A/N:...hey. Still not in the best mental state, but I'm getting there.
Should this be a story? Speak up? This is but an excerpt, so I wanted to test the waters. Until then, consider this a tease of sorts.
Good lord, this fragment really got away from me.
...I also have a lot people begging me to make the first entry in this plot bin -the Naruto taking care of Illia bit- into a full story so feedback on that front would be appreciated as well.
Tomorrow, I should be able to updating Practice Makes Perfect. After that comes An Untraveled Road, Partners in Crime, One Helluva Team, and Just A Bit of Bread should be next.
I'll say this now! Do NOT hold me to that exact order. I'm not in the best head space at the moment.
As ever, I own no references, quotes, memes or themes. Not a wit or a one.
I'm just a humble author trying to make his way in this wild world.
Reviews have, and always will be, all I ever receive..
"Alright, ladies. Lets start this session. First things first. Yang Xiao-Long!
"Eh? Me? Wait a minute?! Why're ya picking on me, teach?! I didn't do anything this time!"
"Exactly. You're far too reactive. You know, there's such a thing as being too tanky. You need to learn...how...to...
~?
Professor
...DODGE!"
Naruto's warning came far too late; even if it hadn't, Yang knew she wasn't prepared. Caught wrong-footed. Her guard down. Out of ammo. Huntresses had fallen to far worse. There was no possibility of escape. Her arms snapped up in a desperate guard, for all the good it did her. Clenched knuckles barreled through her guard and crashed into her face at breakneck speed, sparking through aura to snap her head back. The rest of her body followed soon thereafter as momentum caught with her, sending her plowing through the ground.
In short? Pain.
Her forehead kissed the dirt in a way no self-respecting huntresses desired as she was ejected out of the chalk ring. A klaxon blared even as she sprang back to her feet, signaling yet another ignoable defeat. The blond slumped and punched the ground with a groan.
"Not again!""
"Aaaaand you're out!" she heard him laugh as her world spun. "Gotta work on your reaction speed there. I could've taken your arm just now."
"Tch." She huffed and scuffed a boot against the ground. "No good know it all...sneak attackin' without warning...
"This know it all just handed your arse to you on a silver platter." a finger wagged in the ar. "Learn from this and be better."
"Be better he says." Yang tossed her hair and grumbled under her breath, folding both arms beneath her bosom. "Stupid asshole...
A blond brow rose, and a blue eye gleamed beneath it. "Language. That's another detention this afternoon."
Blast it, she'd fallen into his trap again. "Damnit! This is worse than that fucking bell test of yours!"
The other brow rose. "Do I hear a third, Miss Xiao-Long?"
Somewhere behind her, Ruby giggled. "Swear jar."
"Traitor!"
"Now, now, calm down. No need to get upset...
Eyes aflame, Yang glowered at one of the youngest teachers ever to walk Beacon's hallowed halls.
His right eye gleamed back at her with timeless patience, framed by whiskered cheeks and shaggy blond hair in need of a good haircut. The other orb looked to be forever closed, marred by an ugly, x-shaped scar running the length of his face. It did nothing to detract from his cheery grin or the way his fingers twitched as he toyed with a knife.
Cheeky bastard. He was enjoying himself.
At a glance he wasn't that much older them, maybe twenty to their seventeen. But blast it, he acted so damn old! All that orange and black didn't help.
"Aright! Now that we've gone over the value of surprise attacks," he turned, looking away from her, "What have we learned?"
Yang raised her gaze just in time to see a living blur of shadow pounce at his exposed flank. Ha! Served him right! Some of her smile must've shown through however; because their instructor tucked his head into his chin and dropped down to his haunches, leaving that dark specter no other recourse than to sweep harmlessly past. A stray strandsof blond hair fluttered to the ground as it went.
Blake was not so fortunate.
Naruto caught her by the ankle, gave her a spin, and hurled her out of bounds.
"Much better!" another laugh burst from him, lighter than before. "You almost got me that time! Now, I believe that leaves two-
Ruby learned from Blake's mistake; she slammed into his side, a curtain of wild rose petals trailing in her wake. It was a good strike Yang thought; just the sort it should be, speed and power, meant to send him stumbling right out of the ring. She saw it all unfold in slow motion and gave a little cheer as Blake smiled beside her.
"Naruto" vanished in a plume of smoke, leaving Crescent Rose to cut through a harmless log.
Silver eyes widened as her little sister realized she'd been had. "Aw, crapbaskets."
He loomed over her shoulder. "Indeed."
A hand descended upon her head.
Ruby squeaked. "Meep!"
A black glyph shone beneath the blond before he could capitalize on her weakness. Naruto looked down, frowned, then stiffened as gravity slowed his movements. Ruby sprinted away to safety, seeking shelter behind her remaining teammate. His head turned to follow her, eye flashing beneath the worn headband wrapped round his forehead.
"Sneaky, miss Schnee." he commended Weiss for her effort. "You're thinking more like a shinobi than a huntress these days."
Weiss preened but a little. The preening stopped when he stomped down, shattering her glyph into harmless dust.
"Alright, then." he straightened, and his visible eye gleamed a bold red as he raised his hands. "Shall we?"
Their resident Schnee took her stance with a sigh. "What's the point? We'll just lose."
"Weiiiis!" Ruby rounded on her with a whine. "Don't say it like that!"
Disappointment clouded Naruto's remaining eye and for a moment, Yang wondered if he'd snap at them. Instead he shook his head.
"Every fight is a worthwhile one, Weiss." he raised a lone finger and held it into the air, summoning a tiny Rasenshuriken atop the tan digit. "No matter how small, no matter how slight, you have to be willing to fight for what you believe in. Its how we live. How we improve and grow as people. You gain nothing by running away from your problems." his gaze alighted upon Blake for the merest of moments as he said this. "You just live to fight another day." his finger fell, banishing the spell...or was it a jutsu? He'd never quite clarified that. "In the end, you have to take a stand and fight. That's life."
Weiss huffed and looked away, ponytail swaying in the wake of the wind he'd summoned. "You sound like my sister."
"Do I?" the teacher scratched at a whiskered cheek. "Maybe she's right. If this were a life-or-death-battle, would you let Ruby face me alone?"
Defeatism became defiance in a single raging heartbeat. "Of course not! I'd never do such a thing!"
The little reaper preened at her words and clasped her hands. "Aw! You do care!"
Blue eyes rolled. "You are such a dolt...
"Then there you have it." Naruto clapped his hands together, producing a sharp pop that commanded their attention once more. "Treat this like a real fight. I'll even sweeten the pot a bit. If the two of you manage to beat me here, I'll give you this." as they looked on, he fished a hand into his pocket and held out a Scroll. "You've been hunting for White Fang these after than incident at the docks, no?" he pressed a button upon the screen, revealing a grainy image within. "I know where they are~!" he all but sang the words as they glimpsed Torchwick's visage. "Aaaaand I have a fairly good idea of where he's holed up. Feeling motivated now?"
Ruby looked left. Ruby looked right. Ruby flailed her arms. "I...you...how do you know about that?!"
"I know a lot of things." that same winning smile flashed out again as Yang looked on. "Lets just say I have a...vested interest in seeing Roman brought to justice."
The blond brawler found her voice first. "You say that like its personal."
"I'm immortal, not heartless." his scarred face twitched. "He reminds me of an old friend-that, and I'd like to have a word with the one pulling his strings."
Their team exchanged a glance form the sidelines. "You think there's someone behind him?"
"Just a suspicion." the blond thumbed his chin for a moment, only to demur with a shake of the head. "Nothing concrete yet. Might need to chat with Amber tonight."
"Wife, more like."
A pebble pinged off her forehead and she crashed down with a yelp. "Ow!"
Naruto quirked a brow at her. "Don't be talkin' that way about my apprentice. She'll burn you alive."
...and the headmaster's fine with this?" Blake phrased the words softly, but anyone could see her ears were alert beneath her bow; it was positively twitching. "He's letting you two investigate the White Fang?"
"Of course he is. Why wouldn't he be?" Naruto cocked his head, squinting at them like a curious fox. "If anything, Ozpin comes to me for advice these days. 'Sides, I've got shadow clones for that sorta thing. Now, then!" the scroll vanished back into his pocket. "What'll it be? Are you in? Or out?"
To their credit, Ruby and Weiss found their resolve in an instant; they moved as one, hollering at the top of their lungs.
Naruto grinned. "That's the spirit! Give me everything you've got!"
Blake's fist slammed into the air. "Kick his ass!"
What followed was absolute madness.
Remarkably, the blond didn't deign to defend himself; sure, he stood his ground with he best of them and met each head on at first, but then began to give ground to their assault. All the while he kept his arms clasped behind his back. The girls gave chase in turn, hounding him around the arena, weapons a whirl of silver and red devastation around in the air.
"Stop using the standard attacks!" he chastised them, swaying around their strikes. "Use the unorthodox!"
Crescent Rose swiped low and Naruto blocked high with his right knee, producing a jarring clang. His jeans tore there, revealing the metal knee beneath. Ruby balked and found herself kicked away. Myrtenaster flicked out as she tumbled to safety, carving a thin slice across the blond's cheek. He laughed in surprise and nearly ate a scythe for it when she surged back in to lock off that very limb. Weiss dove under the weapon, moving with startling speed to strike out at his good leg, the same leg he was even now balancing upon.
"Got you!"
Naruto finally moved his arms. "Do you?"
Quick as a flash he caught her wrist and wrenched her around into a startled Ruby. Their skulls struck. Aura crackled dully as both girls went sprawling in the dirt.
Yang winced. "C'mon, Rubes! Get up! Kick his ass!"
Naruto jabbed a finger at her. "Detention!"
"Boo~!"
Beside her, Blake did the same. "Go, Weiss! Fight well!"
A fresh blast of fire dust nipped at Naruto's heels dodging back again.
"Good form!" He complimented Weiss, swaying around a flurry of strikes. "But you've got a problem of your own. Control my central line." Crescent Rose swept in from the side in a brutal crosscut, forcing him to bound away. "Better!" Work together to take me down!"
The two partners exchanged a wry look and flew at him again.
"Faster!" he demanded, batting their blades away with his crimson-clad hands. "Destroy my focus!"
Within moments, their mistake became
"You're holding your weapons too tightly! Now too lightly." He ripped Crescent Rose and Myrtenaster from their grasps and knocked them down once again; this time they were slower to rise. "Are you even listening?!"
Blake buried her head in her hands. "They're doomed."
"Hey, don't be a quitter!"
"She's right. If that's the best you have, Roman's going to eat you alive." Naruto circled around the fallen girls. "You need to be stronger." He reached up and removed one of his nine rings as he spoke. "Faster." A faint red light began to shimmer from his right arm, wreathing the limb like a second skin. "Smarter." Another ring went, and that sinister scarlet aura spread to his entire being. "Ruthless." He let out a low sigh and cracked his neck; when next he smiled, one could just how sharp his teeth had become. "You need to work together, here, in the Vytal Festival, and beyond. This kinda of teamwork won't cut it."
Yang felt herself grimace.
...gotcha." Ruby climbed to her feet, pulling Weiss up with her.
"Thatta girl." he applauded her courage. "Now hit me as hard as you can."
"Wait." Weiss raised a hand. "Isn't that we've been trying to for the last five minutes-
"Now, hold on." he raised a clawed hand, baring his fangs at her. "You might have misheard me." sheathed in red light, his voice sounded rougher somehow. More...feral. "Not half as hard, not some arbitrary percentage... I want you." he pointed at Ruby and Weiss. "To hit me." a thumb stabbed into his chest. "As hard." back to them. "As. You. Can. Are we clear?"
Yang smiled.
"Crystal." Ruby chirruped.
"Great! Now, I won't move from this spot, so-URK?!"
His reply cut off in a sullen squawk as Gambol's Shroud's ribbon hooked around his throat and hauled him backward. Whatever he might've said, whatever response he could've given, it died an ugly death Yang's gauntlet-clad fist crashed into the back of his head. Ember Celica barked and smashed their mentor facefirst into the mud.
"Mmmrph?!" he grunted -or laughed, one never knew with him?- into the muck. Yang pounced and landed on his back before he could right himself. Blake realized her plan and did the same, diving on his legs to weigh his body down yet further. Weiss and Ruby did the same to his forearms.
It wasn't enough.
Despite the four of them essentially clinging to him the battered blond planted his hands into the dirt and began to rise. Slowly at first, stiffly even, but with each passing moment he grew stronger. In no time at all, they found themselves hanging helplessly off him.
"Damnit!" Yang snarled and clung on, uncaring of the admonishment it would earn her. "Hold him down!"
Ruby's legs flailed. "I'm tryyyying!"
Weiss wailed. "Its not working!"
In a single seamless movement Naruto arched his shoulders and shook them all off like a wet dog. They went flying. Yang's head kissed a tree root and stars burst before her vision, blinding and white. She didn't see what happened to the others until it was too late. Because now, quite suddenly he was there, glaring bloody red daggers at her.
"Look, I know we cheated and all, but please don't getohcrapyoulookangry...
He loomed over them, eyes narrowed and intent.
"You four...
Yang gulped. Well, that tore it. They were dead.
"Well done!" He rounded on her with a smile. "You pass!"
...you're happy?"
"YES!" he threw his hands into the air with a gregarious laugh. "You finally thought outside the box for once! I never said you couldn't get back into the ring!" With a final tittered that strange red light left him, and he was quick to turn and retrieved his discarded rings. Were they a seal or something...no! Not important! What the hell was going on here?!
"I...you...wha...?!" Her brain sputtered and died. "But you said we were out!"
"Yes, I said that." he smirked back at her, innocence personified. "And?"
"Certainly. "Weiss agreed. "It makes sense if you think about it."
"Hmm." Blake's bow twitched but once. "I see."
Ruby blinked thrice. "Ohhhhhh! I get it!"
"I don't!" Yang howled! "Explain!"
"I told you when we started these little sessions," Naruto sat up, favoring his natural leg, "A shinobi must seen underneath the underneath. I wanted the four of you to think like shinobi -or kunoichi, since Blake insists on being sassy- not regualr huntresses." his gaze swept to each of them in turn, proud, appraising even. "That's the whole point of this remedial training. Now, then, you did beat me, even if only for a moment."
He fished his Scroll out once more, grinning from ear to ear.
...who wants to give the White Fang a bad time?"
Four hands shot up. "We do~!"
A/N: There.
Felt good to clear my head like that. Hope you enjoyed it.
Do you want this to be a story? Yes? No? Maybe so? Make yourselves heard!
Aaaand there we go. As ever, reviews keep me alive. Without them, I cannot write. So...in the Immortal Words of Atlas...
...Review...Would You Kindly? And have some previews -potential blot bin things- that I'm working on.
(Previews)
WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE.
"What can I say? We came here on a whim. Seemed like a fun thing to do."
"Wait, you guys are here for the Vytal Festival? Team...N.U.K.E. was that it? Ain't that a bit on the nose?"
"Really?" Naruto chuckled and actually thumbed his back at his fellow blond. "This from the guy with a team named after him?"
"Hey!" Sun bridled at the slight and stood just a little straighter. "You take that back! S.S.S.N. is an awesome name-no, you're distracting me again. Where ya guys from?" When neither of the quartet answered his inquiry so too did his suspicions grew. "I know you're not from Haven or Vacuo, and I haven't seen you guys around Vale. You from Atlas?"
Weiss leaned around him. "They are not. I don't recognize them."
"Snow angel's got the right of it." Blue eyes twinkled at some unspoken joke. "Think of us...as a foreign kingdom."
"Pretty sure Remnant doesn't have one of those." the faunus folded both arms behind his head. "Not even with Menagerie."
"Quite right." the Schnee agreed. "You must be lying!"
Sasuke looked up from sharpening his blade. "And I thought my clan was arrogant...
Weiss' frown redoubled. "Excuse me?!"
Kakashi swatted him on the back of the head. "Don't mind him."
The fourth member just stared at Sun. Right, these four were clearly nuts.
"Anyway, good luck out there." Naruto clapped him on the back. "We'll try and go easy on ya."
Kakashi cracked his neck. "I really do hate using that disguise...
"Take the girl!"
Blue eyes flashed. "Take my fist instead!"
R&R~!