I know I said it would be a month, but I wouldn't feel right leaving off with the last three chapters being as they were. And besides, I already had this done.

I've decided to remove this rant, as I wasn't a fan of getting basically the same review every hour or so. Shame, cause it was quite a well-substantiated rant, as well, or at least I thought.

Though, even with this high school length essay I have here, I don't have an answer for how little an impact Naruto has made. That was a combination of several errors on my part, and boils down mostly to a colossal oversight. So, sorry about how much that honestly makes this story pointless up to now, as if reading filler. Admittedly, I hadn't even really bothered to revise or edit the last three chapters with anywhere close to effort I put into the others, especially bad since they're arguably the most important parts of RWBY canon.

Chapter 19: Boat Ride

"Did we have to choose the absolute slowest boat around?" Naruto groaned. He and Blake currently rode aboard a boat travelling to Menagerie, Blake's home. At the moment, both Faunus were on the deck, with Blake sitting against the railing that Naruto was sitting on, facing the ocean.

"It's not that bad, Naruto," Blake responded, not even looking up from her book. "I think it's a nice change from fighting every day."

"Blake, this isn't the first boat we've been on. Hell, last time we swapped boats, you bought new clothes. Why'd you do that, anyway?" Naruto queried. "Not that I don't like it," He added.

The cat Faunus had indeed undergone a change of apparel. For reasons unknown to Naruto, she now wore a black top that ended at her midriff, leaving it exposed. It also had a pattern of cutouts below the collar. Her pants were form-fitting and black, though mostly covered by the gold-trimmed black boots she wore over them. The ensemble was topped off with a white coat, the back of which extended down to her ankles. Also, she had abandoned her bow, a change that Naruto personally much enjoyed. Over her shoulder, the sheath for her sword, which she had told Naruto was named Gambol Shroud, went from her right shoulder to the left side of her waist.

Overall, she looked pretty good.

In response to Naruto's question, she rolled her eyes, "I felt it was time for a change. The old outfit just felt so… childish."

"Don't get me wrong, I like this one, but I thought the old one looked good."

"Yeah, but you're the one who still wears the same haori day after day."

"Hey, my last teacher made this for me!"

"Yeah, I know, Fukasaku," Blake resisted the urge to chuckle. "You never seem to stop going on about how what an amazing person he was."

"He's the one who taught me Sage Mode."

"That's still weird to me. How does Natural Energy mix with Aura, anyway?"

"Naturally," Naruto joked. Blake rolled her eyes again.

"Gee, thanks, Yang."

"Just picking up her slack. How's Ruby doing, anyway?"

"Yang said yesterday that she still hasn't woken up," Blake answered. "She's starting to worry about her."

"Geez, you'd think she'd at least mumble in her sleep or something after two weeks. Especially with her being the ball of energy that she is."

"This coming from the guy who spent a month in a coma."

"Hey, that was a month ago! Oh, wow. It's hard to believe how long ago I saw Konoha."

"How long ago was it?"

"By now, over a year."

Blake sighed, "I haven't been home in years, either."

"And then the one time you want to, you choose the slowest way we could have taken."

"Oh, please. We could have tried walking," Blake remarked. "Besides, it gives us a lot of free time."

Naruto glanced down at Blake, before turning around and letting himself slide down off the railing, winding up next to her, with an arm around her shoulder, "Yeah, it does. But I still wish I could spend it training."

Before Blake could respond, the boat suddenly lurched to the side. Blake groaned, "Another Grimm attack?"

"It's got to be. Eh."

"Shouldn't we help?" Blake questioned. Naruto shrugged.

"It's not like they need it."

"But isn't it a chance to train?"

"Not really. I can't really use my more powerful techniques, the ones I want to practice."

Before he had even finished his sentence, the water in front of the boat rose up, before breaking open to reveal a gigantic Grimm. Its body was flat, with pincers coming out of its sides close to the front. It had multiple appendages extending off the front, clawed on their ends. Its body was curled back, with the top of it facing towards the boat. The usual bony armor lined its eyes, with a red pattern in between them.

A crewman yelled out, "Jaekelopterus!"

The so-called sea scorpion lurched forwards, attacking at the front of the ship. Whoever was steering turned the boat to the left, narrowly avoiding the attack. Naruto grinned towards the Grimm, "On the other hand… this might be fun."

While Naruto closed his eyes, Blake rolled her own, and pulled her katana off her back. As she did, familiar orange markings appeared around Naruto's eyes. He opened his now-yellow orbs, and looked down, "Wow… there are three more of these things beneath us. Why are we so popular all of a sudden?" Blake shrugged. Naruto grinned again, "I guess it doesn't matter, really. Think you can take two of them?"

"Can you?" Without another word, Blake leapt at the one before them, only for it to whip its tail out of the ocean at her. It slammed into her, but her reactions were honed from years of experience. She stabbed into it, holding fast while it tried to shake her off. It roared at the Faunus, missing when Naruto leapt into the air. Blake used her sheath to stab into the tail again, then threw her ribbon around the Grimm's pincer. She ripped her sheath out of the tail, letting herself swing.

The arc of her swing brought her onto its back. When she landed, she stabbed into it again, stabilizing herself. As soon as she had, she glanced upwards, then rolled her eyes in amusement. Naruto came down and thrust the Rasengan into the Grimm's head, driving it down into the water. He yelled out to Blake, who had leapt off the back the moment Naruto hit it, "Still three more! I'm winning!"

She called back, "You're gonna lose!" No sooner had she said it then the other three rose up from the waters, one with a pincer aimed straight for her. In midair, she had no easy way to maneuver. Well, except for her clones. So that's exactly what she used. Her clone allowed her to dodge to the side while the pincer tore through it. When the pincer stopped, she grabbed onto the bone armor and shot down towards the monster's face. If any of her bullets affected it at all, it didn't show it. It shook its pincer wildly, trying to dislodge her. She held on tight, using her sword for more of a grip.

High above, having leapt off the sea scorpion's head, Naruto looked down at the battle taking place. Interestingly, only one of the Grimm was attacking Blake. The other two were on the same side of the boat, raking their claws along the side. They seemed to be focused on destroying the boat, not killing the people. He needed to stop them, or they would soon sink the vessel, far out in the middle of the ocean. They were too close to the boat for a Rasenshuriken, and he was too high up, too far away, for anything else to work.

He grinned regardless, and pointed himself towards the ocean, finally slowing down in the air. Beneath, though technically above, his feet, he produced a clone off of which he jumped, hurtling downwards towards the Grimm. As he fell, he formed two Rasengans in his hands. He fell in between the Grimm. As if in slow motion, he rotated himself in midair, thrusting a Rasengan into each of the Jaekelopterus. The technique forced them outwards, one headed towards the front of the ship while the other rocketed towards the back. Unfortunately, he hadn't hit anywhere particularly vulnerable, and the Grimm recovered quickly.

He glanced from one to the other as they lunged at him, wondering, "What to do, what to do…" He pulled out his disused chokutō, and plunged it into one of their mouths once they were close enough, effectively pinning it shut. Using his blade as leverage, he twisted at kicked the other one away, his senjutsu enhanced attack sending it soaring through the ocean's waters. He twisted once more, ending up on the Grimm's head. Chakra in his feet glued him to it, and he pulled his sword out of its mouth, allowing it to open it again. It screech in what he assumed was pain.

Blake watched as Naruto kicked away the sea scorpion, distracting from her own Grimm for a moment. In that moment, it brought its pincer to its mouth, and shook it towards its maw. Blake's eyes widened in surprise at the creativity of the Grimm, and stabbed once more into the claw she was mounted upon using her sheath. With her sword, or in this case her pistol, she shot into the open maw, aiming for the squishy bits. Those were typically the most painful. As soon as the bullets hit, the beast released an ear-splitting roar at her. She stared down into its mouth, narrowing her eyes. She glanced over at Naruto, then shrugged and let go of the pincer, dropping into the Grimm.

Once she fell inside, it closed its mouth instantly, only for it to rip open once more with what seemed to be a shriek of pain. The reason why was clear, given the fire inside of its mouth. Blake leapt out, firing one more round of Dust for good measure. With smoke curling off of it, the Grimm fell dead into the water. She smirked, only to look over to where Naruto was, and see that he had dispatched the other two. She rolled her eyes as she landed back on the front of the boat. A few moments later, Naruto dropped down next to her, his eyes returned to their normal brilliant blue.

"I win," he joked. "You up for a secon-"

Before he could finish, the boat teetered precariously to the side. Blake grabbed the railing, "What just happened?"

"Oh yeah… should have mentioned that they were ripping the boat apart," Naruto remarked. Blake pinched the bridge of her nose. Alarms began to sound all over the boat. "Guess I didn't stop them in time…"

An automated warning began to sound, "Warning. Warning. Water level rising. Warning. Warning. Water level rising." The message repeated after each finish, becoming annoying rather fast.

"Any ideas, Blake?"

"Are you sure that's it?"

"Well, it's either a White Fang camp… or we're about to give a school field trip one hell of a scare."

Troy rolled his eyes, "Very funny. Can you see anyone?"

Melissa looked around through her scope. With the enormous distance, it was a wonder she could see the tents, let alone trying to see people. "I can't tell. We're too far away. The valley goes about a kilometer down."

Troy and Melissa had tracked a group of White Fang members into the chasm between two rather sizable mountains, where the terror group had set up a base of operations, likely one that had assisted in supplying troops to attack Beacon. After all, it wasn't far from Vale, only a few miles away. And also, there were a number of Bullheads around the camp. Currently, the two members of Team MDNT were positioned close to the peak of one of the mountains, waiting for nightfall.

"Do you think she'll be down there?" Melissa asked, still looking through the scope.

"No, but this is our best lead. Besides, if she was, we'd know. She's not exactly quiet, ya know."

"Call it a hunch, but I don't think we'd hear her from over a kilometer away."

"Twenty more minutes, I think…" The sun was beginning to dip below the horizon, casting a long shadow over the entire valley. "You remembered to bring Dust rounds, right?"

"Mostly just ice. A little fire and lightning, too."

"Anything explosive?"

"No. We're doing this one quietly." To support her words, Melissa fixed a silencer to the end of her rifle.

"Alright, but remember: We're here for information. Try not to kill anyone."

"Fine… "

Half an hour later, and the sun had gone out of the sky completely. The only source of light in the entire valley was the camp, where a few fires still burned against the darkness. Descending a mountain hadn't taken nearly as long as most people would think, especially not since one of the people descending could teleport. At the edge of the camp, Troy and Melissa were laying beneath some bushes. Troy whispered, "That's the command tent. We need to get in there."

"God, I wish Naruto were here. He could walk through this camp, no problem." Melissa examined the camp. There seemed to be a few guards patrolling here and there, and a searchlight that scanned the grounds. It wouldn't be easy to infiltrate. "And he complains about his whiskers not being useful…"

"I doubt that. He'd be spotted and questioned for not wearing a uniform." Troy pointed to the patrolman that was passing close to their bush, as if to indicate his outfit, one identical to all the other White Fang's uniforms. "Besides, I doubt our orange friend is really one for sneakiness."

"Yeah, I guess not."

"Get ready. The searchlight is passing. After it does, we need to move into the camp," Troy instructed. "Ready? 3…2…1. Go." The two of them moved up to a crouch, sneaking across the way, into the heart of the camp itself. They ducked in between two rows of tents, just as a patrolman turned the corner.

"Why aren't we just teleporting in?" Melissa asked.

"In case we fight. I need to be able to use my Semblance. Not to mention that our escape is more important," Troy answered, whilst the two stalked through the gap between the rows. They were nearing the tent that would house all sorts of information, like where a certain rainbow-colored prisoner might have been taken. After all, there was no way Diana could have taken the entirety of a White Fang camp. And so, the pair was working under the assumption that she had been taken prisoner. "Let's just hope the White Fang documents everything."

They were just across from their destination now. Unfortunately, it was guarded rather securely. There was a Faunus posted on the watchtower above it, not to mention the two guards at the entrance. On top of that, several patrolmen passed by every minute or so on their rounds. "This is going to be tricky," Troy observed. "We need to wait until the searchlight passes, then move in while it's dark."

"Good idea."

They didn't have to wait long. The telltale spotlight passed through soon enough, and the two students stood. As soon as they made a single move, however, the eyes of the two guards at the front of the tent shot up, and one of them, raised his gun while the other one entered the tent. "Come on out, you two!"

"How did they see us?" Troy asked with alarm. "It's pitch black!"

Moments later, a procession of Faunus exited the tent, each one bearing some kind of weapon. Mostly guns, but a few had blades. One rather large one had a chainsaw. "Hands up, scum!" he yelled, pointing the chainsaw in their direction.

"Melissa, grab my arm. We're teleporting into the tent." His leader did so, and moments later they found themselves inside the tent they had just been watching. They could hear confusion outside. "We don't have much time. Stick close to me, and look around for anything that might tell us where she is."

Melissa and Troy began to practically rip the inside of the tent apart as they searched for anything relating to prisoner transferring, or capture, or anything really. Melissa grabbed several papers that had any word relating to the matter plastered across the top. After only about half a minute, the entrance to the tent flapped open, and the large man with the chainsaw stepped through, "Ah, here you are. Good… my first kills in weeks."

"Melissa, now!" Troy called out. His leader shot several times at the Faunus, distracting him for long enough that she could get to Troy. She had just barely wrapped her hand around his collarbone when they vanished.

"God damn it!" the man yelled. One of his subordinates entered the tent.

"Sir?"

"FIND THEM!"

Nearly half a kilometer up the mountain to the south of the encampment, the air distorted for a moment before two people appeared, several feet off the ground. Melissa and Troy dropped down, still clutching the various papers to themselves. "That was far too close," Troy exhaled.

"Yeah. But at least we might have gotten what we're looking for."

"No way to know unless we look. But I don't think here is safe. We need to get further away from this damn camp first."

"Right," Melissa agreed. The two began to climb the mountain, seeking the comparative safety of the other side. Given how tired Troy was after the far-distance jump he'd made, it took them most of the night. A few times, Melissa had turned with a fright, thinking that she had heard some White Fang Faunus behind them.

Eventually, they did reach the top of the mountain. The decent was much quicker, although not nearly as cautious. Not that there was much call for caution once they reached the peak. By now, they were far enough from the camp that it would take the White Fang hours to reach them.

Nearly six hours had gone by by the time that the pair reached the bottom of the mountain. Once there, Troy spoke up, "Alright, let me see everything."

Melissa handed him the papers she had taken, before sitting against a tree. Troy rifled through the cluster of papers, barely looking at each one for a moment before seeing it wasn't what he was looking for. Finally, he glanced at one, then held it closer as he read it carefully. "What is it?" Melissa asked.

"Well, she's definitely a prisoner of the White Fang. She was moved almost a week ago, all the way to Anima. We've got a journey ahead of us, it seems."

Ruby sat up, clutching her head and groaning. She looked around the room, seeing that her father was sitting in a chair, drowsing. The moment she had sat up, his head shot up, his eyes opening rather quickly.

"Ruby!" he stood up, and kneeled by the side of the bed. "You're awake!"

"Ugh... what happened?" Ruby groaned.

"Your uncle Qrow found you, unconscious," Taiyang answered. "He got you out of there, though, and brought you home safe."

"Wait… What about Naruto?! I saw him falling off the tower, is he ok?"

"Uh… I don't know. As far as I know, no one saw him afterwards."

"He's fine," Qrow interrupted, entering the room. "He's the one who brought you to me."

"He did?" Ruby asked. "Where is he?"

"I dunno. Last I saw of him was when he gave you to me. You'd have to ask someone else."

"Ruby? You awake?" Yang poked her head around the doorframe. Her face brightened. "Hey, there's my baby sister!"

"Yang!" Ruby complained. "Where's Naruto?"

"Don't know. But Blake is gone, too, so I can imagine what they're doing…"

"Ew, gross, Yang. What about Weiss?"

Yang's face fell, "Uh… her dad came down to Vale… and took her to Atlas."

"What? Why?"

"I don't know, Rubes. Maybe he just wanted his daughter close to him after everything that happened?"

Qrow snorted, but hid it behind a cough. Jacques Schnee, caring about a person? Not likely.

"What about Vale, and Beacon? Did they manage to clear out the Grimm?"

"Uh… Yang, why don't you go get Ruby something to drink?" Tai instructed. Yang reluctantly left the room. "Vale's fine. The Grimm were cleared, and the destruction has been mostly repaired. But Beacon is… tricky. That giant Grimm isn't… it isn't disappearing. Don't get me wrong, you did a number on it… but it keeps attracting more Grimm to the school."

"What do you mean?"

"Hm?"

"Tai, I'll take this one. You go help Yang with that drink," Qrow cut in. Tai glared slightly, but left the room anyways. "So, what were you wondering about, kiddo?" he queried, knowing full well what it was.

"Dad said I did a number on it… what did he mean? I didn't do anything."

"Heh… you wouldn't think so, huh? But tell me, what's the last thing you remember?" Qrow asked.

"I remember… seeing Naruto falling, and then reaching the top of the tower, and… Pyrrha… and Cinder," Ruby growled as she said the last name, but had to hold back a shudder as she remembered watching Pyrrha's lifeless head fall to the ground. "And then… everything was white, and my head hurt."

Qrow strode over to the window, staring out at the landscape of Patch, "The night you met Ozpin, what's the first thing he said to you?"

"I... don't know. It was something about-"

"Silver eyes."

"Huh?"

"Silver eyes. They're an extremely rare trait. But not just a cosmetic one. Remnant's full of legends and fairy tales. Some real, some not. The Tale of the Two Brothers, The Shallow Sea, The Isle of Whirlpools, The Mountain of Faces, and a lot of others," Qrow explained. "But one you don't hear much is the story of the silver-eyed warriors. It was said that the creatures of Grimm, the most fearsome monsters mankind had ever encountered, were afraid of these warriors, that they could fell a Grimm with a single look."

"So… you think that I'm one of-"

"No… I know you are. Couldn't have done what you did otherwise. Your mom would've been proud."

"So then… I can help, right? If I'm really as powerful as you say I am, then I can help, right?"

Qrow gave a small chuckle, "For now, you need rest. You're in no condition to be travelling anywhere." He made his way back over to the door. "Especially not all the way to Mistral." He gave a small wink, then left the room and a beaming Ruby behind.

Barely three weeks later, while Yang was training with Taiyang, Ruby met with Jaune, Nora, and Ren in front of their house. In her room, she left a note detailing that she was headed to Mistral. With luck, no one would notice it for a few hours, long enough for the four to get a good distance away. They may have beaten back Cinder at the Fall of Beacon, but they were still going to avenge Pyrrha. Qrow had all but told Ruby she needed to go to Mistral, and she wasn't one to disappoint her uncle. And who knew? Maybe she'd be able to find Naruto and Blake along the way.

Of course, she didn't see Yang watching her and the others leave.

So, yes, it's a lot shorter than normal. At this time of year, it seems as though everybody enjoys dumping as much work as physically possible onto a person, as if to extract as much labor as they may from this person without killing them.

In other words, I've been busy with shit, but wanted to finish this sometime soon anyways. That said, I am going to shorten up these chapters a tad so that I don't burn through the rest of this story by December.

And thus, Volume 3 comes to a close, somehow after Volume 4 started.

Until Chapter 20!