Disclaimer: I don't know what else to say, honestly.

Chapter 16: The Next Round

As Naruto watched, the two fighters regarded each other for several moments. There was tension in the air, enough to choke a person. He knew Qrow was good, great even. But if this person would challenge him… This must have been what it was like when he challenged Pyrrha to a fight. People were still gathered around them, waiting. Qrow had his smirk on his face, taunting the woman to charge in.

And did she. Faster than even he could track, she vanished, reappearing right in front of Qrow, poised to stab him in the face. He lazily moved his head to the left, avoiding the blade. When she tried again, he moved the right. She tried slashing, but he just tilted his head to the side. Once again, she stabbed, only for him to shift to the left, then the right when she tried another stab. Not learning anything, she tried another stab that he dodged to the left of, before her final stab was dodged with a cheeky bow.

She slashed downwards, only to hit his sword, mounted on his back. He gripped the hilt in a reverse grip, then spun around, ending with him holding the blade normally up to her own saber. Naruto was actually a little impressed. All of those stabs and dodges took place over barely a second. Hell, that was almost faster than he could attack. So then, this was the power of a veteran huntsman or huntress. And yet, neither one of them even really seemed to be trying too hard. At least, Qrow was very lax about the whole exchange.

"Who is she?" he asked, leaning over towards Weiss.

"My sister, Winter."

"Oh… What did he do?"

"He-"

Once again, the two began to trade blows, with Qrow being rather aggressive. He slashed downwards, pinning Winter's blade under his own, before he slashed upwards from there, an attack which she dodged with relative ease. He spun, using the momentum to fuel another swipe. She ducked under it, just barely. She began a number of handsprings backwards, avoiding each one of his numerous powerful attacks.

In the middle of the courtyard, she blocked one of his slices with her much smaller sword, and pushed it away. Each one copped at the other, their blows meeting in the middle and making a small-scale shockwave. In retaliation, both of them tried a low slash, only to once again block each other. Qrow ducked under Winter's next attack, then brought his blade up.

She managed to block the attack, countering with her own slash at his turned back. He blocked it with his sword, held over his shoulder. She brought her blade around once more, which he this time blocked with his hilt. She swiped in the same fashion, only for him to meet her with a slash of his own. She tried one more time, but was blocked again.

Ruby ran up next to them, "What's going on?!"

"Qrow showed up!" Naruto excitedly answered. Ruby's eyes widened with excitement.

"Really!?" She turned to the fight. "KICK HER BUTT, UNCLE QROW!"

Weiss seemed to take issue with that particular cheer, "Teach him respect, Winter!"

Apparently, their previous level of combat wasn't good enough, as both fighters began to seemingly teleport around between each attack. In reality, they were simply moving so fast that to everyone who wasn't Naruto or Ruby, they disappeared for a moment at a time between attacks.

They went back and forth, Qrow's attacks being followed swiftly by a counter from Winter, and so on. Eventually, they ended up moving through the circle of people, all of whom swiftly moved away. Winter bent backwards underneath one of Qrow's attacks, then responded by slamming her hilt across his face. He turned back to her, a wild gleam in his eye, grinning like a madman.

He brought his sword far above his head, and Winter's eyes widened before she used a glyph to glide backwards out of the way of a powerful smash, delivered instead into the courtyard, breaking it to a small crater. Naruto held his arms in front of his face against the shockwave, which was intense. Qrow seemed pretty strong. As in, jonin-strong. Hell, he might have even been able to give Kakashi-sensei a run for his money.

Winter had leapt into the air, moving away from Qrow. He gave chase, and wound up slicing a light post in two when he attacked her. While he brought his blade back to block her next attack, she flipped over him, unsuccessfully slashing in midair. She landed on his other side, and without even looking, jumped over his counterattack, landing on his blade when it stopped. She smirked down at him, the flipped backwards off the sword, kicking him in the face for good measure.

She landed on the destroyed lamppost, then jumped backwards once more to dodge the thrown weapon. Qrow's sword imbedded itself into the metal, while Winter got away from the failed attack. Qrow dashed forwards, grabbing his sword out of the post and firing at Winter the instant she landed on the railing on the walkway above. She immediately leapt off once again, dodging the bullet. Qrow observed her for a moment, before running down the walkway, firing at her more while she ran down the raised platform. He leapt up onto his own archways, and continued to fire at her, until a cloud of smoke shot up.

Winter shot out of it after a second, straight at Qrow. He readied his blade, but she produced another sword from within her first, then continued her charge at him through the air, second blade held to her side. She spun in midair, slamming both of her swords into Qrow's. A larger shockwave than before shot out of the impact, and the archway cracked. Then it broke, and the two went flying towards the ground. They slammed into it at full speed, cratering the ground. They resumed their attack –and-counter combat, until Winter pushed him away with a block.

He slid several meters, back to the circle of people. He had even stabbed his sword into the ground to slow himself down, thus creating a trail along the ground. He grinned back at the Schnee. She twirled her saber in her hand, then stabbed it into the ground, producing a glyph, from which flew a flock of tiny Nevermores, all towards Qrow. He held his sword in front of his face, and killed a few of them, but the sheer number almost overwhelmed him.

Almost. He slashed downwards, creating a wave of energy the hurtled towards Winter, forcing her to cut off the strange summoning technique. Naruto had blinked a few times when she initiated it. How odd that such a similar technique to one of his own existed in this world.

A glyph appeared in the air behind Winter, one which prompted Qrow to shift his blade. The sword's segmented sections separated, and it began to curve into a shape that almost resembled a scythe. Before the transformation could finish, Qrow smirked, and stopped it, reverting the sword back to its sword form, and placing it on his back once again. Winter growled, visibly angered by this. She was even more annoyed when row cheekily beckoned her forward with his finger, aloof expression on his face.

She readied her attack, and flung herself forwards faster than Naruto had seen anyone do in this world so far, including Ruby. But she stopped just as suddenly, her saber hovering not an inch away from Qrow's neck, when a voice rang out, "SCHNEE!"

Winter stiffened, standing up as straight as she could, before dutifully turning to face the man who had shouted. Naruto looked him up and down, and saw that it was General Ironwood. He was a somewhat imposing figure, all things considered. Behind him, Ruby's friend Penny was awkwardly standing still, silently. "General Ironwood! Sir!" Winter let out in a hoarse-sounding voice. It sounded like a mixture of fear and the fact that she had been unnecessarily yelling out battle cries the entire fight.

He began to stride towards her, "What in the world do you think you're doing?"

"He started the altercation, Sir!" She tried to defend. Behind her, Qrow crossed his hands behind his head.

"That's actually not true," he interjected, leaning out from behind the Schnee. "She attacked first."

Ironwood turned back to Winter, "Is this true?" She looked like she wanted to argue, but looked down in concession. Ironwood turned about, observing the crowd. His eyes fell briefly on Naruto, before he looked back to Qrow, "And you… What are you doing here?"

"I could be asking you the same thing," he rebuked.

"I-"

"Now, now, everyone," called a new voice. Ozpin and Glynda were walking into the still-formed circle of people. There is a sanctioned fight happening just around the corner at the Coliseum, that I can assure you has better seats... and popcorn."

'Wait, but didn't Oobleck say that there were no more fights today?'

Naruto's mental question would go unanswered, however. Glynda aggressively stepped forwards, "Break it up, everyone! We will take care of this mess."

Ironwood beckoned to Winter, "Let's go."

As he began to walk away, his gaze turned back to Naruto for a moment. The general looked him up and down, with his eyes narrowing. Naruto raised an eyebrow. Apparently, he wasn't worth the mighty general's time, as he simply kept walking past the blond.

"UNCLE QROW!" Ruby yelled out as she jumped onto Qrow's arm. "Hi. It's so good to see you! Did ya miss me? Did ya miss me!?"

Qrow waited a moment before answering, "Nope." They both grinned as he rubbed her head.

"Qrow!" Ozpin called out. Qrow lowered his arm back to his side, causing Ruby to drop to the ground. "A word, please."

He mumbled to Ruby, "I think I'm in trouble…"

She shrugged, "You did kinda tear up our courtyard."

Qrow grinned again, "Yeah, I did. Catch ya later, kid"

Naruto and Weiss walked up next to her. Naruto leaned in, "Is that something he normally does?"

"Nah. He doesn't usually damage the ground as much."

Naruto and Ruby chuckled to themselves. Weiss interrupted, "And suddenly, your reckless nature makes sense."

"You're just mad because he whooped butt," Ruby grinned up at Naruto, while nudging Weiss shoulder.

Weiss crossed her arms, "That was a draw, at best!" Ruby and Naruto glanced at her, before grinning at each other in disagreement.

"So… what now?" Naruto asked.

In Ozpin's office, Winter was furiously pacing back and forth, waiting for the elevator to open. When it finally did, she chewing out Qrow in an instant, "What were you thinking!?"

Ironwood added on angrily, "If you were one of my men, I would have you shot!"

Qrow pulled out a flask as he exited the elevator with Ozpin and Glynda, "If I was one of your men, I'd shoot myself."

Goodwitch crossed her arms next to Ozpin's desk, "While I wouldn't condone his behavior, retaliating like you did certainly didn't help the situation."

Winter shouted, "He was drunk!"

Goodwitch shouted back, "He's always drunk!" Ozpin, Glynda, Winter, and Iron turned to Qrow to see him drinking from a flask. His eyes widened when he noticed them staring, and he held the flask out to the side, looking at it awkwardly before he shrugged.

Ozpin stared at Qrow in shock for a moment, then sighed and sat down, head in his hand, "Qrow, why are you here?"

Ironwood began to yell at him, "You've been out of contact for weeks! You can't just go dark like that in the field!"

Qrow put his flask back on his hip, "I'm not one of your special operatives, Jimmy!"

Winter growled, "General."

Qrow brushed her off angrily, "Whatever. You sent me to get intel on our enemy, and I'm telling you, our enemy is here."

Ironwood leaned against Ozpin's desk, looking down, "We know."

Qrow raised his arms in disbelief, "Oh! Oh, you know! Well, thank goodness I'm out there risking my life to keep you all informed!"

Ironwood tried to argue, "Qrow-"

Qrow pulled out a scroll, "Communication's a two-way street, pal. You see this?" He pointed at the scroll in his hand, "That's the SEND button."

"They had reason to assume you'd been compromised," Winter countered.

"And I have reason to assume you don't need to be here." Qrow pointed to Winter. "Seriously, who invited her?"

Ironwood turned his head to a slight angle, not looking at his soldier, "Schnee, we'll discuss this incident back at my ship."

Winter tried to argue, "But sir!"

Ironwood insisted, "Winter. Leave."

Winter saluted him, "Yes sir." She spun on her heel and gave the winking Qrow a dirty look as she exited.

Ironwood spoke up once the elevator doors closed, "Go on…"

Qrow sighed, "Your little infiltrator isn't just another pawn. They're the one responsible for Autumn's condition." He took a drink from his flask.

"We know," Ozpin interjected, just before Glynda could speak. All three turned to him, two in shock and one in anger.

"What do you mean, Ozzie? Qrow asked.

"I was informed that there were two sources of the Maiden's power at Beacon. I have begun to search for whom it may be. One is undoubtedly Amber, the other would most likely be her assailant."

"Who told you that?" Ironwood questioned in disbelief.

"A source that wished to remain anonymous."

"Whoever it is can go to hell; we need to know if this person has intel on Salem, on the Grimm," The general insisted. "How else would they know about the Maidens?"

"I can assure you: this person will know nothing we do not."

"How can you be so sure?" The general wasn't going to let this go, it seemed.

Ozpin refused, "I will say no more on this matter."

"Ozpin, I need to know all I can so that my army can-"

"So that your army can what, Jimmy? Protect us?" Qrow cut in.

"If need be, yes."

"So what, you think the Grimm'll run in fear of your paper ships?" Qrow remarked. "These things she's made, they don't feel fear. They don't run scared, Jimmy. They'll tear your fleet to pieces."

For seemingly nothing but dramatics, Ironwood placed his scroll in Ozpin's desk, bringing up a holographic projection of his fleet. "Do you see this? This is what keeps the world safe, what brings people a sense of security. She and all her allies will feel our strength."

"Oh, yeah? And what about things like this 'Vulpecula?' How are you gonna deal with that?"

"We'll-"

"If I may… I believe its proper name is Kyūbi," Ozpin interrupted. Once again, all three stared at him.

"How do you know that?" Qrow asked.

"I simply delved into some old legends and stories, seeking to find mention of any fox Grimm. I found one from an old village by the name of Konohagakure no Sato," Ozpin explained. "It was referred to as just the Kyūbi."

"Where is this village?" Ironwood asked. "Perhaps they knew how to deal with it."

"The village is long since destroyed, with most of its records lost."

"Where was it, Oz?" Ironwood repeated.

"It was located rather far from any modern Kingdom. I'm given to understand it was mighty in its day."

"Where. Exactly?"

"The area is unclear. The only thing that is certain is that it is located on Sanus."

"What did these stories say it could do?" Glynda asked.

"Its abilities are unclear. However, it was described as being a gargantuan fox, towering over even mountains. Obviously, these descriptions differ somewhat from what appeared in Broadsworth. However, I believe it to be the same creature."

"So, Jim, how are you gonna deal with this one?" Qrow asked mockingly. "You gonna send your army against this thing?"

"We will find some way to deal with it."

"That may be unnecessary," Ozpin claimed. "These stories, while not detailing further, included that the founder of the village could control the Grimm."

"What? A Grimm that can be controlled?" Ironwood questioned. "That's impossible."

"So was a Grimm having an Aura, and yet this one did," Ozpin disputed.

"We don't know that for sure. It could have just been a unique ability this thing had."

"Mr. Resdomindo told that its skin, covered in a red hue, disrupted his attack in the same way that a powerful Aura does."

"Imperius?" Qrow asked. "You let that pompous asshole take this thing on?"

"Not by choice. He led the mission on which it appeared."

"Who else was on this mission?" Qrow queried.

"A team of first years, Team MDNT."

"Who's on it?"

"Melissa Mikeham, Diana Grout, Naruto Uzumaki, and Troy Davores."

"Huh…" Qrow drank out of his flask again. The kid, huh?

"That doesn't settle the issue, Oz," The general cut in. "We need to be able to kill this thing if it shows up again."

"And I told you: that may not be necessary. If I can locate more of this village's records, I may find the details on how this man controlled a Grimm. Think of how powerful a weapon that would become."

The general raised an eyebrow in interest, "You think that you could control it if you knew how?" Ozpin nodded. "But if you don't now, then it's a threat. We need a way to deal with it until you find this information."

"Where are we going?"

Naruto looked back at Ruby and Blake, addressing the smaller girl who had asked the question, "I dunno. I'm not even sure why you two are following me."

"You look like you're doing something fun. I gotta wait for Uncle Qrow to out of Ozpin's office."

"I'm here because Yang keeps making jokes at me."

"Hm…" Naruto thought for a moment. "Alright, who wants to go to Vale?"

"And do what?" Blake asked.

"I'm gonna stay here. I wanna see Uncle Qrow."

"Hm… We could go get some food."

"Alright. Let's just go to the festival, though. They'll have more food."

"You just want more tuna, don't you?"

"…"

"…" Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"Yes…"

"Alright, c'mon."

Ruby stayed behind, heading to the dorms, while Naruto and Blake traveled to the fairgrounds. The walk wasn't too long, not with them being as close to Beacon as they were. Upon arrival, they found it to be far more crowded than earlier, on account of the fights being done for the day. All those people who had stayed in the arena for all the fights were now milling around the festivities.

Luckily, a Simple Wok was free of the horde. By now, Naruto was hungry enough that he was willing to try the noodles. Blake, for the second time that day, got a bowl of noodles, albeit smaller than earlier. They ate in relative silence, finishing their respective meals with gusto. Naruto had to admit, the noodles weren't bad.

"That was delicious," Blake remarked with satisfaction. Naruto nodded. "Think Troy and Diana'll fight Yang and Weiss?"

"Ya never know; they might," Naruto leaned in just a little. "We're gonna win."

Blake smirked, and shook her head, "You'll get Weiss, then Yang'll beat both your teammates."

"You wanna bet on it?" Naruto asked with a grin. Then his face fell. "Oh, Kami… I'm becoming Ero-Sennin."

Blake laughed, "I'd rather not bet on our teams fighting."

By the time the two had finished their meals, the sun was rather low in the sky. They began to make their way back towards the dorms, seeking to not be out after dark fell. Yang would never let them hear the end of it if they were.

Soon enough, Naruto said his farewell to Blake, continuing on to his own dorm. Upon arrival, he found Melissa and Troy talking, with Melissa nodding in what seemed to be understanding. Her head shot to the door as soon as he opened it. "Oh, good. You're here," she remarked. "So, Troy doesn't want to fight in the second round. He says he doesn't have the energy to win."

"And Diana?"

"Well, of course she wants to fight. Have you met her?" Melissa asked, gesturing behind herself at the bouncing rainbow girl. She was bouncing on her bed, performing all sorts of acrobatic feats while in the air. "So, we need you and her to fight for us in round two."

"I can't help but feel like I don't get a choice here. Alright, I'll fight."

What was the worst that could happen, anyways? He probably wouldn't have to use Sage Mode at all, and he doubted anyone could make him angry enough to bring out Kurama's chakra, if the fox would even offer it. Melissa smiled, "Oh, good. That's great."

"And you're sure?" Cinder asked.

Mercury nodded, "Bad hair, used a scythe, and smelled like my dad after a long day. It was him."

Emerald appeared to be worried, "What do we do?"

Cinder thought for but a moment, before smirking to herself, "Nothing. We stay the course. They have no idea who we are, so we have no reason to worry. Besides, the last of the heavy lifting is being taken care of thanks to our clever little friend. Speaking of which, it appears we have a new access point." The image of Ironwood appeared briefly in the top right of the screen.

"Anywhere good?" Emerald inquired.

Cinder smirked further, "You could say that. Go to your rooms. I'll prepare everything for tomorrow."

Emerald and Mercury both answered affirmatively, before leaving.

Cinder pulled up the roster and matchups for the next day, all of which were meant to be random. She muttered, "Let's give the crowd a good fight…" She scrolled on one side until Emerald and Mercury were in the slots. On the other side, it took her a moment to find the team she was looking for. When she did, she smirked, setting down the scroll that now displayed a grinning blond and a girl wearing a diorama of colors.

"Man, first up two days in a row? This is just weird," Naruto remarked, looking up at the randomization board. He and Diana would be facing off against the two people he had been watching warily yesterday, as per Kurama's advice.

Port's voice came over through the speakers, "The randomization process is complete! Ladies and gentlemen, your doubles tournament fight!"

He and Diana made their way down to the arena itself, to get in place for the fight. As they entered, they could see their opponents doing the same on the other side. The grey-haired guy smirked at Naruto as the four of them met in the center.

The screens around the arena began to shuffle through different arenas once again, though, to Naruto's surprise, this time four sections were chosen. Behind Emerald and Mercury, a plain of tall grass and one tree rose up. Behind themselves, a geyser field. To their left, there was the same destroyed city as yesterday, just halved in size to be a quarter of the area. The final area was a forest.

"Hey, you," Emerald called out to Naruto. He pointed to himself.

"Yeah?"

"I thought you weren't gonna fight anymore."

"Our teammate changed his mind."

Mercury and Emerald looked to each other. Cinder hadn't told them about that, and they weren't sure what they were supposed to do in this circumstance. They supposed they should just fight as normal, like they were planning to.

"Three! Two! One! Begin!"

Without another word, Emerald and Mercury stepped back into the tall grass behind them, becoming obscured from view. Naruto raised an eyebrow, then turned to an excited Diana and nodded. She beamed even wider, pulling her massive sword off of her back. She swept it out in front of her, sending of a wave of fire, courtesy of the new Dust she used. The grass caught fire, and began to quickly burn to the ground.

Mercury sprang out of it, rocketing towards the rainbow girl through the air. Diana held her blade to the ground, and Naruto began to run up it, before she gave a mighty heave, launching him at the boy in the air. Mercury's eyes widened, but he kept himself calm and shot his boots down at Naruto multiple times, simultaneously launching himself further into the air.

Naruto managed to block most of the shots, but his sword wasn't meant for blocking, and so the few that got through sent him back down to the ground. He stood, switching to his pistol, and firing up at the now-falling guy. He turned over, and fired his boots into the air, rocketing down at the blond. Naruto rolled out of the way, right as a sickle connected to a chain wrapped around his leg. He felt a pull, and suddenly found himself hurtling into the forest.

Thinking quickly, Naruto fired a few bullets into the chain, trying to break it. His efforts, unfortunately, were in vain, and he was tossed into a tree when the chain was unraveled. He landed on his feet by the time he hit the ground, looking around for who he assumed was Emerald. He thought he saw movement in the trees, but it was gone before he could focus on it.

Naruto heard a voice from behind, "Hey, Naruto." He whipped around, then frowned when he saw Ruby calmly walking towards him, as though she wasn't in the middle of a tournament fight.

"Ruby, what are you doing here? Get out of the arena!" he hissed at her. She smirked in a very non-Ruby way, and he felt something heavy and metal slam into the back of his head with more than a little force. "Gah!"

He fell to one knee, but looked around behind him for his attacker. He saw no one. Before he could question himself, he felt immense pain in his chest, and looked down to see two bullets holes that were bleeding profusely. He tried to track the direction they came from, but the forest seemed like it was almost moving.

One more time, he felt that metal object, but this time it came as a stabbing pain in his shoulder. With all the blood he'd already lost, combined with the general pain, he began to black out, still trying to figure out what the hell had just happened.

Melissa watched the Aura board with worry, as Naruto's kept trickling down steadily. Eventually, it fell to thirteen, and Port announced, "It seems Mr. Uzumaki has been caught unaware by his opponent! But what's this? Ms. Sustrai's Aura has also dropped down to the red! No, wait! It's all the way down to zero!"

He was right. Right after Naruto's fell to the red, Emerald's had shot down to zero, right from a hundred. Naruto must have done something that had only taken effect afterwards. Meanwhile, Mercury was giving Diana hell. He was clearly more talented than she was. She could barely keep up a reasonable defense, but even that didn't completely keep his attacks from getting through.

He smirked at her, then fired two bullets at her, using them as a distraction as he fired easily a hundred more, all circling around them in a cloud of white death. He ran at her, kicking upwards against her sword. She couldn't keep a grip on it, and it went flying into the air, far out of her reach. With her more or less defenseless, he brought all of his bullets down on her, sending her Aura level down to eight by the time it was over.

Port awarded Mercury and Emerald the victory, obviously. Troy and Melissa ran out onto the field afterwards, not for any real reason, just to get their teammates. By the time they reached Diana, Mercury came out of the woods, carrying a visibly fine but unconscious Emerald, and a bloody, torn-up Naruto out of the woods. Melissa's eyes widened when she saw Naruto, and she ran over, taking him from Mercury.

"Oh, dear," Port came through. "Could a doctor please report to the Coliseum?"

Soon enough, Naruto was laid out on a stretcher, then carried out and to an ambulance, with two doctors trying to staunch the bleeding once he arrived. It appeared that Emerald, when she had been fighting him, had hit not one, but two major arteries. It was a miracle he wasn't already dead.

Only Melissa came with him, since Troy needed to stay behind until Diana woke up, and the ambulance didn't have time to wait for anyone else like Blake to arrive. That, and Melissa didn't think to tell them to wait for the Faunus.

The doctors immediately went about removing the bullets, needing to get them out before they could stop the bleeding. Somewhat luckily, somewhat unluckily, one of the bullets had gone through all the way, leaving them with only one they needed to remove. It was imbedded very lightly, too, having hit one of Naruto's ribs, which had somehow stood up to it, for the most part.

Melissa just sat by his head, staring the whole time. His eyes kept twitching, like he was awake but only vaguely aware of it. Eventually, the ambulance reached the hospital, where Naruto was transferred to ICU, as a result of the severity of two of his wounds, the head trauma, and all the blood he'd lost. Melissa was required to stay in the waiting room, in the meantime.

"You idiot!"

Emerald knew better than to dodge when Cinder punished her. She had, for no better way of phrasing, fucked up royally. "If it hadn't been for Mercury's quick thinking, you might have killed the boy!" Cinder was not happy, obviously. Her plans had almost been sent into a downwards spiral, fast. "You should consider yourself fortunate that you didn't kill him, or I would've done the same to you!"

"I- I'm sorry, Cinder."

"Oh, are you? For nearly derailing all my carefully laid plans? For nearly ruining the chance for my power to grow even more?"

"I… I didn't mean to do all that, it was-"

"No excuses! Your foolishness nearly cost us everything we've worked towards for months."

"IT WAS IN HIS HEAD!" Emerald shouted, cutting off Cinder.

"Excuse me?"

"There was… There was… something in his head. It was… terrifying. It was like his mind was pure evil and hate."

"Oh? And what is that supposed to mean?" Cinder, after her explosion of anger, seemed to be calming just a little.

"I don't know. His head is… I couldn't even think while I was attacking him. Trying to mess with his mind was like… I can't put it into words," Emerald put her hands to her throbbing head, trying to banish the thoughts.

Inside the boy's head, she'd only begun to exert her Semblance's power when some enormous and powerful, not to mention evil, presence had produced an overwhelming feeling of terror within her, more so than Cinder could ever hope to match. She'd tried to ignore it, to let it go away, but it didn't. In her haste to avoid it, she rushed her attack on the boy, and almost killed him. Hell, she hadn't even noticed that he wasn't protecting himself with his Aura until she stabbed him.

"Oh, I see. And why should I believe that? Our little Neopolitan didn't have an issue with this 'something'."

"But-"

"If you screw up this badly ever again, I will personally kill you. Understand?"

Emerald held back a gulp of fear, and nodded. Cinder smirked at the fear she was putting into her subordinate. Perhaps, she thought, they could use this to their advantage.

A doctor called for her, "Ms. Mikeham?"

Melissa groggily opened her eyes, rubbing them to help clear her vision of all the spots. She wasn't sure how she'd been able to fall asleep waiting for Naruto to be fixed up, especially not since he was brought in around nine. By now, as she could tell from the windows, it was night time.

"Wha? Whozair?" In her groggy, half-awake state, Melissa's words came out a bit slurred. She felt someone shake her on her left.

"Melissa, wake up. They're telling us we can visit Naruto."

Melissa shook her head, and looked over to see Blake sitting next to her, with Ruby right across from them, cradling her scythe with a distraught look on her face. Chances were, she hadn't been prepared for the sight of Naruto earlier.

"We can go and see Naruto?" Melissa questioned the doctor. He nodded.

"Yes. He woke up not long after we removed the bullet from his ribcage."

Melissa, Ruby, and Blake all stood, and made their way into the warded off section of the hospital. They were directed down the hall to Naruto's room, where they found him looking up at the ceiling with a bored look on his face. He turned towards them when they entered, and his face brightened a little.

"Oh, good. At least I can see you guys while I wait," he supposed sarcastically. Blake rolled her eyes, but Melissa and Ruby were too concerned with the blond to notice.

"Are you ok?" Blake asked after a moment. Naruto nodded.

"I've been fine for hours. I keep telling them: 'I don't need to stay here, I'm ok,' and all of those things. They don't listen, though. They keep saying I need to stay here for at least a little while, even with the wounds basically gone."

He pulled his hospital gown aside, showing them where his shoulder wound was, "I'm a fast healer, especially when I want to be. Uh… Aura, and all, ya know."

Blake and Melissa nodded, but Ruby could only stare at the faint white scratch that had been a wound piercing his jugular earlier. That it had healed so much, so quickly…

"Wow…" she breathed.

"You'd think they're used to this sort of thing, what with it being so close to Beacon," Naruto wondered. "I guess Beacon doesn't like when its students go to other hospitals?" Naruto stood up, getting out of the bed he was supposed to lie in. "Oh, well. I'm sure they won't mind if I just go for a walk. Hey, where's Yang? I want to make a joke."

As Ruby explained that Yang and Weiss had had to stay behind in case they were picked next for the doubles round, Naruto changed back into his jumpsuit and haori, back facing them. Ruby and Melissa had instantly looked away, blushing, when he was clad in practically nothing at all. Blake had followed suit after she realized that the other two had turned.

"Ah, that's better," Naruto remarked, stretching. A doctor entered, looking down at a clipboard. When he looked up, he almost panicked. That is, until he saw the sheepishly grinning blond in the corner. Then, he seemed torn between being angry, upset, and concerned.

"Mr. Uzumaki, we need you to stay in bed. You will need rest after that injury."

"Ah, I feel fine. You're just overreacting, old man."

Melissa could have sworn that the doctor's eye twitched a few times at the comment. Nevertheless, he sighed, and began mumbling to himself as he walked out, "Beacon students, always healing themselves with Aura… Well, I'll-" was all that Melissa heard before the door closed.

"So… are you gonna just try and leave?" Blake asked, seeming to be holding back a laugh. As if it was the most obvious thing in the world, Naruto nodded. The thing about having a hospital right next to Beacon was, you commonly would have people come in who could use their Aura or 'Aura' to heal themselves. This made it a pain originally, because people would be admitted into ICU for a day, like Naruto was, before being able to calmly walk out, like Naruto was going to.

Eventually, hospitals wizened up, and added it into their policy that if the patient could leave the building on their own, they were free to go. However, those who tried did have to either be a huntsman, huntress, or in training. Otherwise, regular people who believed themselves to be 'fine' would try and walk out all day long, and just make more work for the hospital. It was one of the rare occasions where a business didn't want as much business as it could get.

Regardless, Naruto was, in fact, able to simply walk out, with no negative repercussions. Gotta love policy.

"Man, how long was I out?" Naruto asked, staring up at the night sky.

"A little over fourteen hours," Blake answered. Naruto frowned.

"Did Weiss and Yang fight yet?"

Blake shrugged, "We don't know. We've been hoping you would be ok. I guess none of us thought you would have enough Aura to heal yourself so soon."

"Well, what are doing waiting around for? We could be missing their fight!"

Melissa giggled at his excitement, "Somehow I doubt that, Naruto. It's… what? One in the morning?" Blake nodded.

"Ya wanna race back?" Ruby asked Naruto excitedly. Melissa shook her head.

"Ruby, he's in no condition-"

"Yeah, sure. Let's go, Ruby."

Melissa tried to stop them, "No, wai-"

Too late. They had both taken off faster than speeding bullets the instant Naruto had said the smaller girl's name. All Melissa could tell to wait was the wind left behind. Although, she had the feeling that wind would probably listen more than those two.

Much like his teammates and the two of Team RWBY next to him, Naruto was cheering for Weiss and Yang as they fought their opponents. The two they were fighting seemed an odd bunch, between the guy using a trumpet as a weapon, and the Faunus girl roller-skating around the arena while Yang tried to beat the hell out of her. Apparently, she excelled at pissing Yang off, given the red eyes the blonde was sporting.

Yang was stood in the middle of the arena, with her foe circling her, while Weiss lay near-defeated as a result of Flynt, the guy with the trumpet, both of them in the lava fields. He smirked at Weiss, standing on her weapon, while he split himself into four again, ready to attack Yang with spooky sound waves. In a move that she probably hadn't thought through all the way, Weiss tackled Flynt into a fiery geyser, sacrificing herself for-

Oh, never mind; Flynt was fine. He was lowered to sixteen Aura, sure, but he was still standing. That is, until he and Neon, his teammate, continued their assault on Yang, which ended with Yang covering the end of his instrument. And in doing so, the sound waves coming from it were reflected back into Flynt, therefore ridding him of the last shred of Aura keeping him standing.

Soon after, Neon screwed up while roller-skating through the rocky portion of the arena, knocking her foot into an obstacle on the ground, which Yang took full advantage of, using her chance to beat the pesky opponent. In short, Yang won, everyone else lost. Ruby and Blake rushed out to celebrate the victory. Turned out, being burned alive was something people could easily shrug off, and Weiss was perfectly okay, just covered in ash.

With that being the last doubles fight, people began to file out of the arena, most of Team MDNT following them. Naruto waved goodbye to his team for the moment, hopping down to go congratulate Yang.

Later on, he found himself, along with Team RWBY, in an after-party of sorts. It was basically just all eight of them sitting at the rather reliable Simple Wok stand at the festival, talking and joking around about the tournament up to now. He wasn't sure where his team had gone off to.

"It's too bad you guys couldn't win," Yang was saying. "I really wanted to fight you, Whiskers."

"Yeah, I really don't know what happened. Hell, Ruby showed up in the forest, somehow."

"What? But I never left my seat."

"Yeah, I didn't think so. I couldn't even see whoever it was attacking me. I must have been seeing things, or something."

Yang lightly punched his arm, "Ah, don't worry about it, Whiskers. It could happen to anyone. 'Cept for me."

Naruto rolled his eyes, "Yeah, yeah. We know; you're perfect."

"You know it," Yang joked.

"Hey, so are you going on to the finals?" Melissa asked Yang.

"Yep. I'ma win for Team RWBY!"

Blake, just now finishing the savoring of her precious tuna, jumped in, "She just wanted to keep fighting, so Weiss let her."

"That's not true! Ruby let me."

"Eh, it was mostly Weiss," Ruby objected.

"You'd better win, Yang," Naruto added. "Oh, and if you fight Emerald or Mercury… give 'em one from me."

"Feeling a little sour, eh Whiskers?" Yang joked, nudging his side.

"Just a little," he admitted, shrugging.

"You don't hate them for that, do you Naruto?" Ruby asked.

He ruffled her hair, "Nah. I don't hate them for that. It was an accident."

Besides, he had a different reason to be careful around them. Of course, Ruby didn't need to know that. She beamed, "Oh, good. I was worried two of my friends would hate each other." She glanced towards Weiss and Blake. "Again," She added on as a joke. Weiss just raised an eyebrow, while Blake basked in the aftertaste of the tuna, ignoring her leader.

Later on, once night fell and the third round would begin, all eight of the combatants were lined up in the middle of the arena. Amongst them were Yang, Mercury, Sun, Ruby's friend Penny, and Pyrrha, who for some reason Naruto didn't get, was looking down nervously, rubbing her arm. Port boomed through the speakers, "Now, for the moment you've all been waiting for! The one-on-one finals! Barty, why don't you explain the rules?"

Oobleck took over, "Ah, it's quite simple, Peter. Instead of a bracket system, each round of the finals will be randomly determined immediately before the match takes place!"

Port added, "Much like any good hunt, there will be zero time to prepare!"

Oobleck finished, "Ah, yes, yes! Now, let's see who our first match will be!"

Far above the arena, the faces began spinning on either side of the VS in the middle. Everyone watched closely, the tension mounting fast. Finally, it stopped on two familiar faces.

"Yang Xiao Long and Mercury Black!"

Naruto covered his ears as Ruby cupped her hands, yelling out to her sister, "Break a leg, sis!"

"Would all other combatants please leave the stage?"

Besides Yang and Mercury, the fighters all walked off the arena, the outside edges pulled away, leaving only the center for the two to battle on. All around the Coliseum, the brilliant spotlights lit up, shining brightly on the center, on the two fighters getting ready for the first fight of the final round.

Yang grinned over at her 'friend,' "You better not go easy on me."

Mercury laughed somewhat evilly, "You wish."

Ah, cliffhangers. Such a wonderful creation.

Until Chapter 17!