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Chapter 10

I never understood how a ninja's defense works. As far as I can tell, they are just as squishy as you and me, but they have techniques to reverse that. "But TOP, Naruto and Sasuke BlurbleBlurbleBlurble!" I understand that, but they still dodge or block kunai and shuriken. Hell, Sasuke was stabbed several times by Bee at the same time. What does that tell you? Whatever counter-argument you have, I will repeat what I just said and it'll go full circle again and again. Loopholes man, they suck. I stand by my belief, though.

This Is A Hobby Of Mine That I Rather Like; Take That From Me, You'll Find Your Head On A Pike!

Chapter Ten: Hair Black As Ebony

Back at the warehouse, nearly a day or so since returning from the mission, an undisguised Sasuke found something slightly off. "Roman, why is this place nearly empty?" he asked the thief.

Before they left to Atlas, the base of operations had always been bustling with activity. But now there was only a small group of Faunus prepping another bullhead containing a small Dust freighter to leave the area, while another seemed to be building a stage of some sort. The building, however, still had a few containers around, but the Uchiha assumed that most of them would be moved soon.

On the way back to Vale, many of the bullheads and larger ships broke off from the convoy to another area. Sasuke didn't think much of it however, as long as he was paid their business meant nothing to him.

Roman, who walked behind the ninja with Neo by his side, answered the question casually, "well, we're changing locations, and we're preparing to get some new recruits in this place."

Sasuke nodded in understanding, he knew the dangers of staying in the same place for too long, and they might as well get some usage out this building before they abandon it. "And what of my payment?" he asked.

Torchwick merely gestured to his surroundings. "Just pick a container and try to take it," he said with a challenging smirk. The smoker didn't know how the ninja took the last container, he assumed he had gotten some help from the pilot. But now no one would assist him in taking the hefty payment.

After he lowered a quirked brow at the odd antic, Sasuke made his way to one of larger containers in the building. He could imagine Roman's grin enlarging, as if he would watch the ninja fail taking what was now his, but that soon turned to befuddlement when the Uchiha took out a paper scroll.

Opening the sealing scroll Sasuke placed it on the massive metal container. "I'll be taking this one," the former avenger said before the large Dust container vanished in an explosion of smoke.

Everybody blinked. Neo, however, laughed out loud for all to hear, fully knowing that Roman's petty attempt at bullying would fail in some shape or form. The fact that the shinobi did something even she didn't expect only served to amplify her mirth.

After the storage scroll was tucked away, he heard Torchwick exclaim, "how the hell did you do that!?" The crime lord then ran towards the shinobi while looking anxiously at the empty part of the floor where the massive metal box used to sit. Turning back towards Sasuke, Roman asked again, "h-how?"

It was tiring to hear the thief ask the question repeatedly, so Sasuke gave him the same dull response, "that's none of your concern."

"Hold up, I get that you can turn into other people. Shooting blades from your bare hands? I can handle that. When you spat fire was fine, and even when you blast away other people just by raising your hand at 'em, I got around to accepting that," Roman stated before he paused for a breath. "But having a big container like that, which weighs tons might I add, disappear into nothingness because of that roll of toilet paper? I can't get my he-" He then fell to the floor face first. Neo decided to poke the thief with her umbrella to make sure he was unconscious, then grinned to her new friend. That was yet another ability she hadn't seen from him till now.

Sasuke deactivated his Sharingan and began to walk away, with the nervous eyes of the Faunus insurgents on him. Before he could leave, however, one decided to step in his way.

He watched the entire debacle with the other humans, and even hoped that the young teen was shown his place, but was irritated when the exact opposite occurred. The Lieutenant spoke angrily in his accented gruff voice, "you tend to take more than what's agreed upon, Uchiha. Don't expect me to allow this whenever you wish." He was pissed that this brat was taking more than he should; even if it was a blank check this time around from someone who was possibly far worse than the ninja. As far as the large Faunus was concerned, Sasuke was taking equipment from the revolutionaries.

"You aren't strong enough to stop me," the Uchiha retorted plainly, as though to a child.

Lieutenant scowled under his mask. He had heard how this mercenary won against a large security force and an Atlesian specialist; unscathed to boot. "Perhaps I may not be, but I know someone who can." Adam wasn't one to lose against a mere child, even if a strong one.

The Uchiha glared irritably at the muscular Faunus. "Move," he ordered.

With displeasure, the Lieutenant stepped aside, but not before he gave a final warning, "Watch yourself, Uchiha. There are stronger people than you."

Sasuke silently scoffed and walked out of the warehouse. 'Not in this world, fool.'

Outside in the cold and crisp early morning air, the shinobi leapt up to the lamppost nearby. Then from there he moved to a building, which began a sequence of jumps from rooftop to rooftop, each one bringing him closer to Beacon.

Leaping from the top of buildings in the early morning, the Uchiha made excellent time reaching the bullhead pads, but he wasn't going to use them. His clone was still in the academy making sure nobody suspected a thing about his absence, it would prove counterproductive if he waltzed in when 'Sasuke' was supposed to be sleeping.

He hadn't been gone long, merely two days or so at most. According to Roman, the mission was supposed to have taken longer. But since Sasuke had eliminated the threat of Nevermore interruptions, the transportation time between kingdoms with lightly armed aircraft was far quicker than expected. Even the return trip with the massive and heavy Paladins was faster than previously expected.

'Are these creatures that difficult to fight?' the Uchiha had pondered on that more than once during the trip to and fro Atlas. He asked the same question to Neo, and she said that while certain individual Grimm were fairly easy to fight, what they lacked in power they made up in numbers. A horde tended to become difficult to deal with, especially with aged Grimm added to the mix.

A few minutes into his return journey to Beacon, the shinobi was once again walking along the ceiling in a pattern to avoid the cameras the headmaster placed. No more detection devices had been added, so the route was the same as before. The halls were empty as well, nobody was up this late except for the Uchiha.

Sasuke's clone was sitting on the bed wide awake as it waited for him, the copy dispelled the moment the original showed his face. The memories weren't anything of interest, other than the usual school session, hanging out with the usual teams, normal boring classes. One thing that was out of the norm was how a large Atlesian armed force, including warships, began appearing very recently outside of Beacon.

The bed looked very attractive to the ninja, he had been awake during the entire duration of the mission; both deployment and return. He received very good practice with the Shinra Tensei against those irritating Nevermores, even his aim with shooting the Chakra Rods had been tested and proven accurate against the Grimm.

Sasuke plopped down on the mattress with a weary sigh. Traveling to a different kingdom, all while fighting several large flying Grimm for several hours on end, had proved tiring to the Uchiha. Invading a fortress between the journeys didn't help things either. He was content with the beginning of his rest, which wasn't as long as he had hoped.

The Beacon Scroll rang its alarm, signifying the time to wake up and prepare for the day ahead. The Uchiha grunted as he sat up from his relaxed position. Since he was still awake, which wasn't from his choice, he may as well give the Dust to Tatsuya before he headed out.

After the usual process, he muttered out, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu." Sure enough, the large green garter snake appeared, ready to receive and relay information. 'I might need a smaller summon if he grows any longer.' The serpent had probably passed the four meter length mark and had to coil onto itself to fit on the floor of Sasuke's room.

"Summoner," the snake greeted in a noticeably deeper voice than previously. "I bring a message from your human friend."

The ninja sighed. "You told them I wouldn't abandon them again, right?" he asked his summon, who nodded.

"He says that you shouldn't lose yourself to your objective," Tatsuya relayed. "He also said that your lack of reply after your previous theft was worrying, and said to not forget what's truly important." He scoffed after that. "What your friend said makes no sense to me, regardless, I did my duty and gave you his message."

Sasuke was confused. 'Is Naruto implying that I would do here what I did when chasing Itachi?' he pondered at his friend's insinuation. The Uchiha had no true connection of either love or hate here on Remnant, so there was no chance for him to lose himself, right? He shook his head after that thought and brought out the storage seal that held his Dust payment. "Tell Naruto there is no chance of losing myself here, and take this to the White Snake Sage," he ordered the snake, who took the paper scroll and swallowed it before vanishing in a puff of smoke.

Sasuke stood still as he looked at the section of the floor where Tatsuya once sat, trying to understand the contents of Naruto's message. The Uchiha shook his head and thought, 'Naruto is overthinking this.' He dismissed his friend's allegation after that in favor of taking a much-needed shower.

After his usual morning routine of showering, the Rinnegan master was forced to actually wear the Beacon student uniform this time around; his shinobi garb wasn't clean in the slightest after wearing it for days. While that usually wasn't a problem to the ninja, this kind of attention to cleanliness was needed if you wished to conform on Remnant.

'Only for one day,' Sasuke thought to himself as his discomfort grew with the stiff cloth the abomination was made out of. He'd make sure his clone cleaned his usual clothes from the grime and sweat that had accumulated during his previous mission.

Once outside, he was greeted by team RWBY as he walked to class. "Mornin' Sasuke," Ruby greeted him with a wave before giving him a look over. "Why are you in uniform?"

That confused the former avenger. "Shouldn't I be?" he asked with honest curiosity.

"We're free from classes for the day," Yang replied before a look of realization struck her. "You skipped classes again, didn't you?" Several classes mentioned this free day, she had assumed Sasuke would have attended at least one of them.

Recalling his clone's memory, the ninja either didn't focus on the class or skipped it all together. It was difficult to point out the important information from useless when attending Port's lecture.

"Perhaps you're not as studious as we expected," Weiss stated a little smugly. She couldn't believe how Sasuke beat her in every subject, including the ones that he never attended. She'd take any victory she could get over him.

"He still beat you in all those classes though." Xiao Long retorted the obvious thing the heiress didn't want to hear, which now put her under the scorn of her white-haired teammate. She had a small win, and that was taken away by her very own blonde comrade.

The tired Uchiha was tempted to show another Schnee her place, but squashed that little temptation when his Beacon Scroll buzzed. Taking the device out, he found it was a message that urgently called for him to the Headmaster's office. "Seems my presence is needed at Ozpin's again," he said with an irritable sigh. He was just about to go back and sleep.

"Is it me, or is Sasuke called to Ozpin more than anybody we know?" Yang pointed out.

The young leader nodded. "He did say he was a special case, so it really shouldn't be a surprise," she said, her sister nodding.

"Special like his abs?"

"Yes, exa- Hold on! I in no way said abs!" Ruby said, crossing her arms in a cross, thought mostly to hide her face.

"But you're thinking it."

"No I wasn't!"

"You are now."

"I woul- Yang, I'm- Now look here-!" Whether Ruby would've finished that sentence or not was up for debate as she was found in a bear-crushing hug.

"Don't worry, little sister, people can't help it," Yang stated playfully as she brought her sister closer to her chest.

The blonde's statement wasn't appreciated by her younger sister, who pushed away for a breath, and slumped her shoulders in defeat. "Let's just go," she grumbled out as she began to walk away from her team and the ninja, all while mumbling about older sisters and their habits.

The blonde laughed a bit before turning to the last Uchiha and saying, "you can find us at the library when we get back from Vale, see ya." Then she walked away with her two comrades, both of which gave their own 'goodbyes' to Sasuke. One with a small glare, and the other in silence.

With that slightly disturbing event that somehow included his abdominal muscles out of the way, Sasuke turned and started towards Ozpin's office, wondering what the man could possibly want with him this time. Perhaps a better source of discussion.

"Sasuke, may I introduce you to General Ironwood of Atlas," Ozpin introduced his fellow headmaster.

James raised a brow when his comrade used the Uchiha's first name, but didn't comment about it. He turned to the teen and bowed his head slightly. "I've heard many things about you from Ozpin," the general stated, which was true. The skills his friend said the Uchiha possessed were more than impressive; being capable of utilizing his lightning-like Aura and clones was an interesting combination of capabilities to have. "I would like to say that I was the one who asked your headmaster to bring you here."

While he didn't show it, the ninja tensed slightly. Just after he had assisted in stealing Atlesian secret weapons, a general from the same kingdom called him to an office that held two very seasoned Huntsmen.

"It's about Gaara," began the Beacon headmaster, which didn't help the Uchiha's tenseness. "Do you know of him?"

Sasuke frowned. If they knew who he was, then this mind game they were playing at was irritating. "I only know as much as team RWBY and the news tell me," he replied calmly, but was prepared for any action that may come his way.

The two hunters looked to each other before the headmaster of Beacon prepared a screen to display something. "We have reason to believe that Gaara might have come from the same place as you," Ozpin said as he tapped a few buttons on his Scroll.

The Uchiha held back his sigh of relief at the revelation of why he was called in. His cover was still good, but he did wonder how they came to such a correct conclusion; even though he was certain it wasn't in the way they wanted. "And why would you say that?" he asked them.

Instead of answering, they had the display light up and show him the beginning of the shinobi's fight with Weiss from long ago. After a moment Ozpin paused just when Sasuke struck Weiss' back, and shrank to the corner of the display. A second video popped up, this time showing 'Gaara' fighting Sun and Blake. Waiting again for the right moment, Ozpin paused the second recording, then had the first stilled video become equal in size and propped itself parallel to the docks fight.

"Do you understand now?" Ironwood asked with a hint of accusation, but didn't wait for an answer. "If not, then observe as I close in on the image." True to his word, both images began to expand on the same item they had similar: focusing on the kunai. "How about now?"

The Uchiha nodded. "Yes, I understand. You believe that because Gaara uses the same knife I do, he may come from outside the kingdom, possibly from the same place as me," he replied dryly.

It was the general's turn to frown at the ninja's tone. "And do you have any information on this man?" he asked. James wanted to find the person who stole his Paladins. It was unwanted news to hear Winter's report that the White Fang stole the mechs with assistance from Gaara, who had shown off more abilities they hadn't recorded from him before. In fact, James was worried that Gaara could be disguised in the very room he was in; how right he unknowingly was.

The Rinnegan master sighed. "He might, but I have no way to confirm if he indeed is," he blatantly lied.

"You're style of knife hasn't been seen anywhere else. I only noticed this recently while reviewing the videos that we have caught about Gaara. Only you and him have that exact type of weapon as far as we know on Remnant," Ozpin stated. "Sasuke, we need to find Gaara, he's causing a panic amongst the people, which in turn is raising Grimm attacks on our borders." He paused for breath. "We're holding out well enough since the alarm has died down, but we're concerned that this may just be the beginning." Indeed, the panic was minor compared to what it used to be, and that resulted to a controlled combat scenario on the edges of Vale, but that didn't mean they weren't losing people.

The shinobi pursed his lips. "Even so, the area I was raised in was vast, I can't be expected to know everyone whose lived where I am from."

"Ozpin has informed me of what you told him about your home. A secretive village destroyed by war, hidden even now from us. You said nothing of great important, so I need ask of you, can you tell us more in order to stop Gaara?" Ironwood asked hastily. Any information would be useful against this enigma.

Now the Rinnegan master thinned his lips, careful on what to say. They already concluded that he and Gaara were from the same place due to the use of kunai. If the former avenger stayed quiet on this, it might seem he was holding out a secret against them; which he was. He might as well give them crumbs. "I'm from the village named Konoha, I can't tell you where it is because even I don't know, my travel to Beacon was mostly wandering in any direction," he stated vaguely. "Our people and warriors were no different than yours, but we survived living in nature, blending in to hide from Grimm and those who'd do us arm, mainly from other similar villages nearby, as we'd done for hundreds of years, or so I'm told," he added ending bitterly.

Now that was interesting to the headmasters. As far as they could tell, people outside the kingdom didn't survive long, and to know a whole village was protected from Grimm for so many years was nothing short of a miracle. Ozpin knew better, however, that if the people in it were resilient and powerful, considering the Uchiha and maybe Gaara, it should be possible. But there was something else the ninja said that had caught his interest.

"You said 'or so I'm told', could you elaborate?" Ozpin questioned. Sasuke said before how he'd try debunking theories about his village before expanding on it further, perhaps he found something. And from that tone, he must have.

Sasuke turned to the Vale headmaster and answered, "I found nothing about even a hint of my village in any books I found in Vale. At this point, I'm nearly convinced that the village was one-hundred-years-old at best." Both the general and Ozpin looked eagerly at him to continue, and so he did, the story was meant to be told. "I say a hundred years because that was at the time of the Great War."

"What does that mean?" the Atlesian asked with a frown similar to the ninja's. "Are you implying that the war was the reason your village was created."

"It's possible. Due to the village elders being dead, I can't confirm," the teen irritably told the general. "Each of our hidden villages lived near or on a Dust deposit, and I find it ridiculous that it would still have resources for hundreds of years as we were told as children." He sighed, adding his weariness to help upset his mood more than it was. "The only reasonable explanation would be that the hidden villages were deserters of army's and towns during the war, banding together to stay as far away from the kingdoms due to their decisions in making the war happen. Hence why we never heard of you, because we were meant to forget you."

James found this especially interesting, but let out an exasperated sigh. "And with the hidden villages torn asunder, we can't confirm your theory." Sasuke nodded. "Mr. Uchiha, I will tell you that we do believe you and Gaara come from the same place, if perhaps not the same village itself. What more can you tell us? Warrior culture, anything even akin to it would help greatly."

The Uchiha shook his head. "I was barely out of the academy defending my homeland when we were raided by Grimm, hence why I cannot say much," he said. "The only thing I know is that everyone is expected to either be a soldier or a miner, each playing an extremely valuable part for the village. Often there are great warriors, and they are the ones who end up as the future leader, and they are the most famous even to rival villages."

Ozpin blinked in surprise at that. "So it was a form of military junta."

"Exactly. Our enemies were Grimm and neighboring villages, warriors were needed at the helm," Sasuke replied with a nod. "You're either a warrior, or you supplied the warriors. We lived among nature, hiding from it all when it all ended, we needed fighters with resources to fight, but it clearly wasn't enough. Resources were dwindling, and the only other source was killing the neighboring village to take it, and so we all tried, but all failed fatally." Another sigh to punctuate his fib

The Uchiha didn't want to admit it, but his weariness was catching up, so hopefully it only showed as a kind of despair for the village he 'lost'. The lie made sure to emphasize the hidden villages could never be found, nor even hinted when villages asked of them, and it will serve its purpose.

He rubbed the weariness off his face. "Pardon, I haven't been getting much sleep after formulating my theory. Is it possible to continue this conversation later?" he asked. It was mostly for his tiredness, and when compiled with this situation he was thrust into, some sleep sounded mesmerizing.

Ozpin looked to his friend for confirmation who shook his head, then turned back to his pseudo-student. "That would be all for now, Mr. Uchiha, you may leave to rest," he said, but just before he turned, he added. "And Sasuke, thank you for sharing all of that. I'm sure it will help us in finding Gaara."

Sasuke nodded back to the headmaster and left through the office's elevator, and gave a hefty sigh once inside. 'I need to rest for a while,' the Rinnegan master thought with a new goal in mind. He already had enough of Beacon for one day, and it had only just started.

Walking down the hallway, he noticed how they were fairly empty this time around. Sasuke assumed that most of the students were either sleeping in or they were out in the capital. While there were still a few students walking around; none of them wore the Beacon uniform.

The ninja found a seat near a grassy plaza of the academy and decided to unwind a bit. The shinobi sat down, leaned back, and looked straight up to watch the birds, knowing full well that they were much smaller versions of what he was fighting several hours prior.

Even though they weren't crows, they resembled them quite well, these little Nevermores that fought for humanity's extinction. 'I wonder if this is what Jūgo feels when he does this,' the former avenger pondered while his unease from earlier slowly faded away. Sasuke watched the birds fly around, but none of them came close to him like they would with Jūgo.

"How odd of you to wear those clothes when you're free from classes," Sasuke heard a woman's voice from in front of him, outside his field of vision. When he looked to the source, he didn't just see one person, but three. "Beacon's students certainly do things differently," an amber-eyed woman with black hair said with a slight smirk.

The frown that left him earlier had come back. "What I wear is none of your concern," the last Uchiha told her irritably. "Go away." He had just started to truly unwind and relax, but the intrusion of the three ruined it. The Rinnegan master looked back up to the sky, blatantly ignoring the newcomers.

"Well, aren't you cocky," he heard the only male of them say unamusedly, who then turned to the mint-haired one. "You sure this is the Sasuke Uchiha that everyone's talking about?"

The woman with the darker skin shrugged. "Hey, I asked around and they all pointed towards this guy," she retorted as she pointed her thumb to the raven-haired teen.

Sasuke took a deep calming breath and looked back to the three nuisances. "Didn't I tell you to go away?" he asked rhetorically in annoyance, considering going back to his dorm. It was probably a better idea to relax in his room, anyway. Bird watching was clearly a skill Jūgo possessed that the Uchiha didn't.

"Perhaps we started on the wrong foot," the amber eyed one said as she looked to the other two, who backed off with a meek 'sorry' from both of them. The Uchiha raised a brow at that reaction, usually seen from underlings who either feared or respected their leader. He had been in the company of Orochimaru long enough to know.

The woman with the black hair turned back to the ninja and stated in an innocent voice, "we were just looking around for the one who walks along the champion of Mistral as her friend, and simply had to meet him." He didn't know why for sure, but he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end after she finished speaking; that innocent voice was disconcerting.

"What do you want?" he shifted his sitting posture to a more ready position. Their uniforms indicated that these were students from the Haven academy that resided in Mistral, perhaps they were sore that their champion was so close to him so easily.

The, seemingly, leader of the trio gave him a good long look, before her smirk grew. "I simply wanted to see what you looked like," she answered innocently enough. "I heard great things about you, and had to see for myself who Sasuke Uchiha really was."

Frowning at that statement, Sasuke stood up. Looking to the woman's eyes he ordered, "you saw me, now leave." The way she spoke, stood, and acted had the ninja uneasy. The less she was in the same vicinity as he was, the better.

The amber-eyed woman's smirk dropped noticeably at the Uchiha's response. The woman was about to say something, but her male teammate spoke before she could. "You have one hell of an attitude," he said in displeasure, and looked to his leader. "Maybe we found the wrong one, Cinder. This guy doesn't seem all tha-"

"Quiet," the now-named Cinder ordered her comrade in muffled anger. The man clamped his mouth shut at her look before she had even uttered the demand. Turning back to the Uchiha, Cinder spoke in slight irritation on how things had gone, "I saw what I wanted. We'll leave you be for now." That was when she began to walk away, her two underlings wordlessly following her.

Both minions turned their heads and gave the shinobi a glower, but he ignored them in favor of looking at the woman walking ahead of them in a confident strut. He narrowed his eyes at the woman, then shook his head slightly. 'I may have actually found someone who made feel like I was in the presence of Orochimaru,' he thought with a tired sigh.

Instead of continuing to sit down and watch the black birds, the last Uchiha walked back to his room, eager to lock everything of Remnant out and sleep the day away. When he was walking back, he began to notice that of the students remaining at Beacon, there were some that wore completely different uniforms, while others wore their casual wardrobe.

"Hey, Uchiha," he heard a familiar voice greet him from his side. Hoping that the mantra of 'ignore it and it will go away' would take effect, Sasuke continued on his way. "What? No 'hello' or anything?"

"Tired," he told her truthfully, forgoing his previous plan to ignore her. "What is it this time, Adel? I thought we had an agreement."

The fashionista looked miffed but explained herself, "I didn't follow you, I just ran into you; that doesn't count."

"Then what do you want?" he asked monotonously. Sasuke admitted to himself that her company wasn't unwelcome, at least, compared to those Mistral students that had just left. He still would rather go and sleep, though.

Coco huffed at his attitude, but knew it was just part of his character. "Well, I want to know if you're going to join the tournament," she asked him. "It's team event, so I'm not sure if they'd allow you, but I figured I'd ask anyway."

Now that had the ninja look up in thought about the upcoming event, before putting his attention back to the team leader to answer, "I won't be joining, since I'm not a student of Beacon and thus not in a team." He didn't intend to take part, but there were other factors that stopped his acceptance to the event.

"Yeah, I heard you weren't a student, but maybe you could still join with your clones," Adel stated. His clones were corporeal, and even held a certain amount of sentience. It was possible that he would count as a special case.

Sasuke shook his head and explained to his temporary company, "regardless, I never intended to join. So it doesn't matter if I was accepted or otherwise." If an Atlas specialist couldn't beat him, he doubted a few students could either.

She huffed again. "You're just afraid I'd kick your ass," Coco said to get a rise out of him. That and she wanted to see what the teen could do on the battlefield.

Coco raised an eyebrow when he scoffed, and frowned lightly when the Uchiha said, "you're not that strong, Adel." He had seen that she and her team had their own fan following around Vale because they were strong in their own right, but the shinobi was something else entirely.

"Oh? What would I have to do to be strong enough to win against you?" she asked with a growing grin.

'Seal a massive Chakra entity within yourself,' he thought with mild amusement. "I'll be leaving you here, it seems your team are looking for you."

The fashionista had a look of confusion strike her face. "Huh? How would yo-"

"Coco! We were looking everywhere for you," Adel heard Yatsuhashi's voice behind her, and turned to find the three members of her team. "What were you doing when we should have been training?" The trio weren't exactly pleased that she skipped out when it was so close to the festival.

The sunglasses wearing woman took a step back, and began explaining, "hey guys, I was just talking to Sasuke for a bit, that's all." It wasn't that she didn't want to train, it was just that she really wanted to find the ninja and ask him a question. She went as far as to wait for an opportunity to 'run' into him.

The three looked around themselves, before Velvet asked a little eagerly, "where is he?"

She gave her Faunus teammate an odd look. "Are you blind? He's right here," Coco said in befuddlement, then turned to look at the empty space where the ninja had just been standing. "That sneaky little. . ."

After waking up fully rejuvenated the next morning, the ninja found out that he had absolutely nothing to do until classes started up again or another assignment came up. Sasuke wondered what he could do until things went back to their normal routine, but that was before Roman called, saying something about making an appearance for the possible new recruits.

It was almost amusing watching him go into a rant when Sasuke asked to be paid for such a simple task, one that Roman was tempted to simply ignore. But alas, Sasuke gave 'Gaara' a reputation that could be used to show how the White Fang weren't to be taken lightly.

If they were going to use him, even if it was as simple as standing there, the Rinnegan master would get payed an appropriate amount. He only asked for a large trunk of Dust, after all. Should be more reasonable than an entire freight container, right? Asking for ridiculously massive amounts of Dust the entire time wouldn't do well if the Uchiha still wanted to be employed. He was still being overpriced, according to Torchwick.

Sasuke stood in his room, clad in his now-clean shinobi garb, thankful that cleaning methods were fast and efficient on Remnant compared to his world. The Beacon uniform was simply thrown in the drawer, hopefully never to be seen again. 'Never again,' he thought with finality about wearing something made from such uncomfortable cloth.

It was fairly into the afternoon after Sasuke rested the day away, so he was refreshed and ready to leave. Just as he stepped out of his room, the shinobi started hearing a small commotion from his neighbors, where team RWBY resided. He ignored the noise, but the door opened to reveal Ruby dragging Weiss along with her. "What are you doing?" the ninja asked the both of them before they took another step away.

Ruby stopped moving when she heard the Uchiha, the same time he noticed them wearing a different wardrobe from what he usually saw them in. What he saw that was cause for concern, however, was that they both carried their weapons. Sasuke heard they were training more and more recently, they went as far as making team moves; perhaps that was why they were combat ready.

Weiss finally broke free from her leader, and stood up straight after she dusted herself off. Turning to the ninja with crossed arms she answered him haughtily, "nothing that includes you, that's for sure."

"Well, maybe he could help out, he's pretty much the best in Beacon," Ruby tried reasoning with her teammate, before she jumped back a little with a small 'eep!' at the glare she was given by the heiress. "O-Or, you know, we could handle it ourselves."

Schnee huffed in agreement to the last statement. She still didn't like the Uchiha's attitude, but was glad that he wasn't like Yang who boasted about everything. If Sasuke bragged like the blonde did, that would truly have been unbearable for the heiress.

"I will ask again: what are you two doing?" the shinobi repeated, irritation increasing from Weiss's responses.

Fully facing him, Weiss stated with a scowl, "and I will say again: it's none of your business." She didn't wait for his response, grabbing her leader by the collar and dragging her away. "C'mon Ruby, let's get going."

"Sorry, Sasuke, maybe next time!" Rose yelled as she waved him goodbye until they turned the corner and out of sight.

He took a deep breath and thought, 'I have more important things than to watch over trainees.' Indeed, the former avenger had a meeting with Roman and his group so he could make an appearance at the White Fang rally. Supposedly, he would be the face of the seriousness of their capabilities, how the new monster of Remnant was on the side of revolution.

Sasuke scoffed at the notion Roman had given him. He wasn't working with the insurgents, he was working for the insurgents. If he wasn't getting paid, he wouldn't have even considered them; in the end, he was a mercenary regardless of what world.

He sighed softly and continued his way, even closing team RWBY's door as he walked past it. Sasuke made his way out of the dorm rooms, ignoring everything and everybody that passed him. 'I am to be used as a symbol of White Fang effectiveness,' he mentally recalled his job description for the assignment.

Further thought had to stop as he reached the courtyard near the bullhead pads. But that wasn't why he stopped his musings, it was because the amber-eyed woman from earlier stood in his path. She was without her two teammates this time around, 'Cinder' was her name if he recalled correctly.

"What do you want now?" Sasuke asked the smirking woman irritably before attempting to walk around her. "I don't have time for conversing." Technically, the Uchiha had plenty of time, he just didn't want to, especially with her.

Cinder stepped in front of him, blocking his way once more. "I just wanted us to have a better conversation since our last one didn't go so well, Sasuke," she said with confidence.

Now she was grating the Uchiha's nerves. "I'm not interested, now move," he demanded as he tried again to walk around her.

Cinder's smirk dropped. "A few seconds is all I ask for, Uchiha." She closed her eyes when she felt a wave of air hit her face as the ninja flickered away from her. She blinked a few times to see that the ninja had disappeared, which caused her grin to resurface. "Interesting."

Inside the bullhead that lifted off recently, sat the shinobi who had escaped the eerie woman. He didn't dwell too much on the thought of her, as it simply unsettled him.

'That woman is trouble,' Sasuke mentally concluded. He didn't know why exactly, but everything she did caused alarms to go off in the mercenary's mind. The aura she exuded was not pleasant in the least.

Upon landing, he noticed that the woman from before had irked the ninja so badly, he didn't feel unwell while flying in the bullhead; she took complete control of his discomfort. The former avenger shook his head to rid away any more thoughts and to focus on the task at hand.

He went into an alleyway a while later, creating a clone to walk around before it went back to Beacon. Sasuke then leapt from the building tops to reach where the gathering would take place. The usual ninja misdirection and subterfuge; it was almost muscle memory at that point.

It was a tad more difficult than usual, however, since Atlesian troops were everywhere in the capital. More than once he had to hide from a passing aircraft that may or may not have caught him; Sasuke couldn't risk it. Fortunately, the human troops seemed to be fairly lax. The robots, however, were attentive as always. Thankfully, the Sharingan helped him catch these things before they worked against him.

The way to the rally took a bit more effort than usual to reach, but Sasuke, of course, got there, ready to take on his latest assignment. Looking around, he realized it must have been early since there wasn't a single Faunus in sight. The insurgents themselves were probably inside preparing everything that was needed for the upcoming event.

The Rinnegan master walked through a side door of the warehouse, and immediately noticed how things were vastly different from the last time he was there. The stage had been completed and held a Paladin behind a large cloth that had the White Fang symbol, and the many containers that littered the area were pushed aside or taken elsewhere.

Sasuke found Roman standing on stage with Neo by his side, staring at the tarp that was hiding the mech. Occasionally, he looked downward and mumbled something that the ninja couldn't hear. If he had to guess, it was the rallying speech to bring in more recruits that the smoker would probably ignore and improvise later on.

"Roman," the mercenary called out to the thief, who turned around and immediately became aggravated at the sight of his caller. "When will the people assemble?"

That irritated the Torchwick. "What!? You aren't even going to explain me passing out all of a sudden!?" he exclaimed. "One moment, I was asking you how you made the Dust disappear, then I wake up half-an-hour later." That time frame sounded about right with the Sharingan technique Sasuke had used. "And now you just come here and ignore what happened?" He slumped his shoulders forward and panted after his rant.

"Feel better?" Neopolitan condescendingly asked her colleague as she patted his back, but he quickly understood her tone.

"Don't patronize me," Torchwick snapped back, which only amused the petite woman even further. He turned back to the ninja they had hired. "Just go sit in a corner at the back until I call for you," he ordered irritably, Sasuke deciding to indulge the command to keep Roman from ranting further.

Just as he was told, Sasuke walked behind the recently erected curtain. He looked at the Paladin as he walked, noting how it was now marked with the red White Fang logo. Along with 'Gaara' in their group, the large war machine would stand as symbol of how the revolutionaries would achieve equality: through the new demon of Remnant, and the latest weapon made by Atlas. Either was terrifying by itself, together even the most experienced hunter would tremble.

Evening fell quick as Sasuke was told to wait with the Atlas mech behind the large curtain. When the time was right, the impersonator would be introduced to the gathering Faunus, and would show exactly how serious the insurgents were. If they weren't getting their rights fast enough through peace, then the only solution that would be shown was force.

The moment Sasuke heard that the rally would begin soon, he transformed into the redheaded Kazekage, before simply waiting for the appropriate time. Oddly enough, Roman and Neo joined him, waiting for the right moment as well. Torchwick because he was going to be introduced, and Neopolitan because she was human.

The multi-colored woman looked at the Uchiha and gave him a grin. "Glad to see you again, Gaara," she greeted the disguised ninja, who nodded back as a response.

Commotion grew as a large group of people could be heard conversing with each other on the other side of the tarp. The Faunus were gathering en masse in the former base of operations, ready to hear what these revolutionaries had to say or show, and if they were willing to join such a righteous cause.

"Fellow Faunus, gather close," the shinobi heard the Lieutenant's accented voice from the other side of the curtain. "Before we begin, I need to introduce a special person who has helped us in taking what we need."

Roman smirked, believing full well that he had done that indeed, and stepped out to face the crowd. He was greeted with jeers and confusion for a human taking part in such an event, and Neo stepped out with him and stood to the side. Humans were now shown to be a part of this, so there was no need to hide herself.

"Thank you for such a wonderful introduction Lieutenant," Torchwick mockingly expressed his gratitude, then turned to the crowd of bestial people. "I will admit that I truly did help this wondrous revolution." Sasuke couldn't help but scoff at his words. "How did I help? Well, it wasn't easy, but I had some good underlings. Isn't that right, Gaara?"

The warehouse suddenly became deathly silent at the name. They all knew about Gaara's reputation, but never did they imagine he would be in the same place as them. 'Gaara' stepped out, immediately drawing several fearful gasps and whispers of 'demon' and 'monster' from the unsuspecting Faunus. He stood beside Neo silently with crossed arms and merely watched how things went from there.

Even the White Fang members present were uncomfortable with his existence being so close. Two members of the crowd were especially surprised that they would find him so soon.

"Now now, he won't bite," Roman stated to the crowd, uncaring if the mercenary did actually harm them. "You see, our dear friend Gaara here helped us in. . . acquiring a new tool to get rid of those pesky humans." That was when the curtain was dropped and revealed the Atlesian Paladin with their mark of revolution. The crowd slowly erupted into cheers at the sight of the mech.

The smoker continued, "If you want to join the cause, know that several of your brothers have been moved to the southeast, but if you want to stay in Vale, that's fine. However, if you do sign up, this is the equipment you will be fighting with." He then pointed to the disguised teal-eyed mercenary with his cane. "And with the support of someone rather powerful, if I do say so."

The cheers grew as a higher ranked Faunus took the stage. "New recruits move forward to sign up," he bellowed to the new members eagerly moving forward to join.

Roman grinned at the evident success before noticing someone in the crowd that wasn't supposed to be there. Sasuke frowned as he noticed his employer's upset face. "What is it, Torchwick?" he asked in Gaara's voice as he followed his line of sight and saw exactly what had disgruntled the thief, then scowled heavily.

'Damn it,' the shinobi cursed mentally at the sight of Blake and Sun, just as they made eye contact with him as well. He couldn't believe that those two st- Sun waved with a sheepish smile to the demon of Remnant. 'Gaara' facepalmed at the Naruto-esque action the blonde Faunus made, and that was the opening Belladonna needed to shoot the fuse box that caused a blackout within the building.

Sasuke sighed when he heard glass shattering to his side, already beyond annoyed with the situation. The Uchiha activated his Rinnegan, the left eye glowing purple in the darkness. When he looked to his colleagues, he spotted Roman diving into the recently acquired bot.

"You intend to chase them across Vale within that?" 'Gaara' asked the smoker. Did he not understand the importance of subtlety? "You can't be serious."

Just as the canopy was closing, Roman gave the merc a glare. "I'm deadly serious," he stated in annoyance. "Those brats have interfered with my work for the last time." And with that, Roman charged through the building, breaking through the wall to give chase.

Rolling his eyes, Sasuke turned to Neo, who sighed at Roman's actions. "I suppose I'm the one who should get him?" he asked her rhetorically, knowing what the answer was.

She nodded in response, "I'll catch up to you later," the petite woman stated in reassurance. More so to see how he was going to deal with the pests than anything else.

'Gaara' walked out through the new opening and ran to find Roman, wanting to stop the crime lord before he did something regretful. It wasn't all that hard, he simply had to follow the trail of destruction. The Paladin must have been fast, because he couldn't hear the massive machines echoing stomps, or any thing that linked to it.

His body flicker technique had been seen when he was Sasuke, so he couldn't use it. Especially with cameras all around to catch sight of and link it back to him. If he was indeed Gaara, and had sand at his dispersal, then that would have been something he could work with. Regardless, the ninja was already catching up to Roman and the two hunters-in-training, if the cars that were tossed around on the freeway were anything to go by.

That was when the Rinnegan master finally heard sounds of fighting, then something metallic shatter. He noticed a shattered bridge barrier and peered with his Rinnegan down below, and saw how Roman was dusting himself off within the slightly misty area. However, it was Yang who was running towards him that caught his attention. He couldn't have the man that paid him get injured just yet.

He risked a body flicker, and appeared in front of Roman with his arm raised towards Xiao Long, who widened her red eyes in surprise. "Shinra Tensei," 'Gaara' said dryly, and that was enough as the blonde shot backward.

"Whew, glad you got here just in time," Torchwick said in relief.

The ninja looked to the thief briefly, then took in his surroundings before turning back to his employer. "Why is the Paladin destroyed?" he asked unamusedly.

"Ah, well you see," began the thief embarrassedly. He couldn't tell him that he fought in a giant war machine against a student and lost. "I don't want to talk about it."

Shaking his head at the foolish smoker, he turned back to his opponents. He was immediately aggravated to see all of team RWBY present and standing there. Three of them were, anyway. "Just stand back, Roman. I'll deal with them."

Ruby had her knees shaking at the sight of the redheaded ninja. She hugged her scythe, her teeth were chattering, and she was on the brink of tears. She was afrai- No, she was terrified of Gaara. She had been handling things better since the last time she ran into him, but now all those memories resurfaced. The pain of having been impaled, the blood that profusely left her body to form a puddle underneath her. Just seeing the man was like going through the pain all over again.

"GAARA!" Yang shouted in cold fury, running towards the one who had stabbed her younger sister. Again, she was thrown back even farther than before from whatever 'semblance' the demon used.

The young leader grit her teeth and held her scythe shakily, but couldn't stop her knees from quaking. She heard the redhead coldly say to her, "I will give you the chance to retreat. If you do not, I will do more than run you through." Ruby didn't want to think what could have been worse.

She gulped again in hesitance, and noticed her two other teammates never letting their eyes waver from Gaara. Weiss stood ready, but even she had her legs shaking slightly. Blake was there in angry determination, but her eyes showed the fear of what could happen. Yang ran again at Gaara with an angry howl, but failed miserably once more. He was playing with them, showing them how feeble they were. What were the two waiting for?

That was when it hit her. They were waiting for their leader. Her sister was running on emotion, she wasn't one to wait standing. "G-Guys," she began when determination slowly crept back to her. Knowing well that her team depended on her, just as she depended on them. The two turned to their leader with expectant eyes. "I. . . I think I have a plan."

Back to the ninja, he wasn't enjoying this show of force. Yang kept running at him in blind fury, and he would shoot her back to the pillar behind her, but she wouldn't give up and try again. 'Too similar to Naruto,' he thought with a frown. He saw from the way they stood shakily before, they were going to give up. 'Why are you still standing there!? Retreat!' he mentally shouted with a scowl, their forms obscured by the remaining mist.

He suddenly heard Ruby shout in her fear, "Freezer Burn!" Things immediately went to hell after that.

The floor he was standing on became coated with ice, Sasuke flowing his Chakra to his feet in order not to slip. "Whatever it is you're planning, it won't work," he yelled angrily. The Uchiha noticed that Yang didn't come attack him again like previously. The blonde jumped into the air and slammed her flaming fist into the iced up floor, intensifying the mist heavily.

'Gaara' scowled fiercely at the increased mist. While the Rinnegan could see things as clear as ever, and even have people's energy work against them, it didn't work on obstructions like walls, smoke. . . and mist. He swiveled around, waiting for anyone to make a single sound to pinpoint them out.

Alas, the sound that came wasn't what he wanted: gunshots. From sound alone he had to dodge their trajectory. The last time he fought against guns was at Beacon, when he used his Sharingan to see the bullets move slower, and his opponents telegraph where they were shooting. It was easy to block blazingly fast bullets when he saw where the guns were pointed at.

He stepped backward and sideways to avoid the fury of deadly rounds that came from nearly all sides, and brought his Chakra Rod blade out to block those he couldn't, but by a very narrow margin. If it wasn't for the sound, it would have been far too difficult, and possibly several would have hit him.

One of the sources of gunshots stopped, to the relief of the mercenary, but now he had two sources directly from sides shooting him. 'Fools!' he mentally exclaimed, and pointed each arm towards the opponents hidden by the mist, and waited for a shot to fire to dodge then bring them in.

The chance came as Sasuke moved slightly forward to avoid the bullets. "Banshō Ten-" Before Sasuke could react, he was struck in the center of his chest with a round that coated his entire body up to his neck in ice, 'How could I le-' he stopped his thoughts when he noticed there were no more shots being fired, but there was a yell from Yang. Sasuke hadn't even noticed Ruby shouting 'Bumblebee!'.

The furious blonde brawler swung from Blake's Gambol Shroud while sped up with Glyphs to his side, she even saw Gaara widen his eyes at the sight of her. "GRAH!" she shouted in hatred as she punched him across the face, sending him flying from his icy prison.

Sasuke blacked out for a moment from the amount of force behind Xiao Long's punch, but he quickly regained clarity and noticed he was flying through the air, and righted himself in time to land on his feet then skid to a stop. He glared heavily and scowled just as hard when he looked at team RWBY, the mist finally lessening. All four members of RWBY were shocked at the sight of him.

"Sasuke!?"