The roukage- Yeah, to be perfectly honest the reason that these chapters are so short is that I'm not very good at extending scenes as far as I'd like to, so things end up like this. It's something I'll try to improve on. I'll ask someone I know for help, since they're a writer too.

After 6

The sound that accompanied the horned man's hand as it pierced through Madara's chest was brief, but for the likes of Ruby and Yang, it was as heart-squeezing as it was long to be forgotten. All else that filled their ears was a high pitched ring, as their brains paused to process what just happened. Madara's eyes were wide open, allowing the girls to see that he had a Rinnegan of his own, just as Ruby did. Blood was beginning to leak from the wound and Madara's mouth, wetting the horned man's pale white arm.

"You confound me greatly, human sir. To see such massive chakra in one person, it is unusual even in my clan, but you allowed yourself this fate instead of using that power. Are all humans gifted with power cursed with incompetence too?" The man asked, as if he were expecting some kind of reply.

Neither Ruby nor Yang heard anything he said, however. After what he did, all the two could see was red, in both a figurative and literal sense. Yang was mere moments from exploding into a storm of violence and destruction, and Ruby wasn't far behind her. Before the day was done she would see her brother's killer's head removed from their shoulders. But as the anger in their heads reached the rest of their bodies, their eyes filled with orange too.

Madara'a body seemed to turn several colors of orange, red, and yellow. His shape became hazy and less defined, before he disappeared completely. Where Madara stood, still and impaled, there was a mass of fire that engulfed the horned man completely. It seemed similar to the doppelganger that Ruby created, but instead of smoke, the clone of Madara burst into flames.

"Gaah! W-what is thi-" He shouted, feeling the flames coat his skin and the insides of his mouth, but he was cut off when something launched into his side.

Someone's leg dug into his abdomen, either ignoring or accepting the risk the fire posed, and sent him off the side of the ship like he was trash. He looked like some sort of malfunctioning firework as he fell, and after several seconds, the sound of his voice and the crackling cut abruptly. He made a rather large splash when he hit the water below as well as a puff of steam. Four large blue magatama followed him into the water, each making a much larger splash than he did. After a few seconds, it became clear that he wasn't surfacing, and promptly the ship continued on its journey without a moment's delay.

The person responsible for his ejection, of course, was an alive and hole-less Madara. His clothes were a little bit torn in some places and he had a few cuts, but they were practically not noticeable by comparison. Like his doppelganger, his left eye was the Rinnegan. His other eye was as black as Ruby remembered it, or maybe a little bit lighter. It didn't matter, not to her, not in the slightest. Yang certainly felt the same, and they both demonstrated it as they simultaneously lunged at Madara.

Much like the brick wall they knew him to be, Madara didn't move an inch even when they threw their weight at him. But their goal wasn't to knock him over. In fact, they were rather glad that he was still the same as he was before, at least for this moment. Though, after a few seconds, they felt Madara's hands on their backs, reciprocating at least an ounce of the emotions they felt as they embraced their brother. Though, his hands felt unsteady against their backs, as if he was uncertain of what to do for what was probably the first time ever.

"We missed you." Yang said, squeezing her siblings as tightly as she could like she was trying to crush them.

"I know." He replied with his usual flat and socially awkward tone.

After a few more seconds, Madara removed his hands from them, and waited for them to release him in turn. As a matter of fact, they did not. For another few seconds they continued to embrace him. It wasn't something he particularly minded, but it was also something he hadn't experienced as far as he could remember, and he didn't exactly know when was a good time to pry them off of him. So he waited for about another minute, before they finally let go of him. He was glad, somewhat, that they did so of their own volition.

Finally, they took a long look at their brother. They hadn't seen him in years, and didn't exactly have a good chance earlier. He was taller, to nobody's surprise, and a little more muscular. His hair was the shortest it'd been since childhood, and only reached his shoulders instead of his waist. His clothes were plain and simple, as they always were. Obviously his sense of fashion was as dull as his battle senses were sharp, as was always the case.

There were many things they both wanted to say, of course, so many questions in so many directions that they could rattle on all day. But their unexpected early reunion threw them both off schedule. In fact, Ruby didn't even once think about how she was going to open up with her list of things to say. But at the moment, what stood out the most was that he was alone.

"Where's Weiss?" Ruby spoke first, squinting off into the distance as if she expected to see Weiss somewhere in the sky.

"Waiting at Seal Harbor." He answered. "In case that guy wasn't alone."

"Do you know him? Ruby said he has chakra just like you do." Yang asked, somewhat demanding. "And he was good enough to fight you that much too."

"I don't know." Madara said, and somehow, that answer got a serious reaction from both of the sisters, as if they came across something incredibly rare or thought to be impossible.

"You… you don't know?" Ruby asked.

"I've never met him before. His eyes are one thing, but no more." Madara clarified. To say he didn't know them was accurate, but to say he had zero clue was not.

Many of the man's features, most of them actually, were quite distantly familiar. The last battle that Madara fought as the Jinchuuriki of the Ten Tails and owner of both of the Rinnegan; the battle he fought as, what he thought himself to be, the savior of his world. His final struggle in his world was against a godlike woman named Kaguya Otsutsuki, the mother of the Sage of Six Paths. She too had pale skin, the Byakugan, and enormous levels of chakra that few humans could ever come close to on their own. Regardless, the connection between them was beyond his scope of knowledge. Madara never talked to the horned man, nor was there even an opportunity to do so.

While he and Weiss were traveling towards Patch, Madara sensed them rapidly approaching Ruby and Yang, and when he made his presence known, the man switched targets from them to him. That led to exactly where the three of them stood now. Madara told them at least that much, in the process barring mention of Kaguya and the greater details of his world. As he conclusively put it, if the Kaguya-like man was from his world, he must have been from a time before or after Madara's.

"Do you think he survived that fall?" Ruby asked, glancing back at the water far behind them.

"Yes, but it won't matter. I'm stronger than him." Madara answered ever so confidently.

"Yeah, but what about everyone who isn't as strong as you?" Yang retorted with a playful smirk.

"They should stay out of the way." He promptly fired back, causing Yang's smile to become crooked.

"Oh, that's right!" Ruby said before running towards the head of the ship. She stopped just at the edge, and kept staring out into the distance they were soon to cross. She could see more than just blue seas and skies. She could see Patch from where they were. She could see the larger forests and the hills she and her family used to try to hike up and down. Yang and Madara found places to stand beside her, and joined in admiring the island's beauty. The ship slowed down noticeably to let Ruby and Yang handle whatever was happening topside, which meant it was taking longer than it needed to to reach Patch.

"Let's get back inside and tell the captain." Ruby suggested.

"You go on ahead Ruby. Tell them I'm going to keep watch for anything else that tries to bother us for a few more minutes." Yang suggested, patting Ruby on the back just hard enough to move her a little bit.

"Oh, uh, alright then." Ruby replied, and walked her way back towards the special door they used to get out in the first place.

Meanwhile Yang focused on her ears and waited to hear the door open and then close. When she was sure it did, she sighed deeply. She sat down on the roof and slouched forward, straightening her arms against the metal platform. To her surprise, though she didn't visibly react, he sat down as well. His legs were crossed, as compared to hers which dangled off the edge. They soon felt the ship start to accelerate, as the wind brushed past them faster than before. On rough estimation there was another 5 minutes or so before they touched down.

"Those big tailed things. You found them all now, right?" Yang asked. Naturally, she read the letter right after Ruby did, so she was fully aware of what Madara had left to do.

Madara glanced down at himself, feeling the many different chakra signatures that swirled within him. There were nine of them, moving and acting independently of each other, and one seal existed for securing each and every one of them.

"Yes, I did. All of them have been sealed now." He answered, although not without some frustration in his voice. The seal he created to hold each of them wasn't nearly as refined as one created by the Uzumaki clan, and he couldn't draw power from the tailed beasts without their seldom granted permission. Combined with the fact that he couldn't summon the Gedo Statue, and the fact that he could hear all of their voices, Madara was far from pleased. Although it was a small pleasure for the beasts inside of him.

"Well… That's good news… Ruby, Blake and I graduated over a year ago. We're fully fledged huntresses now."

Suddenly, Yang heard a faint popping sound, and turned her head to see Madara staring at her. His eyes were wide and his mouth hung ever so slightly open, for no apparent reason. He had a mix of shock and disbelief on his face, because of what Yang said, as if he couldn't believe what she said to be true. She must have been lying, was the sort of thought that would accompany the face he was making.

"Oh you jerk!" Yang shouted, although clearly it lacked any kind of weight. She looked around for anything there was to throw at him, quite literally, but sadly found herself without ammo. "Least you could do is congratulate us… wait a minute, when did you get a sense of humor? Who's the poor sap you stole it from?"

"There was never a time for it before." He replied quickly.

Yang shook her head defiantly. "Now that's a flat out lie right there. You've always just been more of a stickler than even Weiss was at her worst. Did she somehow level you out or something?"

Madara didn't answer her. He just continued to look towards Patch as the ship began its descent. Another two minutes, and they'd be at the docking bay.

"I hope you're ready, Madara. You have a lot of questions coming your way, especially from Ruby. She's been wanting to know more about how her magic eyes work, and you're the only person who could tell her. And that's only a small thing she has waiting for you."

"What does she know?" Madara asked curious.

"Well, why not ask her later? She'd love that." Yang remarked. As the ship was just about to land, Yang got to her feet. She was about to offer her hand to Madara, but then watched as he pushed himself off of the rooftop and towards the docking platform a few stories below. After watching him fall for a few seconds, and making an incredulous face, Yang decided to follow in his proverbial footsteps, and dove off of the ship with all of the grace of a fireball.

On the bright side, since they were already so close to the ground before jumping, nothing broke or was broken by her impact. She landed on her feet without any issue, save for the attention she immediately drew towards the two of them. There were around 50 or so civilians in the area, most of which were boarding and emerging from the other two airbuses present. Some others were simply sitting on benches or buying tickets from the transit terminals. Further inside of the main building of the harbor, there were multiple holographic displays dispersed throughout. Each of them showed a map of Remnant, as well as travel routes and times to and from places like Vale and Vacuo. Of course, considering the distances meant that transport to the former was far more common than the latter. Yang's sudden entrance brought a momentary pause to most of the activity, but it didn't last for long. Most people could tell based on behavior that she was a huntress, or at least not a regular civilian, and thus continued on their merry ways.

Before long, their diving board finally landed, and the bay door opened to release the passengers. Ruby was one of the first to exit the ship, and with a wide smile on her face she welcomed herself home for the first time in years. She could still smell the ocean where she stood, although somewhat muted by the smells of various foods being served here and what seemed to be some loose dust powder. She didn't stand around for too long, since she noticed her brother and sister already walking further into the main building.

Under the cover of shade, the air was noticeably cooler when they entered than what it was outside, even though there wasn't any real separation between them. The massive doors were wide open, and remained so all day until sundown. The air conditioning was thanks to a number of lantern-shaped devices that were distributed uniformly around the building. They used ice dust to chill the air around them, like a reverse heater. A boiler room could be turned into a freezer with them, in theory at least. The only issue with them was the inability to modulate their cooling rate with anything other than adding or removing more units.

With their collective 6 eyes they skimmed through the innards of the building. They looked to the seats and shops, the crowds, the terminals and computers, anything that was out in the open. Wherever Weiss was, she couldn't be seen with the naked eye. Though, it didn't take much longer to find her. They noticed a crowd forming at the inner left corner, like something was happening. Of course, something was indeed happening. Despite being quite far away from the commotion, their trained ears could effortlessly pick up on the sounds of metal clicking and clacking, and mechanisms moving into different places. That was followed by a few frightened screams, as the crowd dispersed somewhat. Enough people ran for their lives that all three could see what scared them so much. There was a lair of guys standing side by side, weapons drawn and trained on one person. That one person was none other than Weiss. Her hair was a bit shorter, up to her biceps, but still tied up by a ponytail. Her rapier wasn't drawn, and remained bolstered at her side.

But as happy as the girls were to have spotted her, there was a more pressing matter than just her presence. Weiss was about to be attacked and that was plenty for them to spring into action. Yang activated her gauntlets and soon reached the effective firing range while Ruby kept moving. But when Ruby finally stopped in front of Weiss, she found that the two guys were down on the floor, breathing but unconscious. For a moment, Ruby saw chakra moving through Weiss's arms, something she didn't have before.

Questions could wait, though. First things first, and that entailed doing the thing Weiss hated most of all: a bear hug.

"Weiiiiss!" Ruby cheered, squeezing the life out of her bestie like she was an anaconda. Weiss was ill prepared for the reaction, and found herself quickly suffocating.

"Ghh! R-Ruby! Let. Go. Ofme!" Weiss struggled to utter, but was nevertheless ignored. Ruby had to make up for all the missed opportunities from Weiss not being around, and she was doing that now. To Weiss' chagrin, Yang soon followed. Although in Yang's case, she was more so doing it because Ruby was, and little else. They slowly but surely squeezed the life out of her, laughing all the while, and nobody was going pastto stop them. Meanwhile, security soon arrived to secure the situation and subsequently detain the troublemakers. Traffic was allowed to resume, and a few more airbuses were soon to land.


"Come ooon, I said sorry." Ruby whined at Weiss, or more accurately the back of her head, as they walked. Weiss merely huffed, in typical Weiss fashion, and refused to give Ruby even a single word.

"Heh, I guess some things never change." Yang said, smugly. "We're just happy to see you after all this time, you know." She said, somewhat more serious.

"And I am too," Weiss replied, "But I can't just let that show of yours' slide. There were so many people staring at us, and if you two weren't already crushing me to death, I would've died from the embarrassment."

"Why were those guys attacking you, anyways?" Ruby asked.

Of course, Weiss remained silent when it was Ruby who was trying to talk to her, which caused Ruby to frown, but after a few seconds, she'd gotten herself over it.

"Well, one of them thought I was pretty, the other wanted to be a wingman, and both of them couldn't take a hint. I don't know how either of them managed to graduate from a Hunters Academy." She answered.

"Like you're one to talk." Yang retorted. "You up and vanished, remember? You aren't an actual huntress yet."

"T-that's beside the point! We all know I could pass any exam they put in front of me. I'm a lot stronger than I was before, in every way. I could even beat a headmaster in their prime while sleeping if I wanted to."

"Yeah yeah. I see that our ice queen is as chill and laid back as I remember." Yang said dismissively. Weiss scoffed at the remark, and Ruby was left clueless as to what to do or who to side with. As was typical, when hot and cold met before her. Just like those many times before, Ruby couldn't help but smile. But this time, instead of confusion, her smile was filled with satisfaction at getting to see something she missed.

Her enjoyment was only going to keep growing, as based on the given time, it was only a few hours before Blake arrived too. Having everyone back together excited her heart and soul alike, and the thought alone kept her mind off of the constant ringing in her pocket.

END