Sorry, sorry. Missed the update yesterday.

Disclaimer: I. Don't. Own. Naruto. Or. RWBY.

Chapter 17: The Catalyst

Naruto watched as Yang and Mercury slowly walked up to one another, slowly raising their hands in preparation for the beginning of the fight. Port counted down dramatically, pausing for a moment before he yelled, "Begin!"

Instantly, Yang punched, connecting with a spinning kick from Mercury, sending out a shockwave from the power behind each of the attacks. Each of the fighters was knocked back a few feet, taking only a moment to recover, before Mercury ran at Yang, trying another kick. This time, Yang jumped over him, turning in midair so that she would face him when she landed.

When she did, punched immediately, firing at Mercury with her gauntlets. He spun around the bullet, then blocked her backhanded punch with his arm. When she tried again beneath, he did the same thing. He swept sideways with his arm, which she ducked under. She punched him in the chest, and at the same time, he kicked hers. Each of them had fired at the same time, thus sending their opponent flying backwards.

Yang recovered quickly, pressing off the ground with her hands, and setting herself upright. Mercury, on the other hand, shot his boots off at the ground, flipping back through the air, landing in a crouch, smirking. Yang began a barrage using her gauntlets, firing over and over again at Mercury. He zigzagged through the attacks, launching himself through the air at the blonde, bringing his foot down, only to meet her crossed arms.

She sent his foot high above his head, trying to sweep his other foot out from under him at the same time. He jumped over the attack, twisting in midair and landing in another crouch, dodging another bullet from Yang's gauntlets. He kicked upwards, backflipping in the process of kicking Yang in the chin.

Yang managed to land on her feet, and used her gauntlets to launch herself forwards at Mercury. She landed her first punch, adding on to the attack with the shotguns in her gauntlets. Her next punch was deflected to the side by his arm, while he ducked under the third. The fourth and final punch landed dead center on his chest.

Both of them spun, blocking the other's kick with their own. Mercury recovered quicker, moving his foot to kick the leg Yang was standing on, knocking her off of it. She hit the ground rolling, avoiding his slamming his heel into the spot she just was. Yang tried to punch downwards into it, only for him to perform some strange dance move to avoid it.

In quick succession, once he hit the ground again, he kicked with his right foot towards Yang's left, which she blocked, while also using his left leg to kick into her center, breaking her guard. He spun back onto his feet, kicking in the process. Yang dodged underneath the rather high attack, only for him to bring it down with a powerful slam. She dodged once again, and he broke the stage where his foot hit.

He tried another kick, which she blocked. When he pulled his foot away, she tried a kick of her own. When he dodged, he attack high in a feint, bringing her guard up so his follow up to her center would be unblocked. She just barely managed to dodge, but his attack flowed into his next, in which he jumped and kicked directly at her neck. She barely managed to block, and even so was sent back a few feet in a stumble. Mercury wound up in another crouch, before rushing at her.

He kicked again, with Yang blocking it with her gauntlet, uppercutting him immediately afterwards. Before he could recover, she slammed her elbow into his abdomen, punching him and firing with her gauntlet at the same time. The result was Mercury ending up on his stomach a foot or two away, before he began a number of handsprings backwards to avoid the multiple explosions Yang's attacks were causing.

The final one caused him to flip over the edge, something that would disqualify him for being out of bounds. But, given how powerful guns were made on Remnant, all it took was firing his boots towards the ground to send him flying back up onto the stage. In another crouch, he landed in front of Yang, kicking her foot away when she raised it to attack.

He kicked her in her left, then her right, then her left again, alternating his feet each time, before aiming one at the side of her head. She held up her arm to block, being just able to do so. Not bringing his foot away, he kicked into her back, then brought his foot around, aiming for her face, which she ducked under. He brought same foot up to meet her punch, then did the same for her next punch. And the one after that.

He kicked at her leg, forcing her to step out of the way, while also trying to dodge when he brought his foot to her face again. She ducked under it, but Mercury jumped, aiming his next kick right into her chest before she could block. For the added power, he shot his boots into her, knocking her back several feet. To follow up, he flipped over, shooting at her with his boots.

She dodged by rolling to the right, not seeing the strange bullet fly into the air above the stage. She did, however, notice when Mercury smirked, spinning on his heel and firing in every direction, rapidly, creating a cloud of white bullets circling around the stage. She dodged past two that were barely even fired at her, rushing at Mercury. In the precious few seconds that she spent trying to close the distance between herself and him, he fired off several more shots, adding them to the swirl of death.

She finally got to him with a punch, which he dodged to the side of, trying to counter with his own failed punch. He brought his foot up in another blocked kick, bringing it down once again to break her guard. He tried to kick her into the air, but, somewhat ironically, she jumped into the air to avoid it. He wasted no time, jumping up and slamming his foot into her chest, sending her flying into the ground, with the hundreds of white bullets he had shot off before coming hurtling down, all at once, creating a rather sizeable explosion.

Mercury stood up cockily, brushing himself off as he sauntered away. Naruto noticed Ruby watching with a mixture of anticipation and anxiety. As Mercury began to strut away, smirking, another explosion rocked the arena, flames pouring out from the epicenter. When they cleared, a glowing Yang could be clearly seen, glaring rather angrily at the boy she was fighting.

She slammed her fists together, her Aura flaring behind her, her eyes turning red, and letting the entire crowd feel the heat off of the fire around her. For the first time in the fight, Mercury looked visibly worried as Yang rushed towards him. The first punch, even though he blocked it, sent him skidding back. When she charged him again, he tried kicking twice, with her dodging the first and blocking the second.

The second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh punches were from alternating fists, each punching him across the chest, adding in the explosions from her gauntlets for added damage. It was the eighth punch that did him in, though, when what looked to Naruto like a spider web of grey lines appeared all over Mercury, spreading from the point of impact from the punch. And the ninth punch, across his face, was really just insult to injury.

He bounced along the ground for several feet, defeated, as could be seen from his zero Aura compared to Yang's sixteen. Port came over the loudspeakers, "What a way to kick off the finals!"

Oobleck added, "Yang Xiao Long wins!"

Next to Naruto, and hell, including Naruto, celebrated enthusiastically, with Blake standing and clapping, Weiss trying to prevent herself from jumping up and cheering, and Ruby throwing her arms into the air out of joy. As for Naruto himself… well, he had practice being obnoxiously loud when he was a kid, and those lessons hadn't exactly faded with time.

Yang wiped her brow with relief, and began to walk past Mercury, turning as soon as she had. Then, while all of her friends were still congratulating her on her victory from the stands, she reeled her fist back, and punched right into the defenseless boy's leg, producing a horrible shattering noise that could be heard all throughout the Coliseum, presumably breaking it terribly.

Instantly, the entire Coliseum went silent for several seconds, until a huge portion of people began to boo at the action, while armed soldiers actually ran out to confront Yang, surrounding her when she seemed to threaten him further. All even Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Naruto could do was stare, as this girl they had known for so long acted so… violently.

For whatever reason, Yang had the audacity to look confused and concerned while people were scornfully yelling down at her. She even looked over to where Naruto and her team were, seemingly for sympathy. Ruby, Weiss, and Blake could only look horrified, while Naruto tried his best to look disapprovingly at her. Ruthlessness wasn't something he was a fan of, by any means. Even if he was a potential threat. He was fairly certain he just ended up looking confused, though.

Emerald ran out to Mercury, while two medics ran over with a stretcher, setting it down next to him. They moved him on to it, and carried him out, with his green-haired teammate following all the while. Yang stared, mouth half open, acting confused about the entire thing. Naruto may have seen Ruby in the forest, but he hadn't tried to kill her for whatever she was doing. And yet, Yang had broken his leg like he had attacked her or something.

Naruto left the arena with a distressed Ruby, a confused Weiss, and Blake, who seemed torn between something like fright and pensive thought. He himself felt disapproving. Yang hadn't needed to do that. He was just kneeling, and had even given her the equivalent of a "good game" after she turned. And the instant afterwards…

Whatever her reasons, they couldn't be good.

Naruto left the RWB in Team RWBY, feeling that they should talk to Yang alone first. He went to find his own team, and thus headed for the fairgrounds. They had foregone the first finals fight to look around, saying they would watch from wherever they had dinner. He was able to find them at a Jade Orchard, enjoying the wonderful breadsticks that they offered. Right, so Diana had chosen where they ate.

As soon as she saw him, Melissa rushed over to Naruto, worried, "What happened?! We saw the fight."

Naruto shook his head, "Yang… I don't know why, but she decided to break his leg after she beat him."

As they talked, they walked back over to the table where Diana and Troy still were. Melissa frowned, "But she doesn't do stuff like that. What came over her? He even looked like he was being a good sport, for God's sake!"

Troy decided to speak up, "Maybe she's just a little more bloodthirsty than we thought. I mean, there's no way she would tell someone if she was, so it makes sense."

Melissa shook her head, "But she's not like that! She just can't be!"

Troy shrugged in response, "Like she told you everything about herself?" He emphasized the 'you' incredibly, almost condescendingly.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Melissa shot back.

Troy rolled his eyes, "Its means, leader, that just because you talked to her a lot over the last month doesn't make you two best friends or something. It means that she kept her cruel nature under wraps up until now, and she couldn't help herself."

Naruto glared at him in disbelief, "No, that's not it. Melissa's gotta be right, and there's some reasonable explanation. I don't think what Yang did was right either, but calling her cruel is uncalled for."

Troy shrugged again, but didn't say anything. Melissa almost seemed on the verge of tears, and Diana was silently eating her breadsticks, not even smiling. Naruto felt a sudden pang of anger, probably directed at the blonde bruiser, for causing his team this much frustration and pain. He banished the emotion quickly, figuring it wouldn't do him any good to be angry. He needed to hear her side of the story first. Maybe it would make more sense then.

The next morning, Ironwood was pacing back and forth, staying silent for several rather tense moments. Eventually, he spoke up again, "I'm sorry, but you've left us with no choice.

Yang protested, "But he attacked me!"

Ironwood didn't bother looking over at her as he replied, "Video footage and millions of viewers say otherwise."

"But Yang would never do that!" Weiss argued.

Ruby stood up to agree, "Yeah!"

Ironwood sighed, "You all seem like good students, and the staff here at Beacon are fully aware that you would never lash out the way you did... under normal circumstances." He paused, waiting for a moment. "What I believe and hope this to be is nothing more than the result of stress and adrenaline. When you're out on the battlefield, your judgment can become clouded in an instant. Sometimes you see things that simply aren't there. Even after the fight is past..."

Yang tried to argue again, "But I wasn't-"

Ironwood shouted, "That's ENOUGH!" He gave a moment for the room to quiet, before continuing, "The sad truth is, whether it was an accident or an assault, it doesn't matter. The world saw you attack an innocent student. They've already drawn their own conclusions. And it's my job to inform you that: you are disqualified."

Yang looked down in despondent understanding while Ironwood walked out, only looking up again when the door closed, "You guys believe me, right?"

"Duh!" Ruby immediately let out. "Naruto would, too, if he was here!"

Weiss shook her head, "You're hotheaded, but not ruthless."

Yang looked over to Blake, the cat Faunus having not spoken, "Blake?"

Blake turned away. She was sure her teammates were glaring at her, but she was lost in thought. She eventually spoke up, "I want to believe you..."

"Huh!?" Ruby yelled in disbelief.

Weiss crossed her arms, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Blake?" Yang asked in a hurt voice.

"How can you say something like that?" Weiss objected. "Yang would never lie to us!"

"I had someone very dear to me change. It wasn't in an instant, it was gradual, little choices that began to pile up. He told me not to worry. At first, they were accidents, then it was self-defense. Before long, even I began to think he was right," Blake looked down. "This is all just... very familiar." She paused again, looking back up at Yang. "But you're not him. And you've never done anything like this before. So, I want to trust you. I will trust you. But first, I need you to look me in the eyes and tell me that he attacked you. I need you to promise me that you regret having to do what you did."

"I saw him attack me, so I attacked back."

"Okay. Thank you." Blake smiled slightly. God, Naruto was better at this then she was. Where was he, anyways? If he forgave his best friend for stabbing him through the chest with said friend's hand, then he would probably forgive Yang for acting in delusional self-defense.

"I think I'm gonna rest up," Yang said, looking down wearily. "Uh… send Naruto when you see him. I wanna ask him something."

"I'll be sure to do that," Blake obeyed. What she could possibly want to ask him, Blake had no idea. But hey, Naruto was pretty good at the whole 'cheering up' thing, somehow.

The three non-blonde members of Team RWBY awkwardly walked out, Ruby closing the door behind them. Blake spoke first, "I'm gonna go find Naruto. She wanted to talk to him."

"Yeah, I'll come with you," Ruby said dejectedly. "He said he was gonna spend today with his team. I think they're at the fair."

Team JNPR chose now to poke their heads out their dorm room. Jaune questioned, "Is… she gonna be alright?"

Blake and Ruby walked away, leaving Weiss to answer.

"I don't know… is it a whale?" Naruto asked. Diana shook her head, her characteristic smile back on her face. Troy had suggested they play twenty questions, a game that had supposedly always cheered him up, since it was hilarious to watch people try and fail to guess what bizarre thing you came up with.

Melissa cut in, her mood also drastically improved, "A skyscraper?" Diana gave a thumbs up, indicating that was the right answer.

"You got it!" Diana congratulated. Melissa did a little sitting-dance, looking rather odd.

"Right… I got it!"

"Is it an animal?" Naruto asked. Before Melissa could answer, he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned to see Ruby and Blake standing behind him, the former smiling sadly.

Blake spoke first, "Yang wanted to ask you something. But, uh… well, it's not a great idea for her to go walking around right now."

Naruto frowned, suddenly concerned for his friend. But first, "Did she tell you guys why she attacked him?"

Ruby looked away, "She said that he attacked her, so she defended herself."

"Hm… Alright. I'll go see what she wants, then."

"You… um… you believe her, right Naruto?" Ruby asked nervously. He smiled warmly.

"Of course I do, Ruby."

Naruto began to make his way back to the dorms, followed by Blake. He raised his eyebrow at her in mild curiosity, "You're coming?"

"Well, Ruby's gonna hang around Amity Coliseum until the fight tonight, but I really don't want to keep just watching fighting anymore."

"So you decided to come with me?"

"I'll wait outside until you're done talking with Yang. I… I just don't get the situation."

"Any ideas of your own why she attacked him?"

"None that I want to share. It all just seems so familiar…" She looked down. Naruto put his hand on her shoulder for reassurance.

"Hey, there's nothing to worry about. I'm sure she just got a little nervous, even after she won."

"That's what the general said, but I can't see Yang being so scared that she would punch hard enough to break his leg like that. And Naruto, this is the second time something like this happened this tournament," Blake poked his shoulder for emphasis. "Remember what happened to you?"

Naruto shrugged, "Yeah, but we were actually fighting then. Besides, I healed pretty quickly."

"Thank God for that. I was worried you had died," Blake held him protectively, as if to keep Death away from him. "Then they took you out on the stretcher… It was such a horrible sight."

"Huh. Isn't it a little odd how Mercury was taken all the way back to Haven for a simple broken leg?" Naruto questioned, looking in some diagonal direction thoughtful.

"Oh, um… yeah, a little, I guess. But, he has family that's probably worried about him. Ya know, like a mom?"

They were getting close to the dorm building. Such a shame that the mood was so dreary, as it was actually a wonderful day. There wasn't single cloud in sight, besides that one that was being ignored to be able to call it a perfect day. Yes, truly a perfect day. And yet, the mood made the weather seem as a mockery.

"Right, I'll just… wait here, I guess," Blake stopped outside her dorm room, gesturing for Naruto to enter. He did, and found Yang sitting upright in her bed, neutrally staring at the door.

"Hey, Naruto," she sighed. "Did Ruby send you?"

Naruto gave a small laugh, trying to lighten the mood, "Yeah, her and Blake." He sat down on the bed opposite to hers. "They said you wanted to ask me something?"

"Yeah. Naruto, when you were in the forest, didn't you say Ruby was there?"

"Uh- yeah, I did. She wasn't acting like it was weird, either. She wasn't even really acting like herself at all."

"Did you think you were seeing things?"

"Not really. Not until afterwards, when Ruby was telling me that she never left her seat."

"Oh, ok. Thanks, Naruto."

"That's all?"

Yang nodded. He got up, and backed over to the door, opening it behind himself, "See ya, Yang."

He closed the door behind him as he left, sighing to himself. Blake tapped him on the shoulder, "Is she alright? What did she want?"

"Yeah, she's fine. She just wanted to know what happened when I saw Ruby in the forest," Naruto answered. "So, do you wanna go do something?"

"I could go for some tea. Something relaxing, honestly."

"Gotcha."

As it turned out, there was a nice place at the fair that brewed tea, amongst other things. Naruto leaned back in his seat, looking up at the cloth roof above their table, while Blake enjoyed her sweet tea. Well, he wasn't really looking up at it, not with his eyes closed.

His eyes shot open suddenly, "I'm gonna go train."

Blake stifled a short chuckle, "Train? Why?"

"I don't wanna get rusty. Gotta stay in shape for the next tournament."

This time, she let a slight smile show, "See you later, then."

"See ya, Neko-chan."

Naruto got up, and began to head for the Emerald Forest. When he said train, he had meant his Rasenshuriken, mostly. He wanted to get it down to just his own two hands in Sage Mode. He could do the Rasengan with just one, so surely the Rasenshuriken couldn't be too far off, right?

He glanced over his shoulder before he jumped off Beacon Cliff, just checking if Blake had followed along. She hadn't, though perhaps that was a good thing. He had no idea what would happen if the Rasenshuriken exploded in his hands.

He hit the ground quickly, immediately sitting down and gathering nature energy. After a few moments, he stood, orange markings around his eyes. He held his hand out, forming a basic Rasengan. It came to him easily, especially with all the practice he'd gotten outside of Sage Mode. Then, just as a test, he began to try and funnel wind chakra into it. The shuriken blades had only just started to form when it all went to hell.

The Rasengan in the middle disappeared, but the shuriken blades expanded outwards, flying in random directions. As with when he would fail the Rasengan, Naruto felt scarring appear all up his arm at the same time as the explosion. And oh, what an explosion it was. By the time Naruto could see again, after the blinding flash, every tree within twenty feet of him was bent so much from the epicenter that they formed a bridge.

Naruto's eyes were as wide as saucers in surprise. "I guess I should be more careful." Perhaps two hands would be better. He formed another Rasengan, his arm having already healed, thanks to Sage Mode. He placed him other hand over top of it, adding wind chakra through the top, rotating through the bottom. He actually managed to keep it relatively steady, until the shuriken blades had gotten to the point they would be on a completed form.

Suddenly, the jutsu disappeared entirely, and Naruto ducked instantly. When he got up again, those same trees that had already been bent backwards were now cut to bits, along a level height. He glanced at his hand. Impressive power. Inwardly, he wondered what a Rasengan powered by other chakra natures would do. Unfortunately, he only knew how to use wind chakra. And he couldn't very well use dust, since he was fairly certain that Dust exploded the moment it came into contact with his chakra. Or, at least, shortly after it did.

Right now, he had other matters that he by no means needed to focus on. For one, perfecting his Rasengan outside of Sage Mode. For another, perfecting his Rasenshuriken in Sage Mode. He supposed that he could try killing two birds with one stone, by practicing his Rasengan. It would help him get the rotation down to being second-nature, which in turn would make it easier for him to add wind chakra while keeping the Rasengan steady.

Half an hour later, and he felt like he was just about at the point where he had it perfected. He finally had it to the size Ero-Sennin always did, but he couldn't hold it for more than five seconds. Now, he just needed to find out what kind of damage the Aura-based backlash would cause him.

But he wasn't one to focus on the negative. No, instead, he was practically jumping for joy at finally mastering the basic Rasengan. To him, it meant he was on par with Ero-Sennin at last. And now, he had a chance to surpass him, by perfecting the complete version of the Rasengan. Not even his dad had been able to add chakra nature to it, which meant Naruto could go even further. His home may have been gone, but he would make them proud nonetheless.

When he had finally calmed down, he remembered his idea for a Ōdama Rasengan surrounded by other Rasengans. The idea excited him further, but he was still a long way off from that. First things first: perfect the Rasenshuriken.

He entered Sage Mode after a few seconds of gathering energy, immediately forming the Rasengan. He kept his palm just above it, carefully funneling both wind and Sage chakra into it. He was hopeful that the wind chakra would keep it stable. It certainly seemed to help, as he was able to hold the fully-formed Rasenshuriken for a few seconds before it fizzled out of existence.

He shook his right arm, getting feeling back into it after all the effects of chakra overuse set in. It brought him back to when he was first learning how to make a Rasengan. He laid back against a tree on the edge of his new clearing, relaxing and looking up at the cloudless sky. He used his Sage Mode to look around at various Auras, not looking for anything in particular.

Something about the fact that he could do this relaxed him. Perhaps it wasn't so much that he could sense people over a far distance, but rather that he could feel the overwhelming force of Mother Nature at his back in Sage Mode, waiting to back him up.

His relaxation was interrupted, however, when he felt someone above him jump off the cliff. He smiled to himself, eyes still closed, as Blake landed in front of him, in the middle of the earthen clearing. She looked around for a moment, but it wasn't terrifically hard to find an orange-and-red object in the sea of green the forest provided.

"Hey, Blake," he called over, opening his once-again blue eyes to watch her walk over. She had a very Blakelike smirk on her face as she lay down next to him.

"Hey, Naruto. This doesn't look like training," she replied. He rolled his eyes.

"I was training. I just needed a short brake, to let my arm rest."

"Oh, your arm's tired, huh?" she joked. Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"Since when did you become Yang? I thought those kinds of jokes were owned by her, under penalty of death."

"Yeah, but you wouldn't tell her, right?" Blake said with a grin.

He rolled his eyes and shook his head, "No, I guess I wouldn't.

"What kind of training were you doing?"

"I finally mastered the Rasengan!" Naruto let out excitedly, startling Blake a little from the volume.

"That's great," She responded with a smile. "Can I see?"

Naruto grinned, and stood up, stretching his arms dramatically. He held his hand out to Blake to help her up, then used his other hand to channel chakra once she was on her feet. The orb appeared, small at first, but rapidly expanding to full size. He thrust it into the tree they had just been leaning against, ripping into the bark for a few moments, before he released it and sent the tree flying. He turned back to Blake, who was staring wide-eyed. "Uh… yeah, it does that."

Blake shook her head a few times to refocus, as a roar sounded in the direction the tree had just been sent in. Several dozen Ursa could be seen charging them down through the woods, probably drawn by the tree trunk that had probably just hit one of them in the side of the head.

Naruto grinned sheepishly at Blake, "Well, I guess that's our cue to leave, huh?"

She rolled her eyes in amusement, "Yeah, I guess so."

Together, they both began to climb the cliff behind them. Blake leapt from vine to vine, scaling rather quickly. Naruto followed beneath her. Within a minute, they had reached the top, each one laughing about it, as if it had been some kind of hilarious joke.

Naruto lay back down, falling backwards with his hands behind his head. As he stared up at the slightly orange sky, he realized he had actually been training for much longer than he had thought. Hell, there was probably going to be another match soon. Although, given when Yang had fought Mercury, that wasn't likely. There were probably at least a few hours left.

"You wanna go see a movie or something?" Naruto casually asked, not really looking for an answer, just conversation. Blake sat down next to him.

"No, I want to go back and see what they have at the fair. Before I followed you, I saw Nora handing a giant stuffed bear to Ren."

Naruto turned to her with a look somewhere between disbelief and humor, "Really? Alright, let's go then."

There were, in fact, several kinds of games at the festival. One of them, the one where the player would slam a hammer into a button of some kind and rocket the bell to the top, seemed to be broken. So instead, Naruto and Blake started off throwing darts at balloons.

Unsurprisingly, Naruto was hitting every balloon he aimed at. Hey, when you can knock bullets out of the air, popping a balloon that was barely even two meters away was child's play. Blake missed just one time, and only because Naruto hit the balloon just before she did. Amazing how easy these games were when you were a trained warrior.

Secondly, with Naruto holding a large stuffed panda, they tried out the ring toss. Blake was silently laughing to herself as Naruto became increasingly frustrated at his inability to put a ring around a bottle. He kept glancing down at the ring, then at the bottles, then at the ring again before he tossed it, watching it like a fox the entire time it flew over to the bottles. Eventually, he just shook his head, walking away and leaving behind one very lucky and not entirely respectable carnival worker.

As he kept looking around for more things to do, Naruto looked down at the stuffed animal in his arms, then shrugged and began making his way towards Beacon. Blake caught up to him, asking, "Where are you going?"

"I wanna put this in my dorm, so that I don't lose it."

"Hey there, firecracker."

Yang didn't even turn around to look at her uncle, "Hey, Qrow."

Qrow stared her down, all business at the moment, "So, why'd you do it?"

Yang sighed to herself, "You know why."

Qrow smirked like he was getting ready for some joke, "All I know is that you attacked a helpless kid. So either you're lying or you're crazy."

Yang glared at him, "I'm not lying."

Qrow grunted, "Crazy, got it." He began to pace.

Yang looked down, "Who knows? Maybe I am." Hey, at least she knew Naruto was crazy too, right?

"And here I thought your dark-haired friend was the emo one."

Yang sighed again, "I saw my mom." She paused, looking over at Qrow's sudden stop and shocked reaction from the corner of her eye. "I-I was in a lot of trouble. Took a pretty hard hit. But when I came to, the person attacking me was gone. And I thought I saw… her. Her sword, like the one in you and dad's old picture."

Qrow laughed, "You're not crazy, Yang. That was your mom, all right. Let me guess - she didn't say a word, did she?"

Yang stared at him questioningly, "How did you know that?"

"I don't see my sister very often, but she does try to keep in touch. Whenever it suits her."

Yang shook her head, trying to clear away the confusion she could feel setting in, "Wait. You mean you talk to her? That was real?"

"Yeah, she found me. Had a tip from my most recent assignment and wanted me to give you a message."

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?!"

Qrow sighed as he strode over to the window, not looking at Yang, "I was tryin' to wait for the right time, and this sure ain't it. But I guess you deserve to know." He looked back at Yang, gravely solemn. "She wanted me to tell you that she saved you once, but you shouldn't expect that kindness again. Raven's got an interesting way of looking at the world that I don't particularly agree with. And she's dangerous. But you're a tough egg, kiddo. Shouldn't let this tournament thing get'cha down. You had a slip-up, sometimes bad things just happen. I say it's time you move on."

"Move on to what?" Yang asked, head almost cocked to the side.

Qrow leaned against the dresser, "Well... Raven let some info slip before she took off. If you ever wanna track her down, I think I might be able to help."

The look of determination he received was all the confirmation he needed. Though, now wasn't a great time. He could tell her after the Vytal Festival, even if it would drive her insane until then. It wouldn't do anyone any favors for his niece to go out looking now. Besides, he had another question.

"Your friend, Naruto. Where's he from?"

Yang's look of determination disappeared, replaced by one of confusion, "Huh? But I thought-"

"Where's he from?"

"Uh… he told me one time that he's from a village called… um… I think it was something like Koeknowhagakorray no Saatoh?" It was meant as an answer, but ended up as more of a question.

"Konohagakure no Sato?" Qrow asked incredulously, his eyes widening for a fraction of a second, so quickly Yang didn't even notice.

"Uh, yeah. How did you know that?"

"Just remembering some towns I've heard about," he lied. "Any idea where he said it was?"

"Um… no, not really. Ooh, uh- actually, he said it was far away from any of the Kingdoms," Yang answered, somewhat trying to get back to the topic of her mother's whereabouts.

"Alright, thanks," Qrow responded, distracted by something. "See ya later."

"But what about-"

Too late. Qrow was already gone, having leapt out the window like he wasn't patient enough to walk out calmly. Yang rolled her eyes, and laid back down. So, Qrow was going to help her find her mom? Perhaps she didn't need to be as broken up as Mercury's leg after all.

Even after everything that had happened in the last day or so, Ruby was still feeling pretty upbeat about everything else. So much so, in fact, that she was headed up to Amity Coliseum to watch the next fight. Inwardly, she was really hoping it would be Pyrrha, since she wanted to see Beacon win the tournament. She wasn't sure how Pyrrha fighting next would really help with that goal, but she wasn't questioning that at the moment.

She had back to the Coliseum, where people were back in the stands cheering and ready for entertainment. Ruby looked around for a seat, finding one near the edge. She climbed down the steps, feeling pretty cheery as she sat down. She glanced around the stands across from herself, and saw a face that definitely shouldn't have been there.

Ruby asked herself, "Emerald's here?"

As if she could tell the younger girl could see her, Emerald leaned forward to stare across at Ruby, who suddenly realized that there might be some kind of trouble, and ran towards the exit tunnel. She glanced behind herself, as if Emerald might have made it all the way across the arena in the time it took her to get to the maintenance door she found herself before. She barely thought twice as she walked through, making sure it closed behind her.

She herself couldn't explain why she felt so nervous, but she had the feeling that she should get either Yang or Naruto. It was like a feeling of being threatened, and she didn't like it. As she walked, she could hear Oobleck through the walls, "All right, it's now time to begin the randomization process for our next fight!"

She could just barely hear the sound of the randomization process, but she was set on ignoring it, and getting some kind of help. For what, she couldn't figure out, but she wasn't going to stop. That is, until a certain boy appeared from a side door, most certainly not injured, and most certainly not going home to his family.

Ruby squinted, as if she wasn't sure who she was seeing, "Mercury?"

Before Mercury could answer, Port's voice echoed through the walls, "looks like our first contender is... Penny Polendina from Atlas!"

Ruby turned back to her supposed friend, obviously distressed, "What are you doing?"

Port was once again the first to speak, "And her opponent will be... Pyrrha Nikos from Beacon!"

Ruby kept carefully watching Mercury, but it only took a few moments for her to realize what Port had just said. Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open, as she could do nothing to stop this, "No…"

Mercury mockingly put a hand to his chin, "Ooh, polarity versus metal. That could be bad." He gave a wicked grin.

Ruby glared at him, reaching around behind her back for Crescent Rose. But the Coliseum had rules against weaponry, to prevent sabotage. And thus, Ruby didn't have her precious scythe with her, and she felt vulnerable against the newly revealed enemy. "Mercury, what are you doing? You were hurt! Why-" She narrowed her eyes. "What's going on?" Mercury didn't answer. "Fine. If you're not going to tell me..." She tried to move around him, but he blocked her path, then did it again when she sidestepped.

Oobleck rang over the speakers, "Fighters, are you ready?"

"Three! Two! One! Begin!" Port bellowed.

Mercury smirked, "Showtime."

Ruby moved from side to side, trying to get around the grey-haired villain. He blocked her each time, until she dashed forward using her semblance in a panic. To her almighty surprise, he kicked her right in the abdomen, twisting around in midair and planting a heel in her that sent her flying backwards. When she landed on the ground, she pulled out her scroll, only for Mercury to shoot it to bits.

"Let's just keep this between us friends," he said menacingly. He rushed forward as she stood, kicking at her. She held up her arms to block, but she was nowhere near as skilled as her sister, and she ended up with a boot across her face. He kicked, firing off a round that she managed to duck under. He brought his foot down, but she dodged around it, using her Semblance to dash away from Mercury, who couldn't react this time, not with her having been right next to him.

"Three! Two! One! Begin!

Penny immediately pulled out her eight swords, looking rather dramatic as she did. She sent a volley of them at Pyrrha, only for the redhead to dodge or deflect them with her shield. The swords flew into the air behind her, until they turned around and came back to the fight.

Pyrrha, now having returned the shield to her back, twirled her javelin to block each sword swipe of Penny's, dropping her weapon when she needed to somersault away after being hit by a slash, only to magnetically return it to her hand as Penny readied another wave of blades.

Port decided to comment, "My word! What a tremendous display by Miss Polendina!"

Pyrrha rushed forward and jumped on an incoming sword using it as a springboard of sorts, swinging down at Penny, only to have the assault halted by a collection of blades. She leapt away from the retaliatory slice as Penny backed away as well. She tried to defend against the multitude of swords with the length of her weapon, but is forced back regardless. When she could, she rolled her shield off of her back with her Semblance. Penny began her assault anew.

Pyrrha spun wildly as she deflected or dodged each sword, until she gets close enough to Penny to deliver a few slashes with her spear, sending her flying back as Pyrrha knocked aside the blades called to their wielder's aid. Penny slid to a stop and made a new series of motions, the weapons folding up until she was circled by several laser rifles, a few of which open fire on the approaching redhead. Pyrrha avoided the blasts and fought off the remaining swords with her sword until she slid into position to charge at Penny and knock her back. Pyrrha straightened with a victorious grin that disappears into dizziness, just as she saw Penny rocketing forward, using her swords in much the same way as Yang or Ruby used their firearms, propelling herself forward.

After a short exchange, resulting in Pyrrha sliding backwards several feet along the ground, but recovering quickly, the redhead was taken by surprise when one of Penny's swords knocked away her shield, then her sword. She tried to pull her sword back to her with her Semblance, only for another sword to knock it away.

As Pyrrha watched, Penny pulled her all eight swords into the air above and behind her, only for them to double, then triple, then multiply even further to some astronomical number, all pointed towards the unfortunate redhead. But to everyone else, there were only eight swords, held in the same position. No one seemed to notice Pyrrha's dizziness at the number of weapons before her.

Penny sent them all forward, few in reality and hundreds strong in Pyrrha's mind. Pyrrha saw no other option but to step forward boldly, sending out a shockwave of magnetism to stop and even repel the blades. Eight blades are sent reeling back at Penny, who is also affected by the magnetism-based shockwave. Pyrrha opened her eyes wide, but with a brief moment to understand what was happening, what she had done, before Penny's arms are spread wide as she gasped, the wires attached to her own weapons curling around her left arm and midsection. Before the crowd of people thousands strong, with millions more watching all around the world, Penny Polendina was sliced into three separate pieces, each dropping to the ground.

There were four different kinds of panic. One was from the crowd, some looking away, averting their eyes from the horrible sight. Another was from Pyrrha, who could only stare in shock at what she had done. The third was from Ruby, who had gotten back out to the hallway from which she could've entered the arena, only to drop to her knees, tears in her eyes as she watched her friend die right before her eyes. The final was from Port and Oobleck, who were trying to stop the broadcast.

Oobleck held his hand to his ear, "Broadcast, what are you doing? Kill the feed!"

The broadcast operator responded in a panicked voice, "Something's wrong! We don't have control of the cameras! We can't even stop the broadcast!"

"What!? How is that possible!?" Behind the doctor and the professor, the live broadcast was overlaid with a red tint, and a black queen chess piece. The sound of a microphone being picked up echoed through the speakers.

A silken female voice rang out through the broadcast and through the speakers, "This was not a tragedy. This was not an accident."

I uploaded a new story just a bit ago. Just letting all of you know. "Remnants of Shinobi".

Until Chapter 18!