Hello hello. I know it's been a minute, and just like with my other story, I'm sorry to say that my scheduling isn't likely to allow for excess writing for at least a couple more months. I'll still be able to write, it's just going to still be a bit of a hassle finding the time. With that being said, the plot outline I have is exciting in my opinion. I'm super pumped about getting this show on the road!

There's still been a lot of debate over the reviews as to whether Remnant has a ground to stand on against the Elemental Nations or not. And...well in this story...with Remnant's technology, and the EN's inability to comfortably retaliate...they do.

So...yeah...tough I guess.

I do appreciate logical breakdowns of two fictional worlds with magic and superhuman capabilities and gods and stuff though. Truly informative.

While I try to provide a little bit of logical reasoning to the choices I make, I do want to just remind a few choice people that this is a FICTIONAL STORY about TWO MAKE BELIEVE WORLDS where LOGIC DOESN'T ALWAYS APPLY.

If for some reason something doesn't make sense, I probably did it so the story was a little more interesting. Apologies in advance to anybody who is upset about that...I guess. I guess I might just do a story with the same premise where the EN just sends all their S-Rank fighters to various kingdoms and just steam rolls all of Remnant becaue their advanced technologies just aren't effective against shinobi for...reasons? Idk I'll figure that out too. That would be an engaging story I'm sure.

Anyyyy way...sarcasm over lol. I know there have been more appreciative people than angry ones...the angry ones are just the loudest lol. I do appreciate everybody's supportive attitudes and hope that I've kept everybody's interest to the best of my abilities. Please enjoy!

"Ooooh!" Ruby squealed next to Naruto. "They have Strawberry Shortcake! I want some!"

Naruto chuckled at Ruby's excitement, "Of course. After lunch you can have a little dessert."

"Wow," Ruby rolled her eyes. "Thanks dad. Really glad we have you here to play grownup!"

"Happy to help!" Naruto chirped with a cocky smile, causing Ruby to look away with a shake of her head to hide her own smile.

"Quit the flirting you two," Yang came up behind them, throwing an arm around each of their shoulders. "Look Naruto, you're going to have to learn about how us women get jealous. You can't just flirt with one girlfriend in front of another! Hell, they aren't even supposed to know about each other!"

Ruby blushed a deep red and began sputtering while Naruto laughed. He snaked an arm behind him and around Yang's waist, gripping the opposite side of her hip tight enough to pull her towards him.

"Is that your way of saying you'd rather me flirt with you instead?" Naruto asked, dropping his voice to a lower tone and cocking an eyebrow.

"Eh?" Yang gulped slightly, wiggling slightly in his hold. "Y-Y-You…W-Well…That's not…"

Naruto's smirk widened ever so slightly as he let go of her hip, letting his fingers trail across the exposed skin of Yang's back ever so gently, causing her to blush almost as deep a red as Ruby.

"Don't play a game you can't win Yang," Naruto wagged a finger at the blond. "You never want to bite off more than you can chew."

Ruby, still red from Yang's teasing, felt her jaw slacken as Yang was rendered at a loss for words for the first time…ever as far as she knew. Blake too blinked at the scene in front of her, more so shocked that Naruto had it in him to return the teasing that Yang so easily dished out.

"Now," Naruto turned back to the menu in front of them. "What will you guys be getting? I'll go put in the order."

Yang's jaw worked soundlessly for a few moments while Blake gave Naruto her order. Finally, when Ruby finished stuttering hers out, she'd gotten her voice back.

"I'll uh…," Yang said quietly before clearing her throat. She quickly regained her composure and did her best to smile saucily. "I'm not too picky. Just get me something…meaty, would you please?"

Naruto snorted, "Sure. An eight-inch big enough?"

Blake, who'd been sipping on the drink she'd picked up from a store down the road, immediately began choking. She coughed a few times while Ruby slapped her on the back and Yang's smile widened.

"Blake are you alright?" Ruby asked in concern. Blake nodded as she cleared her throat a few times. Once she'd begun breathing normally again, she glared at Naruto spitefully.

"Naruto, they don't have any subs here," Ruby said after making sure Blake truly was alright. "You won't be able to get her an eight inch…"

As Ruby began perusing the menu again just to make sure she was right.

"No," Naruto said in mock realization. "I guess they don't have any subs. I could still give her eight inches though if she really—"

"Enough jokes!" Blake hissed. "Go get her a damn sandwich and stop trying to screw with each other!"

Naruto chuckled again and quickly slipped away while Ruby, Blake, and Yang all meandered over towards a booth.

"An eight inch…" Ruby muttered to herself in confusion, desperately trying to work out why Blake had reacted the way she had. "Something meaty…not a sub…still give her eight—Eep!"

Ruby's blush returned full force as the innuendo suddenly hit her like a train.

"YANG!" Ruby hissed, hitting her sister on the shoulder. Yang just grinned stupidly having heard Ruby's thought process.

"Yes dear sister of mine?"

"You're gross!" Ruby huffed. "Stop flirting with my partner!"

Yang mocked a look of confusion, "Oh…Are you calling dibs? I can get him to offer that eighter to you if you'd like. You'll have to tell me if he lied about it though. Oh and let me know ahead of time so I can stay away from the dorm. I love you…but I don't need to hear that."

"W-Wha-How—" Ruby threw her hood over her head and slumped over the table. You could almost see the steam billowing out from under it. "Stop ittttt!"

"Don't worry Ruby," Yang chuckled. "It's just some fun banter. He definitely isn't the type to flirt and try to sleep with somebody so quick."

"What makes you say that?" Blake asked, her face already buried in her book.

"He's a softie," Yang smiled. "He's more the lovey dovey type than he is a playboy. I can tell!"

"Whatever," Blake shrugged, turning a page. "Just get the flirty stage over with. You're going to give Ruby an aneurysm."

"That's the fun part!" Yang grinned cheekily.

"No it isn't!" Ruby whined from under her cloak. She finally looked up and glowered at Yang. "He's finally trying to spend time with us and you are just going to scare him off!"

"Scare him?" Yang scoffed. "I'm not sure what you just saw Rubes, but scared wasn't it. I don't know who taught him that, but one day some girl is going to be in trouble. If that's how he flirts…"

Yang trailed off with a low whistle.

"Stop it!" Ruby slammed her head back on the table and mumbled again. "Why couldn't we have had an all-girl team…"

"And get stuck with somebody like Weiss-cream?" Yang rolled her eyes. "No thanks. I'll take blondie any day!"

"Mhmm," Blake agreed absentmindedly.

"She's not so bad," Ruby shrugged, her previous embarrassment disappearing with the subject change. "Pyrrha's surprisingly easy going, considering her reputation. I think she's rubbing off on Weiss a little bit. She's been getting a little more bearable."

"I don't know how you came to that conclusion," Naruto slid into the booth next to Blake. "Every time I talk to her, she still seems to have that stick shoved up her ass."

Ruby squeaked at Naruto's vulgar language while Blake smirked and Yang snorted. Yang quickly recovered and asked, "She is a little colder to you. Do you think it has anything to do with you being a faunus?"

Naruto took note of the slight twitch of Blake's bow at the comment, but was more concerned about Yang's comment.

"Faunus?" Naruto cocked his head. "I'm not a faunus."

"You aren't?" Ruby recoiled in shock. "But the…whiskers."

Naruto reached up and brushed his fingers across his cheeks, "No…these are…They are scars, not whiskers."

Shocked silence reigned around the table as the horrific thought of somebody inflicting scars like that on somebody crossed their mind.

"It was a freak accident!" Naruto quickly clarified. "I got a little too grabby with a…uh…a fox as a kid! It got me really good on my cheeks! Hehe…"

"A fox?" Yang said breathlessly after a moment. "I mean I know I immediately thought of a fox or cat when I saw you but that's just rich!"

Yang burst out in giggles while Naruto rolled his eyes. Luckily, this seemed to break the tension in Ruby and Blake, and they too smiled at Yang's comment.

"Yeah yeah," Naruto waved at Yang. "You are hilarious…truly a hoot."

"Aren't I?" Yang said with a grin after she got her giggling under control.

"Whatever," Naruto rolled his eyes again. "But I guess that would make sense about Weiss. A racist Schnee wouldn't surprise me."

"Got that right," Blake mumbled under her breath.

"Well that's not fair!" Ruby argued. "It could be your comment about her dad. You were a little mean to her after the whole Cardin thing."

"Fair enough," Naruto shrugged. "Although I wouldn't call that mean. I'm not sure about Jacques' children, but it's no secret that Jacques himself is a dirt bag. He's about as scummy as a business man can get."

"And about the only person that can get away with slavery." Blake snapped her book shut, immediately investing herself in the conversation.

"Well," Naruto made a so-so gesture with his hand. "It's not technically slavery as much as it is him capitalizing on poor education."

"Are you calling faunus dumb?" Blake immediately bristled.

"Not at all," Naruto shook his head. "I'm just saying that most faunus in Mantle aren't the most knowledgeable about legal processes. It's mostly due to lack of availability to information. I mean I'd be pretty fucking clueless if I had no way of learning about certain things. You can't expect people to know things if they never had the ability to learn it. And that is what Jacques capitalized on. He wrapped enough faunus into contractual agreements, and then treated them well until most of the job opportunities in Mantle were limited. Then he was free to be as shitty as he wanted, because what else would the citizens of Mantle do?"

Blake blinked in surprise, leading Naruto to continue. "And even then, he most likely pressured the employers he couldn't get rid of into hiring only humans. He wanted as many of the faunus available to him as possible."

"Because he is a dirty racist—"

"He actually might not even be racist," Naruto shrugged. "Or at least probably not at first."

"Huh?" Yang cocked her head. "I admit I don't follow political or business stuff much, but what makes you say that?"

"Yes," Blake's eye twitched. "Please explain."

Naruto sighed, knowing he could possibly lose some brownie points with Blake for his next comment. "Jacques…by everything I have read…is an amazing business man. He saw an amazing opportunity in the failing Schnee Dust Company, married into it, and quickly boomed it into the wealthiest and most influential company in the world. From what I've read, not even the biggest business in the Elemental Nations has half as much sway there as the SDC has here. Jacques Schnee, first and foremost, is an opportunist! The faunus have night vision in most cases, and superior physical capabilities in some cases. The ability to cut costs on safety equipment because of that was a huge plus to him."

"So, he made faunus suffer just to save money?" Blake sneered.

Naruto shrugged, "Opportunists are selfish by nature. He's still a piece of shit, but I don't think his schemes against faunus were born from racism. Now…with the White Fang becoming more militant and costing him as much money as they are, I wouldn't be surprised if that anger manifested into genuine racism. A lot of biases are based by some form of experience. Whether it be a learned behavior from parents or from personal experience is different from person to person."

"So his racism is justified?" Blake raised an eyebrow. "The White Fang getting sick of their protests garnering no results immediately justifies further racism?"

'Great…this is going even better than expected.' Naruto mentally groaned. He quickly glanced at Yang and Ruby, only to find that they wanted absolutely no part in whatever hole he was digging himself into.

"Not necessarily," Naruto responded slowly after a moment of thought. "Let's find some common ground. Most people of Remnant have some form of distaste or hatred for the EN, right? I'm not saying it's not justified…but isn't hating or holding judgement on an entire group of people racism or discrimination in a sense? Especially when your only qualifying factor is literally where they are from or what they look like? Now, I can't say whether you are justified in your opinions or not. I'm just putting this into perspective. Don't you think Jacques and the radical White Fang feel just as justified with their views as you do about the EN?"

When he didn't get a response from anybody, he continued, "It's much more complicated than first appearances. Jacques is by no means excused by his actions. Anybody that would vilify an entire race of people based off what a small portion of them do is a coward…but the same can be said for the radical faunus that hate all humans for what people like Jacques do to them."

A waitress walked up to their table with their food, interrupting Blake's response. Once the waitress walked away, Naruto picked up a fork, muttering his last thought almost too quietly for his teammates to hear…almost.

"There is no simple answer. All you can do is make sure nobody wrongs the people important to you…Such is the cycle of hatred."

]-xxxXXXxxx-[

A tapping of a keyboard echoed through Ozpin's office. The man has been kept steadily busy what with the war, the school, Salem, and most recently the approaching Vytal Festival.

It never seemed to end.

'Blasted paperwork,' Ozpin sighed as he took a sip of his coffee. Just as he finished his sip, his scroll rang.

'James?' Ozpin thought in surprise. 'Our joint meeting about the festival isn't for a few more weeks.'

He quickly answered. Ironwood was never one to waste his time on something he didn't deem important.

"Ozpin!" James Ironwood's image appeared over Ozpin's desk as soon as the man answered the call. "It's good to see you."

"It's good to see you as well, James," Ozpin nodded at the man. "This upcoming Vytal Festival is running me up a wall what with Glynda still assisting Vale with the increase in Dust thefts."

"So I'd heard," Ironwood pursed his lips. "Well, I wish you both the best on catching that Torchwick character. I've heard through the grapevine that he has become an increasingly prominent figure in the Valean underground the past few years."

"That he has," Ozpin tapped at his desk. "He was such a promising student when he attended Beacon. Unfortunately, he didn't share Qrow's ability to change his views on some things."

Ironwood scoffed, "I would argue Qrow's ability to change his views is nonexistent as well."

"He is a good man and you know it, James," Ozpin said disapprovingly.

"Perhaps," Ironwood shrugged. "But I didn't call you to speak about Qrow and Torchwick."

"I figured as much," Ozpin nodded. "What can I do for you James?"

"Jacques' scientists came up with something," Ironwood said lowly.

Ozpin's eye twitched, "And how did he do that?"

"I know you have your reservations about Jacques," Ironwood quickly tried to placate Ozpin. "But he has really stepped up since this war started. I believe he genuinely wants the best for Remnant."

'I doubt that,' Ozpin's nostrils flared slightly. "Very well, what has he come up with."

"Well," Ironwood said. "He initially thought that this would be an excellent way to put our Hunters on even playing fields with some of the better Shinobi. He is right, of course, but you know as well as I that anything that would increase our odds against the EN would also…"

"Increase our odds against her," Ozpin's eyes flashed dangerously.

'Could this have something to do with why Mr. Urobline is here?' Ozpin thought to himself, turning his chair to face the window overlooking Beacon and Vale. 'He's obviously here for something. The EN has been reserved ever since a few months ago. That does match up to when Urobline would have had to show up in order to establish a history here…And the fact that Jacques has a hand in whatever this is…There is definitely a correlation here.'

Ozpin took in the sights of the city and school before him. 'Still, if James is bringing this to my attention, then there is merit to it. And we need everything we can against Salem.'

He turned his chair back to his desk and met Ironwood's eyes, "Tell me everything."

]-xxxXXXxxx-[

"Well," Naruto said after he'd finished his food. "This was definitely worth the visit."

"Mhmm," Ruby half hummed, half moaned as she ate the last bite of her strawberry shortcake.

"It was good," Blake agreed. "We will have to come here again."

"Definitely!" Yang said with a content sigh.

The atmosphere had suffered a bit after Naruto's little speech, but it quickly picked back up after a few bites of their food. Blake hadn't seemed to hold Naruto's opinion against him too much. If anything, Blake had seemed to agree with Naruto's view that the entire situation was almost entirely too complicated to solve in a simple way.

"Then let's make it a thing," Naruto decided, already knowing that he was making the wrong choice. "Let's come out once a week and just have a team outing."

"I'd like that," Ruby smiled happily.

"That would be cool," Yang with a thumbs up.

Blake shrugged, "I guess that wouldn't be too bad."

Naruto looked at his watch, "Well, I hate to eat and dash, but I'm cutting it a little close. See you all tonight?"

"If you make it back tonight," Blake cocked an eyebrow.

"I don't think I'll be out that late," Naruto shrugged. "But I'll text you all if I do plan on being out late, fair?"

"Fair," Ruby said with a nod. "Let us know in the team chat."

"Alright," Naruto nodded. "See you all later."

And with that, Naruto got up and briskly walked out of the restaurant.

"That didn't last long," Yang said with a sigh.

"No," Ruby agreed absentmindedly. "But he's trying now. I can't be mad about that."

"I guess so," Yang said before looking at her partner, who was staring blankly at the table. "You alright Blake?"

"Yeah," Blake shook her head. "I just didn't expect him to be so insightful. It was surprising."

"Yeah," Ruby nodded. "He's a really smart guy."

"Do you think he has a point?" Blake asked. "Do you think that the White Fang is just as bad as Jacques?"

"I don't think he was trying to say that," Ruby shook her head. "Obviously Jacques Schnee started a lot of these issues, but the White Fang is getting a little out of hand. I heard that there was a Schnee Dust Transport that was attacked by the White Fang a few months ago that had people aboard as well. Word is that the White Fang was going to kill everybody on the train but somebody separated the passenger cars from the transport cars before they could do it."

"In my opinion," Yang added in. "I think the White Fang had a fair argument once upon a time. I get the anger, I really do. But there have been reports of them actually killing people! There's no excuse for that anymore."

Blake flinched slightly, before looking down, "You're right, of course. Naruto's words are just making me wonder about everything. What is really the point of all this? The White Fang, the SDC, the war? Why is there so much hatred in the world? Discovering a new continent in the world should have been exciting! I don't understand why they had to attack us. I don't understand why Jacques couldn't just acknowledge the issues he was causing the faunus and fix it. I don't understand why people have to hate each other when we already have the Grimm to worry about!"

"Well that's simple," Ruby scoffed, sipping at the last of her drink. "The Elemental Nations are savage by nature. Their entire history has been littered with war. The era before the hidden villages were formed was literally called the Warring Clans era. They've had three major wars in the hundred to a hundred -fifty years that their villages have been formed. They don't know how to stay peaceful."

Blake stared at her for a moment, "You know that sounds a lot like Jacques' reasoning for the White Fang's actions. They are savage by nature, he would say. They don't know how to act civilized, he would say."

"Excuse me?" Ruby's grip tightened on her cup. Yang too stiffened beside Blake, only moments away from snapping at Blake for her comment.

"Like Naruto said," Blake said, not breaking eye contact with Ruby. "All biases are based off some form of experience. I'm not comparing it with some human's racism against faunus, but what you just said…Naruto wasn't far off was he? It's never simple…"

"No, it isn't!" Yang almost hissed. "And maybe you shouldn't compare mine and Ruby's issues with the EN with somebody like Jacques Schnee! The EN have proven that they are savages over and over again. There isn't even the slightest bit of—"

"Yang, stop," Ruby cut her off, taking a deep breath to calm herself. "She didn't mean anything by it. She's just trying to understand."

Yang huffed and looked away.

"I didn't mean to offend," Blake said placatingly. "I just…It sounded extremely familiar. It was the first thing that came to mind."

"I…I get it," Ruby said slowly. "Yang and I, we lost our mom to Konoha."

"Oh," Blake blinked. "I'm so sorry. I would have never tried to compare your loss to Jacques' petty—"

"Don't worry about it," Ruby shook her head. "You didn't know. I already told Naruto, so it's only fair that you should know too. There's just no excuse for them in my mind. Our mom…she was just the best. And they took her from us for no reason. They started this war over what we can only assume was their ego, and my mom died because of it."

"I understand," Blake whispered. "I really am sorry…"

"It's fine," Yang said, having taken a moment to calm down. "Mom was just…she was super mom, ya know?"

"I definitely get it," Blake nodded. "My mom…well we haven't talked in a while, but even now I can't imagine…"

"Let's head back," Ruby said after a moment of silence. "And again, don't worry about it, Blake. No hard feelings."

]-xxxXXXxxx-[

Naruto reached Junior's bar in record time. The guards immediately let him in, and he entered the empty club to find Junior, an orange haired man, and an incredibly short girl with pink and brown hair sat at a table in the middle of the room.

"Junior," Naruto greeted as he approached the table. "Why don't you introduce me?"

"Of course," Junior quickly stood, earning a slightly surprised look from Torchwick at his eager-to-please demeanor. "Naruto, this is Roman Torchwick. You already know what his field of expertise is, and I've only told him the bare minimum about you. I figured I'd let you tell him the rest yourself."

'Meaning he didn't want to accidentally tell Torchwick more than what I want him to know,' Naruto thought to himself amusedly. 'Maybe you do have a brain, Junior. Maybe Ozpin was just lucky in finding me out. It would have been a shame if I had to….'

"Excellent," Naruto grinned brightly. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Torchwick."

"Like wise," Torchwick said in a bored tone while accepting Naruto's hand shake. "Although the shady manner in which you contacted me, and the way Junior told me you wanted to meet implied that I didn't have much of a choice."

"Nope!" Naruto said cheerily. "Not much of one at all. Who is this young lady?"

Torchwick scoffed at Naruto's response, "This is Neopolitan, but just call her Neo. She's my adorable little assassin. Although she prefers the term…handler. She handles things."

"Interesting," Naruto nodded appreciatively. "I'm also a bit of a handler myself. Always good to meet a master of the finer arts!"

Neo blinked in slight surprise, before letting a huge grin grace her face. She turned to Torchwick and made a few gestures with her hands.

"Of course you like him," Torchwick sneered. "He's just as rude and blunt as you are! Arranging a meeting through threats. I mean the nerve!"

"Sign language?" Naruto asked curiously, ignoring Torchwick's grumbling. "Are you deaf?"

Neo made a few more gestures, and Torchwick translated. "She's mute, and also you're—No I'm not telling him that!"

Naruto saw the shit eating grin on the small girl, and shook his head, "How about we get to business."

"Let's," Torchwick said with a short glare at Neo. "What is it you want? Junior wouldn't tell me anything beyond you wanting to exchange services for information."

"I want access to your boss," Naruto said quickly. "I hear they have connections. Connections that I need. I don't care what they are doing, but I have a mission to complete before I can get out of here."

"And what good would working with you do?"

"Well for one," Naruto raised an eyebrow. "I wouldn't actively try to ruin your plans. I have something to accomplish, and everything points to your employer as my best lead. If your employer doesn't want to work with me, I will make her regret every moment of it."

"No offense to you," Torchwick crossed his arms. "But my employer fancies herself one of the most powerful people in all of Remnant, and I'm inclined to believe her. You won't scare her."

"Tell you what," Naruto leaned back in his chair. "Why don't you tell her to look at the ninety-third edition of the EN bingo book and turn to page seventy-six. She can either deal with me, or she can deal with that."

"That EN bingo book," Torchwick muttered. "Are you saying you're—"

"Listen Roman," Naruto sighed as he stood form his chair. "I've been told by Junior that you're a discreet and smart man. I have no issue with you. I just need to get access to some information, and I'm willing to do quite a bit in order to get that information. I would be a massive boon to whatever this operation is. This boss of yours would be stupid to reject me when I'm not even asking for finances. And back to the bingo book…you better believe if I can't accomplish what I need to…he can. Even if I couldn't tear her operation apart, he is fully capable. I'm offering you services in return, so your employer still stands to benefit. I expect an answer by tomorrow night. Junior will let me know what answer you give him."

He looked at Neo and smiled, "It was nice to meet you Neo. If your boss's boss is smart, we might be working together soon. I hope we can work well together."

Neo smiled and mouthed her words, "I hope so too cutie!"

Naruto gave her a sly wink, before turning and exiting the club. His sensei's words echoed in his mind again.

'When meeting big players, hit them hard and be impressive.'

]-xxxXXXxxx-[

"So how did your little meeting go?" A saucy voice knocked Torchwick out of his thoughts.

"He's cocky," Torchwick shook his head as he put the book he'd been reading down on the table in front of him.

The woman that had entered the room, an extremely attractive brunette woman in a red dress with glowing amber eyes, scoffed in an unimpressed manner. "So are you, but you mind well enough."

Torchwick sighed in an annoyed tone, "Cinder, whatever I think I have backing my ego, this kid has it twenty fold if not more."

"What does that mean?" Cinder asked in a confused tone.

Torchwick didn't respond, simply pushing the book he'd put down across the table towards her. Picking it up, she read the page the book was opened to.

Entry 76

Konoha no Yurei - The Ghost of Konoha

AKA: The Bogeyman

Affiliation: Konoha

Class: SS-Class Threat

Rank: Unknown

Description: Unknown

Bounty: None

Notable Achievement's: Kill count of 50 Hunters, to include First Class Huntress Summer Rose, as well as a battalion of over 200 Soldiers at one time, with no raised alarms, leading many to believe that he accomplished this feat almost instantly.

Other Notes:

The Ghost of Konoha made his appearance shortly after The Battle of the Land of Fire Penninsula. Presumed to be Konoha's response to the death of the Hokage's apprentice, Sakura Haruno, the Ghost's appearance on the battle field means death for any of Remnant's forces.

During the Ghost's first appearance, he fought Qrow Branwen and The Equalizer, Summer Rose. Even since her death, she remains the only non-shinobi to ever be granted a moniker in the bingo book due to her ability to stand on equal footing with every opponent she's faced. Even killing the likes of Dodai of Kumo, and fighting Might Guy to a standstill while waiting for support from the Atlesian Fleet.

Qrow Branwen's survival in this fight is widely speculated to be intentional, so that Remnant would know the origin of the storm coming to them.

The Equalizer's death at the hands of the Ghost attracted attention from both Remnant's United Forces, and the Elemental Nations. The Bingo Book associations contacts suggest that the Hokage has refused to reveal the Ghost's identity even to the other Kage.

The Ghost's addition to the bingo book is the first of its kind. Only Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage, has been classified as a SS-Class threat prior to the Ghost, as he too was seen as a death sentence the moment he arrived on the battlefield. Yet even Minato Namikaze was a known individual. There is absolutely no knowledge on the identity of the Ghost. His namesake is not to be taken lightly.

Should you find yourself face to face with the Ghost as your enemy, take solace in the knowledge that there was nothing you could have done to prevent your death. To some, he is seen as an act of the gods themselves.

"What is this?" Cinder asked in an annoyed tone. "We've known about The Ghost for almost a year now. What does this have to do with anything?"

"More or less," Torchwick started with a nervous shifting. "The kid said he will be accomplishing his mission one way or another…and if he can't…then Konoha's Ghost will be visiting Remnant personally."

A violent shiver ran down Cinder's spine as the common feeling of pure fear ran rampant.

"He was a shinobi?" Cinder asked fearfully. When Torchwick nodded, her mistress's words echoed in her mind.

"I am warning you all now. The strongest of the Elemental Nation's would put even me to the test. Only my immortality would ensure my continued survival if we were to clash with them. The same cannot be said for all of you. Make no mistake, if I feel that you have contributed in incurring their wrath, I will end you in the most painful way my millennia of experience can think of. There are things in the Elemental Nations that I have no desire to toy with at this moment. Should any of you contribute in bringing more attention to us than necessary…well let my warning be given to each of you now."

"We kill him," Cinder immediately said. "We kill him before he can—"

"He has already reported you as his best lead in his last report to his superiors." Roman cut her off.

"Dammit!" Cinder ground out. "Well…I will need to think on this."

'I need to ask Salem for her advice on his matter. I will not handle this matter lightly.'

"He wants an answer by tomorrow night," Torchwick said carefully. "I wouldn't think too long."

I really had fun with the idea of Naruto being cocky and swinging his...confidence around. I feel like if Jiraiya had taken the time to properly teach Naruto the cooler parts of being a shinobi, this is the Naruto we could have ended up with. Somebody that still has an excellent moral compass, but also the means to stray from it often. And of course, sometimes straying from the moral compass may get you the results you truly need. The road to hell is paved with good intentions...and no good deed goes unpunished.

Please leave a review! Excited to hear from you all!