Gooooooood afternoon!
Lots of questions were asked in reviews for the last chapter. Of course, all of them would be spoilers if I answered them so…no comment!
One thing I will say is the review or two that say the EN would destroy Remnant with ease. There is a lot of debate as to how the average shinobi stacks up to hunters. While we see greater strength feats out of Naruto's universe, we typically see only the exceptional cases.
Anything truly destructive is usually the result of chakra of some kind, and the same applies to the world of RWBY. Personally, I think the average shinobi, being chunin or jonin, are going to be better than the average hunter. However….Remnant has access to multiple weapons of mass destruction that the EN only has in their S-Class shinobi.
Deidara's C0 looks as if it is on par with an early type nuclear bomb, whereas Remnant's technology as far as RWBY has shown is pretty much beyond what our own technology is. There's no telling what weapons they have at their disposal, and I've taken the liberty to give them just enough of a technological edge to compete with the Elemental Nations.
Anyway, hope you all enjoy! Imma go ahead and get back to my writing. I spend so much time doing other stuff that other story ideas pop in my head and I have decided I need to hurry up and get these two stories I already have going on the way and done before I delve too deep into that rabbit hole.
How the hell was he supposed to get any work done if they were just going to keep cornering him into spend time with them!
Bonding exercises they said. What is a team if they aren't friends, they said. What good is having a guy on my team if he's never around for me to tease him, they said…Well that one was just Yang, but still!
Naruto was at his wits end. It had only been three days since Naruto and Ruby had their talk about their parents, and if anything, it only drove Ruby to get to know him better even more.
Luckily he'd been avoiding the worst of it, though he could tell that Ruby was quickly becoming less and less patient about his absences.
It was driving him insane. Ruby was trying her best to include him on things. Playing games, chatting about school work, wanting to socialize with team PRWN. At a certain point, Naruto did need sleep, and with him trying his best to find more connections and gather more information any time he wasn't needed at Beacon, he wasn't getting much of it. He'd only made it through half of another night before falling asleep while Ruby was sitting next to him in his bed, chatting up a storm.
The worst part? He was enjoying it!
Too long had he only had the company of Jiraiya to keep him occupied during the training trip. In the midst of the war, nobody was particularly chatty, and ever since Sakura was taken…well he hadn't done much socializing.
He didn't want to enjoy spending time with his team. They were his enemies! The day could very well come that he needed to kill them…
He couldn't see himself doing that right now, much less months in the future.
And more than that, all it took was four days for Ozpin to finally decide to deal with him.
Four days after the incident with Cardin. Naruto had been dodging any attempt by Ozpin or Glynda to speak with him alone, so apparently they decided to just do the next best thing.
"Eh?" Naruto heard Ruby say as he exited the bathroom from his shower.
"Whazzat…" Yang mumbled as she stumbled towards the bathroom, still groggy from waking up.
"Ozpin wants to meet all of us in his office in thirty minutes." Ruby said with her head cocked to the side as she studied her scroll. "I wonder why."
"Because Naruto keeps ignoring him," Blake rolled her eyes. "He knows that you'll bully Naruto into showing up to a meeting if the whole team is supposed to be there."
"Heh," Naruto chuckled. "Guess he doesn't know Ruby or me very well! Like I could be bullied into any—"
"You're going," Ruby said dryly as she tapped out a response to the professor.
"Huh?"
"I said you're going." Ruby repeated. "We are all going. You are literally in his school Naruto. If you keep ignoring him, he might just kick you out. Then all of RUBY would be in trouble."
"…I don't wanna."
"Too bad," Ruby sniffed, looking at Naruto with crossed arms. "I'm ordering it!"
"Ughhh," Naruto groaned as he buried his face into his pillow. He willfully ignored Ruby and Blake's muffled giggles.
Thirty minutes later, they were outside of Ozpin's office.
"Come in," Ozpin's muffled voice echoed through the door right before Ruby could knock.
'If that isn't the most clichéd shit I've ever seen…' Naruto grumbled mentally.
The four of them trickled into the office, one more reluctantly than the others. Ozpin sat at his office, while Glynda stood at his side, her stern stare flitting between all of them, yet obviously focusing harder on Naruto than the girls.
"Good morning ladies," Ozpin smiled at Ruby, Blake, and Yang, before looking at Naruto. "And you as well, Mr. Urobline."
Naruto noticed the change in demeanor. The slight tightening of the lips, the stiffening of the shoulders, the ever so slight narrowing of the eyes.
And it was all uniformed, one change after another…Purposeful.
Not only could he control his more subconscious tells, he intentionally showed them to ensure Naruto knew he was viewed as a problem. Not even Jiraiya was that fluid in his acting.
But what kind of problem was he viewed as?
"I hope I'm not imposing too heavily on your morning," Ozpin said gently with his reassuring smile plastered on his face. "I just wanted to personally check in with the four of you to see how you're settling in."
"Why us?" Naruto asked shortly, earning an elbow to the side from Ruby, and a glare from Blake and Yang.
"Well, this team is just a bit special," Ozpin tapped his desk, obviously thinking on his answer. "We have a young lady that was accepted two years earlier than the general admission…"
Ruby perked up at his obvious mention of her.
"Her sister, who seeks to protect her family from what has happened in the past from happening again. She has already shown great promise in that goal…"
Yang smiled widely, happy for her effort to be recognized.
"Both of them seem to be determined to involve themselves in the war with the Elemental Nations. If they are anything like their parents, they would be pivotal on the front should the war still be ongoing when they graduate."
At the comment of the possibility of the war not lasting, the two sisters frowned as if personally offended that they wouldn't be able to participate.
"We have another young woman who seeks not fame, glory, or money, but rather she seeks herself. She seeks herself and the betterment of others."
Blake's eyes widened at Ozpin's words. From Naruto's view, Ozpin definitely said something that indicated he knew something he shouldn't. Why would he worry her like that? Was he trying to preface something?
Then Ozpin's eyes bored into him.
"And finally we have a young man who seeks something that he believes Remnant has taken from him."
Shit.
"A young man that is searching for something important, yet doesn't know how to find it."
Naruto felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. Ruby, Yang, and Blake's eyes all drifted over to him, taking special note of Naruto's tense figure.
"…The west…has many issues," Ozpin finally broke his gaze, looking down to tap at the screen on his desk. "…Vacuo…has many cultures that conflict with each other…A melting pot of cultures that all demand respect."
Naruto watched while a hologram projected itself from Ozpin's desk. A clear image of Cardin on his knees, in obvious pain, with Naruto holding his hair and snarling down at the boy was displayed by this hologram.
"In…Vacuo…disrespect and discrimination is often handled with fists rather than words," Ozpin said with a twitch of his lips. "But make no mistake, the same is not said for Vale or Beacon."
Naruto nodded curtly, prompting Ozpin to continue.
"You will find that Team CRDL was appropriately punished for assaulting a student."
Blake, against her better judgment, spoke up, "Is a good detention session supposed to set them straight? We saw them yesterday, not concerned even in the slightest! Is racism really only worth a detention or two?"
"Detention might be the reprieve they need." Ozpin let his smirk clearly show on his face. "In cases like this, I find it prudent that the teams of the individuals involved need to be informed. You'll find that informing Ms. Scarletina's team of what happened is more punishment for Team CRDL than anything I can possibly give. Now…back to the matter at hand."
His gaze drifted back to Naruto, who gulped ever so slightly.
"I have decided to offer you the opportunity to simply warn you of the differences of Vale and…Vacuo. I don't want to vilify your intervention in any way. I always encourage intervening on behalf of another should it become necessary. I'm simply stating you took it too far. In the future, stop the act and leave it at that."
"Yes sir," Naruto said tightly. "Anything else you want to say to me while you have my whole team held up here?"
Ozpin's smile dropped and he stood up. His cane was gripped in his hands in front of him, and he looked every bit the Headmaster of an academy that trained people to fight monsters.
Naruto felt his hand twitch to the knife at his hip. Glynda's gaze shifted between Ozpin and Naruto, confusion and apprehension flickering in her eyes. She was obviously the only one to notice just how tense the atmosphere in the room was.
She didn't know…why wouldn't she know?
Suddenly, Ozpin turned and walked towards a stand with a coffee machine. He said nothing while grabbing a mug and pouring coffee into it. He took a sip of the brown liquid, and sighed in relief once it hit his tongue. After another moment, he spoke, still facing away from everybody else in the office.
"I simply wanted to impose on you that I take the safety for everybody under my care quite seriously Mr. Urobline, regardless of who they might be. Please don't forget that while you are here in Vale. As long as you heed that warning, you are still welcome here at Beacon Academy."
Naruto nodded, and turned to walk out of the door without waiting for his teammates. He walked briskly, refusing to slow down for anybody. He'd almost reached the door when—
"I do hope you find what you're looking for. I just ask that you hold the right people accountable."
Naruto hesitated for only a second, before opening the door and rushing through it.
"What was that?" Yang asked Blake and Ruby, who both shrugged in confusion.
"Ladies," Ozpin said, walking back to his desk with his mug in hand. "Despite this conversation, I will not pretend to know Mr. Urobline better than any of you. However, his transcripts and a little bit of research suggested to me that Mr. Urobline has just as much of a past as each of you. I would ask you not to press him about our chat today, and just offer him the support he would need from his teammates in times like these. He is in a new environment, and we do things differently here than he is used to. Can I trust that you are all up to that task?"
"Y-yes sir," They all stuttered out.
"Once again, I apologize for intruding on your morning. You're all dismissed."
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-xX-Realizing you're paranoid doesn't discredit possibilities. It simply makes you aware of them -Xx-
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He knows…
He knows…
He knows!
He knows!
Naruto's mind was whirling a mile a second trying to think of what the implications of this were. He knows…and he wasn't worried? He knew Naruto was from the Elemental Nations, yet likely nothing else. That at least helped Junior's case a little. Junior hadn't ratted him out, so that simply meant he was incompetent, which was still an issue.
Ozpin knows.
Why would he let me stay in the school? With Glynda, Naruto was sure Ozpin would most likely feel confident in attacking him. So that bore the question, did Ozpin trust him?
No that would be stupid. Ozpin didn't know him.
"Disseminate all information received," Jiraiya had told him during one lesson. "You'd be surprised at how much information can be gained out of every sentence."
'Searching for something important, yet doesn't know how to find it,' Naruto mused quietly as he paced around his team's dorm. 'He knows something. I knew it!'
Naruto's eyes flashed red. Why was he down here? He should have taken the chance to capture Ozpin and torture Sakura's location out of him right then and there!
He quickly walked over to the door and yanked it open. A trio of squeaks had him stopping in his tracks. Blake, Ruby, and Yang were all right outside of the door, appearing to have been stopped from opening it by Naruto's sudden exit.
"Naruto!" Ruby exclaimed, gaining his attention. "What's wrong?"
Naruto looked at her curiously, "I'm fine."
"You look like a scared animal," Yang argued, a concerned look on her face. She could have sworn his eyes were red for a second there. "You're panicking. I don't know what you're panicking about, but you're panicking."
"I'm fine," Naruto shook his head, attempting to move past the three.
"You're not thinking right," Blake put a hand on his chest, stopping him from moving any further. He glared down at her, doing his best to come across as intimidating. He had to go deal with Oz—
"You are scared," Blake repeated, cutting off his thoughts. "You're scared, and scared people don't think things through. Now isn't the time to go into Vale and get into whatever it is you do."
"I don't do anything!"
"Bullshit!" Blake rolled her eyes.
"And how would you know?" Naruto challenged her. Time was running short. What if Ozpin was gathering the teachers to arrest him?
"Because you never sleep," Blake said blandly, lightly pushing Naruto back into the room, allowing Ruby and Yang to follow behind her. "You always leave in the middle of the night, and you don't come back until dawn. And that's just on the days Ruby tells you that you can't go to Vale! You're gone even longer when she has nothing planned for us!"
"No I'm—"
"I hear you Naruto! You wake me up every time you come back! You're nowhere near as sneaky as you think you are! I see you fighting to stay awake in every class, even Combat Class! Whatever it is you do all night, it definitely isn't 'nothing'!"
"That's not—"
"Whatever," Blake rolled her eyes and pushed Naruto down onto his bed. "Whatever it is that Ozpin said that's stressing you out, he obviously doesn't care that much."
Naruto paused before he could voice his next argument. "What?"
"He didn't even punish you for doing basically the same thing that Cardin did," Blake said exasperatedly.
"Yeah," Yang said with a shrug. "It kinda sounded like he was just warning you. 'I take the safety of all those under my care quite seriously' Seriously just sounded like dramatic way of saying I don't want my students fighting each other."
Naruto opened and closed his mouth a few times before sitting back slightly. 'Why was he so casual about it?'
'I do hope you find what you're looking for. I just ask that you hold the right people accountable.'
It was almost like…Ozpin was giving him his blessing? Holding the right people accountable? Was there trouble in the United Forces of Remnant? Were they disagreeing on things? Or did Ozpin simply want it to be over like so many others did?
"I simply wanted to impose on you that I take the safety for everybody under my care quite seriously Mr. Urobline, regardless of who they might be. Please don't forget that while you are here in Vale. As long as you heed that warning, you are still welcome here at Beacon Academy."
A warning.
Naruto knew how to take it. All good, law abiding citizens, as well as the students.
A warning to leave them alone. Do what he had to, but don't threaten his Kingdom. And there was no mistaking that it was Ozpin's Kingdom, as much as the Vale Council would argue otherwise.
'He didn't out me,' Naruto thought in wonder. 'I'm a walking threat to Remnant as a whole, and he didn't out me? What the hell is he smoking?'
Naruto finally allowed himself to relax. Ozpin…didn't know where Sakura was. He likely didn't even know that the EN was looking for Sakura specifically. There might be some intelligence to support that the EN is up to something, yet Naruto didn't know what would support that.
Tsunade said that Konoha would be pulling back once he started his mission. Konoha's lack of recent activity, as well as his shady application (Thanks Junior!) could have tipped Ozpin off just a bit. And Beacon made the most sense considering that Shade and Haven didn't have the same reputations that Atlas and Beacon did. On top of that, Atlas was much more strict in their teachings, and likely wouldn't allow for any reconnaissance from potential spies like Beacon did.
His refusal to actually take a hit from any bladed weapons in Combat Class likely helped Ozpin zero in on him a bit as well. And if Blake had noticed his disappearances…maybe Ozpin had his ways too.
'I fucked this up…' Naruto internally groaned. 'I should have sent shadow clones instead of going myself. Still…why is he letting me stay?'
It only took Naruto a few more moments of thought to come to a conclusion.
Ozpin didn't buy the narrative that the rest of the world is buying. He doesn't believe that the Elemental Nations are just a group of blood thirsty barbarians that crave nothing but violence.
'He must know that there are more things going on than just the story that the SDC spun,' Naruto thought to himself. 'But why doesn't he say anything? Why not investigate it? Isn't Ozpin the most revered figure in Remnant?'
"You're sleeping," Blake said suddenly, pulling Naruto from his thoughts.
"Excuse me?"
Blake crossed her arms and glared down at him while Ruby and Yang nervously shuffled around next to her.
"You're exhausted and one conversation with Ozpin had you spooked out of your mind. It's Saturday and we didn't have anything planned anyway. You're taking a nap."
"I don't need a nap," Naruto argued. "And we were supposed to go to the library and finish our homework before doing team training!"
"We can do that tonight," Yang shrugged.
"I'm busy tonight," Naruto frowned.
"Going to Vale again?" Blake raised an eyebrow. Naruto scowled but refused to answer.
"You can go to Vale tomorrow," Ruby said, although quietly.
Naruto's eyes snapped over to her, "Ruby I need to go tonight."
Ruby crossed her arms, doing her best to mimic Blake's disappointed stare. She failed…quite adorably.
"You say that every night!" When Naruto tried to speak up, Ruby raised a hand to stop him. "You say you need to go to Vale almost every night. You can go tomorrow. I don't care if you're gone all day tomorrow, but you're not leaving Beacon today."
Naruto's eyes narrowed at Ruby when he realized what she said. She hadn't been this assertive before, and he didn't need her to start now.
"Is that an order…partner?" Naruto's condescending comment likely would have had her feeling guilty under any other circumstance…but not this time. This time, his sarcastic comment did nothing but piss off the usually happy huntress in training. There was a limit even for Ruby, and the last few weeks had definitely been pushing her towards it.
"Yes, it is!" Ruby bit out, her eyes watering slightly against her will. She took a deep breath, before continuing. "And maybe, if you would actually try to spend some time with your team and get to know them instead of doing whatever it is you do in Vale, I wouldn't have to be the bad guy JUST TO GET THE BARE MINIMUM OUT OF MY PARTNER…PARTNER!"
Finishing off her sentence with a shout and a stomp, Ruby turned to away to march towards the door, doing her best to discreetly wipe at her eyes.
"We are going to the library to study. Take a nap you cranky ass!" She grumbled out as she slammed the door behind her.
After a moment, Yang whistled slightly, "Man I haven't heard her cuss since some guy at Signal tried grabbing Crescent Rose right after she painted it. You're really working her nerves there Naruto."
"I'm not trying to," Naruto scowled.
"I think that's the problem," Yang shrugged. "You haven't really been trying to do much of anything. Most people want to be in Beacon academy, yet all you've done since initiation is avoid this place like the plague. She has spent her whole life being excited about attending someday, and then when she does her partner wants practically nothing to do with her or their team."
"That's not what it's like!" Naruto threw his arms up.
"How often does Ruby try to include you in things?" Yang asked, a slight tone of annoyance in her voice.
"All the time!"
"And have you really asked Ruby to do anything social since we formed our team?" Yang asked pointedly. "Much less Blake or I?"
"I—" Naruto stopped and thought. "No…no I haven't."
"You don't have to like us if you don't want to," Yang shrugged, turning to exit the dorm as well. "But you could at least stop stressing Ruby out about the team's performance. At least prioritize classes and team training so that Ruby doesn't have to stress about picking up your slack."
Blake nodded in agreement, and followed Yang as she exited the room. She turned the light off, and shut the door behind her, leaving Naruto to his thoughts.
With a groan, he flopped back onto his bed. 'There is entirely too much going on. What the hell do I do…'
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-xX- The basis of connection is reciprocity. Connections are bound to fall apart without it -Xx-
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"You alright Rubes?" Yang asked Ruby. They'd been studying in the library for a while, and upon seeing Ruby spend fifteen minutes on the same page, Yang knew she needed to talk about it.
Ruby immediately jumped on the chance to talk, dropping the book onto the table and throwing her arms up, "I just…I just don't understand him at all. He is so nice sometimes! He is fun to be around, he cracks some jokes, and he just acts friendly! But then it's like he realizes he is having too much fun and it just all disappears! And don't even get me started on how often he disappears."
"It is odd," Blake shrugged slightly. "He said he was a traveler, and Ozpin said he was from Vacuo. So what could he possibly be doing in Vale all the time?"
"Well it's not really our business," Yang shook her head. "What is our business is that he is neglecting his responsibility to the team. His grades are decent, but they aren't great. Team training hasn't gone very good at all. The three of us have gotten a good base for working together, but he hasn't really been there enough to give us a good idea on how he fits in. He is strong enough to toss Blake from her ribbon, do combo strikes with me, and fast enough to do coordinated attacks with Ruby, but we haven't had much time to play with anything past the basics. We are quickly going to fall behind when we get to team fights in combat class."
"And I have so many things I want to try!" Ruby groaned and let her head hit the table with a dull thud.
After a few moments, Ruby's muffled voice reached Yang and Blake's ears.
"Why doesn't he like us…"
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-xX- Challenges, regardless of how small or great, are opportunities to thrive -Xx-
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The sound of the dorm door opening woke Naruto up. He quickly looked up and saw Blake, Yang, and Ruby coming inside.
"You're supposed to be taking a nap," Blake said with a raised eyebrow.
Naruto sat up and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, "I did nap. You guys just woke me up."
"Good," Yang chirped. "Cause we are gonna be having a team meeting before we go do our team training."
"Fair enough," Naruto sighed. "Let me just cut this short."
"No!" Ruby's eyebrows furrowed. "Listen Naruto—"
"You were right," Naruto cut her off.
"—We are a team and…" Ruby trailed off, his words sinking in. "Wait what?"
Naruto shrugged, "You were right. I need to prioritize my time better. I don't want to say what I'm doing in Vale as often as I am, but I do need to dedicate more time here. I owe that to the team…and to my partner."
"Oh," Ruby blinked. "Uh…yeah."
"How about two week nights after class, and one of the weekend days in Vale, and the rest here?" Naruto suggested.
"Is it important?" Ruby asked with a slight cock of her head. "I know you said you don't want to talk about it, but that's still a lot of your time there. Just…just tell me it's important."
Naruto looked down slightly, "It's very important. Not just for me, but for somebody I care about."
"Then fine," Ruby said shortly. "If it's needed then it's needed. Just let us know ahead of time when those days are going to be so I can figure out a decent schedule for us. We will just consider all of that personal time. Everybody needs time to themselves and I get that."
Naruto smiled, "Thank you, and of course. Hopefully this isn't a forever thing."
"Does somebody have an idea of what you're doing?" Yang asked cautiously. "The only issue that I have…that we have, is that we don't know where you are if something happens."
"Well," Naruto frowned, trying to think of a way to placate the concern. "Er…Ozpin knows."
'Kinda,' Naruto added to himself.
"Good enough for me," Blake shrugged. "Is that all?"
"Yeah," Ruby smiled, happy to have solved at least one issue.
A small beep caught their attention, and Naruto quickly grabbed his scroll from the night stand next to his bed.
Naruto read his message quickly, and a small satisfied smile graced his face for a second before quickly clearing. He looked up to see Blake, Yang, and Ruby all looking at him in confusion.
'Well this doesn't really interfere with my plans anyway,' Naruto thought to himself.
"I uh…I will need to be in Vale tomorrow…But I'm not doing anything until the evening, so I was wondering if you guys wanted to go for lunch tomorrow?"
"Huh," Yang said with a slight surprised expression on his face. "Most guys just ask one girl out at a time. Ballsy whiskers…real ballsy."
"Whatever," Naruto rolled his eyes. "Forget I asked."
"NO!" Ruby slapped her hand over Yang's mouth before she could say anything. "I mean, I-I don't have anything planned for tomorrow. What about you Blake?"
"Can I bring a book?"
"Of course," Naruto nodded. "I was thinking of going to this little café I've seen a few times. They have a nice outdoor patio."
When Blake nodded, Ruby smiled brightly, "Sounds like a plan!"
"What about me?" Yang asked after wrenching Ruby's hand away from her mouth.
"You don't have plans anyway," Ruby said dismissively.
"You don't know that!"
"Do you have plans?" Ruby asked with a smirk.
"W-Well…no" Yang slumped over in defeat.
Ruby nodded as if she'd known the whole time, "Like I said, sounds like a plan!"
Naruto had to try his best to keep his smile from his face. Sure, having lunch with his team might not be the worst thing in the world, but the true win for tomorrow was what happens after.
Junior scored him a meeting with Torchwick.
Yeah…that didn't last long. I wonder what gave him away?
Why isn't Ozpin getting rid of a clear threat? Is he seeing a clear threat or simply a desperate person?
There's a lot of things to be answered, and I'm excited to get those answers to you.
Hope you all have a great day!