"Ah! I forgot about classes!" Ruby cried out loud before she went into a blind panic and started to grab all her books. "Oh no, oh no!"
"You idiot! We're almost going to be late because of you!" Weiss cried as she grabbed her bag and the four of them rushed out of the door only for team JNPR to look out of their room out once in synchronized unison.
Then they realized they were running late.
Naruto only blinked. He thought he was running on time. Eight minutes was nothing to get to a class on the other side of the academy.
Shrugging his shoulders, he slowly began to make his way out of their room and closed their door. "Whatever. I'm in no hurry to get to class anyways."
"But why do I have the feeling the girls are going to be the second death of me?"
Naruto wanted to pound his head into the desk during class. How in the hell did Weiss become even more agitated towards Ruby? How was that possible? Did Ruby defile her dog's grave or something?
What was her problem?
He would admit it would be minorly distracting for someone to be calling out directions for you in the middle of a battle or to be cheering as loudly as Ruby was, but everything was in good spirit. It wasn't like she actively disparaged her or purposely trying to distract her.
Thankfully he noted that Ozpin and Professor Port were taking care of Ruby and Weiss separately and he'd have faith that they would sort that out. While he had little trust in Oz towards himself, he figured he probably was a more caring individual towards his actual students and those he put in positions of power…
He still questioned the Jaune decision. Why when a flash bang was blowing up in your face named Pyrrha would you name Jaune that team's leader? What did Oz see that he missed? Or did Oz simply do it to screw with Naruto's thought process and make him throw out all his analysis from before?
That would not be surprising.
He tried looking underneath the underneath but sometimes Ozpin could just not have an underneath and it was really frustrating.
Ozpin was a puppet master that sometimes just moved pieces just to move pieces and it threw him off. If he wasn't sure that he wasn't more in the right due to his emotive sensory he would have already busted him down and probably caused a massive issue here at Beacon.
Naruto just wished he would do something instead of just sitting there and wait! Be a little more proactive!
He almost lost track of where he was going and nearly bumped into someone. However, Naruto's face immediately lit up as soon as he saw it was and he heard her voice. "Well, well, well if isn't mister big shot himself."
"And if it isn't Ms. Too Full of Herself Coco Adel. How are you Velvet, Fox, and Yatsu?" Naruto countered before calling out to the other three members of the team in a more friendly manner.
Coco merely huffed before giving a small grin. She liked how Naruto didn't back down an inch and would call her out. It made the challenge all the more fun.
"Doing good, Naruto, congrats by the way," Yatsu responded as he was genuinely happy one of his new friends did something that was considered nearly impossible.
"Like seriously, man, you've got to take us out a mission when you get assigned to one. I'm sure they'll let you take us if isn't too highly rated. Second years get a lot more permissions." Fox stated with a grin now that they had an in with a hunter and wanted to see if they could do some awesome new missions.
"That's… Is a gross misuse of his powers and responsibilities." Velvet responded before she happily smiled at Naruto. "But congratulations. I was going to send you a text saying we should celebrate but then I realized you don't ever check your scroll."
"I keep forgetting this thing exists and barely remember it is my door key." Naruto chuckled as he pulled out his scroll before sweat-dropping seeing he had quite a few missed texts. "What, when did she get my number?! I don't remember giving her that?"
"Uh-oh, Velvet you have competition." Fox grinned before Velvet smacked him in the shoulder. "What, just saying the truth. Do you think others are not going to be coming after the Hunter on campus? They're coming, just you watch."
"That reminds me… You, me, arena!" Coco called out Naruto, her hand on her hip as she looked up into his eyes. "I have no trouble accepting you might be skilled enough but I want to see it for myself, so I challenge you to see just how good you actually are!"
"Alright." Naruto floor team CFVY as he easily accepted. "But I know the arena isn't easily rented out so just let me know the date and time you've got it for the thirty seconds I'm going to throw you around… And the hour-long infirmary trip you'll need afterward."
In the end, Naruto was grinning and Coco bristled under his comment, and it just lit her fire further. "Oh, you think you are such hot… What the?"
"It's not hot stuff when I can back it up, Coco," Naruto stated, still grinning as he stood directly behind her, back-to-back while holding her weapon in his hand before handing it back. "But I do look forward to that date. Always interested to see how others fight."
"And Velvet, how about in a few nights for that celebration? Found this little shack that serves the best Udon noodles." Naruto responded to Velvet's earlier thought about a celebration. "Might have to invite a few others though… Have a few noisy neighbors that might want in."
"That works." Velvet smiled as she knew they didn't have anything planned then and both Yatsu agreed, and Fox gave a thumbs up in their general direction. "We'll see you then."
Coco was still slightly in shock but nodded as Naruto slowly began to walk away, keeping his scroll out, before Fox finally spoke. "I've got say… I can't see but that was fast."
The leader of the group could only sweat as she agreed as she didn't even feel Naruto disarm her. Maybe she would hold off on that challenge for a little bit. At least until she was a little more ready.
Naruto simply kept walking as he tried to figure out how to text, slowly figuring it out as it was just like a smaller keyboard and his computer knowledge… Was extremely rough. Thankfully it was just like writing a message, so it wasn't too hard. So, he sent the message to his new contact.
But just how did Blake get his number?
"Okay… I know invited you and Ruby…" Naruto started as he sat at a small table next to Blake and Velvet as the shack had brought it since Velvet called ahead of time.
"It was Weiss…" Blake sighed before her eyes glowed with sparkles seeing a tuna fish head on her bowl of Udon.
She suddenly regained control of herself, her eyes darted around to see if anyone noticed her lack of self-control besides Naruto who simply grinned at her before she sighed once more. "When I said I had somewhere to go, trying to go separately so no one expected anything, Weiss found it weird saying Ruby was going out as well."
"With a little deductive reasoning, she realized it had to deal with you and suddenly she just had to come… And Yang just didn't want to be left alone… Now she has abandonment issues." Blake quietly finished before grinning there at the end.
"I Do Not!" Yang banged her fist from the other end of the table as Blake had purposely said that loud enough for her partner to hear. "It would just have sucked to have been left alone with no plans and all my friends doing other things!"
"You mean they all failed and were sent home," Coco responded as very few teams passed this initiation exam as was usually the case.
Beacon had one of the lower acceptance rates among the greater Academies. It was one of the reasons she came here. It was for the challenge.
Yang bristled at the comment but did not respond. It was unfortunately true.
All her friends did fail even though one did retrieve a piece… He was injured enough that he couldn't return due to darts from certain others' pedestal. Which in turn failed her other friend in the process. Rotten luck for them.
"Don't feel bad," Fox commented as he took a bite and was pleasantly surprised with the noodles. "It happens all the time. I had a few friends I came in with and none of them made it in. You've got to take who you've got if you want to make it as a hunter or huntress."
As he took a chomp of his noodles, finding they were great but still had nothing on the greatness known as ramen, Naruto turned his attention to the princess. "You know it is interesting… Why is it that you just had to come?"
Feeling his scrutinizing gaze upon her, Weiss almost withered with a blush. This did not go unnoticed by Naruto and this left him with a small pit in his stomach he swore that from somewhere, far, far away he could hear the voice of a very familiar friend of his.
And he could swear Kurama was laughing.
The fact he could feel his friend transcending space and the world was bothering him but he would ignore that pit in his stomach for now. This was an alarming development. "Princess…"
"What, you didn't want me to come?" Weiss suddenly blurted out indignantly as she felt indecent all of a sudden and began to think coming here was a bad idea.
"That's not what I'm saying at all." Naruto corrected in a soft tone. "I'm just curious as this is a sudden one-eighty shift on how we were treating one another so I have to question it… But I'm not saying it is anything bad, just a little odd when you were mentioning I was a 'nightmare' just yesterday."
Weiss had the decency to blush as she remembered that statement as well. "Well… Things change and… That was aimed more Jaune than it was at you."
"Uh-huh, sure." Naruto didn't entirely buy it before rolling his eyes. "Well, regardless, what was with you today? You were getting on my nerves with how you were acting again to the point… Let's just say there was about to be a repeat if you two didn't talk to the Professors. Hopefully, they gave some good advice."
Deflating at hearing that, Weiss poked at her noodles weakly. She was very embarrassed this was being brought up. She had brought this upon herself as of course he would comment on it. He always seemed to be protecting Ruby…
Sensing the sudden downcast in negativity coming off her, Naruto sighed as that was not what he meant to do. So now he had to find a way to build the princess back up. So he went with combat as at least that was something he was interested in. "What were those glyphs you used earlier? I've never seen anything like that before."
Weiss' attention snapped back up as he took an interest in something she had done and seemed genuinely curious. "It's a family technique that's been passed down through generations… It's nothing special."
"Really? Because it looked cool to me." Naruto commented after taking another bite. "I'd like to take a moment and compare it to something my master taught me cause they seem slightly similar and want to see if they function fundamentally on the same level."
Her world brightened at hearing that he wanted to spend time with her she could only give a nod, accepting his proposal. If it could only be more…
Wondering what just broke in Weiss, Naruto decided it was best to ignore it for now. He knew it was Sasuke tactic but if he had learned anything from the Uchiha is that it worked. Or created a more fervent lunatic in the case of Karin…
He'd play those odds. He was a better gambler anyways.
"You have… Made an interesting group of friends in these last two days." Velvet smiled as sat next to Naruto, glad for her friend that he was talking to other people.
While she hadn't said anything she was very worried about him and sensed something was off with him. He seemed lonely and would always gaze off into the distance longingly as if something was missing. Knowing he said he was far from home, and he'd never see it again made her heart pang as something terrible had to happen but see him finally talking to others besides her and Fox as Coco and Yatsu just tagged along.
So the more friends he had the better.
"And then he was like, swish, BOOM! Hit them with a blue orb of raw aura!" Ruby ecstatically told the story to a patient Yatsu and a mildly pale Coco as she had been listening to the girl most of the time after brushing off the elder sibling. "And then there was a crater and half a Deathstalker and Nevermore falling to the earth as we were all blown away from gale force winds!"
"The hell?" Naruto choked on his noodles as he somehow hadn't been paying attention to Ruby telling the story.
"That seems… Like a tall tale." Coco admitted after she calmed down a little.
"But it is really cool. I do believe he could toss the Deathstalker pretty far." Yatsu commented, knowing Naruto was very strong just from asking to work out with him a few times and never seeing him once break a sweat and he couldn't keep pace with his light workout.
"The orb is also true." Velvet added catching Naruto off guard as he thought no one knew about the Rasengan before that moment. "He didn't answer one of my texts, so I went looking for him and found him demolishing a Beowulf with one of those… There was nothing left of it."
"Okay… I need to work on my sensing skills as they have been off." Naruto grumbled as if both Velvet and all of what happened the day before went under his nose, he was going to have to get better and sensory in his base state.
That was unacceptable.
"I'm really good at hiding my presence so I would be shocked if you could sense me if I didn't want to be found." Velvet grinned as she had one up on Naruto and from what she knew so far on her fellow faunus that was a rare feat.
He was a hard one to beat in anything outside battle of wits.
"Is that a challenge?" Naruto growled as he felt Velvet's confidence as she grinned right back at him, not backing down. "Very well, call it a date. Name the time and place and we'll do this!"
"Maybe later, once classes and everything settle down, we can figure out a day for our date." Velvet sassily blew a kiss out the end and left Naruto twitching and wanting more.
How dare she leave him at half-mast?!
At this Coco simply held her hand up for Velvet and the two high fived and Naruto was livid. The two of them plotted against him?!
Well played.
"I don't know what just happened, but I think Naruto got gunned down and hard," Fox stated as he finished his bowl leaving Naruto a writhing mess.
"You're supposed to be on my side, Fox! You're my backup! Where were you on that one?"
"Unable to see your ass finally get owned." Fox grinned as he waved his hand in front of his face.
At this Naruto couldn't hold it in and busted out laughing as did the entire table joining in on the jovial laughter.
And with the ice broke the rest of the night went smoothly.
Little did they know they all missed two of Naruto's clones being martialed by a third as they held a wicker basket that had distinct little pinchers hanging out of the side of them and a large aquarium.
As the night was wrapping up and they found themselves back at Beacon Naruto found himself with the odd pairing of Blake and Velvet. Well, odd as he was pretty sure all three of present were faunus but Blake was hiding that fact.
And that was fair. People were prejudiced against faunus and if she felt like it would give her a fair shake to hide what she was then so be it. He wasn't one to judge.
However, he had another certain reason now he was out and if they wanted to hang around, that was fine. They would just learn more about his… Unique relationships… With a certain headmaster.
He had realized as he was mowing down Grimm and now today as he was doing maintenance of his tools it was a hard fact…
Blake simply didn't want to go back to the room. It was a nice night out and hanging out with two other faunus felt right. She felt more at ease around Naruto even if she had to admit he had his quirks as well. Everyone did. But at the same time, she got this ease that reminded her of…
An image popped in her head of Menagerie and more specifically of a certain pair of individuals she may have run away from…
Blake violently shook her head of that image and pushed those thoughts away. She was on the run. She couldn't think about home!
Naruto was utterly bewildered by the flux of emotions coming from Blake that he nearly stumbled himself. There was a whirlwind flowing through her and it nearly sucked him in and caused him to lose focus of what he was doing.
And he wasn't trying to sense emotions at that given moment!
Velvet was just confused as she looked at the two as they both had the weirdest looks she had ever seen. Blake was a mixture of longing, fear, and anxiety and Naruto seemed to be mirroring those but adding confusion…
Was he an empath too? How many abilities or tricks did he have?
And why didn't they seem to want to talk about it? It was so frustrating knowing something was wrong and being able to do nothing about it!
Damn her for not having Coco's strength and being able to just come out and say what she wanted to say!
Now getting a whirl of emotions from Velvet Naruto was just ready to leave the girls and head out on his own. This was getting a bit much and taxing his emoting sensory. "Um… Are you two okay?
"Yes?" Velvet mildly responded.
"Oh what, oh sure." Blake stumbled before covering up with a fake response.
"Yeah… I suddenly believe that a lot less now and think we're all screwed up." Naruto muttered as he shook his head.
"That reminds… About something you said yesterday as everything was starting to look bleak… About being done with dying again." Blake stopped as she recalled the moment before the world shook from his powerful display.
Velvet stopped at hearing this and immediately cut Naruto's path off. That was something she didn't know and as with something she began to call her friend this deeply troubled her considering the state she found him in a month prior.
And the second Blake had said those words she was brought back to what she was thinking of earlier, and she was getting the same feeling as before.
"Naruto… When I asked you a few weeks ago were you from and you told me it didn't matter… That your home was gone… I felt an emptiness from you… And now I'm getting the same exact feeling as then and I didn't push… Because I thought you lost your home…"
"I did lose my home… And my life." Naruto sadly smiled, a single tear running down his face as his admission surprised and startled both of them. "I died fighting my best friend to change his heart… And succeed but succumb to my wounds as he tried to keep me there."
"But the fates weren't done with me." Naruto continued as he closed his eyes. "I was transported across tremendous distance to this land and in the process it… Manipulated my body."
"When I was born… I was fused with the spirit of a fox demon. In turn, I was hated all my life for it as the same he was fused with me he had nearly destroyed our home." Naruto tried to explain how he came to be here and as well as the lead-up of why he believed he was the way he was now. "He and I… It took a long time for us to co-exist but at the time of my death, we were separated... But part of his essence remained within me as I transcended worlds and it must have fused with me… Changing me into the form you see before you."
While he was telling the story and they were both stunned and silently weeping, they were both shocked. He was a created faunus…. That flipped their perceptions entirely around and if that was true just what did mean behind the origins of where faunus came from? Was it possible the first faunus were all from other worlds as well or had dual spirits?
"It's kind of ironic really." Naruto opened his eyes and gave a broken laugh. "I was scorned all my life. Spit upon, kicked around, and refused access to stores while all the kids just laughed at me or bullied me. And just as finally figured out how to make people stop hating me for seeing me as the fox spirit inside of me… Now everyone just sees me as dirty fox faunus instead… Go figure."
"The fates just want me hated by the common folk. Must get some kind of kick out of it." Naruto finished as he looked up at the night sky and looked at the moon, finding it kind of calming. "Huh, so that's why Gaara did that all the time."
Suddenly Naruto felt the warmth of the embrace of two separate bodies hugging him at the same time. And to be quite honest… It felt nice. It felt like for the first time since he had been here on Remnant…
Someone who listened and actually cared.
Letting a few more tears shed as he let go of those memories, he rubbed the girl's backs to let them know he was alright. "Hey… If someone sees us like this… It'd be hard to explain."
"Ow…" Velvet punched him in the shoulder as she let go while Blake simply glared as she separated. "But thank you… I didn't realize how much I need that… And to get that off my chest."
"It is good to do so. It's healthier that way." Velvet agreed as she was always willing to lend a listening ear to a friend. "And while I do think the fates were… Cruel… I think it was also because they already knew you were capable of handling it… You already lived the life of a faunus… Maybe they have something more planned for you?"
"They need to stop their plans as it's getting really old…" Naruto growled as whatever plans they had they could shove it before he sighed. "But thanks for staying positive about it."
"I wouldn't have… They're trying to penetrate you… Hard and fast." Blake responded with a slight grin to loosen the tension and got a laugh from Naruto as Velvet simply mouthed 'disgusting'.
"Alright, I feel a lot better now… Time to go see the puppet master before I forget what I was doing again." Naruto remembered his goal which now had both Velvet and Blake curious as they realized they were close to the main building of Beacon. "But before that… If either of you ever need to talk… I've already told you my biggest secret so don't hesitate."
"And have faith. I'll be willing to listen."
Velvet blushed as Blake simply stopped as she felt targeted. He knew she had some dark secrets but…
She wouldn't mind telling them in time. After all, he spilled his to her. It was only fair. But only when she felt a little more secure.
And after whatever this was about to go down happened.
Because both Blake and Velvet's eyes were opened to the horror as Naruto kicked open the headmaster's door and announced himself. "Yo! Great and Powerful Wizard of Oz! Queen to C3 to take your Rook!"
"Bishop to D6, check," Ozpin responded as they played an invisible board game of chess all the while without even turning around to acknowledge Naruto's presence.
"Shit!" Naruto realized he was in trouble in the game and needed to reassess his pieces before coming up with his next move. "Alright, moving on. I realized something major and as much as it pains me… I need you for this requisition."
This lone act of admittance caused Ozpin to swirl around in his chair and sip his coffee as he looked interestedly at Naruto. "And just what is that would cause you to come to me besides the occasional refill of paint that I must say is livening up Beacon and Vale. I haven't seen so much color in ages."
"Oh, you just wait for Phase 3," Naruto growled as Ozpin wouldn't know what hit him before shaking his head and pulling out his kunai and sighing at the few chips in it. "As much as I hate to admit… These aren't going to last me for much longer. I have limited resources and good maintenance is only going to get me so far with them…"
"I've come to the realization I need to rely on weapons of this world as forging weapons from mine are not cost friendly at this time and I have zero blacksmith training despite my jack-of-all-trades nature." Naruto flipped his kunai a few times before returning it to his pouch with a sad smile, knowing he would have to use them sparingly from now on.
Ozpin looked at the boy for a moment before a small smile was on his face. "Your mistake was moving your queen too deep into my territory. Next turn you are going to use your Rook to take out my Bishop but that is a mistake as it is protected by the knight which will put you back into check and unfortunately with any pieces but pawns and your queen…"
"I'd be in a world of hurt…" Naruto returned to thinking about the chess game realizing that was a key error and he was more focused on taking out his pieces instead of the bigger picture. "I should have been focusing on playing defensively… I still think that's a stupid plan when the queen in this case is a literal force of nature that cannot be prepared for."
"Maybe so but we shall see in due time," Ozpin responded as he opened his desk and looked for something within.
"I have an idea of a weapon that would suit you… Small, compact but packs a wallop. Can be used in a lot of ways like those kunai I believe but I don't know how it will function with… Your unique aura." Ozpin stated as he pulled out a weapon design and put it on his desk to show to Naruto, whose eyes widened at seeing it. "Shall I send it in?"
"Woah… Yeah, I like it." Naruto whistled impressed with the design before returning it to Oz. "Look like it was just finished up too…"
"I like to take my time and make sure things are perfect," Ozpin stated before he rolled the design back up. "I will send the order in tomorrow morning, and it should be in by the end of the week. At worse it will be the start of next week but I doubt it I emphasize the order is for our newest Hunter."
"Sweet. Night then. Don't drain the midnight oil on the void." Naruto waved to Ozpin as he went to leave the office to notice both Blake and Velvet were still in a state of shock at the scene that played out before them.
Unable to comprehend the scene they just witnessed with Naruto and Ozpin.
"Did we break them?"
"It seems so."
A/N: I almost didn't want to end it that way by it did not make sense to open Chapter 5 with that scene when it literally was happening right after. And I knew I was going for a more comedic approach that scene and it would undercut the deeper scene from before, but I felt there was still meaning in Naruto getting his weapon, or at least, getting it set out to be made.
It also showed how he and Oz act towards one another. Amicably and respectably as they try to figure one another out. Some trust is there but not enough to do more than, hey, I'll give you a weapon and a title. Or hey, I'll help you fight this darkness. Not the same level of trust Naruto has shown Velvet or Blake. The thing is Ozpin knows he has way more experience is more tactical than Naruto and I feel he still wants to impart some knowledge to him as knowing that he has experience death… Is something he can relate to.
And yes, I want Weiss to have crush over Naruto but be conflicted over it herself. Ruby is obvious why as she sees the hero in the story books but that probably is going to get stomped out soon as he puts her to work but that is way later. Weiss is interesting one for me to work with as my character sub plots start to get going. It makes sense in a lot of ways for her character as she always saw faunus, in her eyes, as nothing more than pest trying to get rid of all humans, especially her and her family. Considering he has swiftly torn down all those barriers she has having a crisis of heart at the moment.
I'm going to try get CFVY more time in as I want more time for Velvet, and Fox to smaller part, as I said the pairing isn't set in stone. I just want to end with Naruto/Blake, but this could end a few different ways and I'd be okay with it. Just disappointed that I couldn't stick to my original ideal.
A/N2: To contradict myself the pairing is now set in stone and it will be Naruto/Blake. I have finished Chapter 6 and this is being written just before the posting of this chapter and didn't feel like changing my notes. While the pairing has not started officially, I have officially got it off the ground and running and I think everyone will see why in... Wednesday's update as long as everything goes according to plan. Chapter 5 will be released on Monday as long as there is no hiccups. I will be starting 7 here shortly.
Also, just a small fun note I put at the beginning of the series a Volume I to reference how it is the start of the first Volume like it would be for a RWBY season. If everything works out I think 7 will be the end of Volume I but that is just more flavor. The chapters will keep coming strong until life conditions flip which is likely at any given moment so... It's kind of why I'm trying to write and release as much as possible.
And somehow this entire time I thought it was under Naruto and Blake but the site screwed it up and didn't put under those tags... AND NO ONE TOLD ME! GUYS, WTF?! I haven't written in years! A little help please!
Peace Out