Chapter 5: A Battle for the Future

Ruby watched as Taiyang slowly prowled towards her, his arms up in his familiar sparring style. She glanced towards Naruto, eyes wide.

"C'mon, Ruby!" Yang cried out, glaring at her father. 'Damn, he really doesn't want her going to Beacon! Asshole!'

Naruto closed his eyes, leaning back. Ruby turned back to her father, tears beginning to appear.

'He's… given up on me.' she thought to herself, letting her arms fall. Yang, seeing this, turns to Naruto.

"Hey! Why aren't you cheering her on?! Don't you want her to go to Beacon with us?!" Yang snarls, grabbing Naruto's cloak hem.

Naruto opens his eyes, and shakes his head. "No! You don't get it, I know Ruby can do this. I know for a fact that she can win."

Yang is sceptical. "This… this is my DAD. I've never beaten him before, at least in a straight fight. And he fought with Uncle Qrow for years, so he knows Ruby's style inside and out!"

Naruto smiles smugly. "Ah, but I've taught her this past week. Trust me, she's got some tricks up her sleeve. It took some work, but I got her the necessary gear."

"What gear?" Yang asks, "Did you get her some Dust for her weapon?"

Naruto waves his hand dismissively. "If there's one thing I've learned as a Shinobi, it's that you must employ the Rule of Four."

"What's the Rule of Four? And what's a Shinobi?"

"A Shinobi… I'll explain that later. However, the Rule of Four is quite simple. Deception, Shock, Awe and Fear can change a battle entirely, even more so than raw power. What flashy techniques you use matters less than the history behind each one, and what you using them represents."

Yang is confused. "So… you taught her some historical combat technique?"

"No. I instructed her in the use of two of the Four. I taught her Deception and Fear. Although I doubt she can scare her father since she's his daughter, she can definitely deceive him."

Yang turns back to Ruby, seeing her frozen against Taiyang, who hasn't moved closer to her.

Taiyang frowns. "Ruby, do you really want to go to Beacon? If you can't even work up the nerve to fight me, then you definitely need more time." he comments, drawing a glare from Yang. Naruto, hearing this, calls out.

"Ruby!" she glances at him. "Don't keep me waiting, I wanna go get lunch!"

Ruby smiles brightly, and turning towards Taiyang, takes out her scythe. To Yang, she may as well have been a lightning bolt for all that she could see. A flash of red, and Ruby's crouching behind Taiyang, her Crescent Rose already slicing downwards, a veritable mountain of force behind it. Taiyang turns with wide eyes.

'Her Semblance? So soon? I thought I taught her better than to rely on it…' he grumbles mentally, as he prepares to grab the shaft supporting Crescent Rose. With a flicker only picked up after the fact, Ruby's hand flies at Taiyang's face. With a groan, he's lifted off his feet and sent careening through the air, before he touches down a solid thirty meters from Ruby, who's smiling grimly.

"Holy shit!" Yang cries, seeing Ruby punch almost as hard as her. "Since when could Rubes punch like that?!"

Naruto answers. "She's channeling Aura into her fist, then releasing it right when she impacts her target. The Aura flows through the target, blasting it with extreme force." he thinks back to the last time he saw this technique. 'Sakura… while Ruby's nowhere near as good as you at this technique, since she has half of her Chakra, she knows how to use it like a Shinobi.'

"Huh? That sounds like really advanced Aura Manipulation. Did you teach her that?"

"Well, I tried teaching her a different technique, but it was… too difficult for her. She might be able to do it someday, but for now she can do this. However, it comes at a cost."

"What cost? Seems great to me!"

Naruto frowns. "Check her Aura." he commands.

Yang flips out her scroll, flipping to Ruby's Aura. It's down twenty percent!

"Oh. So this ability drains a lot of Aura to use, huh."

"Yes. I told her only to use this a maximum of three times in a battle, and only if she needs to. Otherwise, she'll exhaust her Aura."

Yang nods, returning her attention to the fight.

Taiyang brushes himself off, looking shocked at Ruby's strength. He calls out to her, smiling.

"Well, I must admit I didn't see that coming. Although, you still didn't manage to land a hit with your scythe, so it seems like it was a waste." he sighs sadly, disappointed with Ruby's attack.

'Heh, he doesn't know I didn't mean to hit him with that. Now that I've hit him though, I can use the other thing Naruto taught me…' Ruby smiles wider, before reaching into one of her new pouches. Taiyang looks on in interest.

"Gonna bring out the Dust, huh? Well, time to get serious." he comments, flaring his Aura in a burst of green-tinged yellow. Ruby smiles again, before pulling her hand from her pouch. In it are nestled two small yellow-brown paper balls. With a flick, she tosses them on the ground and purple smoke fills the field.

"What the hell?! Why's Ruby done that?!" Yang roars.

"So that Mr. Xiao Long can't see her…" Naruto replies, already smiling beatifically.

"Yeah, but she can't see him!"

Naruto smirks. "I taught her something that I only recently learned; it's called the Chakra Marking Jutsu, but you can just say that it locks onto someone's Aura, and lets you sense them when they're within one hundred meters of you." he whispers to Yang.

Yang's eyes widen as she looks into the smoke. 'That means…'

Taiyang was confused. He had no idea Ruby could be so sneaky, but this strategy was childish. It merely forced them into a stalemate. He couldn't get to her, but she couldn't find him. It was infuriating to him that Naruto would waste a week teaching her how to tie!

With a growl, he started walking through the smoke. He'd reach the edge very quickly.

He suddenly feels a powerful force impact his chest, with a thunderous crack soons following. Thankfully, his Aura protected him, but he felt himself fall backwards. With a growl, he looked around, but was still unable to see anything.

'That was Ruby's sniper… but where is she? And how can she see me?' he thinks, looking around. With a grunt, he leaps into the air, hoping to clear the smoke. As he rises however, he begins to feel lightheaded. With a small grunt, he begins to sink back down, crashing into the ground.

'Crap, what was that? I… feel so weak.' Again, he hears to crack of Ruby's sniper, and he feels the bullet smash into his ribcage, which his Aura once more blocked. He moans, dragging out his scroll.

He's at thirty four percent of his Aura. He glances down at Ruby, who's still sitting pretty at seventy five percent, more than double his own. However, as he looks at his scroll, he notices that his Aura is being depleted.

'What? Why's my Aura being depleted? Unless…' he glances around, and opening his mouth, tastes the smoke. Immediately, his Aura plummets five percent.

'Damn, it's poison. No wonder my Aura's so low. Can't breathe it in, it's weakening me and draining my Aura.'

With wide eyes, he covers his mouth, charging out in the smoke.

CRACK! The sound of the sniper echoes throughout the poison cloud, knocking him forwards. Taiyang barely catches himself, looking at his scroll.

'Gods dammit! My Aura dropped ten percent just from that! I'll be in the red soon!'

With Naruto and Yang...

"Soooo… Ruby's shooting Dad, and he can't see her?" Yang questions, hearing the sound of her sisters sniper firing shot after shot.

"Yeah, and each shot drains his Aura. I guess since you aren't fighting, I can tell you. The smokescreen is actually an anesthetic which puts people who inhale it to sleep. Since Mr. Xiao Long's been in there for more than a minute, he'll either have fallen asleep, or his Aura will be trying to heal him. Problem is, each shot from Ruby's sniper makes his Aura stop healing him, and prioritizes stopping the bullet, which makes him more sleepy, and drains his Aura even more." Naruto explains, amusement ringing in his voice.

Yang looks down at the now revealed poisonous cloud. "Really? Wow, that's devious. That would have definitely beaten me…" she says.

"Take a look at your Dad's Aura." Naruto recommends, after hearing another sniper round going off. Yang heeds his suggestion, looking at her scroll.

"Hot DAMN! Dad's at twelve percent now!" she exclaims, "That knocks him out according to Tournament Rules!"

Naruto nods grimly. "Yes, but he never said what the rules were before starting this fight."

Yang catches on. "He thought he could win without determining the point." she realizes, growling slightly. 'That idiot.'

"Yeah. If Ruby were to stop now, he'd come out and say to keep fighting. It's better for him to have no excuses for why he lost, and no reason to stop her. If she fought him in the open, he'd complain about something, even though she's clearly won."

Yang nods, looking back at the cloud. "So? What should we do?"

Naruto smiles. "One more round from Crescent Rose will knock his Aura down to around one percent. Ruby's checking her scroll after every shot, I told her to. She'll not shoot him then, she'll just wait for the poison to knock him out.

Sure enough, another round echoes through the forest, and then a few seconds later Ruby blurs in front of them.

"Well," she says hoarsely, "Dad's at less than one percent of his Aura. The cloud should stop him now."

With Taiyang…

He felt that last shot destroy most of his remaining Aura. Checking his scroll, he saw that he was at one percent of his full Aura capacity.

'Well, that's unfortunate.' he thinks sourly, before looking around deep in thought. 'Wait a minute… what if…' Opening his mouth, he shouts out.

"QROW! I know you're out there you bastard! Get out of here! I don't need you interfering with this!" he bellows angrily, inhaling a large amount of smoke, which sends him tumbling to the ground.

'Crap.' was his last thought, before darkness took him.

In the House…

Taiyang groaned as he came to. "What… the hell?"

"Hey Dad!" a cheerful voice greets him. Looking over his shoulder, he gazes at Yang, who's sitting on the couch across from him.

"How ya doing?" she asks, smiling brighty. Taiyang thinks.

"I feel like I've run to Vacuo and back… Gods, what happened?" he demands.

"Well, you got clobbered by Rubes!" Yang smiles benignly, crossing her arms. "You deserved it too, Dad. Changing the rules at the last minute? Not cool."

Taiyang hangs his head. "I… just don't want Ruby out there. Not yet. She's not ready, she's still too young!" he ends shouting, his eyes wild and full of fear.

Yang is shocked. "Is this… about mum?" she asks carefully as Taiyang buries his head in his hands.'

"Summer… was the strongest person I knew. She was kind, wise, and a hero. But she went out there, and she never came back. I won't let Ruby go as well."

"Why would you let me then?" Yang demands, reaching towards him, "Is it because I'm older, like you said, or because my mom's not dead?"

Taiyang looks up at Yang, his eyes moist with unshed tears. "Raven… was powerful, unimaginably so. But she was broken inside, like a broken sword. She was rigid, unbending, and in the end she snapped. You are different. When I look at you, I don't see her anymore. You're just like me." he finishes sadly.

Yang thinks for a few seconds. "You're… afraid Ruby's too much like mum, aren't you? You think she'll try and be a hero, and die. You think I'll run, like Raven!" she starts crying, only for Taiyang to grab her arm, pulling her down, and looking directly into her eyes with a fire she's never seen.

"You are not like Raven! I just said you're like me, that's why I know you'll be alright." he explains.

"W-what?" Yang sniffles.

Taiyang smiles, rubbing her eyes. "You won't ever leave your team. Raven left, and Qrow went after her and on secret missions. I had to take care of you, and then Ruby, and Summer supported this family with Huntress missions on her own. What I mean is, everyone on my team left their family, at least for a little bit, and fought. And Raven has become a bandit leader who's tribe murders villagers, and pillages across Mistral. Summer died, and Qrow… well, you know about him."

Yang nods sadly. She and Ruby had always wondered how amazing their Uncle would be sober. If he was on their Dad's level drunk, imagining him sober was terrifying!

"Anyways," Taiyang continues, "As long as you stay with your team, you'll be fine. People who leave, and go off on quests and goals of their own, always end up losing in the end. That's why I can't let Ruby leave, not until she knows that she can't always be the hero."

Yang looks at him, and right before she can agree, a voice cuts in.

"That's stupid." They both swivel to see Naruto standing at the door, wearing his Akatsuki Cloak, with his Forehead Protector missing for some reason.

Naruto walks in, his arms crossed behind his back. "You should always strive to be a hero. It's not a normal person who can change the world, it takes thousands, maybe tens of thousands, of heroes working together. And even one single hero can bring them together." he concludes, standing at the base of the couch, looking down on Taiyang, who's struck by how inspiring Naruto looks framed with sunlight.

"Ruby won her bout despite all the odds, and dreams of changing the world. She wants to be a hero, and the only people who try to stop a hero are the villains. What you need to ask yourself, Mr. Xiao Long, is whether or not you're a villain, or a hero."

Taiyang looks over at Yang, who's enraptured by Naruto's speech. Looking back at Naruto, he answers…

Author's Note::

Cliffhanger again! I didn't realize how easy it was to end a chapter like this!

Sorry for how short the chapter is, but exams are coming up and I won't update until February. Till then, have a nice month! Oh, the pairing has been decided (until I change my mind).

I'd like to thank the Wind Dragon Master for his great review! I'll try to incoroporate what you suggested!

Thanks to the Tigerof2000 for his compliments! I'd like to do challenges, but don't think anyone would write them, so I'll wait before trying that out. That said, if anyone wants some ideas I have, I can post em in the next AN if I get a review asking for them!

To Chronosign: … I mean, I hope this chapter clears that up for you? I didn't intend to write him that way…

ChunkyFunkyMunky: Don't worry, it's not possible. They can do exactly HALF of what a Shinobi can do. For example, they can only do shape manipulation. That's it. Nature manipulation comes from Semblances, from what I've decided. They can shape their Aura, but since it's hard to increase the amount you have, it's not worth doing things that drain a lot of it.

For Silence of Mind: I actually don't want to get to Beacon for a while. The reason the last chapter felt a bit rushed was probably because I was trying to get it out right after winter break ended, before school picked back up. Now I'll be doing smaller chapters until exams are done (hinting towards my Biggest Chapter Yet coming out on the 29th!)

Lastly, thanks to everyone for the encouragement! I always love reading a review that says they love my story, and that's what keeps me writing.

Happy New Year,

-Pad