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Chapter 9

I'm sorry, the AN for this chapter seems to be missing. I hope some of you put some fliers out to help find it. It has words, letters, and they were all bolden. If you see it, please contact the closest Fanfiction police station to help it send it back my way. . . Sasuke probably stole it, you know how he is.

I Bet You Can Tell The AN Was Scraping For Jokes; I Gotta Say I'm Sorry, Folks!

Chapter Nine: To Long For Something New

"Shinra Tensei!" a disguised Sasuke shouted out as he aimed his right hand towards another large Nevermore. This would be the ninth one flying too closely to the convoy of White Fang bullheads and other larger flying crafts. Looking around from the top of his own aircraft with his Rinnegan active, Sasuke saw no other flying Grimm nearby or approaching within the frosty air.

The entire convoy was closing in on the Atlesian weapons factory that housed this 'Paladin' or whatever it was. Once they were within a specific distance, they were going in to assault the compound. More specifically, the large group of aerial vehicles were going to hang back while Sasuke disabled the communications and sensors. If Roman's info was accurate, there wouldn't be that many people to defend the base since an Atlesian general had left with a lot of soldiers, a few guards from the factory included. The infiltration mission would be a breeze for the last Uchiha.

Said ninja sat on the roof of the still-flying bullhead, currently traversing over a snowy forest, merely keeping watch for any more flying Grimm. It was oddly better than sitting inside the giant metal box, now that he was fully aware of his surroundings, even if the air was very cold. Though he wasn't as bothered by the weather, because now that the possibility of it being the ninja's coffin now down to zero, the otherworldly warrior found it a little relaxing. However, there was a certain surprise from the first Nevermore he saw that attempted to attack his group several hours prior.

That was the first time he looked at Grimm with the Rinnegan active, and the result was nothing. Complete and utter nothing. When the former avenger saw the first Nevermore and was ready to blast it with a Shinra Tensei, it was the exact opposite when he saw people alight with their own Aura. Indeed, he saw the Nevermore as clearly as ever, but he hadn't seen any energy emanating from the large creature at all. The ninja could have looked at a rock and would have seen the exact same effect.

'Soulless creatures indeed,' the Rinnegan master thought with amusement as he disabled his Dojutsu. It seemed their description wasn't for nothing. The shinobi picked up his Scroll that was notifying him for a call and found it was Roman's face that popped up on screen. "The Nevermore has been taken care of," the disguised Uchiha reported.

The orange-haired thief nodded. "Yeah, I noticed it when you shot it to Vacuo," he commented wryly. "How the hell do you do that?" If he wasn't blasting them away to the next continent, he was launching those black blades at the Grimm fliers. Which was another thing Torchwick had found surprising. Sasuke could literally shoot those sword blades from his hands like a damned gun. As if he hadn't seen enough new skills from the Uchiha to add to the list.

"That's none of your concern," 'Gaara' said as he sat cross-legged on top of the craft. The Chakra Rods themselves didn't do much against the hefty Nevermore, but when augmented with wind or lightning Chakra, impaling the massive creatures became a little easier. He still needed to blast them away with the Deva Path, though. "I assume you called to let me know that it's time?"

Roman nodded in confirmation. "We'll hang back until we get the all clear," he added. "Remember, communications and sensors are to be taken out from within the building. Once those are offline, then we can get in and take what we came for." A simple plan, remove the compound's ability to think and call for help. Without that then you could have a small army swarm in to take anything you wanted, and even take their sweet time doing it. Of course, Sasuke knew any defenses removed would be an added bonus to the operation's success rate.

The small fleet of aircraft came to a stop, holding their position until Sasuke completed his task. The ninja leapt off of the bullhead carrying him and landed onto the forest below, right on a tree's snow-covered branch. Sasuke felt a wave of nostalgia hit him as he felt the wood at his feet, taking a deep breath of the fresh, cold, woodland air. It had been so long since he'd been in a forest, and even longer since he ran across from branch to branch, which was quickly remedied.

The ninja leapt from tree to tree, headed in the direction of where the compound was supposed to be. Sasuke simply enjoyed the wind and view, which were very reminiscent of how it was back home. The breath of fresh air, the wind hitting him, and the sight of leaves in his peripheral vision as he ran forward from the tree-tops were but a reminder of what he was doing all this for.

With a boost in determination, the Uchiha moved faster across the forest with his Sharingan active, taking in every moment with increased precision.

The Grimm that noticed him on his way were easily cut down, either from a slash to their throats or stabbed through the heart with his blade. Sasuke's speed brought a great amount of momentum to each strike he used. Not even the armor of the Boarbatusk could handle the penetrative power of the sword when at speeds near body flicker.

Sasuke came to a sudden stop on one of the branches, facing a problem he hadn't expected. This new obstacle was oddly similar to the revelation on the soulless creatures of the Grimm: nothing.

There was nothing in front of him, simply a wide snowy expanse without even a dead tree to taint its perfection. Sasuke could see the compound he was meant to infiltrate without raising alarm, but it was in the center of the it all, and he was hiding behind a few trees near the outer edge of the forest. Either Roman didn't know, which was unlikely even in his foolishness, or he didn't want to tell the Uchiha, which was more than likely.

'This is a problem,' the ninja thought with annoyance. He activated his Rinnegan again to see the true essence of the issue, which came as a multitude of cameras of different varieties and functions. If he were to run across the snow-topped field, he didn't doubt that at least a few of the many surveillance devices would catch him or even his footprints. He could use the body flicker technique, but that would be a risky maneuver with the high-end military-grade cameras that ran thousands of times faster than the human eye. If it was one thing Remnant had that was better than the Elemental Nations, it was technology; Penny's existence attested to that.

The idea of the body flicker technique was moving quicker than the eye could catch, that didn't work well with military-grade cameras meant to catch invading Huntsmen. Especially when there was a massive meadow at least a kilometer in radius at its shortest. It was impossible that one of those cameras not catch Sasuke if he tried.

Looking back to the distance between himself and the wall that surrounded the shinobi's objective, the very one that had several cameras at every angle. 'Perhaps, I don't have to do this alone,' he thought with a small knowing smirk since he knew how to render all those advanced and expensive optic devices useless. Fortunately, his Rinnegan was already active.

Without needing to draw blood, the Rinnegan master made a few seals, placed his palm on the ground between trees, and said, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu." An intricate seal appeared under him before an explosion of smoke enveloped him. After the cloud dispersed, Sasuke was standing on top of the head of a large chameleon, or more specifically, the Giant Snake-Tailed Chameleon.

The Uchiha got a little disoriented from the added eyes, having the added sight of his summon's perspective was somewhat dizzying. The large one-eyed green creature still had its tongue sticking out, black spike piercings in its single intact horn, and the Rinnegan in three of its remaining eyes; snake-tail included.

Hopping off of the beast Sasuke turned to take a look at his summon. It was still as massive and ugly as ever, but possibly the most useful in terms of infiltration. He gave a mental order for it to open it's mouth to allow him in, it's response just as quick, and he was even quicker to get into the massive gob. Once it closed its mouth, he was unable to see anything, but the chameleon could. Which meant, by proxy, he could as well through its Rinnegan eyes.

'Go invisible and take me to the wall,' Sasuke ordered his summon through their shared mental connection, which it followed without missing a beat. The ninja could feel his impromptu vehicle moving at a decent speed towards the outer wall of the compound, it's empowered paws not even denting the snow it stepped on. From what he could see, none of the cameras swiveling around showed any sign of alertness.

Once the summoner and his familiar reached the wall, the creature proceeded to walk up the large barrier, not making a single sound that would alert a single guard. Up top, the snake-tail's head looked in every direction to take note of the area, which wasn't more than a five-story building, with some three-story here and there. It was as Neo had said back at the briefing, its factory and storage were underground, one way in and one way out to where the important happenings were. That only made it easier to keep track on who exited and entered.

Walking along the wall-top, there was a patrol of two soldiers wearing the official Atlas military uniform; one in red and the other in blue.

"I heard that the rate of Grimm-attacks on the border went up," the one in blue said to his patrol companion. "Apparently it started at the same time that Gaara guy came up on the news. You'd expect people to calm down since the guy went dark."

The red one shook his head. "I think it's because the guy went dark people are scared. I mean think about it. We only know that the guy seemingly has more than one semblance, nearly killed a student, and that's it. No news about him after that," the red guard said. "Forget about that for now, though. We gotta stay presentable since-" Sasuke ignored the remaining conversation of the foot patrol to focus on the mission.

It was time for the ninja to take a different disguise, one that made it easier to walk around this compound unhindered. He couldn't fit the massive chameleon through hallways inside the main building, it was all on foot from here on out.

'Gaara' waited for them to pass, then discreetly left the mouth of his summon, ordering it to dispel within the forest. It would be a bad idea if a massive explosion of smoke were to appear out of nowhere. He looked around once he was outside of the Snake-Tailed Chameleon, noting he was in the clear of surveillance at the moment, and immediately transformed into a blue-themed Atlesian soldier. He took a moment to admire his work, seeing the perfection of his disguise of a peon Atlesian soldier complete with a visored helmet, upper-body armor, and loose fitting pants.

He started walking towards the largest building and then felt the dizziness of having multiple perspectives disappear with his summon. The disguised Uchiha sighed in relief, continuing to walk towards the main building. If his information was correct, it would be the one with a way to the underground factory and storage unit.

Upon nearing the door, someone behind him spoke. "You there!" a feminine voice demanded. Sasuke turned around and saw a white uniformed woman with white hair tied in a bun and bangs covering the right side of her face. The way the woman handled herself screamed 'elite'. "What do you think you're doing?"

With a mental scowl, the last Uchiha turned to give a quick and stiff salute, as described in one of the books he had procured about the military culture of Atlas. "Just going into the main building, ma'am!" he said in a soldier-like manner.

"I could see that," the white-haired adult said as she walked towards him. "What I'm wondering is why a soldier of Atlas is walking around without his weapon."

Sasuke stiffened, and noticed he indeed didn't have the same weapon as every soldier had in their hands on this base. He kicked himself mentally for not picking up on something so painfully obvious. 'Remnant made me damn complacent,' he thought with disapproval, he was used to transforming into people who wouldn't have weapons in their hands. "I-I forgot it inside the building, ma'am!" he gave a fake stutter in hopes to give off a rookie persona, and was glad nobody from back home could see him then.

The woman gave him a look-over, before furrowing her brows. "Then get back inside and retrieve it! I better not see you out here unarmed again," she commanded angrily. "Just because General Ironwood isn't here, don't think I will allow such shameful imperfection. I was assigned to watch over the project in his absence for a reason, and I don't intend to disappoint him."

"Yes, ma'am!" the fake soldier replied hastily before he did a one-eighty and entered the building, all while the white-haired specialist watched him until the door closed behind the 'recruit'. He gave a small sigh after the door shut behind him. 'Irritating woman,' Sasuke thought with displeasure. For a moment he believed his position was compromised, which would have bloodied up everything about the mission.

Sasuke began to walk along the hallways, giving the usual nod to the passing soldiers, or ignoring the scientists and engineers he passed. Occasionally he would hear gossip about the white-haired specialist who went around the compound and assessed the soldiers. That explained the annoying woman from previously.

After some wandering, the former avenger found a map on an electronic display screen. Taking a closer look, it showed the rooms and directions of the floor he was on, with on-screen directional arrows that could be pressed on the side of the glass display.

Shuffling through each map image, the ninja found that the security control center was on the third fl- No, it was the third floor. Blinking a few more times, he noticed how they dedicated the entire third floor to become just one large hub for security and communication for the entire complex. 'Possibly to make lag between all the departments when cooperating to near zero,' the 'recruit' assumed mentally.

If there was an attack, the operators could handle comms and coordinate with the defensive base units instantly, all while reporting to the higher-ups who were off-base immediately when an event or situation occurred. Updates to exact events on exact times, not a bad idea, but that was if you were so confident of your outer sensors and surveillance to detect any infiltrator before even reaching the outer wall. Clearly, they needed to work on their first line of defense to detect large otherworldly creatures that could go invisible on all visual frequencies.

This could be a major advantage to the shinobi if he played his cards right. It would either result in a quick success or a failure that compromised the entire mission. On one hand, everything that he needed to be taken out was in a single area. But on the other hand, there would be so many people, that any mistake could give that one person a chance to warn the entire Atlesian armed forces and ruin his operation.

'This needs to be handled with great care,' the Uchiha thought in contemplation for his approach to the situation. He could enter the center as he was with this disguise, so that's the infiltration part done. Should he simply improvise as he went along? He wasn't like his blonde best friend, Sasuke was a ninja that made his opponent think the Uchiha was five steps ahead of him, when he was actually twenty steps beyond that. Everything needed to be planned.

Fortunately, Sasuke didn't need to do more than simply connect his new Scroll to the computers of each system for a moment. Roman and Neo said that they would be able to handle everything after that. Doubly fortunate for him, those computers were within spitting distance of each other, and each could probably be accessed easily enough.

He didn't know how connecting the Scroll given to him by the thief would help, but the Gaara impersonator didn't understand computers well enough to argue. He knew that the White Fang wanted Paladins, Roman wanted to acquire said mechs, and they wouldn't like not having the massive weapon after the mission; that was enough for the Uchiha to do as he was told with the device.

He gave the map a glimpse with the Sharingan from under his visor on all the floors available to be shown on the digital map, which were only ground floor to rooftop, and memorized the passages at a single glance. The shinobi memorized the floor plans before deactivating his eyes, ready to commence phase two of the job he had been hired to do.

Taking the stairs, it didn't take long for the former avenger to find the heavy metal doors that connected to the center of communication and defense. It would have been easy to enter, but it was guarded by two Atlesian Knights bots, the new white-wash models. They didn't look intimidating as much as they seemed high-end. 'As if clean and modern made them stronger in combat,' Sasuke scoffed internally.

The Uchiha was going to pass through, but was stopped by the robotic guards. "Halt," he heard in an electronic voice. "Only authorized personnel are permitted to enter this sector."

"I thought this floor was permitted to every guard," the ninja asked with a frown. It was the hub of security for the entire compound, after all, surely any soldier would be permitted to enter.

The robot shook its head. "Incorrect information. Only officials, operators, and Commissioned Officers are permitted to enter," was all it said, then merely stood there watching the disguised ninja. It wasn't a good time to experiment if the Uchiha patented glare worked on lifeless machines, so he stepped away from the door irritably instead of causing a scene.

Now, the 'recruit' needed to find a way inside without causing anything that could raise an alarm. It was times like this where he wished he was Naruto and simply bashed through obstacles until everything worked out, but Sasuke doubted he had that kind of luck. If he did, he wouldn't have been on Remnant in the first place.

Standing in the hallway a floor below the control center, the Uchiha needed to find a way to enter the damned control room. He needed someone with a high rank, someone where the first look at them would remove any possibility of doubt who that person was.

The Uchiha smirked softly as he remembered the pompous white-haired woman from earlier, 'I may have Naruto's luck, but in a different way,' he thanked the blonde idiot's contagiousness.

Finding privacy in a hallway was impossible with all the cameras everywhere and the occasional guard, so the 'recruit' had to settle for using an empty bathroom. Thankfully, it seemed that Atlas generals weren't ones for voyeurism, unlike a certain dead Sannin.

Sasuke made a cross seal, and muttered out, "Kage Bunshin." A cloud of smoke later, a clone who was wearing the same disguise as him, now with a gun as not to be harassed by any officers like earlier. The Uchiha made another seal and was enveloped by a cloud of smoke. It only took a few seconds for the cloud to disperse, and there stood in Sasuke's place was the irritating woman who berated him for not carrying a weapon.

The two saboteurs nodded to one another as the clone left first, to make certain that the white-haired elitist was away from his area as much as possible. The original Sasuke left the restroom a minute later, arms behind his back, eyes condescendingly forward, nose slightly high, and a confident strut while he walked.

The 'specialist' walked out of the lavatory in an image of great confidence, he was immediately faced by a wandering blue-colored guard. If his wide-eyed response and quick salute at the infiltrator's appearance was anything to go by, the transformation was spot on. "Don't you have somewhere to be?" the 'specialist' asked in a condescending manner.

"Y-Yes, ma'am!" was the soldier's immediate response before he continued his stiff patrol.

Looking at the stiff-marching guard, Sasuke had to squash the feeling of needing to berate the odd way the soldier was walking. For now, he had an advanced military network to hack.

He continued on his way, drawing fearful and respectful salutes from recruits and veterans alike. 'Could this person be that important?' the Uchiha pondered. He had heard of Atlesian specialists before, but he didn't know they had such authority over others. Perhaps it was because she was in charge of the base while the general was away. 'Here comes stage two.'

Nearing the heavy doors of the control center, the robots did a quick salute and greeted in their electronic voice, "Welcome, Specialist Schnee."

Sasuke made sure not to trip on himself when he heard the name, but subtly took a deep breath and exhaled just as discreetly. 'I seem to run into something Schnee one way or another,' he mused. If it wasn't their Dust, it was a family member's identity he was stealing.

The disguised infiltrator focused forward and saw the entire center giving him a standing salute. As if he didn't have enough attention when he was simply 'Sasuke'. Looking around after the shuffling of chairs stopped, Sasuke noted that it was quite a massive room. There were computers and monitors littered on every wall and every table in an organized manner. Everybody saw what the other was seeing.

"At ease," he told them, quoting from the book he learned about Atlesian military culture. 'Time to get phase three started.' He looked to the closest computer operator and moved towards him, causing the poor fool to sweat a bit when he noticed the attention. "You there," the infiltrator beckoned in exactly the same way the specialist had done to him.

The operator stood up stiffly and saluted. "Y-Yes, Miss Schnee," he answered squeakily.

"Why don't you show me what you're doing," the 'Schnee' ordered in a commanding tone, moving closer to watch his computer desk. He was told that placing the Scroll on the computer desk would be enough for Roman and Neo to infect the machine.

"It's just simple radio monitoring, ma'am," the man said with comfort slowly creeping back to him, unknowing that he had practically just given up the compounds capability to call for help.

Sasuke took out the Scroll and hoped his group was ready to begin hacking. Roman had said that they would simply wait for him to place the device necessary. "I'll be the judge of that," 'Winter' said as she went over his station, then placed the hacking device on the screen's display. He missed the chess queen that appeared for a fraction of a moment on the electronic Scroll.

A small ping came from the little machine, which signified that the first task was successful, communications were now under White Fang control. When the attack commenced, the people outside of the base would be none the wiser, and those inside would be told that help was coming, but all hope was lost for that. All that was left on Sasuke's list now was the surveillance.

"This is acceptable," the disguised Uchiha commented critically to the operator, who breathed out heavily in relief. "Now sho-" Another ping was heard from the device in his hands. 'The second ping signifies that the next objective was hacked. How?' he thought in confusion with furrowed brows before he turned to the operator. "Tell me, if I were to ask for the surveillance section of the control center, where would I go?"

Now it was the operators turn to be confused, but other than the slight tilt of the head, he didn't show it. He did, however, widen his eyes in some form of realization, but it wasn't because he noticed that he was lied to. "This is a test," he whispered to himself quietly, which was heard by the near-face-palming saboteur. "Well, Miss Schnee, all computers here are connected to a single mainframe, as to insure widespread and quick access of information gathered by each operator in the center. Thus, it depends who has serveilence duty for them to have it available on their station." The Atlesian employee was practically beaming after his misplaced realization.

"Correct, Private. . .?" the Uchiha waited for the fool to answer after his designated rank.

"Simmons, ma'am," the now-named Simmons replied in controlled joy.

His happy attitude was slightly disconcerting. "I will be sure to inform the superiors of your. . . efficiency," the 'specialist' informed. "For now, I will leave you with your duty." He made his way to exit the room, which was unhindered, before he had a small headache from his clone vanishing.

The clones memories told him that the real Winter Schnee was done inspecting the surrounding defenses, and was now headed to where Sasuke was to continue her evaluation. It didn't matter anymore, the entire military complex was now off the grid. They couldn't receive help, nor find out who was attacking from where.

The ninja turned to the operatives once more. "I will return, best you be prepared," he addressed them before he left through the heavy metal doors, the Atlesian Knights saluting as he passed them. The Uchiha sent a quick message to his group to temporarily malfunction the camera in the elevator, so he could change back to his disguise without the ones in the center noticing him.

He went inside the elevator, waiting for just a moment before transforming back to the blue soldier he was disguised as previously. Fully with a weapon this time around since he knew the relative of Weiss was about to enter the elevator with him.

Soon enough, the doors opened and revealed the strong and confident Schnee strutting towards him, completely unaware of the convoy of White Fang aircraft headed directly towards them. Sasuke gave her a salute, more out of 'goodbye' than to keep his disguise.

Winter Schnee noticed the soldier and recognized him from previously. "I see you have your weapon this time," she said condescendingly. "I hope you don't forget regulation so easily in the future. For your sake." The ninja hoped he wasn't like this when he was younger with team seven.

"Of course, ma'am!" he retorted. Sasuke didn't know how she recognized him so easily when everybody around looked similar, even with the small name tags attached to the armor. 'What kind of last name is 'Caboose'?' he thought with annoyance. Coming from a world where his last name held much prestige, Sasuke couldn't fathom having one as idiotic sounding as this.

He was just about to exit the elevator, but the ground shook from an explosion that happened somewhere within the complex, something thought to be impossible to the defenders. 'Seems the assault has started,' the ninja concluded.

Sasuke would have left, but Winter had just slammed the button for the third floor, uncaring of who was with her. "No," Winter said in anger to the situation, just as another explosion was felt. It took no time for the lift to reach the third floor, just as much as it took for her to storm past the fake soldier and the Atlesian Knights, not even acknowledging their salutes and greeting.

A third explosion was heard and felt, it must have hit something important because the lights went out before coming back on, the hallways now illuminated by emergency power. The Rinnegan master's job was done, he had no need to stay any longer than he should. Before he could make his escape, however, the doors of the center opened once more, and revealed a furious Schnee.

"-on't care, try again to contact those to lock down the underground unit," the shinobi heard what was left of the specialist's order, and he didn't like it. True, they had this base incapable of receiving help or detect trouble, but locking down the underground, which contained what they came here for, for an extended amount of time would cause some level of alert from headquarters. Days? Weeks? Months? Sasuke didn't know how long they could hold out until the bosses get suspicious; all while Atlas kept the Paladins.

"What's happening?" the fake soldier asked while he was still in the elevator.

The white-haired Atlesian growled. "We're under attack, but the base's sensors aren't detecting anything," she answered with irritation, which increased even further when the PA system came to life.

"White Fang airships spotted from all sides! All units to their assigned positions!" the speakers blared.

The Uchiha could feel the rumbling beneath his feet as soldiers began following orders from their higher ranked superiors. He almost didn't notice it when Schnee unlocked a hidden panel on the elevator, pressed a few keys, and the lift began speeding downwards, to a level below ground floor.

"Consider this me not having enough time to dismiss you, Private," Winter said when she began stomping out the elevator towards a warehouse-like expanse, where a few people in lab coats were running around working either on their Scrolls or the computers like mad. "Don't touch anything, you're not even supposed to be here, but-" another explosion was felt. "Damn it!" She ignored him after that and left the Uchiha in favor of a gathering group of officers.

They stood stiff and saluted. "Specialist Schnee, your orders?" the leader of them asked. Veteran fighters of the compound, the Uchiha surmised.

"I want all the Paladins to be in the storage unit when we lock it down!" the white-haired woman commanded. "We can't detect the enemy on our sensors, inter-base radio communications are out, and our defense systems are malfunctioning. We have to hold out until the reinforcements I asked for arrive." A quick 'yes, ma'am' later, both officers and droids that gathered immediately set to work on her commands.

Sasuke was impressed on how quick these soldiers followed her orders, a shame that help wasn't coming as soon as they expected. . . or at all. He certainly didn't miss the wall opening up from the middle as it turned out to be a massive gate for the storage unit, and inside was what the entire operation was for; what he was hired to help steal.

Massive somewhat skeletal robots that looked armed to the teeth with weapons from different varieties. If Roman's word was anything to go by, these massive machines were not droids, but massive suits meant to be operated by a pilot.

"Get the half-built ones in there as well!" Sasuke heard the Schnee order, what was heard next proved that it was a good decision on her part.

"White Fang have breached the comp-" was all the PA system said before another explosion occurred, this time in the very building that the Uchiha was in. It shook the floor he was standing on so violently that it made several people who weren't grasping something fall to the ground.

"Those damn bastards!" The normally well-mannered Schnee cursed. She looked to her troops, then back to the Paladins that were slowly making their way to be locked down in storage through a tram, but it was too slow and too late. A large explosion occurred where the previously working elevators were located, which left a massive hole above them. The entire sub-floor was coated with debris and rubble, several insurgents soon dropping down from the new entry way.

"Now, now, we wouldn't want these lovely machines locked away, would we?" a condescending voice said once he noticed the Paladin's intended destination. Roman released his grip on the rope that brought him down, several others dropping down the same way. Roman stepped forward, flanked by Neopolitan and two platoons of White Fang soldiers; outnumbering the Atlesian soldiers and droids by a decent margin. "It's a shame you didn't have the amount of men you usually have, might have even put up a decent fight." He even took a puff of his cigar to show how relaxed he was, all while looking around for a familiar face.

Winter stepped forward, setting an example as a leader of the remaining troops. "You would be foolish to think you could win against professionally trained Atlesian troops. You don't have enough manpower to win against us," she said in a confident voice, oblivious to what was happening with the troops behind her.

Roman's eyes widened as Neopolitan smirked, and several White Fang began taking a step back at the familiar display. It wasn't from Specialist Schnee, who was surprised at the reaction she thought she was getting, but was relieved that her speech was having an effect; or so she thought.

"Hmph, you would be right to be afraid of us," the specialist scoffed at the hesitation of the opposing group.

"They aren't like that because of you," she heard a dry statement from a familiar voice behind her. When she turned around to scold the rookie soldier she brought with her, she was stunned at the sight that greeted her. "They fear me far more than they do a woman like you."

Every single officer that was there was on the ground, knocked out from a lightning augmented strike to the back of the neck. They felt nothing and heard nothing as the Uchiha flickered soundlessly between people, starting with those farthest to the rear, making sure none had enough time to figure out what had happened to the comrades behind them. When they did, they had little time to react or even yell before he finished them off and headed to the next target.

The droids were another matter, he had to strengthen his kunai with a multitude of Chakra properties to keep it from breaking against their metal and to have it slice through said armor. Regardless, he got the job done. With an empowered kunai in one hand, and electric strikes with the other, he had neutralized every opponent except Winter.

Said Schnee was stunned and wide-eyed, but most of all, she was enraged. Before she could shout in outrage she had a small revelation that she spoke aloud. "When everything malfunctioned at the control room, it was from you, wasn't it?" The fake soldier nodded. "You. . . You TRAITOR!" she yelled as she ran towards him with her saber, her eyes cold with hatred. She had accepted this assignment directly from General Ironwood himself, she would eliminate the one who had caused her to fail such an important objective.

When she neared, the saboteur was enveloped by smoke. "I'm not exactly a traitor, since I was never with you in the first place," he said as a black blade came up to block Schnee's sword strike.

When the smoke dispersed, Winter gasped. "Gaara!?" she exclaimed in shock when she saw the redheaded Kazekage. His left eye was glowing a light purple, the criminal holding the black sword that had blocked her weapon.

"Shinra Tensei," the Uchiha said out loud with his free palm facing her, which pushed the white-haired woman to the wall on the other side. "Roman, go collect the Paladins, I'll handle the woman."

Roman nodded a little too eagerly, but followed the Uchiha's orders and commanded his White Fang group to start moving the Paladins. They would get their mechs with little opposition, that's what they had hired the ninja for.

Winter, however, wouldn't go down without a fight. Using her Glyph to stop her flight the Schnee shot forward to pierce Torchwick's head as he approached the storage unit. "You won't take anything!" she shouted out as she flew, which stopped short against a black blade from Gaara once more. "You bastard," she seethed out as she brought out her shorter blade from the hilt of her saber to stab him in the Rinnegan eye, but was surprised when another black blade appeared to stop that as well

"Atlas specialists seem to be lacking," Sasuke stated as he blocked the small blade, pushing Winter aside with his Chakra Rods. She poised for another strike, but in a different way.

The Schnee stabbed the ground below her to create a Glyph, which summoned several snow-white birds that flew around her. She simply looked to the saboteur as the flock of white birds shot towards him to pierce his body.

The Rinnegan master was surprised at the strange form of summoning, it was far from being the same kind from his home. Sasuke knew if a single one landed a damaging blow it would remove his transformation and reveal his true identity. The Uchiha let the blades in his hands disappear and began making seals, determined to keep the birds from ever laying a feather on him. At the final seal, he breathed in and shouted out towards the offender's summons, "Fire Release: Great Fireball!" A large torrent of flame came forth and swallowed Schnee's attack, burning every single bird to ash.

The flames whittled away, and on the other side was an awestruck Winter, still on the ground with her sword stabbed through the floor. "H-How did you-" she said before she dodged left to avoid several smaller fireballs hitting the ground she was on. This 'Gaara' could not only manipulate gravity and bring forth swords from his body, but could also spew flames from his mouth and transform into other people. Schnee concluded that he was by far the most dangerous man she'd met, already planning to inform her general of the threat he posed.

"Do you understand the difference between you and I now, Schnee?" 'Gaara' asked the surprised woman. "Even with your abilities, you cannot ever hope to beat me."

Winter began to grit her teeth in her growing rage. She was being talked down to by a vagrant, even if a powerful one. "So you can spit fire, is that meant to strike me with fear?" she asked him scornfully. "I am a warrior of Atlas, I won't bow down to you terrorists!" she shouted back while summoning a white Ursa Major. She pointed her weapon towards Sasuke as the creation charged towards him.

The Uchiha sighed, he didn't really know what to expect, but specialists were meant to be pretty unique here on Remnant. He brought out another Chakra Rod, filled it with wind Chakra and hacked the summoned creature down the middle. Sasuke jumped left a second later to avoid being stabbed by Schnee, who jumped between both halves and attempted to strike him.

The ninja had to hand it to his opponent, she was possibly the best fighter he had seen so far on Remnant; which wasn't saying much as he hadn't fought all that many. He was confused when she continued her dash forwards, right past the Uchi- 'She's headed towards the Paladins!' he realized, the Schnee was headed to the lockdown switch on the wall beside the massive gate. Sasuke brought out his palm to bring her back, but his plan was disrupted as he had to dodge again from a duo of white Beowulves that appeared behind him.

Winter wasn't a fool, she knew her Beowulves wouldn't last long to keep him occupied. She read every report on him, which was severely lacking, but he had shown abilities that weren't known even now. Gaara was a monster by every meaning of the word, he was an unknown, a ghost, a criminal, and vicious. If she were to lose, then so be it, but she wouldn't allow them to succeed with their objective.

Using Glyphs to accelerate past the White Fang, in front of her was the switch in question. A single press and the entire storage unit would be inaccessible to anyone but the one who knew the code, which not even she knew. They would indeed grab a few of the Paladins that weren't locked down, but that was nothing compared what was inside the storage area.

She was only a few short meters away from ending the White Fang's goal until someone appeared in front of her. 'Sasuke' brought his palm to his side and did a slashing motion, a black blade growing as his arm traveled. "No!" Schnee yelled out as she brought her saber to cut down the saboteur, but was blocked and was blown away from a 'Shinra Tensei'. They were back to square one.

Sasuke looked as calm as ever, getting rid of the summons wasn't difficult, it merely took a single quick augmented slash to kill both of them. Amenotejikara was all he needed in the situation, and that was exactly what he used to teleport directly in front of the Schnee. Even if she had managed to press the button quickly enough Sasuke was confident he could break in with relative ease.

Sasuke stood in front of Winter in his disguised form. "I'm impressed that you were able to get past me, even for a moment," he told her, and noticed how her panting had become much more pronounced since earlier. "But you aren't strong enough to stop me and my goal." Her Aura's light was much dimmer than previously, she was running out of fuel.

Gritting her teeth, the white-haired woman brought her two blades up again, but this time slightly out of her usual form. "I won't submit to a monster," she said with anger.

'Sharingan is just barely working on Pyrrha. I don't know if it would work as it should on a fully trained specialist,' the shinobi thought with distaste, he hoped his illusion held on longer before Pyrrha began fully remembering what happened. Killing a special operative did not bode well, killing other soldiers was fine, they were mere peons, but gutting a specially trained operative from a high-class powerful family was something else entirely.

Winter dashed forward, swords in both hands. Slashing, hacking, and stabbing, every single strike missed their mark as Gaara weaved and parried away with his own black swords. Winter was getting tired, but she wouldn't allow herself to lose form, her training in Atlas assured that. "I won't lose to you!" she shouted out, as she had her swords locked with the Chakra Rods.

'Gaara' scoffed as he replied, "you don't have a choice."

The next thing Schnee knew, was a blade that pierced her thigh, but it wasn't Sasuke's. "Gah!" she exclaimed in surprise, which was enough for the Uchiha as he shot out a Chakra-strengthened palm strike to her gut. Winter skidded backward before she collapsed to one knee, gripping her wound.

"Neo," the Rinnegan master said as he glanced at the person who struck his opponent, she was standing there with a smile and her blade out of its sheath. "How many are left to be taken?"

She slotted her sword back into the Umbrella. "Not much. A few more minutes, then we would have the entirety of what's in storage," she answered and looked to the Schnee who tore her sleeve to wrap around her bleeding stab wound, then back to the ninja. "If she's that much of a problem, perhaps I should have done the job myself." She opened up her umbrella and placed it over her shoulder. She didn't like that her mission was taken away, but she could set that aside for her new friend to have the spotlight. After all, things tended to get more interesting whenever he was involved.

Sasuke shook his head. "I can handle her, just make sure she doesn't reach the lockdown button," he retorted and pointed towards the switch, "I will be done shortly."

"Don't keep me waiting," she said wryly as she walked towards where the Paladins were being lifted by White Fang bullheads to the above level, and stood beside the switch.

Looking forward again, he watched as Winter limped back up and stood shakily with an imperfect battle stance. "You realize you have now lost on all accounts, haven't you?" he asked rhetorically, he could see her clearly as she clenched her teeth and tightened the grip on her weapons. "Your men are either dead or unconscious, the base is under our control, and we've nearly finished taking the last of the Paladins. You've failed."

"Shut up!" she screamed as she ran towards him, much slower and sloppier than before.

The Uchiha didn't need the Sharingan to take her on, he didn't even need the Rinnegan at this point. Regardless, he brought his palms up facing her, but a time dilation glyph appeared behind her. Sasuke had to stop this nuisance, so instead of yelling out his technique, he shot a wind Chakra-imbued Chakra Rod from his hand. The weapon pierced her uninjured thigh, effectively pinning her to the ground.

"Argh!" she yelled, now stopped from everything she was planning, and looked to the offender, who still had his palm up facing her. The pain was terrible, but the sight before her was even more so. Winter saw the stony-faced Gaara, in his perfect state, she realized how she couldn't even touch him and how she was at his mercy. "I'm never forgetting this humiliation, Gaara. One day, you will be the one at my feet," she seethed as she gripped her impaled thigh.

Sasuke shook his head. "That will never happen," he said dully as he suddenly appeared behind her and hit the back of her head with an electrical punch. The lightning coursed through her brain and caused her to black out near instantly. He allowed his blade to disappear when she fell forward.

With both teal-colored eyes once more, he looked back to the Paladin storage area. It seemed as though Torchwick took every mech suit, as the only ones remaining were a few White Fang stragglers, Neopolitan, and the cigar smoker himself.

"Are we done here?" 'Gaara' asked monotonously.

The thief couldn't believe it. This kid not only handled an Atlesian specialist, but he had also won completely unscathed from the fight, on top of showing that he could shoot fire from his mouth. "Yeah, we're done here," Neo said happily instead of Roman. She wasn't as surprised as Torchwick, but even she was slightly stunned at the new abilities she had seen Sasuke use. "We're leaving right now, actually." The Uchiha nodded and moved towards the bullhead waiting for them to board.

Roman moved closer to his multi-colored companion and whispered, "Cinder is gonna want to hear about this. It's way too surreal for him to be able to do these kinds of things."

Neo nodded, fully agreeing with his statement. "Yeah, she'll even want him, but I don't think she would find it as easy as she thinks," she said with a grin.

"What makes you say that?" the thief asked curiously.

The petite woman gave him a full-blown smile. "Because he's too powerful for her to handle so smoothly," she replied, the smile never leaving her face.

Roman gulped nervously, they were working with someone whose description could be simply 'too strong', and that was worrying for him. He kept his comments to himself when the boy they were talking about walked over to them. "I've decided on the amount of Dust you'll be giving me for this operation." the disguised saboteur stated.

Torchwick gritted his teeth at the Uchiha's demanding tone, but knew that he couldn't argue back with such a powerful man, "Yeah, alright. What's it gonna be? A crate? A van's worth? A-"

"Freight container," the Uchiha interrupted.

The man's eyes bulged at that demand, the kid asked for the same amount of Dust he took last time, and it was an insane amount by itself. "Are you insane!?" he shouted, completely forgetting about the ninja's handling of Winter. "Do you have any idea of what you're asking for!?" If he sold the amount of Dust that was in a single container in this current market, he could live comfortably for years.

Sasuke seemed unaffected by the outburst as he continued, "I am asking for my payment, and you will provide it," he stated as though it was fact.

"Oh yeah? Well, you can g-" he stopped talking when he felt Neo pull on his pants, then point towards the passed out specialist. Roman saw the downed woman before he remembered the past few minutes. He looked towards the new guy and felt uncomfortable at this stare. "Alright, whatever you say." It wasn't his Dust anyway, but he had worked hard to steal it.

After a nod, 'Gaara' went to sit atop of the bullhead, ready to go back to Beacon and continue his day-to-day routine until a new assignment came up. He received a massive amount of Dust, and was a step closer to his way home. Sasuke laid back and closed his blessed eyes as he thought with determination, 'just wait for me, everyone. I'll be back soon.'

I love Winter in canon. I think she's dope.

Trivia:

1- Winter wasn't meant to be shown here in the initial outline, but season 3 convinced me that she should be there since she was overseeing the paladins, as mentioned in Volume 3 Episode 4.

2- Since chapter 2 of this story, I've been using quotes from Jacob Grimm as titles. I try to find ones that would sound most relevant to the chapter. Holy shit there were some really dark stuff. . . It was awesome.

3- Tucson was meant to have Chakra unlocked after his King of Hell treatment, then become a ninja trainee of Sasuke's. Now, after Pyrrha's healing instead of Jaune's death, that ain't gonna happen.

I often imagine if Sasuke was suddenly sent to another franchise. . . like Madea.