AN: One more week, one more chapter, as promised! Did you enjoy last weeks cliffhanger? Haha!
A quick note- a couple of reviewers, notably The Baz and ThE 4SsAsSiN noted that it made no sense for Sasuke to not carry around some Lightning Dust on his person given that he can manipulate and command it so well. It pains me to admit, but that was an error on my part. I had actually planned to have him do just that and cause a bit of damage with it during his fight, but when I started writing the scene I totally forgot about it somehow. I have no fancy excuse, and that plot hole is 100% my fault. I might go back and change that at some point, but for now I hope you'll forgive me.
RyuuundyingSoul- You're only going to get one of your questions answered this chapter, but good on you for not forgetting about Sasuke's friends who were brought along to Remnant for the ride.
KnightofZaku- Great to hear from you as always! Hope you enjoy the chapter!
Fortitude501- I can't answer your question outright, but I will say one of your hypotheses is pretty close.
Saif Omar- Stonewall's ability and Onoki's Weighted Boulder Jutsu, while similar, are not quite the same thing. When Onoki makes himself lighter he can float around and fly, but we haven't seen him use it to increase his speed by any appreciable amount like Stonewall did. It's hard to gauge exactly how fast Onoki can fly- but from what I've seen I don't think he's ever cracked the sound barrier with it. Stonewall is much faster than that and can almost match Teleportation Jutsu speeds for short distances, so it makes sense that Sasuke would not be expecting the guy to be able to blitz him outright. Also, as Sasuke mentioned in his thoughts in the last chapter, he has become too overconfident during his stay on Remnant thanks to lackluster opponents. If he had fought Stonewall the first day he had arrived in Remnant he probably would have been cautious enough to not have been caught off-guard.
Naruutard- Sasuke's chakra is regenerating far more slowly than normal, which is why he's not whipping out his Chidori or stronger jutsu as readily as he otherwise would be. Make no mistake, if the fight with Stonewall had taken place in Sasuke's world it would have been over in seconds. I will also say the decision to have slow chakra regeneration is not just an excuse to nerf Sasuke- there is a reason for it. And keep in mind that even with the nerfing, with minimal jutsu and no Genjutsu, Sasuke is still one of the strongest beings in Remnant.
Iskandar Hero- I think part of this chapter will be right up your alley.
Minato The Deathly Fool- Thanks for the positive reinforcement!
TortillaCrumbs- Zabuza could use Hiding in the Mist jutsu to launch sneak attacks on Stonewall, but he has no weapons or jutsu that could damage him. Drowning him in a Water Prison is a good idea, but once Stonewall increases his density he will simply sink out of it like a lead ball and jump out of it. If Zabuza could control the Water Prison to move around like Kisame did with his Water Prison Shark Dance and follow Stonewall until he drowned then yes, he would win, but we've never seen Zabuza do that. As of right now Sasuke still has over 90% of his chakra- the Fireball Justu doesn't use that much, but most of his missing chakra is from summoning Aoda and Garuda in Chapter 3.
Rio Skyron- It was very tempting to put in that line somewhere!
God Of Evil- Glad to hear you enjoyed it! Hopefully that trend continues with this one.
Dreamborne- Naruto canon never made it completely clear, but in this fic at least a shinobi does not necessarily lose chakra just because they are using it. For a fireball jutsu its obvious that a portion of the users chakra is used up to create the attack and needs to be regenerated later- but for things like chakra-enhanced strength/speed or wall-walking it is possible to use chakra without losing any. The chakra utilized is still inside or attached to the user's body, and thus is not necessarily 'lost'. This only applies if the user is efficient enough with their chakra to not waste any, though. And the more power is used to strengthen the body or reinforce it to endure a hit, it becomes harder to utilize the chakra with perfect efficiency and some of it will be lost. Kind of like how a car engine is less efficient and burns through more fuel per mile if you're going 80mph instead of 20.
DeathlyJazzHands55- Holy shit dude, where do I begin? First of all, you are a brave soul for giving your opinion on Naruto power levels- it can be a heated topic. The Naruto series is a long one and can be a bit intimidating at first, but take comfort that is not the 1000-plus episode monster that One Piece is, and that there is a lot of filler you can skip without missing anything important.
I don't think I can thank you enough for a review like the one you gave. It's obvious that you put a lot of time and thought into your message, and I am incredibly grateful that you thought my fic was worth it. I know I cannot possibly please everyone who reads my story, but hearing from reviewers like you who think I did a good job with most of what I wrote is gratifying beyond words.
I will confess the only reason I put the Sasuke-harem spoiler at the beginning was because I knew that if I did not, every other review I got would have been trying to convince me to pair so-and-so with this person and definitely not that person for x reason. I wanted to avoid all that, especially since the pairings have been decided already and anyone advocating for or against any shipping was going to be wasting their time.
What will Ozpin's reaction be? Oh boy, you're in for a time!
Don't worry about your review being too long- I love those ones!
'thoughts'
Uchiha of Remnant
Chapter 15: With True Power
It was a well-known fact amongst Shinobi that battles were notoriously difficult to predict. You could plan all you wanted, but realistically most plans would be lucky to hold together more than a minute or two before the chaos of reality tore them apart. Even so, what the Uchiha had just seen was so ridiculous he wondered if perhaps his momentary lack of oxygen from Stonewall throttling him was making him hallucinate.
Sasuke blinked several times, and was forced to accept that the scene before him was no illusion- even if he was still not sure how exactly this was happening. Stonewall had been thrown clear for several yards, clutching his head where the titanic Nevermore had struck him. Past him was the creature responsible for the attack- rolling off the ground from where it had seemingly crash-landed after hitting the dense Stonewall.
'What is a Grimm doing here?' the Uchiha questioned. He hadn't forgotten that since his arrival the Grimm had inexplicably seemed to vanish from the vicinity of Vale. 'We're well within the new 'Patch Anomaly' I somehow created, so why did this one come so far in?'
The creature rose with a roar, drowning out the screams of fright of many of the ex-prisoners. Then, from the black skies above, an army of thunderous bellows and caws smothered the clearing. The Uchiha glanced up, and was greeted by the sight of hundreds of flying Grimm circling them. They appeared to be all Nevermores and Griffons, but on closer inspection a few of the larger ones were actually carrying smaller Beowolves and Ursai in their talons.
The circling Nevermores all dropped their passengers, the ground shaking as the thirty-odd creatures landed around the smoking clearing. Amidst the screaming and sobbing of the more terrified members Shyla's group formed a protective circle around the children and youngest among them and raised their weapons, ready to fire at the first creature that approached. Neo and the henchmen still with her, more experienced in combat and many having faced Grimm before, formed a similar defensive circle, as did the remaining handful of Stonewall's subordinates.
Despite the firepower between them few harbored any illusions about how this would likely end. They simply did not have the firepower to defeat a group of Grimm this large. They advanced on the people in the clearing, growling and snarling as they approached, the swarm of Grimm flying above continuing to circle menacingly.
"GODS DAMN IT! WHO THE FU-" Stonewall, still getting himself off the ground, halted his furious rant as he saw just what had attacked him. His eyes widened in fear as he stumbled back, suddenly realizing the entire clearing was surrounded by the sinister creatures.
Between almost getting shot several times, facing a murderous teenager that appeared to be Death itself, and now faced with a small army of humanity's mortal enemy, it was too much for one of Stonewall's men to take.
"Fuck this, I'm out!"
Ignoring his comrades the man made a run for the truck, shooting his rifle wildly at the closest Grimm to him. He was tackled to the ground before he took five steps by a Beowolf, the creature charging suddenly when it saw the human trying to escape. Everyone watched in horror as the man began screaming, his gun pinned to the ground along with his arm as the Grimm opened its maw with a savage roar. The Grimm's open jaws approached the man's face as he violently struggled, but the expected death did not come. Another roar, a much deeper and louder one that sent chills down the spines of those that heard it, echoed across the clearing.
The creature halted its attempt to tear the terrified man's head off, immediately lifting its head and turning to the Grimm that had told it to stop. Silence fell as an enormous Beowolf, an old and scarred Alpha covered with bony spikes that towered at twice the height of the average member of his species, strode into the clearing. It sniffed the air, turning to look at each group of humans in turn.
The humans, all still terrified, were also confounded by what they were seeing.
"Wh- why aren't they attacking us?" Violet tremored, her gun shaking in her hands.
"I-I don't know. I've never heard of anything like this happening before." Shyla replied. Her gun was still raised, but the dark creatures did nothing more than sinisterly glare at them.
Nothing about this made any sense. Ever since Vale had become the new epicenter of the Patch Anomaly the number of Grimm sightings anywhere near the kingdom had dropped well below a third of what was considered normal, and the few Grimm that were sighted went out of their way to avoid contact or conflict with humans. Even on the outskirts of the kingdom where they currently were the number of Grimm attacks in the past weeks were barely in the double digits. And in all of those instances the Grimm were either cornered or attacked by Hunters first, the creatures themselves never instigating the battles.
Tonight, for some reason, was different. They had seemingly been summoned to the factory as any of their kind normally would be- flocking to the fear, hatred, and bloodlust from the ongoing battle like moths to a flame. But now, rather than tearing every human they found to pieces they merely surrounded them. Despite their lack of aggressive action they still growled lowly at the nearest people to them in clear hostility, making it known to all that they still held no love for their mortal adversaries. They were obviously not allowing anyone to flee, the pinned man still panicking beneath the Beowolf that held him firmly to the ground a clear example of what any escape attempt would be met with.
If the Grimm were not here to slaughter them all on the spot, then why were they here?
The Alpha gave a sharp bark, snapping the surrounding Grimm to attention as the humans present held their breath, scarcely daring to twitch a finger. The creature then turned toward the only human with eyes as red as its own, and began walking towards him.
Sasuke stood his ground, every bit as confused as those around him as to why the Grimm were here. He knew he was somehow the cause of the recentered Patch Anomaly; had he done something to summon the Grimm here as well? But why had they decided to come to him now?
The Uchiha put these questions in the back of his mind as the creature approached him. The Grimm had never attacked him unprovoked before- the only time he had ever fought the dark beings was when he had defended Ruby from them. Aside from that, every Grimm he had seen had been content to awkwardly watch him. Would they attack him now? None of them had made any overly hostile moves yet, but Sasuke still held his sword ready all the same in case they changed their minds.
But as the Alpha reached him, it made no aggressive moves. Even on all fours it towered above the Uchiha, staring down at the small human before it. Neo, Shyla, Violet, and even Stonewall waited with baited breath, their fear temporarily overshadowed by the curiosity of what they were seeing.
Everyone, the Uchiha included, almost did a double take as the Grimm, mere inches from Sasuke's face, let out a pitiful whine from its maw.
Jaws dropped across the clearing. Grimm did not whine. They roared, bellowed, screeched, and howled, and that was it. They did not cry, and they certainly never sounded pitiable.
And somehow, the hulking creature that populated the nightmares of humanity across Remnant did not just sound, it looked depressed. With its head hung low and ears drooping, it looked rather like a dog who had just returned from seeing the Vet. The surrounding Grimm followed suit, quietly whimpering as they looked on, even the colossal Nevermore giving a small cry.
The Alpha bent down further toward the perplexed Uchiha, sniffing gently. The creature's snout zeroed in on Sasuke's jaw, the enormous black and swollen bruise from Stonewall's previous hit grabbing its attention.
Sasuke prepared to take a step back, recalling the last time a Beowolf stuck its nose in his face.
'This is too close, I am not getting licked in the face again'
To his surprise the Grimm immediately withdrew its snout and took a small step back, looking quite forlorn.
'Thank goodness,' the Uchiha thought to himself. It was fortunate the Grimm had picked up that he didn't want the creature so clo-
Sasuke's eyes widened with a start. It was no coincidence the Alpha had backed off immediately after the Uchiha had so much as thought the creature was invading his personal space. All Grimm could sense the negative emotions of humans, sometimes from miles away. What had happened just now was a step further, though- the Alpha had not just read Sasuke's emotions- it had heard, and to at least some degree understood, his actual thoughts.
'It understood what I was thinking,' the Uchiha comprehended. 'And it reacted; it listened to me!'
Recalling his earlier memories of his encounters with Grimm, Sasuke realized that far from being the first time, every Grimm he had encountered had not only understood his thoughts, they had obeyed them!
The first Grimm he had encountered all those weeks ago in the dead of winter in Patch, hadn't it only licked his face after the Uchiha himself, annoyed with waiting to see if the creature would attack him, had wondered if the thing would make a decision? And in the cave, after waking to the sight of multiple Grimm surrounding him as he slept, had they not all filed out as soon as the Uchiha had thought how their presence next to his slumbering form would provoke an undesirable response from any humans who saw it?
Even his battle against the pack of Beowolves with Ruby, a seeming contradiction of his hypothesis of Grimm obeying his thoughts, only provided further evidence supporting it. They had fought him, true. Hardly the actions of an ally or subordinate at first glance. But they had fought him after, only after, he had assumed they would treat him as an enemy for aiding Ruby in her fight against them. Had he merely formed the thought in his head, would the entire pack have just retreated without a fight?
And the new Patch Anomaly, it was no coincidence the Grimm were hiding and avoiding conflict where they could, because that's what he was doing! Most of his spare thoughts, when not focused on creating a sealing array or practicing his newfound electrical aptitude, were focused on how he had to not get caught by the authorities and to not pick unnecessary battles.
The Grimm surrounding Vale, for weeks now, had been taking orders from him.
Suddenly, their presence here made complete sense. He had not needed help with any of his battles, and so the Grimm had simply stayed put outside of Vale. Tonight, for the first time since he had arrived on Remnant, he had faced an enemy that was an actual threat.
The Grimm had heard him, and had rushed to his aid.
The depressed look of the Alpha in front of him now made some sense, the creature's desire to assist him, not to mention treat the Uchiha's injuries as only a canine could, had been bluntly rejected. The Grimm appeared almost dejected, holding a single paw up as though it was confused as to what it should do since its presence was not wanted.
A myriad of questions raced through Sasuke's head. Why could Grimm sense his thoughts and emotions over a far greater distance than they could with a normal human? Why did they see fit to obey him at all?
Sasuke threw these queries to the back of his mind as he suddenly remembered the situation he was in. He snapped back to reality, carefully organizing his thoughts now that he was aware that Grimm for literally hundreds of miles around were listening in.
The blood froze in his body as the Uchiha began to comprehend the power he held over everyone in Vale; a lethal blade that was suspended by a rope over the necks of tens of thousands of people he had no idea he had even been holding since he had arrived on Remnant. A weight that had no metric seemed to settle on his shoulders- if he was careless, if he got too angry or had thoughts too vague, an army of literally thousands of Grimm would rush to annihilate the object of his ire, be it a single person or an entire kingdom, unless he specifically told them not to.
'I could have committed a genocide that would have made Itachi's crime look like a joke…' he realized with dread. 'I could have been responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands since I arrived in Vale with a single thought…'
With a start he shoved all thoughts of Stonewall, his men, and the prisoners to the back of his mind. He had to take care of this right now.
He calmed himself and focused his mind, making sure there were no loopholes or uncertainties the Grimm might misunderstand.
'Neo, my subordinates, Shyla, Violet, the prisoners,' he thought, mentally picturing them in his head, 'are not enemies. Do not harm them.'
Before he had even finished the sentence in his head the Grimm closest to the two groups ceased their low growls and threatening snarls. They turned their backs to the terrified and now flabbergasted people and simply walked away.
If Neo's jaw had not been attached to her face it would have fallen straight to the ground, a situation faced in equal measure by her men as well as Shyla and her group as mouths hung open in unison. Patch Anomaly or no, Grimm never, NEVER, walked away from people within reach of their claws without killing them first. In the centuries and millennia of Remnant's history such an occurrence had never happened. Ever.
"What. The actual. Fuck?"
If Neo had the ability to speak she would have uttered those same words as one of her subordinates voiced the accurate opinion of everyone present. This could not be happening! It flew in the face of every encounter between Grimm and human since the first civilization invented the writing needed to record them!
She directed her gaze back to Sasuke, who was still standing straight in front of the Alpha before him. A chill gripped her heart as she gazed at the two beings. They appeared at first glance to be a simple human and Grimm staring each other down, until she saw the eyes. Neo had never seen Sasuke turn his eyes red like they were now, and she could feel in her gut that it was far more than a mere aesthetic change.
She focused, truly focused, on the eyes of the two beings in front of her, and could see no difference between them. A frozen stone sank in her stomach as Neo realized that Sasuke and this Grimm were not mindlessly staring at each other- they were communicating!
She had no idea how. She had no idea why. But the implication could not have been more obvious.
'He- he's one of them…'
For the first time in a long time, Neopolitan trembled not with excitement, but with genuine fear.
The Grimm dispersing around the people who were not his foes, the Uchiha breathed slightly easier. Focusing on the last group, he considered his thoughts carefully. Stonewall's henchmen were hardly a threat to him, certainly not worth his time, but that didn't mean he could allow them to live. They had still willingly aided the man in his sick business and hardly deserved mercy.
Stonewall, though, was one Sasuke had already decided he would kill with his own two hands. He was the one foolish enough to try and force the Uchiha to break what little moral code he had, to force Sasuke to serve a master who disgusted him every bit as much as his previous one. That was too personal for him to let go.
Stonewall and his few remaining men looked on in confusion at the Grimm seemingly lost interest in the other groups. With expressions of fear and envy the men saw their enemies seemingly free to go while the creatures surrounding them made no such move to back off.
"H-hey, what's going on?! Why aren't you fuckers letting us go too?" one of the men shouted at the nearest Grimm.
Stonewall ignored his panicking subordinate, instead pondering the idea of trying to flee with Density Shift. If he made short jumps and created enough of a commotion it might provide enough of a diversion for Sasuke and the Grimm to face each other before they could catch him. What he next saw, however, evaporated those thoughts.
The Grimm surrounding them, all of them, slowly turned toward him and his men. They moved in concert, locking their blood-red eyes on his group with murderous intent as their raised their hackles and bared their teeth. Stonewall's heart began racing, pounding loudly enough to be heard even among the menacing snarls that surrounded them as true fear began to grip him for the second time that night.
And behind the wall of dark creatures, standing tall and proud, with a murderous expression that was far more terrifying than any of the surrounding Grimm, stood Sasuke Uchiha. The Alpha had not touched him, instead turning toward Stonewall, growling and snapping its jaws.
Eyes widened and blood froze in the veins of every witness to the unholy spectacle as one by one, they realized the Uchiha's secret.
No one moved or said a word. Everyone knew what was coming next.
'Stonewall is mine,' Sasuke declared in his mind, staring down his now terrified enemy. 'Kill the rest.'
The Grimm charged, savage roars drowning out both the screams of pain from the men as they were mauled to death and the shouts of horror from the surrounding witnesses who had been spared of the massacre. Bodies were torn apart, limbs and heads crushed between merciless jaws, abdomens skewered with claws and split open, spilling guts and organs to the ground that was already painted red with splattered blood.
In a few seconds it was all over. The last dying scream cut short as the throat that cried it was torn clean off by the monsters thirsty for their blood. Standing frozen in fear, and covered in the blood of his slaughtered subordinates, Stonewall could only look on in horror as Sasuke Uchiha slowly approached him.
"I- It's you!" He stammered, falling to his knees and pointing a shaky finger at the approaching demon. "T-the Patch Anomaly moving to Vale, the Grimm coming here, i-it was you! It was you the whole time!"
Sasuke did not bother with a response, ignoring the multiple gasps of shock from the surrounding audience as he casually continued strolling up to the cowering man.
"What are you!?" the panicking man hyperventilated. His pale skin clammy with cold sweat as keeping his Semblance active had long been forgotten in his shock. "WHAT ARE YOU!? WHAT ARE YOU, YOU FUCKING FREAK!?"
Sasuke stopped mere feet away, regarding the man before him that was a disgraceful shell of his former confidence.
"I already told you," the Uchiha coldly replied, his words reaching the ears of everyone still breathing, "my name is Sasuke Uchiha."
He stared down at the man with utter disgust, his gleaming eyes looking on him as though he was a blot of pond scum on his shoe.
"And I would rather be a freak than a monster."
With a flash of his sword too fast for even Neo to see, Sasuke thrust his blade forward straight into the monster's mouth and pierced the pitiful amount of Aura he still had. With eerie silence the smooth metal severed the spinal cord and lower brainstem before erupting from the back of Stonewall's head.
With a silent huff of disgust the Uchiha removed his blade from the dying man, taking a split second to wipe the blood off with Stonewall's shirt as he collapsed to the ground in a spasming heap. Tearing his eyes away from the trash, Sasuke raised his eyes and was greeted by faces white with shock and eyes frozen in terror.
Terror of him.
The Uchiha suddenly realized in the heat of the moment he had overlooked a rather obvious problem.
'They saw me. They all saw me summon and control Grimm, and they all know I'm the reason the Patch Anomaly has shifted to Vale.'
This was, to put it mildly, a huge problem. The Uchiha was going to have enough on his plate trying to avoid further conflict as it was. He still had to track down Roman and turn him into a corpse before the night was through, and then make it to the first airship out of Vale he could find and hope none of the events tonight were traced back to him.
He wasn't too worried about Neo and his surviving subordinates. Even if he left the kingdom, they respected (and now feared) him enough to not rat him out. Not to mention that being members of Roman's gang meant that they would invariably have to turn themselves in to the police in the process and essentially plead guilty to any associated crimes. Shyla's ragged group of ex-slaves, on the other hand, were going to have no such inhibitions about giving his name and identity to the authorities.
Before the Grimm had arrived, he probably could have pulled it off. The prisoners would almost certainly have been willing to avoid giving his name in gratitude for him saving them from slavery, at the very least refusing to give the authorities his name for just long enough for him to disappear somewhere in the fringes of Mistral.
There was no way that was happening now. None of them in their right mind would keep their mouth shut about the fact their kingdom was harboring a teenager that was not only single-handedly responsible for the new Patch Anomaly, but could summon Grimm at will and command them to kill anyone of his choosing.
He was an unchecked loose cannon that was a national security risk of the highest magnitude to any kingdom he inhabited.
As his mind furiously pondered what to do, a brief memory from his days at Konoha's Academy flashed in his head. It was one of his earlier lessons, a walk-through of an assassination mission that specifically demanded their identities as the killer remained secret his instructors had created. They asked the class questions on how to prepare and proceed with the mission, throwing curveballs or unforeseen complications into the mission every now and then to keep the class on their toes and to test their ability to adapt to new circumstances. On this particular one they had told the class that right after completing the kill, the target's child had come into the room and had seen their parent's body and your uncovered face.
What would a true Shinobi do?
Sasuke had known what the answer was, but had not volunteered to give it. That lesson had taken place only months after the Uchiha Massacre, and the wound was still too fresh for him to utter the words.
Ino had given the correct answer, squirming in her seat as she did so.
It would be easy, so easy, to make this problem go away.
The Grimm, perfectly in sync with the new thoughts racing in his mind, had already started snarling and snapping at Shyla's group.
Violet in particular felt her skin grow cold as she saw the fangs of the surrounding beasts, still coated in the blood and flesh of their previous kills, bared at her. And beyond them, Sasuke's crimson gaze was staring straight at her group as though they were a stain on his shoes he needed to rid himself of. She fell to her knees and dropped her gun as she, along with everyone with her, realized the plight they were in. They all knew the Uchiha's secret, one that he could not have anyone spilling.
Violet forgot how to breathe as every nightmare she had about the Uchiha seemed to flash before her eyes. The Grimm approached menacingly, snapping their jaws in eager anticipation.
From his position the Uchiha looked on, almost lost in his own mind.
'I wouldn't even technically have to do it myself. The Grimm are more than happy to do the job. It's actually a good cover too- any detectives who come by will just assume some Grimm finished off the group here with no one the wiser.'
It was at this moment that a far different thought passed through his mind.
'That doesn't make it right'
The Uchiha clenched his fingers in annoyance. Where the hell had that thought come from? He was a Shinobi- he couldn't let personal feelings get in the way of what was necessary.
'I cannot have them telling anyone else what they saw. There's no way I'll find the peace needed to create the seal home if I have every Huntsman and Huntress in Vale on my tail.'
Not just Vale, he would probably have every spare Hunter in all four kingdoms after him when they realized what a threat he could be. Hell, he was going to have literal armies chasing him down if this got out.
'And so you'll kill these helpless civilians to ensure that? Some of them children younger than you were when Itachi slaughtered the Clan! Are you hearing yourself?!'
He didn't want to do it, certainly. But if he wanted to get home he was going to have to. There was no other way.
'I have to get back to my own world. If this is the price I need to pay then so be it.'
'YOU ARE NOT THE ONE PAYING THE PRICE!'
Sasuke clenched his hands harder, his fingernails biting into the skin of his palms with pain he could not feel.
'Look at them! These people have done nothing wrong, are helpless to defend themselves, and yet here you stand ready to have them all killed! Why the hell did you get so upset seeing Stonewall sell them into slavery for nothing more than his own convenience when you're so easily willing to murder them all so you can get what you want!'
His nails punctured his skin, coating them in a thin layer of blood. He ignored the pain effortlessly, though he could not avoid meeting Shyla's desperate eyes as she held her gun in shaking arms, the woman silently begging him for mercy from the savage Grimm mere feet away from her.
'That's different; Stonewall enjoyed it! He fucking got off on seeing them suffer. I'm doing this because I have to, not because I want to!'
'AND THAT MAKES IT OKAY!? You think the family members of these people will give a damn about what your excuse for slaughtering them was if they heard it!?'
A young girl, one of the youngest present, probably no older than six or seven, was sobbing in the bosom of one of the older women. He could read her lips flawlessly with his Sharingan; she was telling the girl they would all survive and everything would be alright.
'SHUT UP!' Sasuke roared to himself, intense enough to make some of the Grimm perk their ears at the sudden flood of emotion. 'I have to do this! There is no other option!'
'What right do you have to call Itachi, or Orochimaru, or Stonewall monsters? What right do you have to accuse them of evil, of slaughtering and torturing people helpless to stand up to them for their own selfish desires, when you stand here so willing to commit the same evil with the SAME FUCKING EXCUSE!?"
Sasuke's jaw began to grind, his teeth almost ready to crack from the pressure. His palms were bleeding heavily now, the life fluid leaking from them steadily dripping to the earth below.
'WHAT WILL IT MATTER IF YOU MAKE IT BACK TO YOUR WORLD AFTER GOING THROUGH WITH THIS!? YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO KILL ITACHI, NOT FOLLOW IN HIS FOOTSTEPS!'
The Grimm, mere inches from Shyla's group with their claws raised and maws wide open, halted in their tracks before stepping back. Holding their breath, they dared to glance at the man who controlled them, and saw Sasuke in a state none of them would have believed had they heard about it.
The Uchiha's fists, coated in blood, trembled with emotion. His jaw was lock-tight and his teeth clenched in seething rage. And underneath his eyes, still blazing crimson, were a pair of almost invisible tears.
With a roar so laced in rage even the Grimm cowered, Sasuke bellowed into the night. His fist flew with unrestrained power, shattering the tree it had struck in half in a rain of splinters.
He couldn't do it. He just couldn't do it.
Threatening to kill Violet, just one person, was one thing. But this- this would be too much.
It would make everything he had fought and struggled for in the last nine years of his life utterly meaningless if he went through with this. If he did this, if he crossed that line, his victory over Itachi would be worthless. He would not be defeating the monster his brother had become, he would be replacing him.
Focusing his thoughts, Sasuke gave the Grimm his next command.
'Leave. Get as far away from Vale as you can and do not attack anybody.'
The Grimm turned and fled without wasting a moment, disappearing into the night as the Nevermores and Griffons that had been circling above abruptly all turned and flew away from Vale at top speed.
With a controlled exhale Sasuke calmed himself down, raising his head to see the people he had spared. They were still terrified, having come so close to being torn to shreds by the Grimm following his command. Many had tears flooding down their faces, and there was still a significant amount of sobbing from the kids among them. But there was a faint, almost invisible glimmer of hope in a few faces as the murderous creatures retreated.
Deactivating his Sharingan, Sasuke looked at the collection of former slaves who were certainly going to spill his secret for the world to hear the first chance they had. They waited with baited breath, eyes locked on the man who was quite literally choosing who was going to live and who was going to die in this awful place tonight.
With his palm still dripping blood and with a movement that seemed far too stiff, he gave them a small but barely perceptible nod.
They were free to go.
He turned toward what he considered to be his group, or at least what was left after most of them had been killed in the firefight with Stonewall's men. They had arrived here with the utmost respect for him, and were even loyal enough to take his side in what had seemed at the time a hopeless battle. As he looked upon them though, he realized he really couldn't count himself among their number anymore.
He had not ordered the Grimm to attack or even think of attacking them, so had hardly received the scare Shyla's group had, but that didn't mean they weren't terrified of what they saw. They stared at him with nervous eyes, as though they were a herd of deer ready to flee if he made too sudden a move. For the first time they saw the Uchiha for what he was- an outsider. An alien being that was fundamentally different, who was capable of feats no one should have been able to perform, or even understand.
Like Stonewall had called him- a freak.
With a small knot of tension in his gut that should not have been there for a Shinobi who could properly control their emotions, he turned toward his thus far most steadfast ally that had accompanied him tonight.
It was no secret Neo and Sasuke were far closer than anyone else present. They had been partners for the last few weeks, sharing missions, sharing sparring matches, and recently sharing physical intimacy.
Still, 'closer' was a relative term. And physical intimacy was just that- physical. There was nothing deeper, and both Sasuke and Neo had kept it that way since they began sharing time with each other. The line of work they were in was hardly practical for a conventional relationship built on true loyalty with an army of potential back-stabbers and snitches potentially crossing their paths every day. They had both known that from the start and had kept each other at arm's length. They did respect each other, enjoyed the other's company (to a degree), and did have a degree of trust between them.
As Sasuke looked at Neo, it was clear what trust she had for him was shattered. As for respect, well, it had been replaced with fear. Her mismatched eyes stared at him in disbelief, as though trying to wrap her mind around the fact that the entire time she had known him, worked with him, and bedded him, he had been a wolf in sheep's clothing. He had the power to bring a kingdom to its knees with a single thought, slaughter an army of enemies that she was utterly helpless against with ease, and could hide it from the world effortlessly.
The spars she had had with him, bouts that had brought her tremors of excitement at the time, now seemed far more sinister. The speed, the power, of the massacre he had just committed blew what he had shown her in their matches out of the water. She knew he had been holding back, but she never would have guessed just how much the Uchiha had been pulling his punches. It was unnerving to consider he could have killed her as easily as squashing an insect at any time if he had wanted to.
He was too powerful- unnaturally so. It was too easy for him to take the life of his enemies- far too easy. He was more like the incarnation of Death itself, or some perverse union of human and Grimm, clothed and disguised in mortal flesh. He was on a separate plane, a being who stood above the puny creatures beneath him even if he camouflaged his true nature from them.
Neo took a small step back, her jaw clenched with tension. With a visage that was a knife's edge from trembling, her pink and chocolate strands adorning her head waving almost imperceptibly as she gave a small shake of her head.
"No"
It shouldn't have meant anything. He had seen it coming, he had known Neo was only loyal so long as abandoning ship was the worse option for her. It was nothing new- with the possible exception of Juugo literally every relationship he had had with every Shinobi since he had left Konoha, of any kind, however large or small, had been based on nothing more than shallow mutual convenience. When something didn't work out for the other person, they left. When he had nothing to gain from further interaction, he left. He had thought Neo was far enough from him for any breakdown between the two of them to be simple and easy, but for some reason he felt a dull pain in his chest when she took that first step away from him.
The gap between them was too far to bridge.
Now, he was truly alone.
Without a word Sasuke took a step back himself before turning around and leaping into the trees toward Vale, leaving the shocked and shattered survivors behind.
He hadn't made it more than half a mile before the adrenaline rush of battle left his body, and he remembered that Stonewall had hit him hard back in the factory. His gut felt like it had been target practice for Tsunade's legendary punches, and that metaphor was probably not too far off. Leaping between the trees as though he were already back home, he gently rolled his neck, trying to soothe the abused tendons and muscles that had almost snapped when the slave trader had punched him.
Despite the pain, he knew none of his injuries were too serious. He would have nasty bruises on his stomach and jaw for a day or two even with Orochimaru's healing factor in play, but it was nothing that would cripple him.
He refocused his mind on his next mission for the night- finding Roman and killing him.
'Alone.' He hastily added, now aware he had company listening in on his thoughts.
Sasuke heaved a weary sigh. He was going to have to really watch what he was thinking now; he couldn't afford to have an army of Grimm assault Vale if he pondered the wrong words.
His eyes shot open and his feet stopped in their tracks as he realized a crucial factor he had missed earlier.
The new Patch Anomaly, his control over the Grimm, that extended around the Kingdom of Vale for miles. As intimidating as the collection of Grimm at the factory had been, there was no way they were the only ones who responded to his call.
There were tens of thousands of Grimm that surrounded the kingdom, and if his theory about his control over them was right, all of them would have rushed to his location.
'All Grimm, go as far away from Vale as you can and do not attack any humans!' he hastily projected in his mind, desperately hoping none of the other hordes of Grimm had made it too far into the kingdom.
He quickly fished out his scroll to see if a general Grimm attack warning had been issued while he had been fighting, but furrowed his brow in frustration when he saw the device was bent and twisted. The screen had been shattered and was broken beyond repair, probably crushed when he had been shot through the walls in the factory.
Calming himself down and restarting his journey back to the city, the Uchiha pondered that perhaps the situation had already resolved. In theory, the other Grimm would have begun retreating the moment he had sent his group away several minutes ago. And if they behaved at all like the ones that had made it to him at the factory, they weren't going to bother killing anyone. After all, before he had told them to kill Stonewall's men they had seemed more concerned about his condition if the Alpha's behavior was anything to go on.
When he arrived in Vale an hour later, he was relieved to see the city was untouched. The invasion of Grimm he had hypothesized had occurred some time ago and the general alarm in Vale had been sounded. Thankfully judging from the updates blasting from the city's emergency sirens the Grimm had not only turned back, but had seemingly not attacked anyone. It was unclear if there were any deaths from trampling, but otherwise it seemed the Uchiha's inadvertent slip-up had thankfully not resulted in disaster.
'Thank goodness' he thought, relieved the only people dying by his hand tonight would be those who truly deserved it.
'Speaking of which…'
Sasuke shot past the gaps in the rooftops, eager to make it to his destination. Logically, killing Roman was probably a moot point now. The entire point of killing him would be to ensure the thief could no longer threaten to identify him as an illegal alien to the authorities with an anonymous tip. Now, however, the soon-to-be-slaves he had freed from Stonewall would be singing his secret for the world to hear in probably only another hour or two.
He was going to have far worse problems than whatever passed for the Immigration Bureau once they told their story. But despite the lack of logical reasons, Sasuke had plenty of personal ones to justify ending Torchwick's life before the sun came up.
The Uchiha had certainly not forgiven the man for strong-arming him into doing the thief's dirty work for him in the first place, a risk on the Uchiha's part that Roman had no doubt known would force him to continue working for the man. And now the thief had the audacity to set up an ambush to kill him if he failed a loyalty test that Roman knew damn good and well the Uchiha would not accept. Not only that, the coward hadn't even had the spine to be there himself for it!
Sasuke was not letting that go.
A couple minutes of travel later and the Uchiha was back at the warehouse his night had begun. Arriving from the back he walked up the wall to the second floor, hardly intending to go through the front. Peering through the window, and couldn't help but slightly raise a brow in confusion. Only a single light near the center of the building was on, weakly illuminating the dozens of boxes of stolen Dust around it.
'I thought Roman had said everyone would meet back here when their missions were finished? His group only had to travel a few miles to get to the robbery, shouldn't they have made it back by now?'
The Uchiha took a quick circle around the warehouse, looking for any sign of Roman. He found nothing.
'That son of a bitch…' he mentally cursed, 'he actually tried to set me up here too!'
It was a far less subtle attempt than Stonewall's ambush, but Sasuke recognized a trap when he saw one. The single light luring whoever saw it to the center of the room, surrounded by almost pitch-darkness, there was nothing else it could be. Roman knew the Uchiha was absurdly strong, and had made a contingency plan if Stonewall had been unable to defeat him.
'Clever, Roman. But not clever enough.'
Trying a different approach, Sasuke activated Mizuchi. His senses extended into the warehouse, feeling for any electronic activity. He had been hoping to sense any scrolls that had been left on by any assassins trying to hide themselves in the dark, but he felt something else instead. There were wisps of electricity whizzing though small bits of circuitry, almost too weak for him to sense.
There was only one source… just a bit outside the light.
Sasuke squinted closely, wondering exactly what the thief had planned for him if he had been stupid enough to walk in.
Hidden in the shadows next to one of the Dust containers was a small black box, so small he had almost missed it. It looked rather unassuming, but he could see several wires jutting from it into the closest container. And what looked like an antenna on the top for wireless transmission.
Sasuke realized with a start what he was seeing. He had only heard about them, but the way the device was set up could only mean it was a detonator. A detonator attached to enough raw Dust to blow a skyscraper in half.
He was grateful he hadn't been a Naruto-esque idiot who would be enough of a moron to walk in the front door without a second thought. There was no way he would have survived being in the epicenter of an explosion that size.
The Uchiha huffed in annoyance. Roman wasn't going to catch him in his little trap, but it also meant the Uchiha had no leads on where to find the traitorous thief. With a silent exhale of resentment, he realized he was going to have to give up trying to find Torchwick. Vale would be launching the largest manhunt in Remnant's history for him in an hour or so, and he couldn't waste time on a wild goose chase.
Still, he realized he had to do something about the city block destroying bomb Roman had set up first. Neo and his former subordinates had been betrayed by Roman as much as he had, and were going to be making themselves scarce as soon as they returned to the city. But that only meant someone else would spring the trap instead. If some maintenance worker performed a check on the building, or if some kids decided to play in the abandoned warehouse, the city block surrounding the warehouse would be overlooking the rim of a crater.
Fortunately, Sasuke had an easy fix. Reaching out with Mizuchi again, he snared the pulsing electricity in the detonators.
Perfect! Now all he had to do was short out the batteries to kill the power, and the detonators would be neutralized.
Anyone else would have likely been sweating bullets had they been in the Uchiha's position. He had heard disarming bombs was a delicate and tricky business, as they could be wired any number of ways to detonate. Sasuke was hardly an expert on bombs or the art of how to disarm them, the exploding tags from his home world being far too simplistic to accurately compare.
Fortunately he didn't need to be.
He did not know the exact mechanics nor every part and function of the detonator, but he did know that this detonator was an electrical one. And that meant that in order to trigger the explosion, a strong pulse of electricity needed to be conducted to a wire buried in the desired explosive, at which point the wire would heat up to the point of vaporizing and ignite the bomb.
Even if he triggered the detonator it would make no difference- with Mizuchi in effect he could literally freeze the searing current in its tracks well before it could reach and ignite the Dust.
He focused, prepared to do just that, when his senses picked up another electronic signature. It would have been ignored, but it was only a couple dozen feet from the front entrance of the warehouse, and it was a signature he was very familiar with.
'A scroll? Is someone else here?'
Releasing his grip on the electrons in the detonator he rounded his way to the front of the building. Rather oddly, the signature was coming from a small bush right outside the entrance.
With silent grace the Uchiha dropped to the ground in front of the bush, eyes scanning for that small glint of plasti-
There! Hidden behind a cluster of leaves, the scroll was tilted on its side. He leaned down to pick it up, with any luck it would be Roman's scroll, and the thief would have been careless enough to leave some useful information on it.
On seeing a small green light on the side of the device his body made an involuntary shudder. He was uncomfortably familiar with it- it was the camera light that indicated the scroll was recording a video, a light he had seen on the scrolls of far too many females as they had tried to get a few moments of footage of 'the hottest guy they had ever seen' to do things with he would rather not know.
'Wait a minute- recording?!'
A scroll recording a video…
A scroll not dropped haphazardly but placed upright, in a hidden position, the camera pointing toward the front door of the warehouse…
Sasuke felt his blood freeze.
A warehouse filled with explosive Dust…
Explosive Dust that was set to be triggered by detonators…
Detonators that had wireless antennae and could be activated remotely…
His legs shot him off the ground away from the warehouse like a rocket, his Sharingan blazing and hands already forming the seals for Teleportation Jutsu. He turned around with eyes widened in fear, forming the last seal with his fingers. His initial jump had only shot him back about thirty yards from the building, nowhere near enough distance for a blast this size. It was when the Jutsu took hold, just starting to shoot his body back at speeds invisible to anyone who did not possess the Sharingan, that the building exploded. His skin screamed in pain at the searing heat when his entire field of vision was suddenly overwhelmed by a split second of blinding orange flame that crashed into his body with the might of a tsunami before Sasuke's world went black.
Innocence, Ozpin pondered, was truly a precious thing. It was a testament to how harsh and unforgiving the world was that despite every person being born into said state, the cold nature of reality was so quick to evaporate childish naivete. The dreams of ignorant youths, wide-eyed with hope, always seemed to eventually shatter like waves upon the shore without end.
It seemed Ruby Rose was becoming another casualty of the bitter taste of reality.
From what Tai had told him she was, and to an extent remained, an incredibly cheerful young girl who had a talent for spreading smiles to those she met. Now, however, there was something very familiar he could see behind her eyes, and it wasn't their silver color that spoke of her heritage and potential. No, it was the creeping presence of pessimism that he had seen literally more times than he could remember. Tai had pridefully shown him pictures of his 'precious baby girl' before, and the smile that could have once lit a room had been unmistakably dimmed.
He had heard what the girl had been through recently. The disappearance and likely death of this mysterious 'Sasuke', regardless of how little time they had spent together, had hit her hard.
But if it seemed as though Ruby was now walking down the same depressing path as the countless who had come before her, then it also seemed as though she was straying from it.
"I want to be a Huntress."
Ozpin had been around more than long enough to recognize when someone was merely saying what others wanted to hear rather than their genuine thoughts, but he heard no such deception in her words. Ruby Rose had meant what she said. Not merely about a career as a Huntress, as a simple means to put food on her table, but as a heartfelt desire to live as a Huntress and all it entailed.
"You want to slay monsters?" he questioned, already suspecting her answer.
"Umm, well sort of…" she trailed off, her determination taking a hint of uncertainty.
"Really?" Ozpin remarked, "What kind of Huntress has no desire to kill Grimm?"
"Well," Ruby started, wringing her hands together, "the job of a Huntress is to protect people, right? I mean, the only reason we fight monsters at all is because they kill innocent people, and so protecting them is the actual reason we fight the Grimm at all… isn't it?"
The girl was fighting down a blush of embarrassment, no doubt from her less-than eloquent delivery. But beyond that Ozpin could see that alongside the loss of some of her child-like idealism, Ruby had gained a powerful insight that few Hunters ever truly appreciated. It seemed the tumultuous events she had recently suffered had granted her arguably the rarest of talents amongst those that fought evil- the clairvoyance of warriors that gave foremost thought to what they were fighting for instead of what they fought against.
Though the young woman still held the air of an uncertain youth, there was a powerful determination in her face.
"Do you know who I am?" Ozpin asked after a momentary pause.
"Y-you're Professor Ozpin," Ruby answered, slightly confused as to where their conversation was heading. "You're the Headmaster of Beacon Academy."
"I am," Ozpin said with a small smile. "And as Headmaster, what would you say if I offered to give you a chance to enroll in Beacon this semester?"
Silver eyes widened in shock and the girls jaw dropped so low it almost appeared as though it had detached from her skull. Ozpin didn't see Glynda's reaction, but he could feel her mouth narrowing and her brow furrowing in disapproval.
"Wait, enroll as in now!?" Ruby exclaimed, "I still have two years left at signal before I can go to Beacon, shouldn't I finish there first before going to your school?"
Beacon's Headmaster inwardly gave a small chuckle at Ruby's response. It was obvious she wanted to say yes, but wasn't sure if she was skilled enough to advance two whole years.
'Not to mention her confidence as a Huntress probably took a hit from losing this 'Sasuke' boy'
Ruby's confidence notwithstanding, Ozpin had been around more than long enough to know the young woman in front of him was more than ready to advance beyond her peers. Her fighting skills at Signal were exemplary, and her performance outside the classroom during the last several weeks, including her fight with Roman and the horde of Grimm earlier that very evening, had been most impressive for her age.
Most importantly was her inheritance on her mother's side. Ruby probably had no idea of the history or the power of her Silver Eyes, but she could learn how to wield them over the next few years. And thankfully, Summer had gifted her only daughter with not only her eyes, but with her heart.
'…the job of a huntress is to protect people, right?"
Ruby had said those words not two minutes ago, but Ozpin highly doubted she knew how few people her age would have uttered them.
"Your humility on this matter is appreciated, Miss Rose," Ozpin interrupted before Ruby could find other objections to raise, "but I'm afraid an extra two years at Signal would be little more than a waste of your time."
He raised his scroll, swiping through various clips of Ruby fighting. A quick scene of her defeating Torchwick's henchmen, another of her slicing her way through Grimm attacking Signal, one of her defeating one of her classmates in a spar.
"I've been in the business of training Hunters for decades Ruby, and I can assure you I would not give you this offer if I were not sure you were ready to move to the next level."
He observed Ruby's emotions seamlessly transition as he finished his words. First she was nervous, apprehensive about just skipping two years that her peers would have to endure, then her eyes glistened in blossoming hope as she realized her dream was that much closer to being realized. She grasped the edge of the table as if to ground herself, not entirely succeeding as she began subtly bouncing in her seat with excitement.
"Y-yes! Yes! I accept!"
Ozpin's ears picked up a quiet huff behind him as the excited girl beamed at him, it was no real surprise Glynda did not agree with his decision. Even before Glynda had graduated from Beacon herself she had always been rather strict and never approved of flouting practiced and legal norms. He had a suspicion, however, that the Huntress was less upset about him bending the rules and more on the fact that he was roping a 15-year-old girl, a minor, into an exhausting, endless, and painful duty that had already taken the life of said girl's mother.
He knew perfectly well Glynda was going to give him a piece of her mind for essentially stealing two years of peaceful bliss with her classmates to recruit her a bit early, and under normal circumstances he would have preferred to let the girl enjoy the rest of her relatively blissful childhood. Normal circumstances, however, were gone. Amber was living on borrowed time and according to every diagnostic they had run, would not survive the year. He was unsure what would happen to the remainder of her Fall Maiden's power now that it had been split, but it was entirely reasonable it would seek out its other half and give Salem a subordinate not even he could hope of defeating alone. This by itself was cause for immediate concern, but then there were the unknowns.
Between the crippling of the kingdom's Police Force and the surging crime wave, the master of a giant, sentient hawk whose identity and goal were unknown was roaming Remnant somewhere, the relocation of the Patch Anomaly to Vale, and the sudden Grimm attack that had taken place not two hours earlier despite said Patch Anomaly, Ozpin could not afford to wait two years for the girl to graduate. He needed fresh manpower, and he needed it now.
Ruby looked at him with all the innocent eagerness of youth, blissfully unaware of the pain and suffering she would both witness and endure in the coming years. Still, he was almost certain that even if he had told her what awaited her down this road, she still would have accepted. It made the guilt of cutting her childhood short a little, a very little, easier to bear.
A sudden tremor shot through the ground beneath their feet, jolting Ozpin and Ruby in their chairs and almost throwing Glynda to the ground as a layer of dust was dislodged from the surrounding walls and ceiling and began raining down on their heads as a fine powder.
"What in the world!?" Glynda exclaimed, stumbling to her feet.
Next to her Ozpin was already rising from his chair. Vale was far from any earthquake zone, and the lone tremor that had passed could realistically come from only one other source.
"Glynda," he began, his casual, friendly tone from his earlier conversation with Ruby replaced by sternness that could only come from a seasoned commander, "check with the officers outside to see if any explosions were sighted in the city."
The Huntress stood at attention, her previous misgivings at Ruby's enrollment temporarily evaporating. "Yes, sir!"
"A- an explosion, Professor?!" Ruby said in a panic.
"Most likely" Ozpin replied. "I've witnessed enough large Dust explosions to recognize a shockwave when I feel it."
"Then what are we still doing here!?" Ruby exclaimed, jumping out of her seat. "We have to go-"
"We have to know where the explosion happened before we can do anything," Ozpin interrupted, stopping the young Huntress-in-training in her tracks. "And the best place to do that is right here at the Police Station where dozens of emergency calls will no doubt come through in a few minutes that will let us know exactly where we need to go."
"Oh," said Ruby with a small blush of embarrassment. "I'm sorry, Professor…"
"Don't worry miss Rose," he said with a small smile, "learning to keep a clear head under stress is one of the more difficult lessons for Hunters to learn, but it will come in time."
"That being said," he continued, giving Ruby a warm but pointed look, "I think it is time for you to return home and get some rest, your father is probably upset with me keeping you out this late as it is."
"What, but what about the explosion? Don't I need to stay and help?" she pleaded.
"I'm afraid a speed-enhancing Semblance and a giant scythe will not be of much use clearing out debris or performing first-aid on injured civilians," he replied before giving the girl a knowing look. "Not to mention I recognize the signs of someone who is exhausted to the point of fighting to keep their eyes open."
A guilty look adorned Ruby's face. It was admirable the girl still wanted to help, but the night was catching up with her fast and Ozpin could tell she was simply not used to staying awake as long as she was.
"Well, I… I guess I am a little tired" the girl admitted bashfully.
"There is nothing wrong with wanting to help people in need, but you cannot forget to take care of your own needs as well" said Ozpin, taking a quick sip of his coffee. "Don't worry Ruby, I can assure you that Vale's emergency services are more than up to the task."
"Well, I guess I'll see you at Beacon, Professor." The young girl turned, stifling a yawn as she turned to leave. Abruptly, she turned to Ozpin again with a look of one who had been reminded of something. "Wait a minute Professor, can I ask you something?"
The bespeckled man paused a moment, sensing the young woman had something on her mind a bit more serious than a question about her enrollment in Beacon.
"Of course, Ruby. What is it?"
"Well, I just want to know if you've found any sign of Sasuke."
Ozpin gave a silent sigh, looking with pity at the girl as she wrung her hands nervously, her silver eyes silently pleading for some sign that the boy she had found had miraculously reappeared.
"I saw where we thought his campsite was," she continued, her voice cracking slightly, "and I know he… he probably didn't survive. But me and Yang didn't see any… umm… remains, and, well I just thought maybe there was a chance…"
The ancient man only gave a brief pause before giving his answer, knowing full well from centuries of experience that it was better to tear off the band-aid quickly with such matters.
"I'm afraid that to my knowledge, no one has seen or heard anything about your mysterious guest," Ozpin said, his heart nearly melting at the crestfallen look on the girl's face. "His description and sketch are all still up on the Hunter's mission boards along with other missing persons though, so there is still a chance he could be found."
A miniscule chance, Ozpin thought to himself. In all likelihood the boy was dead, but he couldn't bring himself to throw that in Ruby's face that bluntly. The girl was suffering enough from losing him already.
In ordinary circumstances that would have been the end of the conversation, but as Ozpin saw the beginnings of tears forming in Ruby's silver eyes, he just didn't have the heart to send her on her way without trying something to lift her spirits. Even if it had next to no chance of making a difference.
"You know, Ruby," Ozpin continued, grabbing the girl's attention again, "there may be a way you can help us have a better chance of finding him."
"R-really!?" the girl's eyes shot open, shining with glimmers of optimistic hope. "What is it? I'll do anything!"
"Well, as far was missing persons go we know very little about this 'Sasuke' of yours aside from a very general description and his first name," said Ozpin. "You were with him for a bit longer than your father, if there is anything more you could add to what we know about him it may help us recognize him more easily."
"Well, I do know his full name. It's… umm…" Ruby paused, trying to remember.
She tilted her head and shifting her eyes to the corner of the ceiling in a pondering manner before she burst, "Uchiha! Sasuke Uchiha!"
Ruby still had her eyes on the corner of the ceiling and her senses still dulled by drowziness, and that was the only reason she did not see Ozpin's eyes shoot open like dinner plates, nor flinch so hard he almost dropped his mug. A moment later centuries of experience controlling his body language made Ozpin appear as relaxed as he had a moment before, but it did not stop him from almost clenching his cane to the point of cracking it, nor did it keep his heart from almost exploding in his chest.
"Uchiha, you say? His full name is Sasuke Uchiha?"
"Yup!" the girl replied, smiling innocently. "And he had this super-cool Semblance that covered his sword in lightning and made it cut through those Grimm that attacked us like it was nothing! I mean, I love Crescent Rose, and she can cut through just about anything, but the way his sword sliced though the Grimm it was like he was just cutting air and it was just so cool!"
Ozpin was barely listening to the girl as she continued to ramble, focusing more on his raging torrent of thoughts and memories. The Semblance Ruby described was unfamiliar, but Uchiha was a name he would never forget for as long as he lived.
The massive Grimm attack they had fought off, the migration of the Patch Anomaly, it all made so much sense now.
"Oh! And he could turn his eyes red too!"
Ozpin's heart leapt into his throat. He was genuinely afraid to hear the answer to the question he knew he needed to ask.
"Were there anything… unusual about his eyes, Ruby?"
"Well, they weren't just plain red like Yang's when she gets mad" the girl answered. "They had little, I don't know, commas or something in them. Three in each eye I think…"
Had Ozpin been standing he would have collapsed on the floor. He was thankfully still in his chair and did not have to worry about that scenario, but nothing could stop the cold sweat building on his palms as he began having a full-on panic attack for the first time in centuries.
"Well, we certainly appreciate the additional information, Ruby. With any luck, it will help us find him."
"You're welcome, Professor!" she chirped obliviously, giving a small wave as she turned to the door.
The instant the girl was gone and the door was shut, Ozpin let out the breath he had been holding as his mind raced. He shot out of his seat, for the first time in his current body using his cane to support his weight that his trembling legs could not bear alone.
It was of course at that moment Glynda returned, throwing the door open with her Semblance in her haste.
"Professor Ozpin, there was a massive explosion on West 23- wait, are you alright? You're as white as a sheet!"
Ozpin turned to look at her, and for the first time since she had known him she saw actual fear in his face.
"Go to the explosion site, but don't stay there too long. Just clear out what the regular crews can't handle and let them finish the search and rescue!"
"Wait, you mean leave before everyone is rescued?" the Huntress exclaimed, almost in disbelief.
"The boy that went missing from Tai's house, we need to find him now!"
Glynda paused for a moment, trying to comprehend the reason for the tremor in Ozpin's voice.
"That Sasuke boy?" she said. She remembered his sketch well enough, the fact that Tai Yang had been the one to report him missing after spending the night at his own home had warranted that she take a bit more time to memorize his name and appearance than other people who had disappeared. It also didn't hurt that despite his portrait being a mere sketch, she couldn't deny he seemed incredibly handsome.
"His full name is Sasuke Uchiha. He has a lightning-based Semblance of some kind, and can turn his eyes red with three small comma marks at will."
"I-I'm sorry, Professor Ozpin, but what is so important about this boy? And I thought he was presumed dea-"
"He is not dead," Ozpin declared, his voice deadly serious. "He's the one responsible for the shift in location of the Patch Anomaly and the massive Grimm attack earlier."
Glynda almost dropped Disciplinarian in shock along with her jaw. A single person had caused all of this!? And one who had been in the home of one of her closer colleagues no less!? And how did Ozpin know about him? Who exactly was he?
"We need to bring him in as soon as possible, by any means necessary," Ozpin said with a voice and a face of cold stone. "Dead or alive."
AN: Did you like the cliffhanger I had in the last chapter? If so then congratulations, here's another one!
And so the plot thickens… With that, I think I will put the next chapter up in two weeks instead of one and let all of you stew in your anxiety and dramatic thoughts until then!
Please review!