Awesome Ten-Tails here with chapter 14 of RWBY and NKLS, now originally this chapter was going to be a lot longer, I was going to do the entire Fall of Beacon, but I was starting to get burned out, so I stopped at a comfortable spot.
I do not own RWBY or Naruto, they are owned by Rooster Teeth and Masashi Kishimoto respectively.
Enjoy the chapter.
We see team NKLS and SYKT walking out of the stadium after they rested up a bit and were cleared. When they get outside they see RWBY, JNPR, CFVY, along with Sun and Neptune who are looking at the two teams astonished. "What?" Sasuke asks annoyed.
"What do you mean, what?! This is the closest your team has ever been to losing!" Sun says.
"It's not a big deal, we may be unbeatable in Haven, but this isn't Haven, there are probably a few teams that could have tied with us similarly to team NKLS, or even beaten us. Also if we didn't have these marks, we would have lost." Kabuto says, and Sasuke, Kimimaro, and Tayuya nod their heads.
"Either way we're done here, back to our room for the night." Sasuke says. "Oh, Uzumaki." He says.
"What?" Naruto asks.
"… …Good fight, and if they're truly where your strength comes from …keep them close to your heart." Sasuke says walking away with a smirk.
"Damn you got a fucking compliment out of him, that never fucking happens!" Tayuya says surprised, as she and Kabuto leave.
"Contrary to what he said during the fight, Sasuke is quite protective of those he cares about." Kimimaro says leaving as well.
"So… you were in control right?" Weiss asks.
"Yes Snowflake, I was in control, the truth of the cloak is I can use it, it's not completely uncontrollable. I just don't like to use it, because while using it I'm more likely to lose control, since I get angry easier. Also before you ask, I have no idea how I did that thing with the ball of energy. While I'm in control of myself, my power still has its own kind of sentience." Naruto says.
*Yawn* "They have the right idea, I'm fucking tired." Kiba says.
"So why'd you lose control before?" Lee asks.
"Lee at the point that I lost control, I was pissed at my own weakness, way beyond pissed from everything that had gone wrong up to that point, and at that point." Naruto says, then looking away blushing. "Ruby and Weiss were in danger because of me." He says, making the two of them blush. "Anyway I agree with Kiba, I think we all need to rest since all of you are still in the festival, Double matches are tomorrow right?" Naruto asks, and they start heading back to Beacon.
"Yeah." Ruby says.
"So who're you guys going to put up?" Velvet asks.
"We're putting up Weiss and Yang." Blake says.
"Ren and Pyrrha." Jaune says.
"We're putting up Yatsu and Coco." Alistair says.
"If you passed who would your team have put up?" Velvet asks.
"If we passed, we would have put up Kiba and Shikamaru." Naruto says.
[Next Day]
We find NKLS, RWBY, JNPR, GSSP (Gasp( Gaara, Temari, Kankuro and Penny)), FV, and surprisingly Menma are watching Coco and Yatsuhashi, fighting against Emerald and Mercury. "I understand that I've been cooperative, but isn't it against protocol for a prisoner to keep their weapon?" Menma asks confused.
"It's because you've been so cooperative that you're being allowed to keep your weapon, since if you were to run into anyone who knew you from the White Fang, you could defend yourself." Gaara says.
"Either way, the General isn't too finicky about this, since you're currently surrounded by Huntsman, Huntresses, and some pretty strong Students." Kankuro says.
"Well Ironwood doesn't have to worry about the White Fang sending someone after me, cause one, only three people with ties to the Fang even know what I look like and my real name, and two Sienna isn't stupid enough to send anyone after me. She knows out of the entire White Fang, at least before she took over, there was only two members who could match me, Sienna herself, and *sigh* Adam Taurus, but she's not exactly been out in the field since she took over, so Adam is the only person she could safely send after me. But she isn't that stupid, since outside the previous leader, both Sienna and Adam knew about my condition of leaving when I found my brother." Menma says, when both his and Naruto's ears flick up, and his eyes shift from violet to red, they look over to see Naruto open his eyes which are also red. They both look over to the area where Coco is battling with Emerald, they see Yatsuhashi walking up to her but then they hear Yatsuhashi was eliminated. Their eyes return to normal, and the Yatsuhashi they were seeing just disappears. (Very interesting Emerald, quite a powerful illusion based Semblance.) Menma thinks.
"What was that about, I thought your eyes only turned red when angry?" Pyrrha asks.
"Well, the Namikaze tribe is the Faunus equivalent of the Branwen tribe so our eyes do turn red when we are angry, and will eventually be red permanently. But the Namikaze tribe is also capable of detecting illusions, that's why Naruto and I's ears flicked up; when our eyes are red we can see illusions or see through illusions." Menma explains, as Coco flies out of the forest unconscious, and it's announced that Team CFVY is out of the tournament.
"Those two …are quite impressive." Velvet says sadly.
"It's alright Vel." Lee says patting her on the back, after half an hour they see Gaara and Penny facing against Cardin and a pudgy guy with light-brown hair that is combed to the left and squinted eyes, he's wearing a black shirt and black pants with a black scarf around his neck, tan boots, and tan-colored chest and back armour with shoulder armor, vambraces, and a belt that bears a dove on its buckle with four sections of tanned fabric attached to it. When the go is given most of the stadium, Cardin and his teammate are surprised when sand rushes out of Gaara's Gourd, before they can try to move a group of swords flies into their legs, tripping them and the sand encapsulates them and drops them outside of the arena.
"As expected of a team from Atlas Academy, team CRDL just didn't stand a chance." Port says, and after another half hour, Yang and Weiss are facing off against a guy he's a dark-skinned man with dark brown eyes, he's wearing a dark vest over an untucked white dress shirt, with a loose tie wrapped around the collar, a pair of dark dress pants, silver dress shoes, a dark glove on his left hand, rectangular sunglasses and a dark fedora with a blue trim, as well as an earring on his right ear, he's holding a trumpet. And a Faunus girl she has sea green eyes and moderate red-orange hair with light blue streaks in her bangs, done up in pig-tails, she has a cat tail covered with pink fur that becomes lighter toward the tip, She's wearing a light blue cropped tank top over a dark purple bra, showing her upper cleavage, dark purple short shorts under a pink combat mini-skirt, a white belt with a yellow winking smiley face on the buckle, red roller blades, white cat bell collar around her neck, a pair of bracers on her arms and pads on her shins and knees, she's holding a pair of Nunchaku. In the stands we see all of team NKLS, RB, JNPR, CFVY, GSSP, and Menma all have flags with RWBY on them except Naruto, Ruby, Blake, and Kiba. Naruto has a flag with Weiss's face, Ruby and Blake have a flag with Weiss and Yang's face, and Kiba has a flag with Yang's face.
"Weiss, what should we expect from them?" Yang asks.
"Since the Kingdom, academy and armed forces are all merged as one, we should expect strict, militant fighters with advanced technology, and carefully rehearsed strategies." Weiss says.
"Hey you're Weiss, the Schnee heiress aren't you?" asks the guy who looks like a musician.
*Sigh* "Yeah, I am." Weiss says melancholic, to the surprise of her opponents.
"You seem sad to be the Schnee heiress." The musician says.
"No, I don't hate being the heiress, but like you were thinking when you asked that, I don't want people to think I'm like my father. It took some time, but I've learned my father is not someone to be proud of. Especially his views on Faunus, yes at one time I had a large distrust of Faunus, but now some of my closest friends, and people I trust with my life, are Faunus." Weiss says looking at the ground. "In-including the man I love." She says surprising them.
"I guess, I pegged you wrong, Schnee, let's have a decent fight, I'm Flynt Coal and that's my partner Neon Katt." Flynt says, as the arena changes to a volcanic area, sandy desert, steaming geysers, and ruined buildings.
"Begin!" Port yells, and immediately Flynt brings his trumpet to his lips and starts playing, as a large soundwave blasts out at Weiss and Yang, who jump apart and Neon goes after Yang.
[Yang and Weiss Vs Neon and Flynt]
The two of them have been fighting for a couple minutes and Neon is getting a little annoyed, since Yang has been able to keep up with her the entire time. Neon snaps her Nun-chaku like they're glow sticks and they glow cyan and then rushes at Yang and swings, but once again Yang is able to keep up with her and dodges. "How are you able to keep up with me? Out of the first years I'm the fastest." Neon says annoyed.
"Sorry if me being able to keep up with you is annoying, but compared to five of the people I spar with on a daily basis, you're moving at a snail's pace in comparison." Yang says, rushing at her and is in front of her before she can react, landing a hell of a punch to her gut, launching her away.
(Ow, ow, ow, ow!) Neon thinks getting up holding her gut, but Yangs already there and uppercuts her, sending her into the air, Yang then jumps into the air, flips and Axe Kicks her launching her back to the ground. When Yang lands Neon is having a hard time getting back up, when she does, it's wobbly, Neon rushes at Yang again.
"Damn you're persistent, but this song and dance is over." Yang says dodging her attack, but grabs Neon's arm and with a small burst of her Semblance throws Neon out of bounds, she turns around to go help Weiss when her vision turns yellow, and she's standing beside Weiss, who's as confused as her and Flynt. "Uhm what the hell just happened." She asks, looking over at the crowd, and sees Naruto looking like he's having a major Migraine.
"I, I don't know, I was getting backed into a corner when I felt this tingle in my hand, I looked down and saw a yellow line between you and me, and pulled it. I, I think I activated Foxy's Semblance." Weiss says.
[Stands]
"Foxy you alright?" Ruby asks, concerned.
"Yeah, I think Weiss activated my Semblance." Naruto says nursing his pounding head.
"Quite impressive, and you're right, because of the nature of you and Weiss's Semblance, she was able to use it." Menma says.
"What do you mean?" Pyrrha asks, and he holds his hand up showing Naruto's Hiraishin mark.
"This, while being Naruto's means of teleportation, is in a form essentially a glyph, meaning with the right circumstances, which she has apparently hit, Weiss can now freely manipulate Naruto's semblance." Menma explains.
"Impressive analysis, and correct." They all hear Winter say walking up.
[Battle]
Weiss looks over to Naruto in the stands, and he nods his head, she then takes a deep breath, and stabs Myrtenaster into the ground, and a very large version of Naruto's Mark appears under all three of them. "Get ready Yang!" Weiss says, Yang nods her head, and Flynt appears in front of Yang in a flash of yellow with wide eyes, as Yang firmly plants her fist in his stomach pushing him back. Yang then appears behind him and chops him on the back of his neck, knocking him out. At that exact moment the symbol disappears, as Weiss passes out.
"Weiss!" Yang says running over to her, and notices Weiss's Aura on her scroll is literally scraping 1%, as Team RWBY is announced the winner.
[Later in Infirmary]
RWBY, NKLS, JNPR, CFVY, GSSP, Menma, and Winter are all waiting for Weiss to wake up. "She just has Aura exhaustion right, she'll be up in no time, right?" Winter asks.
"If she exhausted it on her Semblance definitely, but she exhausted it using my Semblance, which is already taxing on her Aura, but she did the worst possible thing, using it to teleport Yang." Naruto says.
"What do you mean, Foxy?" Ruby asks.
"Until now Gem, only Ozpin and Glenda knew this, teleporting other people actually strains my body, it's no problem now since I'm used to it, but Snowflake isn't, she'll probably wake up sometime tomorrow, but she'll definitely be sore. I know I was when I first did it." Naruto says, then both Pyrhha and Naruto get a message on their Scrolls from Ozpin.
"Hey Ozpin/Dad wants to talk to me." the two of them say at the same time, and Naruto instantly knows why he wants to talk, and the both of them leave the infirmary.
[Ozpin's Office]
"Dad we're here." Naruto says, as he and Pyrrha walk in to see Ozpin, Glenda, Ironwood, and Qrow.
"Thank you two for coming, Miss Nikos, please take a seat." Ozpin says, she does and Naruto leans against the wall.
"Professor, if you don't mind me asking, why have you called us here?" Pyrrha asks, and Ozpin leans back casually.
"Miss Nikos, what is your favorite fairy tale?" Ozpin asks.
"P-Pardon?" Pyrrha says confused.
"Fairy tales, stories from your childhood. Surely you must remember some of them." Ozpin says.
"Well, there's The Tale of The Two Brothers, The Shallow Sea, The Girl in the Tower…" Pyrrha says.
"What about The Story of the Seasons?" Ozpin asks.
"Well, of course, a callous old man, who refuses to leave his home, is visited by four traveling sisters. The first understands his reclusive nature and urges him to use his time in solitude to reflect and meditate. The second brings him fruits and flowers, tending to his crops and revitalizing his garden. The third warms the man's heart, convincing him to step outside and embrace the world around him. And the fourth and final sister begs him to look at all that he has, and be thankful. In return for their kindness, the man grants the maidens incredible powers, so that they may continue to help others all over the world. They graciously accept, and promise to share their gifts with the people of Remnant 'til there end of days. Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall; the four maidens, my mother loves that story." Pyrrha recites.
"Would you believe me if I told you that one's been around since I was a boy?" Ozpin asks.
"You're not that old, Professor." Pyrrha chuckles.
"Well, would you believe me if I told you it was true?" Ozpin asks seriously.
"I, I beg your pardon?" Pyrrha asks, confused.
"What if I were to tell you that there were four maidens existing in this world, that could wield such tremendous power, without Dust?" Ozpin asks.
"You mean... like a Semblance?" Pyrrha asks.
"No, like real and true Magic." Naruto says.
"I… …" Pyrrha says completely baffled.
"Yeah, the first time hearing it is pretty crazy." Qrow says.
"Are all of you serious?!" pyrrha asks, still confused.
"Do we look like we're joking?" Ozpin asks, as all of them are straightfaced or serious.
"... No, why... why are you telling me this?" Pyrrha asks, and Ozpin looks at Naruto who nods.
"We are telling you this, Miss Nikos, because we believe that you are next in line to receive the Fall Maiden's powers, at least Naruto believes you have the capability to." Ozpin says.
"Who are all of you really?" Pyrrha asks, with narrowed eyes.
"You know who we are, we're still the same teachers, Headmasters, and fellow student you met when you arrived at Beacon." Glenda says.
"Except we've got a little part-time job." Qrow says.
"We are the protectors of this world. " Ironwood says.
"And we need your help." Ozpin says, shocking Pyrrha.
[Secret Vault]
The six of them walk out of an elevator, and Pyrrha sees a large hallway. "I still don't fully understand. Naruto, you say I have the capability to receive the Maiden's power, what do you mean by that?" Pyrrha asks.
"The Maidens have existed for thousands of years, but much like in nature, the seasons change. No two summers are alike, when a Maiden dies, her power leaves her body and seeks out a new host, ensuring that the seasons are never lost, and that no individual can hold on to that power forever." Naruto says.
"So, how does the power choose?" Pyrrha asks.
"Through a series of stupid and convoluted rules." Qrow says snarkily, and Naruto throws a look at him shutting him up.
"At first, the only thing that was certain was that the powers were specifically passed on to young women. But as time went on, it was discovered that the selection process was much more... intimate. As it's understood now, when a Maiden dies, the one who is in her final thoughts is the first candidate to inherit her power. Unless that person is Male, or is too elderly, then the power goes to a random young woman." Naruto explains.
"Naruto why am I being told all of this, why not wait until we graduated?" Pyrrha asks.
"Honestly, we're running out of time, everyday the world is getting scarier, Tensions are high, and Grimm are getting stronger, more dangerous, and more prevalent. It's not going to be much longer before the peace shatters." Naruto says.
"Are... are you talking about… a war?!" Pyrrha asks.
"Not a war between nations." Ironwood says.
"We can fill you in on the details once we know that you're with us. For now, all you need to know is that one of the Maidens has been attacked. And for the first time in history, part of her power was stolen." Qrow says, as they all stop in front of some type of machine, through a window on one side of it they see a dark skinned young woman, with brown hair, brown eyes, and some extensive facial scarring, she has on a white tube top and skirt. Pyrrha looks over at Naruto and notices he's very sad, looking at the woman.
"So this is…" Pyrrha says.
"The current Fall Maiden, Amber." Ozpin says.
"Is, is she still alive?" Pyrrha asks.
"For now, we're using state of the art Atlas technology to keep her stable, but there is a lot about this situation that is... unprecedented." Ironwood says.
"What do you mean?" Pyrrha asks.
*Sigh* "Well, we don't know what will happen if- when she passes." Ironwood says.
"Won't... her power... just transfer to the next host?" Pyrrha asks.
"Under normal circumstances, yes, but this is a delicate situation, it's not uncommon for the last thoughts of the slain to be of their attacker, to make matters worse, no one's ever seen the power split like this before, for all we know, it will seek out its other half." Ironwood says, Pyrrha walks up and places her hand on the pod.
"If all of this is true, why keep it secret!? If this girl is so important... if we're truly on the brink of war, why not tell everyone?" Pyrrha says angrily. "Also no disrespect to Naruto, but if this situation and decision is such a dire one, why would you trust a student on the word of another student?" She asks, noticing Naruto hasn't stopped looking at Amber in sadness.
"From what we understand, it used to be common knowledge." Glenda says
"Excuse me?" Pyrrha asks.
"How do you think legends and fairy tales get started? Even the craziest ones come from somewhere. " Qrow says.
"Our group was founded in order to protect both mankind and the Maidens. Those hungry for power hunted them with the hope of inheriting their strength." Glenda says.
"And as you can imagine, the ones that succeeded weren't exactly the kind of people you'd want to have unimaginable power." Qrow says.
"And so this brotherhood chose to remove the Maidens from the public eye, allowing their existence to fade away into legend." Ironwood says.
"The things we're telling you go against hundreds of years of human history, religion." Glenda says.
"No one would want to believe us, it would cause an uproar." Ironwood says.
"It would cause panic, and we all know what that would bring clawing to our Kingdom's walls." Ozpin says.
"But why would you trust all of this knowledge to me, on Naruto's word alone?" Pyrrha asks.
"Well Naruto and Amber were quite close, out of the five of us Naruto is the only one who personally knew her, and he's no idiot, we trust his judgement for this." Ironwood says.
"Before I make a decision, could Naruto and I speak alone?" Pyrrha asks, and the adults nod their head and walk over to the elevator. "Naruto, before I actually ask, is something wrong?" She asks.
"I, I uh, I don't like coming down here, I can't stand seeing her like that." He says sadly.
"The General said you and her were close, uhm how close were you." Pyrrha asks.
"-ter figure." He mumbles.
"What?" She asks.
"She's like a sister to me." Naruto says.
"Oh, I, I thought there was going to be more to it." Pyrrha says, embarrassed.
"You wouldn't exactly be wrong, I was 9 when I started to see her as a sister, before then it was a crush." He says.
"Oh, then may I ask, why'd you choose me to take her place as the Fall Maiden?" Pyrrha asks.
"Have you noticed, when you and I have talked, I've never once looked at you?" He asks.
"Yeah, I just thought you were looking at Ruby or Weiss." Pyrrha says but hears sniffling.
"No, I'm not rude, I look at someone when I talk to them. Well except for you, I try not to, cause when I do, I don't see you, I see Amber." Naruto says, turning to her, on the verge of tears. "The two of you are just so alike, you're kind, caring, strong, extremely protective of those you care for, and even protective of those you don't know." He says.
"Hey, you can go, If you're getting uncomfortable." Pyrrha says.
"Yeah, thanks." Naruto says walking away.
[Next Day in Infirmary]
Weiss starts to wake up, then sits up and she sees Naruto sitting in a chair asleep using his tail as a pillow on the bed. "So, you're awake." She hears Menma say and looks over to see he's sitting in a chair, looking at and reading.
"Is that… a poetry book?" Weiss asks.
"Yeah, so, I like to read poetry."Menma says, shrugging his shoulders.
"Sorry, it's just knowing what you've done, it's hard to imagine that the Bloody Fox likes Poetry." Weiss says.
"Hehe, I can imagine." Menma chuckles.
"So what happened, I remember activating Foxy's Semblance, a lot of pain, and then darkness." Weiss says.
"You passed out from the strain of Naruto's Semblance." Menma says simply.
"What do you mean?" She asks.
"Well, Naruto said his Semblance is quite Aura draining, but that teleporting others also strains the body." Menma explains.
"But he doesn't show any discomfort when he teleports other people." Weiss says.
"Of course, he's dealt with it for years, it doesn't bother him anymore, and it makes sense he wouldn't say anything, he doesn't like people worrying about him, at least he was like that when he was a kid." Menma says.
*Sigh* "Yeah he seems like the type to not like being worried about, but he'll have to get used to it, since Ruby and I will worry about him when something happens to him. But I guess that's the reason my body hurts." Weiss says, laying back down, but scratches Naruto's head, and both her and Menma snicker when he starts purring, then it's silent for several minutes.
"This is weird Isn't it, being stuck in a room with the person you hate most, who is related to the person you love most, and pretending to be nice, just because I'm related to Naruto." Menma says.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Weiss says unconvincingly.
"Schnee I know all the wrongs I've done to you, you shouldn't pretend to be nice to me, that's just going to end up hurting your relationship with Naruto. I've done a lot of terrible things, I've been cooperating because all I've ever wanted was to be there for my brother, but I've in no way earned any forgiveness. You certainly have no reason to forgive what I've done, hell I don't believe I even deserve forgiveness." Menma says.
*Sigh* "Yeah I hate you… a lot, but I'm not going to make the same mistake I almost made with Blake, did you ever enjoy killing anyone?" Weiss asks.
"Of course not!" Menma says.
"Then I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, even if I think you don't deserve it." Weiss says, when they hear a ruckus outside.
"I'm sorry Ozpin, even if either one of them confirms what she says is true, I can't get her back in the tournament, the entire world just saw her attack her opponent after the match was over, and it looked like she broke his leg!" They hear Ironwood say, as the door opens, RBY, KLS, Ozpin who all look somber, while Kiba is hugging Yang protectively who's almost on the verge of tears, and Ironwood who looks displeased.
"Uhm, what's going?" Weiss asks.
"We need Naruto or Menma, to confirm that Yang is telling the truth or lying." Ironwood says.
"I-I'm not l-lying!" Yang says.
"Well, she just told the truth, what happened?" Menma asks.
"I was fighting Mercury, and kn-knocked him out of the ring, and was declared the winner, but he got back up and attacked me, and I reacted like anyone would." Yang says.
"And you're the only one who saw it." Menma says, and the rest of them nod their heads. *Sigh* "Then there's a problem, cause she's telling the truth." Menma says, then they all hear Naruto yawn, who sits up and stretches.
"What's going on?" He says after waking up, they explain what happened. "Yeah she's telling the truth, I don't even need my ability to sense when someone lies, to figure that out, Yang simply isn't that type of person." He says simply, then Ozpin and Ironwood leave.
"Thanks Naruto, for believing in me." Yang says.
"No thanks needed, anyhow, you doing okay Snowflake?" Naruto asks.
"Yeah just really sore." Weiss says.
"Yeah, my semblance will do that to you." Naruto says, after several minutes they hear a knock, Blake opens the door and they see both JNPR and CFVY.
"So what's the verdict?" Coco asks jokingly.
"Coco, this is a serious matter." Fox says.
"It's alright, she's just trying to lighten the mood." Yang says.
"She's telling the truth." Naruto says.
"Hey is there anything we could do, Yang?" Pyrrha asks.
"Yeah, win your fight." Yang says.
"I'll do my best." Pyrrha says.
[Later at Stadium]
Ruby, NLS, JNR, CFVY, GSS, and Menma are waiting for the match to start, while on the field is Penny and Pyrrha. "Something… doesn't feel right." Menma says.
"You and I agree on that." Gaara says, while Shikamaru nods his head in agreement, they then see Menma's ears twitch.
"Well, how about that, apparently he's one impressive actor, as well as being an asshole." Menma says.
"Who do you mean?" Lee asks.
"Mercury, I feel his Aura somewhere in the Stadium." Menma says, surprising the rest of them.
"But isn't he injured?" Kankuro asks.
"Well that's what you'd think since you've never dealt with him, I on the other hand have dealt with the ass several times. The reason why I took Yangs side so fast, wasn't just because I could tell she was telling the truth, no offence to Yang, but in a straight fight between the two of them, and even taking her Semblance into account, Mercury… is so far out of her class it's a joke. If Mercury was actually trying to beat her, he would've, with little trouble, also he has prosthetic legs." Menma says looking down in thought.
"Then, then what was the point of his little act?" Lee asks, a little angry.
"Have none of you felt it, there's a lot of unrest among the civilians." Naruto says.
"Gaara, I have a bad feeling, having to do with Penny, so how about Naruto, you, and I go confront Mercury." Menma says.
"Sounds like a good Idea to me." Gaara says with an edge in his voice, and the three of them leave, after a couple minutes, they're standing outside of a maintenance tunnel.
"Are you sure he's in there?" Naruto asks.
"Yeah, the three of us should be able to take him, but you two should still be careful, Mercury is no slouch in combat." Menma says, and they walk in, and see Mercury about to walk out, Menma snap kicks him back into the tunnel.
"What the hell?!" Mercury yells landing back in the tunnel.
"So, shouldn't you be resting, and not on your leg." Naruto says.
"What are you doing in here?" Gaara asks.
"I could ask the three of you the same." Mercury says in an arrogant tone, then rushes at Gaara, who he sees as the biggest threat, but is surprised when he's once again launched back from a kick to the stomach.
"Still as overconfident as ever, Mercury." Menma says.
"Do I know you?" Mercury asks, as he gets up and rushes at Menma.
"You know what the biggest problem with overconfidence is, overconfidence will always drown you in the sea of reality." Menma says as his tail smacks Mercury into the wall, then sand clamps down on him.
"What are you planning?" Gaara asks.
"Hehehe, you know, Polarity versus metal, that could be bad." Mercury says chuckling, making the three of their eyes widen.
"Gaara, go, inform the general, my brother and I will deal with Mercury." Naruto says.
"Are you sure?" Gaara asks.
"Listen to Naruto, Gaara, he and I can handle this." Menma says.
"Alright, but I'll try to keep the sand up as long as I can." Gaara says, leaving and after a couple minutes the sand falls and Mercury rushes at them, sending a kick at Menma, but Mercury is surprised when he hears a wrenching sound, and sees two tails wrapped around one of his prosthetic legs, then he's slammed onto the ground, then thrown farther down the tunnel.
"Damn, how strong are those fucking tails?" Mercury yells, angry, and rushes at them.
"Hey, I wonder, think we still have it?" Menma asks, as his eyes shift to red.
"I don't know, lets see." Naruto says, as his eyes shift to red, and his ears and tail, shift to orange, as both of them rush at Mercury, before they meet Naruto jumps over Mercury. Menma goes to sweep Mercury's legs, who jumps and has to bend his body around a kick from Naruto, then on instinct brings his hands down, to block a tail bash from Menma, but is still surprised by the power behind the hit and is thankful for his Aura.
(Damn, If I didn't have my Aura, that hit would've cracked something.) He thinks, instinctually jumping back, as in his previous spot is a scythe blade, but then he brings his arm up to block a familiar blade, with his vambrace. It's a short blade, with a black blade and handle, and a red guard and pommel, and strangely enough 'War and Bloodshed, no matter how Necessary or Justified, is still Evil' is engraved along the blade in red. Before Mercury can say anything, Naruto spins around Menma, and shifts his weapon into it's combat knife state, managing to knee Mercury in the chin, then slashing at Mercury's chest, Mercury parries it with his vambrace, then moves to the side dodging a strike from Menma. Both Naruto and Menma proceed to rush Mercury, and keep pressure on him with a constant flurry of kicks slashes and slams with their tails, they keep at this for several minutes, but then the the three of them hear a massive uproar above, giving Mercury enough time to get away, Naruto's about to go after him.
"Let him go, it's more important, we see what's going on up above." Menma says, the two of them run out and they see Penny cut to pieces, and Pyrrha on her knees in shock and fear, then everyone hears the speakers.
"This is not a tragedy. This was not an accident. This is what happens when you hand over your trust, your safety, your children, to men who claim to be our guardians, but are, in reality, nothing more than men. Our Academies' Headmasters wield more power than most armies, and one was audacious enough to control both. They cling to this power in the name of peace, and yet, what do we have here? One nation's attempt at a synthetic army, mercilessly torn apart by another's star pupil. What need would Atlas have for a soldier disguised as an innocent little girl? I don't think the Grimm can tell the difference. And what, I ask you, is Ozpin teaching his students? First a dismemberment, now this? Huntsmen and Huntresses should carry themselves with honor and mercy, yet I have witnessed neither. Perhaps Ozpin felt as though defeating Atlas in the Tournament would help people forget his colossal failure to protect Vale when the Grimm invaded its streets. Or perhaps this was his message to the tyrannical dictator that has occupied an unsuspecting kingdom with armed forces. Honestly, I haven't the slightest clue as to who is right and who is wrong. But I know the existence of peace is fragile, and the leaders of our kingdoms conduct their business with iron gloves. As someone who hails from Mistral, I can assure you the situation there is... equally undesirable. Our Kingdoms are on the brink of war, yet we, the citizens, are left in the dark. So I ask you: When the first shots are fired... who do you think you can trust?"
"CINDER!" Menma snarls, as an alarm goes off, and all of the civilians start to panic. Then a massive Nevermore hits a barrier around the stadium. "Naruto, you help here, I'm going after Mercury." He says, then his eyes widen, and he points to one of the atlas ships. "Torchwick is on that ship, and I sense the Aura of his associate Neo." He says, just then the Nevermore breaks through the barrier, but before it can do anything a bunch of rocket lockers land on it pinning it to the ground and Ruby, LS, JNR, CFVY, GSS, SYKT, Sun, Neptune, their teammates, and a bunch of other teams all grab their weapons, but the Nevermore tries to get back up. All of them are shocked when it's sliced in half by a wall made of Aura, they all look and see Naruto and Menma, who has two of his fingers pointing up. They gather up with the two of them.
"We need to do something." Ruby says.
"My brother said he sensed Torchwick's associate Neo, on the ship he's in, we need to get up there, and deal with that." Naruto says.
"I'm going with you." Ruby says.
"Tch, I could get you up there." Sasuke says.
"What about Pyrrha, she's not in the best of states." Jaune says, then Gaara walks up to her.
"G-Gaara, I, I'm…" Pyrrha tries to say but is interrupted by a slap to the face from Gaara.
"Get ahold of yourself Nikos, it's not your fault. I'll blame myself, before I blame you, I may have been able to stop this, if I'd been faster. But I wasn't fast enough, so get ahold of yourself and help us deal with the situation." Gaara says.
"Okay, Naruto what are the rest of us going to do?" Lee asks, and everyone looks at him.
"Why are you all looking at me, you all have your own team and leaders?" Naruto asks.
"Well you're one of the four strongest in the arena at the moment, and one of the three that isn't having a mental breakdown." Kabuto says.
"And yes, we have our own leaders, but you're the most natural leader here." Neptune says, surprising Naruto when all of them nod, they then see his eyes harden.
"Well, Lee, Shikamaru you two get to, Kiba, Yang, Blake and Weiss, tell them to help with evac. Teams GSSP, SYKT, JNPR, CFVY, SSSN, ABRN, FNKI, and JNPR, all of you protect the civilians, and deal with the Grimm, Menma go after Mercury, Ruby, Sasuke and I will deal with Torchwick and Neo." Naruto orders, surprising them with the amount of authority he had, as he, Ruby, and Sasuke go to the very center of the arena, where the three of them are encompassed by a purple sphere which floats into the before forming a giant human construct made of Aura forming a samurai with big wings which flies up to the ship.
"S-since when could he sound that commanding?!" Sun asks, surprised.
"He almost sounded like General Ironwood." Kankuro says.
"Well, that's what we like to call his Ironwood mode." Shikamaru says, as he and Lee head out.
"Jaune, Pyrrha's still out of it." Ren says, and they look over and see her eyes are glazed over.
[with Ozpin]
We see Ozpin in the secret vault, staring at Amber, when an arrow pierces the machine and Amber's heart, he turns around and sees Cinder standing a little ways away, smirking. She gets annoyed after a couple minutes of nothing happening, she hears Ozpin chuckle. "Looks like nothings happening." Ozpin says.
"What the hell did you do?!" Cinder yells.
"Nothing that you need to know." Ozpin says, bringing up his cane to block a pair of black almost glass like scimitars.
"Oh you'll tell me, before I'm done with you!" She seethes, as a small flicker of Orange, flickers to life at the inner corner of her right eye.
"You know who I am, and I know who you work for, so you should know I'm much older than I appear, this isn't going to end well for you. With only a Quarter of the Fall Maidens power, you're not strong enough to beat me." Ozpin says matter of factly.
[Void]
In a void of nothing, Pyrrha and Amber are standing across from each other. "Well my body is dead." *Sigh* "Look I know nothing about you other than what, Naruto told me, and what I heard about you, from before I was attacked. But there are innocent lives at stake, and you're not in the best state of mind right now, please let me have control." Amber says kindly.
"Yeah, sure." Pyrrha says, lifelessly, making Amber sigh, as she disappears. *Sigh* "You will know you made the right decision, when you make the hardest and most painful choice, but your heart is at peace. It doesn't feel like that anymore." She mumbles.
[Arena]
They see as 'Pyrrha' sits up, then flames of red, orange and yellow Aura ignite around her eyes, and to the surprise everyone she floats into the air, while Milo and Akouo speed to her hands, she proceeds to place them on her back. She puts her hand out as what looks like electricity, wind, and ice swirl around her as a staff forms in her hand. At this point she's floating above the whole stadium, she proceeds to raise the staff into the air, then brings it down, to which all hell breaks loose, all around the stadium, academy, and city, Grimm are froze solid, ripped to shreds by blades of wind, or struck by lightning. She floats back down to the arena, and sees them all looking at her, in shock. "What are you all doing standing around, Naruto gave us orders to help the civilians!" Amber yells, knocking them out of their stupor, and they all leave to carry out the orders.
"You're not Pyrrha, are you?" Jaune asks.
"Well, yes and no, Pyrrha has took on a major responsibility, which was mine before. But I got very hurt by the person behind this, and Pyrrha made the decision to take on my responsibility. But well no one could have foreseen, that my soul would have gone into her body as well. So I don't think it's fair to her that she's taken on my responsibility, plus she's not in a good mental state right now. Now we should help with the civilians." Amber says.
*Sigh* "You're right, but I'd like a proper explanation, when this situation is over with." Jaune says, as they head out.
Now please Read and Review, I'm working on the second chapter of To Earn Redemption now.