The warm sunlight felt nice on his face. He hardly ever slept this late, so it was comfortable to feel it beaming on his cheeks. Was that how it felt on his whiskers? Maybe he should sleep in a little more often.
It was nice.
But what was the feel against his chest?
It felt like something was very lightly tapping against it. Repeatedly. On both pectorals.
Slowly opening his eyes and letting the light fill his vision the night's events filled his mind and he remembered everything that happened. And he felt a little mirth as he watched the cute scene before him.
A half-asleep Blake with half-lidded eyes pawed at his chest as the sun warmed her entire body, her instincts in complete control of her actions. It was a very adorable scene to behold that if he could just reach his scroll, he would want to hit the record button…
But he had too much honor for that and Naruto called out the cat girl before him. "Blake."
"Hm…" Blake continued pawing at his chest, none the wiser of what she was doing as she was still in a sleep-addled state and it was very possible she wasn't even aware she was awake or thought she may be dreaming.
At least if this was the latter, she wasn't trying other things as he knew Blake's mind was very imaginative and he knew neither of them wanted to go that far right now. They weren't ready for that as they were dealing with their baggage they needed to clean up first.
He'd be ready for her when she was, and she'd be ready when he was ready. That was a good plan.
"As much as I like morning massage as the next guy would from a beautiful kitty cat… I don't think this qualifies." Naruto grinned as Blake's eyes snapped open and her face went beet red as she realized where her hands were.
And she slowly removed her hands from her chest before she berated herself. "I just wish I could hurry up and just be four to five years older so I don't have to deal with this anywhere nearly as much…"
"I guess it's more a hormonal thing all faunus go through and our growing bodies are just still not able to properly adjust… Lovely." Naruto dryly responded as Blake nodded for it was something all faunus went through, some just worse than others.
Women tended to get it worse than men. Naruto was going to be an exception as he wasn't born a faunus, so he was creating through the world, so he was adapting on the fly… Which was probably worse than going from one lifestyle to trying to have to deal with another.
It was rather impressive that he was doing as well as he was.
"Yes… You did get shafted." Blake commented as she slowly got up, basked in the sun, and basked in the sun for a moment. "Does feel good though…"
"Taking my shower… Be out in a while. You can go in once the shower water is running if you need to go." Blake grabbed her kit and spare clothes before walking to the bathroom.
"I think I'll wait." Naruto was going to be a gentleman even if his instinct and peeping tom inside of he was screaming at him to take the shot.
Blake opened the door and only shrugged her shoulders. "Deny me my chance at a sight then."
With that, she went to take care of her business and shower as Naruto's eyebrow raised and even his inner pervert was shut down. Was he just out perverted?
"Yeah, going to make coffee now…" Naruto shook his head and sorted out his morning issue with a cold splash of water to the face before making a brew for two. "I swear she is a cat in heat or something…"
"Am not!" Blake's voice came from the bathroom before the shower started up and Naruto groaned as he forgot their hearing was extremely good thanks to having two sets of ears, one meant to hear sounds that at a much harder to hear frequency. "That's in a few weeks so you are good for now! This is just me playing like I said last night!"
"That's a thing! For the love of god!" Naruto groaned as he for the first time put his head into the wall.
Very softly as he didn't want to damage anything. But he gave it a very light smack so he could at least feel it.
All he heard was humming from Blake in response as she took her shower to freshen up and prepare for the rest of the day as tried to patiently wait while grabbing a cup and waiting for the coffee.
This was not normal in any way. He should be doing something. Anything. He should grab a scroll and see if he could advance what little he knew of sealing. Maybe some chakra nature to try and infuse elements again so he should try to make sand.
Shaking as he tried to not do something work-related as he poured himself a cup of coffee, he was beginning to think this was going to be a long, long day. He knew he would need things to occupy his time and that it was fine to work in small bursts throughout the day…
He just couldn't devote the day to it and that was a really, really trying thing for him.
Calling Fox up was a possibility but it probably take a few tries to answer his scroll even though he had it on assist mode. Fox had more of a challenge with technology than he did, which was fair. They could go out and do a few things but what? What could Fox do besides train or chat?
Naruto wasn't sure, to be honest. He hadn't gotten to know him all that well besides who he was through talking and how he could fight despite being blind. And the pranks they did together but those all had a purpose too.
To test where Ozpin was paying attention. To see where his sightly was and he wasn't impressed with the all-seeing wizard.
He was quite blind once his cameras and drones were taken out of the picture.
Ozpin was probably not pleased with the new development of crabs taking out his cameras and scuttling away. Phase 3 had slowly been scuttling into effect.
Calling Yatsu would result in a similar boat as he would expect it would be something like training. He didn't have Coco's number as she was just obsessed with training to be the best when she was focused on being the best in other things.
Velvet was a curious one and as much as he was still her friend and supported her, she was getting a little upset with him despite understanding underlying issues were going on at the moment.
She didn't like how he was distancing himself from her, but he told her it was recommended by his therapist and it was true. Until he could see her fully as Velvet Scarlatina, he needed to put that personal barrier up and keep her at more of a distance and not let her so close.
The issue was her mannerisms unless she was with Coco and Fox to an extent, were so similar to Hinata that he just couldn't stop comparing the two and he needed that to stop. Hinata was gone. He needed to move on from her and that wasn't entirely possible when someone was there who just keep bringing up the comparison.
It wasn't fair to Velvet.
He felt like a horrible person this last week when his therapist suggested that he needed to take a step back, teller her this is another issue going on when the time was right the reason behind it. And when he could stop comparing the two of them then they could have a healthier friendship. He wasn't cutting her out either as he would still talk to her and they were on good terms, she just wasn't happy with the situation.
He felt like trash for it, but it was a necessary step in healing.
It was just going to be hard to explain to her that she and all her mannerisms were a near identical match to the woman he was falling in love with, and he was quite certain he was going to propose to after the war ended.
Ninja didn't have the luxury of waiting, after all, they had to pounce on their chances of happiness.
Which brought him back to this situation he was in. What was he going to do here? He was in a new boat with someone that was wanting a relationship and just wasn't sure what to do because of their past issues either.
But her constant teasing and the fact that he needed to go to the bathroom while she was showering was making it tempting to go in there and get a peek…
Unfortunately, the water stopped and that mean his chance was no longer available. That was until she let out a startled scream. "What the…?! One of your crabs is handing me my towel!"
"Probably Crabtholomew! He's a good and obedient boy! He's just trying to help!" Naruto called back as the leader of his crab army was most likely just trying to do a good deed for the girl in his bathroom. "He's probably trying to tell you he likes you!"
"Why is your crab putting the moves on me instead of you?!" Blake called Naruto out and it left the blonde faunus twitching as she kept going. "I mean it's bad enough all their eyes are on me but yours are not! I'm giving a free show in here!"
Naruto only growled in response. It was all he could do as Blake continued her game. On some level he could play it but as his thoughts had hit earlier when he was thinking about Velvet and Hinata and he was not currently in the mood for it.
"Did I go too far?" Blake realized Naruto didn't have a witty or perverted comeback like normal and was starting to feel like she might be pushing her play a little too far and she exited the bathroom mostly dressed, stilled buttoning her top.
To see a twitching and writhing mass that was known as Naruto. "Oh… I…"
"It was just bad timing… Maybe not so much teasing at once." Naruto uncomfortably twitched as he tried to drink his coffee and deal with morning issues, hormonal issues but now his emotional issues.
Seeing Naruto's state mirror a more controlled state of what she felt like last night, Blake hung her head as she recognized her mistake. "Can I… Ask for permission to hug you?"
"You may." Naruto slowly nodded and Blake raised her head before she lightly strolled to Naruto and gave him a tight embrace.
"I'm sorry… I didn't realize I was affecting you that much." Blake comforted her friend. "I'm sorry…"
"It's okay… I'm usually fine with a little bit of it was just the timing was off as I was in the middle of a memory that I'm still working through… The same one that's going to be the reason why I'm not ready for any relationship to advance for some time. Maybe just as a couple but nothing more than that as I don't think I could deal with anything else." Naruto sighed as he returned the hug to reassure him.
Breaking from the embrace sensing Naruto was calmer, Blake's golden eyes gazed into Naruto's blues. "She was really that important to you… Wasn't she?"
"I've come to terms with that she was… Probably the most important person in my life." Naruto took the last drink of his coffee before setting it down. "If I hadn't died… She would have been my wife and now I must live with the knowledge that will never happen and every time that thought comes up… It makes any relationship hard and makes me glad I'm in therapy…"
"Dealing with your own death and the aftereffects are amazingly traumatizing…" Naruto looked sadly at Blake before he tried to put on a fake smile. "Hell, my therapist is going to need therapy from dealing with me."
Blake stood silently. She realized what her taunting must have felt like and as her bow lowered, she once again felt like trash to her friend.
"Hey, doesn't mean stop, I enjoy our banter as it was fun… Just in smaller bursts." Naruto grinned as Blake perked up as Naruto headed to the bathroom. "Now I'm going to deal with the issue you created by the way… I've been at full mast since this morning started cause of you and it won't go down!"
With that Naruto entered the bathroom with a slam and Blake smiled as her mood returned closer to normal. "I'm going to return to my room and catch up with my team… They're probably worried sick about me."
"Yeah, see you later Blake."
"Don't forget to try and not work so much today!" Blake poured a cup of coffee for herself and mixed in some sugar. "Try Jaune, Ren, and Nora. They're all good at relaxing so they might be a good place to start."
"Thank you…. I was having a hard time thinking about what I was going to do, to be honest, and everything was work-related." Naruto told the truth.
"Figured as much… I'll return the cup later," Blake stated as she walked to the door before getting a sly grin as she pulled out her scroll and started making faces followed by quick clicks. "Enjoy the material!"
And with Blake exited and returned to her room to deal with her team and how they were going to respond to her today.
Naruto twitched as he drained his bladder. "Material?"
Then his scroll buzzed several times and he looked confused before he saw they were all from Blake. "What in the… Oh, that's the game we're playing now. Lewd faces… Cute."
"Think it might be time for the Jutsu that nearly dropped a Goddess to make its glorious reappearance."
"Ugh… How do I do this…" Naruto paced in the hallway, not sure in his life how to approach this subject. "Hey you just want… Hang out… Do so something?"
"I sound lame… What am I doing right now?" Naruto asked himself as stopped pacing as he truly had no clue what to do. "I have helped take down corrupt mob boss, took down the future the Kazakage on my own, and completely changed his perspective on life… Fought off a group trying to steal literal demons from me and others to fighting literal gods and came out on top… And I can't figure out how to do so something so simple as to ask some peers to hang and do something fun…"
"YOU FOUGHT GODS!" Nora slammed the door open to their room, as it was where Naruto was standing as if she had been paying attention the entire time and now her eyes were aglow with sparkles.
Naruto yipped and literally jumped backward at Nora's sudden entrance to the scene and proclamation that she had been listening. "Of course you heard that! Why is it you have selective hearing?!"
"Because I've been waiting at the door the hold time for you to knock silly!" Nora suddenly grabbed Naruto by the wrist and pulled him into their dorm room. "Come on! We've got everything set up!"
"Why were you waiting at the door?! What do you mean you have everything set up?!" Naruto was very confused at Nora's statements and was very lightly resisting her pull.
Not enough to win but enough to give resistance as he wanted answers.
"Blake texted me." Ren answered as he was reading a book while sitting on his bed. "Said you were struggling. Needed help on finding things to relax and thought we might be able to help but said to wait for you to come to us."
"So I did!" Nora proclaimed as she was very proud of herself for being so patient. "So are you ready to play some Arcadia Fighters!"
"What… What is that?" Naruto stuttered as for once he was lost and his confidence was not up to par with his normal level.
It could also be that Nora was just right in his face and her energy level was always high but it was probably that he just wasn't sure how to relax and not work.
At this Ren closed his book noting Nora was being a little much. "How about you grab the snacks first Nora?"
"Oh right! Be right back!" She disappeared in a cartoon poof of smoke, something Naruto could not explain and didn't bother trying as Nora simply defied conventional rules at times.
Nora at inexplicable moments seemed to possess the Cartoon Force and ignored all written rules of existence.
…Nora was Nora.
"She can be a bit much at times, especially when you are uncomfortable." Ren lightly laughed before sighing. "Jaune wanted to be here, but Pyrrha was determined to see that he trained for the day now that they agreed to it…."
"I thought she might agree to let him relax today when I told them about Blake's text and Jaune was all for it… But something was off about Pyrrha." Ren frowned as he tried to figure out what happened earlier and used Naruto as a bouncing board despite knowing he was supposed to be relaxing. "She almost seemed upset that you we trying to take time off… I don't get it as working too much is unhealthy for you and I see this as a step in the right direction."
"You need to take a step back as I can feel it your aura… It's so overtaxed." Ren commented as he could feel Naruto's aura and he had been worried about him the very first moment they met. "Your work method puts Pyrrha's to shame and I fear she may have seen it as competition and now that you are trying to take care of yourself…"
Naruto sighed as he joined Ren and sat beside him. "No… That makes sense. On the day of the initiation test, I realized Jaune was just going to die on the jump pads…"
"Yeah… He was." Ren answered honestly.
Naruto twitched.
What the hell was Ren?!
"Anyways…" Naruto went back to trying to tell what he thought was going on. "I tried to rescue Jaune. I would have to but at the last second, Pyrrha's spear flew out of nowhere, took him just out of my grasp, and pinned him to a tree… So, she earned Jaune as a teammate that day as she told me straight up she saw saving him as competition."
Ren's eyes open a little bit more as he realized something and nodded to himself. "Then that is it. She has it in her head that seeing how strong you were and the work effort you put… That should be the model and now that you are trying to pull back…"
"She's either doubting herself or convinced she can pull ahead. Possibly both or none of the above." Naruto rubbed his temples. "And I'm trying not to work…"
"Sorry. I just needed to run my thoughts by someone verbally and confirm my suspicions. You were the only one here… Nora doesn't count." Ren stated as he ran his hand through his hair. "I'll try to deal with it as Jaune is my leader but Pyrrha… Has seemed to be incensed ever since the police incident. Whatever Glynda said to her when we got back here has her depressed."
"Probably that she needs to step up for Glynda saw more in her… And realized she wasn't leadership material… And I saw the same things." Naruto sighed again as he knew exactly what the cause of that was.
She froze at a time of need when the other leaders actively, even if they couldn't, were trying to calm or take care of the situation. That was a major demerit in his eyes. Then nearly inciting everyone as soon as he left the station…
That was just not the time or place.
"Again, sorry for bringing all this up when we're trying to get you to relax… My team is going through its first real rough patch now." Ren sighed before smiling as he tried to brighten the subject. "But today should be fun… But prepared to lose a lot… Nora always wins at Arcadia Fighters."
"The hell is it anyways? Some kind of game?" Naruto asked as he noted the TV was brought forward towards Nora's and Ren's beds and some sort of machine was set up.
"It's the best!" Nora busted through the front door with her arms loaded with junk snacks, sodas and candies. "There are like twenty characters all with insanely cool fighting moves and they're like, wham, bam, pow! Then they have weapon stances they switch to, and it is like, swish, stab, slice!"
"And finally!" Nora dumped all the snacks onto her bed before she jumped in front of the TV and made some sort of weird pose. "They all these awesome burst finishers that amazing cutscenes that take out their opponents in a flash before they come up zippy one-liners and leave their opponents crushed beneath them!"
"Uh… Did you get any of that?" Naruto blinked and was at a loss for words at what Nora was talking about.
Ren only chuckled. "Nora… How about turning on the game? I think Naruto might understand it better that way. I don't think he's ever played a video game before."
Having looked defeated as her amazing explanation had failed, Nora blinked. Then the realization dawned on her. "Oh! That makes way more sense! You are about to have an experience of a lifetime!"
Flicking on the system and the TV, Nora quickly gave Naruto a controller and excitedly sat down on her bed looking extremely giddy at playing.
Naruto was just still extremely lost but as the opening cutscene played Nora's words started to make more sense. "So… It's like an anime then?"
"Kind of! We get to play the anime characters and fight them!" Nora was a jittering mess as she watched the opening scene and was opening a bag of candy.
Naruto blinked for a moment before he gave a small nod. He could see the appeal in that. That did sound kind of fun. However, as he noticed Ren had pulled something out that he recognized as headphones as he had seen similar objects before in his world, he was more curious about what he was doing with his scroll as he connected the headphones to his scroll. "What are you doing?"
"Going back to reading while listening to some music," Ren stated as he reached out and grabbed a soda and a pack of chips from Nora's pile of snacks.
However, what he didn't realize was the serious interest he was going to get in that single action. "My scroll has music?!"
Even Nora looked a bit shocked at Naruto that he didn't know that was possible. Ren simply just took it in stride and nodded. "Yes, every scroll can… Would you like me to show you how?"
"Yes!" Naruto fiddled with his pockets before pulling out his scroll and handing it to Ren, going to watch intently on Ren what was doing.
He wanted music on his portable device!
That sounded amazing!
If there was a way to relax, this was it. Naruto found something that was for him.
It was mildly amusing playing with Nora, and it was cool, he'd give her that. He didn't understand a single thing he was doing, and he was trying his best to not break the controller as just didn't know how much pressure he could put on the thing. He just couldn't keep up with Nora and he lost every fight.
Not that he expected to win. He didn't know what he was doing even after twenty fights and finally figured out how to switch styles after thirty. She was seamlessly doing it mid-combo…
It was like Naruto himself was fighting an academy student back in Konoha… With Kurama's cloak suddenly being activated in the middle of the fight.
There was never a chance of victory.
She at least let him taste victory by letting him fight low-level computers, so he felt a little accomplished… He then got stomped by the normal difficulty and realized he just didn't know how to play video games.
Now having music on his scroll…
Ren gave him an extra pair of headphones he had and he was set after he showed him the app and how it worked. He wasn't going to forget where his scroll was ever again.
Music on demand was amazing.
He hadn't found a style he liked yet but he was bouncing through it. What he had found that he liked was this odd style that was like rock but fused with several other genres and would change tempo during the song.
He swore he heard Ruby listening to songs like this before.
Boiling the water in his cup of ramen with his chakra, he let the cup set as he jammed out to the song. It was rather catchy and upbeat but then a mellow mood would kick in and then suddenly the hammer dropped and the rock slammed home with occasional computer-like noises mixed in.
Occasionally there was just random rap thrown in too.
It was just a weird but fascinating blend.
Picking up his cup of ramen using the wind to cool it so he could take a bite as he was not patient, Naruto had a big slurp of noodles in his mouth when the door slammed open and a panicked Blake stood at the front of his doorway and breathing heavily.
Blinking at the sight of Blake in desperation once more, he put down the cup of ramen, turned off the music, and took off his headphones as he noticed her distress and was worried. "Are you…"
"Come with me now," Blake growled as she knocked multiple times and had to kick the door open. "I… I need to… They know about me and the Fang…"
Without a word, Naruto pocketed his scroll, grabbed his boots, trench coat, and gear, and without even putting them on he walked over to Blake. "Lead the way."
"Blake, please wait…" Ruby stumbled out of her room as she tried to chase after as she struggled to put her boot on while holding onto her other while juggling Crescent Rose at the same time.
At hearing Ruby Blake activated her semblance and was rushing away after making a clone and Naruto wanted to curse. "Ah for the love… Ruby, I'll text."
"Wait, no, Naruto… Not again!" Ruby cried as for once she wanted to be the one to try to help her teammate but tripped trying to get her boot back on. "Ugh! Why can't I ever do anything?! I'm supposed to be the leader and my team keeps breaking! What good of a leader am I?!"
"I'm sorry! I truly am! I'll make it up to you later and I swear we'll work on this together Rose!" Naruto called out as he went after Blake.
"STOP CALLING ME THAT!"
And even with all his stuff in hand he easily caught Blake before they were outside of the building. "Would you slow the hell down?! I'd like to put on my stuff if you wouldn't mind!"
"Then take me away from here!" Blake screamed at him as did not want to be anywhere near her team right now after they dragged her across town to try and scout out the people coming to town for the festival.
The fact they were setting up this far in advance for it and people were already showing up was a little weird and he didn't like it one bit. It was still another half year before the festival was even going to start, why are people already coming in just around the midway point of the first semester they and the festival didn't start till the summertime. They had just hit spring and had it started to warm up…
He wondered how Vajo was doing.
"Fine… Grab my hand and try not to vomit." Naruto warned as he stopped in front of her and held out his hand before holding his other hand out in a single-hand seal.
Stopping in her tracks as they were just about to exit the building, Blake didn't have the time. If it meant getting out of here quickly… She took his hand…
And suddenly they were at Beacon's fountain.
Then the vertigo hit her stomach as the world spun out of control like she had been whirled around for several minutes at high velocity and could not stop. She dropped to a single knee and groaned and her eyes darted left to right as she reorientated herself and she felt like she wanted to do nothing more than vomit like Naruto had said but…
"What was that…"
"Body flicker technique," Naruto commented as he was quite impressed that Blake didn't immediately lurch and vomit into the fountain before he went to the fountain himself and sat down his put on his equipment now that he had the time. "It's a rapid transport technique that allows users to temporarily move at extreme speeds. …We just traveled halfway across Beacon in a second. That's why your body is reacting as violently as it is. It's trying to accommodate for such speed."
"The fuck… Naruto… Your powers are bullshit…" Blake groaned as put both of her hands onto the ground and tried to catch her breath. "I think I'm okay… I'm used to speed, but that is something else…"
"I used to be able to move faster without it when I had Kurama," Naruto responded and Blake's head literally snapped towards Naruto's direction with disdain and also a bit of fear at hearing that. "I was quite literally able to move faster than the speed of light as it was compared to my father's, who could bend time and space to move instantaneously when I was still wasn't even at my fastest yet and I dodged a literal lasers, even if I had a half second heads up from the guy's head movement… Now I'm probably half as fast if that."
"That is absurd…" Blake started to come to as she made it slowly back onto her feet. "I think we can start walking from here… Ruby won't… You're not texting her our location, are you?"
"Letting her know your safe with me… She's pissed at me because she can't ever be the one to do anything for anyone on her team… And she's right. It always seems to be me, and I need to step back and let her flourish." Naruto dryly commented as he let Blake know he wasn't giving her up but also know that he felt Ruby should be the one trying to solve this if it was a team matter.
Blake's bow depressed and she said nothing. Ruby was trying to help, and she had shut the younger girl out once more. But in this case, she didn't want to get her involved as it was a little more personal…
"If it was just team-related… You would be right… But when Weiss and I were arguing about faunus rights she really pissed me off as we got on the topic of the White Fang." Blake stated as they started to walk towards where the sky bus would be which led Naruto to believe that she wanted to go Vale. "I will say her points were valid… The Fang always put her family's life in jeopardy and I regret ever happened to hurt her personally, but the war her grandfather and her father started was the cause of it."
"It's like was the stronger the Fang got the more vicious he… Weiss' father in particular… and his grandfather's corporation became towards treating Faunus… He was bad before when the Fang was peaceful in our protests and events… He never gave us a chance." Blake commented darkly as it seemed she had a personal grudge against Weiss' family and explained why she had a hard time dealing with the princess.
"And no… I don't try to avoid Weiss because of it, she is her own person..." Blake started as Naruto had the thought, but she quickly shut it down. "Her views are shaped by his, unfortunately, but I think she has seen revelations that made her change already… Because she immediately apologized when I ran…"
"What made you run?"
"I told her flat out she was lying about how long they had been at war as I have always been with the Fang my entire life and my father would never approve any of those things while he was the leader and that we only turned violent when he stepped down as we were tired of being pushed around by her grandfather and father's greedy and corrupt organization," Blake stated as held her head low. "When I realized what I said I… Ran and came straight for you."
"Okay… That would do it." Naruto rubbed his temple but understood his plight as he knew Blake was in a predicament. "Okay what started this? I know I got the text from you that movie night would have to be pushed back because Weiss got it into her that she wanted to instead do some scouting on those who would be coming for the Vytal festival… Why are they coming in this early and setting up may I ask? We just hit spring?"
"The tournament is just the finale. The festival really starts kicking off late spring during April so setting up now in March makes sense and a few early birds make sense if they come from further out... Or are stow-aways like the faunus Weiss caught." Blake explained as that was a normal thing.
Naruto twitched. Of course, there would be other events. He was just focused on the thing he was interested in. However… "Weiss caught a hunter in training faunus…?
"He slipped up badly… And tripped on this weird girl named Penny." Blake admitted as that was the whole experience. "So, she yelled at him for ten minutes… Sun Wukong I think was his name… Tried hitting on me… Wasn't impressed and told him I have a boyfriend… Sorry. Pissed Weiss off though so… Bonus?"
"Use what works, I'm not one to judge." Naruto shrugged as he didn't care before looking at the airbus. "Are we really going to Vale… We're looking for the Fang aren't we?"
"Yes… That's why I asked you to come with me." Blake stated as the opening to the airbus opened as they made it on time for the last one of the night. "I need to do this… So can I finish the story to explain why?"
"Yeah… Let me make a change." Naruto sighed as he walked onto the bus with Blake before taking off his trench coat, pulling out a scroll and sealing his coat into it before pulling out a pitch-black body-length cloak that covered his entire body, clasped it so he almost looked like the reaper himself before sitting next to Blake.
Blake was a little startled by this wardrobe change before Naruto flipped the hood. "To keep me from being discovered… I'm a celebrity now thanks to Ozpin, remember?"
"Right… I forgot…" Blake growled as the memory of last night came up. "Continuing, I was getting offended by how she was going on, so I decided to defend him anyways and let him off the hook and go as all he did was be a stow away on the boat, no harm no foul. Ruby and Yang agreed… Then we dealt with Penny who… Was unique and now is Ruby's… Friend."
"Why does everything you say about her make me worry?" Naruto questioned.
"Because I don't think she was alive, but I could feel aura from her… I was confused. Then the way she talked… I… She freaked me out." Blake admitted as she just did not know how to handle Penny.
"Okay, robot girl in town. Need more information." Naruto wrote in his book that Blake had not seen in forever.
"Good to see that back… Guess we are going to be doing a lot of intel gathering." Blake said with a grin.
"Yeah…"
"So finally, we came to a Dust store that had been robbed… And that is where everything started going wrong." Blake's mood soured.
"Weiss blamed the Fang?" Naruto stated as he figured as much at this point.
"Yeah… Ruby even mentioned it probably wasn't them as she dealt with the guy most likely responsible…"
"Roman Torchwick," Naruto stated as he wrote the name down in his book.
"How do you know that?" Blake questioned as she looked at her partner in this mission incredulously. "I mean she loves telling stories and everything, so I guess it isn't so surprising, but she doesn't know his name."
"I investigated the situation myself and been tracking him personally… As I was interested at first in how Ruby got into Beacon early but then seeing this guy's track record, I realized there might be something more, and the more I dug… I think there could be something here." Naruto pulled out some, questionably legal files.
"Where did you… Not going to ask." Blake decided it was best she didn't know the answer.
"He had always been able to pull off amazing heists, but he has never been able to do things on this scale and this frequently before until recently. His records don't make sense on why he suddenly jumped from committing coordinating thefts every month to every week with armed goons backing him… It is as if someone is backing him but why now suddenly? Naruto explained before quickly putting the files back as Blake got a good look.
"That is strange… But it would not be the Fang. They would never work with a human." Blake stated as she knew them too well.
"Never say never, Blake," Naruto stated and he noted Blake's eyes narrow as she didn't want to believe the fang would work with a guy like this, so he decided to explain. "I think there is someone behind him, I don't think is the Fang either, but I would be surprised if the Fang is involved as well. What resource are we talking about here?"
"The most precious resource in the land…" Blake took a deep breath and growl realizing there was a possibility and she hated it. "But what do you mean there is possibly someone behind him?"
Taking out his scroll, Naruto grinned. "I stole a video from Ozpin without him knowing."
Blake's eyes widened. He didn't. Okay, he did but why?
"It's of what Ruby did when she earned her way into Beacon, so I was curious and found there was extra footage… Of when she chased Roman to a Bullhead and Glynda arrived to save the day… Now watch what happens."
Naruto handed over his scroll and Blake played the video and as played. "What the fuck… That isn't a semblance! That's almost like it's your chakra… They're using pure fire."
"It's not, I can tell you that. It's something else altogether because whoever it is also using their own semblance during it as you could see." Naruto added and Blake nodded in agreement as she saw the glass arrow. "So that person protected Torchwick from Glynda… So, there is another player involved in this and I think they work for the void."
"But that is the best evidence I got, and I don't know what else to go on." Naruto sighed as he took his scroll back. "So, we're going to have to start from scratch and figure out where they're going to hit the next score of dust."
"Great…" Blake sighed as she didn't have a clue before she realized Naruto was making a call. "What are you…"
"Oz… I'm taking the Roman Hunt. Bringing Blake Belladonna with me as backup. I expect it can take any from two to five days so have us excused from class for that amount of time. Hurricane out." Naruto relayed his message to the school headmaster. "Covering for both of us and giving us an out considering despite tomorrow being Sunday the next few days are school days. Also, you now get paid."
"I… Didn't even think about that…" Blake's bow flattened at the realization she was just so focused on proving the Fang were innocent and helping Naruto on his goal that she forgot about schoolwork. "Wait, I get paid?"
"I am a Huntsmen. I declared you as backup. Unfortunately, it isn't full price and is a significantly lesser portion but still a portion as you are only in-training, but it is something. I think it is ten percent." Naruto grinned as cracked his knuckles before showing Blake Roman's bounty reward. "However, I do believe Roman has quite the bounty for bringing him in."
"That's so much… How have no Huntsmen brought him in?!" Blake looked in shock.
"He's been tough to catch, and I think he has more than one guardian angel so we're about to find out." Naruto looked at Vale as closed in. "So do you want to start tonight or share a room?"
"Let's get started.' Blake answered as she was ready for this as she looked at the city of Vale with determination. "I've done this many times before and can work days on end if need be…"
"No," Naruto stated as looked at Blake. "If we're going to start tonight, then we are doing this my way. We work afternoons and nights and sleep in the mornings. We search for them at night and information gather in the afternoons while we sleep in the mornings to gain our strength."
Taking a moment Blake realized it made sense and nodded. "Criminals use the dark to shield themselves, most people get off work if they have regular jobs, in the afternoons and trying to unwind so the morning Is the best time to regain our strength…"
"You caught on fast." Naruto grinned as he flipped his hood and felt the bus land. "Ready."
"Let's do this."
And as the door opened, Blake and Naruto entered Vale as they hunted for one Roman Torchwick.
File Corrupted.
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Restarting.
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File Restoration Initializing.