Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or RWBY, or any other odd work of literature.

Chapter 18: The Fall

"This was not a tragedy. This was not an accident," said the mystery woman. "This is what happens when you hand over your trust, your safety, your children, to men who claim to be our guardians, but are, in reality, nothing more than men. Our Academies' Headmasters wield more power than most armies, and one was audacious enough to control both."

In the crowd within the arena, General Ironwood stood, walking out with determination. The woman continued, "They cling to this power in the name of peace, and yet, what do we have here? One nation's attempt at a synthetic army, mercilessly torn apart by another's star pupil. What need would Atlas have for a soldier disguised as an innocent little girl? I don't think the Grimm can tell the difference. And what, I ask you, is Ozpin teaching his students? First a dismemberment, now this? Not to mention what happened to the poor Faunus in the doubles. Huntsmen and Huntresses should carry themselves with honor and mercy, yet I have witnessed neither.

Perhaps Ozpin felt as though defeating Atlas in the Tournament would help people forget his colossal failure to protect Vale when the Grimm invaded its streets. Or perhaps this was his message to the tyrannical dictator that has occupied an unsuspecting kingdom with armed forces. Honestly, I haven't the slightest clue as to who is right and who is wrong. But I know the existence of peace is fragile, and the leaders of our kingdoms conduct their business with iron gloves."

Even without being able to see the people who were listening to her, Cinder could practically feel the effect her words were having. She continued, "As someone who hails from Mistral, I can assure you the situation there is... equally undesirable. Our Kingdoms are on the brink of war, yet we, the citizens, are left in the dark. So I ask you: When the first shots are fired, who do you think you can trust?"

She smirked in a most evil way, before cutting off the broadcast entirely, going so far as to jam the system so no one could counter her words. It would leave them all in a panic, and the panic would bring the Grimm. And the Grimm would make it so much easier to find.

Oobleck turned to his colleague, "The feeds are all jammed! We can't get a message out!"

Port tried to get an answer from the broadcast operators, "Will somebody tell me what in the world is happening!?"

An automated warning began to sound all over Vale, "Alert. Incoming Grimm attack. Threat level: Nine. Please seek shelter in a calm and orderly manner."

As the crowds began to flee in a panic, Ironwood entered the announcers' box and took hold the microphone between Port and Oobleck, "Ladies and gentlemen, please. There is no need for panic."

He had only barely released the words when a loud screeching drowned him out. On top of the Coliseum, only barely kept out by the energy shields over the arena. Even then, they couldn't keep it out forever. Ironwood felt his scroll go off as he and the two professors watched the Nevermore. He answered it, seeing it was Ozpin, "Ozpin, the girl, I-I can explain!"

Ozpin's voice was deathly serious, "You brought your army to my Kingdom, James." He paused, his voice sounded borderline furious when he spoke again. "Use it."

Though unnecessary, Ironwood sent the order to combat the Grimm that began to pour into the city by the hundreds. Unfortunately, one of the battleships above Vale wasn't doing terrifically, as its crew was torn apart by a small girl with an umbrella. Neopolitan had her characteristic smirk on as she threw open the door to a certain cell, holding a cane topped with a familiar hat.

Roman laughed, "Well, it's about time."

Though they were meant to be ready for anything, the Atlesian Fleet was not, in fact, ready for one of their own ships to begin firing on them. Thus, when the battleship identified as Blue Four took four shots from Blue Two, sending it careening downwards into Blue Three, sending both spiraling down towards the ground in a fiery ball of death. Unfortunately, they crashed into the ocean, minimizing the damage to the city. Roman laughed to himself, "Oo-ooh, it is good to be back!"

At the air docks of Beacon, numerous Bullheads were circling, finally stopping in dramatic formation. They all opened in sequence, the first revealing four members of the White Fang and a man in black and red, with a mask matching the ones the White Fang used. He called out as an order, "Bring them to their knees!"

The other Bullheads opened to reveal an assortment of Grimm, the largest being an Alpha Beowolf. The Grimm poured from the Bullheads, miraculously not attacking the pilots. Several were even brought up to Amity Coliseum, so as to attack the most civilians that they could.

Inside the Coliseum itself, Pyrrha was stunned, staring in shock at the android lying in pieces before her. Her team was unsuccessfully trying to snap her out of it. Jaune shouted out to her, "PYRRHA! Pyrrha, that thing's going to break in! You've gotta move!"

The Nevermore rose up, diving down into the shield. Jaune jumped over the railing, with Nora yelling after him, "Jaune!"

"Pyrrha, please snap out of it!" Jaune yelled, running for the redhead. The Nevermore completely broke through the holographic barrier, and the force of it landing on the arena floor knocked away both Jaune and Pyrrha. Nevermore screeched and lunged towards Pyrrha. At the same time, a red blur of rose petals slamming into the giant bird, sending it skidding backwards. Ruby landed in between the Grimm and Pyrrha, wielding one of Penny's swords.

Pyrrha stared in shock, "Ruby?"

"Leave her alone!" Ruby screamed at the bird. The Nevermore screeched, and rose up, circling around the arena. As it began to dive towards them, several lockers rocketed down onto it, pinning it into the ground. The lockers opened, revealing weaponry of a dozen students or so. Team ABRN, Team CFVY, Team SSSN, and several others, including Diana and Troy, climbed onto the bird, and pulled their respective weapons from the lockers. Almost as soon as they had, the Nevermore began to screech weakly once more, and reared up. All the students put their training to the test, leaping in various directions.

Ren ran up its back next to Troy, both slashing at its head. Troy threw Ren back at it, impaling its chin with one of his pistol-knives. Arslan Altan swung down, grabbed Yatsuhashi, and swung back up, with Sage and Diana following them into the air. Nora ran up the Nevermore, slamming her hammer down into it at the top, and firing her hammer for added effect. With its head pinned to the ground from the attack, Yatsuhashi, Sage, and Diana all came down, decapitating it in a most dramatic but still unnecessary way.

Pyrrha looked up at Ruby, misty-eyed, "Ruby, I... I'm so sorry."

Ruby agreed sadly, "Me too." Her face grew into a scowl. "But it wasn't your fault."

"She's right," Jaune agreed, walking over to Pyrrha with her sword and shield in his hands. "Whoever was on that microphone… they're the ones that did this. And we have to make sure they don't take anyone else."

She stood and took her weapons. But just as the mood was beginning to lighten just a little, a horrible screech reached the students' collective ears. A huge collection of Grimm lined the top of the arena, staring down. They resembled hippogriffs. Ren scowled, "Griffons."

Neptune looked around uncertainly, "Anybody got a plan of attack?"

Ruby called over, "Sun! I need your Scroll!"

Sun used his tail to flick his scroll to Ruby, who caught it easily and spun, pressing it and summoning her own locker to the arena. It landed and opened to reveal her scythe. As she ran over to it, a Griffon landed on top and screeched at her, before a gunshot impacted its side, scaring it off.

Port called over, "Students! I think it would be best for you to leave."

Ruby tried to argue, "But we can h-"

Oobleck cut her off, "Miss Rose. This day will surely go down in Remnant's history. I'd prefer it if my students could live to tell about it."

Ruby nodded begrudgingly, calling out to the rest of the students, "Let's go!"

As the students ran off, Port and Oobleck stood back to back, watching the horde circle them. Port laughed manically, "One final match, Barty! Place your bets!"

Yang was scurrying around her room, trying to make sure she had everything she needed. She had her gauntlets on her wrists, she had her scroll in her pocket, and she was ready to go. She burst out of her door, meeting Naruto and Blake as they ran down the hall.

"Yang, c'mon!" Naruto shouted. She ran alongside them, all headed for the exit.

"Where were you guys?" Yang asked, looking sideways at them. Blake looked away for some odd reason.

"Uh- I was just putting a giant stuffed panda in my dorm room. I had gotten it at the fair," Naruto replied.

"Uh-huh… Hey, Blake! Your bow is crooked!" Yang teased. The Faunus's hand shot up to it, setting it straight atop her head. "Where's Ruby? She wasn't answering her scroll!"

As they left the dorm building, Naruto shrugged, "I don't know! She said she was gonna watch the fight tonight! She's probably up there!" he pointed up at Amity Coliseum. It was surrounded by Grimm, as well as Bullheads emblazoned with the White Fang's logo.

In fact, there must have been hundreds of Bullheads all around the school itself, as well. And whenever they opened, some kind of Grimm would jump out, and begin to attack everyone around it. A collection of Bullheads opened above them, and suddenly, Blake, Yang, and Naruto were surrounded by Beowolves. Naruto pulled out his chokutō, Blake pulled her katana off her back, and Yang extended her gauntlets. The three of them had just enough time to grin to each other, in spite of themselves, before the Grimm attacked.

Blake ducked under the first swipe, and stabbed into the bottom of the Beowolf's head. Yang grabbed another Beowolf's arm as it slashed at her, and flipped it over her head onto Naruto's chokutō. He cut through the rest of it, pulling his blade out of its head, and bringing it down into another's. Blake shot into it, and Naruto pulled his sword out of it by pushing into it with his foot. Three Grimm down in less than two seconds. Naruto grabbed onto one as it swung at him, using its arm to propel himself onto its shoulders. Before Blake stabbed it, he shot at three others, then decapitated one that Yang threw to him. Needless to say, the Grimm didn't last long.

"The White Fang is here?" Blake asked them, questioning the obvious. "Where's Weiss?"

As if the universe was conspiring to answer her question, Yang's scroll went off. When she answered, it was Weiss, "Where are you? Ruby's not answering her scroll!"

"We're by the docks! Ruby's up in the Coliseum! Where are you?" Yang questioned.

"I'm at the fair with Melissa."

Yang growled, thinking of all the people that were probably being attacked down at the fair, "Alright… you guys help everyone down there. We'll help people evacuate from here."

"Everyone down here ran off. We're coming to you guys now. Who's there with you?"

"Blake and Naruto."

"Alright. We'll be there qui- MELISSA, LOOK OUT!"

The call shut off suddenly, and Yang was left staring at her scroll. She turned to Blake and Naruto, "You two head to the docks. I'm gonna go catch up with them." The two Faunus nodded, then rushed off to the docks, where a crowd of people was already forming, trying to escape, even with Grimm and huntsmen fighting all around them.

Back up in Amity Coliseum, Ironwood was overseeing the evacuation. The White Fang was even bringing Grimm up here, but the android soldiers stationed around the Coliseum were able to handle most of them. However, they were ill equipped to deal with an Alpha Beowolf, one of which had just been dropped in by the White Fang. His fleet wasn't doing its job, and that needed to be fixed. But first, the Alpha needed to be killed. He stared it down for a few moments, before he and it charged towards each other, each one roaring some kind of battle cry.

As it jumped at hm, he slid under it, pulling out his pistol and firing up at it. The bullets did little do it, due to its armor. He wound up in a crouch, and began to fire at it again when it charged once more. It slashed at him with its right arm, which he ducked under. When it tried again with its left, he simply held up his right arm to stop it in its tracks. He shot beneath its feet, creating an explosion that set it off balance. In its moment of weakness, he pulled it over his head and slammed it into the ground, then pulled it up so its head was right over his gun's barrel. He fired, and fast-dissolving blood splattered across the surroundings.

As he was about to board his ship to go and take back his fleet, a group of students ran up. Ruby asked, "What's going on?"

"Grimm are crawling all over the city. The White Fang's invaded Beacon, and to make matters worse, some vagabond has seized one of my ships. Until we regain command, the skies are out of our control. So I'm-" He was cut off by a Creep leaping up behind the students. He shot it once, killing it to death. "-Going to take it back."

The general turned to board his ship when Jaune queried, "What should we do?"

Ironwood turned back to them, "You have two choices. Defend your Kingdom and your school... or save yourselves. No one will fault you if you leave." He walked up onto his ship, ordering his androids, "Let's move out!"

As he left, the students turned to each other, with Sun eventually saying, "I mean… come on."

"We can take a ship to Beacon," Jaune suggested. He made his way towards another waiting airbus, with the rest of the students following him.

The defense of the Kingdom was riding heavily on the androids of the Atlesian military. So, of course, sabotaging these androids would certainly spell doom for Vale. Such was why it was a part of Cinder's plan to do so, by corrupting the programming of the androids so that they would target any non-Grimm target. This was accomplished when Neo gave Torchwick a scroll to place in the control console on the Atlesian battleship, releasing a virus into the system that would turn any automated systems to Cinder's purpose.

At the docks near Beacon, Naruto and Blake were just killing the last of the Grimm seeking to slaughter all of the people attempting to flee. Luckily, there had been enough airships on standby that everybody had been evacuated safely. They heard a voice yell out, "NARUTO! BLAKE!" It was Melissa, running towards them with Weiss in tow. However, as they turned around, so did the Atlesian androids, with their faces glowing with a faint red. For reasons the two Faunus didn't understand, Melissa's eyes widened, and she fired three shots from her swiftly readied rifle, three shots that flew past them and destroyed the androids that had a moment earlier been aiming their guns directly at the backs of Blake and Naruto.

"That was a close one," Weiss said.

"Naruto!" Melissa yelled. "Where were you?! Troy and Diana went to see the fight, and I couldn't find you anywhere!"

Naruto sheepishly rubbed the back of his head, while Blake turned back towards the school, seemingly observing the courtyard. There were more Grimm being dropped in, and the androids were evidently becoming an issue. "We don't have time for this now," Blake instructed. "We need to help fight these things."

"We need to-" Melissa was cut off when a collection of human soldiers were smacked aside by an autonomous Atlesian Paladin. At the same time, an Alpha Beowolf dropped out of a crashing Bullhead, and began to chase after a few straggler civilians.

"Melissa, Weiss, you go help with the Paladin! Blake and I will take out the Alpha!" Naruto yelled, as he and Blake broke off while running. Melissa sighed, and got out her rifle. She swapped it into its staff form, and leapt over the heads of the soldiers fighting the Paladin, making a nice dent where the staff hit. The mech didn't seem too bothered, however.

Naruto and Blake chased the Beowolf, eventually losing it near the dining hall. Naruto turned to Blake, "I'll look up high. You make sure it's not down here." Before she could say anything, he leapt up to the top of the building, going from column to column as he climbed.

Blake kept going, turning the corner near the back of the building. Before she could give chase, she heard a yell inside the building next to her, and glanced through one of the windows. Her eyes widened from shock and fear when she saw the man in black and red, Adam Taurus, her former partner, tossing a dead soldier away. "No…" She smirked as he saw her, and smirked. "Adam?"

"Hello, my darling," he taunted. She backed away slightly. "Running away again? Is this what you've become, my love? A coward?"

Blake yelled back at him, "Why are you doing this?"

"You and I were going to change the world, remember? We were destined to light the fires of revolution!" he shouted, as he prepared to stab an Atlas student. "Consider this… the spark."

Just before he stabbed downwards, just as Blake charged forwards, the roof above him broke open, with a dead and dissolving Alpha Beowolf falling through. Blake spoke her thoughts aloud as she said, "Right, Naruto!" Indeed, the familiar blond was stood on the falling and dissipating corpse of the Grimm, dropping down right next to Adam.

"Got the Beowolf!" Naruto said, standing up casually. He leapt backwards the instant Adam tried to slash at him. "Woah! Easy! Who are you?"

"His name is Adam Taurus," Blake answered. "He's one of the leaders in the White Fang-"

Adam cut her off, "And your former partner, my darling." At the last comment, Naruto cocked his head. He pointed from Adam to Blake, and back again.

"Him and you? Huh... Guess I know what I'm up against."

"Naruto, no. Let's run, now," Blake pleaded. Naruto looked at her, confused, but nodded anyways.

"I don't know who you are, but I'm not letting Blake escape again," Adam sneered. He charged forward, catching Naruto off guard slightly with his speed. He was clearly trained well, with skill that not many students, and especially not any first year, could match. Luckily, Naruto wasn't exactly new to fighting. In an instant, he'd held up his chokutō to block Adam's strike, and whipped a kunai out from his weapon pouch to counter. Adam aimed his sheath towards the kunai, and shot a bullet at it, knocking it away from Naruto.

Trying again, Naruto put his training to the test by forming a Rasengan in his left hand. Just before he thrust it into Adam's chest, the White Fang member slid back just enough to block the orb with his blade. To Naruto's overwhelming surprise, the technique was absorbed entirely, and not only Adam's blade, but also his hair and parts of his outfit began glowing a dangerous red. Blake's eyes shot open, "No! NARUTO!"

Adam smirked in an incredibly sadistic manner, before, he slashed out in front of him. Naruto had no idea what the move was going to do, but he really didn't want to. He jumped as hard as he could, even filling his legs with as much chakra as he could manage in the half-second he had. He slammed against the ceiling legs first, but at least he avoided the attack. Both of the Faunus beneath him looked around, confused, before Adam advanced on Blake.

Naruto dropped down between the two, holding his arms out protectively. Blake tugged at him, "Naruto, let's go!" Naruto nodded, not even turning away from this man in front of him. Then, with his speed, he grabbed Blake and took off, living to fight another day. Whatever else that man could do, it had seemed like he was going to turn all the power of the Rasengan back against Naruto, and the blond wanted a better way to deal with that then what he had now.

They stopped a little ways from the cafeteria, and Naruto set Blake down. "Thank you, Naruto. He's-"

Before she could continue, the ground rumbled. The shook so intensely that for a moment, Naruto thought that there was either a short earthquake or someone had crashed nearby. But it happened again a few moments later. And again. The entire world seemed to be shaking. Off in the far distance, an ear-splitting screech sounded, and an entire mountain top exploded. From out of the rubble and debris flew an enormous Grimm, one that looked reptilian to Naruto. Blake muttered next to him, "Is… is that a dragon?"

Naruto stared at it for a few more seconds, "We need to find the others! They're in the courtyard, I think!" Blake nodded, and the two Faunus ran back towards the docks, intent on regrouping.

Pyrrha stood with the rest of her team, ready to fight the Grimm and the Atlesian Knights attacking everyone. But then, she saw Ozpin standing expectantly near the steps into Beacon Tower, and her face fell. She ran off towards him, albeit begrudgingly. Nora asked behind her, "Where's she going?"

"I'll go find out," said Jaune. "You two stay here and keep fighting!" He ran after Pyrrha, leaving Ren and Nora to join the others in combatting the Grimm. Ozpin, Pyrrha, and Jaune didn't realize they were being watched from a nearby rooftop, however. Cinder followed them with her eyes, watching as they entered Beacon Tower. She smirked, and followed behind them.

Ruby had taken it upon herself to stop the rogue battleship. Thus was how she found herself atop an Atlesian battleship, watching in abject horror as the Dragon Grimm flew past her. She shook it out of her thoughts, remembering why she was up here. She began to run for the entrance, only for a Griffon to land in front of her. She pulled out her scythe, dashing past it as she slashed several times. She turned, firing her scythe once to reverse herself, and slashed across it again. It fell, dead, and dissolved to dust.

She heard the snap of a camera behind her, and turned to see the same girl from when she had fought Torchwick with her team and Naruto a few months ago. The girl, Neo, sent the image to Torchwick, who obviously was incredibly pleased at seeing the same girl who had foiled him so many times. He groaned to himself, "Oh, you can not be serious!" He picked up his cane, and walked out the door, headed for the top of the ship.

Back atop the airship, Ruby tried an low swing, with Neo somersaulting over it, and ducking the next swing, before performing another backflip to dodge the third. Ruby twirled her scythe dramatically before attempting another low sweep, only for Neo to backflip away. Ruby spun her weapon, stabbing into the hull as she fired a shot, only for Neo to shatter in an illusion. As the shattered illusion faded, Torchwick was left as he fired a shot back with cane, sending Ruby flying several feet, before she lodged her scythe into the ship again to safely grip herself from the surrounding gales.

"Little Red, little Red, you are just determined to be the hero of Vale, aren'tcha?" Torchwick taunted.

"What are you doing!? Without these ships, the Grimm will destroy everything!"

"That's the plan!"

Ruby smacked aside his cane just as he attempted to fire it at her, stumbling him somewhat before Neo returned and leapt over him, kicking Ruby's left cheek, and using the momentum to flip her over and send Ruby tumbling on her back. Neo followed up with a roundhouse kick to the face, and then a rear horse kick that nearly sent her careening off the hull of the airship.

"But why!? What do you get out of it!?" Ruby asked.

"You're asking the wrong questions, Red! It's not what I have to gain, it's that I can't afford to lose!"

Ruby charged forwards, as Neo vaulted over Torchwick for a powerful kick. She leapt up, grabbing Ruby's scythe and sliding under, flipping Ruby once more with the hook of her parasol. As Ruby spun once more, Neo finished with a roundhouse to the abdomen, as Torchwick slammed the barrel of his cane to the ground and fired, causing the cane to ricochet and slam into Ruby, bouncing off so he could catch it and fire the weapon once more over his shoulder. The blast was enough to send Ruby flying off the top of the ship, before she stabbed into it with her scythe.

"I may be a gambling man, but even I know that there are some bets you just don't take."

Neo extended a blade from her umbrella and dragged it along the surface, holding it out towards Ruby, keeping her at swordpoint.

"Like it or not, the people that hired me are going to change the world! You can't stop 'em, I can't stop 'em!" As Torchwick continued, Ruby kicked away a Nevermore, noticing the button on Neo's parasol.

"You know the old saying, 'If you can't beat 'em-'" Suddenly, Ruby shot towards for the parasol, pressing the button swiftly, causing it to open and send Neo flying off the airship, leaving her with only a frightened gasp as she was silently left at the mercy of the Grimm roaming the skies and the raging winds. "NEO!"

Ruby climbed back aboard the ship, "I don't care what you say! We will stop them, and I will stop you! BET ON THAT!"

Ruby charged forward with the help of her Semblance, as Torchwick gripped his cane with both hands, firing once, the left hand holding the shaft, and quickly caught the projectile with the hook end and hurled it at Ruby in a wave, knocking her away, before smacking her with the business end of the cane, ramming the weapon in her stomach, and firing another shot, sending her on her back once more.

"You got spirit, Red. But this is the real world!" Torchwick beat Ruby with the butt of his cane, sending her back a few feet. "The real world is cold!" He slammed his cane down again, this time on Ruby's legs. "The real world doesn't care about spirit!" Ruby kicked him in the knee, causing him to lose balance as he prepared a downward strike. "You wanna be a hero!? Then play the part and die like every other Huntsman in history! He smacked Ruby with the butt end of the cane. "As for me, I'll do what I do best: lie, steal, cheat, and SURVI-"

Just as Torchwick was about to perform a final, overhead swing, a Griffon dropped from the sky and swallows him whole, likely attracted by the negativity of his rant. The force of it landing sent Ruby back a few feet, before the two charge at each other. Ruby prevailed as she dodged around the Grimm, letting it crash through the hull behind her. Unfortunately, it set off a chain reaction of explosions all over the ship. She saw her weapon, still impaled into the side of the ship, as said ship began to careen to the side. She ran for it, grabbing it as she leapt off the falling airship, and propelling herself out into the air. As she fell, she fired downwards multiple times, each time slowing herself down during her descent.

Naruto and Blake didn't take long to meet up with the fighting horde of students. The White Fang seemed to have a nearly endless supply of new Grimm to fight them. At present, there was not only a horde of Beowolves slowly overrunning the courtyard, courtesy of both the Fang and the Dragon, which seemed to be able spawn Grimm from drops of black liquid that fell from its wings, but also a number of Atlesian Knights. Hell, to even enter the courtyard, Blake and Naruto had to slice their way through a small army of each. When they reached the center, they helped to form a circle of students.

"Where did all of these come from?" Ren asked.

Blake answered, "The White Fang traps Grimm to use against humans! They must be releasing all of them here!"

"Wherever they're coming from, we need to kill them!" Melissa ordered. The students all shouted in agreement, before charging off. As suddenly as they started, they stopped, watching the Dragon fly right overhead.

Naruto shouted, "You guys keep going! I'll handle the Dragon!" According to Blake, it looked exactly like the dragons in storybooks on Remnant. She didn't get how he could have never seen one before. Not important at the moment, however. He sat down, gathering Natural Energy as quickly as he could. Very soon, he entered Sage Mode, and he stood up. With Sage Mode active, he didn't need his eyes to find the Grimm. Not that he would have anyways, giving how much it enjoyed the sound of itself screeching.

He leapt up onto one of the archways that was left standing, and created a clone, praying that no one would find it strange if they saw. He set out his hand, forming the Rasengan while his clone added the wind chakra. Miraculously, he was able to form the technique, and keep it steady. He lined it up, and hurled it right into the Grimm's path of flight. It hurtled at its incredibly speed, slamming right into the Dragon, and exploding on impact. Naruto smirked, knowing he had just killed it.

And then, with another loud screech, it flew out of the explosion, seemingly unharmed. It twisted in the air, sending droplets of black liquid everywhere around it, creating hundreds more Grimm. Blake climbed up next to him, "What just happened?!"

He couldn't answer, too stunned to process the question quickly. First, some guy absorbed his Rasengan, and now this? He shook himself out of the confusion and answered Blake, "It survived my Rasenshuriken! That shouldn't be possible!"

"Your what?"

"Never mind! Let's just worry about the Grimm and the androids. We can take down the Dragon once they're taken care of!" Naruto jumped down, still in Sage Mode, and gripped his chokutō tightly. In truth, he was actually a little scared of the giant Grimm. His Rasenshuriken was his strongest technique. If it couldn't even scratch the thing… Well, he didn't really want who could beat it. But for now, he would focus on things he could beat.

He landed on an Ursa, stabbing down through its head and out its chin. He pulled his sword out, twisting it all the while, while he threw four shuriken into a Beowolf that was about to pounce on Weiss from behind. He leapt off of the dissolving bearlike Grimm, winding up in a crouch in the center of a circle of Atlesian Knights. He swung his blade around in a circle, slicing off all of their legs and rendering them immobile. As he stood up, he thrust a Rasengan into the ground, the small shockwave destroying the androids. That, and the fact that the battleship controlling them crashed, an event he didn't even notice.

Suddenly, his sensory skills alerted him to a huge amount of energy transferring, but he couldn't tell where for a second. Then, his eyes shot to Beacon Tower, where he felt both of the people using Natural Energy. One of them disappeared, the energy moving to the other person, and growing in size exponentially. By the time the transfer had completed, it felt as though the person had amassed enough nature energy to destroy a city. He felt his jaw drop slightly open for the second time that night, as he took off running towards the Tower. Blake yelled after him, "Naruto, where are you going?!"

"I'll be back!" As he ran, he felt his Sage chakra fade away, and felt himself exit Sage Mode. That would be an issue if he needed to fight this person using Natural Energy. With how much they now had… it was scary to think about what they could do. He stopped, spending just enough time standing still to reenter Sage Mode. When he did, he felt two people running towards him, and opened his eyes to see Jaune and Pyrrha fleeing the Tower. Beneath it, he felt Ozpin fighting the with nature energy stored up, but only for a moment. After that moment... it was hard to describe, but it was as if Ozpin teleported away. Naruto vaguely felt his presence leave, but it was so quick he couldn't quite track it.

The person began to fly upwards through what Naruto assumed were the elevator shafts in the Tower. He watched carefully, finally getting an identity for this person. When he did, he saw the woman that Kurama warned him about, Cinder, flying up the Tower at blazing speeds, heading straight for the top. While he focused on her, Pyrrha and Jaune also saw her flying up. He barely heard them when Pyrrha spoke, "There's no time. Go. Get to Vale and call for help."

Jaune frowned, "Huh? What are you gonna do?" Pyrrha turned, staring determinedly at the tower. "No... no, Pyrrha, you can't. You saw how powerful she is! Pyrrha, I won't let you do-"

Pyrrha grabbed Jaune's head and pulled him into a dramatic kiss, in a way that said, quite thoroughly, goodbye. She pulled away, tears threatening to fall, "I'm sorry." While Naruto hadn't really heard their conversation, he did hear when Pyrrha pushed Jaune into a locker, slamming it shut on him. She pressed several numbers into it, sending it flying off to Vale. As she turned back to the Tower, she felt a hand on her shoulder and nearly jumped out of her skin.

She turned to see Naruto, though he had odd markings around his horizontally slitted yellow eyes. That certainly distracted her for a moment, until he spoke, "Pyrrha, you don't want to try fighting her alone. She will kill you." Pyrrha seemed like she was going to argue, but Naruto cut her off. "Let's go fight her together."

Pyrrha grinned gratefully, as Naruto and she ran forwards. Naruto glanced at the walls, "Pyrrha, I'll meet you at the top!" Without any explanation, he jumped up, and began running up the wall, as if it was laid out flat along the ground. Pyrrha blinked, before running into the building and stepping onto the destroyed and groaning elevator. Using her Semblance, she sent it flying up the shaft.

She reached the roof quickly enough, even before Naruto did. As she forced the doors open with her Semblance, she also threw her spear towards Cinder, who lazily leaned her head to the side to avoid it. As she did, Pyrrha took notice of the Dragon outside, mounted to the building at present. She jumped forward with her shield a moment later, pressing her feet into it as it slammed into Cinder's raised arms. Right as Cinder pushed it away, Naruto broke through the window next to the Dragon, rolling in and winding up on his feet, chokutō held in his hands. And those weird orange markings were still around his eyes.

"Who are you?" he questioned her. She smirked.

"I could be any number of things. For one, I could be the one who shares this kind of power with you," she gestured to the Dragon, and produced a flame in her right hand. Naruto frowned.

"Huh. Haven't ever had someone try to team up with me before," Then he scowled at her. "No. I'm going to stop you from hurting my friends."

She narrowed her eyes, "Just think of what I'm offering you!" Naruto wasn't sure why she was so fixed on him, but he decided to give her a rather concrete answer.

Faster than sound, he rushed at her, forming a Rasengan in his hand just as he reached her. Cinder barely had a moment to register how fast he was before he thrust the Rasengan into her abdomen, letting go a moment later, sending her slamming against the glass behind her. "Does that answer your question?" he mocked.

"Yes… it does," she growled, standing slowly. "Die." She hovered into the air several feet atop a fire spout beneath her. She held her hands forward, and created a massive geyser of flame, directed at him. Pyrrha jumped in front of him, and his eyes widened. With that much fire, her shield would be melted in an instant, and she would burn. He kicked Pyrrha out of the way quickly, then formed a Rasengan in the next moment. He thrust it at the fire, trying to disperse it. Unfortunately, as he had thought, the fire was imbued with Natural Energy. It completely ignored his Rasengan, rushing past it as if it wasn't even there.

Luckily, Sage Mode was able to heal Naruto before any of the real pain set in, but he was still forming third degree burns all over his body constantly for about thirty seconds or so. Evidently, the woman wanted him burnt to nothing more than ashes.

Finally, the flames let up, and the last of the burns healed. Cinder was staring at him in disbelief. Amazingly, none of Naruto's clothing was terribly damaged, just like that time he had fought Sasuke, and the Uchiha had used his fire jutsu relentlessly. It was odd how that seemed to always happen.

He created two clones, and sent one forwards at Cinder. If she was surprised by the maneuver, she didn't show it, as she simply pulled her swords into existence, and rather quickly dispersed the clone. However, it gave Naruto and his other clone enough time to form a Rasenshuriken. Before the smoke from his destroyed clone had even clear, Naruto threw the shuriken straight at Cinder.

Only for the Dragon to break through the building, and absorb the entire blow. It exploded against the side of the beast, affecting as little as it seemed to have before. Naruto held onto the ground with chakra, being just out of the blast radius. When the Dragon had flown through, and the explosion had cleared, he looked around wildly, trying to find Pyrrha. Cinder was still where she had been before, smirking at him.

He saw a flash of red from behind the stack of gears laid out behind Cinder, just before every one of them shot towards her, covered in a black hue. Cinder seemed to be taken by surprise, the first one flipping over, slamming her into the ground as the other ones piled on top of it. Where the gears had just been, Pyrrha now stood, arm outstretched, breathing heavily. Naruto was about to congratulate her on the victory, but before he could, the pile of gears exploded outwards, one of them smashing into the unsuspecting blond shinobi.

He had no time to anchor himself to the spot with chakra, and so he went flying with the gear. By the time he was free of it, he was a little ways down the Tower, running back up as fast as he could. While he ran, he formed a Rasengan, not even noticing when the shuriken blades started to form. He took the last step, soaring into the air above the top of the Tower, and saw Pyrrha desperately trying to fend off Cinder without her weaponry, which seemed to have been lost in the earlier Rasenshuriken.

Instinctively, Naruto tried throwing what he thought was a Rasengan, and was shocked to find he had accidentally formed its completed form. The Rasenshuriken sailed downwards towards Cinder, stood several feet away from Pyrrha, holding a bow of some kind. Before she could fire the arrow, Cinder was forced backwards by the explosive technique, performing some kind of technique that created a shield of flames, guarding her from the blast and the shockwave.

Naruto landed on the roof, and rushed directly at Cinder, intent on ending this as quickly as he could. Unfortunately, he forgot one of his limitations. He could only form two Rasenshuriken before Sage Mode ran out. Because he was in the midst of battle, he barely noticed as the power left him. Instead, he was alerted to it when the exhaustion hit him. He couldn't even make it all the way to Cinder before he collapsed.

She smirked, "So, it seems you are not as strong as you thought. What a shame…" She pulled out her bow again, aiming it at the slowly rising blond before her. She pulled back the arrow, releasing it after only a moment. To her surprise, he didn't try to dodge. Instead, he simply raised his hand to it, stopping it from reaching a vital area.

Naruto broke off the end of the arrow, then forced the rest out of his hand. He was about to try reentering Sage Mode when he noticed something different. His hand was healing, with a red glow to it. He grinned in spite of the situation. At least he knew he had support.

Cinder didn't seem to notice, however. Right after he had pulled the arrow out, she had flown several feet into the air, raising her arms to her sides, summoning a ring of flames around herself. He placed a hand forwards lazily, directing a thin, white-hot column of fire towards him. He rolled to the side, and the fire burned right through the roof. Even though he rolled to the side, he still felt the heat off the flame.

He shot at her with his pistol, only for her to vaporize the bullets when they got to her. She raised one of her hands to the heavens, and thrust it down, ending with it pointing at Naruto. Before Naruto could react, Pyrrha tackled him to side, helping him avoid the bolt of lightning that shot down. "I really don't think we can beat her, Naruto," Pyrrha muttered. Naruto was starting to agree, but they still had to try. Otherwise, she would probably kill everyone.

Naruto was trying to enter Sage Mode, but Cinder wasn't giving him a chance to stay still. There wasn't enough space up here to create an army of clones, and he couldn't use the Rasenshuriken outside of Sage Mode. Not without damaging himself. That only left him with the Rasengan and a few clones at a time. Pyrrha could no doubt help immensely, but Naruto was having doubts that they could beat this woman. She seemed to have a near infinite supply of fire, and apparently lightning as well.

Naruto stood, and rushed at Cinder once again. This time, he threw a hailstorm of kunai and shuriken at her, coming from all angles. He was hopeful that he might catch her off guard with one of them. No such luck, however. She produced a sphere of flames around herself, and burned all of the metal weaponry to ashes. Those flames were scarily hot. She opened the sphere from the front, with it sliding backwards into a crescent ring behind her.

She swung her arms around, sending it at him. He leapt upwards, only for it to follow him. Pyrrha threw her shield, using her Semblance to hold it against the flames. Because it was made of a much higher quality of metal than his kunai had, it lasted longer. That said… her shield broke after only a few moments, melting from the center outwards. The flames roared forth, but luckily died before they reach Naruto. Cinder point her finger at him, and shot a bolt of lightning. Using his sword, Naruto redirected the lightning into the Tower, dispersing it amongst the large metal structure.

Naruto dodged another bundle of flames, this time watching Cinder carefully. She brought her arm, bent at the elbow. Beneath him, he heard the sound of a scream, and rolled forwards, narrowly avoiding the explosion. Another scream sounded, and he barely had time to brace himself with a thin layer of chakra before he was sent spiraling through the air. He felt himself falling, and saw that he was dropping towards the ground, fast. He had nothing that he could use to slow, nor anything to latch onto with chakra, given that he was several meters from the Tower. So instead, he filled his body with chakra, preparing for a harsh collision.

When it came, he was lucky enough to at least avoid landing on his head. He landed back first, cratering the ground severely beneath him. He was able to stay conscious, with few broken bones, thanks to his chakra, but he could still feel pain all over. He closed his eyes, ignoring the pain and the already-mending bones, and took this chance to gather energy. Moments later, he was back in Sage Mode. As he got up, he could sense Pyrrha at the top of the tower, with Cinder standing only a few feet away. Ruby was almost at the top as well, though Naruto didn't know where she came from.

"Naruto?" came a voice behind him. It was Weiss. "How did you survive that?"

"Not now, Weiss," Naruto ran towards the building, fueling his jump with chakra. As a result, he ended up halfway up the building from just his jump. He began running up as fast as he could, not knowing what would happen. Close to the top, he passed by Ruby, rocketing up the tower much faster than anyone else could've.

In a moment, too much happened. Naruto reached the top, his speed propelling him into the air several feet. As he fell, he saw Pyrrha combatting Cinder. The older woman seemed to be toying with her. An arrow was shot through Pyrrha's heel just as Naruto hit the ground. Cinder nocked another arrow, not having noticed Naruto, and fired it straight into Pyrrha. Before she could finish of the redhead, who no doubt was going into shock, Naruto ground his fist into the side of Cinder's face, sending her across the rooftop from the unexpected blow. The woman stopped herself, glaring a multitude of pointy objects at Naruto, who reciprocated the glare tenfold.

"Do you want to die? I'm willing to oblige." Without another word, the woman nocked three arrows, firing all three within the blink of an eye. With his Sage Mode active, Naruto could feel as the arrows tore through the air, headed straight for him. He readied himself, placing his hands in front of himself in a defensive manner. When the missiles reached him, he sidestepped the first one, broke the second one with a palm strike, and caught the third out of the air.

But in the few precious moments he had spent tracking the arrows, the woman had not been idle. Even with Ruby, who had arrived on top of the tower just after Naruto had, trying to stop her, Cinder had still reached Pyrrha with her swords. She drew them across the redhead's neck, incinerating her body as she decapitated the warrior. Her head never even hit the ground. Ruby let out a blood-curdling scream, "PYRRHA!" It was all Naruto heard before a blinding light overtook everything, and he felt a great pain in his right side. Not even his Sage Mode could prepare him for it, as it seemed to well up from nowhere at all.

A moment later, or so it felt like, Naruto opened his eyes. As he did, a familiar sight fell before him. A sewer with water that just came up to his ankles, and a great iron gate. He stood, and walked over to the gate. Without a word, he stepped through the bars, looking around at the darkness.

"What are you doing?"

Naruto smiled, "I was trying to talk to you. I haven't been able to for a while, ya know."

"Hmph. You're only in here because you were unconscious, brat. And you're starting to wake."

"I'm starting to wake? What do you mean?"

"That vixen with the silver eyes used some kind of power that would put even the Uchiha Clan's Amaterasu to shame."

"Amaterasu? Never mind; what did Ruby do?"

"It seems that even here, there are humans with powerful eyes. I'm unsure exactly what happened, but whatever she did certainly originated from her eyes."

"What… what about Pyrrha?"

"The redheaded vixen died, Kit. You saw it happen. This isn't the first time someone's died. Get over it."

"Never mind," Naruto resisted lecturing the fox about his dismissiveness. "Where am I?"

"It has only been about half of an hour, Kit. You're still in the same place as you were before. Every one of the humans and Faunus are searching for survivors at the moment."

"Is Blake ok?"

"Yes, the vixen is fine. She may simply be a little shaken from meeting this 'Adam' that she used to work with."

"Right… I need to wake up now. Can you give me a hand, Kurama?"

The fox took a moment to respond, "Fine."

A moment later, Naruto found himself lying on the top of Beacon Tower, next to Ruby. It was still dark, meaning that no, it hadn't been long. Ruby was clutching her head unconsciously, most likely because she had been in pain when she passed out. He looked around, but couldn't see the woman anywhere. And Pyrrha… But also, the Dragon seemed to be frozen to the side of the building.

'What happened to that woman?"

"I don't know. I can't sense her nearby, nor can I sense massive amounts of Natural Energy. I admittedly lost track of her after the vixen next to you used her power."

Naruto stood, and looked down at himself. He didn't know when it had happened or what had caused it, but the right half of his body was covered in slowly healing wounds. Strangely, that had been the side closest to Ruby. He looked down at the small girl, and frowned. She must have been in so much pain, but not the physical kind. She had lost two friends in about an hour, both right before her eyes. He sighed. He needed to bring her down, though.

He picked her up, and peered over the edge. He funneled chakra into his feet and arms, solidifying his hold on the wall and on Ruby. He walked down slowly, trying to rationalize one important thing. That woman had been terrifyingly powerful. She had produced and controlled flames as easily as breathing, and she had even thrown a lightning bolt or two into the mix. He would never be able to beat her, not as he was now.

Soon enough, he reached the bottom, and began to make his way towards the docks, where he assumed everyone would be. There was a sort of dull pain all over his body, and a sense of being… lost, for lack of a better word. He drudged forth, waiting for someone to appear.

He wasn't disappointed in that respect. Qrow dropped down in front of him, "Hey, kid." He had a questioning look on his face.

"Hey, Qrow."

"Mind if I take my niece?" Naruto handed Ruby to him. "Thanks. I'll make sure she gets home safe, if you're worried."

"Alright. Qrow, I need to know… who was that woman?" Naruto asked, looking at Qrow determinedly.

Qrow sighed, "Look… some things are better left alone, kid. That woman is one of those things. If you try to go after her, she'll take you so close to death that you'll wish you hadn't been born."

"Tell me her name, at least."

"Cinder. She absorbed the power of the Fall Maiden."

"The what?"

"Never mind," Qrow dismissed. "Look, you can come with me if you want. I know Yang won't object, and Ruby would probably enjoy the company, too."

Naruto forlornly smiled down at the young huntress, "No… I think I know where I'm going."

"Where's that?"

"Don't worry; I'm not about to go try and fight her again."

"Hmph. Fine, not my place anyway. Take care, kid."

As Qrow left, Naruto stood still, staring over to the docks. He silently gathered Natural Energy, entering Sage Mode. He reached out with his senses, trying to at least see if he could sense Cinder. To his disappointment and relief, he couldn't. He could, however, sense Blake coming closer to him. He looked off to the left, where she was leaping from roof to roof, headed in his general direction. Other than that, he couldn't really sense anyone beyond whoever was at the docks. Wait… no, never mind. Melissa was in the ruins, as was Troy. He couldn't sense Diana, however. Suddenly, Troy appeared next to him.

"Oh, thank God. Melissa was worried sick," Troy exclaimed.

"Where's Diana?" Naruto questioned. Troy's face fell.

"She… um… she… well, she's alive. But I don't know where she went. Last time I saw her, she was forcing her way onto one of the White Fang's Bullheads. She was… so violent about it, too."

"Alright. Thanks," Naruto turned to face the buildings to his left, just as Blake leapt over the last one, landing in a crouch next to him. "Hey, Blake."

She stood, and wrapped her arms around him, "Weiss said you fell off of the Tower. She… she didn't say anything else, so I was worried that… What happened?"

"Pyrrha… Pyrrha's dead," Naruto sighed. He waited for a moment, for any reaction at all, but was only met with silence. "Is everyone else ok?"

Blake nodded after a moment, apparently trying to process what he had said, "Everyone else is… fine. The Grimm were too distracted by the giant Grimm to pay attention when we fought them."

"There was a student who lost an eye, though," Troy added. "He was from Vacuo."

"Who?" Naruto asked. Troy shrugged, indicating that he didn't know. "Oh. What do we do? What are we supposed to do now?"

"The school is probably going to be closed for however long it takes them to clear out all of the Grimm," Blake answered. "And no one knows where Ozpin is."

"He's missing?" Now that Naruto thought about it, the last time he had sensed the headmaster was before he had fought Cinder. "Huh... Troy, can you go tell Melissa that I'm fine?"

"Sure." Troy disappeared.

Naruto turned to face Blake, "Let's head to the docks. There's no one else in the school."

As they began to walk, Blake glanced sideways at Naruto, "So, what's a Rasenshuriken?"

"It's what I call it when I use Dust in my Rasengan. Cause, ya know, it looks like a shuriken."

"Oh, ok. What was wrong with your eyes earlier? Why were they yellow?"

"That… that's a part of Sage Mode," Naruto replied hesitantly. "It's the most powerful technique I know, where I absorb Natural Energy, and use it to enhance all my abilities."

"Where- What?"

"It's a long story. I'll tell you some time."

"Alright. Naruto, I need to ask a favor. I… I'm going home, just for a while. I want to spend some time with my family before... before I go after the White Fang. This was the last straw. They've hurt me, they've hurt my school, but no one hurts my friends. Will you come with me?"

Naruto gave himself a small grin at Blake's words, "If the people where you live don't mind a few explosions now and again, then sure."

Blake, as Naruto had hoped would happen, gave a small laugh, one full of delight. He glanced over his shoulder, looking to the top of Beacon Tower, where the Dragon was still frozen. He felt that, perhaps, he should just train for months, far out in the wild, where he could use clones with no issue. But no, he wasn't going to. Instead, he was going to travel with Blake to her home, because she had asked him to.

Melissa and Troy appeared behind them, and Melissa immediately leapt forward, enveloping him in a firm embrace, "You're ok!"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Naruto responded. Melissa stepped back. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm ok. Look, we're gonna go track down Diana."

"Okay. I can't help with that. I told Blake I was going with her."

"Oh… ok. No, that makes sense, I guess. You go be with your girlfriend."

Naruto grinned, "Still trying to tease, huh?"

"Yeah, I am."

Well, can't think of a better place to stop, at least not at the moment.

Now, I should say that this is just an approximation of the Maiden's power. Until we get some comparison in canon, this is what I'm going with.

And so, we bring Volume 3 to a close. Let me know what ya thought.

So sorry to say, but I will be taking about a month-long break from this story. Part of that, granted, is that I wish to work on my new(ish) story, Remnants of Shinobi (Shameless self-promoting), but mostly I just need to take a brief pause from writing this story to work up new ideas for it. I've sort-of run out, you see.

See you all in a month.

Until Chapter 19!