Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, nor do I own RWBY. If I did, I would be one step closer to world domination.

Chapter 7: The Investigation!

For someone who spent all of his time gallivanting about wearing a bright orange jumpsuit, Naruto could be remarkably stealthy went he wanted to be. Such was how he had managed to follow the now group of four as they left Beacon's grounds, boarding an airship that would take them into Vale.

Of course, it only helped that Naruto had a transformation up the entire time. He hadn't ever bothered describing his old friends, and on top of that, he doubted any of his new friends would suspect someone from his old life would show up here of all places. It was a good cover, and would allow him to tail the group for a while.

On the airship, Naruto sat across from the four of them, sitting in Sasuke's traditional manner, with his hands crossed over his mouth. He felt cocky just sitting like the teme, let alone actually disguised as him. Either way, he apparently was being suspicious, since after just a little, Yang looked over at him, turned back to Blake, and said something, before Blake looked towards him while Yang glared.

Passing it off as unjustified suspicion, Naruto nodded his head in acknowledgement, before turning his gaze to the floor. Great. Now he'd have to follow them either in a different disguise, or without them detecting him. That said, he had managed to steal the most preciously guarded scroll in his entire village when he was 12, so…

The airship arrived at Vale shortly afterwards. Yang and Neptune took off on a motorcycle that Yang got from somewhere, while Blake pointed in a seemingly random direction, before Sun nodded, and both of them started towards the direction she had pointed. Naruto began to follow, before glancing around briefly, and, not seeing anyone nearby, leapt up onto a roof. It would be much easier to follow them from up here.

Blake and Sun walked a good ways across the city, eventually reaching the run-down part that held a number of warehouses Naruto followed them the entire way, jumping from rooftop to rooftop. There was one close call, in which Blake turned around, looking about wildly, hand on her katana. Naruto decided to follow along a bit further back after that.

Eventually, the two Faunus turned into an alley, disappearing from view for a moment. Naruto jumped to the roof above them, only to see an open doorway with some kind of guard outside of it. He looked to be an older man, on account of his gray hair. Naruto could smell the scent of some kind of animal on him, but not one he was familiar with.

"You stole my idea, you little copycat…" Naruto muttered to himself. Looking around the street Blake and Sun had come from, he dropped down onto street level, making sure his temporary snake tail was showing as he walked up to the guard. He was handed some kind of mask, and sent inside. He put the mask on, walking down the hallway to find a room filled with Faunus, all wearing the same mask as he, and a large portion wearing White Fang armor.

"Oh, dear, Blake. What have you brought me to?" He asked himself, under his breath. There was a clear section for people wandering in off the street, so Naruto made sure to place himself at the back of it, for ease of escape.

"Be careful. Remember, you don't know the purpose of this meeting. Make sure to say transformed."

'You're not helping. Thanks anyways.'

"I'll give you some of my chakra to sustain the transformation, if you want…"

'Nah. I'll keep it up. You don't need to waste your chakra on something like this.'

"I'm going to laugh when you mess this up. You know that, right?"

'I need to ask you not to.'

"Why are you here, anyways?"

'I thought you could read my mind?'

"Truth be told, you're actually just very predictable. You think I can read your thoughts through this cage?"

'Yeah, I did. Sly fox.'

"Quite. Now, focus on the task at hand, and find out what the catty vixen is up to."

'Catty vixen?'

"FOCUS!"

Meanwhile, across the city, there were two other students spending time in Vale. Not, as one might suspect, Yang and Neptune. No, instead, Diana and Troy left the bakery they had been visiting that day, after Diana had eaten everything she bought the day before in about an hour.

As they left the bakery, Diana was happily chewing on an entire loaf of bread, just come out of the oven. Troy looked amused, as if he found Diana's obsession with baked goods funny. As the door shut, they were passed by a blonde girl and a blue haired guy on a yellow motorcycle.

"Was that Yang? Who was the other person?" Troy asked, as if Diana would know. As expected, she shrugged, not even bothering to stop eating long enough to answer. Troy looked down the street, in the direction that the two had gone, speeding down the street. They were headed towards a somewhat shady part of town.

"We should follow them, and find out what they're doing. I'm sure they'd appreciate help, right?" Troy queried his partner, turning to face her. She cheerily nodded.

"Yep!" Troy looked back down the street, as he and Diana began to walk to where they had seen Yang go. As it turned out, two people on foot were slower than two people on a motorcycle. Right about now, Troy was kind of jealous of Naruto and Ruby. Their semblance would be very helpful right about now. He could use his own, theoretically, but using like that would leave him drained. So instead, he and Diana continued walking, finding Yang's motorcycle outside of a nightclub, the same one she had told them about in her one story. It looked to be slightly rundown from the outside. As if the owner couldn't pay for upkeep.

Yang angrily burst out of the building, Neptune following her closely. She paused when she saw the rainbow girl and Troy stood by her bike. "What are you two doing here?" she asked them. Troy raised his eyebrow.

"You know, we followed you to ask the same thing," he explained. "Diana and I were buying some more bread and other things. What about you two?"

Yang just shrugged, "Meeting an old friend. Nothing big."

"Yang, this is the club where you grabbed a man's dick. Don't lie to us," Troy saw through her lie with incredible ease. It wasn't even slightly believable. She had probably said the first thing that came to mind.

She groaned, "Ugh, fine. We were-"

She cut off by her scroll ringing, "Blake? Why is she calling me?"

Following a day following Weiss, meeting up with Penny, running from soldiers, then finding out Penny was a robot… Ruby felt tired. Not tired as in she wanted to sleep. Tired as in she didn't think anything else exciting could possibly happen.

First, that day, she had gone with Weiss to the CCT, to get a number of files detailing Dust robberies. She had just wanted to take a picture of the tower, but in the process, she had dropped her scroll. Well, it was actually more of a throw. And then, it had landed near the feet of an unsuspecting girl, who picked it up upon feeling it impacting her foot.

Turning to face the direction it had come from, the girl had revealed herself as Penny, whom none of them had seen since the docks. She seemed as surprised to see them as they were to see her, but tried to leave before they could get into a conversation, nervously repeating that she wasn't who they thought she was.

Ruby had left Weiss behind to get the files, following Penny to see what was wrong. As it turned out, her father hadn't wanted her to wander around quite so much. She said it was because he worried about her, because he loved her very much.

However, Penny had apparently been told not to talk to those she didn't know, for some reason. As they talked, they were walking past a presentation of the new androids of the Atlesian Military, a presentation that had drawn Ruby's attention. The general had gone on to describe how many situations required a 'human touch.'

This had led him into presenting the new Atlesian Paladin, a giant mech that seemed like it had weapons mounted to every surface on it. Admittedly, Ruby had been a little entranced when she had seen it. It also seemed to be heavily armored, meaning whoever was inside of it would be very well protected. It was a thing of beauty.

But, unfortunately, two soldiers spotted them, or, to be more accurate, had spotted Penny, and began to chase after them. Ruby didn't get why, but she and Penny began to run away. As they fled, Ruby used her speed, holding onto Penny, to launch off a wall, all the way down an alley. But, due to trying to carry a strangely heavy girl, she had lost control, dropping Penny and rolling, dazed, into the middle of the street. Right in front of a large truck.

Penny jumped in, arms outstretched, and stopped the truck with her bare hands, creating a small crater behind her feet from the force delivered into the street from her through the truck. A crowd had gathered, staring, as Penny grew more nervous, grabbing Ruby as they retreated back into an alley.

There, Penny explained how she was a synthetic human capable of generating an Aura, the first of her kind. She seemed down about it, saying she wasn't real. Ruby had examined her hands, before closing them around the now exposed metal underneath. She told Penny that she was real, that she could feel Penny's soul.

Afterwards, Penny had thanked her, hiding her in a dumpster for some reason as she went back with the soldiers. Ruby had smiled, before hearing a squeak and looking down to see mice in the dumpster. She had fallen backwards briefly, before climbing out of the dumpster and standing around for several minutes, until it was dark. After a while, she got a call from Blake, though she didn't know why.

"Hello. Welcome to the CCT. How may I help you?" chimed the AI's voice from the wall.

Weiss tried to be as pleasant as possible while she was speaking, "I'd like to go to the communications room, please."

The AI was quick to respond, "Absolutely. Could you please place your scroll on the terminal to verify your identity?" Weiss place her scroll as directed. A few beeps sounded, before the AI spoke again, "Perfect! Thank you, Miss Schnee!"

As the elevator continued to climb the tower, Weiss tried to make herself cheerful, or at least polite looking. The elevator doors opened, and Weiss walked up to the front desk where a holographic secretary appeared in the seat.

The same voice from the elevator sounded, "Welcome to the Beacon Cross Continental Transmit center. How may I help you?"

"I need to make a call to Schnee Company World Headquarters in Atlas."

"Absolutely," said the AI. "If you could head over to Terminal 3, I'll patch you through."

Weiss answered cordially, "Thank you."

She smiled, before walking over to her assigned computer, passing a few Beacon students she barely recognized. She sat at her own display, taking a deep, unsure, nervous breath to prepare for the call ahead. The face of a short-haired brunette appeared on the monitor.

The operator began the usual greeting, "Thank you for calling the Atlas-" She looked up, jumping a little when she recognized who she was talking to. "Oh! Miss Schnee! Good afternoon! Would you like me to patch you through to your father? I think your sister, Winter, might be here as well."

Weiss rather wished to avoid talking with her father and sister, and answered accordingly, "No, thank you! I was actually wondering if you could find some files for me. I've compiled a short list."

Weiss reached into her pocket, pulling out her scroll, and placed it into a slot on the keyboard, allowing the operator to look at the data from her side of the screen.

She spoke nervously, "I see… If you don't mind, what may I ask is this for?"

"School project," Weiss lied. The operator still seemed unsure.

"Uh… There are some sensitive documents on this list, ma'am."

Weiss spoke with her fake pleasant tone, "Well, then, I'll be sure to treat them with care."

The operator didn't seem convinced but relented, "Right... Very well. The data is being transferred to your scroll now."

"Wonderful! That will be all, then." Having what she had come for, Weiss wanted to end the conversation now.

The operator didn't let her go so easily, "Are you sure you wouldn't like me to patch you through to your father before you go?"

"Yes, I'm sure," Weiss said firmly.

The operator didn't quite frown as she said, "Well, then... Have a nice day!"

Weiss sat back in her chair, experiencing something like regret. After a while, she stood up and walked back over to the elevator. Once she reached the bottom, she got a call from Blake, who had the role that could go wrong in the most ways. Weiss sighed, as she looked down to answer the call.

"I sense a familiar presence… Though I'm unsure who it is. Be on your guard."

'Got it.'

Naruto scanned the room, still waiting for the new arrivals to stop filling in the room. Eventually, they did, and all of the attention turned to the now spotlight lit stage. A man walked out onto it, eliciting quite a reaction from the room. It wasn't unexpected, at least not from the recruits, since the man was Roman Torchwick, a human.

"Thank you, thank you!" He called out mockingly. "Please, hold your applause!"

A deer Faunus yelled out, "What's a human doing here?!"

Roman pointed to her in answering, "I'm glad you asked, Deer-y! Now, I'll be the first to admit, humans... are the worst. Case in point. So, I understand why you would like to see us all locked away, or, better yet, killed!

But, before the claws come out, I'd like to mention the fact that you and I all have a common enemy: the ones in control, the people pulling the strings, the dirty, rotten humans that run our kingdoms! Government, military, even the schools: they're all to blame for your lot in life! And they're all pests that need to be dealt with! Fortunately, I'm the best exterminator around... No offense to any rodents in the room."

He snapped his fingers, and the curtain fell away, revealing… something. It looked like a giant robot of some kind, though Naruto had never seen anything like it before.

"As some of you may have heard, this right here...is Atlas' newest defense against all the scary things in the world. And thanks to my employer, we've managed to snag a few before they, uh, hit the shelves. Now, many of your brothers have already moved down to our new operation in the southeast. If you'd rather stay within the city, that's fine... But if you're truly ready to fight for what you believe in, this is the arsenal I can provide you. Any questions?" he asked, looking around the crowd. None were asked, and a tall White Fang member stepped forward.

"Will all new recruits please come forward?" Naruto didn't move, keeping his eye on Blake and Sun, who also stood still. Making a quick decision, he backed out of the room, dropping the transformation once he was out of sight. If what he expected would happen happened…

As he took his place back at the back of the room, he noticed Torchwick was glaring at Blake and Sun. He made his way towards them, throwing his cigar on the ground and growling as he went. Naruto's eyes widened, and he moved forwards with the crowd, trying to get to his friends. Before he made it very far, Blake pulled out her gun and shot once, hitting the fuse box. Naruto held in a chuckle, somewhat impressed by her creativity. After all, Torchwick couldn't see in the dark.

Naruto could, however, and he used this ability to maneuver through the crowd of confused Faunus, getting to Blake and Sun as they jumped out of a window. "Hey, guys!" He called over to them. They both looked at him, bewildered by his sudden appearance.

"Naruto?! What are you doing here?!" Blake yelled in question. Sun still stared the same as before. Naruto flashed them his signature grin. The robot from inside burst through the wall of the warehouse behind them.

"Well, right now it looks like I'm running from a giant robot!" He yelled back, as they all jumped from roof to roof, evading the mech as best they could. He felt like Blake probably rolled her eyes, though Naruto couldn't tell. He was more focused on fleeing from the giant robot he could probably fight.

Sun began to ask something, amidst a number of flips, "So you wouldn't happen to have," A back flip. "Oh, I don't know," Another flip. "Some form of backup?"

"ON IT!" Blake yelled back, pulling out a scroll. Naruto looked behind them, seeing the robot fast approaching. He turned to his friends.

"I'll hold him off! Just go!" Naruto stopped, ignoring Blake telling him not to, and started right for the robot.

All of Weiss, Yang, Ruby, Diana, and Troy could hear wind rushing past the other end of the microphone, signifying Blake was moving very quickly. Which, as expected, meant she was running from someone.

"Everyone! If you can hear me, we need back-"

Sun cut her off in the background, "HEEEELLLLP! Big robot! And it's big! Really big!"

Ruby said to herself, "Oh, I am not missing this!" She ran off to find them.

Sun continued, "That Torchwick guy is in it! But not, like, it didn't eat him. He's, like, controlling it or something! And Naruto is trying to hold him off, but he keeps chasing us!"

Yang, with Diana, Neptune, and Troy next to her, yelled into the scroll, "Where are you guys?"

Behind them, they heard large footsteps, before they each turned to see Sun and Blake running across the street, with a large mech chasing them, and Naruto riding the huge mech. Sun yelled out, "HURRYYYY!"

Neptune, hearing his friend's voice, looked to Yang, "I think that was them…"

She grunted, "Yeah, I got it!" she shoved the scroll away, ending her end of the call. She turned to Troy and Diana. "You guys got a way to catch up?" Troy nodded, glad he didn't waste his energy earlier.

"You two go on ahead. Diana and I will have to catch up with you," he said solemnly. Not wasting time, Yang spun her motorcycle around, speeding off down the street. Troy turned to Diana. "Grab my shoulder, Diana." She did, and a moment later, he and Diana disappeared.

Torchwick found he was being tailed by a number of people. He had chased the Faunus all the way to the freeway, even with the one Cinder was interested in scrambling all over his mech. Behind him, he saw two people approaching on a motorcycle and two people jumping around on cars. In front of him, the Faunus were doing the same. And the blond Faunus was still clambering all over the Paladin.

Torchwick growled in annoyance. One Faunus he could deal with. Two? Easy. Three? Still manageable, with the mech. This entire team? That was pushing his buttons just a little too much. Trying to shake the people behind him off his tail, he glanced at the traffic they were swerving through carefully, before intentionally kicking up a storm of automobiles, sending them flying at the four students behind him.

To his ever-growing annoyance, the motorcycle made it through unharmed. A second later, one of the other two appeared from the cloud of cars. It was the rainbow one. He groaned, looking up to the sky as if to ask, 'Why me?' before returning his attention to crushing the Faunus in front of him, as well as the blond climbing over his mech, doing god-knows-what.

Nothing he was doing appeared to faze the Faunus, as he just kept climbing, like he was looking for something specific.

Finding a good place for the only one he brought with him from home, Naruto placed an explosive tag on the thinnest part of the mech that connected the legs to the torso. It wasn't actually the thinnest part of the robot, just in the section between the arms and legs. He leapt off, but as he went, the mech turned and struck him with a backhand, forcing him to land precariously on the front of Yang's motorcycle. He turned to her, yelling at the top of his lungs so she could hear him, "GET AWAY FROM TORCHWICK! I SET A BOMB!"

Her eyes widened, and she drastically slowed down, as Naruto turned back to the mech in front of them. He made a familiar handsign, something that just looked like a pose to Yang, and a huge explosion rocked the bridge with its force. But unbelievably, the mech emerged from it almost entirely unharmed, the most damage being a scorch mark around the middle. Naruto's mouth dropped open.

Sun and Blake, up ahead, ceased their car-hopping, looking back at the smoking mech. Neptune, behind Naruto, yelled for him to get down. Naruto hopped to a different vehicle, as Neptune fired what appeared to be bolts of lightning at the robot, which did little more than annoy the man inside of it.

Seeing he was getting nowhere, Neptune leapt forwards, landing on the mech and stabbing into it with his weapon, now transformed into some kind of halberd-trident cross. The mech, still unaffected, began violently shaking about, as Torchwick tried to launch the boy off of it. Seeing the trouble his teammate was in, Sun called out to him, before putting his hands together in a prayer motion. A moment later, two golden copies of him rushed forwards, exploding into light upon impacting the mech.

Sun tried to take the opportunity to rush forward and attack the mech, but Torchwick swung far around, sending Neptune flying into Sun. Before they fell off the bridge, Naruto leapt up, grabbing them by their shirts and keeping them from falling off. However, given that he had had to leap towards the edge of the bridge, all three of them ended up falling. Knowing that the other two would be fine, Naruto dropped them, letting them land on their own as he jumped from column to column, climbing back up.

When he reached the top, he found that the mech was much further down the road, a mile at least, approaching a girl in white. Naruto sent a good amount of chakra to his legs, kneeling slightly as he put his hands on the ground in front of him, ready to run. In a flash, he took off down the road, blazing past Yang, and impacting the back of the mech in an instant. He didn't do much, but at least he felt like he contributed.

The girl in white, obviously Weiss, stabbed her rapier into the ground, creating a large field of ice. As Torchwick spotted it, the smirk he had dropped, and he tried to stop, to slow down, to do anything to avoid it, but in the end, he was sent over the edge in a ridiculous display of a raining chunk of metal.

As Melissa sat in her team's dorm, back a Beacon Academy, she looked up suddenly from her magazine, with an overwhelming feeling of being left out.

"Hm," She shrugged. "Meh."

The mech fell, impacting the ground beneath the freeway with a large crash. Up above, Yang, Blake, Weiss, Diana, and Naruto looked down at it, as it still appeared to be unfazed, even by so far a drop. Ruby was stood opposite it, scythe held at the ready. Yang and Weiss jumped down, followed swiftly by Diana, who never liked missing a fight. Or, well, Naruto didn't think she liked to miss fights. It was hard to tell with her.

Blake gave Naruto a look of question, and followed suit. Naruto shrugged, and dropped down, landing next to Team RWBY and his teammate. He looked over at Diana, who was giddy with excitement, and grinned at her, ready for the fight at hand. Maybe an explosive tag couldn't work, but a Rasengan probably could.

But from nowhere, a girl with two different hair colors, two different eye colors, and an umbrella came down and landed on top of the mech. She sat cross-legged on top of it, umbrella draped over her shoulder, smirking at them. Naruto looked up in annoyance, groaning as he did. Why did bad guys always get reinforcements? And where were Sun and Neptune?

Falling off of a freeway can be annoying. Very annoying, especially when you're in a giant mech suit. Torchwick, right now, was not very happy. At least Neo had shown up when he asked. That was a plus, against six other people. Besides, if needed, she would be great for a getaway.

Naruto set his hand in front of him, trying, for the second time in three days, to make a Rasengan with only one hand. The last time, he had only tried a little bit of chakra, though he had said it was Aura. This time, he tried it with his normal amount. It took an incredible amount of focus, but he managed to create the blue sphere in his hand, with Team RWBY and Diana staring at him in amazement, and giving Torchwick pause.

But, as it always had, the one-handed Rasengan failed him, exploding the ground beneath it into a small crater, damaging his hand as it went. He hadn't tried something like that since he had met Baa-chan, but he was hopeful he would at least be able to hold onto it for long enough to use it one the robot.

"Gah!" He grunted in pain. Neo was smirking again, and Torchwick was getting his weapons ready. Ruby turned to her team.

"Freezer Burn!" she called out. Seeing her and Blake jump back, Naruto and Diana followed suit, as Weiss created another field of ice, while Yang jumped up, coming down with a shot from her gauntlets, creating a huge cloud of mist.

'Oh, boy. This brings back memories of the Land of Waves, eh Kyūbi?'

"You idiot, keep yourself focused on the battle at hand!"

Naruto saw several red lasers perforating the mist, as Team RWBY sprinted about, confusing the mech. However, the girl was no longer sat on top of it. She wasn't by its feet either, meaning she had to be hidden in the mist somewhere.

'Kyūbi?'

"I know… About thirty feet to your right, coming right at you."

Naruto ducked, and the girl flew right over him, missing her strike entirely. Both of them stood back up to full height, which, for the girl, wasn't saying much. She was incredibly short. Like, not even five feet tall. And on top of that, she was wearing heels, meaning she was even shorter than she appeared.

She smirked at Naruto again, like she was asking him to attack. He raised an eyebrow. Part of being a shinobi is seeing through deception, and her smirk just spelled out 'trap.'

"Ignore the one in front of you. It's an illusion."

'Like a genjutsu? I though they didn't have those here?'

"They don't. Likely, this is her 'Semblance,' as these people call it. Turn to your left. That's where the real one is."

Naruto complied, and he heard the sound of glass shattering next to him, as the girl appeared, no longer smirking. It seemed she was a little scared of the fact that he had seen through her illusion. She readied her umbrella, which Naruto assumed was her weapon.

"I get the feeling she focuses on avoiding hits first, dealing hits second. Careful, Kit. This one could be annoying."

'You're very helpful, for someone who is as new to this world as I am.'

"It's because I'm actually intelligent."

Ignoring the fox, Naruto and the petite girl began circling each other, keeping their eyes locked the entire time. If she fought the way the fox said, then Naruto would have to use his speed to beat her. He drew his sword, keeping it at the ready in chokutō form. She sounded like the way most shinobi fought, especially considering the not-genjutsu ability of hers. Trickery and deception, that seemed to be her style.

Apparently, patience was not part of that, as she and Naruto both rush at each other simultaneously, chokutō meeting umbrella, sending out small sparks. She tried to sweep his feet out from under him, but he flipped over her, keeping his blade locked against her parasol the entire way. He jumped back, switching over to his gun, and beginning to move around her in a circle.

He fired bullet after bullet as he went, but from what he could tell, she was blocking them all with ease. She really was very good. He upped his speed a little, and began moving more erratically, jumping over her, sliding next to her, and generally being a nuisance. He could tell she was having more difficulty blocking his shots. He thought he saw one or two get through, but they might have just missed.

She began to attack in between his bullets, swiping at him with her parasol. She almost hit him once or twice, which meant she had almost as fast reactions as Ruby did. Seeing no other, better choice, Naruto sent enough chakra to his legs to maximize his speed, and he took off at easily over two hundred miles an hour. And yet, only a few of his bullets got through. Deciding to live up to his old nickname, Naruto began to attack randomly, unpredictably.

One moment, he would be swiping at her with his chokutō, and the next he might be a hundred feet above her, firing down upon her. But, before he managed to start doing real damage, he felt his legs start to give out under the pressure, like whenever Bushy-Brows opened the Gates. He was forced to slow down, or risk incredible amounts of fatigue and pain later on. Bringing it back down to a normal running speed, he saw another smirk on her face, as she began to attack at him more regularly, given that she could see him.

Since he didn't have an Aura to defend himself, he needed to avoid as many hits as he could, since one good shot with a blade could potentially finish him. Of course, it would need to be something serious, like a decapitation, but it was still better not to take chances.

So, he changed tactics once more, adopting her supposed strategy of dodging rather than attacking. But the game of cat-and-mouse was getting them nowhere fast, and Naruto was starting to become a little annoyed. He needed to finish this soon. They had been fighting for long enough that the cloud of mist had long since dissipated, and he was worried about his friends.

"She's launched another illusion. Jump… NOW!"

Naruto jumped, as the fox told him to, and heard more glass shatter as the girl in front of him broke to pieces, replaced by the girl behind him. He had hopped onto her umbrella, driving it down with his weight. She was forced to let go of it, avoiding a swing of his chokutō.

"This is a little ridiculous. She should not be this much of an issue for you."

'I know, but between trying to out-speed her before, and when the robot smacked me earlier, I'm a little tired.'

"All I hear is excuses, brat."

Naruto continued his attack on the petite girl with his one-handed chokutō, creating a small Rasengan in his other hand. He could at least keep this much chakra stable.

"I wouldn't recommend that. Remember the brat from before? His Aura struck out at you through that technique, causing you harm. If you use it here, the same will happen."

'I know, but I don't have much choice at the moment. This is going nowhere, and if I don't finish it soon, she will.'

The girl's eyes widened at the sight of the blue ball, but she still smirked at him, probably thinking it would explode again. But, as she was dodging a swipe of his chokutō, he thrust the orb right into her abdomen, but angled it upwards, sending her into the air. She kept her composure, and before Naruto could follow up on his hit, she was back down on the ground, having maneuvered down a concrete pillar.

He shook his hand about, as if to throw the pain off of his hand. The girl grinned at him, like she knew what her Aura had done. And considering how skillful she clearly was, she might have. Naruto could tell, though, that he had done some damage to her with his attack.

"She's created another illusion. Kit, keep an eye on her weapon. That may be her target."

Naruto turned, only to see her weapon was already gone. He ducked on instinct, as yet more glass fell to pieces, and the tiny girl appeared before him, swinging her parasol over him. He took a page from her book, and swept his foot under hers, knocking her off balance for a moment. He swung back around with his blade, only to be blocked yet again by her umbrella.

This was actually infuriating. Neither of them could land a decisive blow on the other, either due to speed, Aura, or both. Naruto could already tell: this fight would last a while. But he wasn't just worried about this fight. He knew his friends were fighting Torchwick behind him. He had no idea how they were doing, but he hoped it was better than he was.

He didn't have much time to think, due to the girl, whom Naruto decided he needed a nickname for, pulling a blade from the end of her umbrella, and beginning to use the two weapons in tandem. Naruto sighed, jumping back and pulling a kunai from his pouch. The multi-color girl rushed at him, but he blocked both of her strikes with his weapons.

If their fight was graceful before, then there weren't many words that describe it now. Perhaps something like elegant. It took on the appearance of a well-choreographed dance, not a battle potentially to the death. They both moved like partners, knowing exactly what the other would do.

And they both were getting more and more frustrated.

While Naruto and Neo were having their dance of death, Torchwick had been having a very much not fun time. Immediately following the cloud of mist, he had activated the Paladin's laser sensors, trying to catch the bothersome pests as they ran to and fro in the mist. He opened fire on a place he thought he had just seen someone, then on a place where he was sure he had seen one, and then Red had come bursting out of the mist, slashing with that oversized gardening tool of hers.

Ruby yelled out to her teammates, "Checkmate!"

Blake and Weiss rushed forwards, and began slashing at the mech's feet, sending sparks out in every direction. Weiss leapt up, stabbing one of the sensors on the front of the robot, then creating a glyph beneath her as she jumped away from it. As it tried to crush Blake, she created another glyph beneath the Faunus, pulling her away from it before it could.

Torchwick growled in annoyance, firing off rockets in all directions, before they converged on the two huntresses-in-training that had just attacked him. They began flipping backwards, avoiding all of the rockets. But then, the girl in white jumped a just a bit too high for her own good, and Torchwick seized the opportunity, launching two energy blasts at her. To his dismay, she blocked the brunt of the attacks with her rapier, but she was sent flying from the force anyways.

As Weiss fell backwards, she produced one more glyph beneath Blake. The cat girl absorbed it, and when Torchwick fired his next volley of rockets, she swung at unimaginable speeds, sending a wave of energy in practically every direction in front of her, destroying all the rockets as she turned away from them in an acrobatic display.

Ruby rushed forwards again, "Ladybug!"

She fired off her scythe behind her, using its force to launch herself underneath the robot, landing on the other side as she went. From there, she and Blake passed back and forth, striking at each of the legs as they went. However, they succeeded in doing little damage. As Torchwick turned to Ruby, both of them leapt upwards, coming down over top of him, and severing his mech's left arm.

As he was stumbling about, trying to re-balance the mech, Yang ran up behind Torchwick, jumping on top of his mech, and firing off her gauntlets multiple times. Unable to shake her off, or use his remaining arm to hit her, Torchwick flew backwards, crashing through several stone columns as he went. Crashing into a fourth, he stopped, launching the blonde into it. He turned, and as she was falling, he punched with his right arm, sending her right through the support pillar.

Blake called out to her, "YANG!"

Ruby tried to assure her that her sister was fine, "Don't worry! With each hit, she gets stronger, and she uses that energy to fight back! That's what makes her special!"

Inside his mech, Torchwick scowled at the sight of the blonde standing back up, clenching her fists. He pulled back the mech's arm, and punched straight downwards into the no-doubt exhausted girl.

…Only for her to block it with her bare hands, creating a crater beneath her feet from the force of the punch. She looked up at him, her eyes now blood red. He growled, ready to attack again. Before he could even move, she pulled back her own fist, and let it fly, punching right through the mech's arm, shattering it to pieces.

Without having more weight on one side than the other, Torchwick re-balanced much quicker, kicking Yang away from the mech, sending her flying through the air, past her teammates. Ruby turned to Blake, calling out, "Bumblebee!"

Blake threw her gun to Yang, holding the other end of the ribbon. The blonde caught it as she flew past a recovering Weiss, and Blake pulled it taught, allowing Yang to swing back around, trying to kick the mech from the side. Torchwick saw it coming, and stepped backwards, avoiding the attack.

Ruby yelled out to her team, "We have to slow it down!"

Weiss leapt forward, next to Ruby. "And how do you propose we do that?" she asked her partner.

Ruby turned to face the mech, "Ice Flower!"

Torchwick looked up, and saw Red and her white-wearing friend off in the distance. The heiress created three glyphs in front of Ruby's sniper, and the young leader fired it, sending an almost arcane bullet into the mech, creating a bloom of ice on where its shoulder would be, if it still had arms. Ruby fired more, producing more ice all over the mech's body, drastically decreasing its maneuverability.

Blake pulled on the ribbon once more, sending Yang flying around in a wide circle, with her fist soaring straight into the cockpit of the mech, sending it and its passenger flying. The mech shattered to pieces, and Torchwick stood, brushing off his suit.

Back over with Naruto and Neo, they paused for just a moment, hearing a huge crash, as both of them witnessed Yang shatter the entire mech with a single punch. Naruto was about to reengage to small girl, only to turn and find she had disappeared.

'Another illusion?'

"No. She's rushing for the orange haired one."

Naruto began to run for Team RWBY, to back them up. As he did, he looked off to the side, seeing Diana, who had apparently been excited for this fight, sitting against a pillar, eating a bagel. Just, a bagel. Nothing on it, and it probably wasn't still hot, but she was eating it anyways.

Yang, seeing Torchwick, furiously fired another round at him, only for that girl from before to drop down in front of him and block it with her parasol. Torchwick turned to them, smirk on his face, "Ladies. Ice Queen."

"Hey!" Weiss said resentfully. Torchwick ignored her.

"Always a pleasure," he said, saluting them in taunt. He turned to the small girl. "Neo, if you would…"

The girl, Neo, gave a little bow, arm outstretched behind her, as Naruto, Ruby, Blake, Yang, and Weiss all converged on the same spot, about twenty feet away. The two of them just stood still for a bit, confusing Team RWBY. Naruto began looking around, having already dealt with several of Neo's tricks.

'Kyūbi?'

"She's running with that Torchwick man. They've begun to move through the air."

Not getting it was an illusion, Naruto could see Yang's back as she charged for the pair, punching through them, only for them to break into pieces as the sound of more broken glass rang out. Looking around, she saw the two flying off in a Bullhead.

When she turned to watch the Bullhead, Naruto thought he caught a glimpse of red in Yang's eye. He frowned, but when he looked again, her eyes were their usual purple. The rest of Team RWBY and Naruto all gathered around Yang, who stated the obvious, "So I guess he got a new henchman."

Doing the unthinkable, Weiss tried something she had ridiculed Yang an incredible amount for doing: She tried to make a pun.

"Yeah, I guess she really made our plans… Fall apart?" Weiss tried. Ruby held back a snicker, while Naruto covered his face with his hand, Blake walked away, and Yang muttered disapprovingly.

"No… Just, no."

Weiss got a little angry about the denial of her joke, "What- But you do it!"

Yang put her fists on her hips, "There's a time and a place for jokes."

"Was this not it?"

Yang began to walk away, "No, it just… wasn't very good."

Weiss followed her, "Well, at least I'm trying!"

"Wait… Where are Sun and Neptune?" Ruby asked, looking around.

"You know, Ruby, I was wondering the same thing. Troy vanished as well," Naruto said, walking with the rest of her team. He turned to his teammate. "Diana! We're done here!"

She stood up, happily finishing her bagel. Naruto walked over to Blake, but before he could say anything, she slapped him. He held the side of his face, staring at her with his mouth half open, as if asking "Why?"

"I didn't want you to come along, Naruto," She said, glaring at him. "This wasn't your problem."

He glared back at her, "I don't care. You needed help, and I offered."

She looked down. "I… I didn't want you to…"

He held up his hand, "It's fine, Blake. You don't need to justify yourself. I just want you to remember that I'm always willing to help."

She looked up at him, speechless. He smiled, and walked away before she could think up anything.

Troy woke, finding himself in the middle of a freeway, and somehow not causing a huge traffic jam. Looking around, it was evident why. The cars from Torchwick's… idea… were piled around, on their sides or tops. There were people lying around, clearly injured in various ways. He reached for his scroll, but found that trying to move his arm gave him incredible pain.

"Right. Broken right arm. Wonderful. Just great," he muttered to himself. He reached with his left arm, calling the emergency services, making sure they knew there was an issue. It was probably unnecessary, but he felt an obligation to do it, given that he was part of the reason why all these people were wounded.

And, of course, a bit on the selfish side, he wanted help with his arm. Soon afterwards, several police officers arrived, along with a veritable fleet of ambulances. One by one, those who survived the crash were taken by the ambulances, while those that didn't were taken by the coroners.

Omake #1- Ninja Competition: Part 1 (Idea by: Darkbeast42)

"Oh, please. Like you could beat me," said a rather cocky Naruto. There weren't many things he would get like this over, but when someone questioned his skill as a ninja, that was crossing the line. He had surpassed the Fourth Hokage, damn it! He wasn't about to be shown up by some guy in a different universe! He turned back to his ramen, eating it furiously.

Ren merely scoffed, "I'd be willing to bet I could beat you with my eyes closed. You wear orange, for god's sake! How can you sneak around like that?" The member of Team JNPR crossed his arms, somewhat stuck-up as he turned away from Naruto. Like he had any stealth skills at all! He probably couldn't even open his door without everyone in a two mile radius hearing it.

Naruto rolled his eyes, turning to his fellow Faunus, "Hey, back me up here, Blake."

She looked up at him from her book, not moving her head to face him. "Why? Neither of you could out-ninja me anyways," she challenged. She had seen Naruto and Ren fight. They were nothing like ninjas, especially not Naruto. Ren had raised a good point about his color choice.

"Ah, come on!" Naruto complained, turning back to Ren. "I'd bet you anything that I could out-stealth you, out-speed you, and out-fight-a-war you."

Ren cocked his head, bewildered, "What? Fight a war? Since when were ninja the fighters of wars?"

"Back home they were! We fought three against other villages!" Naruto was getting into the argument. The rest of all of their teams were watching them, heads zipping back and forth between them. "Just watch! I'll show you! Let's have a competition!"

"What kind of competition?" Blake asked, looking up at last. She was a bit competitive, especially when it was something that interested her. And when someone claimed to be a better ninja than her, she was definitely interested. Naruto turned to her.

"First, we shall have a race! Second, we shall have an infiltration mission! Third, we shall have a fight with each other!" Naruto exclaimed. Ren and Blake stared at him blankly.

"So, I get the infiltration, but why the other two?" Weiss asked from across the table. Naruto spun on his spot to meet her gaze. He was getting a wild grin on his face.

"The race will be a test of speed and agility! Did I mention it would be a race through the forest? The fight… well that honestly should be obvious. Fighting is important to a ninja!" Naruto was coming off more and more as a crazy person. However, Ren seemed to enjoy the idea, and Blake was nodding.

"So," Ruby began. "What does the winner get?"

Ren spoke up, "Acknowledgement as the best ninja."

Naruto continued, "A lot of ramen!"

Blake finished, "Some peace and quiet."

"Hmmmmm…" Yang hummed. "It sounds interesting. We should do this tomorrow!"

Naruto gave an exaggerated thumbs up, "Yes, we should! But today…" He sighed. "Is classes."

Eh… I don't know about that omake. It was more than a little short. Ah, well. At least I have plans for more. Let me know if you enjoyed it. I'm definitely dragging it out to multiple parts.

You know, anytime I see a review that just says something like 'Great Chapter' or something similar, I always enjoy it much more than I probably should. 'Cause seeing those reviews means that someone, somewhere had spent their own time to give a compliment to someone they have never met, just based on how well they write.

Hell, I enjoy negative reviews more than I probably should, as well. After all, they point out (usually(sometimes)) things that went wrong somewhere in the writing process, like Ugh a few chapters ago.

A quick guest review, for TheB: Has anything Blake done all series actually made sense? Think about it. She ran from Vale because... um... reasons? Why did she do that, anyways? Yang's arm? She completely gave up on going after the White Fang after they got Torchwick, for some reason. And now, apparently, she wants to reclaim the White Fang. Spoilers, by the way.

Until Chapter 8!