AN: Decided to update this, since it was pretty short and I posted a one-shot earlier this week.

Guest- adding characters like King Arthur and Gilgamesh definitely would be interesting, and it was something I considered. But I don't think they really go with my story very well as having extra characters would make this feel cluttered. So I decided against it.

6/2/23

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, RWBY or any other anime I use in this story. They belong to their respective owners: Musashi Kishimoto and Rooster teeth.

Volume 1

Chapter 3- The Forest of Lies

Ruby tried to dodge the blonde's chain, but she knew she wasn't fast enough, she reacted too slow, even with her semblance. All she could manage to do was try to shield her face and pray to all the gods that her aura would protect her.

"Ahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!" She cried.

A scream echoed within the emerald forest, it took her a while before Ruby realized it was her own.

As Naruto retracted his chain, it disappearing with a shower of stardust, he was left questioning only one thing.

"Ms. Rose, why are you screaming?" He asked in confusion, with his head cocked to the side.

And it was only then that Ruby was given time to examine herself. Checking her body over, she could see, contrary to what she had previously thought, she had not been impaled. In fact, it seemed that this boy's chain had completely missed her entirely, leaving Ruby to revel in her stupor.

"But I… But—?" She muttered, left, questioning what the boy had been doing.

The blonde only gave her a flat look, as he motioned with his hand for her to turn around. "Behind you, there was a beowolf," he stated, as if it were just a common insect that he had just killed.

Ruby turned around, and it was only then that she could see that the boy was indeed correct, as the dark remnants of the grim had only then just dispersed.

Ruby blushed a bit in embarrassment, as the girl then looked down. "Oh… I see," she sulked. Wallowing in shame at the fact she didn't know a grim was sneaking up on her.

She then bounced back, "Sooooo… I looks like we're partners," Ruby stated, trying to be optimistic about the situation. At least this teammate seemed to be competent, strong too.

Naruto eyed her, recognizing the girl from the dust robbery. "It would seem so," he remarked.

Ruby nodded, "Yeah, I guess we should—" she tried to suggest, before her new partner's interrupted her.

"Stop!" Naruto told her, as he gained a serious expression, one that nearly scared Ruby when she saw it. "We're surrounded," he stated, as the girl looked around.

Red eyes stared off at them in the distance, using the green foliage to try and hide their presence. But that was until one revealed itself.

Stomping forward, they saw its long black fur, the color or darkness. Blazing red eyes stared into their soul, as white bone-like armor jutted out from its skin.

A beowolf, they recognized, as many of its kind walked forwards, stalking their prey like a beast like no other.

Ruby didn't waste any time, as she rocketed forward towards the nearest beowolf, slicing it in two from with her massive scythe.

Naruto had to admit, seeing her up close, her technique was far more impressive. Such a small, frail looking girl wielding such a dangerous weapon, well, it wasn't something you saw everyday.

The remaining grim, not wasting anytime, pounced on them both, as Ruby turned around to bisect the another beowolf. Naruto doing the same, as he easily pierced the grim that had attacked him with a chain. Not even bothering to look in its direction as it died.

Unfortunately, it seemed that the many wolf-like grim noticed this, as they all started targeting his smaller, silver - eyed companion.

Ruby also seemed to notice this, as, coupled by the other many grim in her vicinity, she was surrounded.

The young girl sliced one of the braver grim that pounced on her. She easily bisected it, but unfortunately, she wasn't fast enough to turn around and slice the second beowolf that had decided to attack her from behind.

It landed its blow, and had she not been protected by her aura, she would have a few nasty claw marks across her frame.

But thankfully, all the strike had managed to do was knock her back, as she was sent to the ground from the sheer force of the impact.

The alpha of the group howled.

As the much larger, older, and sharper grim pounced on the younger girl.

And when she looked up, the alpha beowolf stared down at her. Ruby's skin grew even paler, as it was only then that she realized her mistake.

Maybe she shouldn't have left her de facto partner alone? They would have stood a better chance had they worked together.

Nevertheless, the Alpha raised its claws, it's red, lifeless eyes stared down at her. As it pounced, Ruby braced for another attack…

Squelch.

Once again, Ruby opened her eyes, hearing the familiar piercing sound she had quickly become accustomed to… yet she felt no pain.

To see the massive beowolf, she was left to witness the long, silver chain that now pierced throughout it head.

Looking over, Ruby was left to see Naruto, his palm raised forward, as a triad of chains emerged from it. A few of the grim that had decided to attack him, dying at his side.

Following his chains, she was left in awe, as he hadn't just pierced the alpha beowolf.

His chains soared throughout the air, flying every which direction, each piercing through the twenty remaining grim at their heads. Going through one grim and continuing on its path unperturbed. Such was the vast control Naruto had with the objects.

None were left spared either, as all the grim motionlessly fell to the ground, disappearing into a plume of smoke.

As Ruby was left to stare at the blonde haired boy in shock, as he casually walked towards her.

"You know, you should think more in a battle, or else you will die," Naruto lectured the downed girl honestly as she looked up, blinking a few times before registering his words.

"I do," she almost winned, before thinking back on the situation and correcting herself. "Well, I try, but I—" Ruby stopped in her rambling before it could even start.

He was right.

As Naruto had just walked away from the girl entirely, intent on reaching the relics as soon as possible.

Ruby, noticing this, quickly got off the ground, dusting herself off as she ran to follow after the blonde. Shouting as she did so, "Hey! Naruto, wait up!" She called out, but the boy only continued to run off.

XXX

"Is this the place?" Ruby asked her partner, questioning if they had come to the right location.

"It seems so," Naruto told her.

They had gone in the same direction they had been instructed to. Finding a large clearing with a number of ruins within. They were met with numerous stone brick structures that had seemingly been overgrown by the harsh foliage of the wilderness, overtaken by time as they corroded away.

In the midst of the ruins were multiple pedestals with several gold and black chess pieces that laid on top of them.

Naruto approached the pedestals, seeing that none of the pieces had been taken, as they seemingly were the first ones there. Taking a random piece, a gold knight, and pocketing it, he walked away from the ruins, spotting a familiar face as he did so.

"Ruby!" Yang shouted from the foliage, as she ran up to the aforementioned girl.

"Yang!" Ruby shouted with a similar enthusiasm, surprised to see her sister in the exam. "I'm glad I could see you here," she told her, and although she had hoped they would be partners, there was still a chance that they could be on the same team.

Before she noticed the dark haired girl trailing behind the blonde. "Oh, you're partners with Blake," Ruby surmised.

Yang smiled, "yup," she nodded, before she confusingly noticed Ruby's lack of a partner at her side. "And you're with…" she trailed off, before noticing a familiar blonde walk up to them.

"Ruby, I have retrieved the piece, let us go" Naruto told his teammate.

"Naruto?" Yang questioned, finishing her earlier statement.

"Yang," Naruto gave a short nod towards the girl, and before the girl could question him further, Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Do you hear something?" He questioned.

The three girls began to listen, as they began to hear what Naruto was referring to. It sounding like a high-pitched scream that kept getting louder and louder, increasing in volume as it seemed to approach them more and more.

But before anyone could react to anything, a blonde boy in white armor crashed from the treetops. The boy having seemingly been launched at high speeds horizontally as he crashed into the forest's harsh foliage, his activated aura being the only thing keeping him alive and not a red smear on the ground.

Disoriented and upside down, Jaune arc began to assess his surroundings. "Oh, hey Ruby," he called out, spotting the girl.

"Did that guy just fall from the sky?" Blake questioned.

"I…" Yang tried to answer, but before she could do so, something else happened.

Trees tumbled to the ground as a loud roar could be heard. As each of them turned over to see a large, bear-like, grim burst into the clearing as well.

Before a high-pitched hell was heard as well, "Yeeeeeeeeeeee-hawww!" Nora called out, blasting the back of the Ursa before it collapsed to the ground in a heap.

Noticing this, Nora whined, "Awww, it's broken." She stated, inspecting its decaying corpse, as Ren climbed off of its back as well.

"Nora," Ren called out, feeling slightly nauseous from the ordeal. "Please, don't ever do that again," he told her, before he noticed the orange-haired girl was nowhere to be seen

Nora inspected the chess piece before her, it being a golden rook piece. As she spontaneously grabbed it, sparks flew, stars appeared as she danced, her chanting like a mantra: "I'm queen of the castle~ I'm queen of the castle~" of course, this all happened within her head.

"Nora!" Ren shouted, snapping the girl out of her delusions.

As the girl giggled, saluting and chirping, "coming Ren~!" As she skipped towards her dark haired friend.

"Did that girl just ride her on an Ursa?" Blake questioned, bewildered, them having just retrieved their own piece.

But before Yang could answer, another scream tore itself from the foliage. As a large, boney, black, white and red giant scorpion chased after a tall, elegant red haired girl.

The girl in question, Pyrrha Nikos, ducted out of the way of the giant grim's claw, shouting for her teammate as she did so. "Jaune!" She called out.

"Pyrrha!" Jaune called back.

"Umm… Yang?" Ruby questioned, seeing the deathstalker approach them.

"Ruby?" Her sister called back.

"Nora!" The orange haired girl chirped as she danced between the two, giggling all the while.

"Did she just run all the way here with a deathstalker on her tail?" Blake questioned, as her partner's rage reached its boiling point.

"I can't take it anymore! Can everyone just chill out for two seconds BEFORE SOMETHING CRAZY HAPPENS AGAIN!!!" She yelled, her lilac eyes changing to a fiery red.

Jaune fell from his place, right at their side, in a heap. Ren joining his giddy partner's side.

That's when Ruby looked up.

"Umm… Yang?" The younger sister called her elder's attention…

Right, within the sky, was a giant, flying nevermore grim, and it spotted them.

Great, just, great.

Ruby was tempted to engage the death stalker, until…

'You should think more in a battle, or else you will die.'

Naruto's words reverberated throughout her mind.

She hadn't been able to take on a few beowolfs, how could she take down an entire deathstalker or. Nevermore?

As the raven-like, grim unfurled its wings, firing many of its bullet-like feathers as it did so.

All of them had the cognitive ability to think, as even jaune, with a yelp, ran to the side to dodge.

All of them took this as a chance to regroup, and think about their next move.

"Umm, guys… what do we do?" Jaune asked, slightly frightened at the two large grim.

"Well, our object is right here, so…" Blake trailed off.

Ruby nodded, agreeing with the raven-haired girl. "She's right, our mission is to make it here and make it back to the cliffs, there's no point in fighting these things."

"Run and live," Jaune smiled. "That is an idea I can get behind."

As the teams that hadn't taken their chess pieces did so quickly, the deathstalker quickly approaching the group as they did so.

"It's time we left," Ren called out.

"Right," Ruby nodded, waving for the others to follow. "Let's go!" She called out.

"Naruto…" the silver - eyed girl said, looking for her partner.

"Umm… Naruto?"

But looking around, her partner was nowhere to be found.

XXX

The grim only continued to chase them, as the nevermore flew high towards the cliffs, their objective. The deathstalker chased them from which they came from.

As the student-hopefulls realized that they were in for a battle.

The nevermore gave a few violent screeches. As their resident orange haired firecracker used her grenade launcher to distract the beast. She dodged to the side from a few of its feathers.

As the deathstalker neared the girl, the two ninjas of their group quickly stalled it long enough for the girl to move away.

Heading across the bridged, Pyrrha Nikos supplied covering fire towards the giant scorpion.

But unfortunately, the giant raven decided to use this moment to smash the bridge in two, standing man others on both sides.

Jaune, with the help of Nora, decided to help their two partners. As Blake, who was on the side of Pyrrha and Ren, got the not so wanted help of Nora.

Being knocked off the bridge, she thankfully used her weapon, gambol shroud, and it's black cord to stop her fall towards the deep cassum below. Swinging along like a well known spider-like hero, she found herself on the back of the large Raven-like grim.

Giving several slashes towards its back, they seemed to be doing no damage. Leaping down, as she regrouped with her partner, she called out that it was: "tougher than it looked."

Yang readied her gauntlet, as she stared out at the Raven-like figure.

"Then let's hit it with everything we got!" She called out, as Ruby, who had been standing nearby, Blake, and herself all unloaded onto the giant flying beast.

But even with its screams, their bullets seemed to be producing no effects. As it charged towards them, collapsing the stone structure they had been standing on. They all had been lucky enough to all be able to adjust themselves, as they got back into the ruined platform.

"None of this is working," Blake realized, as she saw Yang unloading upon the nevermore to no effect,

Ruby thought about it, thinking on the situation.

What would Naruto do in this situation? He wasn't here, but he seemed smart.

Ruby nodded, "I have a plan," she told her companion, "cover me!" She yelled, as she used her crescent rose to launch her foreword.

Yang had continued blasting at the nevermore, as she stood upon a tall pillar. The raven-like grim swooped down, as Yang finally landed a hit that seemed to actually do some damage.

With a cry of pain, the grim speed towards her, it's mouth at the ready, and with a yelp, Yang did the same.

Jumping towards the maw of the creature, using her vast amount of strength to hold its mouth open as she unloaded bullets into the stomach of the creature.

This caused the creature to now pay attention to where it was going. Yang tactically jumping away as it did so.

Ruby seemed ready for this, as she and Blake had seemed to use this opportunity to form a makeshift slingshot. Using the cord of gambol shroad as a sling, ready to launch Ruby towards the massive raven-like grin. Yang pulled the cord back, using the momentum of her gauntlets to build up enough force to do so.

"Are you ready, sis?" Yang called out, her voice straining from the pressure.

Ruby nodded, as her sister let go.

Firing Ruby like a speeding bullet, using her semblance and recoil from her weapon to gather even more velocity. As she gathered enough momentum and force to hopefully strike down the pesky nevermore.

She struck true, aiming for its neck…

It seems her plan wasn't meant to be.

As instead of slicing clean through it's neck, she had only pierced through a few inches. Deep enough to land a good cut, but not enough to kill.

This only caused the grim to grow even more angry, as it unfurled its wings. It's cold, lifeless red eyes staring out at Ruby.

Ruby paled once again, as she soon realized that her scythe was firmly embedded into the nevermore's neck.

It was ready to attack. It—

"Need a hand, Ms. Rose?" A voice inquired.

As without further ado, a multitude of silver chains wrapped around and pierced and pinned the Nevermore in its place up against the mountain cliff.

Ruby smiled, seeing the familiar frame of her partner, who was currently suspending himself from the nearby cliff from his chains.

It's seemed Naruto had arrived just in time.

The nevermore was unable to rip itself free, as it screamed to the heavens.

Ruby didn't dare to waste this moment, as she gathered the necessary aura, during the last few shots within her barrel.

She twisted her body, further pushing crescent rose into the large grin.

That seemed to do it, as the Nevermore's birdlike head was ripped from its shoulders.

Many of the students looked on in wonder at the two's display.

XXX

Later.

"Jaune Arc, Lie Ren, Pyrrha Nikos, Nora Valkyrie."

They were all within the halls of beacon academy, as Ozpin announced the newest teams that would soon find themselves walking the halls of beacon academy.

As the four aforementioned students walked onto the stage, Ozpin continued. "From this day forward, you will work together as team JNPR (juniper), led by… Jaune Arc." He called out. The blonde did well, all things considered, leading his teammates to death the deathstalker within the Emerald Forest.

"Huh?" Jaune questioned, bewildered. "L-led by…" he repeated.

"Congratulations," was all Ozpin told him.

Pyrrha gave him a light tap on the shoulder in an effort to snap the blonde out of his dilemma. Unfortunately, jaune seemed to only lose his balance at this, causing many of the audience to laugh at the display.

"And finally…" Ozpin continued.

"Ruby Rose, Naruto Uzumaki, Blake Belladonna, and Yang Xio Long." He announced the next team, as they, too, stood up on the stage. "The four of you retrieved the white knight pieces. From this day forward you will work together as… team RUBY (ruby) led by…"

Ruby looked towards Naruto, expecting him to be the leader.

"Ruby Rose."

As the audience clapped, Yang ran up to her stupefied sister, engulfing her in a tight hug.

"I'm so proud of you!" She squealed.

"Looks like this is shaping up to be an… interesting year," Ozpin called out.

Nobody seemed to notice the slight clenching of Naruto's left fist.

End Chapter.

An: Bit of a short one, mostly just going through some canon events.

No Weiss in this story, and to be honest there's not really a reason for it. Other than the fact that I think having her in this, especially in vol 1, one be too complicated for what I'm planning.

After thinking long and hard of whether or not I wanted Naruto to be on a separate team, be on Team RWBY or just on his own, I decided this.

It's gives Ruby, Blake, and Yang ample opportunity to develop a relationship with Naruto (some more than others) considering how stand-offish he'll be in this.

maybe I'll write a story with Weiss to make it up to her or smth.

Anyways, next chapter Will hopefully have some bigger moments, with hopefully a reveal of what this story truly is about.

And trust me, it will change the direction of the story, in ways you might not expect.