Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or RWBY

A/N: Here's a mass update for the holiday, I hope you all have a safe and Merry Christmas, Happy Hanuka, Kwanzaa, or whatever you celebrate, and if I don't update anything you'll read by then, I hope you have a safe and Happy New Year!

Sorry for the quality, this was one of the last Ch's I did on Friday (22nd)

Decided now to upload for those who'll travel tomorrow for Christmas.

Remember to vote if you didn't!

Beta: ANUBIS the god king.

Chapter XXVIII.

Last Time.

Menagerie.

In Menagerie, Blake and Sun Wukong prepare to go recruiting again, but Blake receives a note from Ilia Amitola to meet with her alone. At first, Blake believes that Ilia regrets her actions in the White Fang, but the meeting turns out to be an ambush, and Blake is subdued by Ilia and her cohorts. Ilia then reveals to Blake that she plans to kill her parents and send Blake to Adam Taurus.

Before she leaves, Ilia confesses that she had romantic feelings for Blake in the past, but Blake had been too busy going after Adam to notice. However, Blake had anticipated the meeting would go wrong and had brought Sun. Just as she is about to be taken away, Blake calls out to Sun, and together, they knock out her captors.

Both of them rush to aid Blake's parents, who are fending off an attack by White Fang insurgents led by Corsac and Fennec Albain.

Haven.

"Oh, what to do?"

Naruto asked as he, Shiki, and Haru grinned at the still-sleeping Natsu. "I know, this is a silver platter," Haru said as they looked down.

Inside, Yang sits alone on a bed looking at the "New Friends!" photo of Team RWBY before hearing a noise.

"Quiet!"

Blinking, she looked up to see Naruto and the others carrying Natsu who was on a mattress. "Don't ask," Naruto said as they past Pyrrha having Naruto kissed her on the cheek.

Now.

Haven.

SPLASH!

"AAHH!"

Naruto Haru and Shiki laughed as Natsu jumped out of the fountain before giving chase. "Come back you bastards!"

Later, Qrow was sitting talking to Ozpin in Oscar's body. "Things aren't looking good, Oz."

"Ever the optimist. While I would not say our current predicament is... Ideal, I think we can both agree that the situation could be much worse. Humanity is a resilient force."

Qrow looked over as he took a sip from his mug. "Oz, pro-Huntsmen like that don't just bite it all at once. Salem's powerful. It seems like her reach is growing by the day. What does that say about Humanity?"

"That there are indeed a misguided few who have filled their hearts with malice. It doesn't take a great number of people to cause harm, but I still believe there are far more people in this world willing to prevent it."

As Ozpin is about to take another sip, Ruby Rose is heard walking into the room. "Um, excuse me?"

"Ah, Miss Rose, join us. We were just about to gather everyone to discuss our next steps."

"Oh, uh, great." She said from her spot.

"Something on your mind kiddo?" Qrow asked her.

"Uh... uh, it's... if it's okay to ask."

"Of course."

"Well, uh... we've been talking about the Relic at Haven... and the Spring Maiden, but... what about the Fall Maiden?"

"Cinder?" Ozpin asked her.

"Does that mean... Salem has the Beacon Relic?"

Ozpin and Qrow share a brief look. "Very astute, Miss Rose, I was wondering who would be the first to ask. No, thankfully she does not. The Relic at Haven is indeed very much at risk, and for now, that should remain our primary focus. Let's just say I made finding the Relic at Beacon a... Bit more challenging than at the other schools."

Ruby sighed in relief at that. "Oh. That's good to hear."

"It is, but let's not forget the challenges that still lie before us." He said as Ruby nodded. "Now is there anything else we can help you with?"

"Oh, uh... well, I did have one more question."

"No, my cane is not a Relic." He smiled at that

"I have no more questions."

"Yes, while this cane is indeed very precious to me, it is also just that – precious to me. While I admit it still has a few more tricks up its sleeve, I can firmly say that being a Relic isn't one of them. Now why don't you run and get the other students?"

Suddenly, Qrow's scroll is heard vibrating. He takes it out of his pocket to see 'LEO LIONHEART'. "Yeah?... Okay... yeah, we'll be there."

"Who was it?"

Qrow sighs while taking out his flask. "It was Leo, says he had a breakthrough with the council. Thinks he might be able to get together a small raiding party for the bandits. He wants us to meet up at the school tomorrow night to walk us through it."

"Really? Oh, that's great! I'll go get the others." Ruby runs out of the room while Qrow takes a drink from his flask.

"Mmm, that sounds drastically different from your original conversation, does it not?" Ozpin said to him

"It does."

"Cause for concern?"

They turned to see Naruto walking in, hands on his pistols. "Gotta be ready for anything now… Even betrayals… I know from experience."

Earlier, Raven's Camp.

At the Branwen Tribe camp, Raven Branwen is confronted by Cinder Fall, Arthur Watts, Emerald Sustrai, and Mercury Black. Their objective is to take Vernal and use her power as the Spring Maiden to access the Vault containing the Relic of Knowledge at Haven Academy. Raven initially refuses, wanting to remain neutral of Salem and Ozpin, but then reluctantly accepts when she is told of the White Fang's plan to attack Haven in a couple of days, but not before bargaining that she wants her brother dead. Cinder also sees this as an opportunity to get to Ruby Rose as well, much to Watts' dismay. After Cinder and her group leave, however, Raven tells Vernal that she plans to use the chaos to take the Relic herself and flee with her and the tribe.

Later, Haven, Lionheart's Office.

At Leonardo Lionheart's office, the Haven headmaster sits at his desk in front of a blue holographic screen with the text "CALL END" before deactivating. Raven stands a few feet away from him, arms crossed and smiling. "I still have questions for you."

"You're not alone in that."

Raven walked in front of his desk. "You know, I never expected you would be the one to have the guts to betray Oz. Which makes me wonder, what does she have on you?"

"I'm helping her for the same reason you are. I'm afraid. We... we can't stop her... no one can..."

Raven looked at him before continuing. "That's why I tried to leave when I did. I'm not afraid, I'm smart."

"You can call it whatever you want, it doesn't matter. We're here... helping her. I've crossed a line... I've done things that Ozpin will never forgive, and he shouldn't! I don't know where I go from here."

Raven placing her hands on his desk, glanced up to look him in the eye. "Man up! You did what you had to do to survive, there is no shame in that."

"Who are you trying to convince?"

Raven doesn't say anything, she just leaves the room while Lionheart sadly leans back sighing.

Menagerie.

Ghira continues to defend his home from the White Fang insurgents led by Corsac and Fennec. Sun and Blake arrive in time to aid him. Blake inquires about her father about her mother, and Ghira tells her to help her out while he and Sun deal with the Albains. Blake proceeds and runs into Ilia Amitola on the way. The two former friends then prepare to battle each other.

They then started fighting which caused the house to be set on fire. Ilia is then torn between helping Blake or the White Fang. As the battle progresses, Ghira Belladonna, Sun Wukong, Corsac, and Fennec Albain join the fray as well. Ghira and Sun save Ilia from being crushed by a collapsing balcony, only for Fennec to be killed by it in his attempt to kill Ghira.

Ilia then electrocutes Corsac into unconsciousness while he tries to avenge his brother. Kali arrives at the scene dragging an unconscious Yuma. Ilia tearfully breaks down, remorseful of her actions.

In the aftermath, a large crowd gathers outside to witness the scene. Blake gives a speech to rally them and gains the support of many Faunus, including Ilia. Ghira then notes that Adam Taurus' attack on Haven will happen in approximately two weeks, and advises that they should use the time to prepare. Blake also helps arrange for transportation.

Haven, Night.

The full moon illuminates the night sky above Haven Academy. On the school grounds, Qrow leads the currently present members of Team RWBY, SHNN, JNPR, and Oscar Pine follows close behind. Ruby stops and looks up to admire Haven's CCT tower, before following the rest of the group to a nearby building.

They enter the building and are greeted by Leo, who is standing on a terrace at the top of the stairs that is being held up by a statue of a woman in chains.

"Why hello. Thank you for... coming. There... seems to be more of you than last time." He said with a nervous chuckle.

Qrow and the rest of the group stop to look up at Lionheart. "Eh, you know what they say, "The more the merrier". So what's going on with the council?" Qrow asked the lion Faunus.

"Why... did you bring your weapons?"

"Because there's always the chance to be attacked," Naruto spoke from his spot as his teammates nodded as Natsu punched his fists together.

"You okay?" Qrow asked him.

"Of course! Of course, sorry. Just haven't had my evening coffee."

"Look, it's nice to see you, but we got work to do. Are we getting support from the council or not?"

While the two talk, Yang notices from the corner of her eye a black bird perched on a balcony railing. "Mom?"

Everyone's attention is turned to the bird. It flies away just as Qrow shoots at it, but he misses. The bird flies down behind Lionheart, transforming into Raven Branwen, and donning her mask. Everyone glares at her.

"Raven…" Ruby said as Nora gasped.

"They... they are magic..."

Raven taking her mask off smiled as she looked down. "If you're going to shoot me, shoot me. That was insulting."

Bang!

The helmet was shot out of the hand as Naruto held Shusui. "How's that?"

"What are you doing here?"

Raven started walking down the stairs. "I could ask you the same thing. You've been scheming, little brother. Planning to attack your sister."

"Leo... what have you done?!" Qrow asked him.

"Leo did what any sane person would in his position... he looked at all the information he had in front of him, assessed the situation, and made a choice. And it seems you all have too." Raven explained as Qrow looked at her.

"You have the Spring Maiden."

"I do."

"Then hand her over and let's work together! We can beat Salem!" Qrow yelled at her.

"All that time spent spying for Ozpin and you still have no idea what you're dealing with. There is no beating Salem!"

Ruby shook her head at that. "You're wrong. We've done things that most people would call impossible, and I know the only reason we were able to do it is because we didn't do it alone! We had people to teach us, people to help us, and we had each other. Work with us. At least I know we'll have a better chance if we try together. Please." She holds her hand out as Raven glares at it.

"You sound just like your mother."

Suddenly, Raven draws Omen and creates a portal with her Semblance. A fireball is launched from the portal and hits Ruby square in her torso. She lands several feet back. "Ruby!"

While Yang runs to her little sister, Cinder Fall exits the portal. "Hello, boys and girls."

She is then joined by Vernal, Emerald, and Mercury as they too step out from the portal. Cinder and her group line up alongside Raven, while Ruby's group gasps. "C'mon guys, is that any way to greet your old friends?"

Suddenly they hear the doors behind them open up. "Oh no…" Oscar says as he turns and sees Hazel closing the doors behind him as he enters. "The White Fang is prepping demolition and securing the school grounds. No one's getting in, and no one's getting out."

"This was all just a trap?" Weiss asked as Naruto pulled Sage out and spun both pistols before pulling the hammer back.

"Raven, tell me... how long have you been with them?" Qrow asked as Cinder smiled.

"Aww, don't take it personally, little bird. Your sister was a recent addition. The lion on the other hand... Entrance into the Vytal Festival was a real treat, Leonardo's been sending Salem all sorts of information for a very, very long time. Isn't that right, professor?"

"Stop it..."

Qrow looked at Leo before speaking. "It was you... you sit on the Mistral Council. You had information on every Huntsman and Huntress in the Kingdom, and you gave it all to her? I couldn't find any of them, because you let her kill them!"

"Aw now, don't beat yourself up about it, Lionheart, I'm sure Tyrian and Hazel would've found them on their own eventually."

Jaune transforms Crocea Mors to its two-handler form and advances. Cinder summons a glowing scimitar and blocks Jaune's attack. "Jaune!"

Ruby leaps into the air, but a chain wraps around her and she is pulled to the ground by Emerald. "You're not getting near her."

Jaune is then pushed back by Cinder and the two begin their duel. Yang runs forward to join the fight, but Mercury lands in front of her.

Naruto and his team ran at Mercury and started attacking. Shiki dropped down to sweep and kick Mercury who jumped only to be punched by Natsu as Haru dropped down, his sword now black, and sliced at Mercury.

"Take out the heiress. Don't bother wasting your power, she's not worth it." Raven said only to jump back from Fox Bolt's trident form.

Raven then draws her sword as Qrow uses Harbinger to lock blades with his sister. "Running away was one thing, but this... you've crossed the line!"

"Sorry, brother. Sometimes family disappoints you like that."

"We're not family anymore."

The two then proceed with their fight, Qrow ducks under a slash and then jumps back. He dodges two more swings as Raven follows and clashes blades one time before she kicks him away. While the siblings battle Vernal draws her weapons and confronts Weiss.

Weiss activates a glyph below her and projects herself forward to fight the Spring Maiden. Meanwhile, Oscar sneaks up the stairs to Lionheart while Hazel confronts Ren and Nora, who hold up their weapons defensively.

"I don't wish to fight either of you."

"Nor I, you," Ren said walking beside Nora.

"But we will if you're with her!"

Hazel cracked his neck and knuckles at that. "Very well, then."

Hazel proceeds forward as Lionheart nervously watches the fights going on, he then notices Oscar walk up behind him. "Young man, I don't know who you are or what you think you're doing, but for your sake, I suggest you leave. Now." Oscar defiantly remains stationary before taking a few more steps toward Lionheart. "I'm warning you!"

Lionheart holds out Stalwart which switches to active mode, while Oscar prepares to draw something from behind him. "Lionheart: That's enough!"

Lionheart rotates his weapon, having a glyph appear above it which then conjures a flaming rock that launches at Oscar, who holds out his arms in front of him defensively as the attack explodes. Oscar is unscathed, though his Aura shimmers. He continues to proceed up the steps and draws The Long Memory. "Ozpin?"

"Not quite."

Oscar then proceeds forward as his attacks force Lionheart on the defensive. Lionheart blocks or dodges most of them, one drives him against the rail. Oscar hits it as Lionheart avoids another strike, then follows up with a swing that sends Lionheart staggering down the steps. He jumps down to continue attacking and eventually manages to whack Lionheart back a few steps. "This can't be... I knew you would be back, but... you made it here! You found Qrow! How?"

"Wait. You can't have had this form for long. You're... not Ozpin right now. Boy. Child. If I deliver you to Salem, she'll have to be pleased with me, and I can finally get out of all of this! I can finally be free!" Lionheart, now determined, preps his weapon again as Oscar proceeds forward.

Meanwhile, Weiss leaps around on her glyphs, dodging Vernal's weapons as she throws them like boomerangs. After backing into a pillar Weiss is then forced on the defensive and creates a large ice wall. She then stabs Myrtenaster into the ground as her Arma Gigas summon crawls out of her glyph. Suddenly, a large beam destroys the ice wall as well as the Arma Gigas before it can be fully summoned. One of Vernal's weapons knocks Weiss back several feet.

Vernal, catching her weapon looks at Weiss. "Don't think I'm going to let you take the easy way out."

Elsewhere, Jaune is knocked to the ground.

Cinder chuckled at him. "I'm starting to remember you, you're the dense one who can't tell when he's out of his league."

She was then hit with Pyrrha's shield having it bounce off her and hit onto a pillar to bounce back into Pyrrha's hand. Pyrrha twirled her spear before glancing at Naruto, remembering him training her at a field with padding on trees to get her shield to come back to her without her Semblance.

Ruby looked at Emerald as she dodged an attack. "Why are you doing this?! Salem's-"

"I don't care about Salem! But I owe Cinder everything. You want to fight her that bad? Be my guest."

Emerald then activates her hallucination Semblance, creating a wall of fire which Cinder emerges from and charges at Ruby. Suddenly, Cinder's form disappears, while Emerald trips Ruby. Ruby fires a bullet that narrowly misses Weiss, who is blocking Vernal's shots with Myrtenaster. Weiss attempts to summon, but Vernal is too quick and prevents her from doing so with a shot to the back.

Eventually, Weiss manages to launch Vernal out of the way using a glyph and prepares to summon again. Suddenly, Vernal appears in front of her and lands a point-blank attack that depletes Weiss' aura. Cinder then ignites her scimitar, which is now fully coated in flames. Cinder and Jaune proceed forward to clash as Ruby yells out. "NOOOOOOOOOO!"

A bright light engulfs the area but dies down when Ruby is knocked unconscious by Emerald. Suddenly, Cinder falls to her knees, holding her arm in pain. She looks up, and barely misses Jaune's attack as it chips her mask that conceals the left side of her face. As Cinder moves out of the way, Jaune trips and falls. Cinder gets back up enraged, activating her Maiden power while doing so. She then steps on top of Jaune to hold him down.

"Did you think you had a chance against me?! You?!"

"He has friends!"

Pyrrha dropped down to stab Cinder only for her to jump out of the way having the tip crack the floor beside Jaune.

Nora jumps up attempting to bring Magnhild down on Hazel who grabs it. He tosses her aside then uses his arms to block Ren slashing with Stormflower. Mercury blocks Yang's attack then ducks under a shot and leaps back. He launches himself up but only hits the floor as she moves. Before smiling evilly as she looks back down to him.

Cinder then notices Weiss get knocked back several feet away, and begins to slowly proceed toward her while she conjures an obsidian spear. She throws it only for Naruto to push Weiss out of the way and take the spear to the side under his ribs. He screamed before grabbing the spear, had red energy cover him, then roared while he pulled it out as they saw the wound heal with steam.

Cinder then saw his eyes flash red and become slitted. "W-What are you?"

"I'm complicated." He grinned before pulling his guns and took several shots at her.

To Be Continued.

A/N: Thanks for reading and let me know of any mistakes.

Beta: ANUBIS the god king

Here's a mass update for the holiday, I hope you all have a safe and Merry Christmas, Happy Hanuka, Kwanzaa, or whatever you celebrate, and if I don't update anything you'll read by then, I hope you have a safe and Happy New Year!

Sorry for the quality, this was one of the last Ch's I did on Friday (22nd.)

Next to be updated will be Shinobi as I'll start over on publish order.

Nothing else to say.

Talk To You Later,

Lone Wolf Out.🐺