Well, this is back. At the point that I'm typing this, I've not written anything for this story in two weeks. Typing ahead of time, and the like, gave me a big ol' buffer between then and now. I'm excited to carry on with it, though. After all, we're getting close to Volume 3.

Now, I won't rant about it here, but I'm going to explain more about Naruto's 'reveal' at the end of the chapter.

A few people, one or two, have complained about my killing of Konan in a paragraph. Not every death is dramatic and drawn-out as hell, you know. Sometimes death is very sudden, without long speeches and repentance.

I've written this chapter twice. The first version was a lot drearier compared to this one, and I just didn't enjoy it. It kind of took away the carefree attitude this story kind-of had. And I don't want to do that quite yet. Thus, the re-write, complete with only semi-believable cop-outs. More on this at the end.

Quick question. Does Dust require Aura to use? I'm going to assume no, considering one certain incident involving a sneeze and an explosion…

By popular demand, Naruto and Blake's new ship name is Cat-O-Nine-Tails. Good to know that they share a kink. Question is, which one cracks the whip?

Disclaimer: Even now, I don't own either of these. 'These' being Naruto and RWBY.

Chapter 12: The Aftermath

Slowly, Naruto opened his eyes. It wasn't that he felt he needed to be cautious, or anything of the sort. His eyes felt like they had sealed shut. He managed to get them open, and realized he was lying down. He tried to look around, but found he could barely move his head. His neck was incredibly stiff. By moving his eyes around some, he could just see a head of gray hair, the rest of its bearer immediately outside his field of vision. He fell back into his sleep quickly.

He woke once more, but he couldn't tell how much time had passed. He seemed to be in the same room, since the white ceiling looked exactly the same. It was dark this time, however. Not that it mattered, given he could see in the dark. This time, however, he could move his neck just a little. To his right, he was able to see black hair covering the face of someone sleeping in a chair near his bed. But like before, he couldn't keep himself awake.

The final time he woke, he found himself able to move fully once more. The moment he woke, he sat up in the bed he was in, looking around wildly. He only noticed his friends trying to keep him calm after he regained his senses.

"Guys? Where am I?" he asked. Troy looked at Diana nervously. She simply smiled back. Well, at least she was cheery.

"Well… After the Grimm started showing up in the town, and that guy was beaten… Imperius tried to follow that red Grimm. As he did, he said he found you, passed out," Troy explained. He seemed hesitant about something. Some of it sounded familiar to Naruto, but not about the Grimm showing up, and not about the red Grimm.

"Red Grimm?" he asked. Troy nodded.

"Imperius said that it was probably the most terrifying thing he'd ever seen. It looked somewhat like a fox, but it had six tails."

Naruto was fairly certain he knew what Troy meant, but unlike his friend, he knew it wasn't a Grimm. Oh, if only it was that simple. But at least he seemed to have gotten lucky on that count. No one had seen him transform, apparently. If that were the case, he would have a great deal less to explain. There was just his clones, his Sage Mode, his incredible combat prowess, punching Imperius... Alright, maybe there was more than he thought. In fact, Troy seemed like he was about to ask something else, but he was cut off.

"Well, I'm sure Mr. Uzumaki is exhausted from his battle. Please, give him some time to get back into it," spoke a familiar voice. Professor Ozpin strode into the room, holding his cup of coffee. Troy and Diana bowed a little, and left.

"My, my. You do have a few mysteries about you, don't you?" Ozpin said to Naruto. "For now, I would like you to explain, please, three things to me about yourself. Will you?"

Not seeing any good way out of this, Naruto chose the option that would probably end best, "I will."

Ozpin gave a small smile, "Thank you. Now, my first question is your ability to create clones, despite demonstrating prior to now incredible speed. Mr. Resdomindo was quite baffled."

"I- It was a part of those things the doctors of my village did. I don't know all the details, but I remember there was a corpse there…" Naruto lied.

"I see. Why do you hide it, then?"

"Sir, would you want to use a power you probably got from someone who was dead? But besides that, I can't make more than one at a time without being really tired afterwards," Naruto continued his lie, trying to minimize the proverbial damage he had done with his fight against Pain.

"Hm… Though I'm curious as to the nature of this experimental procedure, I have a second question for you. Mr. Resdomindo reported that you refused to obey his orders when he told you to retreat, and then attacked him. Why was that?" Ozpin continued.

Naruto looked down. "I… I knew the man I was fighting. He was from my village… his semblance let him control dead bodies, and even use the semblances they had when they were alive," he lied. "And I knew I could fight him. He was the reason my village was gone, so I got a little violent when I was told I couldn't fight him."

"Well, I suppose that's a fair answer. But of my third question, some of which you just answered… Who was he, and why did you two speak with such familiarity? Your team reported that he referred to you by name multiple times, and also by a title. I believe it was 'Jinchūriki?'"

Naruto flinched a little. He thought up a quick answer, "He was my teacher until he betrayed all of us. Jinchūriki was his nickname for me."

"I see…" Ozpin muttered. "Your leader said that he seemed to be searching or you. Do you have any idea why?"

Naruto's head shot up, "MELISSA!? She said that? She's alive?"

Ozpin smiled, "Oh, yes. She used up every bit of her Aura keeping herself that way, and left herself unconscious for nearly two weeks. She's rather fortunate. Any civilian would have certainly died, but thanks to her training, she was able to heal herself with her Aura just after her assailant left. It seems he was inexperienced with Aura, and believed she would perish from her wounds."

'So that's why I couldn't sense her… she used all of her Aura… Thank Kami Pain didn't know about Aura…'

"I don't know why he was looking for me, but I remember he thought that Faunus had some kind of power that could be used for the good of humans," Naruto half-lied. Ozpin nodded kindly in understanding, but Naruto could tell he was frustrated at something Naruto had said.

Ozpin sighed mentally. Humankind, always stepping on the Faunus… Either that, or the boy was lying. But, onto his final point… "Do you know anything of the Vulpecula, Naruto? Your teammates say you entered the battle again just before it appeared."

Naruto shook his head. Ozpin sighed, "Now, that is disappointing. I had hoped we might be able to track it down. According to Mr. Resdomindo, it never actually attacked anything other than the man before it ran off… I believed that perhaps it wasn't as inherently evil as its brethren.

There is one more thing, however. During your fight, you demonstrated incredible strength and durability. The kind that far exceeds anything I have seen in a long while. I ask you, how exactly did you manage that?"

Naruto grinned weakly, "That's four questions, sir."

Ozpin chuckled to himself. "Indeed, it is. Very well, I shall leave you now. I believe Ms. Belladonna will want to speak to you next. She has been quite persistent, coming here during most of her free time. However, I shall wish for you to explain more at a later date. Including why you displayed incredible insubordination to Mr. Resdomindo."

Naruto laid back, having half ignored the latter part of what Ozpin told him. So, Blake was worried, eh? Ozpin left, leaving the room quiet. That is, until the doors opened again nearly an hour later, and Blake burst into the room. Her eyes shot over to Naruto, and she seemed to relax.

Naruto grinned, "Gee, didn't take you for a worrier."

She rolled her eyes, "Oh, shut up. I'm just glad you're awake. Do you realize how long you've been out?"

"No, why?" Naruto replied. She sat down on the bed, next to him.

"Naruto, you've been in a coma for almost a month," she explained.

"A MONTH?!" Naruto shouted. Blake jumped, looking rather catlike, "But, how? When?"

'Kurama?'

Nothing. After a moment, Blake spoke again, "Are you ok?"

He nodded, "Yeah, I… I'm fine. I just- A month?"

The fox must have been more than a little upset about the seal being restored, and held off on trying to heal Naruto. Still, a month-long coma for chakra exhaustion was a little extreme. The worst Naruto had ever heard of was someone who had been out for two weeks.

Blake smiled, "But, you're awake now. Ruby's going to be over the moon. She was really worried, because the doctors and nurses here said that they couldn't tell why you were even in a coma. Their best guess was running out of Aura, since they couldn't get the machine to register yours."

Well, at least it gave him an excuse. "Yeah," he lied. "I ended up using up all of it when I was fighting Pain."

Blake looked confused, "You used all of your Aura fighting off the pain?"

He chuckled at her confusion, "No, fighting Pain. That was the guy's name."

"Wait, which of their names was Pain? Who named him that?" Blake asked. Naruto shrugged.

"Well, they were all controlled by one guy. And I mean, he wanted to achieve world peace through pain, so that might have been it," he answered. "He was a weird guy."

"Huh. And I thought my mission ended poorly."

He looked at her with curiosity, "What happened on yours?"

"We went to a place called Mountain Glenn, Ruby fell in a hole, and Torchwick blew up a train. Then there was the whole thing with Vale being attacked by Grimm- It was a pretty long day, overall," Blake responded.

"Wait, how did all of that happen?"

"Do you have time to hear a long story?"

"Well, I'm not going anywhere… so, yeah."

"NARUTO!"

Naruto stared with wide eyes as Ruby tackled him to the bed in an excited hug. It wasn't that he had doubted Blake, but he still wasn't prepared for Ruby's bullet-hug. He looked up from the girl to the door, where Yang and Troy were stood, the former barely concealing a grin and a laugh. He turned back to Ruby.

"Hey, Ruby. How ya doin?" he asked. She beamed up at him. He smiled back.

"I'm fine. I'm more worried about you, Naruto. Blake told us you woke up yesterday. What happened?"

"Ah, nothing. Used up all of my Aura fighting," he explained. Over by the door, Troy nodded in agreement. He had seen the fight, and with everything that Naruto did, it wasn't surprising.

He walked over to the bed, "So, Naruto… how did you throw your Aura like that, anyway?"

"A lot of practice and training. With a few rocks as targets," Naruto answered sarcastically. Troy rolled his eyes. "Honestly, I'm not sure how it works. I just kind of… do it. I can only do it when I use dust in my Rasengan." He hoped that was at least a little convincing. Yang walked to the other side of his bed.

"Whiskers, you are just full of surprises, aren't you?"

He grinned sheepishly, hand behind his head, "Yeah, I guess. So, what about you two? Blake told me about your mission, and I was wondering… Ruby, why didn't you wake up any of your teammates to get help?"

"Uh… I didn't want to bother them?" she said unsurely. Naruto shook his head. "Hey, didn't you punch your huntsman?"

"Oh, shut up," he said dismissively. "So, how much have I missed, anyway?"

Yang answered, "Well, the qualifiers for the Vytal tournament are in a week. The tournament itself starts about a week after that. Besides that, Ruby beat Cardin in a spar!" She sounded excited. Ruby blushed lightly from the praise.

"Oh, it was nothing. He's just really slow," mumbled the silver-eyed girl.

Naruto wrapped an arm around her shoulder, dramatically gesturing with his other hand, "You've done a great job, Ruby!"

She blushed deeper, "Oh, stop it."

"Anything else exciting happen?" Naruto asked, turning back to Yang. She thought for a moment.

"No, not really…" All of a sudden, her expression shifted into interest, and she leaned over to Naruto. "But, what happened on your mission, exactly?"

He began to tell the story, largely skimming through the first several days, before he got to the part where Pain appeared, and Troy had taken Naruto from the crater, "So, I used my fox side, and jumped back into the fight. But Pain had some weird power that he used to fling me from the crater, way out into the woods. I only woke up before Imperius found me."

Troy seemed confused, "What do you mean you 'used your fox side?'"

"Didn't Melissa ever tell you? I don't have a great way to explain it…" Naruto answered. "I get red eyes, and I have more stamina and strength. The tradeoff is I'm more feral, and have a harder time controlling myself."

Ruby stared with amazement, "That's cool!" Yang snickered at her sister. "What? It's like he has two semblances! Cause ya know… the red eyes, the strength… doesn't that remind you of someone, Yang?"

Before Yang could answer, Troy spoke up, "That does remind me: How did you make those clones, Naruto?" That caught the sister's attention. Making clones was definitely a semblance, and no one could have two.

"Oh, uh… Well, it's just something I have from my village. I'm not good at it either; I can only make one without passing out."

Troy frowned, "Wait, but didn't you make an army of them? Or am I misremembering that?"

"I definitely can't make an army, Troy. Did you hit your head that day?" Naruto lied. This was getting dangerously close to the truth. Luckily, Troy was apparently doubtful of his memory.

Troy nodded. "I thought it was strange. But what do you mean-," he said.

"Hey, Naruto?" Ruby asked suddenly, cutting off Troy. He looked over to her. "Blake said you said the guy's name was Pain…" He nodded affirmatively. "How come people are calling him a god?"

Naruto scowled. Ruby flinched a little, and he lightened up. "He had a big head because of his powers. He always called himself a god, and I guess people are willing to justify things any way they can."

"But he wasn't a god, right? Wasn't he evil?" Ruby asked. "Why do people look up to him?"

Naruto reached over and ruffled her hair a little, "Well, not everybody's as smart as you are, Ruby. They think he was divine and couldn't do anything wrong."

Ruby blushed more under the praise, even if she still seemed agitated. Troy, not having any further investment in the conversation at hand, left the hospital room. Naruto lifted his legs up off the bed, stretching them out. They were stiff as a bone, after not being used for a month.

"Hey, so, Whiskers?" Naruto glanced over to Ruby's sister. "Why did you take so much longer to wake up than your partner?"

He thought for a moment, then answered, "I guess it might have been from how tired I was. I mean, I fought against a guy strong enough to be called a god, so…" Truthfully, Naruto wasn't sure why it had taken a month for him to recover. Usually, he could get up from chakra exhaustion after a good night's sleep. Though, now he thought about it, he had used up all of his own chakra. Only Kurama's had kept him alive after that. Speaking of the fox…

'Kurama?'

Still nothing. The fox must have been upset about being resealed. He hadn't spoken to Naruto in the two days since he'd woken. The doctors were making him stay for another day or so, because he 'needed rest.' That seemed doubtful, seeing as how he just slept for a month.

Though he was sure Ruby and Yang could have kept talking to him for hours, Naruto could tell from the way the room began to darken, as well as the fact that he could see outside, that night was falling. A doctor entered, and more or less kicked the sisters out. Yang told Naruto they'd come by again with Blake the next day, then followed her little sister out.

The man was gone. In his place, a crater. I frowned. It seemed familiar. And different.

The man was back. He was in front of me. He reached out, and Naruto yelled. No sound came out.

Again, in vain, "How are you here?" Nothing. I panic. Naruto tries to run, but can't move.

The man grabbed Naruto's neck. He tried to speak again. "I beat you!" I try to yell.

Pain laughed. I couldn't breathe.

But I'm not me. I'm someone else. Naruto falls limp. He's unconscious.

'This is… wrong.' But now I am myself. I can see the village.

Naruto could only see destruction and death. This was his home. And it was gone.

With a start, Naruto woke. He sat up it bed so fast that he caused the bed to shake. He held a hand up to his head, trying to reorient himself. This just wasn't fair. How come Pain still got to show up in his dreams? He killed him. He was dead. Naruto sighed to himself.

Only once he opened his eyes did he notice it was still dark. Of course, he could see the clock on the wall. According to it, he only had a few more hours before he was let out of this place.

That would mean going back to classes, though. More specifically, Port's classes. Naruto groaned, laying back down and covering his face with a pillow. He sat like that for a while, and he wasn't sure when he fell back to sleep. But when he woke up, it was day once again.

Looking at the clock again, he saw he had an hour left before he was 'allowed' to leave. Well at least as he waited he could check a list of things that had been bothering him off.

Number one: His team seeing his shadow clones and his Rasenshuriken. Right. He'd given a sub-par explanation, but it was one they seemed to believe. Number two: Pain had come here, to Remnant. He had said that he apparently had come without actually telling anyone, so that was a relief. At least the Akatsuki wouldn't show up here anymore.

And number three: Kurama still wasn't talking to him. He couldn't even enter his mindscape. Which didn't make a lot of sense, since, ya know, it was his mind.

He must have been more into his thoughts than he realized, as before he knew it, he was practically being shooed out of the hospital wing. He was at least allowed to change into his clothing first, thankfully. And somehow, through all of that fight, all of his jacket, pants, and haori remained completely undamaged. Despite the fact that, and he was sure of this, he had been cut across the chest and arms multiple times.

Shoving his right arm through the hoari's sleeve, he walked out of the room he had spent at least four days in. Never having visited the hospital for any reason before, Naruto was a little lost. Luckily for him, Melissa and Blake were headed towards him down the hallway. He grinned, and began to walk to them.

"Hey, guys!" he called out. Melissa gave a wave, while Blake just rolled her eyes with a playful smile on her face. It wasn't long before they were face to face, the three of them. "So… what are you two doing here?"

"We were coming to visit you," Melissa answered, looking him over. "But I guess those plans are now cancelled."

Naruto turned to her, sudden concern across his face, "Are you ok? I heard that you used all of your Aura to stay alive."

She raised an eyebrow, "This coming from you, the one who could apparently fight that guy? But yes, I'm fine. I have been up for two weeks."

"What about you, Naruto?" Blake interjected. The blond Faunus nodded.

"Yep!" He answered with a smile, before his eyes widened in horror. "Oh sweet Kami, I'm turning into Diana."

Melissa laughed. "No, you need a lot more pep and color," she responded. "So, Naruto. We were thinking about trying for the Vytal Tournament."

"That sounds like fun. Especially after, ya know, the whole thing with the villages and all…" He replied, not missing Melissa's shudder. "Are you sure you're ok? You're not cold or anything?"

"Uh… No, I'm fine," She answered. "Well, let's go, then. No point sticking around here if Naruto's up and about."

And so, the three made their way out of the hospital, out onto Beacon's grounds. Naruto looked up, stretching his arms out to either side. "Ahhhhhh… So good to be able to move around again. Wait… I can eat ramen!" he exclaimed. Blake and Melissa giggled at the excitement he put behind it. "Man, now I wanna go fight something. Or maybe train…"

Melissa joked, "Yeah, good luck finding anyone who'd want to fight you, after what you did."

"What did I do?" he asked in genuine confusion. Melissa shook her head.

"Naruto, you helped kill a guy who decimated four towns."

"Oh, I barely did anything, really," Naruto tried to deny. "Imperius was the one who killed most of them, I'm sure. I mean, I'm a student."

"Yeah, but Naruto, we've all seen you fight before," Melissa spoke. "With how fast you are, it's a wonder you could have been as bruised as Troy said you were."

He had been bruised after the fight? Kurama really must not have been healing him… "So, what ever happened to you, anyway?" Naruto asked Melissa.

"I don't really remember all the little details, but I do remember being smashed through a building, and stabbed in the gut," she answered. "After that… not much."

Blake looked back and forth between them, "I feel like I'm a third wheel here… I'm going to go hang out with my team."

"Nah, Neko-chan. You should stay," Naruto invited.

"Alright, seriously. What does that nickname mean?" asked his fellow Faunus. Before he could answer, Melissa asked something out of left field.

"Hey, Naruto? How come that guy seemed so fascinated by my Aura? He said something like 'this Aura you all have is amazing,' and it was really weird."

Naruto shrugged, "I dunno."

"What do you mean you don't know?" Melissa asked inquisitively.

"I mean: I don't know. It's not like I knew everything about the guy."

"So, who was he, anyway?" Blake queried.

Naruto looked down, "He was someone from my village… But, he ended up killing everyone else and destroying it."

"Oh…" Blake muttered. "Are you… I mean, did you…"

"Oh, I'm fine. He's dead, anyways," Naruto answered her unasked question. "Although… I'd like to have killed him myself."

Melissa raised both eyebrows in surprise. Naruto didn't usually sound so vengeful. In fact, he never sounded vengeful. "Wow, didn't expect you to be so violent, Naruto," she remarked. He shrugged.

"Nah. What's done is done. No point worrying myself over it," he muttered, before changing the subject. "So, what's the plan for the qualifiers, anyway?"

"Oh, Uh… I'm not actually sure how they work. I think we just have to beat some other team, or something like that," Melissa answered. "Hey, Blake? Is your team entering?"

Blake replied, "Yeah. Ruby was really excited for it for a while, and Weiss seems like she's going to be smug when we qualify."

"What about Yang?"

"Oh, she just enjoys fighting. So, yeah, she's looking forward to it."

Naruto chimed in, "What about you?"

"I don't really care about the whole thing, personally. But hey, who am I to deny them the chance of having their fun?" responded the cat Faunus.

"What day is it?" Naruto asked, suddenly aware that he hadn't found that out since he woke up.

"Saturday. Why do you think we're not in classes?" Melissa answered. "Is that Diana?"

Indeed, the rainbow girl was walking towards them, holding a plate of what appeared to be brownies. "Hey guys!" she yelled out to them as she drew nearer. "I made cookies for Naruto!" Naruto looked at the plate of cookies hungrily. Another thing he hadn't done since he woke, four days ago? He hadn't eaten. Though, to be fair, he probably could have gone for longer without touching food. Kurama's chakra usually meant he could get by without eating for well over a month.

Either way, as soon as Diana mentioned he could have some brownies, he began to dig into them. Only once he was nearing the end of them did he remember that he needed to breathe. Needless to say, the chocolaty confections didn't last long. Before long, they were left with only an empty plate.

His first love may have been ramen, but by Kami were those treats good. Melissa and Blake were both in minor hysterics over how fast he had torn through them, while Diana hadn't even batted an eye. Most likely because she did the same at every lunch.

As per the doctor's instructions, Naruto wasn't allowed to 'push himself' so soon after being discharged from the hospital. As such, he was meant to hold off on any training, for several days. Coincidentally, he was allowed to start once more on Monday, when their next combat class was. He was looking forward to it. After fighting Pain, he just wanted to have a friendly spar with somebody.

But today was Saturday. And Naruto, having been unconscious for a month, decided it would be a great day to go to Vale. Unfortunately, since he wasn't allowed to 'push himself,' Naruto was forced to take an airship. Although, at least Blake had decided to tag along.

"So, what are we going to do, again?" she asked, since he had never actually specified.

"Well, back before the dance, Yang was telling me about this thing called ice skating. I've never heard of it, but it sounded interesting. And since I got payed for that mission, I figured I might as well check it out. Also, Yang had said I should bring you along for it."

Naruto wasn't able to hear the entirety of Blake's mumbling, but he could make out certain words like "meddling" and "pushy." Finally, an airship arrived that was heading into Vale, and the two Faunus could be on their way.

"You know, Oz, some people would consider this stalking."

Ozpin looked up from his screens to see Ironwood strolling across his office, having just arrived. "I believe it would pay to be watchful. After what he demonstrated he could do last month, I felt it was imperative to keep an eye on Mr. Uzumaki," he justified.

Ironwood raised an eyebrow, "You mean these things you still won't tell me nor the council about?"

"My students do not need to be examined by your doctors and scientists, General, nor do they require interference from the council."

"I don't get it, though. Why do you think I would have the kid scrutinized like that? What could he have done that's so special? Honestly, you keeping silent is even more suspicious," Ironwood asserted.

"I might ask a similar thing of your little project," Ozpin countered. Ironwood glared at him slightly.

"If my 'project' comes to fruition, it would be the greatest line of defense the Kingdoms have ever known. Think of it: a world where children don't have to go to war, where androids that can be built and rebuilt are sent to fight in their place-"

"And one man holds all of that power in the palm of his hand. Power breeds corruption, James," Ozpin finished. The general sighed.

"If you say so. But, Ozpin, just tell me what this student did that makes you so interested in him."

"I will tell you this much: he revealed a level of skill in combat that even Qrow would question," Ozpin relented. Ironwood seemed surprised.

"What do you mean?"

"Mr. Uzumaki has shown prowess, specifically in hand-to-hand combat, that far exceeds the level of a Beacon student."

"How so?" Ironwood asked.

"Enough on this. The four destroyed villages, have they been searched?" Ozpin rebuked.

The general sighed, "There's no evidence that Salem was behind it in any way at all. What happened to them, Oz?" He sounded weary.

"They were destroyed by a madman. I was given a tip that he may have connections to Salem… but it seems I assumed too much," Ozpin explained. When Naruto had told him Pain had betrayed his village, he could only assume that Salem had recruited him. If that was not, in fact, the case, then Ozpin was curious as to what she had been doing these last several months.

"A madman powerful enough to leave four villages as craters? How was he dealt with?"

"I sent Imperius Resdomindo after him."

"Imperius… The one from the massacre?"

Ozpin nodded solemnly. "He was able to defeat him with little enough trouble, fortunately."

'Oh, if only that were true.'

But no, of course it wasn't that simple. Instead, two students had almost died, Grimm had overrun an entire city, and some strange new form of Grimm had made itself known. But it was unlike any other Grimm Ozpin had ever heard of.

"What happened to Broadsworth, Ozpin?" The general queried. "There were still parts of it left standing, but there are Grimm everywhere. On top of that, the crater itself is burned and battered to hell."

Ozpin breathed in deeply, closing his eyes as he answered, "During the battle against this madman, whose name was Pain, a strange Grimm appeared. It seemed vaguely foxlike, but it had six tails, and a strange red coat, according to Mr. Resdomindo. Beyond that, it demonstrated it possessed something akin to Aura. He did not see the actual attack, but Imperius describes it as 'sounding like pure destruction.'"

Ironwood frowned, "What did this Grimm do? How many did it kill?"

"Well now, that's the strange portion. While it certainly damaged the town, it never attacked a human besides Pain."

Ironwood raised an eyebrow, "Pain? Isn't he that new god people are talking about?"

"Yes. It seems that many of the survivors have decided to glorify his actions as divine."

"And I'm guessing you disagree?"

"Incredibly. While he was certainly powerful, he was by no means a god."

Ironwood crossed his arms, looking down in thought. "So, where does Uzumaki fit into all of this?"

Ozpin gave a small smile. It seemed Ironwood was paying attention. "When I sent Mr. Resdomindo, he was accompanied by a team of first years for their first mission. Mr. Uzumaki briefly combatted this… 'Pain.'"

"You sent a team of first year students to battle someone powerful enough to do that?" He asked in both disbelief and criticism. Then he stood, and turned to the elevator. There was a certain amount of anger in his voice. "I'll let you know if my men turn up anything else useful." Ozpin sighed, and turned his attention back to his screens. Mr. Uzumaki was obviously gone now, having gotten on an airship headed to Vale. But the headmaster stared at the empty screens regardless.

Mr. Uzumaki was beyond an enigma. He had no records, his village was apparently destroyed by the man he helped kill, he had combative skills to match Qrow, and he had no Aura, even if he had a semblance. Two, in fact. And even though he had no Aura, his team had reported that he had the ability to throw shuriken made of Aura and, according to the blond himself, Dust. So many mysteries swirled around the boy.

"Just who are you, Naruto Uzumaki?"

In Beacon's common room, Teams MDNT and RWBY both stared at the two Faunus with varied looks. Everything from Ruby's excitement to Weiss's look of betrayal was present while they told their story of ice skating.

"And then, with just five minutes left, I managed to hit the wall a fourth time," Naruto finished. Blake nodded, laughing under her breath.

"It was pretty funny," she admitted. Naruto rolled his eyes.

Weiss spoke indignantly, "You went ice skating without me?"

Naruto nodded slowly, "Yeah… Why?"

"Because I love ice skating! It's my favorite pastime!" she exclaimed. "I get it was a date between you two, but I still think I could have tagged along!"

Naruto's eyes widened, and he began to try and deny it was a date. Blake, having realized far earlier what Yang was trying to set up, looked at the buxom blonde accusingly. Said blonde winked back. Blake took a page from Naruto's book, and rolled her eyes.

Ruby, obviously, was convinced that they had gone on some romantic ice-skating-centered day, and let out her excitement in what seemed to be the quietest voice she could muster, "OH! I can't wait until you two get married!"

Naruto put his head in his hands, lifting it slowly as his hands dragged down his now-red face, "Ruby, it wasn't a date. Really, it wasn't."

Yang, ever seeking to mess with her friends more, added to the discussion, "What Whiskers, don't want to go out with Blake?"

'Oh, thanks for that, Yang.'

She had put him right on the spot. He answered, "Well, it's not that, no. I just feel like I could come up with a better first date."

Yang raised her eyebrow, "Uh… what about the dance? Doesn't that count as the first date?"

Naruto was about to argue against it, but he stopped himself. She had a point. He shrugged, "I guess you're right." He looked over at Blake, who was very clearly embarrassed by this conversation about her love life.

Diana suddenly burst out into a yelled, "OOH! We need a clever name for you two!"

"What?" Naruto asked, completely lost.

Yang explained, "Like how we're going to call Ren and Nora's relationship Boop once it gets going. Because, you know, Nora does the nose-touch thing, and says 'Boop'?"

"Alright… that's weird," Naruto said.

Diana looked both the Faunus over intently, until she eventually shrugged, "I got nothing!"

Ruby joined in, "Hm… Something about… Gah! I dunno!"

Naruto thought for a moment. A name that related to both him and Blake… or something like that. He could think of a few, but some of the explanations he would have to give for them made them unavailable.

"Well, I'm sure we can think of this later," Yang dismissed it. "For now, I wanna hear about the mission you guys went on. I haven't gotten to yet. I mean, Troy told me somethings, but he said he didn't see the whole thing."

Naruto shook his head, "Sorry. I was flung out of the crater a little before that fox Grimm showed up. My Aura took the brunt of the landing, but that was about the time I ended up passing out."

Melissa agreed, "I didn't even see the crater be formed. One of them got me early on, and crashed me through a building. Oh, and I… got stabbed." She finished with another small shudder, one that went unnoticed by everyone.

Diana just shook her head. It was a little funny, but she was the only one who hadn't been knocked out during the fight against Pain.

Yang seemed disappointed, "Aw… You didn't even see how it ended?"

"Well, like we said, Diana did," Naruto answered. The rainbow girl happily nodded. "I still say you guys screwed up worse."

Yang waved him off, "Nah… We took care of them. I'm pretty sure none of the Grimm killed anyone in Vale."

Naruto raised an eyebrow at her nonchalant attitude, "You don't seem to be too bothered by it."

"Well, nothing too bad happened. Besides, Team CFVY showed up and kicked some ass, then Goodwitch sealed off the hole," Yang reasoned. "As opposed to you guys… you came back with two people in comas, for god's sake. And Troy looked terrible."

"Well, to be fair, we did see the aftermath of three slaughters, and were present for one of them…" Naruto justified. "So, we have an excuse. You guys were just on a train. One which you probably could have stopped at any time."

Yang huffed. She could tell he probably had a point. Weiss could have created a thick wall of ice in front of it when it first began to move, or something like that. From what Blake had said, she was in the front of the train, with the controls, briefly.

"Well, you're still the one who attack your huntsman," she tried. "You're also the one who didn't say you could clone yourself. I mean, come on! It just gives you even more in common with Blake!"

All of a sudden, her eyes lit up. "That's it! Something about clones!" she cheered.

"What?"

"For the name of your's and Blake's relationship!"

"What were you thinking?" Ruby asked, interested now.

"Hm… I don't know, little sis. I'm sure I'll come up with something eventually, though."

Later that day, Naruto was sitting on the roof again, letting his legs dangle over the side. He had a rather important decision to make, but he wasn't sure how to go about it. He was positive that Ozpin would eventually ask for a better explanation, but Naruto genuinely didn't know if he could tell the man the truth.

In this world, there were obviously no Bijū, there was no chakra, ninja meant something much different, and the concept of jutsu was all but fantasy. The kind of thing you read in a book or see in a movie. So, if Naruto did 'come clean,' as it was, he didn't even think Ozpin would believe him.

But, if that were the case, then he supposed there wouldn't be any harm in it, would there? He sighed, continuing to stare at the magnificent view of Vale, as if it could help him decide. He heard heels clack along the ground behind him, before Blake sat down next to him.

"Are you ok, Naruto?" she asked. "Usually I'm the one who gets frustrated at things."

The blond grinned a little, "Yeah, I'm fine. Just wondering about some stuff. Like how fortunate my team was to survive. I honestly thought Melissa had died."

"Why'd you think that?"

"Well, I couldn't find her and she didn't show up once the fight started," Naruto clarified. "But, she's alright, thank Kami."

The cat Faunus smiled a little, "Sounds like you were worried."

Naruto looked sideways at her, "I was. I don't like losing people."

"Don't worry, Naruto. None of us are going anywhere. We caught Torchwick, remember? And since then, all of the White Fang activity has dropped significantly."

"Oh, I was never worried about him. He wasn't that tough."

Blake laughed a little, "And yet, he's being held in a very secure airship, surrounded by armed guards all day?"

"Well, they're overreacting."

Sitting with this lovely girl, talking, laughing, and generally having a good time for the next half hour, Naruto suddenly realized something. He actually smacked himself on the forehead for his own stupidity and obliviousness. Blake looked at him, startled, "What was that?!"

"I just realized that Hinata had a crush on me!"

Ozpin sat calmly, hands crossed in front of his face, waiting for the arrival. Though it took much longer than expected, the elevator door opened, revealing one Naruto Uzumaki. It was time for some mysteries to be solved.

"Ah, Mr. Uzumaki. Please, have a seat," Ozpin instructed, motioning to one of the seats on the other side of his desk. The blond, though Ozpin wasn't entirely sure why, sat very cautiously, as if he was expecting to be attacked at any time.

"Now then, since you have now recovered from your battle, I would like you to provide a few more explanations." Though he hadn't asked anything, Naruto nodded, ready to answer. "Excellent. My first question is the same as the last thing I asked you: How was it that you had amassed such incredible strength and durability during your fight with Pain?"

Naruto breathed in deeply. "I used an old technique that my old teacher's teacher taught to me. It lets me basically absorb the energy of nature, and use when I fight. It's what I was doing when you came to the roof that time."

"I see… And what do you call this technique?" Ozpin continued. "Given the way you describe it, it reminds me a great deal of four particular people."

Naruto cocked his head, "As far as I know, I'm the only person alive who can use it. It's called Sage Mode."

Ozpin nodded slowly. Sage Mode... Well, if it did resemble the power of the Maidens, then it would explain how Mr. Uzumaki could stand up to someone so powerful. And yet, he had never heard of it before. In fact…

"Who was it that taught you this?"

"My master's master. He was called Lord Fukasaku. He… he's dead now."

Ozpin grimaced, "I'm sorry to hear that. Another question, however. Mr. Resdomindo informed me that one of these people created large animals from nothing. He said you referred to this as 'Summoning,' but also said 'it doesn't work here.' What did you mean by that?"

Naruto gave it a moment's thought before answering, "That woman's Semblance was always called Summoning, because it always just seemed like she was bringing animals to her. I didn't think she could do anywhere because of that. I assumed she would be too far away from where the summons were."

Ozpin seemed to disregard the question, "Though I've asked before, I must ask again: Why did you attack Mr. Resdomindo?"

Naruto sighed, "I really didn't want to. But I was worried that he would die if he fought against Pain. I knew what he was capable of. He destroyed my entire village."

"Even so, attacking a huntsman is a rather serious crime. Under no circumstances are you to do so again, barring them attacking you, of course. If you do…" Ozpin, for the first time Naruto had seen, looked angry. "I will have no choice but to reprimand you severely. Count yourself fortunate Mr. Resdomindo was willing to look past it."

Naruto nodded, a little nervous for some reason he couldn't explain. Lightening up on his anger, Ozpin decided to test something, "Have you ever heard of the Tale of the Maidens?" Naruto frowned, and shook his head. "It is a rather interesting tale. Some time, I shall recommend you look into it. But know this: some legends are based on truth.

Before you leave, I have one more question for you. Are you sure you know nothing of the Vulpecula?"

As before, at the mention of the strange foxlike Grimm, Naruto paled only for a moment, before answered with cleverly disguised nerves, "No, not really. I remember that in my village, we did have old stories about being attacked by a demon fox."

"And you believe this demon fox may be the same creature as the Grimm?"

The blond shrugged, "It's possible. I mean, I haven't ever heard of a fox Grimm before."

"Well, thank you regardless. That is all I had for you now." Naruto stood, and began to walk to the elevator. Ozpin frowned at his back. He knew something else about the Vulpecula, but he wasn't saying. It created an issue in which Ozpin wanted to both know everything he could about the Grimm, while also allowing his students to maintain privacy. He elected to give himself time to mull over the decision to more or less force the young Faunus to tell him what he knew.

Even so, he had learned something important, he felt. Naruto had described an ability eerily familiar to the Maidens. He said that he used the 'energy of nature.' But by the sounds of it, he wasn't born or bequeathed with the powers, he had been taught how to use it. However, he had said the one who taught him had died, or been killed.

Somehow, even having had all of his questions answered to some degree, Ozpin was left with more mysteries than before.

'Kurama?'

Once more, the fox either didn't hear Naruto, didn't answer him, or couldn't answer him for some reason. Naruto couldn't even enter his mind when he tried.

Sunday appeared as though it would be a rather dreary day. He was sitting alone, the rest of his team going off to breakfast. Naruto, on the other hand, had wanted to try a few things, one of which was talking to the fox. Another one, which he couldn't reasonably to in a dorm room, was practice his Sage Mode and his jutsu. Fighting Pain had made him realize something… He was middling out. A lot of the skills he had developed since coming to Remnant, such as learning to shoot, or fight with a longer blade than a kunai, had come at the price of his other shinobi talents. He had felt slow, facing another shinobi.

Hell, he couldn't even beat Ruby in a footrace. Not that that meant he was slow, far from it. The girl was rather fast. But he had only been able, when fighting Pain, to defeat one body per each of his transformations into Sage Mode. He should have at least been able to defeat two per.

In other words, while he could beat practically anybody in this world, he was losing his talents as a ninja. Although, if Pain had been telling the truth, then the Leaf was gone, and he didn't really have any reason to try and go back. Oh Kami… his old friends were all probably dead. That was a thought he would have to take more than a little time to get used to. Sakura, Baa-chan, Kakashi-sensei…

For the first time since he was added to Team MDNT, Naruto found himself wishing he had never come to this world. If he had been able to get to Konoha… Well, he might have been able to beat Pain, and not let everyone die. If he hadn't been so hasty to get here, if he had waited for Lady Shima to summon him…

But then again… he hadn't even mastered Sage Mode by that point. His Frog Kata was poor. He was barely proficient with the Rasenshuriken. And on top of all of that, he would have only had five minutes, tops. So perhaps he had abandoned his village. But at least he could say he had protected the rest of the Elemental Nations. Unless the Akatsuki could somehow get their hands on the Kyūbi's chakra from somewhere else, then they couldn't finish their plan.

Even so, it didn't particularly mean he was happy with the result. Far from it. He resolved to train even harder than before, to make sure he could prevent this from happening again.

For some reason, lunch was a rather grim affair, similar in respects to the day before. Troy kept glancing down the table uneasily, Melissa was silent, Weiss wasn't present, and Blake and Naruto just sat and ate, leaving only Ruby, Yang, and Diana to be energetic and goofy. Team JNPR was training once again.

"So, Naruto?" Ruby asked while the blond looked at her over his ramen. "How do you make clones?"

Blake looked at him, interested. After all, she had never met another person who could make clones. She had meant to ask about it, but never remembered to while they had been skating. Naruto put down his ramen, "I just exert my Aura a little, and it forms a clone. Takes a lot of Aura to make it solid, though."

He left out that while it did take a lot of 'Aura,' he had far more than enough to pull it off. Ruby cocked her head, "Well, I assumed so, but I meant how you can. No one has two semblances like that." Troy looked down the table again, listening in. In fact, they all were. Naruto began to sort-of shrink in on himself.

Seeing no way out, he stood, and left after saying, "Nothing. Don't worry about it." His tone sent exactly the message he was hoping it would. He had meant it to sound like it brought up bad memories, to match what he had told Ozpin.

Of course, that did mean he wouldn't be able to finish his ramen. Oh, well. But, what to do now? There was a rather horrible downpour outside, making it more than a little unfortunate that he had to walk outside in order to go anywhere. He might have considered going to the Emerald Forest for some training, but with this rainstorm, it was unlikely.

'Doesn't Beacon have training rooms?'

He was fairly certain they did. He remembered that a lot of teams used them to train together, since it was a safer environment than that of the Forest. Come to think of it, Team JNPR was training now, and probably using one of them.

By the time he found where the building that house them was, he was soaked to his skin. Even through the haori the almost seemed the repel rain. Or maybe it just seemed like it did. Either way, he made his way down through the halls, looking for either a room he could use, or Team JNPR. He ended up finding Team JNPR first. Jaune appeared to have just lost a match to Pyrrha, and Ren and Nora with off to the side, spectating.

Ren was the first to notice the new arrival, "Hey, Naruto." The rest of his team looked over to the door, where Naruto was stood. Jaune gave a half-hearted wave from the ground.

"Hey. Would you mind if I joined in?" he asked.

"Not at all," Pyrrha answered, gesturing for him to enter. He walked in, headed over to where Nora and Ren were stood. Jaune stood up, panting heavily. He picked up his sword, while Pyrrha watched with minor concern. "Are you sure you want to keep going, Jaune? We've been doing this for a half an hour, now."

For some reason Naruto didn't get, Jaune glanced over to where his teammates and the blond were, then turned back to Pyrrha with a thumbs up. She sighed in resignation, and readied her lance. Ren called out, "Begin!"

Jaune raised his shield instantly, meeting Pyrrha's thrown lance, and deflecting back towards her, but far over her shoulder. She rolled backwards, pulling in off the ground as she went. Jaune charged forward, and she brought her sword up just in time to meet his strike. From her kneeling position, she swept her leg under his feet, knocking him off balance, and sending him sprawling to the ground. He recovered quickly, and the two found themselves standing a short distance apart.

Jaune was breathing wearily as he blocked Pyrrha's downwards swipe, countering with his own upwards strike while he held his shield against her sword. She stepped back, then swung from his left with her spear. He couldn't block this one, and, seemingly not for the first time that day, he was laid flat on his back, defeated.

"Jaune, I think that'll be it for today," Pyrrha said, leaning over him with worry. He'd been pushing himself so hard lately, and she couldn't tell why. He nodded in defeated compliance, standing and walking over to the side. "Naruto? You said you wanted to join in?" The blond's eyes lit up, and he gave his signature grin.

He strode over the face her, pulling out his chokutō. He asked an interesting question, "So, are we not using Semblances? 'Cause I'd like to be able to fight using my sword." Pyrrha rolled her eyes in amusement, and nodded. He grinned again. Ren gave the familiar shout to begin.

Immediately, Naruto jumped backwards, flipping over in midair, and shooting at her from up high. She deflected the bullets with her shield, then rushed forward to strike when he landed. He was already switched to his chokutō by the time he was in front of her, and blocked her strike off to the side. He smirked, and swept his foot under hers in a familiar motion.

She slammed her hands into the ground, using them to push herself back into the air, and landing on her feet. Naruto gave her no time to recover, already attacking her relentlessly with his blade. Interestingly, he was wielding it with one hand. Granted, it was a one-handed weapon, but he had been using two hands a moment ago. A blue light answered her unasked question. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him forming an orb in his palm.

Forgetting what had happened the last two times he had used the Rasengan against someone with Aura, Naruto thrust the small one in his hand into Pyrrha's stomach while he distracted her with a swipe from the right. She held up her shield to her left, but didn't have many options for the right beyond her sword. He wound his hand around the blade, and pushed her back several feet from the force of the technique. He needed to perfect it so that he could use more power, and at least knock his opponents over. He also needed to remember that it hurt him. He shook his hand vigorously.

As it was, Pyrrha regarded him more cautiously, readying her shield for his next attack. She called out, "What was that?" Whatever it was, it seemed to be a bit of a double-edged sword, since his hand seemed to be in pain.

"I'll tell ya later." Naruto held his chokutō in front of him, ready to attack once more. Neither of them made a move for a while, each waiting for the other. Finally, Naruto gave up on waiting, and recklessly charged ahead. Pyrrha smirked behind her shield, and held her rifle over it, firing thrice. To her amazement, he reached behind him and threw three kunai at her bullets, deflecting each of them. A part of her wondered why he bother with a gun if he could throw that accurately.

Naruto stabbed with his blade, only to be rebuked by her shield. He reach forward, grabbing her shield and using it and a jump to hop over her, slashing downwards while he was over top of her. She managed to block with her blade, and tried to counterattack, but he had fallen back as soon as he hit the ground, gaining distance.

He shot at her from where he was stood, and began to run in a circle around her, leaving her to either deflect the bullets or watch as they whizzed past her. Clearly, he still needed to work on his accuracy. She raised her shield in front of her, and charged towards him, going on the offensive. She began with trying to stab with her spear, and when he deflected that off to the side, she let it spin for long enough to fire at him from the end of it.

He whipped a kunai out of his pouch, blocking the bullet. She backhanded her spear, transforming it into a sword, and swinging from her right. He held up his kunai to meet it, and thrust with his sword. Her shield blocked his attack, and he blocked hers with his kunai. She rolled backwards, firing as she stood. He threw his kunai to hit the bullet, but missed. As she dodged his kunai, he jumped over the bullet towards her, coming down just in front of her.

She stabbed, and he ducked under the blade, slicing upwards at her. The longer this fight went on, the clearer it was becoming who the better swordsman was. Try as he might, Naruto couldn't compare to her years of practice. She deflected his attack with her shield, disarming him at the same time. He found himself at the end of her sword, in a rather quick motion.

"Alright, you win," he conceded. She stood upright, proud of her victory. He went to retrieve his blade, sheathing it when he did.

"You don't want to go again?" Pyrrha asked. He shook his head.

"Nah. I really just wanted a quick match. I'm looking to practice something else today."

"What?"

Naruto held up his palm, and made his little Rasengan. "This," he replied. "It's called the Rasengan. My godfather taught it to me. It's made by rotating Aura in your hand. Thing is, it's really hard to control that much Aura outside of your body, so I can't make it as large as he could."

"That's what you used earlier?" She asked. He nodded. "You said you godfather taught it to you?" He nodded again. "So, what happens if you make it bigger?"

He answered, "It explodes in my hand, and makes a spiral pattern all up my arm, cutting into the skin. It hurts a lot."

"Did your godfather come up with that?"

"No, our fourth-" he stopped. "My dad did. It took him three years to perfect."

"That's impressive. Your dad must have been a great huntsman."

"Yeah, he was. He was nicknamed the 'Yellow Flash' because of how good he was with his Semblance."

"What was it?" Pyrrha inquired.

"Teleportation. He called it the Hiraishin. In English, that's Flying Raijin."

Pyrrha cocked her head, "How good is Troy compared to him?"

Naruto waved it off, "Oh, there's no contest. Troy's great, probably better than most people, but my dad allegedly ended an entire offensive on his own."

"Offensive?"

"Uh… yeah."

Ren spoke up suddenly, "How do you make the Rasengan?" He seemed interested in it. Naruto supposed it was probably natural to want to know how to weaponize your Aura.

"First, gather the Aura in your palm, then emit it a little at a time, rotating it in a bunch of different directions. It took me a while to learn how to do it," Naruto responded, thinking of when he won his bet against Baa-chan. "And even now, I can't do it perfectly. Well, not alone…"

"What do you mean 'alone,' Naruto?" Pyrrha asked. Naruto frowned.

"Oh, nothing really. With someone like my godfather providing the rotation, I can use a normal size." Apparently, they hadn't been told he could make clones. Well, he wasn't about to spoil that for them. The more people that thought he was at least a little normal, the better.

Naruto went back over to where Ren and Nora were standing. Pyrrha looked around, evidently wanting another spar. Ren stepped forwards, pulling out his pistols. Jaune called out, "Begin."

While they fought, Naruto concentrated on the Rasengan he had made. Bit by tiny bit, he made it larger, while also rotating the extra chakra. It was roughly the size of a golf ball when it went boom. Thing was, even that much chakra, when it's condensed like it was, is highly explosive. He was sent into a wall, while there was a new small crater where he was standing a moment ago.

Pyrrha and Ren had obviously stopped mid-swing when they'd heard the blast, and they were looking from the crater to Naruto with widened eyes. Nora clapped, "That was cool!" Naruto gave a shaky thumbs up, trying rather hard not to scream in pain in response to his arm. It was rather bloody, something which Ren and Pyrrha had noticed.

"Naruto, are you ok?" Pyrrha called out to him. He breathed in sharply, and gave a nod. "Your arm's… um…"

"Yeah," he said. "Yeah, I know." For some reason, ever since he had woken up, the fox hadn't been healing Naruto's wounds. And since his healing usually started with dulling pain…

Oh, wait. That might have been because he ignored the doctor's orders.

Omake #3 - Ninja Competition: Part 3

After Naruto managed to avoid the wrath of both a cat-girl and a normally stoic boy, all of Teams RWBY, JNPR, and MDNT found themselves outside of a rather old looking building. They had been looking around Vale all day, searching for a suitable place to hold the next part of their little contest: The infiltration.

"So, let's go over the rules one more time!" Naruto exclaimed, rubbing his hands together. "So, all of you except for Blake, Ren, and, of course, myself, will be inside here, keeping an eye out for us while we try to steal away this necklace." He held up the First Hokage's necklace. Sure, it might be a little high-value for this kind of fun, but he was getting into this.

"Anyone can use any means to either take the necklace or protect it," Blake picked up. "This includes smoke bombs, Semblances, etcetera. If one of us three-" She gestured to the three ninja. "-Get hit once by any weapon, we lose."

"Furthermore, we have to get the necklace out first, while keeping it out of the hands of the other two," Ren finished. Everyone present nodded. "Ruby, if you would." The small girl took the necklace from Naruto, vanished for a moment, then reappeared.

"Got it. It's in the middle of the largest room," She said, excited to start. All of them but the three ninja entered to building, having ten minutes to get ready.

"And now we wait," Naruto muttered. Five minutes left. Three. One. Ten seconds. Nine. F*ck this.

They scattered, each looking for a different entrance. Naruto, using his chakra, climbed onto the roof, looking for a skylight. He looked through it cautiously, but saw no one. He grinned, and opened it quietly. He dropped down onto a carpeted floor, meaning that only people below him probably heard him.

Blake found a basement entrance. There was a small window on the ground level, and it was already broken. She made her way through it carefully, not wanting to cut herself on the broken shards. She dropped to the floor, landing on her hands and feet, with one leg bent under her, and the other stretched out to the side.

Ren walked in the backdoor. It was completely unguarded, and put him roughly under where he needed to go.

Naruto checked around the corner warily, and saw Yang facing away from him. He apologized in his head for what he was about to do. Faster than she could've reacted, he struck the back of her neck with force, knocking her out cold. Evidently, she hadn't had her Aura up. He caught her as she fell, placing her in a side room.

Blake peered over the top of the stairs, but didn't see anyone. She stepped up, and glanced around the room she found herself in, some kind of kitchen. She ducked behind the next door, and saw Jaune walking past, in the opposite direction of her. She snuck behind him, entering into a different door across the hallway.

Ren literally didn't see anyone at all, as he walked up the stairs to the second floor, and into the largest room, where the necklace was. He picked it up and began to leave.

Naruto dropped down in front of Ren, after seeing him pick up his target. He made one gesture to hand it over to him, and when that failed, he pulled his chokutō. Ren readied his pistols. Suddenly, Blake came up behind him, katana drawn.

One brief skirmish later, all three of them sat with their hands held to their heads. Ruby walked in, "Uh… what happened?"

Blake answered for them, "We each attacked someone different, and each hit. We all lost."

Oh, dear. I can already hear the people griping about a cop-out death. That is one of the three things I shall rant about here.

SO! Let us examine the reasoning for killing a character. 1) As a plot device. 2) Emotion. 3) Dramatics (Basically a mix of both). Melissa's 'death' barely qualifies as any of these. She kind-of helped move the plot along, by allowing Naruto a reason to borrow chakra. I feel like no one really has any emotional attachment to her, so that's right out the window. And since dramatics just mixes the two.

In other words, her death meant… nothing. But on top of that, Pain wouldn't know about the abilities of Aura. He's newer than Naruto, who's had time to learn this shit. So, the logic is that she was able to heal her wounds with her Aura, while Naruto distracted Pain.

Moving on, let's talk about Pain real quick, and how he facilitated Naruto's 'reveal.'

Pain served a few functions, two of which were 1) the reveal and 2) severing the ties Naruto has to his own world. Think about it. Without the Leaf Village standing, and with basically everyone he ever knew or loved dead… What reason does he have to go back? He can't exactly bring Sasuke back now, can he?

But as for the reveal… Imagine if your best friend, who you met in high school and spent the next twenty years getting to know, came up to you and told you that he was from another dimension.

That alone would just make you think he was being silly, right? You wouldn't believe him, no matter how good of friends you were or how much he insisted. Because it's just so outlandish. Add onto that him saying he was a ninja who could break the laws of physics and nature at the drop of a hat, and you could sign him up for a comedy club.

So, I can't believe that Naruto, who understands the idea of keeping information secret, would ever be dumb enough to tell someone, no matter how much he befriended them, everything. If you notice, he hasn't said anything of the sort here. He mentioned Sage Mode, but there's a precedent for that on Remnant, even if it's unlikely.

But also, I couldn't buy that anyone on Remnant would believe that Naruto could do all these things. Besides, just think of anytime you've heard a story about someone doing something incredible. You probably didn't believe it unless you saw a video. Thus, somewhat subdued reactions from Team RWBY.

Someone brought up the Council to me, that ruling body of the government. About how they would want answers. If I might remind those of you who thought about them, the amount of which I suspect is very little, that Ozpin would have managed to somehow keep an attack in Vale's streets from them, had it not been for Ironwood?

Now I think about it, they've kind of seen everything he can do. I've got a plan to make him better eventually, but for now, he's almost hit his peak. Well, besides mastering the Rasengan, and swordplay, neither of which would nor will be easy.

Although, even with all of this explained from me to you, even I don't entirely buy some of the reactions, at least not as they're written now. Please do bear in mind I'm not exactly done with them.

Other than that, I mentioned at the top how I wrote a much drearier version of this to start. It involved Melissa actually dying, Team MDNT becoming Team TLDR, which is not shorthand, but rather Teal Deer, a shade of blue, several scenes of members of Team RWBY being generally worried, and Naruto being persecuted for his insubordination and the attacking of what amounts to a soldier. I know they have an actual army, but that's the best comparison I can make. I actually still have it, but I don't think I'm going to ever use it. It just read so boringly.

Oh, and you might have noticed this, but I'm moving this story to Sundays and/or Wednesdays. My other two stories were moved to Saturday, to make it more convenient for me. It will decrease the likelihood of me missing a post date. Check my profile for more details.

I swear, I'm going to stop dragging these ANs out so long. Next chapter, in fact. Take care, everybody.

Until Chapter 13!