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A/N

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Chapter 23

"How do you keep doing that?"

Port's question was answered with a shrug from Naruto as he, too, had no idea on how he had accomplished such an amazing and mind boggling feat. If they knew Naruto well enough, they'd know that making something possible out of something impossible was one of his incredible talents. Either that or he was just insanely lucky. Not many people could accomplish what he did, powers included.

"This is most intriguing!" Doctor Oobleck informed the duo as he furiously scribbled down notes in his notepad like a scholar with a new idea. Naruto blinked while watching him write, momentarily feeling a pain of guilt as watching the good Doctor write reminded him of his now former master, Jiraiya. He wondered what he was doing at this very moment. "Perhaps you are simply not threatening to the little Grimm." Oobleck theorized.

Naruto looked down at his left hand where he held a tiny ball of black fur and small pieces of white armor across its face and arms. In his hand he held a tiny Ursa. The thing was beyond tiny. It was small enough that Naruto could safely say it was a rat. And what made this odd sighting even stranger was that Naruto had not only managed to capture the thing, but he'd successfully done it four times for their hunt for more Grimm.

With Oobleck here, Port's idea of a hunt had gone completely astray. For Port, the idea of this hunt was to capture and kill as many Grimm as possible, something that they had managed to accomplish, mind you. But with Oobleck, it was something else as well. He wanted to put trackers on the Grimm they caught that Professor Port saw no reason to keep. Under normal circumstances this wouldn't be done. Port would shoot the creature dead, stand heroically on it, take a photo, and then move on. The man was that egotistical and probably more of a hunter for sports rather than protection at times.

That wasn't to say that they hadn't done anything productive, even with both teachers arguing about who could do what, when, where, and why. Oobleck was very thorough in his demands for putting trackers on certain types of Grimm. Emerald Forest was a large place and very hard to keep tabs on where various types of Grimm nested. If you wanted to send in Hunters to destroy a nest, you had to first find the nest. Sometimes the best approach would be to capture and release a Grimm with a tracker on it and then vacate the area in the hopes that it wouldn't follow after you and then just head back to its nest so that you could rush in and destroy it.

Normally the idea of putting a tracker on a Grimm was considered suicide unless you were very fast or had it detained well enough that you could put it on without problem. With Naruto, that idea was completely thrown out the window. Naruto would just create a few clones to hold it down and then send one or two clones over with tracking collars to put on it. If they died, no one but the clones would die and they could simply start over. It was the ultimate win-win.

Looking at the tiny Grimm in his hands, Naruto looked back at the two stunned teachers as Port moved beside him, Scroll held out in preparations for a selfie, as he said, "So this little pain is not scared of me?" to which Oobleck nodded, though looking only slightly fearful of what that could mean for future spawns of the Grimm. The flash went off as Naruto looked back down at the creature and the white collar that was wrapped around its little neck. "You know," he began, his eyes twinkling with mischief, "if this thing wasn't supposed to be some sort of end all creature kind of monster, I'd take it home with me."

"That would be most unwise."

"I know, Oobleck, but I'm saying that if they weren't like that." Naruto rolled his hand over to look at the belly of the little Grimm in his hand. It purred when he started scratching its belly. "So does this mean that when we go back to Beacon, Fuzzbutt might show back up?"

He named it! Port almost laughed at how funny the name was and the fact that Naruto was naming the disgusting and disappointing creature he had wanted to hunt. By god, if he could take that thing before his class, he was sure that everyone would want to challenge it. But the idea of something that small getting out was enough to scare him into not doing so. The bigger ones wouldn't be harder to find. But a small little Grimm like that in their school and they'd have problems.

"If it does, it'll die instantly." Port confessed, his finger reaching around for the trigger on his gun. A small cough alerted him that he was being watched while the oblivious blond returned his gaze to a more noticeable problem. "Well we only have three captured Grimm," he confessed sadly. "So we're back out hunting for another hour until we can capture at least another two."

Naruto nodded and promptly threw Fuzzbutt into the forest. The little Grimm disappeared from sight and was most likely making its trip back to them. Naruto clapped his hands together to get rid of the "germs" that Oobleck had warned him about in the forest. He didn't know where Fuzzbutt had been. The only reason he was holding it him was because if he didn't, Port was going to step on the little guy. "But the traps aren't ready. And I don't know if you've noticed, but they're avoiding us now."

"That just makes the hunt more thrilling!" Port exclaimed, his mustache shuffling as he spoke.

"I have stuff to do today for James."

Port's face might have fell at that reminder. What was worse was that he needed about five Grimm for his next class project and they only had three. To be fair, he probably only had one at this point, but he was really hoping that wasn't the case. Their first hour in the forest they had managed to snag ten Grimm. A mighty haul if they didn't come with their own problems. A captured Grimm would work one of three ways. They would break out and kill you if you were around, simply die in their cage under no cause of harm, or stay in said cage until release to then kill said person. They had managed to capture ten Grimm and now only had three because five of them had escaped and the last two had died in their cages not an hour after being snatched up.

Oobleck put a reassuring hand on Naruto's shoulder as he pointed out into the distance. "Young man, I do believe James will understand if you are a tad bit late. Besides, the hunt for knowledge is never ending and this is a hunt for knowledge."

"I thought we were hunting Grimm?" Naruto's question made Port laugh and Oobleck's face fall. Naruto wasn't doing justice to anyone that said Blondes' weren't dumb. Maybe he just couldn't pick up on the meaning behind his words or that Oobleck had a way around James.

"We are, son. We are. But right now. We need to focus. If we don't find anything in the next thirty minutes, we'll load up what we have and considered the hunt done. Besides, we can continue the hunt tonight if needed. So if you could, please make your clones and let's start the hunt again."

Naruto shrugged and created fifty clones. As one, they charged and bolted off in different directions causing as much noise as possible. The two teachers ran to their respective hiding spots and waited while the whisker faced blond waited for one his clones to relay him the location for a Grimm.

(-)

"This is completely insane."

Blake barely caught the tail end of Sun's retort to someone she didn't care enough to look at. Whatever they were arguing about needed to be done further away from here, perhaps in another room, or another part of the school far away from her. She had things she had to take care of. Like right now she was trying to decipher the new code for the next meeting that the White Fang were getting set up for in Vale. If she could just get five more minutes alone, she'd have it and she could then move on to the more daunting task of figuring out how someone managed to pull nearly all of her captured information on the White Fang that she had gotten during their raid a few days back.

But no one was leaving her alone, and she decided to make the most of it. Sleep deprived not included in her current situation, she did need some background noise to keep her focused on-track. What better form of background noise than to have your friends and team arguing over a game or the next class test that was going on. Apparently, Weiss wasn't too thrilled to learn that Sun's team wasn't having to take a test that the rest of them had in a few hours. To Weiss, it was torture. To Ruby… Well she didn't truly have an opinion on the subject at hand. She was too busy stuffing her face full of strawberries and cookies to really care about what was going on.

Realizing that eventually she'd get roped in on the conversation, Blake stood up and departed while her friends and teammates argued over the ethics of new students showing up and not being forced to take a test. Knowing that she couldn't return to their dorm room for the safety and quiet work place that she needed, and knowing that she couldn't return to another section of the library without Sun somehow founding out, she ventured to guess that Naruto was back and knew full well that she could hide out at his room to do her studying.

Naruto might not share her views on the White Fang, but he did believe that they needed to be stopped before more innocent people were hurt. Though she knew that deep down his methods might be a tad more extreme than her own, it was the fact that he knew about their ventures togethers outside of the academy to stop the White Fang before they became a bigger threat than they currently were. She couldn't change his mind on the notion that they needed to be destroyed, less they bring the world to another great war.

This was something she accepted about him. If the White Fang were allowed to continue on as they were, a terrible war would be fought and she wasn't fooling herself into believing she wouldn't be a part of it. Her parents would most likely step in to stop her, but she would have a duty to uphold as both a Huntress and a former member of the White Fang.

She wrapped her knuckles against his door twice and then a third time after a small pause. Enhanced hearing or not, she could easily make out the sounds of footsteps and a soft groan before the door was slowly pulled open. Naruto was rubbing his left eye and yawning at the same time. "Sup?" he asked, stifling another yawn with his free hand.

Blake moved through the door, holding up her scroll and moving towards his desk. The odd drawings/markings were there still. What were they again? Seals? Maybe she did need some sleep if she was going to keep looking in on this next meeting that they were going to have. If it was tomorrow and she cracked it tonight, she wouldn't have enough time to get geared up, rested, and head out without causing problems to herself and those around her. Maybe after a quick talk she could take a power nap.

"I need a quiet place to work."

Naruto arched a brow in confusion as he shut the door. "I'll make some tea."

(-)

Sasuke chewed on his bottom lip while looking over the study material he had gotten. He didn't want to study for a test, but given that he had was already invested in this lie, he might as well take it all the way. Not that this was a lie to him anyways. At this point it was nothing more than the monotonous road of life for him. He was eager to change his life. Make something new for himself.

But trying to study for a test while his friends argued over something like a game was getting very agitating. It was funny at start, but now it was annoying. And what was the game? It sounded like a stupider version of other board games he'd come to know about back home. Only this one was all about taking over the other Kingdoms. Why make a game like that? It was really strange.

Not that it wasn't strange back home to "play" Shinobi.

Looking back on his life, he wondered if he ever missed out on something like that. He just remembered that at one point in his life he was happy, and then it was taken away and he became, as Coco had once put it, a "Brooding Nancy, with no time for fun," when she first met him. He didn't leave a good impression at start, but damn if he didn't make up for it now.

"How did I lose… Again?!" Sun asked, sounded very unhappy to have lost for the third time in a row to Yang. Ruby, who was sitting off to the side, provided no emotional backup for him as she continued to happily munch on her snacks while the ever patient Pyrrha tried to quell an emotionally crazed Nora out of her rant about how she was Queen of the Pancakes and that no one could stop her rule. "Is the deck stacked in your favor? I demand a reshuffle and a rematch."

"I just have all the luck, Sun." Sun rolled his eyes at that as Yang bent over to grab his deck and start shuffling it. "But I'll take you up on that rematch. I'll shuffle your deck and you can shuffle mine." She winked at him.

"Innuendo or not, that's a trap." Emert warned. He made a whip motioning with his hand as he drew on the sketchpad he had. Neither blond was sure if that was just him drawing or making the general motion for what every person would perceive as a budding relationship with anyone. The media would blow anything out of proportion. "You still studying, Leader?"

Sasuke grumbled at the nickname. "Couldn't you just go back to calling me by my name?"

"Has it been two weeks yet?"

"No."

"Then no."

Sasuke wondered how Emert did what he did. Two hours ago, they had a fun little bet going. It was a game to see who had the most luck with a deck of cards. Honestly, it was easy enough. Sasuke shuffled the deck, scanned it with his Sharingan as he did, passed the deck back, and, with no slight of hands, Emert drew the cards he declared would show up, in order, and won the bet. How he achieved this, Sasuke didn't know. What he did know was that when he scanned the cards with his eye, they were in that order, and somehow, despite logic, Emert pulled the impossible and won the bet.

He was now going to call Sasuke Leader for two weeks or until he grew bored. Whichever happened first, Sasuke was sure that it was going to result in some unsavory combat training with the Faunus, as much as he didn't want it to. Reverting back to his old habits was the greatest fear he had next to losing Naruto, the only true anchor he had back to his old world and the one he was now fighting to keep here. Were all blonds dumb or was it just that hard headed ones. Glynda wasn't dumb. She was a teacher. That had to mean something, right? On that note. He couldn't remember if there were any blond-haired teachers back in Konoha.

Way to pay attention, Sasuke. Real smart of you. Genius. Yeah right. He berated himself and turned the page in his notebook as he continued to study next to Weiss. She was beginning to show signs of losing her mind if her constantly tapping foot was any indication. She was about to flip her lid, and not in a good way. "Problems?" he asked in a whisper. The glare he received was enough to cause the temperature of the room to drop, and not because of his Semblance either. "Sorry," he whispered, sticking his nose back in his book. Honestly, was this what it was like to deal with him in the Academy back home? I really was an ass.

Weiss eventually shut her book, got to her feet, and stormed off. Ruby watched her leave and trailed after her, intent on finding out what was wrong with her partner/teammate. Sasuke stuck his nose back in his book before hunger hit him and he left as well. No one followed him, either to enthralled in the rematch or too busy studying.

The former Uchiha gave a sigh of frustration as he marched to the cafeteria to get in line and to get his meal. He stopped himself as he grabbed the offered tray when a woman in white marched through the courtyard just nearly out of his sight. She was in the company of James and the man seemed far too eager in whatever conversation he was holding with her. She, in turn, seemed less interested than the good General.

Before he could set the tray down, another teenager got behind him and motioned for him to start walking forward through the line. Sasuke blinked once, his eye narrowing before he moved up to get his food. He could figure that out later.

(-)

"This will be an easy operation." James sat his scroll down and a holographic map appeared over Ozpin's desk. Naruto folded his arms and squinted his eyes at the sight of the map. "One of my operatives will be working with on this one. The entire operation is an intelligence gathering operation. Thanks to the files you retrieved, we know that this is the spot where the White Fang are getting their shipments of weapons and other Atlas technologies. We don't know what they have or how much they have, but we need to know that and what they're doing with it."

"It's pretty clear that whatever they're getting, they're planning to use it here during the Vital Festival. Which is why we're sending you and one of James's Elite's to investigate this," Ozpin confessed. Naruto mulled the world "elite" around in his mind and could only picture and an older Sasuke with a beard. "This mission will be very hard. If you fill the need to back out, I won't hold it against you."

Naruto let his arms fall akimbo. "I'll take the job. I kind of wanna put this guys down before they cause any further problems. But I feel like that time has passed."

"Indeed," James said, cutting off whatever Ozpin was going to say. "The White Fang are dangerous and while they started off small and their actions minor, they have now broken into a full declaration of war. If they aren't stopped soon, we could be looking another great war."

Naruto adjusted the strap on his scabbard as he moved to the elevator. "Does my partner know anything about me?"

"She knows enough to get by. However, I recommend you not do anything out of the ordinary with her. She knows you have a lot of power and unique abilities that we've explained away as magic and mystical arts, but other than that, she doesn't know anything. And just to keep the record clear of any confusion, your codename for this is Syxx. Understand?"

"Why Syxx?" Naruto asked, his head tilted in confusion.

"We don't let operativities choose their own codenames," Ozpin confessed, lying through his teeth on this one. Naruto must not have cared or picked up on it, because he made no move to argue over that. He was probably just happy to get a job right now. He had things he wanted to buy, like more ramen and more orange clothes. It was his money and he was spending it how he wanted to, damnit.

"You'll be working with Hawk. That's her codename." James told him as the blond retreated. "She's waiting for you on the pad." Naruto gave a stiff nod and departed. James shook his head. "You should have let me send in a strike team, Ozpin," he told him as the numbers began to light up, signifying that it was going down. "If I sent in a strike team, we could neutralize the threat to Vale and take back whatever weapons they've stolen from us."

"And if you do that, they'll make martyrs out of the dead. If we send in a team, a small team, we have a chance of finding out what they have, what they don't have, and what they plan to do before it gets too big. And with such a small team, they have a chance to sneak around without problem." Ozpin stood up, his hands gently pressing on the active keyboard as he shut the hologram down. "James, we need to think carefully about or next course of actions. If we make a move too soon, we might be making the wrong one. We have to be slow on this. Otherwise, we risk both our Kingdoms in this. We can't be too hasty."

"But you would send a child to do this? Ozpin, you're playing a dangerous game here."

The old Headmaster smiled. Perhaps he was, but it was for the best.

(-)

"Hawk?"

Winter turned to the sound of the voice and found a small male wearing a black mask over his mouth and nose standing a few paces away from her with his arms crossed. He had blond spiky hair and wore a black mesh suit with a few pieces of armor sewn in on the fabric around his biceps, knees, and chest. A red and a blue eye stared at her, waiting for a reply.

"Yes, I'm Hawk, Syxx. Let's get operation Puppy Dog underway."