The warm sunlight felt pleasant on his face. He hardly ever slept this late, so it was comfortable to feel it beaming on his cheeks. Was that how it felt on his whiskers? Maybe he should sleep in a little more often.

It was nice.

But what was the feel against his chest?

It felt like something was gently tapping against it. Repeatedly. On both pectorals.

Slowly opening his eyes and letting the light fill his vision, the night's events filled his mind. He remembered everything that had happened and felt a tinge of mirth as he watched the cute scene before him.

A half-asleep Blake with half-lidded eyes pawed at his chest as the sun warmed her entire body, her instincts in complete control of her actions.

It was a very adorable scene to behold that if he could reach his scroll, he would want to hit the record button…

But he had too much honor for that, and Naruto called out the cat girl before him. "Blake."

"Hm…" Blake continued pawing at his chest, none the wiser of what she was doing as she was still in a sleep-addled state, and it was possible she wasn't even aware she was awake or thought she might be dreaming.

At least if it was the latter, she wasn't trying other things. He knew Blake's mind was very imaginative, and neither wanted to go that far. They weren't ready for that as they were dealing with their baggage they needed to clean up first.

He'd be ready for her when she was, and she'd be prepared when he was ready. That was a sound plan.

Laying there for a moment, letting her pat his chest a moment longer, he found it curious that he was even thinking about looking for a relationship. With everything that happened and being transported to a new world after dying, it wasn't something on his mind. But now, one was staring him in the face, and he had to think about it. With what he had before...

"As much as I like a morning massage as the next guy would from a beautiful kitty cat… I don't think this qualifies." Naruto grinned as Blake's eyes snapped open, and her face turned beet red as she realized where her hands were.

And she slowly removed her hands from her chest before she scolded herself. "I wish I could hurry up and just be four to five years older, so I don't have to deal with this nearly as much..."

"I guess it's more a hormonal thing all faunus go through, and our growing bodies are still unable to adjust properly… Lovely." Naruto dryly responded as Blake nodded, for it was something all faunus went through, some just worse than others.

Women generally had it worse than men. Naruto was going to be an exception as he wasn't born a faunus, so he was creating through the world and adapting on the fly… Which was probably worse than going from one lifestyle to trying to deal with another.

It was rather impressive that he was doing so well.

"Yes… You did get shafted." Blake commented as she slowly got up, basked in the sun, and enjoyed the warmth it provided her, making Naruto's ears twitch as he could hear a low thrum of an odd noise being emitted from her that sounded awfully like a purr. "Does feel good, though..."

"Taking my shower… Be out in a while. If you need to go, you can step in once the shower water is running." Blake finally slid off the bed and grabbed her kit and spare clothes before walking to the bathroom.

"I think I'll wait." Naruto would be a gentleman even if his instinct and the peeping tom inside him was screaming at him to risk it.

He had learned his lesson. The tar was beaten out of him, and Kurama could barely save him that day. And that was before they were on good terms...

How did Jiraiya get away with it for all those years and live?

Blake opened the door, shrugging her shoulders before looking back at him with her golden eyes, a narrowed but playful glare. "Deny me my chance then. I'll have to find another."

With that, she proceeded to take care of her business and shower as Naruto's eyebrows raised, and even his inner pervert was shut down. Was he just out-perverted?

"Yeah, going to make coffee now…." Naruto shook his head and sorted out his morning issue with a cold splash of water to the face before making a brew for two. "I swear she is a cat in heat or something…."

"Am not!" Blake's voice came from the bathroom before the shower started, and Naruto groaned as he forgot about her hearing being excellent thanks to two sets of ears, one meant to hear sounds at a much more complex frequency. "You're lucky that my cycle ended just before Valentine's Day! So you have another month before then, so you are good now! This is just me playing like I said last night!"

"That's a thing! For the love of god!" Naruto groaned as he, for the first time, put his head into the wall.

Very softly, as he didn't want to damage anything. But he gave it a very light smack so he could at least feel it. He needed the pain.

All he heard was a purring hum from Blake in response as she took her shower to freshen up and prepare for the rest of the day. He twitched at the reaction.

She was playing with him.

Attempting to ignore her teasing hums, he tried to patiently wait while grabbing a cup and waiting for the coffee. This was not normal in any way. He should be doing something. Anything. He should grab a scroll and see if he could advance what information he knew about sealing. Maybe some chakra nature to try and infuse elements again, so he should try to make sand.

Shaking as he tried not to do something work-related as he poured himself a cup of coffee, he was beginning to think this would be a long, long day. He knew he would need things to occupy his time and that it was acceptable to work in small bursts throughout the day…

He couldn't devote the day to it, which was really difficult for him.

Calling Fox up was a possibility, but it would probably take a few tries to answer his scroll if he didn't have Ada in, which at this time in the morning on a Saturday was unlikely. Fox had more of a challenge with technology than he did, which was fair. He was disabled. Very capable for a disabled person, but still had a disability.

They could go out and do a few things, but what? What could Fox do besides train or chat? Naruto wasn't sure, to be honest. He hadn't gotten to know him all that well besides who he was through talking and how he could fight despite being blind. And the pranks they did together, but those all had a purpose too.

To test where Ozpin was paying attention. He wanted to see where the all-seeing wizard's blind spots were, and he wasn't too impressed so far.

He was pretty blind once his cameras and drones were taken out of the picture. And those were easy to skirt around once you knew of them.

Ozpin was probably not pleased with the new development of crabs taking out his cameras and scuttling away. Phase three had slowly been scuttling into effect.

Calling Yatsu would result in a similar outcome as he would expect it to be something like training. The large lad was always up for some workouts and was just a quiet person. Someone that was reliable and spoke few words. He wasn't even sure it was shyness anymore.

Naruto didn't think Yatsu liked talking and spoke through actions.

Despite that, he would occasionally see him in the courtyard and enjoy bird watching and nature. If it weren't for him, he would have found the fox family that was nearly hit on the road leaving Vale a few weeks back as one of the kits got stranded and hurt, and the family was almost run over in the process. Both he and Naruto managed to rescue them from Vale and bring them out into the wild. Now strangely, those foxes had shown up here at Beacon and taken to both boys...

So maybe calling Yatsu for a nature walk or something was on the table?

He didn't have Coco's number as she was obsessed with training to be the best or overcoming whatever challenges were placed in front of her. And currently, he felt that the latest challenge was him...

Both as a physical challenge and as a social one as she had been making pronounced hints and moves lately towards him...

Velvet was a curious one. As much as he was still her friend and supported her, she was getting frustrated with him despite understanding that there were some underlying issues occurring between them. And it had nothing to do with her, so she was okay with that, but that didn't mean she liked it. In fact, she was quite upset, and now Coco was upset with him too, but that one he could live with...

She didn't like how he was distancing himself from her, but he told her his therapist recommended it, which was true. Until he could see her fully as Velvet Scarlatina, he needed to put that personal barrier up and keep her at more of a distance and not let her so close. It hurt hearing those words and tore him apart to say them, but it had to be done. He needed time away from her to sort himself out and figure out his emotions when it came to a certain person...

Hinata.

The issue was that her mannerisms, unless she was with Coco and Fox to an extent, were so similar to Hinata that he couldn't stop comparing the two and needed that to stop. Hinata was gone. He needed to move on from her, and that wasn't entirely possible when someone was there who just kept bringing up the comparison.

It wasn't fair to Velvet.

He felt like a horrible person this last week when his therapist suggested that he take a step back, and tell her this was another issue and, when the time was right, the reason behind it. And when he could stop comparing the two of them, they could have a healthy friendship. He wasn't cutting her out either, as he would still talk to her, and they were on good terms. She just wasn't happy with the situation.

He felt like trash for it, but it was a necessary step in healing.

It was just going to be difficult to explain to her that she and all her mannerisms were a near identical match to the woman he was falling in love with, and he was pretty sure he was going to propose to her after the war ended.

After everything that happened with fighting Pein with her admitting her love to him... Then what happened with her and him during the war itself... Then there was Neji giving his life to protect them both...

Ninja didn't have the luxury of waiting. After all, they had to seize their chances of happiness. Death was always around the corner. Even the strongest weren't immune to that rule.

Despite being the strongest shinobi of his time, his father was still brought down in his prime due to a sneak attack at his most vulnerable moment...

The birth of his son...

Which brought him back to the situation he was in. What was he intending to do here? He was in a new boat with someone wanting a relationship and wasn't sure what to do because of their past issues either. And on some level, he wanted to pursue it. It wasn't like the others, and it was unfair to Velvet as he felt he had gotten close to her too...

But hearing Blake's purrs and the constant teasing and the fact that he needed to go to the bathroom while she was showering made it tempting to go in there and get a peek…

Unfortunately, the water stopped, meaning his chance was no longer available. That was until she let out a startled scream. "What the…?! One of your crabs is handing me my towel!"

"Probably Crabtholomew! He's a kind and obedient boy! He's just trying to help!" Naruto called back as the leader of his crab army was most likely just trying to do a good deed for the girl in his bathroom. "He's probably trying to tell you he likes you!"

"Why is your crab putting the moves on me instead of you?!" Blake called Naruto out, leaving the blonde faunus twitching as she kept going. "I mean, it's bad enough all their eyes are on me, but yours are not! I'm giving a free show here, and it's not to whom I intended to give it to!"

Naruto only growled in response. It was all he could do as Blake continued her game. He could play it on some level, but his thoughts had hit earlier when thinking about Velvet and Hinata, and he was not currently in the mood for it.

"Did I go too far?" Blake realized Naruto didn't have a witty or perverted comeback like usual and was starting to feel like she might be pushing her play a bit too far, and she exited the bathroom, mostly dressed, still buttoning her top.

To see a twitching and writhing mass known as Naruto biting his lip, his eyes glistening over. "Oh… I…"

"It was just bad timing… Maybe not so much teasing at once." Naruto uncomfortably twitched as he tried to drink his coffee and deal with morning, hormonal, and now his emotional issues.

Seeing Naruto's state mirror a more calm state of what she felt like last night, Blake hung her head as she recognized her mistake. "Can I… Ask for permission to hug you?"

"You may." Naruto slowly nodded, and Blake raised her head before she lightly strolled to Naruto and gave him a tight embrace.

"I'm sorry… I didn't realize I was affecting you that much." Blake comforted her friend, nuzzling up against him and spreading her warmth to him. "I'm sorry..."

"It's okay… I'm usually fine with a little bit of it. The timing was off as I was in the middle of a memory that I'm still working through… The same one that's likely to be the reason why I'm not ready for any relationship to advance for some time. Perhaps just as a couple, but nothing more, as I don't think I could handle anything more than that." Naruto sighed reassuringly as he returned the hug.

Breaking from the embrace, Blake's golden eyes gazed into Naruto's cerulean eyes, sensing that Naruto was calmer. "She was that important to you… Wasn't she?"

"I've come to terms with that she was… Probably the most important person in my life." Naruto took the last drink of his coffee before setting it down. "If I hadn't died… She would have been my wife, and now I must live with the knowledge that will never happen, and every time that thought comes up… It makes any relationship hard and makes me glad I'm in therapy…."

"Dealing with your own death and the aftereffects is amazingly traumatizing..." Naruto looked sadly at Blake before he tried to put on a fake smile and closed his eyes so he could hide his pain. "Hell, my therapist will need therapy after dealing with me."

Blake stood silently. She realized what her taunting must have felt like, and as her bow lowered, she once again felt like trash to her friend.

"Hey, that doesn't mean stop. I enjoyed our banter as it was fun… Just in smaller bursts." Naruto grinned as Blake perked up as Naruto headed to the bathroom. "Now I have to deal with the issue you created, by the way… I've been at full mast since this morning started because of you, and it won't go down!"

With that, Naruto entered the bathroom with a slam, and Blake smiled, seeing his mood return close to its usual. While witnessing the scene, she didn't realize that her bow was twitching happily. "I'm planning to return to my room and catch up with my team… They're probably worried sick about me."

"Yeah, see you later, Blake."

"Don't forget to try not to work so much today!" Blake poured a cup of coffee for herself, mixed in some sugar, and took a sip. "Try Jaune, Ren, and Nora. They're all good at relaxing, so they might be a good place to start."

"Thank you…. I was having a hard time thinking about what I would do, and everything was work-related." Naruto told the truth.

"Figured as much… I'll return the cup later," Blake stated as she walked to the door before getting a sly grin as she pulled out her scroll, posed, and started making very provocative faces followed by quick clicks. "Enjoy the material!"

And with that, Blake exited and returned to her room to deal with her team and how they would respond to her today.

Naruto twitched as he drained his bladder. "Material?"

Then his scroll buzzed several times, and he looked confused before he saw they were all from Blake. "What in the… Oh, that's the game we're playing now. Lewd faces… Cute."

"Think it might be time for the Jutsu that nearly dropped a Goddess to make its glorious reappearance."

"Ugh... How do I do this?" Naruto paced in the hallway, uncertain how to approach the issue. "Hey, you just want to... Hang out… Do so something?"

"I sound lame… What am I doing right now?" Naruto asked himself as he stopped pacing as he genuinely had no idea what to do. "I have helped take down a corrupt mob boss, took down the future Kazakage on my own, and completely changed his perspective on life… Fought off a group trying to steal literal demons from me and others to fighting literal gods and came out on top… And I can't figure out how to do something so simple as asking some peers to hang out and do something fun..."

"YOU FOUGHT GODS!" Nora opened the door to their room with a mighty slam scaring Naruto, for that was where he was standing.

It was as if she had been paying attention the entire time, and now her eyes were shining with sparkles. He also swore those eyes shone like the sparkles shooting off around her head, and confetti banners were shooting around her...

No, that last thing was happening.

When did she set those up?

Why did she have those setup?

Naruto yipped and jumped backward at Nora's sudden entrance to the scene and proclamation that she had been listening. "Of course, you heard that! Why do you have selective hearing?!"

"Because I've been waiting at the door the hold time for you to knock, silly!" Nora suddenly grabbed Naruto by the wrist and pulled him into their dorm room. "Come on! We've got everything set up!"

"Why were you waiting at the door?! What do you mean you have everything set up?!" Naruto was confused by Nora's statements and lightly resisted her pull.

Not enough to win, but enough to show resistance as he wanted answers.

"Blake texted me," Ren answered while reading a book while sitting on his bed. "Said you were struggling. Needed help finding things to relax and thought we might be able to help but said to wait for you to come to us. I had a few suggestions and so did Nora and of course, her suggestion won the coin flip so here we are. So no Shogi today."

"So I waited after getting everything ready!" Nora exclaimed, very proud of herself for being so patient. "So, are you ready to play some Arcadia Fighters!"

"What… What is that?" Naruto stuttered as he was lost once, and his confidence was not up to par with his usual level.

It could also be that Nora was directly in his face and her energy level was always high and that was a demanding challenge on its own. It was probably due to the fact that he wasn't sure how to relax.

At this, Ren closed his book, noting Nora's excessive behavior. "How about you grab the snacks first, Nora?"

"Oh, right! Be right back!" She disappeared in a cartoon poof of smoke, something Naruto could not explain and didn't bother trying as Nora simply defied conventional rules at times.

Nora, at inexplicable moments, seemed to possess the Cartoon Force and ignored all written rules of existence.

…Nora was Nora.

"She can be a bit much sometimes, especially when you are uncomfortable." Ren chuckled before sighing. "Jaune wanted to be here, but Pyrrha was determined to see that he trained for the day now that they agreed to it..."

"I thought she might agree to let him relax today when I told them about Blake's text, and Jaune was all for it… But something was off about Pyrrha." Ren frowned as he tried to figure out what had happened earlier and used Naruto as a bouncing board despite knowing he was supposed to relax. "She almost seemed upset that you were trying to take time off… I don't get it, as working too much is unhealthy for you, and I see this as a step in the right direction."

"You need to relax. You are overburdening yourself. I can feel it in your aura… It's so overtaxed. Honestly, I don't know how it's functioning properly as I've never seen someone's aura so run down before." Ren commented that he could feel Naruto's aura, and he had been worried about him from the first moment they met. "Your work method puts Pyrrha to shame, and I fear she may have seen it as competition, especially after Christmas when it became more noticeable that you were putting more and more time into your work and training due to the incidents. You had already been working from what I saw prior to that, but after that you took it to a whole new level. Now hearing this morning that you are trying to take care of yourself…"

Naruto sighed as he joined Ren and sat beside him. This sounded like it was liable to be an issue he might need to address. He might be the reason it started after all. Pyrrha worked hard constantly, and every day, she wanted to improve. Seeing his work ethic did not help in the least. And then what happened during the break most likely didn't help. "No… That makes sense. On the day of the initiation test, I realized Jaune was about to die on the jump pads..."

"Yeah… He was." Ren answered honestly.

Naruto twitched.

What the hell was Ren?!

"Anyways…" Naruto returned to his story, trying to tell what he thought was happening. "I tried to rescue Jaune. I would have to, but at the last second, Pyrrha's spear flew out of nowhere, took him just out of my grasp, and pinned him to a tree… So, she earned Jaune as a teammate that day as she told me she saw saving him as competition."

Ren's eyes opened a bit wider as he realized something and nodded to himself. "Then that is it. She has it in her head that seeing how strong you were and the work effort you put in… That should be the model, and now that you are trying to pull back…."

"She's either doubting herself or convinced she can pull ahead. Possibly both or none of the above." Naruto rubbed his temples. "And I'm trying not to work..."

"Sorry. I just needed to run my thoughts by someone verbally and confirm my suspicions. You were the only one here… Nora doesn't count." Ren stated as he ran his hand through his hair. "I'll try to deal with it as Jaune is my leader but Pyrrha… Has seemed to be incensed ever since the police incident. Whatever Glynda said to her when we returned left her depressed for a few days, and now, she is deeply upset and motivated."

"Probably that she needs to step up for Glynda saw more in her… And realized she wasn't leadership material… And I saw the same things." Naruto sighed again as he knew exactly what the cause of that was.

She froze at a time when other leaders, even if they couldn't, were trying to calm or handle the situation. That was a significant demerit in his eyes. Then nearly inciting everyone as soon as he left the station…

That was just not the time or place.

"Again, sorry for bringing all this up when we're trying to get you to relax… My team is struggling through its first real rough patch now." Ren sighed before smiling as he tried to brighten the subject. "But today should be fun… But be prepared to lose a lot… Nora always wins at Arcadia Fighters. No one has ever come close to beating her. I have only seen one person do it. This one guy beat her at the arcade a few weeks back. Left Nora in a funk for a while. Think he called himself by a pseudonym or something, calling himself Sonic Fox..."

"The hell is it anyways? Some kind of game?" Naruto asked as he noted the TV was brought forward towards Nora's and Ren's beds, and some machine was set up.

"It's the bomb!" Nora burst through the front door with her arms loaded with junk snacks, sodas and candies. "There are twenty characters with insanely cool fighting moves, and they're like, wham, bam, pow! Then they have weapon stances they switch to, and it is like, swish, stab, slice!"

"And finally!" Nora dumped all the snacks onto her bed before she jumped in front of the TV and made some sort of weird pose. "They all have these awesome burst finishers that have amazing cutscenes that take out their opponents in a flash before they come up with zippy one-liners and leave their opponents crushed beneath them!"

"Uh… Did you get any of that?" Naruto blinked and was at a loss for words at what Nora was talking about.

Ren only chuckled. "Nora… How about turning on the game? I think Naruto might understand it better that way. I don't think he's ever played a video game before."

Having looked defeated as her fantastic explanation had failed, Nora blinked. Then the realization dawned on her. "Oh! That makes way more sense! You are about to have the experience of a lifetime!"

Flicking on the system and the TV, Nora quickly gave Naruto a controller and excitedly sat down on her bed, looking extremely giddy at playing.

Naruto was still extremely lost, but as the opening cutscene played, Nora's words started to make more sense. "So… It's like an anime?"

"Kind of! We get to play the anime characters and fight them!" Nora was a jittering mess as she watched the opening scene and opened a bag of candy.

Naruto blinked for a moment before he gave a slight nod. He could see the appeal of that. It sounded like fun. However, as he noticed Ren had pulled something out that he recognized as headphones. He had seen similar objects before in his world, but he was more curious about what he was doing with his scroll as he connected the headphones to his scroll. "What are you doing?"

"Going back to reading while listening to some music," Ren stated as he reached out and grabbed a soda and a pack of chips from Nora's pile of snacks.

He didn't realize he would get so much attention from that single act. "My scroll has music?!"

Even Nora looked surprised that Naruto did not know that was possible. Ren simply just took it in stride and nodded. "Yes, every scroll can… Would you like me to show you how?"

"Yes!" Naruto fiddled with his pockets before pulling out his scroll and handing it to Ren, watching what Ren was doing intently.

He wanted music on his portable device!

That sounded amazing!

If there was a way to relax, this was it. Naruto found something that was for him.

It was mildly amusing playing with Nora, and it was cool. He'd give her that. He didn't understand what he was doing and was trying his best not to break the controller. However, he didn't know how much pressure he could put on the item. He couldn't keep up with Nora, and he lost every fight.

Not that he expected to win. He didn't know what he was doing even after twenty fights and finally figured out how to switch styles after thirty. She was seamlessly doing it mid-combo…

It was like Naruto himself was fighting an academy student back in Konoha… With Kurama's cloak suddenly activated in the middle of the fight for no reason other than to establish dominance.

There was never a chance of victory.

She at least let him taste victory by allowing him to fight low-level computers, so he felt a little accomplished… He then was stomped by the normal difficulty and realized he didn't know how to play video games.

Now having music on his scroll…

Ren gave him an extra pair of headphones, and he was set after he showed him the app and how it worked. He wasn't about to forget where his scroll was ever again.

Music on demand was terrific.

He hadn't found a style he liked yet, but he bounced through it. He had found that he liked this odd style that was like rock but fused with several other genres and would change tempo during the song.

He swore he had heard Ruby listening to songs like this before. He would ignore the fact that he broke into their room to yell at her for playing her music so loudly, to ignore Yang's complaining. It just ended with the two doing a weird dance to the horror of Blake and Weiss...

When he broke in to complain, he witnessed the scene.

Boiling the water in his cup of ramen with his chakra, he let the cup cool as he jammed out to the song. It was rather catchy and upbeat, but then a mellow mood would kick in, and suddenly, the hammer dropped. The rock slammed home with occasional computer-like noises mixed in.

Occasionally, there was just random rap, and the house burned down!

It was just a weird but fascinating blend.

Picking up his cup of ramen, he used the wind to cool it so he could take a bite. Naruto had a big slurp of noodles in his mouth when the door slammed open, and a panicked Blake stood at the front of his doorway, breathing heavily.

Blinking at the sight of Blake in desperation once more, he put down the cup of ramen, turned off the music, and took off his headphones. He could sense the distress coming off of her and see her disheveled state, and that worried him. "Are you…"

"Come with me now," Blake growled as she knocked multiple times and, despite hearing he was inside, had to kick the door open after receiving no answer. "I… I need to… They know about the Fang and me..."

Without a word, Naruto pocketed his scroll, grabbed his boots, trench coat, and gear, and walked over to Blake without putting them on. "Lead the way."

"Blake, please wait..." Ruby stumbled out of her room and tried to chase after them while she struggled to put her boot on while simultaneously holding onto her other while juggling Crescent Rose.

At hearing Ruby, Blake activated her semblance and rushed away after making a clone, and Naruto wanted to curse. "Ah, for the love… Ruby, I'll text."

"Wait, no, Naruto… Not again!" Ruby cried as she wanted to be the one to try to help her teammate but tripped, trying to get her boot back on. "Ugh! Why can't I ever do anything?! I'm supposed to be the leader, and my team keeps breaking! What good am I as a leader if I can't help my own team?!"

"I'm sorry! I truly am! I'll make it up to you later, and I swear we'll work on this together, Rose!" Naruto called out as he pursued Blake.

"STOP CALLING ME THAT!" Ruby screamed at the top of her lungs, her silver eyes gleaming in rage at where Naruto left her before throwing her boot into the wall as Yang came out to assist. "FUCK YOU, NARUTO! DON'T TOUCH ME, YANG! EAT A DICK WEISS!"

Yang and Weiss took a step back, startled at Ruby's sudden burst of rage as the girl breathed heavily as she tried to give chase with only one boot.

And even with all his stuff in hand, he quickly caught Blake on the floor below as they neared the exit of the building. "Would you slow the hell down?! I'd like to put on my stuff if you wouldn't mind!"

"WAIT!" Ruby cried out as she dashed down the stairs, roses bursting as a boom hit and cracked the floor beneath.

"Not with Ruby chasing me! Take me away from here!" Blake screamed at him as she did not want to be anywhere near her team right now after they dragged her across town to try and scout out the people coming to town for the festival.

"Why are we running from Ruby?! She's just trying to help!" Naruto growled in annoyance as she was the one person on the team he figured Blake could at least trust.

"Because she is too sheltered and ignorant! She may mean well, but her ignorance only leads to more suffering. Ignorance is why things like this are allowed to continue! It's why the Fang was born in the first place, as so many people stand by and let it happen!" Blake hissed as they neared the door, ready to kick it open and run out, when Naruto held out his hand.

"Fine… Grab my hand and try not to vomit. But sooner or later, you will have to let them in." Naruto warned as he jumped in front of her and held out his hand before holding his other hand out in a single-hand seal.

Stopping in her tracks, Blake knew she didn't have the time. Ruby was gaining quickly as the sonic boom reverberated through the hallway. She took his hand…

And suddenly, they were at Beacon's fountain.

Then an intense vertigo. The world spun around out of control. Her eyes darted back and forth while tracking how fast it was moving, but she could not handle the sensation. It was so disorientating. Nausea filled her stomach, and she lost control. She was forced to lurch over, almost losing her lunch but managed to hold it back and swallow it down. Slowly she managed to reorientate herself and gathered herself onto to her hands and knees as she panted and looked at Naruto in disgust. "Oh, by the Brothers... Tuna does not taste right when it comes back up... What was that?!"

"Body flicker technique," Naruto commented as he was pretty impressed that Blake didn't immediately lurch and vomit into the fountain before he went to the fountain himself and sat down to put on his equipment now that he had the time. "It's a rapid transport technique that temporarily allows users to move at extreme speeds. …We just traveled halfway across Beacon in a second. That's why your body is reacting so violently. It's trying to accommodate for such speed."

"The fuck… Naruto… Your powers are bullshit..." Blake groaned as she put both hands on the ground and tried to catch her breath. "I think I'm okay… I'm used to speed, but that is something else..."

"I used to be able to move faster without it when I had Kurama," Naruto responded, and Blake's head snapped toward Naruto's direction with disdain and a bit of fear at hearing that. "I was quite literally able to travel faster than the speed of light as it was compared to my father's, who could bend time and space to move instantaneously when I was still wasn't even at my fastest yet, and I dodged a literal laser, even if I had a half second heads up from the guy's head movement… Now I'm probably half as fast, if that."

"That is absurd..." Blake allowed her body to return to normal as she slowly rose to her feet. "I think we can start walking from here… Ruby shouldn't be able to track us down that quickly… You're not texting her our location, are you?"

"Letting her know you are safe with me… She's pissed at me because she can't ever be the one to do anything for anyone on her team… And she's right. It always seems to be me, and I need to step back and let her flourish." Naruto dryly commented as he assured Blake that he wasn't giving her up but also that he felt Ruby should be the one trying to solve this if it was a team matter. "It's not fair that I had to step in. Ruby wanted to help... My presence pissed her off, and I think we're both on her shit list and deservedly so."

Blake's bow drooped, and she said nothing. Ruby was trying to help, and she had shut the younger girl out once more. But in this case, she didn't want her involved as it was a little more personal…

"If it was just team-related… You would be right… But when Weiss and I were arguing about faunus rights, she pissed me off as we got on the topic of the White Fang." Blake stated as they started to walk towards where the sky bus would be, which led Naruto to believe that she wanted to go to Vale. "I will say her points were valid… The Fang always put her family's life in jeopardy, and I regret ever happened to hurt her personally, but the war her father started was the cause of it."

"It's like as stronger the Fang became, the more vicious he… Weiss' father... Changed everything about the Schnee Dust Company and made life for Faunus that for them hell… When it originally was the gold standard, her grandfather willingly worked the mines with us, knew the conditions, and did everything in his power to ensure everything was safe! However, her father has been horrible since he took over, even when the Fang was peaceful in our protests and events… He never gave us a chance." Blake commented darkly, as it seemed she had a personal grudge against Weiss' family, and explained why she had difficulty dealing with the princess.

"And no… I don't try to avoid Weiss because of it. She is her own person. Hell, outside of arguments, I think I get along with the best out of my team. Ruby is too optimistic, reminds me of what I once was, and it hurts to be around her sometimes. Yang, frankly, pisses me off too much. She's gotten better and is a charmer when she wants to be, but she needs to tone down her bold side." Blake started as Naruto had the thought, but she quickly shut it down. "Her views are shaped by his, unfortunately, but I think she has seen revelations that have made her change already with everything going on… Because she immediately apologized when I took off. I'm surprised Ruby was the first one out the door..."

"What made you run?"

"I told her flat out she was lying about how long they had been at war as I have always been with the Fang my entire life, and my father would never approve any of those things while he was the leader and that we only turned violent when he stepped down as we were tired of being pushed around by her grandfather and father's greedy and corrupt organization," Blake stated as she lowered her head sullenly and her bow flattened. "When I realized what I said I… Ran and came straight for you."

"Okay… That would do it." Naruto rubbed his temple but understood his plight as he knew Blake was in a predicament. "Okay, what started this? I know I got the text from you that movie night would have to be pushed back because Weiss got it into her that she wanted to instead do some scouting on those who would be coming for the Vytal festival… May I ask why they are coming in early and setting up? We just hit spring?"

"The tournament is just the finale. The festival starts kicking off late spring during April, so setting up now in March makes sense, and a few early birds make sense if they come from further out... Or are stow-aways like the faunus Weiss caught." Blake explained as that was an everyday thing.

Naruto twitched. Of course, there were other events. He was just focused on the thing he was interested in. However, there was something more interesting that caught his attention... "Weiss caught a hunter in training? Given that this person has to be here for the Vytal festival at the very least and should be competent, how? Weiss' skills are all technique based, not physical, and she's not going to be using her semblance out in public, so most trained faunus should have the edge on getting away from her... "

"He slipped up badly… And tripped on this weird girl named Penny." Blake admitted as that was the whole experience. "So, she yelled at him for ten minutes… Sun Wukong, I think, was his name… Tried hitting on me… Wasn't impressed and told him I had a boyfriend… Sorry. Pissed Weiss off though, so… Bonus?"

"Use what works. I'm not one to judge." Naruto shrugged as he honestly didn't care before looking at the airbus and deeply sighed. "Are we really going to Vale… We're looking for the Fang, aren't we?"

"Yes… That's why I asked you to come with me." Blake stated as the opening to the airbus opened as they made it on time for the last one of the night. "I need to do this… So can I finish the story to explain why?"

"Yeah… Let me make a change." Naruto sighed as he walked onto the bus with Blake before taking off his trench coat, pulling out a scroll, and sealing his coat into it before pulling out a pitch-black body-length cloak that covered his entire body, clasping it, so he almost looked like the reaper himself before sitting next to Blake.

Blake was slightly startled by this wardrobe change before Naruto flipped the hood. "To keep me from being discovered… I'm a celebrity now, thanks to Ozpin, remember?"

"Right… I forgot…" Blake growled as the memory of last night came up. "Continuing from where I left off, I was getting offended by how she was handling things, so I decided to defend him. I let him off the hook and set him free. After all, all he did was stow away on the boat, which isn't that much of a crime. Ruby and Yang agreed… Then we dealt with Penny, who… Was unique, and now is Ruby's… Friend."

"Why does everything you say about her make me worry?" Naruto asked, getting a puzzling picture of what Penny was.

"Because I don't think she was alive, Naruto. My aura sense isn't great, but I could not smell anything natural from her! She left me so confused. Then the way she talked… She freaked me out." Blake admitted as she did not know how to handle Penny.

"Okay, there's quite possibly a sentient robot girl in town. I need more information. We're living in sci-fi times now." Naruto wrote in his notebook, and Blake grinned as she hadn't seen it in forever.

"Glad to see that back… Guess we are likely to be doing a lot of intel gathering." Blake said with a grin.

"Yeah…"

"So finally, we came to a Dust store that had been robbed… And that is where everything went wrong." Blake's mood soured as she recalled the start of the argument that led to her revealing what she was to everyone.

"Weiss blamed the Fang?" Naruto asked, as he figured that was how this started.

"Yeah… Ruby even mentioned it probably wasn't them as she dealt with the guy most likely responsible…."

"Roman Torchwick," Naruto noted as he wrote the name down in his book, familiar with his work.

"How do you know that?" Blake questioned as she looked at her partner in this mission incredulously. "I mean, she loves telling stories and everything, so I guess it isn't so surprising, but she doesn't know his name."

"I investigated the situation myself and have been tracking his whereabouts personally as this Dust crisis is getting out of hand, but he's a slippery one. I'll give him that… I also was initially interested in how Ruby got into Beacon early, but then, seeing this guy's track record, I realized there might be more, and the more I dug… I think there could be something here." Naruto pulled out some questionable legal files that didn't seem to be copied.

"Where did you… Not about to ask." Blake decided it was better that she didn't know the answer.

"He had always been able to pull off amazing heists, but he had never been able to do things on this scale and this frequently before until recently. He's always put Huntsmen and Huntresses to shame when he's run into them, but his records don't make sense as to why he suddenly jumped from committing coordinated thefts seemingly on his own with maybe a few thugs here and there to suddenly having so much more manpower. It is as if someone is supporting him from the shadows but who?" Naruto explained before quickly putting the files back as Blake got a thorough look.

"That is strange… But it would not be the Fang. They would never work with a human." Blake stated as she knew them too well.

"Never say never, Blake," Naruto stated, and he noted Blake's eyes narrowed and she repressed a growl as she didn't want to believe the White Fang would work with a guy like this, so he decided to explain. "I think there is someone behind him. I don't think it is the Fang, but I also would not be surprised if the Fang were also involved, given their activity as of late. What resource are we talking about here?"

"The most precious resource in the land..." Blake took a deep breath and yowled, realizing there was a possibility, and she hated it. "What do you mean there is possibly someone backing him? Wouldn't the Fang support be enough? As much as I hate to admit, they need Dust too, and if they had to resort to working with a human who just happened to be the best in the world at procuring it, I think he might temporarily swallow his pride."

Taking out his scroll, Naruto grinned. "I stole a video from Ozpin without him knowing."

Blake's eyes widened. He didn't. Okay, he did, but why?

"It's of what Ruby did when she earned her way into Beacon, so I was curious and found there was extra footage… Of when she chased Roman to a Bullhead and Glynda arrived to save the day… Now watch what happens."

Naruto handed over his scroll, and Blake played the video. Her eyes narrowed, and her lips quivered as she watched what was displayed on the small screen. "What the fuck… That isn't a semblance! That's almost like it's your chakra… They're using pure fire."

"It's not, I can tell you that. It's something else altogether because whoever it is... As you can see, they also use their own semblance during it." Naruto added, and Blake nodded in agreement as she saw the glass arrow. "So that person protected Torchwick from Glynda… So, another player is involved in this, and I think they work for the void."

"But that is the most solid evidence I have, and I don't know what else to rely on." Naruto sighed as he took his scroll back. "So, we'll have to start from scratch and figure out where they will hit the next Dust target."

"Great…" Blake sighed as she didn't know before realizing that Naruto was making a call. "What are you…."

"Oz… I'm taking the Roman Hunt. Bringing Blake Belladonna with me as a backup. I expect it to take anywhere from two to five days, so excuse us from class for that duration of time or until otherwise notified. Hurricane out." Naruto relayed his message to the school headmaster. "Covering for both of us and giving us an out, considering despite tomorrow being Sunday, the next few days are school days. Also, you now get paid."

"I… Didn't even think about that..." Blake's bow flattened at the realization she was just so focused on proving the Fang were innocent and helping Naruto with his goal that she forgot about schoolwork. "Wait, I get paid?"

"I am a Huntsmen. I have designated you as a backup. Unfortunately, it isn't full price and is a significantly lesser portion but still a portion as you are only in training, but it is something. I think it is ten percent." Naruto grinned as he cracked his knuckles before showing Blake Roman's bounty reward as he opened his scroll. "However, I believe Roman has quite a bounty for bringing him in."

"This is so much. How did he not been caught by a Huntsman yet?!" Blake looked in shock at the lien amount, and her eyes widened and couldn't believe what she was seeing. "I would think the Huntsman or Huntress that caught him would be set for life! There have to be others taking this bounty right now!"

"Many have tried, and all have failed. He is known to cause extreme collateral damage and is not worth pursuing. Several Hunters were temporarily suspended trying to catch him, and one lost their license due to the damages done. Not to mention I think he has a guardian angel. A few reports state that those who have gotten close to capturing him mention something about him shattering into glass and disappearing. Others have been severely injured in the process. For someone who doesn't have a semblance, he's good, and it sounds like he has a partner in crime." Naruto looked at Vale through the window as they slowly approached. "So, do you want to start tonight or share a room and start tomorrow morning?"

"Let's get started," Blake said eagerly, ready for this, looking at the city of Vale with determination. "I've done this many times in the past and can work days on end if need be..."

"No," Naruto stared at Blake and shook his head. "If we start tonight, then we are doing this my way. We work afternoons and nights and sleep in the mornings. We search for them at night and gather information in the afternoons while we sleep in the mornings to gain our strength."

Taking a moment, Blake realized it made sense and nodded. "Criminals use the dark to conceal themselves. Most people get off work if they have regular jobs, in the afternoons, and try to unwind, so the morning Is the best time to regain our strength…."

"You caught on fast." Naruto grinned as he flipped his hood and felt the bus land. "Ready."

"Let's do this."

And as the door opened, Blake and Naruto entered Vale as they hunted for one Roman Torchwick.

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