.
Chapter 8, now with less AN!
This chapter also had an essay of a response to a reviewer. Jeez, I suck. I do need to say that in some cases of PTSD, a person could stop seeing certain colors as the brain protects itself because it associates that color with the trauma itself, hence why Ruby could no longer see purple since a certain eye stands out.
I Had Ruby Stabbed, And I Feel Bad; But A Good Story Needed To Be Had!
Chapter Eight: For Here Do Evil Things Betide
Sasuke could be found standing outside Ruby's infirmary room, after some discussion, it was figured that only family were to be inside to comfort the young leader, especially after that revelation. Outside, were the two faculty members of Beacon, a revealed Faunus, and the one who stabbed the red girl.
"What now?" the ninja asked the two seasoned Huntsmen. PTSD was no joke, if she had an episode while on the field during her job as the student leader, it would be more than simply Ruby who would be at risk.
Glynda shook her head. "We don't know," she stated sadly with a sigh. "She might have to leave Beacon and find a professional therapist to help her recover." The school for Hunters had guidance councilors, but they were for common teenage problems as they assimilated to the new life at the Academy, stress disorders after traumatic events weren't exactly in their experience.
"My fault." The three experienced fighters looked to the source of that statement: the Faunus among their group. "If I just minded my own business, then none of this would have happened," she angrily growled out to herself. She hated Gaara for what he had done, but he wasn't here, so the cat Faunus could only be angry herself for what happened to her young leader. "If I just. . . didn't run away," she seethed out through clenched teeth.
Glynda and Ozpin looked to each other and were about to say something, but the door to Ruby's room opened and revealed a Qrow Branwen, who took a swig from his flask before tucking it away. He closed the door behind him and joined the two faculty members of Beacon, but not before he looked to Blake, who was in her own world of self-deprecation; which he noticed.
"Ruby told me to tell you not to beat yourself up too much," Branwen relayed to his niece's teammate. "Ain't no one blaming you, not even Ruby." He was just as angry as Yang, but he was more in control over his emotions; when slightly drunk at least. Qrow then looked to his colleagues. "Mind if we have a chat before I go back out?" They nodded and he joined them as they walked away, leaving the two teens alone.
The Uchiha gave a small sigh and made to leave the infirmary. They weren't going to ask Ruby anything right now, so there was no point to stick around. He turned his head and saw that Belladonna was still standing in her place, looking to the floor while angrily biting her lower lip to the point she drew blood. Sasuke really didn't want these amateurs to play hero again.
What he had done at the docks was considered mercy in his world, and if they tested his patience anymore, then they were simply begging to lose their lives to the shinobi. If there was a next time, they may not be so lucky.
"Blake, the others are waiting for us," the ninja told her, which got the Faunus' attention. She would probably tell them of the young leader's condition, and hopefully, they would decide to help her more than want to take down an insurgent group of Faunus freedom fighters or terrorists. It didn't matter to the Uchiha what the White Fang were considered, the entire conflict was foolish, just like how it was back home.
The ravenette girl nodded and followed the offender of Ruby's condition. By the time they would have figured out who Gaara really was, the Uchiha would probably have been back home with his true friends.
"Sasuke," Blake called as she walked by his side as they walked to the exit. "What should I do?" She needed guidance for what to do. To help Ruby and to stop whatever her former group was planning, but could she do even one of them? So she asked the only one who was available at that time: the anti-social walking weapon of mass destruction.
The former avenger didn't turn his head to see the tired eyes of his company, he merely continued to look ahead of him, but he gave her a simple answer, "rest."
The Faunus turned to face him and glared. "Rest?" she growled out incredulously. "Ruby had a hole in her gut, the White Fang have a monster working for them to steal Dust left and right, but you want me to rest!? I need to stop them!" Her anger was not sated. She had to do something, Blake couldn't imagine going day by day calmly after what had happened the other night. The extremely skilled trainee beside her could not have been serious about his single-word advice.
"Then die," he replied back evenly.
She hardened her glare and attempted to grab his collar for his response, but even on a good day that wasn't possible for her. He grabbed her wrist before it reached him and twisted until he was behind her, he then had her arm locked and her body leaning forward. "What could you possibly do when you are so weak?" the Uchiha asked the revealed Faunus rhetorically. She didn't answer back, she merely teared up in frustration and continued to struggle in his grasp, but was incapable of freeing herself from his hold. She might have been able to if her head was clear enough to use her semblance, but not when her mind was in a whirlwind of shame, guilt, anger, and sleep deprivation.
After a few seconds of silent contemplation and wrestling on the Faunus' part, he swiped her foot and tripped her to the floor face-down and held her there. "You will simply die, and whoever you bring with you would be killed because of your actions," Sasuke added seriously, he then let Blake go. "Forget about your pointless need to stop the White Fang, Belladonna, and be with your bed-ridden leader. She needs you more than you need your petty vendetta." The talk hopefully showed her that she would be foolish to chase after Gaara and the insurgent group. It also had him feel a tad hypocritical, but he was right regardless.
Blake didn't get off of the pristine white floor, she merely kept her face down with clenched fists a few more seconds before getting on her knees. Wiping away a few tears of frustration, she got back up and walked the rest of the way to the exit alone, all while she avoided eye-contact with the shinobi, leaving him behind.
'Stubborn girl,' Sasuke thought with annoyance. He had no idea what the girl's issue with the White Fang was, but he didn't care. All he wanted was for future operations to go without surprise opposition, especially from persistent brats.
He was about to follow Blake to the exit, but he heard someone speak out to him from behind, "interesting little speech you got there." The Rinnegan master turned and saw it was from Qrow, who took another swig from his flask as he stood with the professors by his side. The three of them weren't far away from his handling of Blake, so it was expected that the trio saw and heard what was said and done. "I doubt she would listen to you, though."
"Then she will die," the Uchiha responded plainly to the drunkard. If Blake was so sure she could handle 'Gaara', then it seemed like he would have to stomp on her ego much more than last time. "She must simply let these things go."
"Mr. Uchiha," Glynda nearly yelled if it wasn't that she was in an infirmary. "The situation with Miss Belladonna is much more complex than you understand. Especially when it comes to the White Fang."
Sasuke looked Goodwitch in the eye and said truthfully, "whether she lives or she dies in the end, that is the simplest to understand. If Blake were to fight as she is now, she will be killed by the ones she is hunting." His voice was neutral, but his statement was true. The Faunus' performance at the docks said as much.
Qrow gave a small chuckle. "I would listen to him if I were you, Glynda, he sounds like he has experience with this," he said to his blonde colleague, who glared at him. "Question is, why do you sound experienced with all this revenge crap?" His question wasn't accusatory, merely curious how a teen from outside the kingdom had so much profound knowledge. Even before his speech to the cat Faunus girl, there was his speech when that Arc kid was having problems early in the semester.
"Experience," he gave Qrow his own word back, and that was all he was getting out of the Uchiha, he even ignored Qrow's mumbling that sounded close to 'cheeky brat'.
The ninja gave the three a curt nod and turned to leave. "Sasuke," Ozpin called out, and got the attention of his trial student, along with the slight surprise for using his first name from his colleagues. "Please, look after the teams. Unlike us, they don't really know what it's like out there." His request was fueled by the fact that one of his students almost died the other day because she wasn't ready, and another who had a personal quarrel with a large group of Faunus freedom fighters. Considering the Uchiha's skill and position, he could be the only one who could watch over them closely.
"I already am," the shinobi responded to the headmaster, without even turning his head back and continued on his way. He was watching for them, to make certain that they haven't decided to do anything foolish to his plans once more. While walking away, Sasuke had given Ozpin an added mental note, 'it's not only what's out there that's dangerous to your students, headmaster.'
"Maybe we should throw her a 'get well' party?", "I think just getting her a weapon magazine would help, don't you agree?", "Pancakes always helped me out of a tough time." These were a few of the ideas that were tossed around by team JNPR and the three of RWBY to help Rose feel better. Some ideas, such as the third one mentioned, were immediately shot down from consideration, to the ire of a hammer-wielding teen.
The young team leader had been bed-ridden in the infirmary for a few days now, and would soon be released. It would be a shame to start the new semester, that would begin in a few days, on a bloody note. So her group had decided to uplift her spirits, perhaps through an event of some kind. Even with their casual visits, the teams wanted to do more to help their young friend. Their visits actually helped Yang out of her sour mood, and lessened Blake's.
The Uchiha didn't want anything to do with their plans, he wasn't the kind to be a part of celebratory events. The ninja looked to Blake and saw her staring at her food with contemplation, clearly not about the tuna she was having, but also ignoring the black-haired ninja's existence.
Since their 'talk' at the infirmary, Blake had been avoiding Sasuke at every chance possible. In fact, the only time they could be seen at the same time was at the canteen, class or when she was with her two other comrades. Even then, she hadn't uttered a word or even acknowledged his presence. However, she was seen in better shape than previously, the bags under her eyes were much less pronounced.
'At least she listened to some degree,' the Uchiha thought with mild relief. Now that the foolish cat Faunus' ideas seemed like they weren't focused on chasing Gaara and her former group, he could feel some comfort that he wouldn't see them for a while during a mission. He was so into his solace, he almost missed a question that was directed at him.
"What do you think we should do, Sasuke?" Pyrrha asked as she placed a device back in her pocket. She had been keeping a picture of Gaara while his Rinnegan was activated on her Scroll, she gave it a peer from time to time, having the feeling of recognition strike the redheaded champion every time she looked. For the love of her, she couldn't place how she found it familiar.
The shinobi turned and gave an answer to Nikos, "just show Ruby that you are there for her, that is all." After the fourth war ended, there were many surviving ninja's who were struck with so much fear, that it changed their entire mental state to the worse, some killing themselves after the never-ending paranoia and the endless amount of nightmares that struck them.
Sakura, while she worked at the hospital, told him of her experiences with patients who suffered from the mental disorder, and how numerous they were. Sasuke wasn't allowed in to help, he looked far too similar to Madara, which brought flashbacks of the battle. If what he remembered from her was correct, which he was, they needed to show their inner psyche how they were no longer in a war, how they weren't alone, and how no one was after them. Being a shinobi for an occupation had made that very difficult to persuade. Ruby, however, was neither a shinobi nor a veteran of war, she would be perfectly fine soon enough.
A buzz in the ninja's pocket signified a new message. It's been a while since he received one, other than the respectful angry message from Roman on how he took more Dust than he should have. Regardless, Torchwick didn't bring it up again, either out of fear, or that he knew he wasn't getting it back, the Uchiha didn't care.
"I will be leaving to procure some books from the capital," Sasuke informed his group as he stood from his seat. It had been a while, but Tucson had procured a few more books that the ninja was interested in buying, but Tucson added another message to the usual, 'the last one, thanks for your patronage'. It was so bizarre that he didn't even hear Yang's 'nerd' remark as he was leaving.
The way to Vale was just as unpleasant with that damn bullhead. The only ones the shinobi entered with a closed cabin door when they flew into the air were those when he raided the docks with the White Fang. The only time he marginally enjoyed flying into the air, was when he was working with a group of Faunus insurgents who hope to bring equality in Remnant through armed resistance, but never with the Academy that taught students to be strong heroes to help the weak.
'Perhaps I should speak to Ozpin about this,' Sasuke pondered about addressing the issue with the headmaster as he walked through the streets of Vale, nearing Tucson's store. The ninja sighed. 'I would rather not gi-Blood.' He suddenly became alert as he smelled blood after he passed a young duo. When he looked back a mere two seconds later to find the origin of the smell, they must have turned a corner, because whoever it was, the person was no longer in sight.
The Rinnegan master narrowed his eyes, someone has killed very recently. He shook his head and continued on his way forward, it wasn't any of his business who killed who. Back home, it was an everyday occurrence to pass someone who had a mild smell of blood, even more so after a mission that had gone messy. However, this was Remnant, killing was based against Grimm the majority of the time, wasn't it?
Sasuke looked at the general atmosphere of the city as he continued his walk, and it was clear what the topic of discussion had been: him. More specifically, Gaara working with Torchwick and the White Fang. The fear was palpable in the air, which wasn't only because he was working with criminals and insurgents, but because his performance and the capabilities that were shown. A person who had two completely different Semblance-like capabilities was something only seen in bad works of fiction. Even more so when that same person was working with outlaws, and not being the hero.
The Uchiha shook his head from his musings when he neared Tucson's store, he noticed that the lights were off and that the glass was polarized to a dark color as if indicating it was closed. When the ninja was about to knock, the smell of blood hit him like a wave. At that point, he didn't know how anyone couldn't have noticed the coppery smell.
He cautiously opened the door and entered. Sasuke closed the door behind him, walked forward whilst looking around and noticed that the area was generally tidy, but behind the counter was not; the wall behind it was shattered. "Tucson," he called out carefully, Sharingan activated for any surprise attack. There was no ans- A sound was heard from the back.
The ninja leaped over the desk and went into the back room past the broken door frame that was missing its prime component. Once inside, he saw Tucson, or at least, what was left of him.
"Tucson?" the former avenger asked with a frown. If this was Tucson the store clerk, his face was far from recognizable as it was reminiscent to pulp, laying in a pool of his own red life-liquid, the man had bones clearly visible from nearly every angle.
The broken man's response was a gurgle, he was indeed Tucson, and he was hanging to life by a thread that was slipping away quick. Sasuke pondered if he should help him, even if the clerk had found books for him. More than a few of his books had given the otherworldly warrior some valuable knowledge, but the ninja could have gotten it from anywhere, not just exclusively from the man dying before him. . . but it was from him.
Looking to his side, Sasuke noticed packed bags and a single ticket for a heading to Vacuo on a table close by. 'Tucson was going to leave, but someone found him before he could. That's what he meant by it was the last one,' the ninja concluded with a sigh and activated his Rinnegan. Once he healed the clerk, he would make certain that his patient wouldn't remember him. He would simply find himself waking up fully healed. "I will help you, Tucson, consider this my final payment for your help," he told the broken man laying on the ground. If it weren't for his books, the ninja wouldn't have known about Dust so soon to help his return home.
Tucson was currently lacking proper eyes, so he wouldn't see the demonic head arise from the ground, but he could hear something, and feel the vibration. He had also felt a hand grab his body before it tossed him somewhere that just felt odd. The next thing he knew, his body was being tossed around as though in a washing machine, but most of all, the mind-numbing pain.
Sasuke watched as the large head, that was just small enough to fit inside the backroom, 'chew' what's left of the clerk's nearly-dead body. Along with hearing distressed wet gurgle sounds that were becoming more and more into normal screams of pain. The Uchiha wondered if Tucson noticed this; probably not since he continued screaming.
The yells died down, and the chewing stopped. Sasuke had let the large white demonic head disappear from existence. Now, Tucson was on the ground, he simply hugged himself and panted, with confusion clear on his face. The clerk looked up and saw the purple-eyed Sasuke, he became even more confused at the transition from a purple rippled-eye to the red Sharingan; which wasn't for long.
"W-What jus-" the wide-eyed Faunus clerk sounded before he slumped forward to the floor, passed out and memories erased. He would find himself remembering the attack, the pain of it, and then waking up healthy. Everything beyond this point was up to Tucson now.
The Uchiha sighed again. He used the King of Hell more times than he expected since he arrived on Remnant, the world was certainly becoming high-maintenance. Sasuke went into the store area, looked around and found a stack of books placed aside in a bag labeled 'Sasuke Uchiha'. The ninja sighed as he took his patronage from Tucson, though not in circumstances the clerk wished.
Outside the store, he looked around and saw that everyone was doing their usual day-to-day routine, completely oblivious to the murder that would have occurred minutes prior. 'How easy the ignorant civilian life must be for these people,' the shinobi thought with a small amount of displeasure.
Sasuke shook his head and walked back to the academy, as if he hadn't just saved a life using an eye that doubled as a weapon of unparalleled destruction.
After gladly getting off the bullhead on Beacon grounds, the ninja walked past the countless students walking away from the canteen, many whispers of a kind of fight that broke out in there. He hadn't been away from the teams for an hour, would they have seriously started some form argument that developed into a fight so soon!?
On his way there, the Uchiha found Ruby making her way to the same destination; alone. 'Have they released her early?' Sasuke wondered. Perhaps her PTSD wasn't as bad as it had seemed if the doctors were confident in her mental state already. "Ruby," he called out to her.
As she walked , the hooded girl jumped in response, turned to her caller, and gave a relieved sigh. Which caused the ninja to raise an eyebrow at her over-the-top reaction. "It's you Sasuke, you scared me," Ruby said as she calmed herself. "So, heading to where the guys are?"
"Correct, I heard they started a fight whilst eating," the Gaara impersonator replied unamusedly.
The young leader groaned. "It's Yang, I'm sure she had something to do with it," she said with disappointment. Honestly, there were times when Ruby felt like she was the older sister. She then walked by the ninja, both headed to where the greatest day ever was taking place earlier than expected.
They walked together in comfortable silence, but ran into two others once in front of the cafeteria gate. The blonde monkey Faunus from the docks, and a weird teen with blue hair. Sasuke's attention was focused on the smiling blonde monkey, he also reached the conclusion that he didn't like him. Too many eerily familiar blondes were in Remnant; the Uchiha hated it.
A look of recognition struck Sun's face. "Ah, it's you!" he proclaimed a little too loudly as he pointed towards Ruby, even the blue-haired guy beside him had to cup his ears. The girl in question leapt backward from the loud attention the blonde was giving her.
She blinked a few times and gave a good long look at the new guy. "You're. . . Sun, right?" Rose had just recognized the blonde fool's name from Blake's talks when she visited her leader in the infirmary. "What're you doing here?" she asked him with a slight tilt of her head.
The Faunus patted his friend's back. "Oh, just visiting and showing Neptune around," he said happily, before he asked in an awkward voice, "how are you doing, though? Everything alright with the. . ." He merely pointed to his gut, indicating where she was stabbed.
The young leader gave a lopsided smile, clearly indicating that she appreciated his concern of her well-being, but didn't like the little flashback. "Yeah, I'm fine," she said then proceeded to grab the area where the blade impaled her. "I was just released a few minutes ago, actually."
"That's great to hear," Sun said with a toothy smile, he even snapped his fingers and gave her a double thumbs up. He turned to see the Uchiha standing beside the young leader. "Sup', I'm Sun."
"Sasuke Uchiha," the ninja replied and introduced dryly. The more he saw the Faunus' personality, the more he felt like he wanted to run him through with a Chidori. Sasuke really didn't know why he had such malicious feelings for someone who was familiar to his best friend. Perhaps some of the pent up aggression he had on Naruto resurfaced, regardless, he kept his emotions in control; as tempting as it was to follow it.
A crash was heard from behind the doors, which got the attention of the four outside it's gate. "What's going on in there?" the blue haired teen asked no one specific.
Sun gave a fox-like smile, the urge to Chidori him doubled, and began to open the gate, which showed the once pristine area for eating that had just transformed into a massive food-based battlefield. The monkey's smile widened in amusement.
The four were now standing inside, watching as food combat took place with the two teams that remained inside. "H-How could this happen!?" Ruby said in a panic as she pulled on her own hair, then noticed her sister fly up through the ceiling. "Goodwitch is soooo gonna kill them!" Her assumption wasn't unfounded.
A can of grape soda was thrown, and it was headed to Ruby's position. Sasuke saw it, and with great chivalry, placed Neptune in front of the young leader as a shield. He took the hit wordlessly, but with great irritation, if the glare to the Uchiha was anything to go by; who ignored it.
"Whoa, thanks. . . Sasuke? Neptune?" the young leader tried to thank the person who helped her unsurely. It was either Neptune who took the hit, or the Uchiha who placed him there to take the hit. Further thought had to stop as stomping could be heard and it became louder with each step.
The doors flew open, and all edible Taijutsu stopped at the moment when the teams noticed how angry Glynda looked, stomping her way to them and, at the same time, fixing everything that was damaged with her semblance, which wasn't all that much as it could have been much worse if Rose was involved. Once everything had settled down, the professor turned to the teams responsible and glared before she began stating, "get the mops, all of you are cleaning up this mess." Her punishment elicited six different groans from the food combat belligerents, before a seventh groan of pain was heard from Yang as she crashed back to Remnant. Did they honestly expect such a food-fight would go ignored? Perhaps if Ozpin was there to help them out, but he wasn't.
As she began to walk out, she gave an unnoticed analytical look at Ruby, and a disappointing look for Sasuke, one he felt he knew why, so he just shrugged. There was no way he could've stopped this fight, nor would he have and most likely would've left them to it.
"At least she didn't kill them," Ruby said in relief, but that was before she was tackled into a tight hug by her older sister.
Yang was in pain from crashing to the ground, but she felt revitalized when she saw her sister at the doors. "You're back!" she exclaimed happily as she nearly crushed her younger sister, as if they didn't see her an hour before Sasuke left to Vale.
"Not for long it seems," Blake added quietly. She could have sworn that there were sounds of bones creaking that emanated from Ruby.
The young leader pushed her sister off and gasped for precious air, then addressed the group. "Yes, I'm back," she told them tiredly, it felt odd to see her sister's eyes grey, with a nearly unnoticeable tint of a blue-like color. She was getting better, and that was what mattered. "Now, could someone please tell me how all this happened!?" she asked loudly at the end.
A barrel of excuses was heard. With many that began with how Yang said that pancakes weren't good enough to start the new semester, and how Nora didn't appreciate her opinion.
"Didn't I tell you these guys were awesome?" Wukong said as he nudged his still-soaked teammate.
Neptune continued to wipe grape soda of his face, that never seemed to get off. "Yeah, they seem cool, but on of 'em is a dick," he said as he glared a bit more at the ninja before he continued to clean himself up.
At that time, another buzz from Sasuke's phone was heard. He picked it up and read that the message was from Torchwick, with the contents of the message being something very interesting, but were also irritating as he had to go back to Vale using that damnable flying machine.
The ninja walked away from the jovial teens, but not before he unnoticeably left a clone to make certain nobody noticed his absence. The contents of the message said that he would be on another job, one that would take a longer time span than a simple heist. Whatever it was, Sasuke was always ready for what's to come.
The moment he walked through the warehouse doors, he was immediately in the company of Neopolitan, who ran to his side. "Glad to see you again, Sasuke," she greeted with a genuine heartfelt smile. It probably would have fooled him for a kindhearted one if he hadn't been around her a few times.
"Neo, what is it that Torchwick wants?" the Uchiha asked the short statured woman.
"You'll see," she replied back. The smile she gave the ninja was something he had seen on Orochimaru several times; it was making him uncomfortable. "You could guess that this isn't a simple Dust theft, right?"
The Rinnegan master nodded, the massive amounts of attention given to bullheads were painfully obvious that this was for an extended mission. He walked through the massive building and was closely followed by the multi-colored woman. Around him, the Faunus were working like mad on the multiple bullheads, checking where everything was supposed to be and such.
"The prodigal son returns," the last Uchiha heard a strange accent once more from far to his side, he turned to see the large Lieutenant from previously. "After your performance at the heist, I would have assumed that the spineless thief would have stopped bringing you, since you stole more than what we agreed upon." Oddly enough, he didn't have the same fear as his lower-ranked compatriots, the large insurgent was simply irritated that this newbie had achieved a level of fear from the humans that the entire White Fang had been trying to get since the change of leadership. A fear that that this ninja procured within the first few minutes of a mission, rather than the multiple hardworking Faunus that had worked years to get.
"It wasn't Roman who asked for his return," Neopolitan informed the large bestial man with a happy smile. "It was our dear employer that wanted to hire him again, no matter the price." Now that was interesting for the Uchiha as he would make sure to ask for a substantial payment. The massive operation this seemed to prove that he was well within his right to ask for it. Also, it seemed to silence the White Fang officer.
The Lieutenant stiffened at the mention of 'employer', clearly that person made a mark on him, for he simply walked away with a growl of something along the lines of 'that damned woman'.
"Why don't we go find Roman?" Neo asked her new friend, who grunted as a positive response.
Sasuke's curiosity had risen a bit about this shadowy boss. "Who is this 'employer' you speak of?" he asked his petite companion.
"Someone who was very interested in you, especially that eye of yours," she said mysteriously with a smirk. "She believes that it has something to do with the abilities you had shown at the docks. She said something about how it all started after your one single eye changed." Neo was practically humming as she strutted after saying that.
The Uchiha frowned and clenched his teeth with irritation. 'I need to be more careful from now on,' he thought. If the Deva Path brought him that much attention and interest from an underworld boss, he was concerned what the other five Rinnegan techniques would bring, even though the Preta Path had little use. Aura was not Chakra, the Fūjutsu Kyūin can't absorb Aura-based attacks. Even then, the Rinnegan was not dwarfed by any means on Remnant nor even in his own world.
As they continued to walk through the bustling warehouse, the duo had finally come across Torchwick, who was berating a Faunus for not doing a task fast enough.
"Why did you call me here Roman?" Sasuke demanded loudly to get the attention of the thief through the loud noises around him.
Torchwick turned to face the new monster of Remnant. "Ah, your back," he said after a nervous sigh. He felt safe that there was basically an army of battle-ready Faunus around him, he should be protected from the Uchiha, right? What was really protecting him, though, was that Sasuke was a mercenary, so as long as Roman had the currency he wanted, the safer he was. "I hope you left a note back at kindergarten, because this job will take a while." Nervous or not, he would still mock the ninja a bit.
"Do not concern yourself with that," the Rinnegan master stated dryly. "I was told that I was given a blank check for this operation." He would make use out of this rare privilege to its fullest.
Roman sighed in annoyance, he knew that Cinder tended to make these decisions that looked as though on a whim, but considering this new guy's performance and effect at the shipyard, he could understand why Fall had an interest in him. "Yeah, that's right," he confirmed irritably. "You took more than we were meant to pay you last time, like ten-fold. The only rea-"
"Roman, she said to pay him anything he wanted," Neopolitan interrupted her coworker with an irritated sigh.
"Fine, but we better be getting our Dust's worth on this one," Roman grumbled out.
Sasuke spoke once more, "what's the mission this time?" The fact he was given a blank check made him expect that this job was a bit more important than the previous one.
The bowler hat man gave the Uchiha a look. "We're gonna get some new toys, and your job is to infiltrate before we go in to swipe 'em," he told him with an excited smile. "So pack up, because we're headed to Atlas."
Not much going on with this chapter story-wise, it's more of a continuation to where we left off and an introduction to the next sequence.
Trivia:
1- If I killed off Jaune in chapter 5, Sasuke was going to be made the leader of team JNPR, becoming team SRPN (Serpent). I thought SNPR (Sniper) would sound cliche. Plus, it's a throwback to when he was in team Hebi (Snake).
2- If I wasn't careful, you would be reading Sasuke saying things like 'Ain't', 'watcha', 'sup', 'bruh', and 'Cuz'. Cuz I usually say em, and it accidentally leaks to him saying it sometimes within the first draft of a chapter. Unless ya'll wanna see Sasuke be a total bro at times, that's a bad idea.
3- When I run out of ideas of relevant trivia for a chapter, I do those weird trivia about my beard. I want 3 bits of information, I don't care from where.