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A/N
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Chapter 28
Robert looked down range with a pair of binoculars. James and Winter did the same, but Winter was no longer impressed and thus not truly looking. She spent more time just saying she was impressed because the novelty of watching Syxx/Naruto hit a target at long-range with every weapon after thirty minutes of practice just wore off. She was sure James was even getting bored of it.
But Robert wasn't.
Syxx fired a third shot from the long-range rifle dubbed Wild Coyote because it was an older variant of one of the more modern versions of the same rifle. It was a bolt-action single-shot rifle. After the second shot he fired his target was dead. It dropped, and he quickly reloaded the weapon like a professional. It was smooth and fluid. No momentum lost. No time wasted.
But of course, this was after a thirty-minute lesson of seeing the weapon in action, how to reload the weapon, and two screwups during the training session prior. And like with all weapons, the first shot stunned him because he either braced too hard for the initial recoil of the gun or didn't brace himself enough for it.
Standing up, the masked warrior hefted the weapon and tossed it twice as if he were getting a feel for it like a pro athlete ready to throw a javelin. He shook his head and handed it back to Robert. The man took it without a word and put it with the ever-growing pile of weapons that had fallen very short on his opinion meter, which was currently everything they'd thrown at him.
Rifles of all types were discarded. Sub-machine guns included. Pistols and handguns were next on that list, but Naruto doubted he'd like those either. The bow was last and for good reasons. Why make him try the one thing he might be comfortable with first if they knew he'd like it more than the others? Simple reason: James wanted to see how good he was with other weapons to get a feel for a threat level from him. Him using one of their weapons was a test for him, and currently he wasn't making things look good for them.
"Alright," Robert said as he brought over a case of the new guns. "These things will go from caliber. You remember the difference in the calibers, right?" he asked while setting the case on the table. A pair of soldiers ran out to the range and put up more cans to be shot at. A normal paper target would have been used but sadly, they didn't have the stuff that was required. Ripping apart the ship for their range targets was out of the question as it was all automated and ingrained into the systems of the ship. And why they weren't there instead of here was primarily because it could be considered a breach in security. More so than this.
"Yes. Yes. Yes." Naruto hissed. He'd like to avoid another boring lecture on the ethics of gun use and ammo size and calibers and pins and whatever the hell else made up a gun. Tell him how to break and use it and he was happy. None of these boring lectures on where it was made, how it was made, why it was made and why it was out of service or still in service, please. "You're more annoying than Iruka-sensei during history," he said under his breath. Winter caught his remark and smirked. James might have heard but Robert didn't.
"No need to be so eager to use all of these, Syxx," Robert told him, a fake smile once more plastered to his face. God how he hated this kid. Picky was the first thought that came to his mind when dealing with him. Stubborn was the following thing. Picky and stubborn probably summarized him well enough anyways. "This," he began with a long sigh of annoyance, "is a gun I call Roaring Thunder." He pulled a large revolver, almost larger than his own, and flipped the chamber open. "It holds nine forty-four caliber rounds and can fire all nine in under ten seconds if you can pull the hammer back quickly enough. Wouldn't recommend it though because that means you're firing from the hip. And that is…" he let hang there and waited.
Naruto rolled his eyes behind the mask. "…a bad idea because it affects your accuracy," he finished like a student ending a teacher's statement that he already had repeated.
Robert was about to say something but held off since he caught a glimpse of annoyance from James and thus decided to drop the matter entirely. Perhaps that kid did get it. Or he was just eager to see what this beast of a gun could do. Either way, the demonstration must continue.
"Right," he said tiredly, grabbing one of the two premade clips for the gun. He stuck the nine bullets in the cartridge before taking aim. "This thing has a bit of a kick to it. So," he pulled the trigger and the sound of the gun firing filled the air. It was loud. Way loud, even. Ear protection aside, this thing might deafen anyone that used it. He was thankful that they were using ear protection while the guns were being fired. "The idea behind this gun is that if the target is close, you use it like so." He didn't take aim. Instead, he held it at his side and pulled the hammer back with his other hand while pulling the trigger. The gun responded in fashion for five seconds before it only clicked.
He flipped the thing open and dropped the spent casings on the ground.
"Now obviously you're trading accuracy while using it like that," Robert confessed as he pulled out of the second set of rounds for it. "But if your target is that close-" And whatever he was going to say died in his throat at that very moment.
Without warning Syxx reached across and snatched the gun and the second set of rounds from his hands, loaded the gun at near blinding speeds, snapped it shut, took aim, and one armed the gun to fire a single round that was louder than the first test with it. The gun didn't move in his hand. The kickback on the gun was strong. Strong enough that even some droids couldn't control it. But he did. He controlled it. It didn't move. And he wasn't impressed. Then, in a fit of anger or maybe pure annoyance with the whole thing, he unloaded the remaining eight rounds faster than Robert had in a similar motion and hit all the targets in the distance. When he was done, he dropped the spent casings, snapped the gun shut, and shoved it in his chest.
"The bow! Please!"
Robert looked down at the gun and the smoking barrel that was warm on his chest through the shirt he wore. He turned his gaze momentarily to his General. Ironwood was unmoved. Almost uncaring for what had just happened. Like he had almost expected it. Perhaps he had. Winter's cold eyes were narrowing, almost seething with hatred for his actions. Syxx himself was annoyed, perhaps furious that this test had gone on long enough.
"We have-"
"The bow, Bob." James finally spoke. Winter looked stunned that they were skip past the other weapons. This was a full demonstration. Why skip now? "We've done what I set out to do. He knows the destructive power of our arsenal and those that our enemies may have. Nothing is finer than what we have." And almost as if proving him wrong Naruto grabbed a kunai and hurled it down range, striking a target that was in the hands of one of the other soldiers that was getting things set up for the next demonstration, with perfect accuracy. It happened so fast and so suddenly that the man holding the target took two more steps before noticing it was gone. "Syxx!" James nearly shouted but calmed himself.
Naruto didn't say anything. James shut his eyes, his patience for both parties being met finally. "Bring out the bow. It is getting a little late in the day. I have other things to attend to as well." That was wording it nicely. This wasn't supposed to have dragged on this long but each fact about the gun was a true statement. This was for demonstration purposes only. Not a lesson. That could come way later.
Grudgingly Bob moved to another set of cases and moved them around before pulling out a briefcase-sized one. He cracked it open and pulled out the bow, though it was in its compact form. The entire thing was sleek silver and to the untrained eye – like Naruto's – looked just like a normal vambrace. For James, Winter and Robert it was easy to see the details to it. It was cut into fourths and each part joined to form the shape of the users' arm and at the top portion was a thin point where the blade was stored.
Softly pulling it out, he handed it off to Syxx and he slowly put his hand inside the thing. "It's tight," he told him.
"We'll have to make the thing for you. This is a model we had on the ship and so it's being used for the test," Winter informed him before Robert could make a snide remark. "Just use it and bear with it for the time being."
Shrugging and more importantly listening to the calming words of his mother, Naruto reluctantly bore with it.
"Now grab the handle that's sticking out." Bob instructed. Naruto grabbed it and held on tight. "Now squeeze it tight."
The entire thing sprang to life and the four points of the vambrace snapped out, revealing a black cloth that had been under it. The four parts that sprang out snapped with such ferocity that Naruto barely had time to react to it, let alone the fact that the string that made the bow what it was, was attached to all four points and had taken a piece of his sleeve in the process. When it was done the thing was roughly half the height that he was and curved to be even smaller when fully drawn.
"Way too small for you," James confessed sadly. Neither of Naruto's parents could lay claim to knowing much about a bow or one of this design, so the size portion was left to James and Robert. "But it was a smooth transition." James gave a nod to Robert and the man produced a fist full of arrows. He sat them on the table while Naruto marveled at the bow. It was different, and it was interesting.
Slowly Naruto notched an arrow and pulled back hard. The entire bow cried, alarming Robert while James and Winter were left unsurprised by the act of his strength. Taking aim, he listened to his fathers' words and did as instructed. He took a deep breath, took aim, waited, and released. The first metal arrow fired zipped through the air and missed its intended target, instead falling well behind it and sticking to a tree much further down the line. Robert whistled. Checking the bow over, Syxx nocked another one and attempted it again. This time the arrow grazed the target, moved it, but didn't hit as intended, and like before, kept moving until it hit a tree.
Naruto narrowed his eyes. This was a strange weapon. It worked how his family said it would, but the aiming was harder. Part of it made sense to him. The pulling of the string and releasing the arrow was easy to do. It was the aiming portion. His strength made it hard. Too much pull and the arrow went further. Too little strength and it came up short. It was almost as if the bow was calibrated for someone else. Perhaps it was.
The arrows were returned and Naruto took aim again. "Let me teach you a small secret," Bob said after watching the entire thing repeat itself again. Naruto waited for the arrows and when they were returned, he continued. "Try taking aim before you draw the bow. Sometimes a brief moment of conserved strength is enough to make a well-placed shot land."
"Listen to him." Kushina urged from within him.
Naruto sighed. It couldn't hurt. He liked this bow more than the guns. Taking aim, he took a deep breath and then pulled back on the string. After a brief moment of hesitation, he let it go and the arrow struck its target dead center. Naruto blinked at the sight of his accomplishment before the bow was yanked from his form and Winter slapped it on to do the same thing but quicker.
Seeing that her target was "down" she put it on the table and smiled at him. Behind his mask Naruto narrowed his eyes at her and then looked down the range to the targets. He grabbed the weapon and did the same but slower. Each can fell to the side as he managed to hit them.
"You're a quick learner," Robert finally said after a moment of eyeing him. "But make sure you learn how to do that to the point it becomes second nature. Otherwise it's just a waste."
"I'll keep that in mind." Naruto returned the item and looked at his watch. "I'm sorry, but I have prior engagements to attend to. This lesson has been great." Robert gave a curt nod as the General and Winter saw him off. Once they were out of earshot of Robert, Naruto said, "I'm sorry for how I acted, but I'm not here for a history lesson with the guns. You know that."
"I do. He's being a thorough as he can with them. Knowing the history of the gun can help you when going up against someone who wields them." James explained.
"And what about how I use knives? Where does that fit in to your little history lesson?"
(-)
"…and then they made me there king!" Professor Port finished his long-winded story with a proud thrust of his fist that jostled his fat belly while he stood like a hero in a magazine shot. Yes, it was quiet the sight. Quiet the sight of the bloated liar – to some anyways – nodded as though he were proud of his story and that those present were more than happy to hear his story of heroism in the face of danger with little to no chance for success. Honestly, how could anyone pass up a chance like that?
"Did that really happen?" Emert finally asked, breaking the awkward silence and asking the one question everyone had on their minds.
"Of course, it did!" Port told him with a snort. "Everything in my story was the truth. I swear on my honor as a Huntsman."
Sasuke rolled his eye as his gaze fell upon Weiss. Even she was starting to see holes in these so-called "True" stories. Yeah, and Sasuke had both eyes and wasn't dealing with a weird dream and the feeling of death hanging over him.
The nightmare had been stuck in his mind since it happened. He replayed the event over and over in his mind until he was certain he found a cause to each strange event. Jasper showing up had been tied to their first meeting and his mind back then. Being socially awkward and making him think about his actions leading up to that day had been one of revenge, no matter how much he tried to forget those dark times.
When he ended up in the garden he knew that it wasn't what it was meant to be. The flowers he smelt were from a book he had been reading at the time about the flowers and how they would make the user forget things, creating gaps in their memories. He knew that it was also tied to something of his past and while he wasn't about to start opening doors that shouldn't be opened, it did leave him wondering just why he'd have a memory tie like that. Was there something in his past he opting to forget? Had he remembered something wrong recently? He didn't know, but further thoughts on the matter were put on hold for his meeting with the girl in white.
"This is a garden. The garden grows in both directions. To yesterday and tomorrow."
He understood what it meant. He was still stuck in the middle of his life. One part of him wanted nothing more than to forget the past. But no matter how much he tried to move on it still haunted him. His failures. His brother. His former life still stuck in the back of his mind and no matter how much he fought against he would forever be stuck in one spot until the day came that he was forced to make a choice. He knew what the choice would be.
The woman/man/it was another thing entirely. He knew she wasn't real. But why make her have white hair and tears of blood under a black cloth? Was it a reference to him? Was it nothing more than his subconscious trying to make sense of something that was a part of his internal struggle with his inner demons. How many more times would they fight? Could he even win the war if he could hardly win the battle? Or could the woman have been a sign of something else? A sign of a chance for him to make things right and move on with his life? He doubted it much more than the rest of the meetings in the dream.
Meeting himself was easy enough. It had been the intruder. But dream and whatever was done to him to make him have that dream had played a role in its creation. He had looked upon his attacker. Seen their face. And what he saw was his own reflection. He saw himself because they forced him to see himself. Meaning he'd been fighting someone with a Genjutsu-type Semblance. That was scary. How many of them existed in this world? Could there be more? He hoped that his Sharingan could pierce through those as well.
But the real fear came from his Curse Seal. Why was activating now after so long? It had been dormant for nearly the entire year. The only outbreak had been his fight against Naruto when he had awoken from his coma. The outbreak had been contained and he was certain that it had been nothing major. He felt no pull from the originator and no backlash from it. He remembered the few times he'd used it before. The taste of that power in his system was sweet. This was nothing like that. It was as if the entire addiction element of the power was gone and left with nothing but water in its stead. If that was the case, he'd have nothing to fear. But the pain remained. The horrible reminder of what he'd done with it and what he had attempted to do with it were the reasons he never wanted to do it again.
A gentle tap to his shoulder ripped him from his mind. "Class if is over, Sasuke." His single eye bore into Weiss for a moment in complete silence as if saying "So?" to her. She sighed and rolled her eyes. "You were zoning out. Your team left you."
Now he glanced around the room and sighed. Sure enough, they'd left him. Go figure. "That's what I get for not having my head on straight, I guess," he said under his breath as he grabbed up his things. Weiss remained. He finished grabbing his stuff up and looked at her funny. "What?"
"Nothing. You just seem so… hostile lately. Why is that?"
"I'm not hostile. I'm just… paranoid I guess." I was attacking and drugged, and no one knows about it. Emert wasn't even aware. And he has the nose of the a damn Inuzuka! Yeah, paranoid sounded right when he thought about it like that. "I haven't been sleeping much lately. Maybe I'm finally getting old."
"Aren't you fourteen?" He rolled his eye and she sighed. "Whatever. I was just being nice."
"Ice Queen being nice. That's rare."
"Rarer than the Impossible Sasuke not pulling off an insane feat?" She threw back with a smile. Yes, her witty banter was improving. Yang was doing wonders for her, even if she didn't know about it. Maybe a little bit more fine tuning and she'd have other people approach her for the dance. "I heard Naruto is taking instructor lead courses with Ironwood for a long-range weapon. Any idea on what it is?"
"Given his penchant for explosives back in the day. Something that goes up in a ball of fire."
They exited the class and entered the hallway. Ruby was the only one to stay behind and was happily talking with another student. "Anything that goes up in a ball of fire, huh? I doubt his parents or guardians let him near explosives when he was a child." Sasuke chuckled and thought back to his fight against Gaara during the exams. "They didn't… right?" she finally asked again, but more so because she was worried about that line of thinking and how he might have done just that.
"Well…" Sasuke scratched the back of his head. He could tell her some of the things, right? "We had a person who taught us some special skills and one of them involved paper. I doubt you've seen Naruto do it, but he can seal items in paper."
"Yeah. That's called wrapping paper." Sasuke snatched up her books before she could say anything and pulled out of the copies Naruto had made for him. Sealing Techniques only got harder the further up you went with it. Sealing up something small was easy. Sealing up something large was also easy. Sealing up something complex like an element, an attack, or even something like a normal human was actually very hard. Sealing up two books and a pen: Easy. "Give those back!"
"Watch," he commanded. He waved his hand over the items that were resting on the paper and they vanished right before her eyes. Sasuke handed the paper to her when she reached to take it again and did what any sane person would do: Flip the paper over. She checked both sides multiple times, his hands, and even behind his back like it was some sort of a magic trick and it was just out of her sight.
"Okay," she finally said, her stern voice telling him had best explain or else a very sever tongue lashing would be in order, "explain how you did it."
Taking the paper back without any resistance, he bit down on his thumb and ran his blood across the seal. Like magic the items reappeared from a small puff of smoke and Weiss could only do what any sane person would do yet again: Snatch up her books and then look at his thumb. "It's called a Seal. We used them for storage back home. You can put all manner of things in them. From weapons to elemental attacks. Sadly, I'm not that great at it and Naruto has been teaching me what he knows." Or what he learns from his father.
"How could you get an elemental in this?"
"How does Dust have elemental properties in it?"
Weiss leveled him with a glare as she tucked her books in the crook of her arm and away from him. "Fair point… But it's been explained." Then something hit her. Her eyes got a little wider and she looked at the paper. His blood had already hardened on it. But more importantly, this was something he could do that Naruto could do. If they could do it… "Can you teach me that trick?"
Sasuke blinked at the very thought of that. He hadn't considered that they could learn these abilities. Elemental control was out of their reach. He could no longer call up Chidori and his Fire abilities. The revelation of losing them had hit him hard. When was the last time he used any of them? He'd tried and tried but they couldn't form any longer. And he didn't dare use the Curse Seal to try and force it. And if he could teach her that, could he teach his team some of his tricks? It was an interesting thought, but not one he felt he could do. He was struggling with Naruto. God forbid if he must teach anything to Emert or Persia.
"…I don't know…" he finally answered, settling on what might be the clearest answer to her question. It was, after all, up to his teaching abilities and not just their capacity to learn something. "We'll be having a training session this weekend. Come by then and we'll see if there is something I can teach you."
Weiss nodded curtly and promptly left.
Sasuke watched her leave for a moment he resumed walking. "Interesting trick there." He stopped and spied Cinder slinking up towards him. He'd seen her in passing a few times. She'd never fought anyone in any of the matches that her team had fought in, but she had been rather smart and proved it in class. "I've seen a lot of interesting Semblances and abilities in my life. Growing up around a bunch of a mystic types will do that to you. But I've never seen anything like that before."
"Trade secret, I'm afraid."
"Yet," Mercury interjected, making his presence known from behind Cinder as he came out from behind her, "Did you just offer to teach it to her."
"I never said that directly," he corrected. "Besides, I'm not a good teacher. I'm already aware of that." He turned to leave but a small wave of killer intent had him freeze up for a split second. He felt it out and spied Emerald further back, her eyes borrowing a hole in his skull. She wanted to kill him? Cute. "I don't think I've ever seen your fourth teammate. Are they here?"
Cinder shifted her weight from one leg to the other, placed a hand on her hip and the other was brought up so she could act disinterested as she feigned interesting in her nails. "She's currently not here. She's supposed to be in soon. Before we left, her family had a death in the family. It wasn't right to take her from them during their time of mourning and as the team leader I thought it best that she stay behind to spend time with her beloved family."
Sasuke nodded mutely then smiled at her. "Interesting story…" he said in a tiny whisper. Yes, she was lying, and he knew. Sharingan or not, he knew a lie when he saw one. Just like how Naruto could see a fake smile and the real face of someone behind their mask. They both could do something no one else their age seemed to do it seemed. But then again, how many fourteen-year olds came to Beacon? "I need to get back with my team, Cinder."
Once Sasuke was out of hearing range, Cinder dropped her pleasant smile and turned to Mercury. "Follow him around for the remainder of the day. I want to know when this training session is and where it's at. A power like that might be useful," she told him in a whisper. She walked away and disappeared around a corner. Mercury and Emerald stayed behind and stared at one another.
"She does know I'm not good at stealth, right?" He asked, sounding almost shameful of his shortcomings. Emerald rolled her eyes and sighed loudly. He shrugged.
(-)
"Out of all the weapons that exist for mid and long-range purposes, you're going with a bow? I feel the need to ask why you'd do such a stupid thing, but I think I can just chalk it up to you just liking the idea of something difficult." Naruto might have nodded if he wasn't currently drowning his ability to speak with ramen, allowing Blake and the still unbelieving Weiss to scold him even more. "A bow isn't as bad as I thought it'd be, but you should have still gone with something easier. Like a handgun."
"I wouldn't even trust him with a potato-gun, much less a bow," Weiss told her teammate. Blake shot her a dirty look. "I'm not discriminating. I'm saying that with all his skills, he's never shown any indication of being good with a firearm. So why take a difficult weapon – the bow just so we're clear – when him using his current weapons weren't such a bad idea."
Blake pinched the bridge of her nose. She could tell them why. They were doing dangerous things together. Ammo was cheap but buying more when nothing was happening was just inviting trouble. And rather than run from this, she was running towards it and picking her fights where she knew she could win. Buying more ammo for her weapon was going to somehow get back to Weiss. With Naruto being able to own a ranged weapon of sort she could just say she was giving him lessons and allowing him to use hers' for further training purposes. That would only work for so long though.
"By why a potato-gun?" Blake honestly felt a need for that one to be answered out of the reason he shouldn't even have a bow.
"According to Sasuke, he likes explosives. Anything that he can blow up he'll probably just play with rather than use effectively."
Slamming the bowl down, not out of anger but just because he was finished with, and breathing heavily, he said, "I only ever used it effectively once and I know what he's talking about and why he'd think that. After all, my attack was improvised, and it worked nonetheless. Even if I nearly got burned as a result."
The two girls gave each other blinking looks as they tried to picture an attack being used that required explosives and him nearly getting burned. They couldn't see it.
Naruto put the now empty bowl on the stack of four and pat his stomach. "Why do you care if I use a bow anyways? I'm getting trained with it. I'm not dumb. Port's already made it clear he thinks I'm a tactical genius."
"That's not saying much," Weiss muttered under her breath.
Naruto stopped and moved across the table so that he was standing behind her. She looked up at him and blinked. He smiled. "I'm not deaf, so you know. I can hear pretty good, Ice Queen." She scrunched her nose up at the nickname and he smiled at her. "Maybe if you spend less time being stuck-up and more time opening-up, people wouldn't treat you that way."
"I doubt that."
"Try it."
Blake coughed and gave Naruto a look that told him to back off. Thankful for Weiss, he did just that and returned to sitting beside Blake where the empty bowls were piled. "This weekend, we're picking up your gear, right?" Naruto nodded as he downed a new cup of water that was given to him by a clone. "Good. I'd like to go take care of something if you don't mind helping me. It'll be quick, I swear."
"I don't see why you can't take us with you." Weiss told her, still a little upset and being put off for this.
"It's a date!" Yang exclaimed as she slid next to her fellow teammates.
Blake's bow bent backwards, and her eyes narrowed as she tried to hiss at her teammate. "We're not going on a date. I'm helping him get something and he's helping me with something."
"Oh yeah! Blake, if you need a simple scratch, you know I can do it for you!" Yang arched her brow as if egging her on to say or do something. When nothing was said, she laughed and threw her head back, nearly falling out of the chair as she did and was only saved by Ren who was passing by to go get in line for food. "So, what are you picking up in town that's so important your taking our teammate and not Sasuke and his team?"
"Or my team!" Jaune asked while walking by. Pyrrha gave a little wave and smile as she followed the rest of the team.
"I could grab them again," Naruto confessed. Pyrrha and Jaune were there when he went to get his new outfit. He still couldn't wrap his head around the color red though. But he was trying to change himself for the better. One step at a time though. No point in rushing off to change everything. "But Blake is showing me a place to get arrowheads rather cheap that make them really well."
Weiss turned to her teammate with an arched brow. "Arrowheads? Seriously? What kind?"
"Normal ones." When Weiss didn't stop staring at Blake, the Faunus nodded. "Even I think it's strange. Maybe it's his way of making sure he doesn't get things that'll go "boom" around us for our safety."
Naruto faked a laugh and brought out a kunai. "No. It's because of this." And with just a minute amount of chakra he slid the blade through another kunai and marveled at the bewildered looks from Weiss and Blake. Yang just whistled. "If I can apply my enhancement to arrowheads why would I need anything else?"
Fair point! Weiss thought. The power behind such an ability meant he could save money obviously, but it also meant that he could effectively have armor piercing arrows, and no one would be able to stop him from shooting through a wall silently and ending his target all the same. Yeah, why need anything else when you could just do that? "Still, wouldn't you like some versatility?"
"Like Crimson Arrow from the comics Jaune reads?" When silence was all he got, he rolled his eyes. "I guess I was thinking too impractical. But the point remains. When am I going to need an explosive tipped arrow? I can make that stuff easy."
"Yeah right!" Yang challenged. Naruto took a napkin and drew seals on it. He showed it to his fellow blonde and then applied chakra. The paper fizzled and then popped right in front of her. "Okay," she said slowly as she blinked to clear her eyes and make sure that whatever just happened did indeed happen, "how'd you do that?"
"It's his seals," Weiss told her. Naruto gave her a funny look and Weiss almost beamed in joy to his confused state. "Sasuke showed me his sealing trick he learned from you."
"Is that all he showed you," Yang asked with a snicker.
"Why would he show me…! You degenerate pervert! How dare you imply such a thing!"
"You said it, not me." Yang said while laughing.
Naruto rolled his eyes as his Scroll went off. "Yes? Sure. I'll be right over." He collapsed his Scroll and made a clone to deal with his bowls. "Well, this talk has been fun. But I'm needed for class. Oobleck seems to have found a problem and wants me to look into it."
"Is it a new problem? Or did Jaune get his head stuck in the freezer again?" Cardinal said as he walked by with a tray of food. Naruto looked up at him and grinned mischievously.
"New problem!" Emert announced, making sure that the they could hear him and grinning from ear to ear. "They found out you ejaculated into the soap dispensers in the girl's locker room. They're trying to figure out what to do with you." He grinned and slapped him in the shoulder and then winked to Naruto. The blink snickered while walking away. Sometimes it was great to know Emert was a joker.
(-)
Blake stared at the odd collection of masks with a bit of distain. She didn't like them. They reminded her of her past. As much as she wanted to turn tail and right now, she knew she couldn't. The guilty only ever run. Well, according to Weiss at least. The old man was currently in the back retrieving the item requested by Naruto while the old woman was ringing him up.
"You need help with anything, Dear?" Blake's cat ears swiveled to the sound of the old lady's voice and she shook her head. The old woman shrugged as she waited for the card to go through on their end. Naruto was even watching her as she picked up one of the dog masks and then sat it back down in favor for something that resembled the Oni masks for him back home. "Someone came in a few years ago requesting creepy masks. We made a bunch. He didn't like that one. Went for a half mask. Nice fellow."
Half mask? Adam? Blake doubted that very much. He'd have killed them. They were human. Not Faunus. Still, the idea of a half mask was an entertaining thought that she'd never thought of. When the White Fang adopted the Grimm mask it was either a full mask or a half mask that covered only the eyes. It was never the other way around. It had always been to conceal their identity. Adam didn't care and used his real name but wore a mask to show humanity that he was indeed the monster that they thought he was and he was to be feared for it.
She remembered a time when she wore the mask, though she wanted to protect her identity from the world. Only a few knew her name and that was enough back then. That eventually changed when she had her first meeting with Sienna, the new leader of the White Fang, and managed to see that wearing the mask wasn't the right thing. Sienna couldn't stop her people from dawning the mask, but she could show the world that she wasn't afraid to show her face and be the target she knew she'd be for the Humans hatred.
The masks symbolized a lot of evil, but it had done some good in protecting the identities of some members who wanted to get out before things got rough. It also gave them a little extra protection in a fight. That was also a good thing.
"It took us a while to get the stuff for it," the old man said as he walked out with the mask in one hand and a case in the other. Blake barely caught a glimpse of it before it stowed away for transport. "The train that was hauling the metals and such was attacked by Grimm. Nasty business. The rest of your suit will be done at the same price, but obviously if stuff needs fixing we'll be charging extra."
"Why would Grimm hit a train carrying only materials?" Blake asked. The old man rubbed his chin. "Sorry. Forget I said…"
"Well now that you mention it, the attack doesn't make much sense," he confessed, sounding tired. "The entire thing was automated, so no one living being should have been on board the sucker. Yet, they attacked anyways. Footage is all we had to go by and even then, it's what our insurance people said. We're taking their word. It's not what we saw, it's what the local fuzz said they saw and what our insurance people said they saw."
"Fuzz?" Naruto asked, a brow raised curiously to the odd name.
"Cops. Police. Donut Eaters. Useless Blue Coats. Whatever you call 'em." Naruto nodded like he understood and that was enough to sate the old man. He forked over the case and smiled to the blonde. "Remember, this thing is durable, but not unbreakable. You break it, it'll cost you more to fix it up. You got it?"
"Of course, Ojii-san!" Naruto said without thinking and then laughing. The man arched a thin brow. "You know. Old People. Senile Farts. Wise Men." He then laughed when the old woman smiled and slapped her husband on the shoulder, chuckling as she looked at his stunned expression. "I'll see you later man."
"You forgot Que-tip," the old woman barked back, laughing happily along her now chuckling husband. Naruto cracked a grin and departed with Blake, whom had tried to hide her own mirth of laughter at the back and forth between the three.
As soon as they were outside, Naruto put the case in a scroll and looked at the sky. The sun was starting to get real low and he could hear people finally getting home or heading home for the night. Blake looked around as well, but more to make sure that Yang and Ruby hadn't tailed them. She could see the two of them doing such a thing. Sasuke might do it as well, but for different reasons.
Finally, they started walking and Naruto kept his hands-on top of his head, his eyes still roaming the streets as he waited for Blake to point out where they were going and why. She'd never said anything, only that she was wanting to take him somewhere and that he would be find if he was seen and not heard. He couldn't see himself pulling that off, but it wouldn't be as hard as he hoped it was.
Blake kept focusing on the other options she had at hand. She had long since believed that the White Fang were being misled here in Vale thanks in part to Adam. Sienna didn't want to fight a war she couldn't win. She'd rather fight battles she knew for certain she could win and fighting a war against a vastly superior group of warriors that both had technology they didn't have on their side and will soldiers ready to defend their Kingdom, was just something she wouldn't do. Sienna was smart and prideful, but she knew when to fight and when to run.
What Adam was doing was picking every fight he could at every possible moment. He was being manipulated by another force. Obviously Roman was to blame, but that man didn't seem like the real culprit behind Adam's sudden change in desire to work with Humans. Someone else had obviously influenced him. But who, she didn't know. Hopefully the old man might know a thing or two.
If he didn't know anything, she was back to square one, which was better than it might had sounded. Being back to the very beginning would mean that they weren't using their old methods of passing information. While this wasn't a good thing, it wasn't a bad thing either. If another third party was involved, she could simply start talking with him and figure out just who else they might be using. Or she could simply hunt down Roman, which was rather easy in her head currently thanks to a lack of sleep and beat the information out of him. And if she couldn't do it, she was sure Naruto could think of some creative things. Being a prankster meant he had to have a talent for it.
"So," Naruto finally spoke, cracking his back as they waited at an intersection for traffic to stop, "Why are we doing this?"
Blake rolled her eyes. She thought she explained this to him. Perhaps she didn't? "We're meeting with an old friend of mine who might be able to help me with something concerning the White Fang," she told him in a whisper. Naruto nodded, but his expression told her he was still clueless. Sighing, she squinted her eyes as the sun let a single ray shine through the clouds directly on her face. "They used to use an outdated system for passing information along to other descriptors of the group. If one of them could get the information out to the others, they had the information as well. But when they grew to the size they are now, there was no longer a need to hide such things in the remedial way they were doing them."
"Doesn't that mean that the world would know they're plans before they could start them?"
"No. We still use the same system, but it became much harder to do once the internet became available to more people and domains began to get snatched up quicker than they could be made. With the way it works now things are a little tricky with Trademarks being used and people having their own IT groups to run and maintain their sites. If just one of them was in that field it was enough to get information spreading. A simple glitch in the site's programming for an hour would originally be enough and then they could let it go back to what it was. Now it's not so simply and with Faunus getting less technical jobs, it's much harder for them to get into these spots."
Blake felt something warm slip between her fingers and closed her eyes. She'd gotten emotional again and let her anger get the better of her. Her nails cut deep into her palm, but a few minutes of letting her aura do its thing and she'd be fine.
"Even though we live in a world where the leaders all say they want unity and equality, we still don't get it. We're still used as slave labor and we're forced to live on an island where two thirds of it is desert and we can't even live on it because it's too dangerous for us to venture out and try and clear out the problems we have."
Grinning, Naruto jabbed a thumb in his chest as he said, "I'll head over to that place and clear it out. How bad could it be?"
Forgetting her anger and smiling towards him, Blake giggled to herself. It was cute. Really, it was cute that he could go that far for them. But… "The desert there isn't that same as it is in Vacuo. Vacuo's desert is bad, for sure, but our desert is much worse. And the Grimm we have there are no better. Some of them are big enough to level mountains or have abilities that can reduce even the strongest and most durable of objects into mush. It's not the same. And…" she said, putting a finger to his lips before he could protest any further, "I know that you're strong, but you're not strong enough by yourself to take that part of the island." But how I wish we were all strong enough to simple take it anyways.
Feeling somewhat put down by her words, Naruto nodded and accepted that she was right. It was clear to him a while back that making sure insane promises got him in this mess. If he had gone to kill Sasuke, he wouldn't be here. Instead, he wanted to capture him, someone that he had always known and believed was stronger than him – even if he knew that it was the wrong mentality to have in a fight – and bring him back home because of a promise. Now he couldn't keep his promise to himself, too the Sandaime Hokage, the Tsunade, and even Jiraiya that he would become Hokage. Probable the worst one was that he could no longer help Neji in making his clan better.
Man, making promises really boned him in the end.
"But thank you, Naruto." The blond caste a shy glance her way. She was smiling at him, and despite being tired, no longer looked it. "Thank you for being you."
(-)
Sasuke collapsed on his back hissing in pain. His Sharingan eye spun angrily. I don't remember her ever hitting this hard before, he thought to himself as he slowly got to his feet. He took a fighting stance and stared down the orange haired, hammer wielding, girl known to some as Queen of the Castle and to others simple as Nora, as she flexed and made ready to swing her hammer again. Sasuke was durable. She liked that. Only because she wanted to know how durable he was.
Swishing some blood in his mouth before spitting it out on the training room floor, he grumbled a curse as he once again reminded himself: I've never been hit by here before either.
A true statement to be sure. Nora was fast. Oh god was she fast. But she wasn't Ruby, Weiss, or Blake fast. She wasn't even Pyrrha and Ren fast. But she was fast. Faster than Jaune to be sure. Slower than almost everyone else. Nora never skipped any day of excursive, making her a female version of Might Gai in his eyes, given the stories Naruto had told him about Lee when they had talked before all of this even happened. But he doubted that Lee hit as hard as Nora did and that was only because he hadn't been hit by the green spandex wearing teen in nearly a year.
"Is that the best you got?" Nora challenged, reeling for another strike. If she hit him once, she could hit him again.
Huffing, he smirked. "You're not hitting me a second time with that overgrown mallet of yours."
And with that out of the way, they resumed their training.
Off on the side, Jaune kept his eyes glued to the action while Ren studied in one of the history books he had pulled from the library. Oobleck wanted a detailed report on the creation of Menagerie and he'd be damned if he didn't get it done now so he had the weekend rest and not do homework. Pyrrha was watching the fight as well but was focusing more on Jaune and trying to help point out key details to him that Sasuke was using to either evade or attempt to slow down Nora. Neither option was really working as the girl had a high pain tolerance and probably just didn't know when to quit.
On the other side of the small arena that they had deemed as such was Emert, Persia, and Jasper. Jasper was watching with extreme intent. He declared that both losers would fight him next, along with one more. Why this was, no one really knew. But two tired opponents and one fresh one fighting a completely fresh other fight certainly sounded reasonable enough. Even if one was his leader and the other two just happened to be good at evading or taking damage.
Persia was doing finishing her homework, which was extra stuff she had started looking in to and taking notes on several things that would be in the next set of lessons from all their classes, so the fight wasn't really her focus. But team building exercises, no matter how stupidly asinine they were, were something she could moderately show interest in. Even if this whole thing was more for Sasuke than it was for the team dynamic.
Emert showed the least amount of interest in the entire thing as he was constantly on his Scroll setting up dates for next weekend. His girlfriend, Aurora, was coming back and even announced it to him a week in advance as opposed to her last surprise meeting with him. And with ample time to prepare this time around, he made sure that everything was going to be fun. He'd already selected a nice restaurant for them to go to and got permission to stay out late. Good attendance and being well-behaved had some advantages, even if his motives were as day to the teachers.
And when asked by his team his answer hadn't even surprised them: Hormones.
Yep, that pretty much ruined all their team training dynamic for the weekend. Jasper didn't care, and Persia didn't even want to know any more than what she already did. And what she knew already was enough to make her want to switch to a person of a faith and become a nun for the rest of her life.
"Man, she is really taking a beating right now." Jasper finally commented, pulling Persia from her books as she glanced up to see Sasuke deliver a powerful kick to her chest that sent the orange haired female skidding back a few paces. "I know that Sasuke is powerful. That's a given. But to do what he can do is just… strange. You know?"
"He's an outcast spiritual warrior from Mistral. I fail to see how anything he does is strange." Persia went back to her books in the hopes that she'd be left alone. Emert wasn't paying attention so why should she?
Jasper rolled his eyes. "That can explain a few things. But it can't explain why he lost his lightning and fire abilities."
Seeing that this was going to be a continuing conversation with no chance of her escaping, she put her bookmark in place and snapped the book shut. And she was about to finish up writing the definitions for chapter thirty-eight in her book for History. Granted, that was two chapters ahead, but it paid to be ahead. Work smart not hard. "It probably has to do with his emotional status."
Jasper stopped focusing on the fight and glanced at his sole female teammate. She was serious. "What's wrong with him?"
"He's been worried about Naruto a lot lately," she began, listing off the reasons on one hand as she did. "His sudden change in clothing, eating – though granted that one has taken a bit of a back seat – his way of communicating with others are all signs of someone that is trying to be different and struggling with it. Sasuke is struggling with his own change. If you paid attention to when he talks about things with us, he switches it between past and presence and sometimes doesn't even include us in the collective "us" moments he's talked about. It's like he can't let go of his past and tries to drag it with him while constantly trying and failing to leave it behind. Naruto is doing the same thing. It's an emotional status. Nothing more."
"But that wouldn't remove his ability to control fire and lightning," Jasper reminded her. "A Semblance is connected to our Aura and from that we learn how to control our Semblance. Sasuke has always had a Fire and Lightning Semblance."
"And now Ice is taking its place. Perhaps it's just something to do with the seasonal change."
"That's grasping at straws," Emert told her as he put his Scroll away and looked up to the training session between Sasuke and Nora. His eyes were cold for a moment, as if he were angry at being interrupted in making plans to impress his girl, then warmed as if he knew something that they didn't. "Sasuke isn't so hard to figure out as you guys think. It's a block, really. It's nothing emotional. It's not spiritual. It's just his body not wanting to use what little hold it still has over those two powers."
Both teens looked down at him, their eyes curiously looking him over before turning to Sasuke as he took a powerful blow from Nora's fist when she caught him with a backhand that caught him across the face. He dropped hard, but rolled with the motion, sprang to his feet, and paid her back with two kicks, one to her side and another to her head that had her stumbling to regain her balance.
It had been hard to accept it at first and even harder to see it. But Sasuke was slowing down. Perhaps a block was what was doing it. He'd fallen in rank during their sparring sessions in class. He was no longer in third place anymore. He'd dropped down to fifth. His speed was still impressive. It was hard to catch him and even harder to hit him if he was paying attention. But over the last few weeks he'd slowed down, his senses had seemingly dulled overnight, and in one instance, he'd finally had something take place he'd never had before: He got sick. He couldn't remember a time he'd been sick. But he had been.
Emert slowly shook his head as he watched the fight continue to play out. "I don't like to think about it, but when I do, I wonder why he was made our leader. I used to think it was just because he was special. That his desire to put himself in danger for us was the reason. That having the strength to sacrifice himself for us was the thing that made him our leader. But now that I think about it, I think I know the truth. The truth is that he was made our leader because Ozpin wanted to give him a chance to see how wrong his line of thinking is."
"There's nothing wrong with wanting to make sure your teammates survive to see tomorrow," Jasper told him in a warning tone.
"That's not what I said." Emert spun around and faced them. "I said that he was willing to sacrifice himself for us and the other people and that was why Ozpin made him our leader. I never said he worked with us. He simply wanted to protect us from harm by making sure we didn't have to fight. Think about what he did during our initiation test. He fought a large Nevermore and Boarbatusk and never once asked us to help him. He simply jumped into the fighting as if he were the only one that could do it and that we couldn't."
The wheels had already begun turning Persia's head. She got the message. Jasper was still a little slow on the uptake, but it was clear he was slowly getting it. "When you think about it, Sasuke has always been the one trying to keep us safe and talks about improving our team dynamic, yet never works to incorporate it in actual combat. He acts like if he doesn't fight, we'll die," Emert continued.
"So, Sasuke became our leader simply because Ozpin wanted him to learn the value of teamwork? No offense, that's pretty shady," Persia remarked coldly. But she did like the fact that Sasuke was that way. He made her feel safe. And in the end, wasn't that what really mattered?
"Not really," Jasper finally spoke up, his expression neutral now as he watched the fight. He could see it now too. Sasuke was their leader simply because Ozpin couldn't think of a way to teach him that would make him see the value of a team. Sasuke was their leader only because he was willing to die for them. And having that mentality was good, but he never worked with them to prevent it. When the Grimm broke out in the city and Naruto woke up, Sasuke had fought Naruto and not relied on them for aid. When he challenged the Grimm, he did so by himself and never once called upon them. "Sasuke is strong. Of that there is no doubt. But to make him our leader simply because he was willing to die for us isn't a good enough reason. Perhaps Ozpin saw something in him we don't see?"
"Like what? His eye?" Persia commented heatedly. Emert shut his eyes and grinned. "What do you know? You always do that when you know something. Spit it out!"
Still chuckling, Emert calmed down and looked over his shoulder to see Sasuke jump on top of the standing female, wrapping her up with his legs and arms as he did before he flung himself forward and threw her out of the imagined ring. Nora didn't even seem angry by the loss. She simply got up and started looking bored before her hammer fell from the sky and was snatched mere moments before it could collide with her head.
"His eye isn't that impressive," he told them. "An eye like that isn't so random when one considers the notion of what we can do and what has been done to the human body beforehand. How many people have been experimented on to create a second Semblance? How many people have an extra ability that can't be explained? Or better yet: Why do some people only show Faunus features at a later stage in their life?"
"There has never been…" Jasper started only to be stopped by Persia as she looked Emert over with cold and unforgiving eyes. "What?"
"There have been people who didn't show signs of their Faunus nature until later because they hid them well enough. Blake passes for human because of the bow on her head. Some Faunus can hide their traits well enough that most humans can't see it. But to have them randomly appear later in life is just impossible…"
"Zenko," he told her calmly before smiling. "I'm not dumb. Zenko was once just a beautiful woman, and when she had birthed a son, the husband's dog birthed a puppy which as it grew up became more and more hostile to the lady. She begged her husband to kill it, but he refused. At last one day the dog attacked her so furiously that she lost courage, resumed her Faunus shape, leaped over a fence and fled."
"Yes, I know how the story goes," Persia said with a hint annoyance. "But Willow also returned to her husband every night to sleep in his arms. She would return each night as a normal woman and leave each morning as a Faunus."
"Tenko," Jasper said, though he sounded confused by the name and seemed to be struggling with a memory about it.
"Yes," Emert said, and then looked sad alongside Persia. "Willow Tenko recently passed away. Her death was mourned by a lot of Faunus. The old lady was rather smart, but then again all old people are." There was a moment of silence for the two Faunus before he spoke again. "But like Zenko, she withheld her form from human eyes and one day grew Faunus features."
"That's a myth. She's always been a Faunus and proudly showed her form to everyone. She was once an advisor to Ghira before he stepped down and allowed Sienna to take command. Though, I'll admit that it is strange you bring that up now, Emert. Why?"
Blinking, he smiled and scratched the back of his head. "You were going on about why Sasuke's powers were in a state of flux. I simply went with the conversation and it came to this." Emert chuckled and turned back around, his attention once more on his Scroll and he wanted to keep looking for something else to do during the weekend. He stopped and moved over a few paces before Sasuke came crashing at the spot he'd just been and spat dirt and grass from his mouth. "How's your head?" he asked without bothering to look over at his teammate.
Sasuke blinked really long before he got up, dusted himself off, and grabbed the Faunus to throw him at his opponent.
I really didn't want to fight today, he thought as he saw Nora come falling from the sky with her hammer primed to strike.
(-)
Blake moved with purpose through the crowded streets in search of the rendezvous point with the information broker. Well, retired information broker. And like a lost puppy, Naruto followed her. To her he hadn't done anything out of the ordinary and that was to be expected. She hadn't heard the soft sound of a clone forming above them with all the noise from the cars and merchants that were either screaming something to others or simply trying to advertise their wares.
The clone trailed from above and watched the people below like a hawk; waiting for one of them to pounce on them.
This was Faunus territory. Cops were generally hated, and humans were even treated with the same level of respect a human would give them: None. Everyone here was just trying to survive. Jobs were scarce and reliable work was scarcer. Blake had warned him to watch his pockets, and he had. He'd already stopped four people from pick-pocketing him. Even if they could get by him with it, he knew they'd never crack the seals to get into them. And even then, as soon as they found out it was just a rolled-up piece of paper, chances were high they'd throw it away. Naruto didn't mind that much. Nothing of true importance was carried on him for this. His Scroll was even left back on his desk in the dorms to prevent such a thing.
Blake finally came to a stop at a small wooden building. It was nicer than the other buildings around it, which wasn't saying much. A wooden board hung by chains read NOGITSUNE in bold letters just above the door. Blake smiled fondly while Naruto squinted his eyes.
Pushing in to the room, Blake left Naruto behind as he stared at the sign for a more seconds before entering.
Blake stood in front of an old man that was hunched over and smiling at her. He passed her a note and began to lead her to the back room. Naruto followed and remained quiet as she did her thing. His eyes were drawn to the vast number of books that lined each shelf. They were piled high in the corners and some were left open on the table. As they passed Naruto peered down and saw that it was story about a boy and his sword that possessed him. He kept moving but was interested nonetheless in the book.
"I'm happy to see that you were able to find what I needed, Ono," Blake said as they entered a smaller room with a single computer and desk. Ono nodded and moved slowly to the computer. "Did they find anything else out about what's been going on? Who are they working for? And why is Adam even working with a human to begin with? He wouldn't do that."
Ono nodded and tapped the keyboard a few times. "David Andrew never gets 'em right," he grumbled to himself as the computer slowly started up. "Not often two shows around, Feira Eden."
Blake gave him a strange look and then her eyes widened. A sad smile and the look of fear came over Ono. Naruto blinked and felt a rush of memories hit him hard. He jerked forward to grab Blake, but a hand ripped through the darkness in front of him and took a swing at Blake. A quick substitution for Blake with a hastily created clone brought her to his side and let the clone go into the darkness to its captures. Blake reached for her weapon and drew it against Naruto for a moment before realizing she was safe.
"Ono, what's going…" She stopped and looked at him. He was crying. "Ono, did they…"
"They have my family," he said softly. "I didn't have a choice. Adam said he'd kill them if I didn't…" His head exploded into chunks of blood, bone, and brain matter that splattered against the far wall. Blake turned away from the scene while Naruto's face hardened. A tiny ray of light came through the wall where the bullet had obviously come.
The sound of footsteps rushing sounded and Naruto twisted with Blake in his arms, his sword appeared in his hands. Blake moved to the side and the door and a small piece of the wall exploded outwards, sending shrapnel in their direction. Naruto moved away from Blake further and let the debris pass between them as he brought his sword up to block a swift strike from a man in a mask. Blake took a single potshot into the smoke and heard the faint cry of someone taking the shot while Naruto used the handle of his sword to knock his attacker out.
The smoke blew away with the sound of gunfire erupting towards Naruto. The blond dove for cover while Blake ran to the other side, firing her gun as she did in the hopes of giving him some breathing room. No such luck was given, but when the firing stopped, the lights were out in the dark room and a single metal cylinder came sliding into the room.
"Close your-" Blake's words disappeared against the sound of thunder that resonated through the small room as it lit up brightly and then faded to darkness quickly. Blake screamed, and Naruto barely could hear her over the ringing in his ears. His eyes were quick to readjust to the flashbang that had gone off and he thanked his healing factor for that one, along with the words of his parents who urged him to close his eyes before the device went off.
Naruto waited as the sound of rushing footsteps got closer. His ears were still ringing, but not nearly as bad as Blake's might be. She was on the ground, that much he knew, and could barely make out her near silent sobs. He turned his sword over as he jumped over his cover and swung for the throat of the first White Fang member that assaulted him before he jumped to the ceiling and clung there. He hoped his actions were fast enough that they didn't see him move from target to ceiling.
They did.
Guns were immediately raised to the ceiling and firing. Naruto jumped down directly on one of the attackers, spearing him with his sword before ripping it out and slashing the arm of another attacker off. The guns continued to fire from the two Faunus while the remaining five finally lowered their guns to his location, continuing to fire as they did, and grazed him twice along his sword arm.
A quick switch with a chair saw his safety assured for a moment before a chain wrapped around his legs and yanked him sideways towards the wall. He stabbed his sword into the ground, but it was yanked away from him and left alone in the hard wood floor. Naruto crashed against the wall with a loud thud and dropped just as quickly as he'd been yanked across the room. The remaining Faunus took aim at his down state and opened fire, emptying their clips into his form. He screamed and died, turning into a White Fang member before their eyes.
The four-remaining turned and saw their end instantly as a knife was stuck in their throats. The last one standing yanked a pistol from his side and fired point blank into Naruto's left leg, electing a scream of pain from the blond as he stumbled back. The pistol wielding Faunus collapsed over dead, the knife lodging itself further into his throat as he hit the ground.
Naruto stumbled back a bit from the pain, biting back another yell as he moved to Blake. She had managed to get to cover and was huddling over the dead form of Ono. "Are you alright?" he asked her finally. Blake nodded mutely before her bow suddenly pinned back and she raised her weapon. Naruto twisted, kunai present, and felt something hit him hard in the chest, sending him back against the wall. He coughed blood and looked down to see his shirt had tiny holes in it now, each one slowly turning red. "What…" he managed to get out before he sensed danger and lunged away from the wall. A large gash was etched into it and daylight poured in through the hole.
Jumping to his feet he was quickly knocked down by something hitting him dead in the center of his head. Grumbling a curse, he got up only to be knocked down as a boot landed on his chest. A red sword was all he saw before it was lunging for his heart. Acting quickly he moved his sword arm forward and let the blade pass through his palm as he jerked it sideway to force the weapon off course and let it hit beside his head. Adam stood over him with what might have been a look of amazement to the feat done by the blond. Naruto broke the blade with his other hand with a quick punch to the part sticking out of the wood while he kicked Adam in the chest to send him backwards, the blade lost to the blond.
Getting to his feet, Naruto felt all the injuries he'd suffered from kick in instantly. He hurt more than he thought he did and it hurt even worse to remove the blade. He chuckled through the pain and mockingly threw the broken weapon over his shoulder. Adam simply reached out and grabbed Naruto's sword from the ground where it lay.
"Right…" Naruto said to himself before his focus was yanked to Blake. She was pulled to her feet and disappeared into the shadows of the ground. She screamed at Adam before a dark ring appeared beneath the red haired Faunus. "You know with her gone, I'm going to kill you now." Naruto wasn't sure if that threat would hold true anyways.
Adam smiled. "You talk big for someone that took the blast from Wilt rather well, along with a flashbang and the beating we gave you not moments ago." He adjusted his mask and then pulled a metal stick out of his pocket. "I doubt you have the strength to even move right now, let alone stop this." He sank into the floor and flipped a metal cap on the top of the stick, revealing a red button. Naruto's eyes widened. Adam hit the button as he vanished right into the ground before his eyes.
A blinding light and wave of heat him hard. Naruto saw only red and then nothing.
(-)
Adam shook his head to clear the haze from using the Shadow Walk that Banisher was known for. The building he was standing on had a good view to the destruction caused by the blast. The entire building shook as the small wood structure a block down erupted into fire and debris. Smoke billowed into the air and a small smile spread across his lips. Surviving a gun shot from Wilt was plausible. Even someone with a great enough aura could survive the slash. But surviving an explosion like that was out of the question. All those Fire Dust Crystals and the death of the Faunus murder made this worth the cost he'd paid so far.
Dropping down to ground level, he looked around. Sure enough, they'd moved out all the civilians. They made up a story that an attack was happening here by Atlas. These people were willing to believe that they'd attacked. Who brought a majority of their army for a visit? No one. Adam knew that this would have gone badly if they didn't move the civilians out the way and that's what he did. But for those that had opted to stay… well he hoped the best for them.
"Adam!" Blake shouted, yanking against the dark lizard Faunus's massive hand. "Why did you do it?! Tell me! Why are you working with a human?!" Cocking his head to the side, he motioned to the destroyed building. Blake looked at it long and hard before realization hit her in the face. "No… No! You didn't! Adam! Adam, how could you?!" Her strength, what little remained from her tired state, vanished. She didn't have any fight left.
"I did this because we don't take kindly to traitors," he told her as he sheathed the sword of the slain teen. It didn't feet, but it'd work for now. A trophy to hang in his wall. The Demon Faunus was dead, and he could hold his head high. Not many could have taken such a terrible monster out. "All the civilians were moved before this operation took place. Besides, this was revenge. A lot of the people present lost a lot to this kid. He murdered a lot of family members during our last rally. I think you know the one."
Her eyes glazed over and dropped to the gravel. Yes, she knew the one. She hadn't wanted to think it was him, but it made sense now. The new sword, the reason he was out for a few days. Why Sasuke had suddenly become as protective as he was about him. She knew the signs and never stopped to think about them. Naruto had gone there to protect them or simply used her to fight a battle that he or someone thought needed fighting. He was a weapon.
"Pick her up," Adam ordered. "We're moving out before the police show up."
Banisher nodded and hoisted her to her feet. Zero stood off the side, his eyes glued to the burning building. Adam gave him a strange look before everyone stopped and gasped. A deep, crushing wave hit them all and froze them in place. It took a moment before they were used to the feeling, but it wasn't anything they'd felt before. It was like dread was hanging over them, but then it wasn't dread at all. Hate was a word they could use to describe the feeling best, but even that word was off.
Slowly, everyone turned to face the burning debris. It moved slightly, and they raised weapons. Blake dropped to her knees, unable to move and her eyes closed. She whispered something to herself as the debris moved again, this time nearly jumping. A noise that sounded like a growl echoed from behind the roaring flames that licked higher and higher into the air. A crack ran along the ground and a right light-like fire oozed out of it. Then, as if in the center of a hurricane, there was nothing but silence. Then all at once sound came back and a roar sounded from within the burning wreckage.
Blake stopped whispering, looked up, and shouted, "Run!" as a large hand made of pure red energy snapped out of the fire, aimed for Adam and Banisher.
Someone jumped in the way of Adam, shoving him to the ground. Adam felt something warm hit his face and when he got up, he saw both Banisher and another Faunus pinned to the building by a large hand. Eyes wide behind his mask, Adam turned and saw Blake resting on her knees, tears in her eyes as she screamed for him to stop. Turning back to the two captured Faunus, Adam saw fear in their eyes before it was washed away with nothing but pain.
"Help me!" They both cried.
The hand tightened, and the building began to break. Their auras brightened before a loud snap echoed from them. Their aura that shielded them gave away, and it was mere moments for some, for Adam, it was an eternity as he watched their faces switch from fear to pain and then to death as their organs erupted from any holes created by the pressure they were put under. Their heads popped off and then their entire bodies disappeared in a spray of red mist. The hand vanished before their eyes. The building they'd been pinned to shook, fell on its missing support structures, and then finally collapsed on its side, blanketing the entire area in a thick cloud of dust that mixed with the black clouds of smoke. The faint growling of something angry was the only alert that something was now looking for a new target. And it was clear to everyone that they were its target.