Fox of Remnant

by Zagger the Bloody Angel

A wish. His wish and dreams were placed into the hands of another. And their wish was for him to live peacefully. It seemed Fate was a cruel mistress and still had plans to use him for her gains. No more! He will fight against these chains that shackle and bind him! Naruto/Blake/Weiss. Berserk Cross. AU Naruto, RWBY Canon Divergence Tags: Action\Fluff\Humor\Angst\Drama\Hurt/Comfort

12. Volume I - Chapter VIII - End

File Restored.

Error Detected.

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Analyzing.

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Acceptable Outcome.

Events May Proceed.

---

"The night is quiet," Naruto commented as they lay on top of the warehouse and kept survey of the shipment yard below, gazing around as it didn't seem tonight was the night they would be making their move, or this wasn't the Dust supply Roman was after.

Blake lay next to him, and she nodded with a controller in her hands. She carefully looked into the screen of Naruto's scroll in front of her. It showed images of something flying above the shipping containers, looking down from an angel they couldn't see from where they were perched. "Why did you buy this drone if you have no idea how to fly it? You have your clones to do almost the same thing."

Naruto grimaced as Blake had the drone from him after he had attempted multiple tries to get it off the ground and failed miserably. It was like he was fighting Nora in Arcadia Fighters all over again, and he could not get the hang of the controls. "It seemed very useful for recon and had an excellent range… I'm just not adept enough with technology yet to use it. I've got to practice first."

"That's obvious. You couldn't get it up." Blake stated that Naruto wasn't sure if the double meaning was on purpose but let it go as they were at work. "But you have your clones, and I know they retain key memories of what they have seen… So why do you even need this?"

Blake twitched as a clone and then dropped in her camera view to taunt her and wave. It was like he heard her. Did Naruto have a telepathic connection with them? She twitched as he smirked knowingly.

The bastard! He did!

"It's resource management, Blake. My chakra isn't infinite, not by any means. Not anymore, at least." Naruto calmly replied to his partner before sighing as he missed Kurama. "I may have a vast amount of energy that is alarming to those who can sense it when I get going… It's limited, and my techniques have substantial drain if I burn through them."

Keeping the drone in flight as she checked the corners, noticing the battery was starting to get low, she brought it in. "I get it. Staying in top conditions in case things go down while sparing enough for patrol and investigation… Yang is right. Your powers are bullshit."

"In this world, they are. And you've already called me on that." Naruto grinned as he saw the drone return and land in front of them, Blake handed his scroll back to him as he sealed it away and reminded himself to charge it up for later. "I'd say I would be one of the most powerful in my world even with this current set of skills I have. I could probably count the number of people on both hands who could defeat me. It'd only take a single hand to count those I lose to."

"That not counting the Gods at the end of the war?" Blake raised her eyebrows as she wanted to make sure, remembering the story from last night.

"Yeah, not counting them. We're not going to get into those two or any of the people that were returned to life as things got weird there at the end." Naruto admitted before shaking his head that the war's end was a crazy mess.

Blake's eyes widened in horror, and her jaw slackened. The dead were brought back to life! That needed context! What the hell happened?! He was fighting gods, and the dead were standing amongst the living, all the while a war was being fought against thousands of one plant man's clones!

What the hell was his world?!

Blake looked out at sea and could see off in the distance the sun was ever slowly peaking. It would be morning soon. "Your world… Frightens me… Because I've seen a little of what you can do, which was two months ago. And I know you've been training and adding your new semblance to the mix, which only makes you stronger."

Continuing to look around as he thought about what could go down here in the following days if they showed up, Naruto had to laugh a little. "You know what… Looking back on it, my world scares me too. It was violent, unforgiving, and cruel."

"But in the end, I still miss it for the people. But most of I miss…." Naruto sadly smiled as he could see the sun as well, and now Blake's attention was on him, looking a little worried at her friend as she thought she knew what was coming next.

"I miss Kurama… I miss my damn fox." Naruto caught her by surprise as he gave an empty sigh. "I miss him being so angry all the time. I miss him trying to kill me or attempting to take over my body because all he wanted was his freedom. I miss all his manipulations because he was just… Misunderstood and abused just like I was…."

"And despite everything he was and the damn torment we put each other through almost all my life. And... We finally came to understand one another and became one. Now to not have him as a part of me… It feels like I've had something ripped from me… Like a part of my soul was taken from me. ...And I hollower for it." Naruto painfully admitted.

Blake lay silently as Naruto once more let loose another painful secret to her. How many things did he have stewing inside of him yet come to the surface?

Laying her hand across his back, Blake silently comforted him as they continued to wait for something to happen as they watched the sun rise slowly in the distance. There was nothing else they could do for the time being.

It seemed tonight was not the night Torchwick was going to act so they could catch him red-handed and she could prove the White Fang's innocence.

---

"Naruto…" Blake stated as she lay beside Naruto, head laid on a pillow as they lay down in the queen-sized bed they rented for the day in the hotel.

"Is this going to be another sleep-on-it thing like last… I guess two nights ago now?" Naruto raised his eyebrow as he sighed as he looked over at the cat faunus who had shed her outer clothing and was only wearing her white undershirt and shorts as she didn't have any other clothes on her this time.

Blake had the decency to blush at the blonde faunus on the opposite side of the bed from her, wearing just his black pants, and his chest was bared to her. She was annoyed that men had an easier time covering themselves. Men could go topless, and it was fine. Why couldn't a woman get with that? It wasn't fair.

Not that she complained... She liked staring at his muscles... And the scars that covered his body.

"I'll try to sleep, but there are still a few things on my mind," Blake commented as she softly sighed.

"It's fine. I think it adds to your charm." Naruto gave her a foxy grin which only intensified her blush further. "So, what's up?"

"I'm scared to find it that it is the Fang… I've already concluded that it is probable that if it is a big operation like this, the workforce for it would almost necessitate a group like them to be involved. It's hard to find organized groups actively seeking Dust like they are, so whatever the plan would be... It is equally beneficial to both parties." Blake's mood dropped, and her ears flattened as she wrapped her arms around her stomach. "And if it them with Torchwick and they are working with a human… I don't understand why but that means he is working with a human. And that is something I don't get. Vale's White Fang are notorious for being Anti-human due to him being in charge."

Naruto sat up and glanced down at Blake before offering his hand to her to sit up so they could talk. "You mean Adam?"

Taking his hand, she let Naruto lift her to a seated position and sat cross-legged before him. Gazing into her fellow faunus' eyes, she nodded slowly but frightened. "Yes… And I can only imagine he is looking for me after I left him alone on that train, abandoning him and his cause."

"Tell me… As of recently, don't the Fang track down their lost members… And if memory serves me correctly from my research…." Naruto started as he didn't want to go down this road, but they were here, and he felt it was a necessary topic to cover.

"Yes, they are usually disposed of. In rare cases, they return to work for the Fang, but only if the High Commander pardons them." Blake hung her head low, knowing what would follow when she chose her path. "I had expected more attempts to be honest, but then I realized something… I don't think they would openly put a hit on me as Sienna would fear retribution from my father... From Ghira would have a tremendously negative impact on the White Fang's perception."

"That makes a lot of sense… Sienna is the current leader, I guess?" Naruto thought about it and realized putting out a hit order on the daughter of the former and still alive leader White Fang, who still held tremendous influence, would indeed be political suicide for the current leader.

He would tear her asunder in probably more than one way. You didn't threaten a man's family. It did not matter if it was his runaway daughter. Feeling Blake's love for him, he knew there had to be equal affection for her.

That man would tear down mountains for her.

"Yes, Sienna Khan took over after my father stepped down and led the Fang in the direction they currently have turned toward, even renamed the position High Commander to make it militaristic… She was always leaned to more violent actions back in those days and butted heads with my father when I was little… Weiss may have been telling the truth. They have been warring with the Fang, and it may have been her faction they were dealing with. My father, no longer able to stand for what they have done, washed his hands clean of it. That may have been why he stepped down now that I look back and think on it." Blake hissed as she began to form her own opinions on what may have happened five years prior.

Naruto silently listened as Blake let her ideal form. It was probable. "About Adam, Blake. Why would he be personally looking for you? From what I can tell, it seems like he is a high-ranking member, and it would be a waste of his time and resources to spend searching on a single person."

Snapping her back to the conversation they were on, Blake's ears flattened again, and she looked down once more. "Well, as I said, I abandoned him and… As I said before, I thought he was the love of my life. I was raised with him there for most of my teen years, training under my father and mother and becoming an influential member of the Fang. I was captivated by him and his life from before, so I was blinded to some of the things he was doing. This was all before I realized what was happening, how messed up things were, and how deranged he had become; I tried to convince him otherwise, trying to remember who he was before and return to how he was... And when I joined the Fang and saw how bad things were, he tried to protect me, and I went along with what happened, and we took the next step…."

"Engaged?" Naruto deducted but was proven slightly off as Blake grimaced.

"Sort of… We were Mated." Blake had a few tears building in hers before she wiped them away as she looked into Naruto's eyes. "It's sort of the same concept as marriage for two faunus in love with another… They have passionate intercourse and intimately accept the other's vows... Becoming life partners unless one is to break that vow..."

"And he did so many times..."

Naruto just looked at Blake with wide eyes and mouth slightly agape. That was more extreme than he was expecting, and now there was a little understanding of why she was frightened. Faunus culture was a little more… Diverse?

That was a word for it.

"And I broke them as I abandoned him and could no longer support his cause. And he knows that, so I know he is looking for me and would waste those resources." Blake shook as she was frightened as if they did find the Fang... "And if they are there… If he is here… Which I know he should be. He was Vale's Commander..."

"Blake…" Naruto started as he slid his hands around hers and held them tightly to let her know he was there, which snapped her gaze and made it solely focus on his. "You know, even if we were just friends, I would protect you no matter what, right? It doesn't matter who it is. I will step in if someone tries to hurt one of my friends. I don't give a damn who they think they are! My friends are family! I will die fighting for them! I've done it once already. I'll do it again!"

Startled by his words, Blake was left breathless at Naruto's intensity, and he wasn't even finished.

"If someone is trying to kill innocent people, I am most decidedly going to step in and take them down. I don't care about race. Human, faunus. That doesn't mean a damn thing to me! Life is precious!" Naruto growled as he remembered what she had said about Adam. "So, if he even thinks about stepping a foot in Vale or Beacon and harming a single person here, he has me to contend with, and that is the last person in this world he fucking wants to deal with right now." "I am Naruto Uzumaki, a force of nature this world cannot contain!"

"I am the maelstrom, so I will give him a first-hand demonstration of why you do not fuck with my family!"

Letting his words wash over her, Blake felt the power, passion, and conviction of every word he spoke. And she felt safe once more… She felt like she was home once again but a little different…

Her lips softly met his as she fell into him, her eyes closed as her body ran on complete instinct. Her body trembled as she felt another man's hands touch her. She felt her chest press and squeeze tightly against his iron-tight pectorals and softly purred. And then her eyes opened, and a spark of passion in her gaze met his admittingly shocked gaze.

And Blake pulled back as that far as she was willing to go. She accepted her action even if her body did most of the work. She was still trembling but smiled, her golden eyes gazing into his cerulean gaze. "Thank you… Now, what does this make us… I still really don't want more… Not ready yet…."

"I…" Naruto tried to start, but his brain malfunctioned for a moment from the kiss he received; he took another moment before shaking his head. "It's still early, but I think we can start working on some things. I can see us starting something off if we start small."

"I agree. I'm already using you as an excuse, so I guess… We're a couple going just to go slow and work at this." Blake's ears perked up; if Naruto's ears could hear correctly, he could hear a very light purring noise.

But it could have just been his imagination too.

"That's a start." Naruto released her hands and gave a small chuckle. "But we really do need to work on this sleep-on-it thing. We need some rest before digging for information and yet another stakeout."

Blake laughed at that sheepishly. "We are bad at that."

"Get some sleep." Naruto pushed Blake onto her side in a playful manner making her hiss but laugh immediately afterward as he plopped down on his side. "Was this your entire plot when you refused to let me spend more for a two-bed bedroom?"

"I am not letting you spend triple the price on a room just because I'm here with you," Blake stated as she just wasn't having that. "It's absurd when we have this much room and space. I won't even get a chance to feel your morning issue!"

"Dammit, Blake!" Naruto took his pillow and pegged the cat faunus, who grabbed hers and returned fire before they both laughed and slowly laid back down to rest.

"Naruto… If we're going to be out here multiple days. I'm going to need clothes, as will you. So, we'll need to shop or…." Blake left the comment hanging as she didn't want to go back and confront her team right now.

Not until she could prove Weiss was wrong or that she was, unfortunately, right.

A clone popped into existence before heading out to complete his task. "I'll get them, no worries… Hope you don't need any laundry done."

"We have set days, so I'm good. Mine is on Mondays and Thursdays, so I'm good for now… You might not be. You're about to find the same thing Yang did in my drawer."

"Why do… You know, on second thought, it makes sense, never mind." Naruto started before he realized she was in a room with three others, and hiding things like that would need to be in a spot specifically for her.

"Good stress relief… Especially when Weiss or Yang get on my nerves." Blake answered anyways, making Naruto choke as she closed her eyes. "But now… Going to need to get a new one… Something larger."

Naruto growled before sighing and shaking his head, now he needed to get that image of his head. "Perverted cat… go to bed."

She was doing this on purpose!

"Mhm… Night."

"Night."

---

Finding what he was looking for, Naruto, in cloaked gear, took the alleyway entrance from the street they were on, with Blake following close behind. The clone had made a short stop at a shop and had picked up a cloak for her as well, and after some cuts, it wasn't too long for her.

It would be harder to identify the individuals if both were cloaked. If one was visible, it was still possible to determine who the other was, and Blake was a known student of Beacon. Therefore, identifying the other cloak figure wasn't as tricky. And considering she was a possible target of the White Fang, there was even more of a possibility that she might align herself with the celebrity faunus if for nothing else than protection.

Was viable, though, from what Naruto thought of those who knew who Blake was.

"What are we looking for here?" Blake questioned as she knew they were gathering information… "This doesn't seem to be where you would get any kind of info from."

"Looks can be deceiving," Naruto explained as he noticed a few homeless on the sides and tossed a few liens to each of them as he walked by. "I don't expect to find any major criminal activity here. What I expect is to be pointed in the right direction because I know some of these people."

Blake caught that last statement and frowned as they came to a door, and for the first time outdoors, Naruto revealed his hood. So, doing the same, she watched as Naruto knocked on the door to hear a gruff voice open it and what seemed to be a rough, grey-haired man with tattered clothing answered the door. "Yeah, what do you fancy guys want? Best buzz of as we want no trouble!"

"Not here for trouble. Looking for some friends and wanted to see if they were out." Naruto responded honestly. "Is Mahony Bran currently here? Can you tell him Naruto Uzumaki is looking for him if he is?"

The gruff older man narrowed his eyes and sniffed the air a few times before calling into the building. "Yo, Mahony! Got two people out here looking for ya! A strong-looking blonde fox and a lithe little black cat!"

"Wait, I'm not…." Blake tried to counter and state her case.

"Oh yes, you are girl. Can't fool my nose." The gruff man tapped his and grinned before unraveling and wagging a tail behind him. "This old bloodhound still has his sniffer, and it has never failed me before."

"Can't blame you for wanting to hide. Enough shit to deal with as is." He commented before a loud voice echoed from inside.

"YO! LET THEM IN, RUSTY!" Naruto grinned at hearing the big man's voice coming from the inside as the dog faunus, Rusty, moved to the side to let them in.

"Ya heard him, be quick about it, though. Old bones ain't as good as they used to be!" Rusty waved the two in.

Naruto walked in with Blake tepidly following behind before Rusty closed the metal door behind them. It was what he expected. Not much, rustic and a little rusty. No pun intended, as the building was old and ran down, but they were doing what they could with it and everything they could with the space. It was extraordinarily cluttered and crowded.

The small room they entered was little more than a small hallway that was no more than five by ten to enter the building, and it had a stool for Rusty to open and seemingly guard the door. Yet there were three other people here, and two were faunus kids playing a little board game while what looked to be their mother was standing over a pot and getting ready to cook lunch.

And they barely stepped in, and he could feel the number of people in this place and knew it would only get more cluttered and crowded.

"This is my daughter and kids," Rusty mentioned as Naruto and Blake stopped at the scene and could see people littered throughout the rest of the building. "We all have fallen on hard times here and do what we can to help each other… I keep watch and use my sniffer to ensure no one gets in unawares and takes anything."

"Why would anyone…." Blake started, but Naruto held out his hand as he knew otherwise, as he had seen it already.

"Debt collectors, loan sharks, corrupt yet law-abiding businessman…." Naruto growled as he answered for Rusty while he watched the kids play the board game.

He thought he saw Yang trying to get all of team RWBY to play recently. Believed it was called Grimm Eclipse or something like that. He didn't recall the title, to be honest.

"Through lawful means, they are allowed to take and take until the people they are taking from just don't have anything more to take from and leave you with nothing left. First, it starts with money. Then when it runs out, they start getting testy and come for your things. If you refuse, they'll use the court orders to come to get it and hire law-abiding goons to come to take it until you have no things left until they get what they think they are owed back, plus interest for everything they've had to spend to get what they were owed back."

"Then finally, if it isn't paid up even after they have taken all your possessions, including your place of living… They'll come for you." Naruto finished with a low growl filled with hatred as he watched these on the streets over the last two months as he learned more about Remnant and its laws.

He was repulsed. One of the few benefits of being a Huntsman was that they had near free reign if they were under contract for a job, it pertained to their job, and they had indisputable evidence to prove it. Long as they reigned in their collateral and didn't do more harm than good, everything was fine.

Naruto was going to push that notion as he would do good. But there would be a lot of harm to the people higher up who didn't want their power taken from them.

And he didn't care.

They were abusing their power, and ever since Gato...

He despised men and women like that!

"That's basically it…." The mother stated as she stared at the pot, she was starting her meal with a forlorn expression. "That is everything that has happened over the past two years…."

"Aryl," Rusty commented as he looked sadly at his daughter as he knew his daughter's difficulty in her life.

"Naru'o!" A loud squeaky howl broke Naruto's attention, and to his surprise, a slightly less thin Vajo rushed into the hallway and nearly jumped the fox faunus. "It's good to see ya! Though' you were a go'er!"

"I'm made of too strong of stuff for that wimp to even do anything to me… He nearly killed himself, to be honest." Naruto responded as he gave a soft hug back to the faunus before they broke it up. "Good to see you, Vajo… Staying warm?"

"Yeah! Been off the st'ff for a who'e mon'h now!" Vajo jittered, but the shaking was far less than he remembered. "Fi'st few weeks were re'lly hard, but this la't week been g'eat! I've never felt better!"

Noticing even his talking was even better as it was possible due to how badly the drugs were messing with him and how much less he was shaking, Naruto smiled. This was a much better version of Vajo.

"Vajo!" The little boy of the group noticed the wolf and grinned. "Do you want to join us?"

"May'e here in a bit! Gotta ca'ch up!" Vajo grinned before a much larger presence made himself known as he stood just outside the small hallway they hadn't exited.

It was really cramped in there now.

"Good to see you, Naruto… Figured you might see what we have going here and… See what to do." Mahony smiled at the blonde faunus before looking at his current outfit, seeing similar attire for bounty hunters in the past, and knew this was more of a business affair. "So, what do you need?"

"I was coming to see if you point me in the direction I needed to go… But I think I may have found it." Naruto spoke, letting his intuition lead him as he looked at Aryl with concern.

Taking a deep breath, as this was recent and even he couldn't do anything with all his strength, Mahony sighed while even Vajo, with his nervous energy, sunk against the wall and was even less bouncy as the bronze man spoke. "Do you want to tell him, or shall I take him to where we can talk about Aryl? He can help. He is a Huntsman and what they did this time was not legal."

"And everything else was?! When they took nearly everything, my husband and I owned and left my family with was?! All because we couldn't afford the loan we took out on his medical bills!" Aryl snapped as her body shook with rage, and tears filled her eyes, a feeling Blake knew all too well from recently. "I just can't… Nothing matters anymore… There isn't anything we can do about this…."

"The men in Grimm masks came and took daddy away!" The boy, who tried to get Vajo to play with him earlier, cried as he jumped up and grabbed Naruto's cloak. "Mommy, grandpa, and uncle Bran tried to step in, but a man with red hair walked in with his friends… And said some words, and daddy walked away with him… Daddy would never go with them! He hated them!"

Blake's world froze as she heard the child's world. She knew what he meant by saying bad men in Grimm masks. It was someone from the White Fang. She wanted to argue it wasn't Fang as that wasn't how they operated, but times were changing, and maybe if they were working with a human like Torchwick, as Naruto thought…

They needed Dust and Lien, so if they were paid enough, maybe…

But why would he be the one doing the job? Unless…

Unless he thought that she could be hiding here as it was a community of humans and faunus alike! Her world dropped as she realized the people in this room could very well have been killed if this had only been a day before she had been seen at this place.

Blake's body trembled. Her teeth rattled nervously as she ground them together. Beads of sweat started to drench her clothes beneath her cloak. Her eyes dilated in and out while she looked around in a blind panic. She needed to escape.

She needed to run! Flee and save herself! To save her friends from this pain!

To save her newfound and possible love interest...

"BLAKE!" Naruto called out to his partner to get her attention and drew her eyes snapped to see his blues, and she looked into his eyes. "I know what you are feeling right now! I get it. He was here! We will deal with that after this. Stay with me, okay?"

Her world slowly started to move once more as she gazed into her stern but warm eyes that conveyed strength and the willingness to stand beside her. Taking a deep breath, she nodded. "Thank you."

"So 't you he was looki'g for? Man, he was sca'y, but we wou'd have gi'in ya to him." Vajo quickly read the situation before shivering at the man's presence. "Fi'st person to ma'e me thi'k Sill wasn't the wo'st I've met…."

Pushing past that line that bothered even him, Naruto pulled out his notebook and began to write in it as he started talking to Aryl. "What is his name? Who was the debt owed to? They are now key witnesses to a search and rescue as if they paid the White Fang to be involved… It's not only a crime. They also may know where they could have taken him."

"Desmond Hunt… But I don't have anything to pay you…." Aryl stated as all search and rescues had to be paid out of pocket if they weren't gone for longer than a few days or if the disappearance could be explained, as in this case, it would be simple.

Joined the White Fang.

Case solved. Her mate was blacklisted as a terrorist when he was one of the gentlest people she knew and hated what the current White Fang stood for.

"Pay is negotiable to whatever I deem fit for the mission." Naruto finished writing the contract in his book and handed it to Aryl. "Please read and sign."

"But I… Wait…" Aryl started as she didn't have anything, but as the contract was very simplistic, it was a quick read at a glance. "This can be right… That's…"

"Please sign," Naruto stated once more simply.

"Fuck I'll sign it!" Rusty said as he took the contract from his daughter and signed his name on it. "It was the bastards from the Rainbow Hotel and Bar and their damn loan sharks! Bring back my damn son-in-law so he can hug his son and daughter!"

"Then it is agreed upon for the price of one lien that my partner and I will find Desmond Hunt and return him safely to his current place of residence. You have my word." Naruto took the contract and scanned it with his scroll before uploading it and sending it to Ozpin to be loaded into the board.

Sliding the notebook and scroll back into his pockets beneath his cloak, Naruto gave the nod to both Mahony and Vajo as Blake looked on in stunned awe at the scene before her. "Mahony, Vajo, it was good seeing you both… You'll probably see a lot of me over these next few months if they don't revoke my license for what I'm about to try and do these next few months."

"Good luck. Man, we'll be rooting for you." Mahony stated from his spot.

"Get t'em and bring him ba'k!" Vajo growled out with a grin.

Turning to Blake, Naruto gave her a soft smile before sliding his hood on. "Are you ready?"

Taking her cue, Blake slowly nodded and flipped her hood as Rusty opened the door for them. "Stay safe, you two… They're not above using whatever they can get to use against you."

"Thanks for the head up." Naruto gave a wave before he and Blake exited and returned to the alleyway with a new goal in mind.

"Alright, let's see where this leads us to…." Naruto commented before turning to Blake as they slowly started to make their way down the pathway. "Do you need to talk about it?"

"We can do so in the morning," Blake answered and smiled in return at Naruto for checking in on her. "I will need to, but for now, let's stay on task."

"Okay… Time to bust some heads and get some information."

---

"Would never think of this place as a hotbed of crime, would you," Naruto said out loud as they looked at the Rainbow Hotel with Blake, and it was a rather impressive seven-story hotel that was brightly lit up in the colors of the rainbow in descending color.

Starting from red at the top and moving down from orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet at the bottom.

"Oh, what all have they been doing?" Blake asked curiously, as she knew Naruto had been doing some digging in Vale and was curious.

"Mostly money laundering, assault, and batteries for when people don't pay up." Naruto started listing the expected crimes one would immediately think of. "But then there is the stuff that is hidden behind the scenes… Drug trafficking and distribution. Turning most of the men that can't make their debts into cronies… So be gentle on the ones that hesitate to fight back or flat our run."

"Got it." Blake nodded, took a breath, and was about to walk in when Naruto stopped her, revealing there was still more to tell.

"The worst is yet to come… And I only learned this recently, and I've been waiting for a chance to bust in on them on any technicality Huntsman could use." Naruto held his head down as the fury burned brightly in his eyes. "They… Sell the woman the failed to meet their debts for sex in a locked brothel beneath the hotel."

Blake's face temporarily paled at what happened beneath. It quickly returned as his face flushed a deeper shade as rage built, and her golden eyes shined in the neon lights of the hotel they stood underneath.

How dare they do something so heinous?

"One of my clones finally just got access down there recently, and let's say… I'm so glad this came about as I was waiting for a reason to kick down these doors and take these guys down." Naruto had an almost sadistic smile as he couldn't wait to get to the top floor as he knew the boss would be in at this hour.

He was a night owl and loved the party rocked on the top floor.

"Guns blazing?" Blake stated as she took off the cloak and tossed it to the right side as Naruto followed her example on the left.

"For you, maybe. I'd blow the weak one's limbs off with mine." Naruto commented as he withdrew Shattered Dreams from its sheath that he kept on his back. "Remember, shots to the arm and legs to wound them."

"I've done things like this before, don't baby me! We're the same age!" Blake yowled before rushing to the door with Naruto at his side. "Let's go!"

Shattering through the glass and rolling through as Naruto just landed and held out both of his hands, he loudly proclaimed to every staff member in the building. "Ladies and gentlemen. I am Huntsmen Naruto Uzumaki! Every staff member here is currently under investigation and is now requested to assist! Those who refuse will be arrested for money laundering, cases of assault and battery, suspected of drug trafficking, forced labor, and forced prostitution!"

"I appreciate those that choose to cooperate with our investigation!" Naruto stated as several dozen armed guards rushed and surrounded him and Blake. "However, those that do not will be met with swift justice and be prosecuted with the full force of the law behind it after a very, very lengthy hospital stay! I would suggest you accept my offer as it benefits you entirely to cooperate as I'm only here for your boss!"

"No?" Naruto stated as no one stepped up while he brandished his hunter's license via his scroll before pocketing it and giving a shrug. "Well, we'll have to do this the hard way. Ready?"

"I was born ready!" Blake yowled as Gambol Shroud transformed into a kusarigama form.

That was all it took, and the goons fired, but they were too slow, and Blake struck with an arcing kusarigama swipe that knocked everyone back as Naruto jumped and she rushed by all the gunfire. Transforming Shroud back into her sheath blade form, she smacked the first goon down with the blunt end before rolling over the next and kicking the next in the head before transforming Shroud one more time to wrap the guy and nastily spin him until he crashed into a fourth.

Naruto spun in his jump and landed back on his feet soon as Shroud passed underneath him. Taking a deep breath and letting the oxygen fill his lungs, his eyes went feral as they turned into a blur, one guard out with a blow to the back of Dream's handle while grabbing another guard's skull and simply tossing him out of the building through a window.

Bullets rained down from above, but she dodged by activating her semblance and using her shadow clone and dropped the two stunned goons by slamming them down with her entire body weight into the ground before leaping back into action and turning the Shroud into its pistol form as she continued to run and fired three shots at the balcony above, taking out the lights from above them and stopping them from shooting and making the guards yell as they jumped over as they came crashing down.

Reflexively blocking a baton with Dream, it simply sliced through like butter, but he stopped it before it could do any harm and punched the guard out with a strike to the temple. Holding his arms out beside him as two guards rushed him, he caught them in the air with simple wind pressure before simply blasting them back with pure natural chakra.

He didn't even need to use a Jutsu on these guys…

Blake was on top of the guys soon as they jumped from the balcony and kneed the first one into the wall behind him before taking a page out of Naruto's book and dropping the next with a straight punch. Transforming Shroud back into kusarigama, she took several others' feet out from underneath them as she continued her push and drove her knee into one's sternum and the ground before rolling and hitting the next guy, who was trying to get up with an elbow to the face.

She would have continued her sprint, but Naruto tossed another into him. Many of the others started backing away, looking terrified at how many had just effortlessly beaten down. Most started running, and for this reason, this irritated Blake despite remembering what Naruto had stated earlier. "Cowards!"

"Enough of them! Time to head up!" Naruto grunted as he grabbed two more by the head, and Blake stopped just for a second as she swore and hit them with a wrestling move known as a DDT before quickly rolling to his feet.

That couldn't be… Naruto wasn't a fan of wrestling…

Did his world even have wrestling?

This wasn't the time for that thought, and they both rushed for two entirely different things. She went to the elevator while he went for the stairs. "What are you doing? This is faster?"

"What, no, it isn't. This is the faster path… Oh… Hold on." Naruto started before starting to realize what he had said.

"I don't have light-speed reactions, Naruto! Get on the elevator!" Blake yelled as she hit the button and crossed her arms as she glared at her partner in this endeavor.

"That still horrible ideal… They can cut the power, and then we'd have to climb up, and I can just run up walls. Can you?" Naruto stated, and Blake blinked before cursing.

"Fine! We'll take the stairs!" She hissed as she rushed over and joined him as they started their ascent. "Fucking ninja bullshit!"

"Yeah, yeah. I know!" Naruto as they quickly ascended the first flight of stairs and made it to the indigo floor.

"Well… It's theme properly…." Blake commented that the lighting was indeed indigo colored while they ran down the hallway to get to the next set of stairs before a group of bodyguards jumped before them. "But this is also a fire hazard! The stairs should all be in one spot to the top so people can get out safely! It goes against all regulations! How did this building ever get approved!"

Blake flipped past the first two as Naruto hammered their skulls into the floor with his bare hands before she laid out the next two by sliding between their legs, tripping them, and allowing Naruto to elbow drop the back of their skulls. "You do watch wrestling! Did they even have that in your world?!"

"Yes, actually!" Naruto responded by jumping up and running with Blake as they continued to the end of the floor. "But it was different and not fake like it is here! It was an actual combat circuit where they didn't use chakra in any capacity. Some ninja trained for it! Hell, the Heavyweight Champion was one of the Five Kage and one of the strongest people in the world! It was crazy! I got some training in some of their moves right before the war broke out as they were trying to keep me distracted since they didn't want me to know about the war and keep me safe!"

"What was your world?!" Blake yelled as he decided to try the elevator once more, and Naruto didn't press as he was curious this time and waited for the door to open, and she looked inside. "The elevators are the same way! They only got up one floor at a time! This is a death trap!"

"Or a gauntlet to ensure no one could ever get to him easily unless they were VIP!" Naruto pointed out the VIP elevators before he had an idea. "Do you mind riding me?"

"Could you have phrased that better?" Blake sighed and hung her head as she felt this payback.

"Not after everything you've been saying!" Naruto grinned, and Blake's bow twitched as she realized that was revenge as he ripped the elevator doors open. "The shaft is nice, long, and hard for you! Seems extra thick too! And what's this?! Plenty of lubrication!"

"Fuck you!" Blake yowled while joining him at the elevator while Naruto pressed his advantage, and she looked on up as a mighty blush adorned her face. "Please tell me I'm on your back at the very least."

"My jokes go only so far, Blake." Naruto looked up and took a survey of the shaft. "I'd say…."

"There they are!"

"Well, time to hop on!" Naruto called out as bullets started raining toward them, and Blake jumped on his back, climbed up, and started sprinting up the shaft. "Hopefully, the elevator…."

"Is above us!" Blake called out with her eyes widened as she watched in horror, seeing it coming down quickly. "Did they release the breaks on it?"

"There is no way they knew we'd be coming up this way!" Naruto roared as he formed a Rasengan as he saw the fifth-floor door. "Blowing the door!"

Shredding through the door, Naruto and Blake tumbled through onto a new floor as the elevator blew past. Looking around them, they could see they were in a casino as people ran from their entrance. He was surprised no one was hurt from the Rasengan shrapnel, so he would call that a win in his book.

Standing and helping Blake to her feet, Naruto noticed something immediately different as only three guards came towards them, all of whom were females in color-coordinated combat dresses. "These girls have stronger than normal aura… Possibly failed huntresses at one time."

"I can sense it… Paying off good bodyguards must take a lot of money! The bastard!" Blake yowled as she pulled out Gambol Shroud once more and was ready to go. "You have a color preference because the Cyan bitch is ticking me off with her glare!"

"Take her! I'll take Gold and Silver!" Naruto called out as he drew Shattered Dreams and rushed forward as Blake transformed Shroud and forced Cyan to leap back from her slash.

Cyan kept stepping back as Blake forced her back with repeated slashes from Shroud's kusarigama form. She was trying to hit her with the blade, yet, she wanted to get up against the wall first when she could strike.

That was suddenly broken as Cyan spun straight through Blake's slash into a dance-like motion and, with a slicing kick, caught Blake by the cheek and knocked her to the floor. Blake quickly rolled as she attempted to finish her was made as the girl tried to stab her stomach with her heel before she flipped onto her feet and carefully gauged her opponent as she wiped the blood from her left cheek.

"Bladed heels?"

Naruto slid between the delicate woman and grinned. "Say, girls, it's a bit windy in here."

"Futon: Daitoppa (Wind Release: Great Breakthrough)," Naruto whispered as he concentrated on the wind beneath him, and with a burst of chakra, gale force winds surged upwards and caught the girls off guard and sent them flying.

On the other hand, he stayed firmly planted thanks to applying chakra to his feet. Step one completed.

Tracking silver as she tried to regain balance while also protecting her modesty as her combat skirt was flying upwards, Naruto jumped and delivered a powerful kick that sent her soaring through the casino and crashing through several roulette tables before he gave chase. As he neared silver's downed body, as she tried to get up felt the presence of gold and quickly brought Dreams up and caught her heal with the ring of the kunai.

He could only back his face up another two inches as the hell extended into a longer blade.

Snapping the blade with a flick that sent her spinning and tumbling onto her partner, Naruto was a little surprised. "Bladed heels that extend? Neat."

Transforming Shroud into its wakizashi form, Blake stood up and held her blade at her side before beaconing Cyan to make her move. She was patient. She could wait for her.

It seemed the dancer was not the sort that could wait and began her spinning routine again, but this time she was ready and easily blocked the strike before countering with a slash that struck and sliced Cyan's cheek open, startling the woman. "We match now."

She did not like that spun one more time, but Blake quickly countered and cut her opponent's other cheek with simplistic ease. "You're a one-trick pony, aren't you?"

Cyan's eyes glistened in rage, and she tried to step towards Blake to make a kick, but with a quick transformation, her heel was caught in the kusarigama form and sliced right off. And then, with a spin of her own, Blake slammed the back of Shroud into her opponent's neck, dropping her to her knees before she fell unconscious on her side.

"All show and no substance… Is this a Naruto or a Yang trait? …They're both rubbing off on me too much."

"Girls, girls," Naruto stated as they slowly stood up and glared at the black-clad ninja wearing orange boots. "As much as I enjoy this menage-a-trois, I am really not interested. I haven't even touched my current partner, and you girls lack her stamina and finesse, so I must bid you adieu."

That hit a nerve, and both girls struck forward with their heels out.

Step two completed.

Ninja wire wrapped around their ankles and lifted them into the air high above, and they both cursed as their skirts fluttered and tried to reveal what lay underneath. They were too panicked about trying to keep their dresses from showing even to try and escape the trap.

And step three was completed.

And Naruto simply whistled as he tightened to wire. They wouldn't be getting out of that any time soon.

"Rule number one, girls. Always look underneath the underneath."

Joining Blake at the stairs, noting she was applying some first aid to her left cheek, Naruto knew it had to be the heel as that was a bit of a surprise even for him. "Almost done."

"Two more floors… Think anything will be on the next floor?" Blake commented with a slight grin as they started running up the stairs.

"Well, considering this is a hotel, I think we're good unless they got stronger guards," Naruto replied as they moved onto the orange floor after sprinting up the stairs. "What possibly can civilians have? … Blake?

She skidded to a halt, an image from the last thing she saw before she left Adam alone on the train standing before her. And it had also haunted her in real life, not just her nightmares.

"A Spider Droid?!" Blake screamed and couldn't believe how a civilian had access to one of these weapons. "Naruto, look out!"

For once, Naruto couldn't sense it. He could not feel the droid as it had no life. It had no chakra or aura. He barely caught the charge of dust particles as he had been focused on Blake even while his senses were active, looking for living opponents.

This opponent was not alive, and he was not prepared for that.

Not here, at least.

It fired its canon, and the blast engulfed Naruto in its light before it exploded and knocked Blake back.

"NARUTO!"

Blake cried out before she heard a poof of smoke and a shattered log rolled into her view as the smoke cleared and while the room was charred from the blast and the spider drone remained.

There was no sign of Naruto at all.

"RASENGAN!"

Naruto shot out from the room to its left, and the blue orb shattered through the top half of the droid, cracking through its armor and drilling it till scrap metal shredded the rooms around it. When it was finished, Naruto let the orb fade, the bottom dropped, and the legs fell to the side uselessly.

"Droids… Hmm, what are they good for? …Absolutely… Woah!" Naruto growled before suddenly he found Blake embracing him by the neck. "What the… Okay, sorry. That was cutting it close. I didn't sense it all and barely got the replacement off in time."

"I'm just glad you are okay!" Blake cried as she was distraught. "Taking a dust-enhanced shot can be fatal with your guard down!"

Not going to argue the point; he probably could have tanked it but would have regretted it as he didn't recover as fast anymore. And that tanking hits he wasn't supposed to be his specialty. Naruto stayed quiet and gave her the quick comfort she needed. "It's okay… I'm fine. We got to keep moving. There is still more to do."

"Right…" Blake sobbed as she slowly regained her composure and released Naruto. "We are going to have to talk this morning…."

"It's our recovery time, so we use it how we need to," Naruto stated as his eye focused as he noted four more droids walking down the stairs. "So, care to guess how a civilian gets their hand on these?"

"Not through any legal means," Blake growled as her sorrow turned to anger, and she suddenly was simply a clone as she burst forward using her semblance.

"My thought exactly!" Naruto rushed forward to me the small line of Atlesian Knight 130s, better known as AK-130s.

Blake reached first, and with Shroud still in sheath mode, she cleaved the first one's head clean off, as it was still a cleaver in this state and meant to cut through metal. They next tried to summon its melee weapons, but she was quickly on it and disarmed with two quick strikes before she shoved it into the ground and transformed Shroud into a pistol. She stepped on its chest and hissed as she fired into its skull repeatedly.

Naruto sliced through the first's neck with Dream before he finally flicked the switch, and it transformed into the dual barrel shotgun, and he quickly shoved it into the face of the other before it had a chance to move. "Kaboom."

The blast of orange dust was far more potent than any standard weapon shot as his chakra amped it significantly more. Not only was the head obliterated, but the neck and chest was ripped open from the impact of the blast, leaving twisted, melted metal as the AK-130 fell to the ground.

Both Blake and Naruto left the droids as they walked up the final flight of stairs and made it to the dance floor of what once was a rave of people and was now just a flash of red lights and a mob of goons standing before one man dressed in pure white, standing before the bar.

"You have balls coming in here and calling me out on all these crimes, Huntsman!" The bald man with a black goatee growled out as all his top men held their ground in front of him. "Let me cut you a deal…."

Naruto simply started walking forward, his eyes glinting red from the room's lights. "I do not care for any deal you wish to cut. Tonight your schemes end, and I will get what I came for."

"This is retribution! Your reign ends now!" Naruto transformed Dream back into kunai form as Blake joined him as they stood at the center of the dance floor as the lights flashed around them.

The bald man in the white suit simply growled and slammed his fist on his bar. "Fine! You'll be begging for forgiveness as you watch that slut of yours serve me properly, you fucking animal! The first man to stop him gets a million lien, and the girl, after she's done being used as a cuck tool to prove this Huntsmen's inadequacy to me!"

Blake yowled deeply in her throat and struck, rushing straight for the man. Naruto was on her right, driving his elbow into the black-suited henchmen's throat that tried to get to Blake while she used the Shroud's sheath form and slashed the first henchmen to make it to her with the back side as it was still a blade.

She slid under the next and tried to grab her as Naruto grabbed him and tossed him over his shoulder, across the room, until she started rolling down the stairs. She blocked two stun batons while on the ground, activating them for intimidation factor before a roundhouse kick slammed them back into the more of the friends, and Naruto assisted her up.

"May I have this dance, my lady, since we here on a dance floor?" Naruto grinned with intent in his eyes as he tossed a kunai up and suddenly caught a sprinkler, causing sparks and a small fire to start.

Blake followed his lead as the sprinklers went off at sensors tripped from the fire being so close. She embraced him in a traditional dancing stance as she transformed Shroud into the kusarigama form and carefully wrapped it around them. "Shall we then?"

Naruto grinned as the guards tried to rush them, and with a step into their dance, they easily evaded them and began to spin. Shroud flung towards them. But as it did, droplets of water began to form around it and form a greater but blunt blade made of water as they were all struck back.

"What the hell?!" Many began to cry out as they had never seen such as thing as another group rushed in as the water poured on all of them.

Yet the two danced, and Shroud began to wildly bend to their dance and control, the blade of water getting larger and striking back the next group of henchmen that dared approach the couple like a scorpion's tail. Two more groups rushed, the same result as the blade began to form what looked like a stinger.

And yet they dance and gaze into one another's eyes, entirely focused on one another's movements. They controlled the Shroud together. Blake directed the strikes as she took the guards down, and Naruto focused his water masterly to continue focusing more and more strength until the ground itself cracked from each hit. Together their dance spun the dangerous tail everywhere, lashing it and threatening everything nearby. The tail looked poised to strike anyone near it, striking with deadly precision.

"Get… Get out of here!" The henchmen began to scatter and flee for the elevator and stairs, only to find the latter was out of commission and scurried for their lives to the only safe place.

"Where are you going?!" The man in the white suit roared at his men running for their lives despite feeling slightly stunned and terrified at the sight unfolding before him. "You're the ones I pay for this! Get back here and fight!"

The last few brave henchmen were struck away by one last vaporizing strike of the water began to up around the Shroud, and the dance ended as both Blake and Naruto stared into one another's eyes, Blake's lips tantalizing close to Naruto's.

"So…" Naruto began. "There is a dance next semester…."

"Yes," Blake whispered back before her eyes shifted to a dangerous glint. "But first."

Shroud transformed into pistol mode as they broke their embrace, and with a single shot, a purple blast shot out and hit the bald man in his left kneecap.

"Fuck!" He roared as he collapsed against the bar behind him, trying to stand still. "Wait, listen… I can pay you anything you want."

"You think I want any of your money? After what you said you would do to me and have my partner watch?!" Blake yowled as her yellow eyes glistened in the red light as she watched the man try to limp away on the bar. "You are going to tell us everything, and maybe I won't put a shot into your balls, you limp dick fuck, before they arrest you for everything you've done! No! I feel you deserve at least one for all the women below!"

"Arrest me… Ha, that's rich." The man dared to laugh despite Blake's threat as he stopped trying to limp away as he knew there was no point and used one of the stools to steady himself. "Nothing you have will stick… Evidence will be lost… I'll be out in no time."

Blake growled as she was about to rush him when she was stopped, and Naruto stepped forward and calmly stood before the man. "So, someone higher up has your backing… What if they were to learn about your other little collusion?"

"What are you talking about?" The man narrowed his eyes beneath his sunglasses as Naruto took another step toward him.

"I think it's obvious but let me spell it out for you," Naruto stated as he reached the man with his next step. "It's obvious you have connections with the Schnee Dust Company, and you pay them quite handsomely to protect your assets, and you help push their agenda with the influence you have amassed."

"However, it is quite odd that the White Fang has not once attacked you in all these years, isn't it?" Naruto knelt to stand at eye level with the man in the white suit. "I find that quite fascinating why that can be when you have such an obvious connection. I'm sure you won't mind me doing a little digging."

"Hey, wait a minute, you don't have the power…." The bald man began to stammer when he saw Naruto's toothy grin.

"Oh, but I do. You see, I didn't come here for any of the reasons I stated. I'm here on a simple Search and Rescue, and you happen to be a key witness as a debt collector, so you are one of the first people I have to cross off my list of possible candidates of where he could have disappeared to due to your… legal means." Naruto started with a grin before spitting out the last part with a growl, leaving a sour taste in his mouth.

However, his chipper mood quickly returned as he closed his eyes and smiled, his eyes forming a smile of their own as he grinned and clapped his hands together. "Which means I get to check your ledger to see what his debit is at to see if such a move was even legal at this point and, in the process, have access to all of your other business activities!"

"Wait… No." The man's world began to crash as he realized he had been played, but Naruto wasn't done yet with letting him know how much he would drop the hammer.

"And when I find out all those activities lead to, it will make all the more sense of the eyewitness accounts on the men who cohered one Desmond Hunt to leave with them were indeed White Fang members!" Naruto's gave turned feral, and red lights flickered over them, turning his blue eyes crimson.

"So, are you going to hand over your scroll willingly and give me the last known location of those men, or am I going to have to tear it out of you?! One way or another, I am finding Desmond Hunt!"

"Here, take it!" The man screamed as he scrambled to grab his scroll out of his pocket, unlocking it for him, and handed it over to Naruto.

"Thank you for your cooperation," Naruto stated as he stood up while the man kindly opened his scroll and his ledger pulled for him before he gave her a simple look. "Blake, you're up."

"Wait, I thought… OH FUCK!" The man screamed as he was shot time in the promised region.

"I told you what I was going to do! Now talk, or I will do it again!" Blake hurried towards the man, grabbed him by the collar with the pistol in hand, and pointed to his face. "Where are the Fang? Where are they keeping the victim, Desmond Hunt?! And most of all, where is their leader, the one you most likely dealt with?"

"Where is Adam Taurus?!"

---

"I hate Naruto right now!" Ruby screamed as she finished getting on her Beacon outfit, forced to attend classes officially as Blake was not missing.

Glynda informed them that she and Naruto were out on a mission and that looking for them would interfere. She was severely irritated at the entire circumstance. She was upset with Weiss for instigating the event and had been chewing her out to the point Yang had to separate them. She was worried about Blake for running off and not wanting her help, instead going to another friend for it. And then that friend used his stupid powers to disappear from the face of the earth!

And Naruto... Oh, Naruto was so on her list right now! She knew he had altruistic tendencies, but why did they have to show up now?! "Why did he have to be so… Him! Ugh!"

In a rage, she tossed the ladder to the bunk bed Naruto had just recently made for her and screamed out again. "Weiss, I don't care how much you think you are right! You are apologizing the next time you see Blake! You got that, alright!"

"What?" Weiss started as she was about to try and defend her actions but seeing Ruby's death glare that she had been receiving for quite some time now, she thought twice about her choice of words as there started to be another side to the gentle and kind girl she thought they knew. "Well… I guess I was a little harsh with her but let us not forget what she said! She said she was part of the White Fang all her life!"

"So what?!" Ruby countered and stomped toward Weiss, having enough of her attitude.

"Ah, guys?" Yang tried to get their attention as she flicked on the TV, and their arguing was less important than what she had brought up.

"After spending an entire day looking for them while you complained about what we were doing, saying you were only worried that Naruto was colluding with the Fang, you want to know what I did when we were grounded here and forced to attend classes!" Ruby cried out as he stomped even closer to Weiss, who was backing down from Ruby; she had never seen her this aggressive.

"Well, I don't want his image tarnished. There is no way he could have anything to do with the White Fang and to see him be dragged down into that mess..." Weiss started as Ruby kept going before she slid back, Ruby was right in her face, and her breath was steaming against her face. "Um… What exactly did you do?"

"Hey, guys! This is important!" Yang tried to distract their attention from their fight as she had actively flipped it over to the news for the first time in her life. "Like really important!"

"I skipped all the classes yesterday to study and learn everything I could about the White Fang's history!" Ruby proclaimed as she threw her hands in the air. "And I hate studying. You know that! Do you know how hard that was for me?! How many energy drinks I had to drink to stay awake to do that?! Fourteen! That's why I didn't sleep last night! …Besides still worrying about Blake, but I'm pretty sure it was the caffeine flowing through my veins causing my entire body to shake uncontrollably and causing me to question if reality actually exists or if it all is just some quantum reality made up by fan fiction!"

Calming down as her anger lessened, Weiss understood just what Ruby was willing to do for her team. She was frightened and worried about Ruby's safety as she seemed to be all over the place, but she came to an understanding.

She was very caring and helpful and always wanted to do the right thing.

A trait she shared with a blonde fox faunus.

Starting to look crestfallen as her mood started to shift, Ruby continued. "And I learned… Everything that Blake said also seems to be true."

At this, Weiss wasn't sure what to think, but Ruby kept going. "I don't know anything about what happened between your family and the White Fang, but I can say is that everything I've read about the White Fang before the change and their old leader… Ghira Belladonna… It seems like it is something he would never stand for and would do everything in his power to keep happening."

"He seems so adored by faunus everywhere for his passive approach but his unwillingness to bend to any demands… To accept anything less than what is deserved for his people and put all his energy into peacefully fighting as he didn't want violence to be the answer." Ruby stated with small admiration that she read what little she could about the man to find.

And everything was positive outside the racist news outlets, which seemed to be intentionally setting fires instead of trying to bring the news to the people…

"GUYS!" Yang finally had enough, stomped over, grabbed Ruby and Weiss by the arm, and dragged them over.

"Hey, Yang, we were in the middle of an import... BLAKE?!" Weiss started as she was deep in thought about what her leader was saying before her eyes saw the TV and the headline

"Sis, what are you doing?! I was trying to get my point… NARUTO?! Ruby complained as she felt she might have finally pierced the ice around the princess when she saw what was happening.

A bald man in a white suit was being pushed into the ambulance with an officer beside him being booked for money laundering, drug trafficking, illegal business practices, forced labor, forced prostitution, and… collision with the terrorist organization known as the White Fang.

And standing there being recorded by dozens of reporters and their camera operators as officers shielded and escorted a Huntsmen and Huntress in-training from the scene as they carried two black objects in their hands.

The title was running across the screen as the news anchors were excitedly talking read 'Prodigy Faunus Hunter and his Huntress In-Training Bust Massively Corrupt CEO.

"Holy shit… Am I right?" Yang finally stated as Ruby and Weiss looked at the news in shock. "And from what we know, that wasn't even the mission they took! …I so can't wait to get my license! Think of all the things we can do! Busting bad guys and bringing them to justice! Oh man, it is going to be so cool!"

"Oh god… Dad is going to be furious." Weiss looked horrified as she knew that man was one of his business partners and shuddered as her crush and friend were now on his radar. "That was a close associate I often saw at the manor. No, no, no. This can't be happening... What am I going to do if he comes after him?"

And he was faunus… This was all going so horribly wrong!

"What now?" Yang was confused by Weiss' mumblings as she seemed lost in her mumblings and was only hearing some of what she was saying.

But seeing her anxiety worried her, and she was about to press, but there was one issue.

That issue was Ruby.

"DAMMIT! I AM SO MAD AT NARUTO!" Ruby flipped the other ladder in the room and started shaking the bunk beds and everything in the room with it due to how violently she was shaking it. "CAN I ONCE BE THE HEROINE?! CAN I HELP MY TEAMMATE?! JUST ONE TIME! AHAHAHAH!"

"Uh, Ruby…" Yang was concerned for her little sister as she had never seen this side of her before.

"Don't you start trying to lecture me to Yang! I'm not a child anymore!" Ruby cried as tears started to flow in her eyes before she grabbed her books. "I'm tired of everyone treating me like I am one! I'm not! I'm training to be a Huntress, just like all of you! I know all the dangers and the risks! I know what I am getting myself into and the responsibilities put on my shoulders. I am aware of it all and am learning so much quickly since all of this is new to me!"

"Yet not one of you is giving me a chance! The only one that tries keeps getting put into situations where he is forced to intervene and do it himself! Maybe I should have never been named team leader or brought to Beacon in the first place!" Ruby screamed as she shoved all her books into her bag and kicked open the door, tears rolling down her face as she didn't care who saw her. "I'm going to class! Fuck off, Yang!"

The door slammed in Yang's face as she tried to rush and comfort her sister, leaving a distraught Yang and a stunned Weiss at what they had witnessed.

"We might need to skip class today," Weiss stated, staring at the scene Ruby left behind and was deeply troubled. "For Ruby's sake. All of this has seemed to leave her in turmoil."

"I agree… I've never seen my sister act this way before... I've always been allowed to comfort her before." Yang blinked before she slunk back over to her bunk bed and plopped down on it. "And it's about a boy… And about us too. I feel like an ass now. I'm failing at my one job as an older sister."

Frowning and cringing as that brought up memories, Weiss shook her head and stood up as she went to grab her effects and get dressed. She had never considered this once in her life before, but...

She was going to skip class. "Yang, grab Ruby's stuff. This is a team matter that we have been letting fester for too long."

"It's time we fixed it ourselves."

---

"Naruto…"

"Is this our routine now?" Naruto questioned as he got up from the bed and looked at the cat that finally decided to lay underneath the covers, this time to protect her modesty; however as she was only in her undergarments as some of the officers were helpful and were doing their laundry for them while they rested.

Unfortunately, all her nightwear clothes needed to be washed, so she was now in this situation.

"How will we get rid of the reporters and paparazzi?" Blake looked up to a bare-chested Naruto with a noticeable blush before her eyes trailed south, hoping to catch a glimpse of something else.

"Hey, eyes up!" Blake cursed before she returned to Naruto's gaze; his eyes narrowed at first before he gave her a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, have that one covered. I'm the one with fucking ninja bullshit, remember?"

Blake had the decency to blush. "That was the heat of the moment… But okay, so what's the plan?"

"My simplest, truest tactic. Shadow Clones and one will transform into you." Naruto explained before grinning. "Now, just in case, I need exact measurements and see what everything looks like…."

"You first," Blake said with ease, making Naruto frown as he was expecting a reaction. "I'll know exactly what shape and size toy I'll need to get..."

"You know… I normally get smacked for that… Don't get me wrong. This is fun in a different kind of way, but… I'm just not used to it." Naruto cracked a smile before rubbing the back of his head.

"I like it," Blake responded as her ears twitched happily, and she closed her eyes and smiled. "To me, it's both a game where we mess with one another and confirm our interests with the other. It helps gauge our interest in one another and see if it's genuine or not. It could be as simple as lust, but if we continue to show intent for an extended period, we'll know it's not. And it's not like he... He just stopped caring..."

"Blake?" Naruto tilted his head and reached out his hand for her.

She gasped at his hand as tears began to spill from her eyes. "At first, there felt like there was genuine interest, and I truly believe there was… But as he changed and became the man he is… He saw me as nothing more…."

"He saw me as a tool!" Blake yowled as tears filled her eyes, but anger filled her voice as she looked Naruto directly in the eyes, her grip tightening around Naruto. "I was nothing but his breeding mare, and I was so much more!"

It would have hurt most people, but he wasn't most. He gave her a comforting smile as he brought his other hand in and gently rubbed her hand. This action seemed to inform Blake of what she was doing, and her grip slacked immediately, and she looked solemnly at the bed beneath her. "It's why I can't… I don't want this… To go fast. I want to see if this is…."

"To see if this is real." Naruto finished for her as he cupped her hand in a comforting manner. "Don't worry. We'll go as slow as you want even when I feel like I'm ready, okay?"

Blake's lips curved as she sat up, letting the blank pool around her bra be visible before she placed a soft and gentle kiss on his lips. "Thank you."

Retreating under the blankets, she laid her head softly on the pillow and closed her eyes. "They better get back with our clothes… As much as I play… I'm not comfortable with nearly being naked in front of you."

Naruto grunted in agreement as he laid back down. "Well, at least your problem is still covered. I have an access hole, and my problem can decide to extend past it if someone decides to be mischievous and plays too hard."

Blake grinned, and Naruto did not like the knowing look that crossed her face at the same time, she looked down again, and a purr began to vibrate the bed. "Oh? Is that so... So, you're saying I should…"

"Blake Belladonna, if I'm exposed, you are going down with me," Naruto growled at the cat faunus lying before him.

"I'll be good." Blake pouted but relented before she sighed contently. "Good night, Naruto."

Naruto smiled as he let his eyelids close shut. "Good night, Blake."

---

"Can I learn any of that because this just isn't fair?" Blake complained as they found themselves in a familiar shipyard from before, frowning as they saw no one here the night before, but this was where they were told everyone would be.

"My techniques, no. Chakra and aura evolved too differently." Naruto answered honestly, as there was no way she could ever make a Shadow Clone the same he could, as hers were too different. "That being said, I think there are things that translate since Aura control is similar in practice. In theory, they have some similar functions, so it might be possible to learn control methods at least and vice-versa. I could learn how to project and protect myself with my chakra. You and I would have to test them out as I'd only feel comfortable teaching them to you… Ren, too but that's because everyone else is too hyper, has an agenda, or needs to work on other things before I consider teaching them."

"Really?" Blake raised her eyebrows at realizing he'd be willing to try and teach her and thought it might be possible to teach her some things. "As much as I said, I don't want you to be a work-a-holic…."

"We're using our…:"

"No we are not!" Blake immediately hissed, and her eyes narrowed as she immediately stopped Naruto as soon as he started those words. "I need that time. You don't understand how much I need to get away from that energy… All three are extroverts and want to be out all the fucking time… Only Yang has started to meet me halfway despite her tendency to be the worst of the bunch when dragging me around town… Not to mention her tastes are bad for indoor activities... Ruby's are at least acceptable even if her music is too loud."

"The game looks like fun. You should give it a try, and I mean an actual try." Naruto stated as he grinned at Blake's annoyance before hearing something in the wind. "Well, well, well… Looks like someone was right."

"You're kidding me." Blake squinted but could see a Bullhead coming in the distance, followed by multiple more. "Not only did he have info on Desmond, but he gave us correct information that Roman would be here tonight, of all things?! How deep was this guy into the crime network?!"

"Waders deep in the shit, I'd say," Naruto growled before reminding Blake. "Remember, Desmond is supposed to be one of the recruits they are forcing to come along on this mission. My clones should be easily able to get him out before we get there but just in case…."

"I want Torchwick!" Blake yowled loudly as her eyes focused on the center Bullhead and she focused on her target. "Why the hell is a human commanding the Fang? This doesn't make any sense!"

"Times are changing, Blake," Naruto whispered, and she began to calm down as he finished. "Something big is moving, and I think it may cause all this… And that's why Oz is a prick puppet master. Fucking asshole."

"Still going for him." Blake saw the orange hair man as the Bullhead landed before her golden eyes scanned through the Fang members, searching for someone in particular. "Silently… Can you figure out which fang member is… How does your clone do that?"

In a secluded spot, a brown-haired dog faunus trudged alone and away from everyone else. He looked extremely nervous and fidgety as he looked around, went to a crate, and started hooking it up. He didn't even have a weapon, unlike the rest of the members. He kept messing with his Grimm mask as if it was bothering him.

It looked like he didn't want to be there.

And in an instant, a shadowy hand gripped him by the mouth and silenced him. He was dragged into the shadows and vanished before anyone noticed he was gone. No traces of the faunus had ever been there besides the hook aligned perfectly on the crate, stout and robust.

Naruto grinned as Blake's eyes widened, and her hair stood on the back of her neck. "That's because you're up here with me watching it and knowing what to look for… Not down there where the assassin is ready to commit the deed."

"You didn't answer how you knew it was him." Blake frowned but also had fearful respect that was true; she would not have seen that coming from below.

And that scared her how easily he could blend into the shadows, and faunus see at night, and it just didn't matter!

AND HE WORE BRIGHT FUCKING ORANGE HALF THE TIME!

"Emotion… He didn't want to be here. My clone could feel that he hated every second of being here while everyone else believed in what they were doing. Since my clones know the same things and feel the same things I do, I'm sure that is why he made that judgment and picked him." Naruto stated. "You ready… Be careful. I sense another presence here besides the Fang and Roman, so be prepared for an ambush."

"Do you think it could be?" Blake asked worriedly as her thoughts drifted.

"No." Naruto smiled and gave Blake the comfort she needed before this mission. "From what you told me of him… This is, fortunately, a weaker presence, but it feels like something to be worried about if they are lurking about and wandering aimlessly… It's off-putting, and my clone following it feels like he hates it. I'm just going to command him to go in… I don't like it."

"Alright, that's a bad thing," Blake stated as that couldn't be anything good if something with Naruto's personality was not having a good time with just the following someone. "Let's be quick then."

"Agreed, silent and fast." Naruto agreed as he jumped into the shadows of the shipping crates and vanished.

Blake jumped in, using the darkness of the crates as she went crate to crater to stay silent. The Fang members were attaching the dust crates to the bullhead as Roman directed them and made Blake growl lowly in her throat, but she had to be quick.

"Come, be quick about! No, not like that! It will fall out into the ocean if you do it like that!" Roman complained as he wanted them to hurry but do the job right.

One strike to the back of the neck, and it would be over.

Rushing towards Roman, he would never know what hit him as she struck the back of his… Shattered glass neck?

Why was his entire body shattering into many shards of glass scattering all around her, blocking her sight from sight in an oddly beautiful display? What was this?

Wait! She recalled this in Naruto's notes from before! About how he would escape from Huntsman and Huntress when they had him cornered! But how did he know they were here?!

She held Shroud before her defensively, and her bow flattened as she listened for anything, but nothing came. She didn't understand what was going on around her. Where was the attack going to come from? Was he running?

What was going on?! And why couldn't she sense anything with all this glass around her?!

"Blake, watch out! My clone was dispersed soon as it attacked! Just a moment ago!" Naruto tried to get to her as he couldn't say anything before without jeopardizing either of their locations with his full speed but realized even with his burst of speed, a blast of red bullet caught him in the chest.

This was an ambush.

They knew they were coming.

"Son of a bitch?" Naruto growled at the explosive shot that knocked him back into and through a crate.

"Naruto!" Blake turned away and saw her partner being caught in an explosion worried her.

That second cost her dearly. She felt something press into her sternum. A gasp escaped her lungs as a sharp jab of stabbing pain ruptured through her chest. She felt blood trickle down and soak into her white blouse as she turned and looked in front of her.

And from the shattered glass formed the short form of a woman who stood half a foot shorter than her with pink and brown hair and a white streak parting the two hair colors. And she held a parasol straight into her chest.

Which held a hidden blade extended straight into her chest.

On instinct, Blake struck her in the face with the hilt of Shroud. The woman was caught off guard by the action and stumbled back while Blake managed to jump backward a few feet, holding her chest and grimacing as her breathing started to labor. "Fuck… Naruto… What the hell is this…."

"She has some sort of illusionary power that extended into the physical world so that everyone can see them," Naruto growled as he stood back up, pulled himself out of the crate, and cracked his neck as he looked at the scene before him with slitted eyes. "Let's switch if you're able…."

"No! She's mine!" Blake screamed as she rushed towards the Neapolitan-colored girl, transformed her Shroud into kusarigama, and whipped around the girl.

"Fuck Blake!" Naruto growled as he tried to get to her, taking Fang every White Fang member out between him and his goal, forgetting about Torchwick as there was a more critical issue to deal with now.

Blake was in immediate danger.

It wasn't like he would escape now if what he felt coming had anything to say.

She casually dodged around and through her strikes. Blake's eyes widened with how fast she was on her and hissed as she tried to move when she saw the parasols thrust toward her wound once more. Quickly transforming Shroud into its sheath form to block it, the ice cream woman grinned as the parasol fanned out, pulled Shroud out of her grip, and had Blake stumbling forward into her before she delivered a staggering kick into her stab wound with tremendous force.

Blood spurt from Blake's mouth as the girl in front of her smirked sadistically, and as she tried to follow up, her eyes widened as there was a cry from above.

"FROM THE HEAVENS!" Ruby's voice echoed as Crescent Rose caught the parasol with her scythe and knocked back the ice cream woman as she flew in from the sky directly above.

As if she had fallen from the Nevermore again but without the Nevermore.

"You weren't even there for that!" Blake cried out as she stumbled backward and landed on her ass while she gripped her chest, blood dripping from the wound as she watched Ruby jump straight for the Neapolitan-colored girl.

"Blake!" Naruto quickly rushed over to Blake as she growled and checked her wound as she panted. "It's deep and now opened up… It isn't fatal, but you need to stay down, or it can be…."

"No, I can still fight…." She tried to convince him that she could keep going as she saw Roman was on his own, getting the last of the Fang to gather the crates despite panicking.

"Blake, stay down," Naruto commanded as he focused on Ruby as she tried to fight the ice cream girl. "We have back-up now."

Blake was about to question that when she heard the sounds of combustion blasts and the swirls of ice and fire, and her eyes rolled. "Not them too…."

"Red!" Torchwick cried out in surprise as he remembered her well. "Oh, this can't end well! We need to hurry this up and get that attached… Where are where the rest of my men?"

Two Fang members were slammed into a crater as a shotgun blast sound was heard and followed by a blast of ice, and Yang and Weiss made their way onto the scene, looking none too impressed by what they had seen.

"Man, this was almost too easy! There was hardly anyone left!" Yang grinned as she punched her fist together before glaring at the auburn-haired man. "So you are the one that gave my sister some trouble, huh?! Time take your ass down!"

"That was probably Naruto doing what he does best," Weiss stated as she held Myrtenaster before her. "So, let's finish this and get this criminal ourselves and let them rest!"

"That's it! I'm out of here!" Torchwick said as he went to get on the Bullhead when a new voice made their presence known.

"I am combat-ready!" A new orange-haired girl showed up and stood on top of a shipping crate, making her entrance known that her friend had made hers.

"Penny!" Both Yang and Weiss cried out and were surprised at her arrival before seeing Ruby fighting an ice cream-colored woman and seeing Naruto holding an injured and heavily bleeding… "BLAKE!"

Both Yang and Weiss rushed over to check on their teammate in Naruto's hands, distraught at the sight before them, and left Penny to deal with Torchwick.

"You've got this, Penny!" Yang called out, and Penny nodded as her emerald eyes gazed at the criminal before her.

"We need to check on teammate!" Weiss cried as she was too focused on Blake after everything that had happened earlier.

She could not let this be how it ended!

"Rodger! I will apprehend the criminal known as Roman Torchwick for Huntsman Naruto!" Penny focused on her target with her eyes glowing with aura.

"Oh, and what are you doing to do, little girl!" Torchwick called the orange-haired girl, and he would soon learn that would be the greatest mistake of his life.

Several metallic blades suddenly shot out of her open back, with wires glistening as Penny called out with her eyes glowing from her internal aura processor. "My friend Ruby came to help her friends capture you, Roman Torchwick. So, with one of my father's permission, I am allowed to use 100% of my power to assist Huntsmen Naruto Uzumaki to apprehend you!"

The blades sang through the wind as they shot out at hypersonic speed, piercing into the Bullhead while the others started trying to lift off with their cargo, but Penny was focused on the one with Torchwick. "You will not be escaping today!"

Planting herself on the ground and locking in her grip, she easily pulled the airship back to the ground as her focus stayed solely on Roman, who admittedly looked a little off-put. "Okay, what the hell is with kids these days!"

"Fuck off!" He roared in annoyance as he pulled for his cane and fired another red flare straight at Penny.

The round exploded on impact, the lines seemed to slacken, and Torchwick cackled as he appeared to have gotten his way. "Too easy… What the fuck?!"

Penny burst through the smoke unharmed and without a burn on her being and leaped straight to the Bullhead using the wires, having used the tension of her wires from before to gain momentum. And with that moment, she kicked Roman directly in the head and launched him out of the other end of Bullhead and into the bay below.

Then her blades all released at once and sliced the bullhead into several pieces just as she exited the other side and landed with a splash into the water below, surfacing with Roman's unconscious body.

Ruby was not having a good time. She took kick after kick to the face. She barely dodged the parasol and the blade extending to stab her in the chest. She would constantly get smacked in the face by the umbrella, which was pissing her off. She wasn't able to land a single hit on the woman!

She was forced to dodge and block, and she could barely get an attack off at attack off of her own! The few times she did, she was countered and punished with a kick straight to her jaw, a hidden blade cutting her cheek open, or the woman spinning around her and smacking her in the ass with her damn parasol as if she was taunting her!

It was as if it was all a game to her!

Watching her twirl her umbrella and spin around, Ruby cried out in frustration.

This was all too much for her to handle!

"Why can't I hit you?!" Ruby cried out in frustration as her semblance activated, a burst of rose petals scattering around her and following her as a hypersonic boom sped toward the ice cream woman. "My name is Ruby Rose, and I will become the world's greatest Huntress and help everyone make everyone smile! Just you watch!"

The woman gave a wicked smirk. This kid was too naive. She would show her how cruel this world was.

Slashing through her opponent and bursting through her with a boom of rose petals, Ruby's eyes widened as everything shattered into glass all around her. It was such a vivid image, yet she couldn't understand it. They floated all around her, but she couldn't feel or see anything else around her. "What is this... I just…"

"Yang, Weiss… Take Blake… I'm up." Naruto commanded as Yang slid underneath her injured partner while Naruto stood up, and Blake was still trying to get to her feet while Weiss stood in front of her, making sure she stayed down.

"Oh no, you don't! You are too hurt!" Weiss made sure Blake stayed down while keeping an eye as she worried as this was not an ordinary opponent before returning to her injured comrade as she was confident in Naruto. "Blake… Soon as this is over… We can talk, okay? I need to explain some things. I think we both do."

Blake's eyes snapped to the white-haired heiress and saw her soft face, the caring looking in her eyes, and the compassion in her voice when she spoke.

There was something different about Weiss now.

Re-emerging into reality directly behind Ruby with her parasol poised to strike the back of her neck went for the kill when a blonde faunus suddenly stood between them, slicing a blade.

And it went straight through her parasol like it was nothing.

Jumping back and watching her parasol drop to the ground in two, Neapolitan looked at the blonde celebrity differently this time. Disposing of the fake wasn't much of a chore. What surprised her was the smoke cloud when it was destroyed like it was some physical illusion. She got the drop on it but now standing before the truth...

This one was far beyond her, and it was time to make her escape. She could not win this fight. Besides, he should have managed to escape by now...

That was until the orange-haired girl jumped from the water below and, with her savior, held unconscious in her grasp. "Huntsman Naruto Uzumaki! I have procured Roman Torchwick for you! Shall I tie him up!"

"Please! A little busy with the real threat at the moment!" Naruto growled as he could feel the woman before him become incredibly incensed at Penny's presence, particularly… Roman being knocked unconscious. And he could feel her aura spike and intensify as if she was getting stronger before his very eyes, becoming visible as the color darkened from pink into magenta.

That couldn't be possible, could it?

This wasn't an anime!

What the hell was going on here?

Did aura or semblance have the ability to change?!

He had sensed she was going to retreat, and he might have let her as they caught Roman, and while she was dangerous, their goals were complete. She didn't feel entirely like a lost cause. However, everything had changed; she was a loose cannon and would fight.

He was sure he might have to resort to more power than he'd like now in the city, even if they were at the docks. Team RWBY was here, and that was not an acceptable casualty if he had to start going that hard.

Neo burst towards Penny faster than Naruto expected, and to his surprise, she got to her first and kicked the robot girl in the face with the back of her heel and launched her off the dock, bouncing her off the nearby dock before she fell into the ocean water below.

"Penny!" Ruby cried as she jumped in after her friend to help rescue her.

Neo tried to grab Roman, but Naruto was on her, and she blocked his kick with both of his arms and flipped him back before trying to sweep him off his feet, but another flip and the distance she wanted was created. She grabbed Roman, and she made a run for it.

Naruto growled. He was not letting them get away, and despite her power boost, he was still much faster than she was and quickly made the gap. He drove his elbow into her chest, sending both flying into a warehouse building, Torchwick tumbling out of her gasp, denting the building in the process. This only incensed Neo as she slowly stood back up, her aura spiking further as her savior took further damage, and her brown eyes looked into Naruto's blues.

She then literally shattered before her fist slammed into Naruto's gut from the right, and she shattered once more and appeared from the right and kicked him in the face, sending him skidding as he wiped the scuff of the blow off his cheek. "Alright then… Really can't sense that at all. That's annoying. Can't even break that with pulses of chakra, either. Weird, doesn't work like illusions of my world."

Taking a deep breath, letting oxygen fill his being as light steam started slightly pulse off his muscles as the skin deepened to a reddish hue. Naruto's feral eyes gazed at Neo as her body began to shatter again, and he drew Shattered Dreams. "Let's do this!"

Sniffing the air, he ducked to the left as Neo appeared, catching the ice cream girl off guard as his weapon transformed before he struck her with a powerful kick that sent her flying into a crate, and then he landed on top of her and fired Dream straight into the middle of her chest. "Say hello to my little friend!"

The container shattered and exploded with all the dust inside, and Neo flew, soaring through, the front side of her seared and burned from the orange blast from Dream. Naruto wasn't done as he grabbed her by the leg midair and slammed her into the ground, only for Neo to shatter on contact. She then appeared and delivered a jump kick to his gut and followed with a spinning roundhouse that caught him on the chin, only for it to break a log in half.

Neo was suddenly pulled underground, caught off guard by something like this, as Naruto flew in from above, trying to stomp on her to end the fight. She shattered again to appear again, grabbing him by the hand, lifting him over her shoulder, and tossing him into and through a warehouse door.

"The hell is this fight!" She is fighting Naruto on even ground!" Yang roared as she sparred twice with Naruto in the two months they had, and she was flattened and trashed each time, and he barely tried.

"He's… He's not anywhere close to going all out… His eyes are still blue, and he hasn't yet mastered his semblance." Blake admitted as she was stunned but caught that Naruto wasn't using his natural chakra.

"He must be fearing collateral then, and that's fair with all the dust around and what they're already doing. A Huntsman's job is to keep collateral down during the job. It's accepted it happens, but too much and a license can get revoked for a while." Weiss realized that must be what Naruto was doing if he wasn't putting everything he had into putting down his opponent.

"Guys! A little help… Penny is really heavy!" Ruby cried as she hung off the dock carrying an offline Penny.

"I'm coming!" Weiss ran over to help Ruby and started to try to pull her over the dock's edge. "What the hell is she made of?! And you need to lay off the cookies, Ruby… I'm slipping… I'M GOING OVER TOO!"

And with that, Weiss splashed into the ocean as all three went into the sea.

"Okay…" Naruto grunted as he stood up and watched Neo strut through the broken warehouse door. "I know this is rich coming from me, but your powers are bullshit!"

Neo simply responded by shattering again and disappearing. "That's what I mean! That right there!"

Before he suddenly fired Dreams right into Neo's chest once more despite the fact she was utterly cloaked and knocked her out of her illusion and back and into the wall of the warehouse. "If I couldn't smell your perfume, I'd be fucked now!"

Neo's eyes snapped wide open as Naruto clued her into how he was figuring out where she was coming from every time she stood back up shakily, her aura slowly beginning to drain as she couldn't keep shielding herself from each of these blows.

"This fight is over. I haven't even been going all out. Not even close. Give up and submit. I just wanted to figure out how you moved just in case you get busted out, and they ever had to fight you again so I can train them properly on how to face you. Believe me, I know that's going to happen… Isn't that right, you three…"

"So, you know we are here?" A voice of a shadowy figure stated as she was flanked by two others on the rafters above, a grin on her face. "And what makes you think we're just going to let you walk out of here now that you know of us?"

"Because I've already won this showdown." Naruto grinned as his skin slowly returned to its natural color before suddenly pulling out a small device and flicking it open. "Do you know what this is?"

Neo's eyes widened as everyone stayed quiet, but a slight, thin grin spread on her face.

This could be fun. Her flavor of life was a little chaos thrown into the mix to spice things up.

She was starting to like this one a little bit. He knew how to play!

"This is a detonator. Do you want to know how many bombs I've rigged this warehouse with?" Naruto continued as no one answered and spoiled his game.

"What?!" The voice of the only main of the group spoke. "You must be bluffing…."

"I never bluff. I was taught to prepare for any situation. I foresaw this outcome, and I've rigged every warehouse just in case, so they're all going to explode… As a precaution, I wasn't sure where I'd end up as I went looking for you as I knew you were here somewhere. I just was a little preoccupied with other things to pinpoint your locations earlier." Naruto stated that he was willing to torch it all down to trap his opponent.

He hadn't anticipated team RWBY showing up, and they were a bit of foil, to be honest, so he was glad they were all outside.

The shadow figure smirked and let out a cruel laugh. "My, my, I do like you. How my master wishes you would join our side instead of that idiot Ozma. That offer stands at all times, just so you are aware. She is willing to give you whatever you desire, no matter the cost. She would much rather avoid facing Fate's champion and prefers if she would stay out of this world's business."

"That idiot only sees what you can do, not what Fate is trying to accomplish, and my master is very aware of this and does not wish to take part in her game... And neither should you, so she wishes to break you free of the chains! So that you may soar free once more unbound by her laws and restrictions!" The shadowy figure announced with passion.

"But I see you still are not aware of these facts... Very well, this day you have won." She announced as her golden eyes burned through the shadows with the passion of the words she had spoken. "Come, we leave. Neo, you and Roman are on your own from now on. You are useless to us. We have bigger plans to accomplish."

Neo's eyes glistened vengefully at these words, and anger boiled in her. Her attention was solely focused on the shadowy woman, and without a second thought, she leaped at her.

And then there was a whisper of flames, and Neo was engulfed by a flare of fire and burst back into the ground. But she still knelt on the floor, air pushed from her lungs heavily as she gazed hatefully at the woman in front of her.

The three shadow figures left, and while Naruto could pursue it, it would not be very sensible now. He was sure he couldn't break them at this time, and he was more worried about Blake anyways. Even with some of those odds felt they wrung true, and if anything…

There was potentially a new ally before him.

"Neo was it…." Her brown eyes snapped in her direction as she remained motionless on the ground, where she was nearly seared. "While there is nothing I can do for Roman, I must do my job as one's actions must be answered for eventually…."

Seeing her eyes still glistening in anger, Naruto gave her compassion. "I understand whatever you two must have been through was painful. Whatever he did for you to earn such loyalty was immense; I respect that and will not infringe on that. What I ask of you is…."

"Will you be willing to help me get back against those betrayed the both of you as I want nothing more than to take them down myself?"

Seeing Neo's eyes consider the offer, Naruto walked over and knelt before her. "In doing so, I am willing to let you walk away from here. No questions asked, saying another three unknown suspects intervened and caused your escape as I had everything outside recorded."

Neo's eyes snapped open at the realization that everything that happened outside had been caught on camera, which would mean she would be a wanted criminal. "Yes, you're going to be a known criminal, but I'm fine with harboring you if you are willing to accept my deal. I need all the allies I can get, and a strong ally willing to fight at my side with the same goal in mind is worth having…."

"And maybe I can get a few years taken off Roman's sentence…." Naruto tried to butter the pot to get the ice cream woman to bite. "No promises, but I'll see what I can do. After all, I have never been against a gentleman thief… He needs to tone it back down closer to his old days from what I've read about him, not to what he is now."

"And I know they'll be coming for him to shut him up if he has anything on them in the slightest... I can protect him." Naruto finished knowing that would be the deal clincher and the process get information from both her and Roman.

Something within her brown eyes snapped, a fire raged within, and the answer was clear. Suddenly, from somewhere he could not understand, a sign was pulled out with the word 'YES' written on it as Neo held it out with determination written in her eyes. He looked a little surprised, expecting a nod or verbal confirmation, but then he realized something.

She never grunted or made a verbal noise during the entire fight.

"Are you a mute?

Neo pointed at the sign.

"Okay then." Then Naruto was just going to have to deal with that. "Can you get to Beacon and find where I stay? That is where we will base our operations for now until I figure something else out."

She pointed at the sign once more.

"Good, see you there." Naruto assisted Neo off the ground, and she was gone in a shattering of glass.

Then he suddenly realized that his relationship would take a significant hit.

"Fuck! I will have to explain to Blake how someone who tried to kill her is now living with me and part of the team."

---

"Blake… I'm so sorry about what has happened… To everything just leading to this." Weiss wanted to cry as they sat in her hospital room, Naruto just having tied her bow and letting them in after her dignity was intact as she had just woken up.

She still didn't want people to see her ears. Only Naruto got to.

"Weiss… I have to apologize as well… For I was wrong as well." Blake's bow lowered as she looked at the heiress. "I've come to some realizations as well, and I've learned that there were some things my father was not in control of and was most likely why he stepped down."

"Blake, what are you talking about…." Weiss started as she was confused. She was just trying to apologize for scaring her teammate off and away. She was trying to bring back up the point and just wanted to drop it, especially after Ruby flipped out on her about it.

But Blake kept going. "I've come to accept that there is a good possibility that there was already a radical faction within the Fang that secretly kept itself out of his sight and the public's sight but specifically was targeting cooperations that were hurting faunus and faunus rights… Like the Schnee Dust Company."

"And when my father finally learned of this and couldn't wash his hands of the blood that stained the White Fang's hand… He stepped down in shame." Blake tearfully announced as she started believing it was why he was no longer their leader. "They were already coming for him to step down for these reasons, to begin with, as his peaceful methods just seemed to slow for the others beneath him, but they worked without bloodshed, and that is what should have mattered!"

"I need to go home… To talk to my father… To confirm this but now isn't the time." Blake quietly stated before she wiped her tears and looked over at Naruto with determination in her eyes. "There is too much work to be done…."

"Yeah, about that," Naruto spoke as he looked at everyone in the room and flipped on the TV to show the new showing everyone news and the new storyline being run. "You all need to train before I take any of you out. ...Things changed, and not for the better. We're all linked now."

Everyone's attention snapped to the TV and what was being run on the report, and they saw images displayed.

Roman being locked up and put into a cop car with Naruto and Weiss standing there talking to the officer in charge.

Yang entered the ambulance with Blake while Ruby was treated for her minor cuts.

All of them being escorted away in a police vehicle to avoid the media scrum...

"As the story is being run, you are all my Huntress' in-training, and if that is the case, you are all way too underprepared, and it is time for me to whip you all into shape… And I'm starting in the obvious place first." Naruto groaned as they were leaving with Roman the press had jumped all over the case, and the officers barely got him and team RWBY out of there in the Ambulance and squad cars.

His attention was squarely focused on Blake, hers was on his as they had talked about it, and she nodded in agreement. She didn't like how easily her opponent had taken her down; if his training could help make it easier to fight on an even page with someone of that caliber, she would take it.

"Hey, I'm TV! … So, it is true! THEY DO GROW A SIZE! AWESOME!" Yang stated proudly before she cupped herself momentarily, causing Naruto and Weiss to face fault.

"The fuck is wrong with you!" Naruto cried from the hospital floor, not moving an inch.

He refused as Blake giggled from her bed.

"That is not something to be proud of! Be more ladylike!" Weiss screamed as she got back up and glared at Yang.

Ruby simply just wondered why they were obsessed with her sister's breasts. Why would they care so much about their size? She understood they produced milk when they had kids and had sex with the one they loved, but who cared about how big they were?

Hers were plenty big enough to do the job they were intended for. What other reason could they be talking about the size?

Unless...

She needed to research now. What did she not know?

"Hello, friends!" Penny's voice came as the door opened, and she came in and waved at the scene that greeted her. "I am better now! All charged up and repaired!"

"You did take one nasty kick from a powered-up Huntress obsessed with protecting what was precious to her," Naruto commented as he finally stood back up before noticing a tall man standing behind her at perfect attention and immediately knew who it was due to his information gathering and realized this was of mass importance.

Or it could be nothing, but he seriously doubted that.

"Oh, Naruto Uzumaki, this is one of my fathers. He would like to talk to you." Penny started introducing the two of them, but he did so himself as he stepped beside his daughter.

"Allow me." The tall man stood beside Penny and gave Naruto a bow that he reciprocated. "The name is James ironwood, headmaster of Atlas Academy and general of the Atlesian Military. It is an honor to make your acquaintance."

"The honor is mine, sir," Naruto responded as this was not someone to trifle with as this person held quite a lot of power in the world and was someone Naruto instantly recognized but allowed himself to be introduced to. "It means a lot for someone of your prestige to visit such a young and novice Huntsmen as me. What is it that you came to see me for, sir?"

Ironwood kept his composure bet internally smirked as the boy was good and he liked him. And he was quick and straight to the point. "Let me keep this brief as I see you are here checking in on your ally after a hard-fought battle and enjoying a well-earned relaxation period before the next mission."

Holding out a card, he handed it to Naruto. "If you ever wish to work for someone that knows what they are doing, give me a call, and we can discuss the details. We shall be staying here until the end of summertime as it is the Vytal festival. If you wish to talk in person and discuss it that way, feel to drop by. It won't be hard to find me with someone of your skill set."

"Penny, you can stay with your friends for the day. Please return by nightfall. Good day everyone." Ironwood stated that before he marched from the room, Penny waved goodbye to her father.

Naruto pursed his lips at the card in his hand as the door closed, and Penny gave out a "Yay!' as she ran over to Ruby and hugged the poor girl with her mechanical strength.

That was indeed something he had not anticipated happening.

"What just happened? And you cannot be considering leaving Beacon, right Naruto?!" Weiss commented before she looked over at Naruto, for she had recognized the man as he had often met with her father due to their positions on the council before she saw the look on the blonde faunus' face. "Naruto, hey, wait for a second…."

"It is always best to consider one's options, and having a friend in high places is never a bad thing," Naruto said aloud while Blake's eyes narrowed as she painfully sat up on the bed and hissed at her partner before he turned and smiled at her. "I'm not leaving, don't get me wrong. I'm going to keep this in my back pocket for now. I'd like to stick this to Oz and let him know he isn't entirely in control here."

"Okay…" Blake laid down but still didn't feel better after watching her new love interest consider an offer to leave the place they were currently staying. "But I swear to…."

"You think I would? Without you after everything we've confessed to one another over these past few days." Naruto commented as the room suddenly went quiet, and all eyes were on them. "Guys, go get lunch… Blake and I need to talk."

"But it was getting good, and I needed popcorn!" Yang started but saw both Blake's and Naruto's gaze. "Oh… Alright, I don't need to be broken and clawed… God."

"Wait… Are you two?" Weiss started putting together pieces, and she didn't like what she was connecting as she looked between the two faunus, one of which she was becoming friendly towards and the other she was building a crush on.

It wasn't fair! This wasn't supposed to be how it went!

Wasn't it supposed to be the princess that fell in love with the street rat and gave up everything to be with him?

"Come on, lovesick girl." Yang grabbed Weiss by the arm. "Penny, stop killing my sister, and let's get some food."

"Rodger that!" Penny let go of Ruby's neck before Ruby gasped for air in relief and then took her hand and dragged her out. "Come on, let's go!"

"Wait, I'm not ready! Hold on!" Ruby cried out in frustration as she was dragged along before the door closed behind them.

Once they left, Naruto noticed Blake's arms were crossed, and she was looking away in frustration. "Seriously?"

"I don't know! With how interested in that offer you just were? I feel a little betrayed after everything!" Blake growled but also sighed as she looked back at Naruto. "Listen, I get it. You function differently than what I'm used to, and this is something I'm just going to have to get used to… But that kind of hurt! It felt like you were just about to walk out on me!"

"I'm sorry," Naruto stated as he sat at the foot of her bed and smiled sadly. "I didn't mean to make you feel like that. I wasn't expecting an opportunity like that to descend from the heavens and fall into my lap… I'll try to be more considerate of your feelings…."

"No…" Blake sighed as her bow flattened, and she shook her head. "Work comes first in this situation, and you're right as much as I hate it. I will have to suck it up since we are both in relationship and work partners and things like this happen right in front of me… But you really wouldn't just leave, right? With Adam…"

"Hell no! I'm hunting his ass down first and foremost!" Naruto growled as he made a promise to Blake and his eyes flickered brightly. "I will give you my word we will find him, and if we can't arrest him… We will put an end to him together. For your sake. Ironwood's ass can wait."

Feeling the surge of care, determination, and raw willpower from Naruto, Blake willed herself to sit up despite the pain and lightly pressed her lips against his. "Okay. Together."

"Well, about that…." Naruto started and nervously chuckled as he scratched the back of his head and his ears flattened. "There might be a… Third member of our team now… With pink and brown hair.

Blake's bow flattened. Further, her eyes glistened with anger and turned feral, and she finally grabbed Naruto by his collar.

And from the cafeteria, the rest of team RWBY and Penny could hear Blake scream. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHE IS PART OF THE TEAM NOW?! SHE TRIED TO KILL ME!"

---

In a small dark, lit room, a man growled as he kept hitting a remote control towards the TV in front of him. He hated the image he saw before him, but he kept watching it as a reminder of why he recorded it.

It would soon serve him well enough.

"Sir! Preparations are finished!" A man wearing a white mask and two bear ears on the top of his head stood at attention as he entered the room.

"Good… I'll be there shortly. Dismissed." The man stated as he continued to watch the video from his seat, positively livid at what he saw as his other hand tapped the hilt of his katana while a red aura began brimming around him.

The subordinate did not need to be told twice and exited the room.

The video in question that kept being played was of the blonde faunus Huntsmen that he had been ordered to track down and recruit, having busted a crime syndicate that had been paying his group for protection despite their connections to the Schnee Dust Company.

Lien was lien, and he offered a lot to keep their heads and fund their mission. It wouldn't matter soon enough anyways.

All humans would be eradicated regardless.

However, the image he kept rewinding infuriated him, changing his entire goal. No, there would be no recruiting this faunus despite the prodigy's image being a significant moral boost to the White Fang as a whole, like Sienna wanted.

Like her wants matter very much in the future anyway.

Seeing who he was with made him livid.

She was with him. And what she did with him ripped his heart out even further than she had when she left him on the train that day.

Their hands were intertwined as they left the scene. And those eyes… Those eyes!

They were filled with hope and admiration! The admiration that she once held for him!

He would kill this faunus, and then… He would take her back. He would take back his mate! She would stand at his side once more as his goal came to fruition!

She would stand by his side, the side of the next High Commander of the White Fang, and be the mother of his children!

Stand by his side! The side of...

Adam Taurus.

---

Volume I, Recovery...

Completed.

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Initializing...

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Volume II, Revelation...

Commencing In...

5...

4...

3...

2...

1.