Refer to the AN for a TLDR of last Chapter's AN, and an explanation as to why I haven't uploaded the first Chapter of that new story I mentioned there.

To the second Reviewer: By all means. I've been thinking of going back and updating the Minecraft fic with another Chapter or two just because I haven't given it a chance to shine yet, I'm just trying to figure out how I should write in the Education Edition stuff. And if anyone doesn't know what I'm talking about, the story's right there on my profile and it's only one Chapter thus far, so what are you waiting for?

And to the third reviewer: As I said, RWBY's not going anywhere. See the AN for more, if it matters. And yes, I know this one also still doesn't contain RWBY, but this and the three next ones were made months in advance, and at least two of them do, so you'll just have to hold out another month or so. I'm sure you can handle the suspense.

Difficulty: Khepri Mode+10. Powers, Lesser: Apprentice-10 (Aura – Tinker; Bending; Biotics – Tinker; Chakra; Force Adept – Tinker; Wand Magic).

Powers, Lesser: Twins-6 (PanaceaX: Shaker/Thinker – 'initial' range of one meter including self; Thinker sub-power for perfectly memorizing biology of targets, and as a side effect, minor increase in viability of more synergistic aspects of power usage, such as Bloodline combination; DoormakerX: Mover/Thinker – Doormaker has access to 'Apprentice' Alternate Multiverses; portals can be used as 'one-way viewing windows' and target non-'home' Universes through intent/setting of conditions).

Powers, Tier One-2: Fear The Reaper-1; Rejecting Reality-1. Perks-2: Charles Atlas Superpowers-1; Man Of Mystery-1.

Disadvantages+10: Case 53 (Asari); Enemy+5; Wanted+3 (EnmityX – Slaughterhouse Nine); Without A Map+2 (Birdcage).

Enemy+10: Apprentice-2 (Blood Magic); Twins-9 (KingX: Blaster – can transfer injuries to-and-from other 'iterations' ala Makima; ContessaX: Trump – has no Worm-specific 'Blind Spots'; Jack SlashX: Mover – can cut 'portals' into the air ala Subtle Knife, can sense previously-made portal locations and destinations, specifically intended to chase someone with access to DoormakerX); Tier One-2 (Ever-Traveller; Arbiter Of Fate); Perks-2 (Man Of Mystery; Special Snowflake); Drawbacks+5 (Reincarnation: Scapegoat+2; InterestX – Cauldron+3).

-Chapter Three: Day 4, Earth-Bet-

Finding the place where Taylor would have fought Lung before it happened would have been very difficult. A random alley that had a few Asian gangster's loitering around wouldn't be impossible to find, but Brockton Bay is a big city of three-hundred-and-fifty-thousand people, and they wouldn't be hanging around in one place for long before they launched their pincer attack on the Undersiders, whose timing I also didn't know. Finding Lung and tracking him to that place, however, was much easier since he was one of the few humans with a Corona, and was visually distinct when I double-checked with my eyes. It also let me confirm that Taylor had still ended up in mostly the same place, though I think it was on the opposite roof? Eh, close enough.

I made sure to stick a hand through the portal and release some moths, her head swivelling as her power immediately took control of the new insects and notified her of my existence. "Evening, Miss Hebert. You appear to have found your way to the opposite rooftop than I expected, but it all works out."

"Oh. Please tell me you're a Hero." She quickly checked, to which I nodded. "Thank Christ. That's Lung down there, and he just said he was going to kill kids. Can you help me?"

"I can. I suspect you don't need me to. After all, you have an army of venomous insects, and if you hit him hard enough before he can ramp up, the poison will cripple him."

"But what if it kills him?"

"So what? He's an asshole and he's trying to kill kids." I reminder her, chipping away at her reluctance. "If it makes you feel better, I'm a healer and I'm sure his power will keep him alive long enough for me to purge the venom."

"...okay. Let's do this." In seconds, several cries of pain became many screams of fear, as the gangsters were bombarded by a biblical plague of wasps carpet-bombing them with deadly spiders. In thirty seconds, the only person left in the alley was Lung, who went from being buried in a carpet of bugs while throwing fireballs at random, to blasting out a wave of intense heat and further wreathing himself in a perpetual aura of flames.

"Good. Did you hit him with everything?"

"Everything except the bugs I sent after the other gangsters." She confirmed, as Lung jerked his head up to stare at us, breathing heavily and struggling to focus his pupils. "So now what, we wait and hope he passes out?"

"Now you find out that when he ramps up, he also has super-hearing." That made her freeze as he charged at the wall of our building and started slowly scrabbling up it despite his weakened condition. "Never expect a fight to be easy or straightforward, and don't assume just because the internet had a description of someone's powers that they're all they have."

"Shit." She shot over to see him almost half-way up the building. "Shit. We have to hit him."

I promptly carved the neon-glowing sentence 'Force Push into HUGE Biotic Slam' into the gravel under her feet, getting her attention as I simply said out loud "Gravity is a harsh mistress, so why not acquaint the two?", then I walked over to the door and leaned against it. "I'll help you if you need it, but I believe in you. Clear your mind of doubts: you've got this."

For several seconds, all she did was stare at me, my senses informing me that she was slowly blushing under her mask at being genuinely praised. Then Lung crawled over the edge of the rooms and she spun around, focused and determined to live up to the expectations of an almost-complete stranger, Force Push'd him so hard she embedded him in the opposite roof, and with a cry of intent, Biotic Slam'd him all the way down through the entire wall, necessitating a light Force Pull to keep her from falling off the edge of the building, as the shockwave Lung's body produced from hitting the ground travelled up into this building. "See? Told you, Anansi."

It took her several more seconds of poking her head over the edge of the roof, and gaping in shock at the shallow crater she'd just buried Lung in as water bubbled up from a broken pipe, before she finally whispered "holy shit" to herself. "I-I didn't know I could do that."

"I know it's scary." I approached her slowly from behind, giving her plenty of time to track me with her flies, and gently hugged her. "But in time, you'll get better at controlling your output, just like all your other Disciplines. You can be a Hero: just believe in yourself."

I waited until the tension drained from her muscles before I let her go. "And don't worry, when Armsmaster gets here in a few minutes, your life is going to take a very unexpected and vitriolic turn for the better. Okay?"

"...okay." She turned around and immediately hesitated to hug me back, finally mumbling out a "thank you, for all of this" and getting another quick squeeze in the process.

"You deserve a chance to be happy for a change... as do the 'kids' you just saved." I turned to face one side of the building as she jerked in shock, her power picking up on the presence of three large incoming targets right before they landed on the roof.

"Holy shit, you know how to make an impact, don't-cha?!" Tattletale promptly hopped off her dog and ran over to the edge of the building. "We almost missed our last jump from that shockwave. How hard did you hit him?"

"As hard as she needed to, I suspect." I used a Door to quickly drop him (and a chunk of the crater) onto the roof, and purged him of some of the toxins while leaving enough to keep him unconscious and slow his regeneration. "I suppose when he said he was going to kill 'kids', he was talking about you?"

"Yeah, we knocked over one of his casinos a few weeks ago and he just sent Oni Lee after us." She spun around to check his now-closer body with a bit more wariness of me. "We were wondering what was taking him so long to join the fight, that could've been real bad for us. Guess we owe you one, newbie's."

"...seriously?" Taylor grumbled through her hands then dropped them and admitted, "I guess I still stopped a villain, at least."

"Implying you're not one yourself?" Grue 'politely' inquired, eyes swivelling to Lisa.

"No, I'm just... trying to figure things out." She quietly answered, walking over to Lung. "I just took down one of the scariest Capes in the Bay with powers I've had for three days. I was thinking of proving myself above the teenage drama the Wards probably have, and now I'm not even sure I need to be one anymore."

"And I'm very glad to hear that. Trust me: that would not have gone well." I added, then I shifted my attention to the Undersiders and reached out with RR to slightly dampen the incoming sounds of the city, and motorbikes. "I've vaguely read about your reasons for going villain, but you all seem fairly decent. Anyone feel like sharing their justifications?"

"Not to a complete random we just met." Regent looked me up and down, probably enjoying the view without being a dumbass and giving away 'dangerous' information.

Lisa, on the other hand, was giving me a fish-eye. "...you already know what you were going to ask us. How? You're... actually psychic?"

"In a technical sense:" I confirmed as I drew the attention of everyone else on the roof. "Regent wants to stay away from his asshole father in Canada, Rachel just wants to take care of her dogs, Grue wants custody of his sister, and your 'mysterious boss' has a gun to your head and you haven't told the others."

That paused everyone's panic attacks to stare at her instead, and she rolled her eyes. "He's a Thinker with some bullshit timeline-splitting ability that I can't work around yet, and even if I convinced you all that he was bad news, by now he knows pretty much everything about us and how to kill us if we step out of line."

"Eyup: he can only maintain one 'split' at a time, and the timeline he 'discards' is actually a precognitive vision his power generates, because creating and destroying an entire universe every time he uses his power would be absurd, but he has fifty mercenaries armed with Tinkertech cutting-laser rifles, and if he makes a mistake, he keeps the timeline where he told you to back off, and drops the one where he told you to engage. Or in this case, he keeps the timeline where he did nothing, drops the timeline where he tried and failed to assassinate you, and gives it another shot tomorrow. He's already used that trick to learn the identities of the Empire, so he's clearly not averse to using it to torture information out of people, or break the unwritten rules." I rattled off all my knowledge of him, then continued. "Of course, if I were to bestow some more powers on you like I did to Anansi a few days ago, I imagine he might change his mind and write off the whole thing as 'too troublesome'."

That got a lot more attention on me. "...I was wondering how the insect theme and bug bites corresponded with the telekinesis." Lisa gleefully admitted. "So what's the catch, a Master effect? You can take back the power at any time? Impacting our other powers?"

"You swear to go straight and you stop being Villains, or you can march to your death when Coil 'accidentally' out's the Nazi's without warning you, and blames you by conveniently-deniable proxy or something similar 'happens'." Silence lingered across the rooftop for several seconds, as I noticed and shut down the faint noise of an approaching motorcycle. "Yes, I am serious, but not enough to arrest you if you refuse out of principle or suspicion. I have way too much shit to do that has nothing to do with you, and while I know you all have the potential to turn your lives around, none of you are as important to the future as she is, so I'm only giving you so much leeway."

"And if we say 'no' and walk?" Regent asks the obvious question. "Get out of town and find greener pastures to rob?"

"Some of you can't. And even if you do, then you miss out on a permanent power boost, and the world is only getting more dangerous. Besides, how long are you willing to run? Where are you going to run? There aren't many places left that honour the unwritten rules, or have openings for two or three villains who ghosted their boss for no provable reason."

"And you think the Protectorate would take us."

"They took Madcap after all the Birdcage transports he knocked over. They'd take Purity if she was willing to transfer with her daughter to another city. What makes you think they won't take a bunch of capable Wards who have an abnormally-perfect track record?" And now for the big one. "And I never said you had to join the Protectorate, just 'go Hero'. There are plenty of villainous safehouses you can ram-raid to support yourselves, the same way you can take your new powers to a different city if you run out of Villains to rob here."

"...really." Lisa spoke up, looking more and more interested. "So what happens if we want out of the Cape business altogether? Or if the Protectorate won't accept us 'going Hero'?"

"Ask the Number Man for an estimate on how much you've stolen or damaged since you got your powers, make a bank account, fill it with that much money, and turn it over to the PRT as reparations for the damages you've caused up until now, and you can walk: Hero, Rogue, or Trust me, the Protectorate aren't going to piss off the guy, who can make them an army, over four kids." I raised an eyebrow. "Another good reason to convert while the good side needs manpower, because they'll be fine for that pretty soon, and that means they'll be cracking down on all the small-timers after 'handling' Lung and Kaiser."

I gave them a few seconds to process that, as Armsmaster entered my range and started weaving through the streets towards us, then added something else to the mix. "And before the Heroes get off their asses and join us, between the five of you and me, there's some kind of catastrophic worldwide event being prepared for, in June of 2013 if Jack Slash is still alive by then, or another eleven years past that in 2024 if he isn't. And since my powers grow stronger with use, and feed you more information on how to use them based on how dangerous the current fight is, you really want them sooner and not later, yeah?"

Lisa narrowed her eyes at me as Armsmaster identified the alley and started scanning the crater and the marks on both buildings. "...you believe that implicitly, and you're concealing the reason why you believe that, so I'm going to call bullshit until I see proof... but you're also serious about helping us. And I am interested in not just being a Thinker anymore. You do 'contracts signed in blood', or...?"

"Nothing nearly so dramatic, satanic, or time-consuming." I walked over to her, hands raised on top of her breastbone as Armsmaster's grappling hook reached over the lip of the building, and intoned "Awaken", giving her a moment to rock back as the rest of the froze at Armsmaster's appearance.

"!-whoa... wait, I can feel through your hands? Did you just extrude your nerves into my skin?!" She gaped at me, then also noticed the Hero standing at the edge of the rooftop.

"I went from full-body hugs to only needing skin contact close to major organ groups in three days. If it weren't for that trick, it'd take at least an hour per person at first." I shrugged and continued. "And yes, I blocked the noise of his bike so he would arrive in time to see me empower you. He won't have the chance to arrest you anyway, seeing as he shot Lung with a Tinkertech tranquilliser several seconds ago, not knowing that the newbie hit him with venomous insects, and if he doesn't get him to Panacea in about five minutes he's going to die, and he's going to be in deep shit over it."

That brought Armsmaster to a halt for a moment, before he walked to Lung with a command of "No-one move", pulled some sort of needle out of one of his shoulders, and jabbed it into his still-torn shoulder where Taylor had dragged him through a building. "...shit." He immediately injected him with a counteragent to his tranquilliser. "If what you said is true, you could have warned me."

"Then you would have had time to attack the Undersiders before saving his life, and I wouldn't have had time to tell everyone that not only did Shadow Stalker try to kill Grue about six months ago with lethal ammunition, she's also abused the newbie for twenty, and caused their Trigger Event." I let that sink in. "And while the first twelve months is the sole responsibility of Principal Blackwell, the last eight is a combination of concealment by her PRT handler and the Protectorate's ignorance."

"That, is a plausible accusation, but I don't have time to address it now. New-Cape," He addressed her, "if this is true, set up a meeting to provide your evidence while we conduct an investigation. And if you aren't a villain, stay away from those four. And you." He turned to me. "I don't know what you're playing at-"

"God, when I have the time." I interrupted him. "Tattletale, would you mind a demonstration?"

Thus prompted, she skipped over to the roof-access door and, brightly focussing her Aura, punched a crater into it with a gasp of shock as the door banged open. "!-ow, it has haptic feedback? You could have mentioned that!"

"And ruin my new reputation?" I teased her, getting an Unamused look and after a few seconds of thought, a double-palm-strike that sent a visible gust of wind at me. "Gonna need a few more months if you want that to hurt." Then I turned back to a silent Armsmaster. "Turn over those recordings to your superiors. I insist. And I'm pretty sure the Brown Recluse venom just hit the point-of-no-return on rotting his crotch off, so move your ass already."

Despite his audible growl, he did just that by simply jumping off the building with Lung over a shoulder, absorbing the impact with his power armor, tossed him over the edge of his bike for a claw to pin him down, and rode off shouting commands into his helmet.

"Stupid asshole." I chuckled, turning back to the Undersiders and a visibly-shaking Taylor.

"...you too, huh." Grue broke the tension as Lisa practised firing pulses and waves of wind off the rooftop with palm strikes and spinning kicks, clearly enjoying her new ability.

"...I thought it was because they were popular and I was alone, not because she was a fucking Ward." Despite her audible anger, she mastered it and pushed it out into her insects. "She really tried to kill you, as a Ward?"

He lifted up his 'shirt' to show off the wicked scar over his stomach, and from the quieting sound of her swarm, disrupted her anger with teenage hormones. "If it weren't for my team having my back and dragging me to an off-the-books surgeon, I'd be dead." He confirmed, thinking about something else, then turning to me. "These powers you can give to Capes: can you give them to non-Parahumans?"

"Yes, though your sister is probably an un-Triggered Parahuman herself, and having my powers makes it a lot less likely that she'll ever hit the 'stress-point' to 'naturally' Trigger."

"After what she's been through, I don't want to know what it would take for her to Trigger. I sure as hell wouldn't want to put her through whatever 'that' might be. I think she'd feel a lot safer with powers like those, and I wouldn't have to worry about her nearly as much." He declined that train of thought, and given that he got his powers protecting her from a rapist, yeah, he has a point. I couldn't exactly explain how I knew about her powers without also claiming to be a different kind of Trump or bringing up my metaknowledge. Maybe it would be better to leave that one alone.

"Fair enough. Then only one question remains: are you willing to stop being a villain?"

"If I can't trust our boss, and you can help me keep my sister out of trouble, sure." He agreed on-the-spot, getting a raised eyebrow... and an unsubtle glare from Bitch, shared to Lisa.

"Are you both abandoning the team?!" She growled, stopping them in their tracks.

"...honestly, I don't know." Lisa spoke up first. "I only joined because I didn't have a choice, but it hasn't been bad. I just don't know if I still want to be part of a group once I can use these powers properly. I was doing just fine by myself, and I prefer going solo anyway... potential apocalypse notwithstanding." She turned to her teammate. "How about you, Grue?"

"All I want is to protect my sister. If she has powers she'll be safer, but I have to keep her out of Cape-fighting, and I can't be part of the Undersiders or she'll use that as an excuse." He stared right back at her. "She might go and do something dumb anyway, but I have to try."

After a few seconds, she looked at Regent, who shrugged. "I'm not saying 'no' to more powers, but I'm happy to stay as part of the team if there is a team. All we'll be doing is the same stuff, just aimed at the other gangs. But if everyone else is walking away... I need to find a group strong enough to keep my family away, and if the Protectorate will take me after all the shit I've been caught up in, there's no-one stronger around here than them."

She seemed to begrudgingly accept that, and turned to me. "If you're splitting up my pack, I want powers too."

"Sure." I walked over and repeated the process, leaving her blinking. "You're attuned to Fire instead of Air, but it's the same rules: fights teach you how to use them, more dangerous fights tell you more, and in a year at most, the forcefield will gain a new ability that's unique to you. In your case... it'll probably turn you into a dog, or a werewolf, so you can use your power on yourself, but you'll have to wait and see for yourself."

She acknowledged me with a grunt and walked away, her Aura flickering on and off as she got the hold of it, and I Awakened Grue as well. "You're Earth, both stubborn dirt and substantial rocks. So Regent, is that an 'okay, I'll play ball' or a 'no thanks'?"

"I'm not an idiot, smartass, just do me already." He rolled his eyes with a double-entendre smirk, and I did so.

"And you're Water, a 'going with the flow' type." I added as I backed up and they squared off. "I've got somewhere to be and shit to do, so I suggest you take a day or two to test your powers and/or work with Anansi, or whatever name she picks, if you either want to be a Ward or want to nail Sophia to a cross. If anyone tries to pull shit, tell them to knock it off before they piss me off, because I decide who gets powers, and if I gave them to you then I clearly trust you with them. Trade phone numbers or set some up, and get her a burner phone while you're at it. And kid?" I gave Taylor a Look. "Your dad noticed you sneaking out. Come clean with him, it's not going to be any easier and I can give him Aura with no difficulty if it makes you feel better, but trying to hide this will end very poorly. It always does." I added as I opened a Door to an alleyway overlooking Ba Sing Se, giving them all a good look at the towering walls and Tattletale a better idea of what I could do, then closed it and opened a new one to Naruto's world, my actual destination.

-Earth-Taketori-

"I'm just saying, they could have picked a better time than midnight." Sakura complained as Team Seven walked the abandoned streets of the defunct Uchiha District. "We have our first Mission tomorrow, and everything."

"We're starting at the lowest level of Missions, Sakura. They're probably going to be basic chores until we prove our competence to the village." Sasuke tiredly corrected her, gradually becoming less sure of her whining being preferable to dwelling on any one street.

"They better not be." Naruto interjected with a growl. "I became a ninja to kick ass and save princesses, not pull weeds and paint fences."

"Well I'm sorry to say that 'power' won't fix the D-Rank requirements." A new voice interrupted their grumping, and they all looked up to see a 'hole' in the wall of a nondescript house, from which a strange individual, sauntered out. "The Academy was all about teaching your minds discipline, and the D-Ranks are all about teaching your bodies discipline. If you can't handle a little boredom, how are you going to deal with escorting a whiny, entitled princess over flat ground for a week, while remaining aware of any possible ambushes?"

"...they won't all be like that." Naruto continued to grumble.

"Probably not, but you only get one shot to do everything correctly. Which is where I come in."

"And what's your deal, 'spirit-lady'?" Sasuke gave me a look that would have been imposing, had he not been an edgy pre-teen.

"Probably a Three of a Kind, but I'm going to hit my stride at a Full House in a few years."

"...was that a Poker reference?" Sakura tried to puzzle out, as Sasuke gave me an unimpressed Look and Naruto tried not to openly laugh.

"Well, how am I supposed to answer that kind of question?" I moved to a mid-air meditative stance. "You're going to have to be a bit more specific if you want a 'proper' answer."

He seemed a bit more respectful at the power I was casually showing off. "Naruto says you offered his entire team some kind of 'blessing' if we met you 'somewhere private' at midnight. That's pretty suspicious. And why us?"

"Well, I could come up with some convoluted reason, vaguely imply that Team Seven is going to be much more impactful in the next five years than any of you can imagine... or I could give you a history lesson:" Naruto froze in seeming horror at this, but I rolled my eyes and continued anyway, "the Sage of Six Paths had two kids, Indra and Asura. The former was extraordinarily talented and inherited his bloodline. The other was exceptionally strong-willed and possessed immense charisma. When the Sage was ready to pass and forced to choose an heir, he felt that Indra was more worthy of the title, but favoured Asura for his work ethic. And after his mother's little temper tantrum with the now-split-apart Ten Tails, he was uncomfortable approving of his eldest's isolationist lifestyle. Indra did not accept his wisdom, starting a feud with his brother that would pass down their family trees into their very souls, fating them to reincarnate and do battle throughout the ages. Their last forms were those of Madara Uchiha and Hashirama Senju, whose names even Naruto probably recognises, and their current incarnations are standing right in front of me." I let the ensuing silence tick over as I turned my attention to Sakura instead. "And then there's you: a smart-but-ignorant civilian girl about to be thrust into a series of escalating conflicts she can't even dream of, and while she has an abnormal precision with her Chakra, she doesn't have an absurd quantity of it, or a Bloodline of great renown to fall back on. It seems rather unfair to abandon her to an ignominious fate of never being able to keep up with her teammates."

Despite being obviously intimidated, she still spoke up in her own defense. "...I am not 'ignorant': I'm the top-scoring student in our entire Academy grade. I know that's not a big deal, but it has to count for something."

"It proves that you are an excellent student, and that you know everything the Hidden Leaf Village has elected to teach you. But make no mistake: the real world is not nearly as clean and straightforward as it has been presented to you, and I am sure you are smart enough to have realised this by now." I calmly reminded her, maintaining eye contact. "So tell me, Sakura Haruno: why did you become a ninja?"

"...my parents are messengers who never advanced beyond Chunin. I... I don't know if I want to be stronger than them, but I was always going to be a ninja, and I want to make them proud of me." She quietly answered. "I don't care if I don't have any fancy bloodline or clan techniques, I just want to protect my village like all the other ninja."

"Acceptable: you lack drive, but you have direction, and a simple goal to chase." I neither approved of nor condemned her. "That being said, you are going to 'live in interesting times', as the old curse goes: peace will not be an option, and burying your head in the sand will not go any better for you."

"Well, I know that now." She huffed. "So... why are you here? To give out a 'blessing'?"

"Of a sort." I cheated with RR to form an Avatar-esque orb of the 'four' elements, a blueish-purple Singularity, and a rippling pulse of Force in the air "Each of you is advantaged, in some way, to wield one of my Disciplines to great effect. And for you, maybe a little bit extra: there's at least one defunct bloodline in this village that isn't represented here, after all. How do you feel about being a Senju?"

"...are you serious...?" Sasuke gave her an unsubtle elbow to spur her on. "I-I mean, of course, I don't want to disrespect any of the previous Senju, but if you're just offering to give me a bloodline, without messing up my actual lineage, then sure, I-I won't say 'no'!"

"Yes, I thought so." I dispelled the effects, split my right arm into three copies, and reached out to each of their foreheads- "Awaken." -then knocked out the three of them, and gently levitated Naruto and Sasuke over to the nearest patch of grass while I floated over to work on Sakura-

-and promptly dropped the Ninja watching me by opening pinhole Doors and transmuting tiny portions of their stomach acid into Ketamine. In hindsight, I should have been a bit more subtle when I gave Naruto those Scrolls, but I have a kilometer of range and a meter where none of them can even get close to me, and at this time of night, large groups of mobile ninja made it clear that something was up. Having waited for minutes before doing something about them gave me the time I needed to speak to Team Seven and alter Sakura's genes, and 'update' the portions of her body like her Chakra Network to get the full benefit of the genetically-inserted bloodline.

Then I poked them all awake with biokinesis. "Rise and shine kids, I have wisdom to impart."

"!-uh?" Naruto perked up first thanks to his boundless energy, followed shortly by Sakura and then Sasuke. "Hey, you didn't say it was gonna knock us out!"

"Sorry, I had to decide what to do with your entourage." I made a vague gesture and formed Windows to all of the unconscious ANBU I'd long-range-roofied. "Turns out none of them are immune to knock-out drugs spontaneously forming in their stomachs, but I only have so long before they wake up."

"!-wh-" Sakura jolted rather badly at this information. "-why are there ANBU here?!"

"At a guess? They noticed me popping in to Naruto's apartment, and wanted to know why I visited a newly-promoted Genin right after the 'incident' with Mizuki." I vaguely pointed out.

"Wait, they're watching my apartment? Why?" Naruto seemed to realise 'why' as soon as he asked that out loud, and promptly added, "I mean, even if they were, they must've seen that all you did was give me some scrolls, right? I went through them all, and there aren't any forbidden techniques on them!"

"Even so, they probably want to ask me some questions like 'how did you get into the village' and 'why are you, an adult, sneaking into this young boy's house after midnight'?" I rolled my eyes at the scrunched-up faces I got. "Just because I'm obviously not a bad guy doesn't mean they can accept that verbatim: they're still supposed to investigate these things."

"And you just took down an entire squad." Sasuke seemingly had more trouble believing that, but it wasn't without reason: I'd shown off a few tricks, but nothing to suggest I was capable of casually taking down an entire group of the Leaf's secret police.

"Never underestimate the element of surprise, kid: they'll be ready for something like that next time, when they inevitably interrogate you to find out who I am and what I'm doing here." I reminded him. "But it's not like you have anything to hide, so I'd suggest you tell them the truth. I probably won't be seeing any of you three again for quite some time."

"And you-...well, of course you have something to hide, you're a blue spirit-elf of some kind, and you just made some absurd claims." He noted. "Do you have any more to make?"

"Well for starters: you can now manipulate gravity using your bio-electricity, you can now move things with your mind and sense danger, and you can now manipulate Earth, Water, Air and Fire respectively by performing each one's associated martial art. Also, you each have a spiritual force-field that improves all of your physical attributes, can block attacks but not pain, and in a year or three, you will manifest a unique ability based on who you are at your core. And finally, while the abilities can be strengthened by basic training and study, they thrive on conflict and will provide you with information when fighting with them: the more dangerous the fight, the more epiphanies that'll come out of it." I rattled off 'the usual'. "That 'conflict growth' effect will also be applied to your Chakra and all of your related abilities, but you probably won't notice that as much since you'll still be learning and training normally. Either way, try not to throw yourselves into impossibly-difficult battles just to speed things up, unless you're sure you aren't going to just get yourselves killed."

"Fair enough, good to know. And personally?"

"...there's a pretty hard limit on what I can tell you without messing up the future, or causing a civil war." I sighed. "I suppose I can tell you that you've already unlocked your Sharingan, but you've consciously suppressed the memory which will keep you from re-activating it until you experience a similarly-stressful situation. And Naruto, the Uzumaki clan are known for two things: a high degree of skill in Sealing Techniques, and a Hidden Technique where they shoot 'chakra chains' out of their Tenketsu. And if you know how to make them, you can add seals to your Adamantine Chains to paralyse people, or block their Chakra." I turned back to Sasuke. "There are three things I can tell you about your target. Are you sure you want me to bring them up in front of-"

"Absolutely." He didn't even hesitate.

I waited a moment, then sighed. "Fine. The first is that he was provoked by at least one individual both inside and outside the village: the Third Hokage has some suspicions, but doesn't want to talk to you about it and bring up bad memories." I let that sit for a moment before I continued. "The second is that, shortly before, he was diagnosed with a terminal disease. I don't know exactly which one, but if he's lucky he has five to ten more years, and given how powerful he is, using this against him is your only realistic chance of catching up to him in a few more years."

He looked a little lost at that, but also like the weight of the world had just been taken off of his shoulders. "...okay. And the third...?"

"You've read the Naka Shrine, you know how the Mangekyo is acquired. What it probably doesn't mention, is that using any of the advanced techniques it unlocks causes not just pain and blood loss, but also damage to the user's eyes: by now he should be almost half-blind, and the longer you wait, the worse it gets and the better your odds of success. The only way to fix that issue, is to replace your Mangekyo with another pair, and while a sane person would offer to trade... if you still think he's in-sane, then now you know why he spared you: you haven't unlocked it yet."

"But you know more than that." He quietly prompted me. "...look. If he... if he had a real reason to do it, just tell me. I don't care how good it was, I still have to kill him, but no-one will give me any concrete answers. Please..."

From the looks on his teammates' faces, they were all drawing parallels to Naruto's vaguely-similar treatment. In for a penny... "...when the Kyuubi attacked the village twelve years ago, a lot of Clans suffered especially hard. The Uchiha were not one of them: they mostly used ranged attacks, and the fox's 'aura' was so terrifying that a large number of Uchiha manifested their Sharingan en masse with little-to-no actual risk. On top of all that, Madara Uchiha used the fox against the First Hokage at the Valley of the End, proving that an Uchiha with the Mangekyo could have controlled the Fox's actions to their own benefit, and several civilians and ninja claim to have seen that symbol in it's eyes as it rampaged. Even if your Clan had nothing to do with it, the results were suspiciously-biased in their favor. People got irrationally-angry, enough to discriminate against your family: the Uchiha were pushed to resign from the police force, segregated to one corner of the village, and they suddenly had the ninja to do something about their treatment." I paused meaningfully. "Mere days before it happened, the Third went as far as opening peace talks with your family. And... he started his career at half your age, in the middle of the Third World War, and was already severely unbalanced by what he'd witnessed. Then he was given a choice to remain loyal to his village, or engage in a morally-justifiable revolt. Under that kind of stress... well, like I said: the only answers I can point you towards, are in the hands of the Hokage, and other people on his level. The kind you are a long-but-feasible time away from challenging on even ground."

"...okay. Fine. I've made it this far, I'm not going to give up now." He quietly reaffirmed his intent to pursue Itachi.

"Attaboy. And while I'm here..." I thought over my next words. "Don't forget where you came from, but don't forget where you're going, either. No matter how bad things get, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. And your teammates are a lot more closely-connected to your ultimate goal than any of you yet realise, so don't be afraid to lean on them when you need support. Strive to be better, but don't forget that you're only human." I kneeled down and gave him a gentle hug, despite his visible discomfort. "Because sometimes all you really need to motivate yourself to keep going, is a simple hug."

I pulled away before he openly complained about it. "Your teacher will probably notice your new abilities fairly quickly anyway, so don't hide anything on my account: I'll come by and pay the 'Professor' a visit in his tower at three o'clock tomorrow afternoon, I'm sure he'd like to talk this out peacefully."

"...you're just casually dictating terms to the strongest ninja in the village?" Sasuke filled in for a rendered-speechless Sakura.

"I don't know about Tsunade, but Might Guy and Jiraiya could both contest that if they got serious, and while I'm not a ninja, I'd like to think I'm not a pushover either." I rolled my eyes as I formed a proper Door. "I'm sure he can afford to take a day away from paperwork to speak to me like a rational human being."

Seeing into Remnant, Naruto was the first one to open his mouth. "...what the heck? What kinda village is that?!"

"They're called 'skyscrapers' for a reason." I snorted as I walked through. "You think your world is the only one in deep shit right now? I have at least four others I need to keep an eye on, and simultaneously find time to train up my new abilities. I suggest you all do the same: you're going to have a very 'interesting' next six months or so, if you catch my drift."

AN: Simply put, the first Chapter of the 'Worm CYOAv4' story is about twice as long as normal and there's no way I can find to shrink it without making things awkward, so this is coming out in the 'first slot' for a slight shake-up, and that one will have to wait until the end of the month 'as per usual'.

TLDR on the RWBY situation: It's not getting taken out of the fic, or anything extreme like that. I'll just be adding in 'pseudo-AU' elements in a few spots where I feel dramatically-appropriate, as if the SI had seen the 'entire show', and I'll try to avoid mentioning 'spoilers' for it due to the simple fact that I'd rather let the reader fill in the blanks with their own head-canon's. We have some more post-Season-Nine content coming out, 'Beyond' might even render this whole idea redundant, and any elements I add won't be until past the already-written Chapter 7 (which hasn't yet reached the point where hypothetical-S10 material would be needed anyway), so try not to think about it too much.

Date of Chapter 4 Upload/Final Edit: 2024, March 21st.