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A/N
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Chapter 20
"Alright," an annoyed James snapped, "now that you've eaten, gotten a shower, and dressed, can we please get down to business?"
Naruto chuckled endlessly as if he were remembering a joke someone told him. Either way, it was annoying James and humoring a delighted Ozpin as he sipped on his coffee mug some more.
Dressed in his usual clothes, Naruto sat at the other end of the table with a bowl of ramen stewing in front of him and a large glass of water. To his right was Ozpin and to the right of Ozpin was Glynda. To Naruto's left, Sasuke sat with a visible scowl on his face. When Naruto had asked what was wrong with him, Sasuke's reply had been a grunt of annoyance and silence. The only other thing he did was look at Ozpin as though he was trying to figure him out. Perhaps Ozpin had done something to him?
"Sure," Naruto answered with a burp following soon after. He leaned forward, one hand on his Scroll, the other reaching for the cup of water. "When I arrived at the warehouse, they were gathering a lot of Faunus for their rally. I snuck in to the facility using a disguise. They allowed a lot of Faunus to gather before going over their plans. They spoke briefly about how they could supply anyone that was staying with that giant machine they had. After that, things went sideways."
"Which brings me to my question," Ozpin cut in before James could speak. "James, have you made any progress on finding out how they got one of your new machines before it went to the front lines?"
Inhaling deeply, Ironwood placed his Scroll on the table and a hologram appeared from within the confines of the table itself. It showed images of broken parts from the destroyed machine that had fought and lost against the members of Team RWBY when it was piloted from Roman Torchwick. "We've made some progress on that front. We don't know exactly who managed to do it, but we have a clear idea on what took place. The model numbers on the machine show that it was coming out of one of the larger facilities for their production at the Schnee Company. We know that it was one of fifty products meant to be shipped out in its batch. We don't know where it happened, but someone was able to breach the firewalls on the programs and mark it as arrived for its destination, instead of showing that it was jacked."
"Someone managed to breach your firewalls?" Glynda asked fearfully.
"We're looking into it right now, but we have a few people that we're looking into on who might have done it. What we know is that when the cargo left the facility, the GPS wasn't hacked and showed it made a stop eighty miles north of the intend destination. The truck then went dark for two hours. In that time, we believe the prototypes were pulled off and sent here as a show of good will by Torchwick to the White Fang. Once the truck was brought back online and made its intended stop at the actually destination. After that the cargo goes entirely dark and we don't see it again until the other day."
"How many do they possibly have their hands on?" Ozpin asked.
"It's hard to say," James confessed. "I'm calling all the stations that were supposed to get models for testing to make sure that they received them. I'm ordering for visual and photographic checks of them. If the container isn't there, we'll know how many they have. And I'm sending my best people to look into it. I do have another shipment on the way over here to resupply my ships and bring over remaining students. It's being accompanied by another one of my best. It won't get stolen either."
"And how do you know that?"
"It's a Schnee." Ozpin leaned back in his chair and knew the full extent of the answer he'd received. "She won't let anything happen to the cargo or the students."
"It's not so much the students we're worried about, James," Glynda told him with a silent hiss of frustration. Sasuke crossed his arms and looked to his blond haired friend. Glynda caught it and snapped off, "And why did we let Sasuke come in on this meeting? He has no say in any of this."
"I brought Sasuke here because he has some say in this," Ozpin informed her tightly, leaving no room for debate on the subject. "Once this meeting is done, he'll be part of the next one. Besides, a need for trust has arisen again with him. Am I wrong, Sasuke?"
Put on the spot, the former Uchiha leaned forward and said, "You're sending Naruto out against enemies he's not truly equipped to handle. He didn't have his new sword, he didn't have backup, and he got shot several times," before leaning back and finishing with, "Forgive me if my faith in you is a little misplaced right now."
"And how do you feel about all of this, Naruto?" Ozpin made sure to keep eye contact with Sasuke as he asked the blond.
Naruto glanced around the room before saying, "As long as it sends me home, I'm okay with it. I'll be getting my sword today and then after that, I'm going out with Port to find more Grimm for his class." James narrowed his eyes on the blond and opened his mouth to berate him before he continued. "But you are right, Sasuke, I didn't have backup and didn't have my new sword. I'm not equipped to handle people that use guns, but that said, I'm also equipped to take them out silently. If I had more protection, someone else to help as well, I things might have played out differently."
"So you want a partner?" Glynda asked fearfully. The fact that Naruto wanted to keep doing this was insane. What was worse was that he was asking for a partner. All major people that could assist him were out doing jobs and the only other people that could assist him were more than likely not capable of keeping up with him or working with him. Naruto wasn't exactly the best person in the world to work with when it came to taking simple tasks. "There's no one readily available to be of any assistance to you for any job we might have you take."
"Actually," James cut in, "there is someone he could work with. But it'd be a long stretch and I'm not sure she'd agree to it. Even if I ordered her to."
"I could be his partner." Sasuke told them sternly.
"You're a student and I don't like the idea of Ozpin putting children in dangerous situations like that."
"Our Sensei, Hatake Kakashi, was a squad leader when he was around our age. That meant he was leading people older than us into battle and they had to listen to him." Sasuke countered angrily. "The age thing isn't going to work on us."
"Fair enough," James muttered.
"As you did receive a payment for your services that were rendered, you may go and get more clothes to better equip yourself for these jobs if they entail the same level of danger." Ozpin took a sip of his drink before continuing. "And on the subject of your payment, if you so desire, I can offer you a place close by the school if you wish to no longer stay at the dorms."
"I'd rather have him remain around here, if that's okay with you." Sasuke told him. Naruto's blue eye twitched in irritation as Sasuke continued. "Besides, according to your laws, Naruto and I wouldn't be able to get a place, as we're not old enough to be considered legal adults here. Back in our world, as soon as we get our headbands, we're considered adults, meaning we can drink, smoke, have kids, and own homes."
"Barbaric," James said with a hiss.
"That might be true, but this place is no better. The only difference is a small increase in age and then they can start doing dangerous jobs as well."
"Only for the gifted and the ones we believe are truly ready!"
"Do you think we hit the ground running and killing? We had to do simple missions that involved picking up dog shit, taking said dogs on walks, or finding some bimbo's kitty! We didn't start out killing people endlessly like you seem to think. Our first real dangerous mission was one where went up against another Jounin Ninja and his apprentice. And even our sensei barely walked away from that!"
"Sasuke!" Naruto seemingly freaked on him. The former Uchiha fell silent as his friend held his head. "It doesn't matter. Ozpin has already made it clear that he can give us a fake background if need be and if I wanted to do this, I could just make an older version of myself to take the place. It's not like it's going to be hard to fool anyone with my appearance if I do that."
"So you'd be okay living on your own again?"
Naruto's jaw tightened. "I'm not okay with it, but if I have to, I will."
"Then I won't show you any of the properties that are available. I was merely making a suggestion if you desired such. Now that we have that out of the way, we can discuss a more concerning topic that I'm sure we're all interested in." Ozpin laced his fingers together and took a deep breath. "You said your father and mother were in you, but passed out before you could elaborate. How is this possible?"
Naruto's blue eye twitched again, but not out of irritation. Licking his lips, he leaned forward and said, "My mother and father both reside within me, yes. But from understanding they have something important to do with me that involved the Kyuubi. They won't tell me what, as they're afraid he'll find out. So they're keeping quiet on the subject. But they are within my mind and they can speak through me if I allow it. My father is the former Hokage, Minato Namikaze, and my mother is the only known survivor from a village famous for their Sealing Arts."
"Hold up!" Sasuke turned to his former teammate and pointed at him with a stunned look in his eye. "Your father is the Yondaime Hokage?" Naruto nodded slowly. Sasuke snickered. "Well that explains why they put him in you then. That man supposedly had more honor in his body than anyone else we know. He put him in you because he didn't want anyone else to go through that kind of life."
"Not really," Naruto confessed bitterly. "His motives were a tad bit more selfish, but in the right place. He had enemies and wanted to protect me from them. This brings me to a sad part in all of this, Sasuke. The Kyuubi attack wasn't random. Someone summoned him to our village by taking control of the previous host for him." Naruto paused to shut his eyes. "The previous host was my mother and on the day I was born, a masked man with one Sharingan Eye appeared and took the Kyuubi out of her to attack Konoha."
Sasuke touched his Sharingan eye and contemplated the information and the theory he was working with.
James looked between the two boys and said, "How does one remove such a thing from the host?"
"I don't know. What I do know is that female Jinchuuriki hold an baby for ten months and the seal weakens as a result of the newborn being formed in them. The baby feeds off the seal, which weakens it and thus the Kyuubi was granted a way to escape. The masked man took Kyuubi under his control and then ripped him free from my mother. After that, the rest is history." Naruto chuckled and slapped Sasuke's shoulder. "There is a funny thing in all of that, though. My mother knew your mother and you when you were born. She asked you to protect me, since you're older an all that."
"We'll I've done a bang up job so far."
"Not like I made it easy for you. But hey, you're doing a good job now! So there's that!"
"Well as interesting as that is, I feel as though we need to get more on the topic of what this means for you, since they seem to be occupying your head." Glynda adjusted her glasses as she got them back on topic. "How can you be sure that their information is correct and that this isn't some trick created by the Kyuubi?"
"I can vouch for that, actually." Sasuke licked his teeth when his friend turned his way. "When I was still in your mind, I saw a woman with red hair. She kissed you on the forehead to wake you up. I'm assuming that's your mother." Naruto nodded slowly. "And before I could free you from the Kyuubi's grasp, I saw a flash of… something… pull me out of the way of Kyuubi's claw and save me from his clutches. So I'm assuming that was your father." Again, Naruto nodded. "The Kyuubi wouldn't create something that would thwart him. He wants to be free."
"So they have no way of impacting what Naruto does, right?" James asked carefully. Naruto nodded when Sasuke glanced his way. "That's fine. I'm not sure how powerful these people are, but I get the feeling that they had darker motives than what they would tell a child. Even if said child is their son." The Jinchuuriki gave a snort of annoyance as James pointed at him. "The whole idea of putting a foreign energy that is not your own is just wrong. It goes against everything that makes us human."
"James," Ozpin's voice was very crisp as he spoke. "I would steady with that airbrush of yours, my friend." James backed off and gave his fellow headmaster a sharp glance before shutting his eyes and taking a sip from coffee mug. "I believe this will conclude the meeting. We'll be speaking again in a few days. For the time being, however, we're going to pretend that none of this has happened and no one is allowed to talk about the events at the rally. Sasuke, we are trusting you with a lot right now, so don't make me regret this."
The student nodded as he got to his feet. Naruto did as well and followed him to the elevator. As soon as the door shut and they began their journey down, Sasuke asked, "So your father is the former Hokage… Didn't expect that from you… So your mother is also a sealing expert?"
"Yeah," Naruto answered quickly. "They're going to teach me how to do some of it with what time they have. I'll teach you as well." Naruto paused and added, "Father had an idea on how to complete some of the theories we're working on with throwing some of our Jutsus. But he also has something that he wants to pass along the two of us since we're the only real Ninja's here." The doors opened and the two walked out. "He said that our chakras have an elemental property to them and that if we learn them, they use less chakra when we cast them if they are that type."
"Yeah," Sasuke grumbled. "Kakashi-sensei told me what mine is. It's not really a surprise to anyone, but my affinity is with fire and lightning."
"Figures you'd have two," Naruto grumbled bitterly. He cheered up suddenly as he said, "The reason I'm going to teach you something I know is because my dad couldn't figure out either. The Rasengan isn't complete." Sasuke's came to a complete stop to stare at him. "I was surprised to. He had the idea of putting his elemental in it so that it would have more of an effect when he was using it. He wasn't able to do it, but he said that it was like trying to look left and right at the same time. The Rasengan already has a shell comprised of chakra, which you have to create for it and add to its drill ability."
"So in order to do this, you have to first create the Rasengan with normal chakra, and then fuse it with chakra of the elemental type you have or intend to use?" Naruto nodded unhappily. If his old man couldn't do it, what chance did they have? "Sounds hard, but if done properly, it would be a powerful ability…" His single eye narrowed as his mind began to toy with the thought of the Rasengan at his command. If he could do what the former Hokage could not then what chance did they really have? Naruto couldn't also be teamed up with him to do a combination attack. So they'd have to solve the puzzle and work it out. "I have classes in the morning. We'll work on this tomorrow after class. Stay out of trouble."
"As you wish, Nii-san."
"Don't do that."
Naruto cracked a grin and left before he suffered under the wraith of his older brother.
(-)
Blake furiously scrolled through the reports of the attack on the White Fang rally as she looked for anything out of the ordinary with what had transpired. Usually the media would have more answers than they realized. A few pretty words by anyone could mask a tragedy. But fewer words could unmask one. That was what Blake was looking for. She was looking for the words that would tell her more about what had happened and what might have gone down. Already she had enough evidence to rule out rival terrorist group, hateful humans striking against them, or an inside man.
This was something else.
One report gave her enough evidence to give her the thought that this was a paid job. The masked man now known simply as Red had clearly been hired by someone to take them out. None of the White Fang members knew who this person was or why they had shown up. Survivors from the incident reported that he had dropped from the ceiling and started killing them, but not until after he had taken a few lives by accident. He had been knocking people out and then, as if a switch had been flipped, started killing them. One prisoner recalled the events prior where she saw a boy with blond hair giving her an odd look, but never thought anything on it, but when the whole thing started going sideways and the bodies started dropping, it was by a blond haired boy with a broken blade.
Blake wasn't jumping to conclusions, but the broken blade thing wasn't uncommon. There were many people out there that used a broken blade to fight with and people would assume that the weapon was broken simple because it looked broken. What made her jump to conclusions was the blond hair was noteworthy to her. She knew that there were a lot of blonds out there in their world. But there was only really a few people she could see with a broken blade that had blond hair, but only one truly came to mind and that was Naruto. If it was him, why did he go to the rally and kill them?
The Faunus girl was tempted to find him and ask him, but what if he was ordered to do it by someone like Ozpin? She couldn't go to the cops. They'd laugh at her for more than just the simple reason that the White Fang was now nothing but terrorists. It also wasn't such a dark thing for someone like Ozpin to make such a terrible decision if given no other option. He was a headmaster and a Huntsman for a reason. They could take jobs ranging from simple escorts around town to full blown assassination if the job required it. She wasn't about to tempt fate and ask him if he ordered such a thing.
I could talk to Naruto. See if he knows anything. Maybe he does. She clenched her jaw as she saw Sasuke walk by with a notepad in hand as he furiously scribbled something on it. I could also talk to Sasuke about it. She decided against it in the end and favored looking through the media on the internet for more answers. They pretty much said the same thing the other papers and forums had already said but with different words. She got fed up and clicked off it to search for more information on what the White Fang were most likely doing.
Furiously typing away she found the much needed website and began scrolling through the articles. Probably the best thing about the White Fang was its way of using websites to hide information to those that knew how to find it. One such website that could give a clue as to where to look for more information on plans, operations, recruitment centers, and donation sites were food recipes. If you scrolled through the list of ingredients to find names to websites by adding the first, middle, and last ingredient in the lists provided. Once you had them sorted out you could go to a website that would then ask you for a password and a user ID. Both of these were provided in the second and fifth ingredient on the list from the previous website that would then link you to a history website that would talk about a historical landmark for the week. If you were to save the images they had, it would come up as a list of names for new members. In order to hide the names more effectively they would put random numbers in between various letters, but in order to do a space between names they'd put two random numbers and when the name change to another person entirely they would put four numbers.
She saved the image to her Scroll for later use and the historical landmark in question. It wasn't too far away this week.
Shutting down the terminal she, grabbed her Scroll, tucked a stray strand of hair behind her human ear, and started heading back to her dorm. The broken moon cast a sharp glow across the land and made her shadow appear longer than it actually was. When she reached the dorms, she paused and glanced down the other way. Huffing, she marched down the hallway, took a left, followed the path, took a right, and ended at another room. Knocking gently, she waited for something to come from the other side. It was late and she doubted she'd get one.
"Hold on a second," Naruto's voice echoed from behind the door. There was a rustle of something and then a thud, followed closely by a muttering of curses before she heard the door unlock and open. Naruto huffed as and rubbed a red mark on his forehead. "Blake? Is something wrong?"
"I'm fine. I just wanted to see if you wanted to talk."
Looking down the hallway for anything odd, Naruto nodded and let her in. "Sure," he said as he held the door open fully. She walked in and looked around the room, sizing it up as she moved to the bed. "I'll get you some tea."
"I don't think I'll be around for long," she confessed. .Naruto shrugged and started making some anyways. "Did you get your new sword?"
"It's under the bed. Little bit bigger than I thought it'd be. Well… Longer than I thought it'd be."
Blake found the case under the bed and pulled it out. Naruto watched her carefully as she sat it on his bed and opened the case up. The smith had done a fine job on creating the thing. It was truly a work of art. Ozpin confessed that the man Naruto saw also forged Sasuke's blade. Sasuke's blade was already imbued with enough dust to compensate for the enhancing part of his chakra. Naruto's sword was simple, unrefined, and made of weak metals. This new sword was forged with stronger stuff, more dust, and was heavily refined to a point that the blade itself was so sharp that putting his finger on it could cut skin.
Blake picked up the weapon and marveled at the craftsmanship on it. The sheath was black as night with a single wide leather strap so that it could be carried across his back. At the end of the sheath was a metal brace that curved upwards like a sword and sported two lines that were curved into the design of fire. She ran a thumb over the edge of it before unsheathing the blade. It was slightly longer than before, something Blake was quick to notice. The blade was also red, just like how the man had promised it would be. Blake ran a thumb over the edge of the blade and winced when it cut through her flesh.
"It's not a reverse blade anymore?" She turned to face him worried by the change.
"It was a screw up in the order," Naruto grumbled. He tossed a few bags into the kettle and started letting them soak.
Going back to looking at the blade, there were several other differences to it that separated it from the original. The guard was now a bit wider, the handle a bit longer, and the tassel was now removed. The handle was now made of plastic and silver metal. The plastic parts lined over the other in a pattern similar to shingles and sported a thin groove on each one that dug into the skin and acted like an adhesive. Blake gave the sword a few test swings and came to the conclusion that even Naruto's hands became sweaty; the sword wouldn't fly from him hands. At the end of the blade the same design was carved into the blade like the one on the sheath.
Satisfied with it, she sheathed the weapon and put it back in the case.
"When did you get it?"
"I went out the other day."
Shrugging, she glanced around his room. It was a lot cleaner compared to the last time she came here. She found books and notepads scattered across his desk. Furious writing was on each of the pages that she could see, all of them pertaining to Ninjutsu and Chakra. There were even drawings now of complex art that would baffle the minds of even the greatest artiest. "Didn't take you for someone that could draw," she confessed.
Naruto stalked around the small table he was using as a makeshift kitten and got behind her. Blake nearly jumped as he put his hands over hers and pointed to one of the drawings. "It's a seal," he told her. He released it and stole her bow in the process. Her hands reached out to snatch it from him but he made it disappear in a poof of smoke. Her eyes went wide as he lifted the piece of paper and said, "It's not sealed inside the paper." He bit his finger and drew blood across it. In a flash of smoke the bow was back in his hand. She snatched it up and moved to a mirror to put it back in place. "Why do you wear that bow?"
"I don't want people to see me as what I am, but rather who I am."
"And who are you?"
She paused and looked at herself in the mirror. More importantly, she looked at him. Naruto wore his "Faunus" marks proudly. So did Sun, Persia, Jasper, and Velvet. They didn't care if the world saw them as Faunus or not. After several minutes of working the bow to perfection, she turned around and glared at him. "Don't touch the bow unless I tell you to."
"You didn't answer my question."
"Have you been spending time with Ozpin?" Naruto rolled his eyes. She went red in the face. "You have, haven't you? Did he ask you to ask me that question again?"
"No! I was just asking what you mean by that. Nothing more."
Blake rolled her eyes and sniffed the air as the tea finished boiling. Naruto poured it into a pitcher and added more water. He grabbed two cups and filled them with ice and tea. He presented one to Blake. She took a sip of it and then returned to his bed. Naruto sat at the desk and cleared a spot for their cups.
"Ozpin asked me that same question a few months back. I didn't have an answer for them… And I don't have an answer for you either."
"That's okay. I was just curious about how you want people to see you, that's all."
"And how do you want people to see you?"
"I don't care what the world thinks about me. I never have. Not since I got here. This isn't my world. They can hate me, love me, or just ignore me. I won't care. The only thing I care about is protecting what's important to me."
"And what's important to you?"
Naruto took a sip of tea and shut his eyes. Blake's heart skipped a beat when they opened. "My friends are the best of me. So I want to protect them. They rescued me from my loneliness, so I'll do everything I can to protect them." He had a faraway look in his eye as he gazed at her.
Blake buried herself in her drink and hastily gulped the last of it down. "I should be going. Weiss will wanna know where I've been and Yang would want details if I get caught." She moved to the door. Naruto opened it for her and she hesitated in the hallway. "You know it's better to ask for forgiveness than it is permission, right?" Naruto looked clueless. She closed her eyes and started walking away.
"Blake," Naruto called out to her. She stopped and turned to him. "I have a question that I can't answer that maybe you can. It started bugging me the day I hurt your… well… ear… I realized that I can't protect anyone without a sword, but I can't embrace them with one either. So in the end, what truly can I do if I want to be happy with someone else?"
Blake's bow twitched and she looked down the hallway. She could see Yang in her minds' eye sitting up waiting for her to arrive. Weiss was studying to keep herself awake while Ruby was passed out in bed. "I don't know. I don't have an answer for that."
Naruto looked away with a sigh of regret. "I'll see you in the morning."
"Right," she said softly. In the morning… She walked away and found her room. Everything was just how she pictured it.