"I still say she cheated." Naruto mumbled quietly as the rest of team 'Rouge' stood in a mass of students listening to Ozpin rattle off different cells.
It had been a little over 6 hours since the woods and the "Tower of Solitude" as Naruto had affectionately dubbed it, and in that time, Team 7 and guest had learned a few things.
Namely this place was fucking weird.
Who named teams with something as arbitrary as colors? Did they have a group of people that just sat down and thought out convoluted colors to match teams? Is that why they were left as Rouge?
"For the last time Naruto, no one cheated." Sakura sighed as she placed her hands on her hips and shot the blond an annoyed look. He had been pouting for the last hour at the outcome of who would be team leader.
They had decided a single hand of 5 card stud would decide the 'boss', mostly because they wanted to see how annoyed they could make that Ozpin character.
It hadn't worked all that well, but the blonde woman almost blew a gasket, so that was a plus.
"She can see through stuff! How can you say she didn't cheat!" Naruto stage whispered to Sakura. Hinata peeked around the pinkette and shot Naruto a soft pout.
"Do you really think I'd do something so unfair Naruto-kun...?" Her voice was soft, and her delicate features mixed with the slight downward curve of her lips and lightly watering eyes broke Naruto like a twig.
"Ah no! That's not! I mean I know you'd never do something so underhanded and your the best I'm just ya know and-" Naruto continued to babble as he waved his hands in defense, all while Hinata turned back toward the stage with a light huff, making a show of her displeasure.
In actuality, Hinata HAD cheated. She made an executive decision that one of them had to at least pretend to be following some form of professional protocol. Naruto was out given his usual flouting of the rules. Sakura was out because she would just go along with the boys, under protest certainly, but go along all the same.
Sasuke was just out.
The only reason she was making such a show of dramatics was Naruto's own fault. Okay, yeah, she cheated in a card game, but he should always think the best of her darn it!
Of course, Naruto being Naruto, that completely went over his head.
Remember guys, even when we're right, we're wrong.
Sasuke lightly shook as he chuckled beside Hinata, he was aware she had cheated too, but honestly, seeing Naruto so whipped after so little time with the woman was hilarious.
"And finally, we have Team Rouge! Lead by Hinata Hyuga!" Ozpin's voice pinballed off the walls into a sea of light applause as the team took to the stand with Hinata at the head. While Hinata took the event as serious as her own promotion to Jonin, the other members of HER team were not.
Naruto with a finger in his ear, and Sasuke and Sakura holding twin looks of disinterest.
It was going to be a long wait getting home it seemed. Stay strong Hinata.
-CATB-
"You guys should really take this more seriously. We're suppose to be blending in." Hinata lightly chided as she held the strange device called a scroll to an electrical panel mounted in the wall.
A soft click showed the group of four their new bed room. A reasonably sized area for two people, but the four beds and dressers turned that into a much more cramped living space.
Sakura took one look at the room and blanched. "Naruto...can you...?"
"Yeah yeah I'm already thinking of a design. If I use quantum folding after tethering the main walls to the center of the room I could probably fold this room into a pocket dimension...to be safe though I want each of us to carry one of these." Naruto spoke as he held up a set of leaflet like papers. Each with an intricate design painted on it.
Sakura was still trying to process all the scientific words that had just tumbled from one of her oldest friends lips, so Sasuke was the one left to ask, " And what are these for?"
"Standard counter seals. Basically destabilizes a seal matrix and releases what is stuck in the matrix anchor point." Naruto waved a hand airily as he walked from one side of the room to the next, taking simple foot by foot measurements.
"Why would we need these?" Sasuke shot back skeptically. He wasn't as seal savvy as his teammate, and honestly seeing Naruto sound smart about anything was a little terrifying.
"Well, if something goes wrong and the quantum fold I shove this room into collapses, that seal will make sure you aren't stuck in the space between spaces till the end of time." The blond spoke absently as he started to draw on a small note book he pulled out of a vest pocket.
Sakura and Sasuke blanched at the off handed declaration.
"Say what now?"
"Yeah, one time Pervy-Sage was showing me what happened if you destroy a seal with something inside it. Was three weeks before we got our tents back. That weird ooz was a little strange too." Naruto shot his teammates a smile, before a small hand landed on his shoulder.
"That won't be necessary Naruto-kun." Hinata spoke, a light dusting of pink on her cheeks. "We'll just sleep together."
A beat.
"Oh my." Sakura breathed out with a hand covering her lips, a small smile being hidden behind it.
It took Hinata approximately this long to figure out EXACTLY how that sounded.
It took an additional two seconds for her to stammer, her eyes to roll back, and to fall on her face.
Naruto was hardly better off, his mind wandering to places it really hadn't before when it came to the Hyuga Heiress.
Sasuke just shook his head, a small smirk covering his lips. Looks like Naruto wasn't the only one to think before he spoke.
"It's a sound idea, but I swear to god Dobe, if you spoon me, I will stab you."
"What was that you bastard!"
Long wait indeed.
-CATB-
After Sakura had revived Hinata for the third time, as the first two times she just passed out again, the leader of Team Rouge was able to convey her idea more clearly.
Ditch two of the beds and two of the dressers, the girls taking one, the boys sharing the other.
While unaware of it, both Sakura and Sasuke had the exact same thought in that moment.
'This is gonna end up as an issue at some point, isn't it?'
While shinobi teams often had to sacrifice privacy in the name of the mission, when two of the individuals on the team were love struck young adults, things became more complicated.
And annoying.
"Alright, ground rules." Sakura spoke after a moment of contemplation, "One person in the bathroom at a time, and no sharing beds between genders. Any questions?" The pinkettet proceeded to crack her knuckles when Naruto raised a hand.
He dropped it like he had touched fire.
"Good! Now, I feel gross, so I'm taking a shower. Hinata will go next, and then you and Sasuke can figure something out." Sakura gave the blond a pointed look, and Naruto just raised his hands in surrender.
Didn't even do anything and Sakura was pissy. Damn.
Sasuke just nodded absently as he moved to dispose of the extra beds and dressers.
"We're going to have to go shopping soon come to think of it. We don't have any extra supplies or weapons. And I only have a spare set of clothes." Naruto spoke absently as he assisted Sasuke in moving the first bed.
"I'll...ask the head master about a trip into...what did he call it again? Hale?" Hinata asked, a finger on her chin, only for her eyes to light up in remembrance. "Vale! That's it. He agreed to cover some of our basic costs, so it wouldn't be to far of a stretch to spend that on clothes and the like."
"A good idea. Maybe we can talk to some of those kids? See if they know any good shops in the area." Naruto replied as he and Sasuke walked the dresser closer to the door.
"You are aware that most of them are only a year or two younger than ourselves, don't you?" Sasuke tossed out conversationally.
"Pft. Did you see them out there? They're good. Damn good. But besides the quiet one and Karin's cousin, none of them have much real combat experience." Naruto shot back. The black haired girl just carried that vibe. The one all fighters and killers get after a while. It was something cold in her step. Almost like Sasuke.
The redhead was just too measured. Naruto could tell she was a fighter, just at a glance. The way she held herself, how she walked and never once let her guard down. She was on a hair trigger, something each of team Rouge was familiar with.
"...fair enough. We should probably split up for some recon as well. Given that we really are in a different dimension, we need to familiarize ourselves with the current state of this world. Conflicts, weapons, enemies, political maneuvers. It'll be all hands on deck for the coming days." Sasuke spoke as he and Naruto finished moving the second bed closer to the door, stepping aside as the blond began to create a seal pattern to store them away.
"I was thinking the same. Naruto-kun, you said those creatures...Grimm? You said they held Nature Chakra didn't you? Or something to the effect." Hinata asked as she laid back onto the bed and stared at the ceiling.
"Mmm? Yeah something like that. It felt...I don't know. Muted? Altered? It was almost the same in any case." Naruto replied distractedly as he carefully brushed across the sealing paper below him.
"Then that we will leave to you. Anything Grimm related will be your responsibility. Don't let us down!" Hinata spoke with a bit of pep, not for a second believing the blond would fail.
"I'll take the political side of things. Given I can still use my sharingan, and the fact that we both share a common upbringing in politics, I suppose I can play the part of Devil's Advocate." Sasuke volunteered, it made sense to him. Hinata was an heir as well, but she was also very soft spoken and easy going. Who knows what kinds of things the politically savvy of this world would try.
Better to send a megalodon into the sea of unknown sharks than a dolphin.
"Just try not to hurt someone...or start another international incident." Hinata spoke with a small crack of a smile. Sasuke took the playful jab for what it was with nary a remark.
The grin that ghosted his face was a bit telling.
He had always sort of liked Hinata. Never bothered him or hounded him. Bit of an outcast, in public and at home.
In another place, in another time, he believed they could have actually been friends at a younger age if team placements had been different.
After she got a back bone of course.
A poof broke Sasuke from his train of thought, he waved his hand to dispel the light annoyance as Naruto stood and dusted his hands.
"We should probably have Sakura try and dig up stuff on the people around the school, her days as a gossip aren't far gone." Naruto spoke in a laugh.
"I HEARD THAT NARUTO!" came through the door, and a smattering of laughter left the three others still inside the room.
"I suppose I'll take weapons then. It'll be nice learning about new weapons anyway, Tenten would have a field day here." Hinata spoke softly, she and the weapon mistress had taken to meeting almost weekly after Neji's passing. What had started as a way to help support one another had quickly developed into an easy friendship and a shared love of sharp instruments of pain.
"Alright Team Rouge! We are already to chew bubblegum and kick ass, and we didn't bring any bubblegum!" Naruto declared loudly getting a giggle from Hinata and a head shake from Sasuke.
It'll be a wait, getting back home. It'll take some trying on Sasuke's part to open the right path home, even after his rinnegan was up to snuff once more.
It would be filled with fights and laughs and fun and sorrow, but they would face it head on, as friends and as a team.
As they had been trained for years to do.
Frankly, Naruto was excited. He had always wanted to have this kind of adventure with his brother in all but blood. Seems he'd finally get that chance.
A.N. Yo! Chapter three is here. Not much story related, and I toned the humor for this bit as well, next chapter will be kicking more into the actual RWBY universe, and Naruto and Co. will start seeing what kind of place they've really got themselves in. Lots of laughs, fluff, and all around bullshit to come! Stay tuned!