"Well, damn…I did not expect this to be a hit. Thanks for the support! I really appreciate it. Now to confirm a few things, yes Naruto is a Faunus, and yes the weapon is from Katekyo Hitman Reborn. I think I gave both enough hints for easy recognition." – AzureFlameXIIIGod
AN: Yeah, AF13G really says it all. And to give a half-assed answer to the most interesting review I've seen: Sugar Rusche is sort of like one of those video games shows in the 90s that really, really didn't need to be made – looking at you Sonic.
Chapter 1: Sweep the Halls of Beacon
"Okay, cookies for Ruby, tuna for Blake, I've got my treats all set up orderly..." Yang trailed off, chancing a look at the mountain of sweets around her sister. She looked at Weiss and shook her head. "And the princess has her celery sticks."
"You have your favorite treats and I have mine." Weiss huffed.
"Lame~!" Yang sang out with a smirk. She looked at Blake. "Start it up, Blakey!"
"Don't call me Blakey." Blake muttered around a bite of the tuna before she turned the screen on.
It had been a week after the interview. And over the duration of it, Naruto explored the campus as if it were a maze. Certainly should be since the North, South, East, and West wings of the campus are mini labyrinths of classrooms, stairwells, amphitheaters, and arenas. Makes sense to have many of the last item since this place is a school for monster slaying and crime fighting. His favorite spot was any rooftop that he could get onto to watch the city of Vale. Being placed on top of a rather tall cliffside, Beacon Academy easily stood above the nearby city. The added height of the various building added to the angle he could see the city in.
"Ah, so a sight seer. Interesting." Yang rubbed her chin and then frowned. The video had been replaced with a still of a silhouette atop a nonspecific building of Beacon. "Why is this more like a novel? What happened to the show-like quality?"
"Well, to answer your question, there's quite a bit of background information you can only gleam through narration." The Seer's voice chimed from a small icon that appeared on the Screen. "As to your next question: you haven't gotten a good look at the protagonist because, well, you haven't met him yet. Rest assured, in times of action or necessity, the 'show' will be restored."
"Ohh, Creeper's got an art flair to him." Yang purred.
The Icon seemed to droop in despair. "Not a creeper…"
Currently he saw the view of the city inside a viewing platform underneath the airship he was on. The aerial view captured Vale's placid appearance. The lack of anything akin to a skyscraper kept the city from looking…chaotic in a sense. True there were many spires that were a part of a rooftop. The architecture had gone way back in the times of the warring kingdoms. Not that Naruto truly knew of the history of Remnant or Vale itself. All he thought was how pretty it was to see the city in this kind of view. That and he thought how awesome it would be to fly on his own will. How he'd like to feel the air caressing his face as he took in the sights from the new vantage point up above. To be one with the sky…
"But isn't there Bulkheads and stuff for that?" Ruby asked.
"It's just not the same, Ruby. Like when we were launched off of Beacon's Cliff..." Yang trailed off with a grin.
Oh how he yearned the freedom to accomplish that childish ambition.
His face crept up into a smile as his innocent thought roamed his mind. Onward, his mind recollected a saying Granny Lupa told him as a child. 'Right when you feel like you will die is when you will be at your strongest. Your flame will burn at its brightest before it extinguishes.' He stared at his right hand, where a silver ring-like accessory with the image of a flame encompassed a blue crystal. An X was over the crystal, and bore the word "Famiglia" or "Family" on it on one of the lines. The ring was extended from the base of the middle finger to the first joint. At the tapered end of the ring, a chain connected a smaller ring fashioned onto his pinky.
"And he got that bling to keep his pimp hand strong!"
"Yang!" Ruby chided her sister while Blake smirked and Weiss rolled her eyes.
This was its unawakened form. He had to recite the chant Granny told him to activate it into its gauntlet form. That much he got, but anything further than that, he could not get it to work. "Granny Lupa said this thing would spout a bunch of fire once its full potential is needed. When will I need to release its flames?" He wondered lowly. At the moment, they were just fancy boxing gloves to him.
"Blrg!" A voice grunted beside him. Naruto stared at the source of the voice, a young man with unkempt, straight blond hair.
"Oh come on!" Yang protested with a frown. "Puke Boy meets him before we do!? So not fair..."
His attire could be described as a squire, who lacked the proper armor coverage on his sides, legs, arms, and head. The white breastplate would be easily torn to shreds by a Grimm that got a good hit in. In fact, the young man didn't fit the bill as a Huntsman in Naruto's eyes. Huntsmen and Huntresses were respectable, noble, and carried a powerful air around them.
This guy just…felt disappointing. The little girl in the red cloak, who's being smothered by a older blonde, had a more powerful quality in her than this wimpy guy next to him.
"Wha-That's us! Rubes, do something dorky to get him to go meet us!"
"WFhshh?" Ruby asked around a mouth stuffed with treats.
Yang sighed. "Never mind.
But if the Headmaster allowed it, he shouldn't question it. In fact he should question the guy's status. "Yo…you all right?"
The guy next to him reeled in his discomfort to dissuade Naruto from helping. "I'm…fine." The guy weakly answered.
"Motion sickness?" A nod. "Figures." Naruto shuffled around his back pocket, and handed the guy a barf bag. "I don't need you making more work for me before the school year has started." The motion sick young man gladly took the bag, and unloaded his breakfast inside it. It kept going for a little more than half a minute before the guy finished. Naruto quickly grabbed the bag, sealed it, and chucked it into the trash. Next he handed the newly relieved student a mint-flavored gum.
"Thanks."
"No prob."
"You say work." The guy restated. "You're not a student?"
"What was your first clue?" Weiss asked around a scoff.
"C'mon, be nice, Weiss." Ruby pouted at the girl, her milk mustache framing her downward-curved mouth. "Jaune's our friend!"
Weiss rolled her eyes. "Your friend. He's my acquaintance and annoyance."
"Well if you threw him a bone..." Yang suggested.
"Not in a million years."
"Wow…not even a name first? Classy…" Naruto sassed. The other blond cringed at his words.
The guy laughed it off unconvincingly. "Sorry. My name's Jaune Arc. Yours?" He put out a hand to shake.
"Naruto Uzumaki." Naruto replied just as he shook Jaune's hand. The two let go, and Naruto replied to Jaune's earlier question. "And yes I'm not a student. Some people aren't that lucky to have the money to pay all four years of it. And some people aren't that skilled to even get in here. Personally, I'm here as a janitor because I need the money. I don't have the skills to get in this place as a student."
"Oh…" Jaune was a bit stunned by the amount of information just shot back at him. "That's…"
"Stupid. I know." Naruto interrupted. "I mean I'm going to one of the fanciest schools for combat, and I'm going there…as a janitor."
"Little people have the biggest impact." Ruby protested.
"...You know Dad only says that because you're short, right?" Yang asked.
"I'm not short! I drink milk!" Ruby huffed. "Besides, Weiss is shorter than me and-Oops. Sorry, Weiss."
"Whatever." Weiss huffed. She didn't care that Ruby was taller than her by a hair despite being younger. Really.
"If you say it like that, it does sound strange." Jaune remarked. "I say you should be proud to step foot on that Academy."
Naruto scoffed. "Big talk coming from a guy who can't hold his breakfast before even stepping on Beacon's walkway." Jaune recoiled at the blunt blow to his ego. The sudden reaction got Naruto to snicker a little. "Hey…at least no one saw it right? No one can call you Vomit-Boy."
"I sure hope not."
"Oh, we will for-ever." Yang sang with a grin on her face.
Naruto placed a reassuring hand on Jaune's hunched shoulders. "You'll be fine." He said. "If you got in to Beacon, then that means you've got to be awesome at fighting."
"I-I am!" Jaune stuttered. "N-Nothing to worry about over here! My sword and shield skills will make me famous one day. Just you wait and see!" Naruto sighed lowly. Jaune couldn't be any more of a liar than he is right now.
"At least he's improved?" Ruby suggested when she noticed Weiss' irritation spread on her face.
Jaune's poker face needed work. He had so many tells just from that one reply alone: stiffening body, stuttering, frenzied eye movement, cracked voice, etc. Not that he'd tell him. Jaune himself would eventually pay for his lie.
"Yeah, yeah…" Naruto waved it off. "Go practice your lady killer suave on some of the girls here. It would be a great time waster for you."
"Oh, good, so I can blame him for this intrusion this time around." Weiss muttered.
Jaune looked at the various femme fatales aboard the observation deck, and gulped. Their weapons looked really deadly.
"Nah…I can do that at a later time."
"...Wh-How are their weapons scarier than mine!?" Weiss asked, eyes narrowed.
"Yours looks like a silver wand with a cup on the end."
Weiss glared at Blake's dry comment while Yang laughed.
Naruto crossed his arms, and raised an eyebrow. How could he not want to ask out any of the girls here?! They were gorgeous! They were simply amazing! It's as if they were those Amazons Granny Lupa told him of as a toddler. This guy- he cut himself off. "Hn…suit yourself. With the way you're starting off, your love life is going to be frustrating to look at."
"Eh?"
"Nothing."
"Ooh, so he's a watcher and a teaser?" Yang asked, more interested than before.
Their airship had finally landed and soon, Naruto was out of there. He headed for the main walkway that led to the Academy's plaza. While not exactly in a hurry, he was trying to get away from the eventual mob of freshmen. Unfortunately, he miscalculated how eager the new students were, and was hounded from all directions as one by one, students rushed deeper into the campus. A body crashed directly behind him. It was quite soft. His cheeks flared red when he realized what it was. He turned around, and faced himself with that blonde in the observation deck. She was quite a looker. She was a bit shorter than him, who was an even six feet tall.
She wears a tan vest with gold piping over a yellow low-cut crop top with a black crest that resembles a burning heart. Her upper body is quite filled out, and Naruto could not help but take a rather quick glance at the girl's cleavage. White knight he may have been taught as a kid, but he's still a hormonal teen!
"Score!" Yang grinned and pumped her fist. "Mama's still got the moves!"
Naruto recollected himself, and mused if the burning heart was her emblem. So far he saw an image that represented a different person. Why were there individual emblems? Some sort of extra identification perhaps? Naruto had no idea except for the nice addition it adds to clothing or weapons.
The vest has puffy cap sleeves with black cuffs. On the sides of the cuffs, there are two small golden buttons. She wears a brown belt with a buckle, a pouch, and a small banner-like object. The same burning heart crest appears on this banner, except golden in color. She wears black shorts under her belt, which resembles a pleated skirt in the back. Her midriff is quite distracting as it shows her generous hips. Over the short shorts but under the belt is a white asymmetrical back skirt. On her neck was an orange infinity scarf.
Naruto approved of the color. Orange is an awesome color.
"So he likes orange, huh?" Yang mused, stroking her chin thoughtfully.
She wears brown knee-high platform boots that appear to be made of leather, with orange socks of different lengths. Her left leg also has a gray bandanna-like object wrapped around the top of her boot. She wears fingerless black gloves underneath her weapons, which resemble two yellow mechanized gauntlets with a black design.
By the way, this happened within the span of three seconds. The girl had yet to apologize, not that Naruto would notice it since he was admiring her form in a normal, non-perverted way.
"Oh, c'mon, don't be boring!" Yang huffed. She didn't mind being eye candy a little, as long as she got some in return...and as long as they eye candy stare up close didn't last longer than five seconds.
"My bad!" She apologized informally. "I followed the crowd to get away from my little sis for a bit. Didn't think I'd run directly into someone." Her lilac eyes shone. Naruto shivered a little. It almost felt nostalgic to see that eye color.
"It's no problem." He said with a flashy smile. He quickly turned around, and headed off in another direction entirely. "You should hurry to the amphitheater. The assembly will start shortly."
Yang stood there dumbfounded. Her mind was more focused on the guy, who was in her honest opinion as the perfect catch ever.
"Yes! Give me that mental image!" Yang cheered as the screen revealed Naruto to them. Her grin dwindled away into mild shock and a blush blossomed across her face.
Blake's eyes went wide.
Weiss took a deep breath through her nose. She repeated a firm mantra in her mind that she was a Schnee and she would not blush at the pretty boy.
Ruby stuffed another cookie in her mouth and shrugged.
"He looks sort of like Sun." She noted as the narrator began to put words to the image.
Blond locks of untamed madness that lead to a chiseled face, a nice eyes of baby blue eyes, and cool and cute marks on his cheeks. That and a sculpted torso underneath that loose, black tank top. Yang may have not seen much, she was pretty sure that the guy's pecs could sharpen the dullest knife. Finally…
"That is a mighty and firm one…" She purred sweetly while staring at Naruto's retreating butt.
"Three sixty visual, please!?" Yang implored, recovered from the surprise of the protagonist's appearance. Given what she requested, her grin plastered itself across her face. A purr escaped her throat. "Oh yeah. Mm, he might look like Sun, but dat ass doe!"
"He's...decent." Weiss muttered.
"...Damn." Blake didn't look at all apologetic when her team sent her bewildered looks. She shrugged. "I call it like I see it. And he's worthy of a 'damn'."
"Hell yeah he is!" Yang hooted in agreement.
Weiss scowled at them. "Mature, the both of you."
"Don't be a prude, Weiss." Yang chided. "It makes you seem ugly."
"I'll see you soon, lady killer." Let it be known that Yang Xiao Long never took a passing pretty face too seriously. Never.
"Ain't that the truth?" Yang nodded in agreement. "Sure, I flirt casually and admire free shows when given to them, but most pretty faces don't have that one thing that makes them stick out for me."
"And this one does?" Blake asked.
"He's got more than one thing, that's all I'll say for now based on looks alone," Yang said with a shrug.
Naruto somehow did the opposite. No doubt he doesn't even know what the girl thought of him. Meh. Not like it will bite him in the ass sooner or later.
"Yeah, I'm sure." Weiss scoffed.
Seconds later, Naruto realized he walked in a circle, and managed to get near the landing area of the airship he rode on. "Eh? How did I get here?"
"What are you doing?! Do you have any idea of the damage you could have caused?!"
"...Gee, I wonder just who that is?" Yang asked, grinning at her sister and her sister's partner.
"Shut up, Yang." "Oh, great." The two replied simultaneously, both sour in their responses.
Well that did not sound good. Naruto looked for the irritated girl, and found himself staring at a fallen girl, the one in the red cloak from earlier, and another girl in white.
The girl in white wears a extremely pale blue bolero jacket over a similarly colored thigh-length dress that ends in a combat skirt with a piece of black lace making up the neckline of the dress. The inside of the bolero is red and the sleeves turn blue as they get closer to her wrists. The back of the bolero displays an emblem, which bears a resemblance to a snowflake. Her hair is in an asymmetrical ponytail off to the right and had a little tiara over the ponytail. Her other accessories are a pair of rectangular earrings and a silver necklace. On her left was a rapier tied to her waist.
The other girl has her gigantic, hooded, red cloak. Primarily in a black attire, the girl also wears a black blouse with a corset on her waist and tightened by red laces on the corset. On her waist is a gray belt that had the image of a silver rose to her right, and an ammo pouch even further to the right. She wears a black combat skirt trimmed with a bright red color. Her black stockings has a shade of skin color on it since it was probably the only layer she has on her legs aside from the obvious one between them: panties.
"Not always true." Yang's chime made Ruby choke on the cookie she popped in her mouth. The hooded huntress grabbed her glass of milk and quickly drank, forcing the sweet in her mouth to soften and slide down her throat.
"YANG!" She shrieked once the threat of death was gone, glaring silver daggers at her laughing sister.
Her black combat boots has a red trim up top, red laces and soles to finish off the color scheme.
Naruto realized something… Was there- was there a color scheme going on around here?! Almost every single person he had seen so far stayed true to mostly one color and a few others to keep it different. Just what has the world come to where a person's appearance is defined by the color scheme one wears?!
"...Holy crap." Blake mumbled as she looked at her teammates – Yang and Weiss were too amused by Ruby's attempts to chide her sister – and then thought over her appearance.
"Realize something, did you?" The Seer asked through her Scroll, which was set beside her.
Blake glanced down at the iconic eye on her Scroll. "Are you trying to tell us something?"
"...Perhaps. Shh, this is where it gets interesting."
Aside from the mental dilemma, the girl in white, snatched a briefcase handed over by the one in red, and inspected its contents. "This is Dust, mined and purified from the Schnee Quarry." The girl in red failed to say anything in time. "What are you, braindead?" The girl in white grabbed a vial of red Dust, and slammed the case shut. Particles of blue and red stirred in the air as the rude teen shook her vial. "Dust. Fire, water, lightning, energy? Are you even listening to me?" Not really. Naruto could clearly see that the younger girl had more important things occupying her time.
'Great…another person about to make my job harder than what it's supposed to be.' Naruto dashed in, and turned the girl in red the opposite way just in time to sneeze away from the Dust. 'Made it.' He thought happily. "Hey, princess. What gives? You can't just start yelling at people without asking for their side of the story."
"...Best. Janitor. Ever." Ruby decided then and there.
Weiss rolled her eyes and scowled at the girl. "Well, I wasn't exactly having the best morning, so sorry I was so rude."
"And who are you to ask so rudely?"
"Naruto Uzumaki, a janitor. Personally, I don't want to start off my first day on the job cleaning up your mess, and I highly doubt you want to start off your year vandalizing school property with an explosive material. If you don't seal that vial of Dust right now, it's likely that one of us will explode literally or whatever that other word is." Naruto replied angrily. The girl stared all around her, and saw the floating particles around them. Embarrassed by her actions, she quickly collected her belongings, and went deeper into campus. "Feh! Not even an apology for being rude. Hey, red." He tapped the remaining girl's shoulder. "You good?"
"Huh? Uh yeah." The girl turned around. "Thanks. My name is Ruby Rose." She greeted.
"Naruto." Naruto introduced himself. "Now I don't want be rude…but you gotta go to the amphitheater down the walkway past the doors in front of you. The assembly is about to start, and-" He checked the time on the nearby clock post. "Crap I'm late!" Naruto dashed off in another direction completely opposite of the campus entrance, and left a confused Ruby by herself.
"Ooh, ditched my lil' sis? Points deducted." Yang shook her head in disapproval. She snagged a treat while Ruby pouted at being left behind.
"He did have to get to work," Blake said in Naruto's defense. "It's the first day and we saw how hard it was to convince Ozpin to even give him this job."
"Hm, right." Yang tapped her chin and then nodded. "Still, I said points deducted, I didn't mean he was off the table." She sent a sly look over to the lone Faunus of the team. "Or are you hoping for that outcome?"
"...What's it to you?" Blake shot back, a small smirk on her face.
Yang arched a brow and grinned. So kitty wants to play, huh? Fine with me.
The sun had set, and Naruto diligently finished his job sweeping the cafeteria. The large room took him a good three hours to sweep, another hour to wipe off tables, two to pick up trash and clean leftover kitchenwares. Not to say that he was the only janitor around, but it seemed like he did more work. The others were simply cleaning their designated area while Naruto himself wandered to another spot to clean. To say it was productive was a sore understatement. He finished the connecting hallways, cleaned restrooms, locker rooms, the plaza, and some few more locations that he could not care to mention because he was tired. He left the polishing to the automatons that roam at night to pick off any unseen specks of trash. He placed his sweeper, bucket, and various cleaning tools off in one of the many janitor closets on campus.
He walked on and on, hoping to reach his room without his legs buckling from the day of work. He went from the West wing to the East, a fifteen minute walk from the previous building to his room in the East wing. He entered the rather large building and walked up one of the many staircases to reach his room. A skylight shone one of the moons down on his body. "The night sky looks so peaceful again…" He stopped to bask in moon's rays. A smile lit his face. "Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to try one more time.
"Try what?" Ruby asked.
"I suppose we'll find out soon enough," Weiss said as she popped another celery stick into her mouth.
He was on the third floor. There's a nearby door to access the balcony. Though he needed to be stealthy since the freshmen were sleeping nearby behind the glass before the balcony he planned to use.
Blake Belladonna's golden eyes snapped open when she heard a nearby door squeak. Silently, she rose up to find out the source of the noise. She used her Faunus ears to listen closely. Footsteps on the balcony. Blake tiptoed her way to the balcony to find out who disrupted her sleep.
"Ooh, guess curiosity is getting to the cat." Yang grinned at Blake, who's glance in return showed that she wasn't amused by the analogy.
When she got there, she saw a blond sit on the stone rail. The blond said something that she recognized like any veteran White Fang member did.
"Fiamma iridescente, pulire tutto." The blond's hands lit up like fire. The intense light forced her to close her eyes to not damage them. Moments later, the flames died out to show a red gauntlet that she was very familiar with since she idolized the first leader of the White Fang.
"Cielo Fiamma…" Blake muttered in surprise. "Why does it still exist?"
"A good question." Blake rubbed her chin in thought. She narrowed her eyes. What does that me-? Her thoughts were disrupted by Yang's annoyed groan.
"C'mon, another intermission?" The blonde frowned. "What's up with that Creeper?"
"...Consider it payback for calling me a creeper." The Seer drawled as his icon appeared on the whole screen. "In all seriousness, I have a question: Would you like to include some friends on this little find or prefer to keep it to yourselves?"
"We should share it, duh!" Yang said dryly.
"I don't know," Blake said. She ignored the frowns sent her way and addressed the Screen. "The more people watch this, the more real we may feel about it. It is only a window, and wouldn't you prefer to have less people concerned over your existence?"
Ruby's eyes swirled and Yang scratched her head from the comments Blake made while Weiss furrowed her brow in contemplation. The Heiress' eyes widened at the implications Blake's words concealed.
Couldn't this become a huge problem or be blown out of proportion?
"Ah, now that is a question. However, I am an alternate dimensional being, not to mention a Seer, as my title suggests. You should know that I'd already tallied the risks. But, whether or not it is or could be a problem is up for you to decide." The Seer mused. His emblem blinked off of the Screen and two squares appeared.
One had the number four plastered on it and the other had a four with a plus. Blake looked at Ruby.
"Well, you're our team leader." She said. "You should decide."
"C'mon, this'll be a load of fun with more people, Ruby." Yang suggested. "Like a party!"
"No! We should keep this between us, what if we see something like a death!" Weiss pointed out. "If we learned, for example, Jaune's ineptitude does get him killed and he's here to see it, that will affect him on a deep level."
"Or inspire him to be better!" Yang countered.
"Excuse me," Blake cut in, annoyed. She glared at the two seated on either side of Ruby and then looked back at her. "Ruby, what do you think?"
"I guess we should..." Ruby hesitated as the eyes of her sister and friends fell on her. "I mean...Obviously...Um..."
AN: There's a little question for you! Add more and hear less? Or is less more? The more characters I add to this reading increases the amount of reactions I have to write. On the flip side, with less characters, I can get more detailed and informative with Team RWBY's reactions.
In the end, I've already made my decision, but I'd like to hear your thoughts. So y'all know what to do:
REVIEW!