A/N: I do not own Naruto, or RWBY; please support the official release.
The first year that Yang spent with her new family went by in a blur, from shopping for a new outfit for the girl, to enrolling her in her new school, to seeing her make new friends, unhindered by the biases of her old home. Then there was her growth spurt; ever since Summer had 'fixed' her diet, by nearly forcing the girl to eat more healthy foods, the young girl had grown significantly, at least for a girl almost 10 years old. Sadly, Summer couldn't be a stay-at-home mother for long, their family needed the income she provided from being a Huntress. The missions she took would take her away from her family for weeks at a time. But she always returned home, with a tired smile, to her family. Well, almost always. One mission to Atlas proved just how dangerous the line of work was. Qrow, their uncle, had returned from the mission he'd been sent on with their mother; all he had been able to escape with was his life, and Summer's cloak. He was badly hurt and Taiyang had immediately taken him to the hospital, the news of his wife's death struggling to consume him.
It wasn't until they both returned that the two men explained to Yang and Ruby that their mother had died. Taiyang spent that night comforting his daughters, as they cried and mourned together. Summer Rose received a funeral befitting a Huntress of the Kingdom of Vale. Huntsmen and Huntresses from the Kingdom had come to pay their respects, and offer condolences to the family. Taiyang had taken the death particularly hard; very few knew that Summer Rose hadn't been his first wife, but was in fact, his second. His first wife had disappeared without a trace early on in their marriage; her body was never found. Over the next few years, Yang had stepped up to help take care of Ruby; as a side effect, she had become protective of her younger sister. In the end, it was Taiyang's daughters that pulled him through his depression, they needed him, and he needed them, and like they said five years ago, they don't turn their backs on family.
Despite their loss, Taiyang's duties as Ambassador were still required, meaning that once to twice a year, he would make the trip to Konoha, to discuss trade agreements, possible immigration between the countries, and special events such as the upcoming Chunin Exams in Konoha, and the Vytal Festival in Vale. Yang was 13 years old now; if she had stayed in Konoha, she would be a Genin and a possible participant in the Chunin Exams. For this trip to Konoha, Taiyang brought his daughters with him, they were on break from school for a few months, and Yang had really missed her old home. The lush forest brought back many old memories as they disembarked their aircraft, heading towards the shinobi village.
Yang's outfit had changed during the time she spent away; gone was the loose orange shirt and tattered black pants. Now she wore a yellow shirt, with a black flaming heart she had drawn, under a tan, short sleeved jacket with puffy shoulders, with her orange scarf around her neck and black, fingerless gloves on her hands. On her wrists she wore yellow, metal bracers, the first iteration of the weapons she was designing for herself at Signal Academy. She also wore black shorts, showing her toned legs, with a brown belt, the hitai-ate she had been given by Iruka as her belt buckle; off of her right hip, and circling behind her was a white half-skirt. On her feet she wore tall, brown boots with a low heel over orange, knee high socks. Her hair had grown too, now reaching just below her shoulder blades. The girl had gained a significant amount of self-confidence over the years, having made two other trips with her father to the hidden village where, while her father was in meetings with the Hokage, she attended 'Kunoichi Training' with other girls that would have been in her class, girls like Ino Yamanaka and Sakura Haruno, who were currently her best female friends. The class was taught by Kurenai Yuhi and Anko Mitarashi; it covered the art of seduction, and using flirtation to get an advantage in a fight, especially against a male opponent, as well as posture, how to listen and pick up subtle hints, even making and serving tea. While the girls were too young for full on seduction, practicing flirtation on their fellow Genin was certainly fun, especially for Yang who, legally being a foreigner, drew a fair amount of attention from the males who didn't know/remember who she used to be; only the faint whisker marks on her cheeks giving any indication that she was the Kyubi Jinchuriki that had left the village five years earlier.
Thinking back on the five years away, Yang had had several visits from both Jiraiya and Kakashi, who would spend their time training her in combat arts; while Yang was in school, Kakashi would play board and strategy games with Ruby. These training sessions were usually followed by taking the girl out to get food, both men pleasantly surprised to see that her manners had improved greatly. Jiraiya in particular, and a little perversely, was pleased to see how she was developing as a young woman; she may be his goddaughter, but he could still appreciate the sight of a beautiful girl. All three of them had learned a lot during those training sessions. They learned that she was a natural brawler; she preferred to get up close, meeting her opponents head-on. They also learned that the Kyubi, which she had been told about on her 10th birthday, granted her above average strength and stamina, on top of the physical training she did. When she found out about the Kyubi, Taiyang, Ruby, Kakashi, and Jiraiya had assured her that they loved her no matter what, and some overly angry chakra monster wasn't going to change that.
As she walked down the street next to her father, with Kakashi and some other shinobi she didn't know as escorts, she soaked in the sights, the buildings she used to know, the people who had forgotten her, no longer glaring hate at her as she walked by. Instead of a scared, cowering child, she was now a tall, confident young woman; she was the daughter of the Ambassador from Vale; and she could kick the ass of anyone who tried anything against her, or her sister Ruby. Speaking of Ruby Rose, she too had grown, the natural red highlights in her hair becoming more vibrant and noticeable, the wonder in her eyes sparkled as she took in all the wondrous colors of the village she barely remembered visiting five years prior. Ruby was still two years away from starting at Signal, so she was unarmed, with Taiyang requesting a guard for her, in case someone decided to incite a war between the two allies, but who would do that? Ruby had complained about the need for her to have a guard, when Yang could walk around without one, to which their father responded, "Yang put that one kid through a wall for making a lewd comment; don't forget, she's had several years of combat training already; besides, Kakashi is going to be keeping an eye on her, to help keep her out of trouble," he finished, turning to look at his blonde daughter, knowing first hand that she liked to cause mischief when she could get away with it.
"Dad!" Yang exclaimed, huffing at the accusation, earning a chuckle from the grey haired shinobi beside her. Hearing his laugh she turned her glare to Kakashi, the fierce gaze having no effect on the older shinobi. As the Hokage tower grew closer, a small smile formed on the violet eyed girl's face, she would get to see the man she'd considered like a grandfather again.
Hiruzen Sarutobi had been expecting them ever since he'd received the message that the Ambassador and his daughters would be visiting to witness the Chunin Exams; he'd heard the news about Summer Rose's passing and had sent his condolences to the grieving family. What he hadn't expected was how calm and quiet Nar… no Yang, was being; she was sitting in his office, with her back straight, she wasn't sleeping, or complaining; she truly did look like the daughter of an important political figure… well at least her attitude did, her style of dress, while not out of place in a shinobi village, was certainly not what you would expect from an ambassador's daughter. It was forgivable, however, knowing her past, and learning that she was attending combat school to become a Huntress, to protect people who couldn't protect themselves. The old Hokage had to wonder, just how much had the girl changed from the ball of energy she used to be. He would get his answer soon.
After the meeting had ended, and the Hokage's advisors left the room, Yang sprang up from her seat, and leapt over the Hokage's desk. Hiruzen's guards almost moved to intercept the girl, perceiving her actions as an assassination attempt, but a hand motion from Kakashi had stopped them. They were surprised to see the formerly quiet girl hugging their village leader, rambling on and on about how she'd missed him, and the things she'd seen and done; the look on the elder Sarutobi's face was one akin to an old man listening to the excited tales of his beloved granddaughter. The Hokage sent his guards away with a small motion of his hand, as the girl continued to talk about everything from school, to training with Jiraiya, to the new clothes she'd gotten. He had to chuckle when she finally seemed to run out of stories to tell him, he had missed seeing that bright smile that could light up the darkest corners of a room.
"So you're here to watch the Chunin Exams are you?" Hiruzen asked as the group left his office, he was personally leading them to where they would be staying.
"Oh yea! It's gonna be awesome!" Yang proclaimed, thrusting her fist into the air with a bright smile on her face. She'd heard about the Exams from Kakashi during his visits, she loved watching a good fight between two strong opponents.
After the Hokage had left them at the Ambassadorial residence, the trio unpacked for their stay in Konoha. The residence was pretty big for a temporary stay. It had enough bedrooms and bathrooms for a small clan. The place also had a maid service, employed by the Hokage, to keep everything clean and in order. "Hey Dad, I'm gonna take Ruby out and go get some ramen at Ichiraku," Yang told her father, while she and her sister were heading out of the door.
"Ok dear, don't be out too late," came the reply, he had paperwork to look over, and he could use the peace and quiet.
The two girls walked down the street, Yang aware of the eyes that followed them as they traveled towards the food stand she made a point to visit every time she was in Konoha. Walking up to the stand, the blonde slipped past the curtain that covered patrons from the sun outside, taking a seat on one of the stools. Ruby sat on the stool next to her, excited to try this 'ramen' out that her sister had told her so much about. The sisters were greeted by Ayame, the daughter of the owner of the stand, Teuchi. The older, brunette girl recognized Yang after a brief moment, smiling to the girl before looking over at the shorter girl next to her. "Hey Yang, welcome back, who's this your brought with you?" Ayame asked, smiling warmly at Ruby.
"This is my sister, Ruby," Yang answered matter-of-factly, while putting her arm around her sister's shoulder. "Ruby, this is Ayame. She and her father make the best ramen in the world," the blonde proclaimed, earning warm smiles from the father and daughter.
"Hey beautiful, is this seat taken?" a familiar voice rang out from behind the sisters sitting at the counter. The voice had changed a bit over the years, grown a little deeper, and gained more confidence. Despite these changes, Yang still easily recognized the voice of Kiba Inuzuka, as the boy slid onto the seat next to her, trying his best to flirt with the blonde girl he didn't yet recognize.
With a flirtatious grin, she responded, "You couldn't handle me pup," earning a few laughs from the others that had walked to the stand with the boy.
"Idiot! That's the Vale Ambassador's daughter," a pink haired girl admonished the feral boy.
"Well maybe she's here to try out some of the local 'flavor'," he responded suggestively, reaching his hand over to Yang's exposed thigh. His hand never touched her skin as she grabbed it before he could make contact.
"Heh, if you wanted to hold hands, all you had to do was ask baby," Kiba said, chuckling to himself before his hand erupted in pain as the blonde girl squeezed down on the offending hand.
Turning to lock her gaze with his, Yang replied, "If you don't want to lose your 'girlfriend' here, you better keep her to yourself," emphasizing her point with another squeeze that brought the over-confidant boy to his knees.
"Yang! Don't break his hand, you might piss someone off," Ruby chided her older sister, the others at the booth finally noticing the smaller girl next to the blonde.
"Heh, don't worry Ruby, this boy couldn't even take on Zwei," the violet eyed girl said dismissively.
"Zwei… that name sounds familiar…" Kiba said, cradling his hand, inspecting it for damage.
"Oh so you remember the name of the dog you gave her five years ago, but you don't remember her name?" Ino said incredulously.
"Five years ago?" the boy looked back at the two girls in the group; they had seen Yang several times in the last five years, the three of them were good friends, so of course they recognized her. Yang couldn't help but smile as she could almost see the gears turning in the 'dog boy's' head.
"Troublesome," remarked Shikamaru, the lazy shinobi.
Wait, violet eyes, small whisker-like marks on her cheeks, could it be? Yang smirked as she saw the realization fill Kiba's eyes. "Naru… Naru Uzumaki? Is it you?" he asked.
"Yes, and no," came the reply. "It is me, but my name is Yang Xiao Long now," she finished, with a proud, confidant smile on her face. "And this," she added, while reaching over, wrapping her arm around the shoulders of the younger girl next to her, "is my adorable sister Ruby Rose."
Ruby struggled against her sister's embrace, blushing in embarrassment, suddenly being the center of attention in a group of people she hadn't met before. Everyone in the group greeted the silver eyed girl with a warm smile, friendly greeting and a wave, Ino and Sakura loving the idea of meeting another girl to hang out with. The group hung out and chatted for a while, eating ramen, and then walking through the village, eventually ending up at the training grounds. Seeing the familiar place, Yang smiled, suddenly feeling a little restless, a challenging smirk drawing itself on her face.
"So, who's up for a quick sparring match?" the blonde offered, turning to her group of friends.
"What do I get when I win?" Kiba asked, meeting the challenge with his own smirk.
"IF you win… I'll give you something… special," she answered, mischief dancing in her violet eyes.
With his determination set, Kiba walked away from the group, getting set into his fighting stance, "Akamaru, go sit over with the girls," he told his companion, not believing he would need the help in this fight. With that command, the nin-dog walked over to Ruby, Ino, and Sakura, nudging the black and red clad girl's hand with his snout, earning a soft giggle and pets from the eleven year old girl.
With a flippant wave of her hand, Yang walked over, opposite of Kiba, stretching to warm herself up, although if she had to be perfectly honest, some of the stretches were less to prepare herself, and more to distract her opponent; as she entered her own fighting stance, she noticed that her little display had had the desired effect, his pupils were dilated, his breathing was noticeably faster, and he wasn't meeting her gaze. Ino and Sakura shared a brief glance as they smirked, they knew what Yang was doing, she was putting their kunoichi training to use. "Ok, when this kunai hits the ground, the match starts," declared Ino, tossing her weapon into the air, all eyes on the two combatants.
With a thud, signaling the knife impacting the ground, Kiba set off on his charge intending to end the match quickly, asserting his dominance as all 'alpha males' do. What he wasn't expecting was for his punch to be blocked, her arm not even wavering against his strength. With a determined grin, her fist came crashing down on the side of his stunned face, sending the boy skidding across the ground. "I thought you said you were going to win this fight dog breath; at this rate you'll never get your prize," Yang taunted while resting her hand on her hip with a playful smile on her face.
With a growl Kiba stood back up, he was furious at being made fun of; he shouldn't have taken her so lightly, but now she was attacking his pride. With a clap of his hands, and focusing his chakra, his features grew more animalistic; his nails sharpening into claws, his teeth growing sharper, and his hair becoming more wild. He had entered his beast fighting mode, and he was going to show her who was 'top dog' around here. With that thought in mind, he launched himself at the girl, faster than before, and again, she blocked his attack, seemingly with little effort, but this time he was prepared for her punch, ducking under the swing and retaliating with his own uppercut. Smiling at finally being taken seriously, Yang tilted her head back, avoiding the blow aimed at her chin, and bringing her knee up into Kiba's gut, forcing the boy to back off briefly.
The fight went on for several minutes, neither combatant seemingly having an advantage. Kiba couldn't seem to get through Yang's defenses, but still seemed fast enough to dodge or block her own attacks. But as the fight dragged on, Kiba noticed that his chakra reserves were dropping, but Yang seemed to be just fine, actually she seemed to be getting a little bored with the fight. Kiba decided it was time to secure his victory, and end the fight here and now. Backing off a short distance, he crouched down low, channeling his chakra. As he leapt at his opponent, like he had so many times already, he forced his body into a spin, using his chakra to accelerate his spin until he was a cyclonic blur driving towards the blonde girl. As he got closer to impacting with his attack, Yang raised her arms to guard herself. His spinning claws met her metal bracers and the power behind his attack drove her skidding backwards, but her feet never left the ground, and her body stayed upright. All eyes around them were surprised to see someone just block Kiba's attack like that. Shikamaru, looking closely, noticed a yellow glow around Yang's arms, it almost looked like fire. The group watched as the girl drew her right arm back, holding Kiba's attack off with only one arm. Suddenly that golden fire spread up her right arm as it shot forward, colliding with the focal point of Kiba's attack. Ino and Sakura noticed Yang's hair starting to float slightly as it too glowed with a golden fire. With a loud yell Yang finished the swing of her punch, sending her opponent backwards, crashing into the ground as his attack was shut down and his body skidded along the dirt of the training area.
Hearing the crash, Akamaru looked up at his partner, barking once before succumbing again to the delightful scratching Ruby was giving to his ears.
"Well, that was fun," Yang said as her hair returned to normal, a light sweat on her forehead as she walked over to where Kiba laid. Helping the disoriented boy up, and walking him over to the seating area with the rest of the group, she heard him mutter something about 'unfair' and 'lucky shot,' laughing softly to herself. "Maybe next time Kibble, maybe next time," she whispered to the boy.
After the sparing match the group sat around talking about the last few years, what had changed, what had stayed the same, what life was like on Patch. When Kiba finally woke up, he saw Yang, Ino, and Sakura all chatting about 'girl stuff.' With a groan he sat up and leaned against the tree log that Shikamaru was sitting on. "How long was I out?" he asked his friend.
"Only about 2 minutes," the lazy boy responded. "You lost by the way," he added with a smirk, noting the aggravated look on the wild boy's face. Grumbling to himself about traitorous friends, Kiba looked and saw the girls chatting about some stupid girly stuff. He saw Ino laugh and, in that way that girls do, put her hand on Yang's thigh, the same thigh Kiba had nearly lost his hand over earlier.
Violet eyes flashed over to his for the briefest moment, not even interrupting their conversation. As they returned to their sky blue counterparts, a subtle plan was hatched and being discussed between the two blonde girls. They were going to have fun at Kiba's expense. Through body language, eye motions, and subtle hints, Yang passed her idea to Ino, who readily agreed. Slowly Ino shifted her hand up Yang's thigh, starting at her knee, and moving up towards her hip. Once she reached the top, her hand gently drifted back down, neither girl showing any acknowledgement of their own actions. As the conversation progressed, Yang laughed at something Ino said, placing her hand gently on top of Ino's, squeezing gently. The girls were already sitting close together, and each shift in movement seemed to bring the two closer together, with Sakura watching the boys' reactions. Soon both blondes were breathing deeply, violet eyes staring into blue eyes, with a passion that was barely perceptible to the onlookers. Slowly the two leaned closer together, their eyes drifting shut as their heads rotated slightly, their lips meeting for a tender kiss as their arms wrapped around the other's form.
Shikamaru had guessed the two girls' intensions and chose to shift his attention skyward, to his favorite activity, watching clouds, while glancing over at the sight before them out of the corner of his eye. Kiba on the other hand, had a swarm of thoughts racing through his head, watching the two beautiful girls kiss and caused a drastic shift in his blood flow as perverted thoughts ran rampant in his mind. Suddenly, those thoughts caused a surge of blood to shoot out of his nose, sending his head to crash backwards into the log he was leaning against, once again knocking the boy unconscious. Chouji, who had otherwise been quietly munching on his chips the whole time, had paused in his snacking, holding a chip just outside of his open mouth as his eyes took in the sight, his brain struggling to wrap itself around the thought of the two girls kissing.
A sudden laugh, at the expense of Kiba, wrenched the larger boy from his stupor, as the blondes rejoiced at the success of their plan; both of the still conscious boys needing to adjust their pants from the ideas floating around in their heads. Unknown to them, the girls had practiced this exact sort of 'technique' during their kunoichi training. It was explained to them as a way to distract opponents by filling their heads with perverse thoughts, usually containing the idea of two beautiful girls having sex. Needless to say, their plan had worked perfectly.
"Troublesome women," Shikamaru muttered as he tried to discreetly wipe away his own nosebleed without being noticed. He had seen Sakura rejoicing along with Ino and Yang on their victory over the teenage male hormones.
Shortly after, the group went their separate ways, saying their goodbyes, and Yang and Ruby wishing them good luck in the Exams that would be starting the next day. The two sisters were talking and laughing about the day's events as they walked back to the Ambassador's Residence. Both girls gave their father a kiss on the cheek before they headed up stairs to bathe and head to bed, tomorrow would be packed with plenty of excitement that they needed the energy for.
The next morning came swiftly, the warm sun peeking into the window, rousing the sleeping girl with long blonde hair. Opening her eyes, seeing the trees, a smile played across her face, lighting up her violet eyes. Quickly, she got ready, brushing her hair that she had come to love, applying a small amount of makeup, mostly to downplay her whisker birthmarks, and getting dressed in her favorite outfit. With everything in place, she headed down to grab some breakfast, seeing her father and sister already munching on the eggs, fruit, and bacon prepared for them by the staff. With their meal eaten, the family of three headed out towards the Hokage Tower, where they, along with the Professors from Beacon, would be able to watch at least the first part of the Chunin Exam. Due to the nature of the first test, the observing group was forced to watch on monitors inside the Hokage's office, instead of being in the room with the candidates. On the large screens was a room with many tables and chairs, it looked like a large classroom. Slowly the candidates entered the room, taking seats that seemed to be almost random, but Yang noticed that none of her friends were sitting next to their teammates, so the seats had to be assigned. Once all the Genin were seated, a smaller group of shinobi, Chunin if she had to guess, filed in around the walls of the room, they all held clipboards and pens. A big man appeared at the head of the classroom, saying something about the test, and how if they were caught cheating so many times their team would fail the test.
When the test started, Yang thought over the rules of the test, she had heard from the proctor; normally, if someone was caught cheating, even once, on a test, they were immediately failed and asked to leave, the fact that they were given chances meant there was a deeper meaning to the test. Watching the students read over the test, most of them looking lost with a few answering the questions right away, the purpose soon became clear to the violet eyed girl. The test was about gathering information; she guessed that the test was too difficult for the average Genin to answer, alone, so they had to gather the information from someone else. The last question did bother her though, why was the question withheld until the end of the test? And why did it have its own rules? After the majority of the time limit had passed, the final question was finally being brought up by the proctor. The rules of the question were perplexing at first, answer the question wrong, and you fail the entire test, losing the ability for the team to ever retake the test, but opt out of the last question, and your team can try again next year. It took a moment for Yang to realize the nature of the final question; it wasn't a knowledge question, it was a question of resolve; could you face an unknown, something that could end your career, or would you elect to avoid it all together? Strangely, this was a similar type of question asked in the Huntsmen Academies, although the students didn't have to figure out the purpose on their own.
Hiruzen smiled as he watched Yang analyze and figure out the test she would have been taking, if her life had played out differently. To his side, Professor Ozpin seemed to have figured out the test as well, his confidant smile showing his understanding, his attractive assistant also smiling at the revelation. Many students had opted to leave the test, choosing to spare their teammates from failure, instead of taking the risk to advance. Once the failures had filed out of the room, the true purpose of the test was revealed to those that had stayed. Before congratulations could be given out, the window exploded inwards as something flew inside the room. The object revealed itself to be a woman with spikey purple hair, a mesh shirt and long tan coat, with a giant banner telling the remaining candidates to head to someplace called "The Forest of Death," the name drawing attention to the old Hokage.
Given that the next test wouldn't start for two hours, the group left the office for lunch, Hiruzen insisting treating his guests. During the meal, the Headmaster and Hokage spoke about seemingly random topics ranging from natural resources, to training academies, to local politics with the surrounding nations. After the meal, they returned to the office, the display screens showing candidate team status instead of live video feed, with the explanation of the duration of the test, and inability to capture live footage of the entire event. This portion of the test would last for five days, with the teams needing to collect a scroll complimentary to the one they were given. The scrolls were given to the other teams, with no knowledge of which team had which scroll. The teams had to take their scrolls to the tower in the middle of the forest and open a door that led inside where the next phase of the test would commence.
The next five days involved the assembled leaders talking politics while the two girls, and Kakashi, went to a training ground, the older shinobi happily training the two girls in chakra control exercises and basic combat. By the end of the five days, both Yang and Ruby had learned the tree climbing and water walking exercises, and improved their reaction times and situational awareness. The training sessions were followed with trips out for food, which Kakashi insisted on paying for, saying that having the two girls as company was more than enough for him. The two girls had grown so much since little Naru left Konoha five years ago, Yang herself growing into a beautiful young woman, and Ruby showing true potential in the areas of marksmanship and tactical combat. The grey haired shinobi learned that Yang had unlocked her Aura during her first year at Signal, and had learned to use it in a way similar to chakra. As a result, her strength and stamina were far beyond others her age. He had been watching the sparring match between her and Kiba the other day, and had to say he was proud of her ability to react and defeat her opponent. He'd also been aware of her attending the kunoichi classes Kurenai and Anko instructed, and after witnessing her skill with it first hand, she would be the bane of perverts everywhere, possibly one day rivaling Tsunade. He shuddered at the thought of the two blonde bombshells meeting.
At the end of the five days, the group all gathered into the Hokage's office once again, the final teams were entering the tower and getting ready for the next part of the exam. The whole group loaded onto Ozpin's Bullhead Airship, that would ferry them to the tower faster than any of them could travel on their own. After reaching the tower, the group traveled down to a large room that looked like a combat arena. The remaining candidates gathered on the balcony across the arena from where the diplomats were. Yang waved as she made eye contact with her friends, both Ino and Sakura looked tired and a bit worse for wear, but then spending five days surviving in the forest would have that effect. Looking over the other contestants, she had to admit that there were a number of attractive boys and girls. One was a blonde, like her, with green eyes, her hair up in a weird quad-ponytail design, and she had what looked like a giant fan, closed and strapped to her back. Another was a boy, he looked kind of like that Hinata girl she'd been introduced to a while ago; he had the same pale eyes and long black hair. Then there was that guy, his hair was in some, god-awful bowl cut, his eyebrows almost looked alive, and he was dressed in green spandex. Yang shuddered at his outburst of 'the Flames of Youth.' She felt compelled to cover Ruby's eyes, lest she have nightmares of "Konoha's Green Beast."
The proctor for the second exam, Anko, said that there were too many participants that had passed, so they would be doing a preliminary tournament to whittle down the number to eight. The fights began, the two combatants being selected at random. Most of the fights were entertaining to watch, but not very memorable. There was the fight where that Rock Lee kid, the one in green spandex, fought Gaara, that fight had been an eye-opener. 'Bushie Brows' as she'd nick-named him, put up a good fight, but Gaara's sand abilities seemed to be too much, leaving the kid beaten and broken. Shikamaru's fight was interesting, he used his shadows to ensnare his opponent, some girl who used bells to attack with, once he had control he forced her to smack her head against the wall, knocking her unconscious. The girl with the large fan, Temari, was up against Tenten, a girl who specialized in weapons. Yang noticed Ruby showed particular fascination in Tenten and her weapons that she made appear from nothing but paper and ink. Ultimately Tenten, and her arsenal, was no match for the wind abilities of Temari. Disappointingly, Ino and Sakura suffered a double knockout, both being eliminated from the tournament. With the preliminaries completed, the Hokage stepped up to announce that the Chunin Exam Finals would be held in one month, giving the contestants time to rest, train, and create new strategies. With that, they each grabbed a numbered ball from a box, to choose the fighting order. After all was said and done, the combatants left the arena through a door that would lead them back to the village quickly and safely, with the diplomats heading back to the landing area for the airship.
While Taiyang and his daughters were spending the month in Konoha, Ozpin and Glynda had to return to Beacon, they had work that needed to be done, but they promised to be back in time for the finals. Yang and Ruby decided to go visit their friends, congratulating those that passed, and visiting the ones in worse conditions. Many of their friends were resting in the hospital, some with minor wounds, others more serious, all of them would survive, thankfully. Walking into Kiba's room, Yang found the boy awake, holding his companion, Akamaru who had been injured during his fight. Ruby went over quickly, asking if the cute puppy was ok, she was reassured by Kiba's older sister, an experienced veterinarian, that Akamaru would be fine with some rest. Kiba himself would need some rest to recover from his fight. Yang looked down at the battered boy, a soft smile on her face as she leaned down and gave him a soft kiss on his forehead, earning a light blush from him. She left the room to visit her other friends, finding Sakura and Ino in the same room. After talking to the girls, who both had minor injuries, she gave each a reassuring hug, before continuing on. Shikamaru was lying around outside the hospital, while Chouji was resting inside. Ruby had snuck in some snacks for the friendly guy, earning tearful thanks. After the long day, the sisters returned to the Ambassador's Residence to eat and rest. Professor Ozpin had brought a tutor with him, for Yang and Ruby to help them keep up on their studies.
Their studies consisted of general education: math, reading and writing, history, and politics; being the daughters of the Ambassador meant that they had to be well educated. To make matters worse, the Hokage had assigned Kakashi to assist the tutor, knowing that the girls would try to ditch their instructor. After a week of classes, their tutor decided to give the girls a day off, a reward for their hard work. Yang and Ruby decided to meet up with Ino and Sakura, and have a "girls' day". For this day they chose to head to the hot-springs for a nice relaxing time. Luckily, as the Ambassador's daughters, Yang and Ruby were able to secure a private bath for the four of them, depositing their clothes into the lockers and walking into the bath area with towels wrapped around them. As the girls sank into the steaming water, the heat seeped into their muscles, helping to relax away the stress they'd felt for the last few weeks. The girls spent the time talking about girl things, like clothes, skin and hair care products, diets, and cute boys. That last subject was a source of torment for Ruby as the three older girls teased her about the various boys who had paid her special attentions over the last couple weeks. Ruby was living up to her name as her blush turned her face a bright red.
"What about Yang and Ino kissing last week? What was that about?" Ruby said, trying to turn the tables on her sister and her friends.
"Oh that? That was a trick we learned one of my last times here," Yang started, nonchalantly.
"A trick?" the younger girl asked.
"Yeah, it's supposed to distract and disarm opponents, especially the perverted ones," Ino continued for her fellow blonde.
"It's one of the things almost all female shinobi learn," Sakura finished.
"Why would they teach you something like that?" Ruby wondered, finding the idea to be strange.
"Because kunoichi sometimes get sent out on… different missions, than male shinobi," Ino said, looking a little uncomfortable at the thought of being sent on one of those types of missions.
A rustling of nearby bushes, accompanied by giggling, interrupted the conversation, the sound of a pen on paper giving Yang a good idea what the source of the sounds was. Yang may love her godfather, but she still despised his overly perverted ways. As such, she felt the older man needed another lesson not to peek on the female baths. Glancing over to Ino and Sakura, she confirmed the other girls had heard the noises too. With their silent agreement, she set her plan into action, playfully splashing water at Ino while giggling like a school girl. The other two picked up on her lead and followed suit, soon the three were playfully roughhousing in the water, each contact of skin lasting longer and longer, until Ino tackled Yang, resulting in their young bodies pressed together, their lips again meeting in a kiss. This kiss, different from before, was longer, more passionate, with both girls really seeming to get into it. Not to be left out, Sakura pulled up next to her friends, stealing away Yang's lips as the blondes came up for air. The giggling and scratching sounds were louder now, and the three girls pinpointed the sounds as they noticed a small notch missing in the wooden fence surrounding the bath. Just before things could go any further, Yang, slightly stunned from the intensity of the two kisses sat back for a moment. 'Did Sakura give me a French kiss?' she wondered, touching her finger tips softly to her lips. Ino and Sakura however sprang the trap, throwing a kunai at the giggling bush. As the dagger impacted, a figure clad in red with long grey hair shot up into the air, clutching his butt in pain. As the figure reached max height, the two girls yelled out, "PERVERT!" drawing attention to the man.
Looking back at their still dazed friend, Sakura looked pleased with herself, while Ino looked over at her, there seemed to be a challenge between them that involved kissing Yang. Ruby watched the whole incident like they were all crazy, sure she was… intrigued by the kissing, she might have to try it someday, but now they were hauling Yang, who was starting to come to her senses back to the locker room so they could all dry off and get dressed. Ruby, always being the quick one, was the first out of the locker room, waiting outside, fully dressed, for her sister and friends to come out. What she missed out on were the kisses the older three girls shared before they finished dressing and joined her outside.
Walking around the hot springs, the four girls found a crowd of women beating a pile of red and grey into the ground. As the last of the women left, the girls walked up to the legendary pervert, Yang prodding him with her boot. "Hey, Pervy Sage, get up," the puddle of clothes started to shake lightly.
"I can't believe you would betray me like that Yang," came Jiraiya's voice, almost sounding like the man was crying.
"Oh can it you old pervert," Yang responded, not giving in to his ploy. "You deserved it and you know it."
Surprising three of the four girls, the old man jumped up, with a wide grin on his face, seemingly unhurt despite the beating he'd just received; Yang just looked annoyed at him. "Sooo… Jiraiya, my kind and loving Godfather," Yang started out, her voice almost sickeningly sweet, the tone setting off alarms in his head. "You weren't, by chance, at this hot springs here, to spy on your darling Goddaughter, her sister, and her friends… were you?" she questioned, her smile dropping away only to be replaced with a look that promised much pain, that look mirrored by the blonde and pink-haired kunoichi on either side.
"Oh, uh… no… I was just uh… doing research, yeah, research for my next book," he stuttered out, praying to whatever Gods that would listen that he not end up dead.
"I've read your books you Pervy Sage," Yang stated, drawing a horrified look from the older man; if she knew that she had, in fact, been the inspiration for one of his characters, there is no way he would walk out of this alive. Yang leaned down next to the grey haired man's head and whispered, "Oh Saki-chan, please be quiet, my parents might hear us," before backing up, smirking, as all color flushed from Jiraiya's face. The violet eyed girl, seeing her victory, turned and walked back to her friends and sister, waving her hand over her shoulder while calling back, "I'll be sure to have the Hokage contact Tsunade and let her know about book number 3." She grinned when she heard the loud gasp of horror from her Godfather.
"Hey, now, there's no need to go telling people about such things," he pleaded, running to catch up to the retreating group of girls.
"What's in it for us?" Ino asked, Sakura and her knowing full well what Yang and Jiraiya were talking about.
"I'll give you guys special training," he offered, hoping to get out of this without another near death experience.
"Training huh? What kind of 'training' are you suggesting Jiraiya-sama?" Sakura responded this time, the cute, innocent tone of her voice causing the older man to pause before a trickle of blood started from his nose.
Snapping his head from side to side to clear the bad thoughts… at least for now, he answered the question, "I can teach you how to unlock and use your aura," hopefully placating at least two of the four girls.
"You can help me unlock my aura?" Ruby asked, hopeful at getting a jump start on her career as a huntress.
"Oh yeah, through my travels I've learned much about aura, and how it interacts with chakra. I also have some special information for you Yang," Jiraiya responded, all pretense of fear seemingly gone. They took off on the short walk from the hot springs to the training grounds "Before we continue down this line of discussion though," he started, turning to face Yang. "How much do they know?" he asked, not wanting to divulge information that was her right to tell.
"They know all about the Kyubi being sealed inside me," the violet eyed girl responded, Jiraiya noted that the other three girls showed no reaction to the declaration.
"Ok then, well it seems that the seal used to bind the Kyubi, is also, slowly, using your chakra to expand your aura reserves," he stated already formulating a plan for how to train the girls in the area he promised. Soon they had arrived at their destination, far enough away from the populated areas of the village so that they would not be disturbed. "First things first, before we start training, we need to unlock your auras," he said, turning his head to look at Ino, Sakura, and Ruby each in turn.
"How do we do that? It took me a year to unlock it on my own," Yang questioned.
"By concentrating your aura, and passing it into another's head you can unlock their aura," the Toad Sage answered, his hand resting on his chin in thought.
"Oh is that all?" Yang said with a confident grin on her face, moving over to Ino first, focusing her aura to pass on and unlock her fellow blonde's. Seeing the glow fade from her own hand, and a similar glow sweep over Ino's body, Yang turned to Jiraiya to make sure she'd done it right. Seeing the nod, she continued on to Sakura and did it again, finally moving over to Ruby, smiling into her sister's eyes before helping her to unlock her aura as well. Seeing the smile on her sister's face as that first step was finally accomplished, it was time to start that training Jiraiya had promised them.
"Now that that's done, aura has many uses, but unlike chakra, aura is mostly used for defense," he began in a sage-like way. "Like chakra, aura can be focused into your hands and feet, adding strength to your punches and kicks," he continued waving his hand to Yang to demonstrate. With the queue given, Yang channeled her aura into her fist, a golden, flame-like glow covering her arm, which she used to punch the ground creating a small crater upon impact. The result impressed the three other girls. "The biggest benefit of aura and its manipulation is to heal damage you take during battle," not really having a safe way to demonstrate this, he continued on with his explanation. "Now, so far as I've seen, each person has their own semblance," taking note of the questioning looks he was getting, he expanded further, "a person's semblance is a unique ability or trait that their aura grants them, I heard a story of one girl in Mistral who can control metal with her semblance. And that Glynda woman from Beacon can use a high level of telepathy to control the objects around her," he finished.
The training took the rest of the day, the first part consisted mostly of meditating to help the girls learn to find, tap into and control their aura. The second stage focused on channeling aura to specific body parts, such as their hands, it was during this part that he noticed Sakura seemed to have a finer level of control than the others. As the girls were channeling their auras, he took note of the colors of each; Yang's was golden, Ino's was blue, Sakura's was green, and Ruby's was red. The color didn't necessarily tie into what their semblance was, but it was still interesting to note. With the sun setting behind them, Jiraiya decided to call it for the day, they could continue the training the next day, he still had to see the Hokage to give him the report he was supposed to deliver hours ago.
Their training continued on for another two weeks, after their schooling, Yang and Ruby would meet Jiraiya, Ino and Sakura to continue their aura training, with Jiraiya helping Ruby to unlock and channel her chakra as well. After the two weeks, Jiraiya had to leave again heading off to continue his spy duties, collecting information on Konoha's enemies, and keeping tabs on both of his former partners, Tsunade and Orochimaru. Even after he left, the girls still met up to continue practicing what he taught them. The time remaining before the finals flew by, between the training and the schooling, Ino and Sakura were getting to know Ruby quite well, quickly befriending Yang's younger sister. Sadly, their time together was growing short, after the Chunin Exam finals, Yang and Ruby would be returning to Patch for a while, going back to school while Ino and Sakura went back to their teams and doing missions.