AN: Hey everyone. I know it has been quite a while. This is by far my longest chapter and it is all original like the last one. Hope you enjoy it, and if you don't, thanks for reading anyway.

Chapter 11 – Semester's End

Naruto and the gang are in the middle of Professor Oobleck's history class. Naruto is pretty bored, but he is still focused and taking notes. Why is this? It is because the end of the semester is coming up, and that means midterms.

Oobleck is currently reviewing past lessons and he then asks Jaune, "Mr. Arc, what was the lead up to the great war?"

Pyrrha is whispering to herself, "Come on Jaune…you can do this."

After around ten seconds of thinking, Jaune answers, "Mistral and Vale settling on Sanus' coast?"

Oobleck smiles and says, "Well done Mr. Arc! I am pleased to see you improve your standing as a student!" Pyrrha breathes a sigh of relief and has a smile on her face. Oobleck then zips over to Naruto and asks him, "Mr. Uzumaki, how many years did the great war last and what were the main reasons for it coming to an end?"

"It lasted 10 years and had to end because of rationing supplies, bettering Faunus and human relations, but most of all the relentless Grimm attacks" Naruto answered. "The war caused the Grimm attacks to skyrocket and the warring sides couldn't afford to fight each other anymore."

Oobleck smiles again saying, "Excellent Mr. Uzumaki. That is all correct!" He then zips over to ask Weiss, "And now you Ms. Schnee. What was the final and most grueling battle of the war?"

"The battle for Vacuo's mines." Weiss answers.

"That is correct!" Oobleck responds. "And what was it that most historians attribute Mantle's loss to?"

"Mantle's inexperience in desert combat and Vacuo's violent weather." Weiss answers again.

Oobleck smiles still and says, "Excellent! I am pleased with all of your performances lately! Though some of you I encourage to seek further assistance in your study, I am confident you will all perform admirably on the midterms! Study hard but also be sure to rest plenty as well. The midterms are in 4 days after today! Class dismissed!"

Naruto stands up and starts stretching as he thinks, "That was a long one."

"Maybe, but you need to be ready." Kurama retorts.

"I know I know." Naruto answers the fox in kind. He then asks his friends down below, "Hey guys. So, how's everyone feeling about the midterms?"

"Oh, we're all gonna ace it no problem!" Ruby answers for her team. Yang leans back and nods. Blake also has a confident look.

Weiss says, "You seen how easily I answered his questions."

"Yeah, I know." Naruto answers her boast. He then looks at Team JNPR. "What about you guys?"

"Well, I'm pretty confident as is Ren." Pyrrha answers. "However, we will still be holding a team study session. You're all welcome to join us."

Team RWBY looks at each other before Ruby answers, "Thanks but we'll pass. We want to blow off a little steam after everything that's been going on lately."

"I'll take you up on that study session." Naruto answers.

They are all surprised at this. Blake asks, "Seriously?"

"You gotta be kidding me, Whiskers." Yang states. "Study over fun? This doesn't sound like you at all."

Naruto gets a serious expression on his face before answering, "Look, I'm not in the same boat as you guys. You're all here normally."

They all look confused. Jaune let's out, "Say what?"

"Yeah, what's that supposed to mean?" Ruby asks.

"You guys are all on teams like you're supposed to be." Naruto further explains. "But me? I'm a special case that Ozpin went out of his way to let attend Beacon even without being on a team. If I screw this up it'll make Ozpin look really bad." After hearing that reasoning all of them understand his mentality.

"Well then come by our dorm room an hour or so after our classes." Pyrrha answers.

"Got it!" Naruto responds.

About an hour and a half after classes have ended for the day, Naruto knocks on Team JNPR's door. He is in his normal outfit now, but there is one noticeable change. He no longer wears the same gloves. Since he is no longer hiding his mechanical arm, he has switched to wearing fingerless gloves similar to Kakashi. He thought of not wearing gloves anymore, but he had gotten used to putting them on every day. He also felt the gloves helped complete his new look.

Jaune opens the door and says, "Hey Naruto, come on in." He steps out of the way letting Naruto step inside.

As Naruto looks around, he thinks to himself, "Wow, this place is pretty normal compared to Team RWBY's room."

Kurama tried to think of something sarcastic to say, but he couldn't. All he could do was matter-of-factly say, "Surprising but true. I guess they aren't as into decorating."

"Or bunk beds." Naruto adds. He then sees Pyrrha organizing the books and notes they will be using and has an entire row of flash cards prepared on one of the desks. Seeing this, Naruto can't help but say, "Jeez, it's like you were made for this."

"Do you really think so?" Pyrrha questions.

"Are you kidding? Look at all this!" Naruto points out.

"He does have a point." Jaune adds.

"Well, I do admit that I kind of enjoy it." Pyrrha states.

Naruto then notices things were not as loud as he was expecting and figures out Ren and Nora aren't there. He then asks, "So where's Ren and Nora?"

"Oh, they're out grabbing some snacks and stuff to drink for the study session." Jaune answers.

Naruto grins and says, "Now that's teamwork, ya know."

Jaune smirks as they wait a few more minutes which is when Ren and Nora walk back in carrying a few plastic bags. Ren speaks up and says, "We're back."

"And we got the good stuff!" Nora shouts.

"Oooh, what's the good stuff?" Naruto asks.

"Oh hey!" Nora says now noticing that he's there.

"Nuts, chips, pretzels, and some sweets." Ren answers. He then goes and puts the bags down.

Pyrrha finishes organizing and says, "Looks like everything is ready." They all sit down.

"So, what are we starting with?" Naruto asks.

"We will be starting with environmental biology" Pyrrha answers. Jaune does not look very thrilled. Ren shows indifference and Nora shows the same.

Naruto, looking at Jaune says, "Hey, beats starting with math." All of them nod in agreement with that. Pyrrha begins by handing them all books and grabbing her first deck of flash cards. Naruto then asks her, "How far in advance did you even make those?"

"I make a few every day after our classes." She answers. This causes Naruto to recall Pyrrha telling them about how she had to be perfect all the time.

"Kid, I think we've just gotten a glimpse of how she got her perfect persona." Kurama comments.

"You're probably right." Naruto internally says to his friend. He then says verbally to Pyrrha, "Oh come on Pyrrha, you gotta learn to have more fun."

Pyrrha smiles and says, "I'm working on it, but habits are hard to break."

"At least it's coming in handy right now." Jaune chimes in.

Pyrrha then draws her first card and asks, "What distinguishes the trees of Forever Fall?"

Nora pops up and shouts, "Oh I know this one! It's the red leaves!"

"That's correct but I need more than that." Pyrrha tells her. "What else distinguishes them?"

They struggle but none of them can come up with an answer until Naruto guesses, "Is it the sap?"

"Correct!" Pyrrha exclaims. "And what is the sap used for?" They all draw a blank, so Pyrrha has to tell them. She says, "It's used for many things. But the main uses are medicine and healing salves…" She then looks at Nora and says, "And syrup."

Nora bemoans her lack of knowledge on that saying, "I should have known that one!" Naruto and Jaune both write all that down.

"Relax Nora." Pyrrha tells her. "That's what this study session is for."

Nora sits back down and opens her book saying, "You're right…I'm gonna get this down!"

Roughly an hour passes, and the group takes a break. Naruto and Nora both end up saying, "My brain hurts…"

"Oh come on, it wasn't that bad." Pyrrha tells them.

Naruto then motions to Jaune and tells her, "Tell that to him."

Pyrrha then looks to Jaune and sees him looking wide-eyed and a little panicked. Concerned, she asks Jaune, "Jaune? Are you okay?"

"Just uh, feeling a little overwhelmed…" Jaune responds.

"Calm down buddy." Naruto tells him. "The exams aren't tomorrow ya know."

Jaune decides to take his advice and takes a deep breath. He then says, "I needed that."

Ren then stands up and says, "I think we could use some refreshment."

Nora then pops up and shouts, "Yeah! Time for some snacks!"

Ren then tosses her a chocolate pastry and a cola. He then tosses Jaune some chips and a cola, Pyrrha some pretzels and some water, and then Naruto the same thing and says, "We didn't know what to get you."

"Hey, I wasn't expecting anything at all!" Naruto tells him as he opens the bag and starts munching.

As they are snacking, Jaune asks Naruto, "Hey Naruto, are you really nervous about the exam?"

"I'm not nervous, just being cautious." Naruto tells him.

"But what does someone like you have to be cautious about?" Jaune inquires further. "Next to Pyrrha you're probably the best fighter in the class."

"Well sure when it comes to fighting, I got all the confidence in the world." Naruto answers. "But it's not all fighting, is it? Written tests have never been my strong suit ya know."

"If that isn't the truth…" Kurama adds.

"Shut it…" Naruto internally responds giving the fox a grin.

"I guess that's a pretty fair point." Jaune admits.

"If we're talking about confidence, look at Nora." Naruto comments. "She doesn't seem worried at all."

"She knows that this studying will do the trick." Ren responds.

"And then after the exams it's time to celebrate!" Nora adds.

"Now that's a mentality I can get behind!" Naruto states.

Pyrrha then grabs more flashcards and says, "I think it's time we got back to it." They all started to focus again and continued the study session.

Another couple hours passed and the study session is now over. Naruto flops down on the floor and takes a deep breath.

"You know Naruto, it seems like you already had most of the material down." Pyrrha informs him.

Naruto raises his arm and index finger in the air to interject saying, "Just being cautious."

Nora rolls her eyes and says, "We heard you the first time."

"Come on Nora, it's a good thing." Ren retorts.

"So, is this really about Ozpin?" Jaune asks.

"Yeah it is." Naruto answered. He then explained further, "There was a time in my life where there wasn't a single person who believed in me. I was just worthless trash to people. So, when someone does put their faith in me, you can bet I'll fight like hell to make sure they don't regret it."

Jaune hearing this thinks to himself, "That kind of loyalty is pretty rare. I've never met someone like that before."

Pyrrha on the other hand is in shock. The idea of someone like Naruto being considered trash is insane to her. She is not going to ask about it, but she cannot help but think, "What in the world could have caused people to look down on him so much?" Ren and Nora have similar thoughts to hearing some of Naruto's past.

Naruto then sits up looking at them and asking, "What's with the long faces?"

"Oh, it's nothing." Jaune tells him.

Pyrrha changes the subject by announcing, "We're going to have another study session in a couple of days. However, this one will include some combat practice."

Nora jumps up in joy shouting, "Now that's a study session I was made for!" Ren smirks at her outburst.

"Naruto, I would like you to join us again." Pyrrha tells him.

"Are you sure?" Naruto asks.

"Yes." Pyrrha answers. She then further explains saying, "We could all use more experience facing faster competent opponents and Grimm won't do the trick. Jaune especially needs it."

Jaune then looks down. He thinks he is the weakest member of his team, and he does not like it. However, he admits it saying, "She's right. I need a lot of work..."

Pyrrha hears him and says, "Jaune I didn't mean it like that…"

"Jaune come on, you need to relax ya know." Naruto tells him. "You got nothing to be ashamed about. Lots of people don't have experience here. Hell, I didn't even have a Semblance when I came to Beacon." They all stared at Naruto dumbfounded. "What'd I say?"

Jaune cheers up a little bit and says, "Wow, and I thought I was the only one."

"Nope." Naruto tells him. "I didn't unlock my Semblance until that night in the warehouse district."

"Oh, so that's how you embarrassed Cardin?" Jaune asks presumptuously.

"Uh, no." Naruto informs him. "I haven't used my Semblance on anybody since that night."

"Meaning you didn't have it during our sparring match?" Pyrrha inquires. Naruto nods and then she says, "You may very well be able to beat me now."

"So, what is your Semblance then?" Ren asks. Naruto hesitates to answer.

"Well come on, spit it out!" Nora shouts, seeing that Naruto is not telling them.

Seeing this, Jaune speaks up and tells Naruto, "You know Naruto, at some point you'll be teamed up with us. So, you really shouldn't hide your abilities from us."

"He's got you there, kid." Kurama points out.

"That's a fair point." Naruto tells him. "I'll show you guys when we spar at the next study session."

"You better!" Nora tells him.

"It's a deal then." Pyrrha states.

Naruto then gets up and opens the door as he says, "See you guys tomorrow in class." They all say bye to Naruto as he heads out.

A couple of days later, two days before the midterms, Naruto arrives at Team JNPR's room for the next study session. This study session is starting earlier in the day due to there being combat practice as well.

Pyrrha answers the door and says, "Welcome back Naruto. Ready for another session?"

"I think so." Naruto answers confidently. Pyrrha lets him in the room and the layout is the same as last time. Ren notices Naruto first and waves at him.

Nora just shouts, "Hey there!"

"Hey." Naruto says in return. He then looks to Jaune and asks, "Hey. Ya feeling any more confident about the material?"

"More than before, but I still need more work" Jaune answers.

"That's good, after all you're the leader, ya know." Naruto points out.

Jaune looks down for a second before responding, "Yeah, I know. It's kind of embarrassing that the team leader needs so much help…"

"What? No, it's a good thing." Naruto points out.

"What do you mean?" Jaune asks in turn.

"Being willing to admit you need help, and even more so being willing to ask for it is a sign of a good leader." Naruto responds.

"You really believe that?" Jaune asks not quite convinced yet.

Naruto remembers when Itachi lectured him about trying to take everything on himself. He then responds to Jaune, "Yeah, I do. No offense to Pyrrha, but I bet that's a big reason why Ozpin made you the team leader over her."

"No offense taken." Pyrrha responds. "In fact, I think that's a great point. The way I always had to keep up my facade of perfection would have prevented me from ever asking for help."

Ren looks at Nora and asks, "What do you think?"

Nora just shrugs and states, "Works for me."

Jaune with some renewed confidence says, "Okay, it's time we got started."

Pyrrha grabs a deck of her flash cards and says, "This time we will be starting with Grimm classification."

"What?!" Nora shouts indignantly. She then further complains saying, "That's not what we started with last time!"

Pyrrha smirks before saying, "We do not know how the exams will be laid out. It does us no good to memorize a specific format." Nora crosses her arms with an upset face causing Naruto to openly snicker. Jaune tries to hide it but snickers as well. Ren just smiles.

After a couple of hours of studying, Naruto and Team JNPR head out to get some sparring in. They pass by Team RWBY's door which happens to be open.

Ruby happens to be doing some studying of her own when she sees them passing by with their weapons and asks, "Hey! Where you guys going?"

"Combat practice!" Nora shouts back.

Yang overhears that and says, "Man I wish we were doing that."

"We can in about an hour." Ruby tells her. Weiss and Blake end up agreeing on that. Naruto and JNPR head just outside the campus where there's a little stretch of forest with no Grimm.

"So how are we gonna do this?" Naruto ends up asking.

"Pyrrha and I are going to do some warmup sparring so you can start with Ren and Nora." Jaune answers.

"Naruto, we will be counting on your outrageous stamina today." Pyrrha states as her and Jaune pair off.

Naruto looks at Ren and Nora and asks, "So, who's first?!" Ren backs off while Nora looks like a caged animal. As he and Nora start to square off, Naruto says, "Pyrrha wants you guys to work against speed, right?" Naruto then configures Orange Spark into dual staff mode.

"It won't matter when you go splat!" Nora shouts with hammer in hand. This makes Naruto smirk as he rushes her. Nora does a horizontal swing with her hammer making Naruto dive over it to dodge. Before Nora can turn around, Naruto lands a dropkick to Nora's back knocking her over. She grunts before quickly getting back to her feet. She is quickly met with a rapid assault from Naruto and his staffs. Due to Nora's hammer not being a good blocking or parrying weapon, she has to rely on dodging. However, Naruto is quicker than she is which results in her getting hit twice in the right side of her torso and then once in the left side of her head.

Ren looking on and seeing Nora struggle against Naruto thinks to himself, "Pyrrha was right, we need more experience against competent opponents with speed."

"You're gonna get it now!" Nora shouts as she jumps up and swings her hammer. Naruto has to jump back to try and avoid the impact as Nora's swing makes a small crater on the ground. She then configures her weapon into its grenade launcher state and shouts, "Try handling this!" She then opens fire causing explosions and Naruto is jumping all over to avoid them.

Naruto thinks to himself, "I can't do much from this distance." He then starts getting closer while putting both staffs in one hand and his other hand reaches down his leg. Nora takes aim at him when Naruto throws his father's kunai at Nora making Nora have to dodge instead of fire. Naruto has now closed the distance and sweeps Nora with his staffs. As she is falling, Naruto kicks her into the air and shouts "U!" Nora then remembers the combo Naruto did in sparring class and how it devastated his opponent. She desperately swings her hammer in mid-air to stop him. Naruto backs up to avoid it and then swings one of his staff's hitting Nora in the left side of her torso.

Nora's Aura has taken quite a beating. Not only was Naruto faster than her, she underestimated him too. She thinks to herself, "This guy's on the same level as Pyrrha, I should have been more careful!" As she is thinking this, Naruto hits her twice in her left leg, once in her right leg, and then twice center mass.

Ren, who is monitoring Nora's Aura, sees that it is well into the yellow and then shouts, "You're on the brink!"

"I can tell!" Nora shouts back. She has given up attacking at this point and is waiting for Naruto.

Naruto sees Nora in a weakened state and yells, "Guess I'm coming for you then!"

As Naruto rushes down Nora, Kurama comments, "You're acting like an animal that's cornered his prey."

Nora then jumps up into the air and explodes her hammer rocketing her giving her extra speed and impact. She yells putting everything she has into the swing. Naruto's eyes widen as he sees this and drops one of his staffs to double grip the other one still in his hand. Nora smashes her hammer into Naruto's staff cracking it and makes a small crater. However, she is shocked to see Naruto down on one knee but mostly unharmed. Ren looks at Naruto's Aura levels which have noticeably dipped, but he is shocked to see that it's still well in the green. Naruto then shoves Nora back and then punches her twice knocking her over and she is panting.

"Nora, your Aura levels have hit the red." Ren tells her.

While still panting, Nora asks, "How far did I get his levels down?" Ren hesitates to tell her but she shouts, "Come on!"

"His Aura is still well within the green." Ren informs her. Nora is stunned by this fact.

Naruto checks his scroll and says, "Hey, you did more damage to my levels than Cardin did, and I let him hit me multiple times."

"I guess that's true…" Nora says, feeling a little better about it now.

Naruto looks to Ren and says, "It's your turn pretty boy!" Ren gives Naruto a disapproving look which causes Nora to snicker. Ren then starts walking up with his bladed machine pistols, Stormflower. Naruto looks at his cracked dual staff and tries to put them back together which luckily works. He then looks at Nora and says, "Thanks for breaking my weapon. That money's coming out of my food budget!"

"My bad!" Nora shouts.

Naruto then configures Orange Spark into rifle mode and says, "At least that still works." He then loads a clip and some fire Dust. Seeing this, Ren gets ready to move.

Nora then counts down, "Three…two…one!" Naruto opens fire and all his bullets proc small fire bursts.

Ren is showing his agility by swiftly dodging all the shots and thinks to himself, "I'm quick as well, I should be fine." As Ren gets closer, he opens fire as well. Naruto dives out of the way to avoid the shots. Ren keeps firing until he gets in close and throws an extended side kick which Naruto side steps and throws a punch to Ren's face. Ren bends further back to avoid the punch and he then spins around before falling and does a high kick at Naruto, but Naruto catches the kick.

Naruto thinks to himself, "Fighting people like Lee and Sasuke prepared me for way more intense taijutsu than this." He then throws Ren away and then adds more fire Dust to his staff. He raises it up and says to himself, "Please don't break…!" He then then slams his staff down unleashing the fire shockwave and his Orange Spark is still intact.

Ren lands just in time to jump out of the way of the full brunt of the shockwave. However, he still catches on fire and says, "Darn it!" before rolling to put it out. Naruto then punts the rolling Ren like a football right into a tree. Ren audibly grunts as his body folds around the tree and his Aura plummets.

"Still got stamina issues?" Naruto asks with a grin. Ren gets up and isn't panting but he knows his power has plummeted.

"Don't let yourself get cocky." Kurama advises Naruto.

"I'm not I'm not!" Naruto internally responds to the fox. He then rushes Ren throwing blow after blow. Ren dodges them all pretty effectively, but notices Naruto's attacks seem random. He then remembers how Naruto wore down Pyrrha like this and does not have the stamina to keep this up.

Naruto notices Ren seems to have caught on and shouts, "Too late, ya know!" Ren starts to stumble from exhaustion and Naruto trips up Ren with his staff and as Ren starts to fall Naruto grabs his hand and pulls him back up to his feet.

Nora sees this and indignantly shouts, "Hey! Why'd he get treated so much more gently?!"

"Ren's more delicate" Naruto says before letting out a snicker. Ren glares at Naruto.

Nora busts out laughing and shouts, "That's true!" She then checks Naruto's Aura levels and sees that he's barely in the green. She then shouts, "Ren we're wearing him down!"

"It's no wonder you were able to face a Deathstalker." Ren comments.

"I actually had less Aura and skill back then." Naruto points out. He then wonders to himself, "I wonder if I could beat a Deathstalker on my own now."

Ren ponders to himself, "Could he have more inherent ability than Pyrrha?"

As Naruto, Ren, and Nora are chatting, Jaune walks up with Pyrrha and says, "We're all warmed up."

Naruto checks Jaune and Pyrrha's Aura levels on his scroll and they are both still close to full. He then asks, "So which of you are first?"

Jaune thinks for a second and then asks Pyrrha, "What do you think?"

"Well, If I go first, it will give you a chance to observe." Pyrrha points out. Jaune nods in agreement. "Then it looks like I'm up. Jaune, I want you to try and memorize some of our patterns."

"Got it." Jaune responds.

"Just so you know, I can't use my dual staffs." Naruto informs Pyrrha. He then stares at Nora and shouts, "Because someone broke one!"

"I said I was sorry!" Nora shouts back.

"Oh well, my fists—" Naruto starts to say.

Jaune interrupts saying, "Hit as hard as any weapon?" Naruto then just stares at Jaune. Jaune then informs Naruto, "You said it during your match with Cardin."

"HA! You're getting predictable!" Kurama says making fun of Naruto.

After some silence, Naruto says, "Uh, I guess I'm ready when you are." He enters his stance. Pyrrha takes her stance with her weapon in sword mode. Naruto rushes her and attempts to hit her first in her arms and then her legs with his staff. She parries the swing at her arms with her blade and cross counter swings which Naruto ducks and she then steps back to avoid his attempt to trip her. Naruto then adds lightning Dust to his weapon and configures it into rifle mode before opening fire. Pyrrha blocks each shot with her shield inching closer after every shot. He then aims at her legs again making her have to squat down to protect her legs with her shield. Once she is put in this position, Naruto runs in and kicks Pyrrha's shield and since she has little leverage in this position she goes flying back. Ren, Nora, and Jaune are stunned at how quickly she got put into a disadvantaged position.

As she gets up, Pyrrha states, "This is why we needed this sparring."

"Any of the Grimm we've faced wouldn't have noticed that your shields aren't big enough to guard your upper and lower bodies at the same time without you having to put yourselves into a bad position." Naruto adds. Jaune is focused making sure to commit that to memory. Pyrrha then presses the attack by throwing her shield. Naruto managed to dodge it, but it gave Pyrrha enough of an opening to close the distance and swing her blade at Naruto. He bends back to avoid the swing, but he then gets hit in the back of the head by her shield coming back to her thanks to her Semblance. As Naruto reels from the blow to his head, Pyrrha manages to land a knee to his face and then lands a slash to his torso.

"Geez, she's just too good…" Nora expresses.

"Why would you say that from just her getting in a couple hits?" Jaune inquires. Ren and Nora stay silent causing Jaune to jokingly ask, "It's not like you guys couldn't land a single hit, right?" Ren and Nora stay silent again making Jaune realize they didn't land a hit and he gulps thinking about when he has to spar with Naruto. Naruto then takes out his father's kunai and then gets an idea for modifying Orange Spark when he gets it fixed. He then condenses Orange Spark and goes in with just his kunai in hand and does several quick slashes against Pyrrha. She dodges them and then parries the last one with her shield and thrusts her blade at him and follows up with a spinning horizontal slash. Naruto manages to weave the thrust and ducks the slash before tackling her down and he then goes to stab her with his kunai. She uses her Semblance to stop it short and Naruto is distracted to where he just barley manages to get off of Pyrrha before she hits him with her sword.

"You've already had to use your Semblance." Naruto comments.

"You've clearly thought a lot about our last fight." Pyrrha retorts, which Naruto does not deny. Jaune is getting even more nervous about sparring with Naruto.

Seeing this, Ren tries to comfort Jaune by telling him, "Naruto will likely be pretty worn down after having fought me, Nora, and Pyrrha." This helps Jaune calm down some.

Naruto knows his kunai has too much metal in it to be used against Pyrrha, so he puts it away. This causes Jaune to question, "Why wasn't his staff stopped like his knife was?"

Nora just shrugs but Ren guesses, "Naruto's staff probably has some metal circuitry, but is likely mostly made up of a carbon polymer and so there's not enough individual metal for Pyrrha to render it ineffective like the knife was."

Naruto puts his hand on his fist muttering to himself, "Taijutsu it is…" Pyrrha is ready for him as he rushes her channeling his inner Guy Sensei doing a dive kick. Pyrrha manages to roll out of the way and thrusts her weapon in spear mode which Naruto side steps and she then follows up with a shield bash which Naruto blocks. Pyrrha then does a leaping thrust and Naruto side steps again and he throws a right hook. Pyrrha ducks it and guards up against Naruto's follow up kick. She tries to do a shield bash, but Naruto throws three straight punches at her shield and then jumps up before coming down with an axe kick. She manages to get out of the way, but then notices his kick managed to crack the ground which confirmed dodging was the better option. Naruto follows up his axe kick with another dive kick and Pyrrha gets in a low bracing position before she bounces Naruto back with her shield. Before Naruto can land, she throws her shield at him making him stumble upon landing. She then catches her shield and does an aerial shield bash making Naruto go down hard. She follows up with another thrust from her weapon and Naruto rolls out of the way just in time.

Ren checks Naruto's Aura level and it is about halfway in the yellow. He then thinks to himself, "Nora and I couldn't even get him out of the green." Jaune checks Pyrrha's level and it's still a little in the green. Ren then points out, "We really need to improve if Pyrrha is the only one that can noticeably affect Naruto's Aura levels."

"Yeah, that's for sure…" Nora reluctantly agrees.

"I definitely agree," Jaune states. Naruto approaches Pyrrha and starts laying in strikes. Punches, kicks, even headbutts. Pyrrha is dodging, weaving, and blocking very well but is starting to feel the strain on her muscles from Naruto's constant barrage. She tries to land some counter-stabs and shield bashes, but Naruto is able to dodge and block most of them. Pyrrha manages to land one more shield bash but Naruto cross counters with a fist to the side of her head, though not really a punch. Pyrrha's Aura is close to dipping into the red while Naruto has about a quarter of yellow left.

"Fighting you is a hell of a trek!" Naruto tells her.

"I could say the same to you." Pyrrha responds.

Naruto then takes a deep breath before rushing Pyrrha. She throws her shield at him and Naruto dodges it, but this time he keeps looking at the shield. She tries to bring it back with her Semblance, but Naruto catches it and continues to rush at her. He tries to hit her with the shield and she brings up her hand to stop the shield, but it was a feint on Naruto's part as he quickly drops the shield and gut kicks Pyrrha; knocking the wind out of her due to her being unguarded. He considers hitting her with his uppercut but thinks that would be too much and instead punches her forehead knocking her over and drawing some of her blood. Pyrrha gets up and then notices her blood and then looks over to Jaune.

Jaune looks at her Aura and tells her, "You're right, you've hit the red."

Nora's eyes go wide as she shouts, "Seriously?! He just beat Pyrrha?!"

"It's not really the same as Pyrrha's win since she had her blade to my throat" Naruto comments.

"It is still a victory nonetheless which means we are tied" Pyrrha retorts. Jaune looks at Naruto's Aura level and sees that it is just clinging to yellow.

"You ready Jaune?" Naruto asks.

"As I'll ever be" Jaune answers as he gets up and grabs his sword and shield. Naruto takes his Orange Spark back out and they begin to square off. Naruto starts to swing his staff at Jaune's torso, but Jaune blocks each swing with his shield showing his lessons with Pyrrha are paying off. Naruto then goes to sweep Jaune's legs with his staff, but much to his surprise Jaune hops back.

"Wooo! Keep it up Jaune!" Nora cheers. Ren is both surprised and impressed with Jaune so far. Pyrrha smiles as clearly Jaune paid attention to her and Naruto.

"Not bad Jaune…" Naruto says as he gets his kunai back out knowing he no longer has to worry about polarity shenanigans. He puts it in a reverse grip and begins to swing rapidly at Jaune who blocks and counters with a shield bash. Naruto side steps and swings towards Jaune's neck but Jaune rears back to avoid it and steps back to take another defensive stance. Naruto swings his kunai again and this time when Jaune blocks it, Naruto does a back spinning stab towards Jaune's face. Jaune ducks behind his shield and swings his sword. Naruto hops back to avoid the swing and then throws his kunai at Jaune before rushing back in. Jaune parries the kunai with his shield but then sees Naruto right in his face and Naruto punches him dead on in the nose knocking him down.

"Ow!" Jaune shouts grabbing his nose. It hurts but it is not broken. He then looks at Naruto and sees that he is panting. Jaune gets back up with renewed confidence. Ren looks at Naruto's Aura level and it is just barely clinging to yellow. Jaune presses the attack with sword swings but is keeping his shield close to guard. Naruto is dodging but is being forced to back up until he comes up against a tree and then has to duck Jaune's sword swing. Naruto then dive rolls away but Jaune runs after him to keep him in range. Naruto takes his Orange Spark back out and puts the last of his Dust in which happens to be fire Dust. Naruto does a sweep with his staff which Jaune hops over but then slams the staff down unleashing the fire shockwave. Jaune braces behind his shield and lets his feet catch fire as he runs through and shield bashes Naruto. Naruto is caught off guard and runs out of time to dodge and just gets his hands up in time but gets knocked off balance. Jaune lands a sword swing drawing blood and is not willing to let up as he lands another shield bash knocking Naruto off his feet.

Pyrrha checks their respective Aura levels and announces, "Jaune's Aura is strong in the green and Naruto has gone into the red!" Naruto doesn't react and keeps panting.

"I knew you had it in ya!" Nora shouts.

"Well done!" Ren adds.

"I…I really did it?" Jaune stands there in shock.

Naruto still panting says, "I…need a break…"

"I think we can all agree on that" Pyrrha states.

After Naruto has caught his breath, he glugs a bunch of water.

"Your stamina is kind of freakish." Jaune comments. "Four fights in a row and no breaks."

"One of them against Pyrrha!" Nora adds.

Naruto is a little embarrassed and then says, "Don't get any ideas of how to exploit that in the future."

This causes the others to laugh before Ren asks, "So did you use your Semblance during any of the fights?"

"Nope" Naruto tells them.

They are all shocked to hear this and Nora is even a little offended as she asks, "You didn't think we were good enough?!"

"Hey! You and Ren didn't use your Semblances either!" Naruto counters.

"My Semblance is masking the emotions of myself and whomever I'm touching" Ren responds. "That's only really useful against the Grimm."

"My Semblance makes me stronger when I come in contact with electricity, and you didn't use lightning Dust on me." Nora adds.

"Oh…" Naruto responds as he gets glared at by Nora. "Well since you can't use your Semblances on me you shouldn't say it's disrespectful for me to not use mine on you." Ren acknowledges that is a good point and Nora grumbles.

"While that's true, you should still show us your Semblance" Jaune informs him.

"Okay okay!" Naruto relents. "Give me a minute, ya know." He then takes a deep breath. They can feel the manner of his Aura start to change and as he opens his eyes they can see a flowing motion in them.

"You look a bit different, but that can't be all there is to it." Pyrrha states.

"I call it Sage Mode" Naruto tells them. "My physical ability is increased, and I can sense anything around me in a certain range."

"Why sage?" Jaune asks.

"Because I'm one with nature like a sage" Naruto responds. He then stands up and turns his back to them. "Go ahead, someone attack."

Nora obliges and jumps at him. Naruto dodges out of the way and when Nora turns to face him she sees he also has his eyes closed. Nora exclaims, "Whoa!" Ren then opens fire from behind Naruto while Nora attacks from the front and Naruto dodges relatively easily.

"My word…" Pyrrha says in shock.

"Somehow his great dodging ability is now even crazier!" Jaune says in a mix of excitement and shock.

Ren, trying not to show how shocked he himself is, asks Naruto, "What about the physical enhancement?" Naruto walks over to a tree and kicks it apart like it was a pinata, amazing them all once again.

"So why don't you use that more often?" Pyrrha asks.

"Honestly? I'm still not used to having it…" Naruto answers. Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora are about to laugh but then they remember that they have all had their Semblances for years. It is not like they were used to theirs right away either.

All this talk of Semblances leaves Jaune feeling left out. When Pyrrha sees this, she tries to encourage him saying, "It's just a matter of time before yours comes too, Jaune."

"Besides, Semblances aren't everything." Naruto adds. "I just fought your whole team without using mine. And you didn't need one to knock me on my butt." This makes Jaune feel better and then Naruto's and Nora's stomach's audibly growl.

"The sun is starting to set" Ren adds.

"Okay everybody, let's get something to eat and then head back." Jaune addresses.

"Yeah, I'm starving…" Naruto comments.

It is the day of the midterm exams and Naruto is up and ready to go.

"You seem eager" Kurama commented. "You don't have any doubts?"

"No way!" Naruto responded. "That was the whole point of the study sessions."

"I suppose that's true" Kurama responded. "Hopefully this won't go like all your other exams."

"Oi!" Naruto responded indignantly. "You're part of the reason I couldn't pass those exams!"

"Only part" Kurama stated with a grin. "It was still mostly you being a dunce and seeking attention."

"Yeah…I know you're right…" Naruto responded. "But today's different! I'm passing every exam by leaps and bounds!"

"Hopefully today's confidence is earned and not your usual empty boasting." Kurama retorts.

"Just you watch Kurama" Naruto says as he starts to open his door. "Today I blow everyone away." Kurama has an almost proud grin as Naruto exits the room and heads down the hall. He passes by Team JNPR's room and sees Pyrrha going over flashcards with Jaune. Naruto asks, "You guys are really still studying?"

"It's to try and help calm my nerves" Jaune responds.

"I'm telling you Jaune, you're going to do great on those exams" Pyrrha says to Jaune to reassure him.

"So, where's Nora and Ren?" Naruto asks.

"They went on ahead" Jaune informs him. "The idea of more studying made Nora feel sick."

Naruto laughs at that, and he shares the sentiment. He then says, "Well good luck Jaune." He then heads off to the meeting hall. He spots Ren and Nora and heads over to them saying, "Hey guys."

"Hey Naruto!" Nora responds.

"How are you holding up?" Ren asks him.

"Ready to get these exams over with, ya know" Naruto answers. "I passed by Pyrrha helping Jaune study more on the way here."

Nora rolls her eyes and responds, "I refuse to look at another textbook!"

"Yeah, I heard you couldn't stomach any more studying" Naruto comments.

"I have to admit even I've gotten sick of it." Ren adds. Naruto nods in agreement.

Naruto then sees Team RWBY walk in the door looking tired. Naruto asks, "What happened to you guys?"

"Late night cram session…" Ruby answers. Naruto laughs at this, and they glare at him.

Jaune and Pyrrha walk in soon after and Jaune asks, "Why are you guys glaring at Naruto?"

"Because I'm laughing at team zombie over here." Naruto answers.

"Team zombie?" Pyrrha questions until she notices how tired Team RWBY looks and it clicks. She then asks, "Are you guys okay?"

"We were up too late studying…" Weiss answers her.

"Think you guys will make it through?" Jaune asks.

"Oh, they'll be fine" Naruto answers for them. "Tired or not they're still one of the top teams here." This causes Team RWBY to stop glaring at Naruto.

"Heads up" Ren says as Goodwitch walks in.

"Everyone get into your teams" Goodwitch announces. She then has multiple teachers come in behind her. She then lists multiple teams to go off with one of the teachers and then repeats the process until only Naruto is left.

"So, who am I supposed to go with?" Naruto asks.

"You will be testing here under my supervision" Goodwitch answers which makes Naruto do a nervous gulp. She continues, "Professor Ozpin's reputation is on the line, so I won't allow even the slightest chance of cheating." Naruto understands but is a little offended. Seeing this, Goodwitch responds, "You have acted outside of the rules before."

Naruto counters this saying, "I've broken some school rules but that's not cheating."

Goodwitch nods a little and says, "That may be true but with Ozpin's reputation on the line I cannot take any chances."

"That's why I studied so hard and I'm ready to go!" Naruto informs her. She actually smiles and has his desk brought in. Naruto sits down and begins his first of multiple exams. He finishes the first one in a relatively quick fashion. Goodwitch is surprised by this and asks, "Are you sure?"

"I'm sure." Naruto answers and he moves onto the next test. This one he takes longer on, but he still finishes it in good time. The next one takes him even longer. The one after that is the Grimm Identification exam and he finishes that one the quickest. In total Naruto has tested for roughly two and a half hours.

"We will be taking a half hour break before the last two written exams" Goodwitch informs him. He leans back in his chair to unwind a bit. Goodwitch then begins to grade the exams he already finished and much to her surprise he did well on all of them. In fact, on the Grimm Identification exam, he scored one hundred percent. She then thinks to herself, "I may have underestimated this young man's commitment to all of this." She then says to Naruto, "You clearly were not fibbing about how much you studied."

Naruto takes that to mean he did pretty good on the tests, bolstering his confidence further. He internally says to Kurama, "Told you I was ready!"

Kurama gives a slight laugh before saying, "You've come a long way from that brat you used to be." Naruto cannot help but smile at hearing that. After the break he takes just over an hour to finish the last two written exams.

"The last two exams will be held elsewhere" Goodwitch informs Naruto. "You can stay here for now. The other students will be returning shortly."

"Sounds good to me!" Naruto responds. He takes the opportunity to walk around the room and stretch out his legs.

The other students are soon brought back by their examiners. Naruto spots Teams RWBY and JNPR and waves them over.

As they walk over, Ruby asks, "How come you were here before all of us were?"

"I did my exams here with Goodwitch" Naruto informs them.

"Wow, that whole thing about Ozpin's reputation must be true then" Yang comments.

"So, how'd the exams go for you guys?" Naruto asks.

"Easy enough" Ruby boasts, and the rest of her team have similarly confident expressions.

"Pretty sure I passed" Nora answers.

"Same here" Ren adds.

"I finished early so I feel confident" Pyrrha answered. This was a surprise to no one.

"I'm…I'm not sure" Jaune answers hesitantly, clearly showing he's nervous.

"I'm sure you did great Jaune" Pyrrha tells him.

"Yeah, you probably aced it all!" Nora shouts.

"You put in way too much effort for you to have failed, ya know" Naruto adds.

"That's right!" Ruby adds. "You're not the same klutz puking into garbage cans anymore!" Jaune doesn't know how to respond to that.

Naruto puts a hand on Ruby's shoulder and says, "Ruby, I know you're trying…" Ruby looks confused and Yang facepalms while her teammates laugh.

Now that all the first-year students are gathered, Goodwitch announces, "The next exam will be the individual combat trials."

Ruby jumps up shouting, "Yes!"

"Finally!" Naruto exclaims.

"I finally get to break stuff!" Nora shouts with joy.

Yang slams her fists together and exclaims, "Time for the fun part!" The rest of the respective teams look confident.

"There are five small arenas that have a plethora of caged Grimm" Goodwitch announces. Naruto, Team RWBY, Team JNPR minus Jaune, and a few other teams are excited by this. All the rest are nervous. Goodwitch then distributes the teams amongst herself and the other teachers. She has Naruto, Team RWBY, Team JNPR, and another team known as Team AERO.

Pyrrha notices that all of their friends are together and comments, "What are the chances our friend group would be together like this?"

"No idea, but I'm not gonna complain" Ruby responds.

"No kidding" Naruto adds. "I'm glad I'm not stuck in a huge empty room with just me and the proctor again."

Goodwitch overhears the conversation and recollects to herself, "Professor Ozpin sees promise in all his students, but he sees more promise in Team RWBY, Team JNPR, and Naruto than the rest of their class. That's why I'm observing them. I just need to remember not to let them know that." The proctors all take their students to their respective arenas. She further explains to her students on the way, "We will be going in alphabetical order of how your names are represented in your team names. For example, Ruby's name is an R in her team name so she will be an R in the list."

"Uh, so what about me?" Naruto asks.

"Since you are not on a team you will be an N" Goodwitch responds. Ruby and Yang grumble about having to wait so long but Weiss does not care. When they arrive, Goodwitch calls the first student up, "Allen Dolumn of Team AERO." Allen walks in with two scythe-like axes.

"Who is that guy?" Weiss asks.

"His team was the last one to get put together before the Nevermore and Death Stalker showed up" Naruto answers.

"Before we kicked their butt" Yang adds.

"And why we're awesome!" Ruby comments further.

"Yeah, we are!" Nora shouts wanting to be a part of it.

"And how do you know this?" Weiss inquires further.

"I was lounging on top of the ruins where the chess pieces were to see who would come along" Naruto answered. "He and his team were the last to show up before Yang and Blake got there and everything went to hell after that."

"Don't put that on me" Blake responds.

"Yeah, we didn't bring any of the Grimm" Yang adds. They all then watch as the first Grimm released is a Beowolf. Allen runs at it and swings his axes causing the Beowolf to wince back, but then it counter swings. Allen bends back to avoid it and then slams his axes into the Beowolf's legs and follows up with a few punches to the Grimm's face while it is focused on the pain in its legs. Allen then ducks the swipes from the Beowolf and grabs his axes again before doing a spin slash landing two cuts on the Beowolf's head. As the Beowolf is reeling, Allen turns one of his axes around and aims at the Beowolf unleashing a single high-power shot taking the Beowolf's head off.

"You know, he's pretty good" Weiss comments.

"Eh, he's alright" Yang adds.

The next Grimm released is a Boarbatusk. Allen reloads the high-power shot into his axe as the Grimm is released. He then swings his axes down on the Grimm only for it to do nothing. He clearly has never fought a Boarbatusk before.

"Still think he's good?" Yang teasingly asks Weiss.

Weiss facepalms and says, "I can't win…"

Allen continues to struggle against the Boarbatusk when his teammate Danni starts to shout, "Allen, you gotta—"

Goodwitch covers her mouth and says, "This is an individual exam, no outside help." Danni frustratingly stays quiet. Hearing that his teammates can't give him any verbal assistance makes Jaune a little nervous.

Allen then configures his axes into axes on chains. He dodges the charging Boarbatusk and swings his chain axes. One bounces off but the other wraps around the Boarbatusk's leg making it fall over. He then sees the belly is unarmored and then facepalms exclaiming, "How did I forget that?!"

"At least you reminded anyone else here that forgot!" Naruto shouts. JNPR, Ruby, Yang, Blake, and even Weiss snickers at this.

Danni then looks at Goodwitch and complains, "Why didn't you shut him down?!"

"Naruto was just making a snarky comment" Goodwitch tells her. "I don't necessarily approve, but that isn't the same as trying to help your teammate during an individual exam."

Allen baits the Boarbatusk into charging him. When he jumps out of the way the Grimm crashes into Allen's chain. Allen had planted his axe in the ground turning his chain into a tripwire. Although the axe comes flying out, the Grimm's momentum was disrupted enough to make it start rolling. Allen takes advantage of this and plunged his axe into the unprotected belly of the Boarbatusk and rips the axe down further ripping the wounds. The Boarbatusk was now dead.

"That was too close…" Danni comments.

Their other teammate, Owen Farel comments, "Our leader almost embarrassed us."

The next Grimm released is an Ursa. Allen is catching his breath after all the effort it took against the Boarbatusk. The Ursa runs at Allen making Allen jump to the side and swing his chain axes, but the Ursa's hide is too thick for it to do meaningful damage. He brings his axes back in and goes in close. He gets in some cuts but is sluggish from the first two fights. The Ursa swipes Allen's head shattering his Aura and sending him flying. All of Team RWBY wince recalling their fight against the enhanced Ursa. Goodwitch gets Allen out of there before he gets seriously hurt.

"I'm such a loser…" Allen mutters.

"You aren't expected to defeat all four Grimm" Goodwitch informs him. Jaune audibly gulps hearing there is four of them. Goodwitch then says, "Blake Belladonna, you're up next."

Blake manages to get through the Beowolf, Boarbatusk, and even the Ursa. She gets cheers from her friends as the fourth and final Grimm is revealed to be King Taijitu. "Oh great…" Blake expresses. She tries her best, but does not have enough left to beat the large Grimm. After Blake is Erin Burkes, another member of Team AERO. She manages to get through the Beowolf and Boarbatusk but falls at the Ursa. After Erin is Jaune and he also gets through the first two Grimm and puts up a great fight against the Ursa, but still doesn't beat it.

As Jaune is making his way back, Goodwitch announces, "Mr. Uzumaki you're up."

"Finally, my turn!" Naruto exclaims. He heads down and as he passes Jaune he tells him, "Hey you did really good out there."

Jaune smirks and responds, "Go take them down."

"You got this Naruto!" Ruby exclaims.

"Mess 'em up Whiskers!" Yang shouts. Nora just shouts in general.

Naruto takes out his newly fixed and modified Orange Spark. The Beowolf comes out and Naruto ducks the first swipe and backs up from the second one before clocking the Grimm twice with Orange Spark making it flinch and then he punches the Grimm knocking it flat. He then configures Orange Spark into rifle mode and unloads 5 shots into the Beowolf finishing it off.

"He doesn't even look like he's trying…" Allen comments.

"He's not right now" Ruby tells him. "He's easily one of the best fighters in our class."

Naruto is casually waiting as the Boarbatusk is released. He then takes out his kunai and pushes a switch on his Orange Spark opening one of the ends. He then puts his kunai in the opening and it locks in place as he shouts, "Orange Spark: Spear Mode!" Ruby starts shouting as her inner weapons fangirl cannot be contained.

Weiss rolls her eyes and says, "It's just a spear."

"A spear, a staff with multiple Dust capabilities, and dual staffs" Yang corrects her.

As the Boarbatusk charges Naruto, he side-steps and sweeps it with the bladed end almost tripping it up but it stays on its feet. It charges again and Naruto jumps to its side and punches it like he did to Ruby during their spar. This causes it to tumble over. He then kicks the Grimm onto its back and runs it through with his spear.

"Way to go!" Jaune shouts!

"Keep it up!" Ruby further shouts.

"Bring on the Ursa!" Naruto exclaims. The Ursa is released and runs at him. He throws the spear and the Ursa gets pierced in its gut. He then jumps at the Ursa and lands a straight punch to its face staggering it. Naruto then pulls out the spear and stabs the Ursa again making it mad, so it swings angrily at Naruto. He ducks the swing before pulling the spear back out and ejects the kunai from the staff. He switches to dual staff mode and catches the kunai in his mouth and takes his iconic stance he had against Madara.

As the Ursa rushes in, Naruto dodges a swipe and follows up with a swing of his right staff to the Ursa's ride side and then jabs it in the same spot with his left staff. He then kicks the Ursa in one of its stab wounds making it reel in pain before swiping like crazy at Naruto. He dodges all of the swipes and then lands three hard and fast swings to the Grimm's face with his staffs making it fall over. Naruto then throws his staffs into the air and grabs his kunai from his mouth and uses it to rip open the Grimm's gut from the two stab wounds finishing it off. He then catches his staffs and puts them back into single staff mode before loading it up with lightning Dust. The King Taijitu is then released.

"That's almost twice the size of the one I fought…" Ren comments.

The Grimm strikes at Naruto with its black half and Naruto runs away while firing his Orange Spark. He does this until he empties his clip of lightning enhanced shots but then gets hit by the white half of the serpent.

"I can only assume you forgot about the other half of the snake" Kurama mentions.

"Yeah…" Naruto says, confirming what Kurama said. He then jumps out of the way as the snakes try to constrict him. He then loads 2 vials of lightning Dust into Orange Spark.

"I know what he's trying to do" Weiss states. "It's actually pretty clever." Naruto then unleashes lightning arcs along the ground. It gives the Grimm a shock, but it isn't really damaged.

"How clever can it be?" Nora asked. "It didn't really do anything."

"Look again" Weiss tells her. Nora looks again and is stunned to see that the Grimm is temporarily paralyzed.

"It's a sitting duck now" Yang comments.

"I never thought I'd feel bad for a Grimm…" Jaune adds.

Naruto changes Orange Spark to spear mode again and throws it into the eye of the white half. He then pummels the head of the black half until it is crushed. He then goes over to the white half that is starting to move again and palm strikes the non-bladed end of the spear shoving it further into the white half's head ending it for good. Goodwitch is somewhat surprised that Naruto beat all four but not by much. She knows he took down one of the enhanced Grimm on his own.

Naruto heads back to his friends. The first to speak up is Ruby saying, "I knew you would beat them!"

"Yeah, I guess that wasn't very, shocking!" Yang says and looks around for reactions, all of which are sour.

"I mean, it wasn't that bad" Naruto states. Yang has a satisfied grin.

"Next up is Nora" Goodwitch announces.

Nora grabs her hammer and shouts, "I'm ready to go!"

"It's all you Nora" Ren tells her.

"Make us proud" Jaune tells her.

"We're all rooting for you" Pyrrha adds.

"Hey Nora" Naruto says to her.

"What?" Nora responds.

"Time to break some legs" Naruto tells her. Nora gets a big evil smile on her face as she rushes down. She makes it past the Beowolf, Boarbatusk, and Ursa. She almost beats the King Taijitu but ends up getting constricted after tripping from exhaustion. After Nora is Owen who has large shuriken/buzzsaw axe weapon. He beats the Beowolf and handles the Boarbatusk better than Allen did leaving him in better shape for the Ursa. He gets in some good hits but still fails. After Owen is Pyrrha and to no one's surprise she bests all four. After Pyrrha is Danni who makes it to the Ursa but no further. Next is Ren who due to his stamina issues does not get past the Ursa. After Ren is Ruby who makes it to the King Taijitu and she kills the white half. However, the black half manages to disarm her and she has no hand-to-hand skill so she was helpless. After Ruby was Weiss who also makes it to the King Taijitu and brings it to near death but overtaxed herself with her glyphs. Finally, there was Yang who managed to beat all four Grimm thanks to her Semblance and her attacks relying on blunt force making her more effective against the Ursa and King Taijitu.

Goodwitch notes that both Team's RWBY and JNPR each had a member that was able to beat all four Grimm. She also notes that both teams had members that could have won if they fought differently (Weiss and Nora) or overcame a glaring weakness (Ren and Ruby). She notes Jaune has made drastic improvements. She notes Naruto's and Pyrrha's performances were exceptional. And finally, she notes that the whole of Team AERO's performance fits the average. After making her notes, she announces, "There will be an intermission before the final exam."

"So, what is the final exam?" Blake asks.

"A team combat trial" Goodwitch answers.

"Ah crap…" Naruto mutters.

"Mr. Uzumaki will be placed on one of the three teams" Goodwitch further announces.

"We'll take him!" Allen shouts.

"Not a chance, he's gonna be on our team!" Ruby exclaims. She then looks to her team and says, "Right guys?!"

"Heck yeah!" Yang shouts.

"I've teamed with him before; it worked out pretty well" Blake answers.

"Yeah, sure" Weiss nonchalantly answers.

"Actually, we'd like Naruto to be teamed with us" Jaune announces with the full backing of his team.

"No way!" Allen shouts. "With him we'd pass for sure!" His team agrees with him on that.

"Whichever team Naruto is on will be getting a more difficult challenge" Goodwitch clarifies.

"Um…" Allen says before conversing with his team for about 30 seconds. "We don't want him on the team anymore…"

Naruto laughs and says, "Yeah, that's about how it goes."

"We still want Naruto on our team!" Ruby exclaims.

Weiss, now being more interested in the challenge states, "Yeah! Put him on our team!"

"Hey, we still want him on our team too!" Nora shouts.

"That's right." Jaune further confirms.

"Well Mr. Uzumaki, which team do you want to team with?" Goodwitch asks him. Naruto struggles to answer. Both teams are very capable and they are all his friends. Seeing he cannot answer, Goodwitch tells him, "Think over it during the intermission. You have one hour."

Naruto is sitting and thinking to himself while Teams RWBY and JNPR are making their case on why he should pick their respective team.

"You and me were the first ones of everyone here to become friends" Ruby points out.

"What do you mean?" Jaune asks. "I met Naruto as soon as we got off the ship."

"Rubbing your back a little while you puked into the garbage doesn't really count as much of a meeting" Naruto tells him. Jaune's face looks defeated as he cannot dispute that. Ruby on the other hand has a sheepish grin of satisfaction.

"Yeah well, who was the first to learn about his arm huh?" Nora asks and then looks at Naruto to answer.

Naruto pauses before answering, "You guys…"

"Are you kidding me, Whiskers?!" Yang indignantly responds to hearing that information.

"Hey, I didn't tell them first!" Naruto shouts in his defense. "They just found out first."

Confusing the whole of team RWBY, Ren clarifies saying, "Naruto's mechanical arm was damaged by the Death stalker during the initiation, and we saw some of the sparks and wires."

"And then SOMEONE blurted out that we knew causing an uncomfortable situation for all of us" Jaune adds before staring directly at Nora.

"I said I was sorry!" Nora shouts back.

Ruby then looks at Blake and says, "Think of something!"

"Well…" Blake states as she takes a little bit to think. "Naruto did go out of his way to find me and had my back during the incident at the Warehouse district."

"That is a good case…" Jaune reluctantly admits.

"Nothing builds comradery quite like that…" Pyrrha adds. Nora just looks annoyed. Pyrrha then counters with, "Naruto has spent the last few days studying with us for these exams."

"That's a really good point, ya know." Naruto acknowledges. After another moment of thought, Naruto announces, "I'm gonna team with JNPR this time. I'll team with you guys for the next exam."

"YEAH!" Nora shouts in victory. The rest of her team is ecstatic as well.

Team RWBY, with the exception of Weiss, are disappointed but understand. Ruby then says, "You better promise us then!"

"I promise!" Naruto responds.

"Good!" Ruby expresses. She then turns to her team and says, "Okay team, let's get ready to crush this last test!"

"Yeah!" Yang responds. "Time to show what we got!"

"We shouldn't underestimate whatever Goodwitch has planned for us" Blake comments.

"We'll be fine" Weiss tells her. "Keep in mind it has to be something teams like Team AERO can to handle."

"That is a good point" Blake responds.

Naruto then stands up and heads over to Team JNPR before saying, "Hope you don't mind the harder trial."

"Are you kidding?" Nora asks. "We're looking forward to it!"

"I agree" Pyrrha states. "This will also give Jaune a greater chance to show his leadership capability."

Jaune is now more nervous hearing that they will be relying on him for that. However, he also looks forward to it. He gets up and says, "Let's go team."

The time has come for the team combat trial. Goodwitch announces, "The team combat trial is relatively simple. All four Grimm from the previous trial will be released at once and your team has two minutes to dispatch them."

"Is that really all?" Weiss asks. Goodwitch subtly motions to Team AERO.

"Looks like you were right" Blake comments to Weiss. While being right inflates Weiss' own ego, she also revels in the fact that her and her team are just that much better than most of their class.

"The order will go Team AERO, Team RWBY, and then Team JNPR with Naruto." Goodwitch announces.

"Hm, where should we put Naruto's "N" for our temporary team's name?" Jaune asks.

"Definitely not in the middle" Naruto states.

"What about at the end?" Nora suggests. "We can actually pronounce JNPRN but I have no clue how to pronounce whatever putting the N at the beginning would be."

"She has a good point" Ren comments.

"I like it!" Naruto states.

"Then JNPRN it is" Jaune states as the team's leader.

Team AERO starts heading into the dome and the Beowolf, Boarbatuask, Ursa, and King Taijitu are released. Through proper teamwork and coordination, they eliminate the four Grimm with 3 seconds left on the clock.

Next Team RWBY heads into the dome. They each split off and take care of a particular Grimm. Yang having the blunt force of the team takes care of the Boarbatusk. Blake takes care of the Beowolf. Ruby with her speed and experience from the super Ursa quickly takes the Ursa down. Weiss holds off the King Taijitu and has the advantage thanks to her experience with the last one. The other three join her after taking care of their respective Grimm and they finish off the King Taijitu finishing the trial in under a minute.

Team AERO looked on with dumbfounded expressions. Team RWBY quickly and almost effortlessly blew past the trial that they just barely finished. Allen then states, "We need to train a lot harder if we ever want to compare to them…" No one on his team disagrees.

As Team RWBY are walking back, they receive high-fives and praise from JNPRN who are now entering the dome.

"This team will be receiving 4 minutes for their trial" Goodwitch announces.

Pyrrha upon hearing this thinks to herself, "Why are we receiving more time if our trial is supposed to be harder?" She receives her answer as three Beowolves, two boarbatusks, two Ursa, and a King Taijitu are released.

Nora with a grin says, "This is maybe a little bit harder."

"It is not over yet" Goodwith tells them. The dome then expands, and an underground door opens letting a Death Stalker come out. Pyrrha simply nods her head as now the extra time makes more sense.

Naruto looks at the Death Stalker and recalls it was that kind of Grimm he and Team JNPR fought during the initiation. He then comments, "This is kinda nostalgic, ya know."

"Oh yeah, you're right!" Nora shouts.

"I suppose this is fitting then" Pyrrha comments.

"Unfortunately, we don't have a cliff to push the Death Stalker off of this time" Ren adds.

"We won't need it" Naruto responds.

Jaune, seeing all these Grimm starts to panic, but he takes a deep breath and calms down. He recalls Team RWBY dividing the Grimm up amongst themselves and decides to take that idea. He then looks to Nora and tells her, "Nora, the Boarbatusks are all yours!"

With an excited expressions she shouts, "Alright!" She then rushes the Boarbatusks.

Jaune then looks to Ren and realizes that with Ren's agility and rapid fire weapons he would be a good match for the Beowolves. He tells Ren, "Ren, you're on Beowolf duty!" Ren nods and opens fire on them. Jaune then looks to his two best fighters and thinks about where to put them. His thoughts get cut off as the King Taijitu strikes. Naruto and Pyrrha dodge while Jaune gets down low behind his shield and slides back. As this happens, Jaune shouts, "Naruto, you handle the snake! Pyrrha you help me with the Ursa! And Naruto, make sure to use your Semblance in case the Death Stalker decides to attack!"

"Got it!" Naruto shouts as he starts to enter Aura Sage Mode. The Ursai go to attack Naruto but Pyrrha shield bashes one of them while Jaune dives into the path of the other one and blocks it with his shield. The King Taijitu strikes at Naruto multiple times, but Naruto easily dodges each one and then nails the white half with his left uppercut and knocks it completely unconscious with the buff from his Semblance. This even shocks Naruto.

"You fool, stay focused!" Kurama shouts at Naruto. Naruto dodges the strike from the black half of the snake but then senses a strike come from the Death Stalker and just manages to dodge in time.

Jaune sees this and checks how the rest of his team is faring. Pyrrha has defeated her Ursa, Ren has beaten the three Beowolves, and Nora has beaten one of the Boarbatuasks and has the second one on the ropes. "Ren, you go handle the other half of the King Taijitu!" Jaune shouts. "Naruto, Pyrrha, you go after the Death Stalker! Nora, you do the same once you finish off that Boarbatusk!"

"Okay!" Nora shouts in agreement. Ren nods.

"You got it!" Naruto shouts.

"We won't fail" Pyrrha responds. Two minutes remain. Ren starts handling the King Taijitu half like he did during the initiation.

Naruto configures Orange Spark into dual staff mode and rushes the Death Stalker. The Death Stalker swings its claw but Naruto slides under it and kicks the Grimm and follows up with 3 quick strikes from his staff, staggering the Grimm a little bit. Naruto then backs off and while the Death Stalker is distracted, Pyrrha cuts off the tail like she did during the initiation, but this time it doesn't pierce the armor. "Crap, guess this one has a tougher shell, ya know…" Naruto comments. The Death Stalker swings its right claw at Naruto who in turn rolls under and lands 4 hits to the Stalker's side and when it claws in retaliation Naruto guards against the swing taking little damage, but he does get moved back. Pyrrha jumps in and stabs one of the Death Stalker's eyes. When it swings its claw in retaliation, she ducks the swing and then backflips away before switching her weapon to rifle mode and opens fire. This keeps the Death Stalker's attention drawn on her and draws it closer to her. That is when Nora comes from the side and clobbers it with her hammer.

"I'm glad you got over here when you did" Pyrrha tells her. "This one is tougher than the last one."

Ren then finishes off the King Taijitu and Jaune finishes off his Ursa. Jaune then shouts to Ren, "Ren, get over here!" Ren does so and Jaune tells him, "Stay here and conserve your energy for when I call you, okay? Your job will be to pin down the Death Stalker by what's left of its tail."

"I understand" Ren tells him. "I'll be ready." One-minute remains.

Jaune joins those fighting the Death Stalker. "Naruto, I need you to throw Nora as high up as you can" Jaune tells him. "And when she comes down, hit it with that uppercut of yours at the same time. Pyrrha and I will keep it distracted." Naruto grins and nods as he runs over to Nora. Jaune looks to Pyrrha and asks, "Are you ready?" Pyrrha nods and they both take a Spartan-style stance. The Death Stalker swings at Pyrrha who in turn blocks the strike and Jaune slashes the claw. The Death Stalker then swings its other claw at Jaune but this time Jaune blocks the hit and Pyrrha slashes the claw. While distracted, Naruto has thrown Nora in the air almost twice as high as she was during the initiation. While airborne, she comes down with an explosive burst adding to her momentum. She slams her hammer down on the Grimm and Naruto lands an Aura enhanced uppercut at the same time, scrambling the inside of the Grimm's head and knocking it out. Once this happens, Jaune and Pyrrha take out the last of the Grimm's eyes blinding it. Thirty seconds remain.

Jaune sees the armor is cracked where Nora hit it and yells to Naruto, "Get through that armor!"

"You can count on me!" Naruto responds. "I know just what'll finish it off!"

The Grimm is starting to wake up and flail about. Jaune shouts, "Ren, now!"

Ren pins what is left of the tail down with his blades but is struggling and shouts, "Hurry! This thing still has plenty of strength left!" Naruto gets on top of the Death Stalker and punches away at the crack until some of the armor breaks off. He then puts Orange Spark into spear mode and digs it into the Grimm's exposed flesh and jumps off.

Jaune catches onto Naruto's idea and says, "Pyrrha, you shield bash the spear to stagger it and then Nora you smash it through!"

"Sounds good to me!" Nora shouts.

"I'm ready when you are" Pyrrha tells him. Jaune rushes in shield first to distract the Death Stalker. As the flailing Death Stalker comes into contact with Jaune, in focuses in on that spot. Pyrrha then gets on top of it and shield bashes the spear causing the Grimm to convulse in pain. Nora then jumps in screaming and hits the bottom of the spear with her hammer driving it all the way through killing the Grimm. Everyone then looks to Goodwitch to see if they made it in time.

"Naruto and Team JNPR—" Goodwitch starts to announce.

"Team JNPRN!" Nora shouts to correct her. Ren facepalms while the others laugh.

Goodwitch sighs before saying, "Team JNPRN succeeded with ten seconds left to spare." JNPRN all jump up in celebration before heading back up.

"That was incredible you guys!" Ruby says congratulating them.

"It really was something to behold" Weiss adds.

"No kidding!" Yang shouts. "I wish we could have been part of that, right?" Yang looks at Blake.

Blake smiles and says, "Right."

Ren sits down from exhaustion and the rest of his team follows suit, including Naruto. "This time, I get you being wiped out" Naruto says to Ren.

As Teams RWBY, JNPR, and Naruto continue to converse, Team AERO are staring in amazement at what they just witnessed.

"They just took out all those Grimm flawlessly…" Danni states.

"That Jaune guy knew exactly how to delegate even with Naruto added" Allen said following up on Danni's point. "Ruby was the same way, I gotta improve…"

"No doubt, we all gotta catch up" Owen states.

"You know, I was kind of hoping we would be the ones to shine today" Erin states in a disappointed tone.

"When you got people like Pyrrha Nikos on a team, I think that's too tall of an order" Danni said to her teammate. "Same apparently goes for Naruto."

Allen gets out of his funk and says, "We'll have a week before next semester. We're gonna train like crazy!"

Ruby overhears them and walks over to say, "Hey, you guys were great! Hope we get to see you guys in action again!"

"Uh, thanks…not as good as you guys though" Allen says in a tone of reserved admiration.

"You'll get there!" Ruby responds.

Goodwitch gathers everyone's attention and tells them, "Students, it is time to head back to the auditorium."

"They're probably gonna list which teams passed when we get there" Yang surmised.

"We'll definitely be announced then!" Nora shouts. The three teams and Naruto then head back to the auditorium with Goodwitch.

All the students are back in the auditorium where Professor Ozpin is standing with a big list in front of him. He then announces, "It is time to announce everyone who passed." All the students go quiet as he announces them. About 10 teams barely passed, team AERO among them, and 6 teams failed. He then further announces, "There were 4 teams that passed with flying colors. Among those 4, Teams RWBY and the temporary Team JNPRN were exceptional." The other students applaud for them.

"This is kind of embarrassing…" Ruby states.

Naruto puts a hand on her shoulder and says, "Told you the first day we met, you gotta get over this whole "embarrassed getting praise for being special" thing, 'cause it's gonna keep happening, ya know."

In a rare moment, Weiss agrees with Naruto saying, "He's right. We're great, that's just how it has to be."

"Did…did she just agree with Naruto on something?" Blake asks in astonishment.

After a snicker, Yang says, "It had to happen at some point. No surprise it happened when it's something that compliments her."

While Jaune is standing there a little gobsmacked at his team being referred to as exceptional, he tries to rationalize it saying, "We had Pyrrha, Naruto, and Nora. That's why we were exceptional."

With a rare hint of annoyance in her voice, Pyrrha tells Jaune, "Come on Jaune, you are every bit as essential to this team as I or any of the others are."

"It wasn't us who came up with the way to best use our strengths" Naruto adds to Pyrrha's point.

"Yeah!" Nora exclaims. "Also, you forgot about Ren!" Ren just waves it off. Jaune doesn't respond as he cannot think of a good way to.

Overlooking their reactions, Ozpin simply says, "I am looking forward to the next semester. I hope you all enjoy your well-deserved break." All the passing students jump in celebration.

After the celebratory jump, Yang asks, "So what's everybody's plans tonight?"

"Other than getting something to eat I don't really have any" Naruto tells her. All the others say something similar.

Hearing all this, Yang says, "Then we should hit the town!"

Weiss interrupts her stating, "After we shower."

Naruto then smells himself and says, "Good idea." They all then head back to their dorms to get cleaned up.

Naruto is waiting out in the hall having cleaned up and is wearing an orange sweatshirt with the sleeves rolled up and gray sweats. Kurama then asks him, "What are you planning with your week off?"

"Aside from hanging out with my friends, I was gonna train to use Chakra with my current style even though it's still not a big amount" Naruto responds.

"Good to know you won't be slacking" Kurama comments. Naruto gets an annoyed face. Team RWBY then comes out of their room wearing more street-style clothes but still plenty of style (not the outfits from Volume 2).

Ruby sees Naruto and asks, "How long have you been waiting?"

Naruto simply shrugs and says, "I like all your outfits, ya know."

"We do look good" Yang states.

Weiss with plenty of confidence adds, "Of course we do."

Not partaking in that conversation, Ruby asks, "So we're just waiting on Jaune and the others?" Naruto nods yes. Not much after that, Team JNPR comes out.

Seeing RWBY and Naruto already gathered, Pyrrha walks up and asks, "So, where should we head off to first?"

"I thought about maybe hitting up a dance club, but I don't know about everyone's styles" Yang comments.

Looking at Naruto, Jaune, and Ruby, Weiss says, "Put a pin in that."

Not in the least bit offended since he does not know how to dance, Naruto suggests, "We could grab some snacks and go to the arcade. Pick it up from there."

"Good thinking Whiskers!" Yang expresses.

"That works for us" Jaune states. Ruby checks with Blake and Weiss who have no objections, so they head to a convenience store first.

While there, Naruto spots an isle that is just cookies and waves Yang over. Yang walks over and asks him, "Something wrong?"

"Think we can block off this isle?" Naruto asks her. Yang looks confused until she sees it is a cookie isle and her eyes widen. However, before she can act, Ruby has already grabbed 5 packs causing Yang to sigh.

"At least we tried" Naruto says before he grabs a sausage and cheese stick combo. Yang gets out her Lien in case Ruby does not have enough. Sure enough, Ruby did not. Naruto then gets his own Lien out.

"I got this" Yang tells him. She then asks Ruby, "Why'd you bring so little Lien?"

Ruby, now a little embarrassed says, "I brought just what I thought I'd need for the arcade…"

"Until she entered the forbidden isle…" Naruto states.

Seeing this, Jaune says, "Ya know, I always thought you and Yang were exaggerating when you talked about Ruby's cookie problem."

"I do not have a problem!" Ruby shouts. This causes the rest of the group to laugh as she gets flustered.

Naruto looks at Ruby and says, "It's only a problem if you run out, right?"

Now with a smile back on her face, Ruby responds, "Right!"

"You would know something about that, wouldn't you?" Kurama says to Naruto with a small hint of disgust.

"I know I know!" Naruto internally responds to the fox. "Just replace cookies with ramen and you get me."

After that they all head to the arcade and start having a great time. After a while, Naruto heads outside leaning against a railing and looks up at the sky. Seeing this, Yang heads out after him.

"Whiskers? What are you doing out here?" Yang asks.

"Just kind of reflecting on the semester" Naruto answers. "A lot more happened than I thought was gonna happen when I got to Beacon."

Yang then jokingly says, "What? Didn't plan on fighting mutated Super Grimm and chasing down cute cat girls?"

Naruto laughs and responds, "No, I definitely didn't, ya know."

After a little pause, Yang decides to ask, "I've been wondering this for a while. How come you randomly add "Ya know" to the end of some of your sentences?"

A little embarrassed, Naruto tells her, "I don't mean to do it. It's a kind of verbal tick I inherited from my mom."

"Oh, that's adorable" Yang comments. "So what was your mom like?"

"She was pretty but could explode when agitated" Naruto answers. "With that and her red hair, she earned the nickname "Red-hot Habanero."

Yang gets a kick out of that nickname. However, she also hones in on the 'was' part of Naruto's answer and asks, "Is your mom still around?"

Naruto is silent for a few seconds before answering, "Both of my parents died the day I was born."

This stuns Yang as she thinks to herself, "It was hard enough when we lost mom. I can't imagine having lost dad too." She then tells Naruto, "I'm really sorry to hear that…"

"Even though they weren't there for me, they still inspire me, ya know" Naruto responds. "My dad earned the nickname "The Yellow Flash" for his speed. Ya know what you get when you combine the Red-hot Habanero and the Yellow Flash?"

Yang takes a few seconds to think before she comes to the obvious conclusion and says, "The Orange Spark."

Naruto holds up his weapon and says, "You got it."

Yang smiles and says, "Ya know Whiskers, I wasn't expecting you to have a clear sentimental side."

"Everybody's got one." Naruto tells her. "Even if they do a really good job at hiding it like Cardin.

"You really believe that?" Yang asks him.

"You saw how he cried when he was the one getting bullied" Naruto answers.

Yang leans against the railing next to him and says, "That's a fair point."

Naruto, looking back up at the sky again says, "It's why I hope everyone can understand each other someday."

Yang then raises a brow and says, "That's something I expect from Ruby, not from someone your age."

Naruto then looks back into the arcade at Ruby who is currently losing a fighting game and says, "Maybe Ruby's the one with the right mindset."

"I do admire her outlook" Yang responds. "I'm gonna do whatever I have to so it doesn't change."

"Hope you don't mind help in that department" Naruto tells her.

Yang looks at him with a smirk and asks, "Does she really need two blonde guardians?"

Naruto just responds with, "Wouldn't you?"

"You got me there, Whiskers" Yang relents.

Ruby sees the two of them outside and goes out asking, "What are you guys doing?"

"Talking about random stuff" Yang answers.

Naruto plays along saying, "Like expensive things we've broken."

"My score's currently higher" Yang adds.

"Then why are you talking about it out here?" Ruby asks.

Knowing Naruto will start to struggle with coming up with excuses, he tells Naruto, "Tell her you have a headache."

"I got a headache and I wanted to get away from the loud arcade machines until it dies down" Naruto tells Ruby.

"Oh, I guess that makes sense" Ruby responds. "Don't take too long, someone's gotta beat Ren." Naruto starts to look nervous as he knows he'll get crushed.

"I'll go put him in his place" Yang states.

Ruby heads back in yelling, "We got a challenger!"

Naruto looks back at Yang and says, "See? We already make a good team, ya know." Yang rolls her eyes but does so with a smile as she heads back in.

After three rounds, Ren beat Yang in the fighting game. He then says to Yang, "Your abrasive fighting style needs to be more focused."

Yang stands there stunned at getting real life combat advice from losing at a video game. She then looks to the rest of Team JNPR and asks, "Is he serious right now?" They collectively groan giving her the answer.

Weiss, who had also lost to Ren, says to her friends, "If he was this good in real life he'd be the star instead of Pyrrha." This causes everyone to laugh.

After they play a few other arcade games they decide they need to get something to eat. Naruto wants to recommend the noodle shop, but he knows there are not enough seats.

"There's a pizza place around the corner" Nora points out. Pizza is probably Naruto's favorite food that he got introduced here to. Nothing will replace Ramen as his favorite, but pizza is high up on his list now.

"Pizza works for me!" Ruby states. Jaune confirms no disagreement from JNPR, and they head to the pizza place and have their fill of pizza and conversation.

"I'm surprised you chose this place over a diner for pancakes" Naruto says to Nora.

"That's a lot further away" Nora tells him.

"I'm surprised you didn't try to drag us to a noodle place, Naruto" Jaune tells him.

"Not enough seats" Naruto responds.

Weiss rolls her eyes and says, "Between Ruby, Naruto, and Nora we have enough food addicts."

Naruto, Ruby, and Nora all shout, "Hey!" However, they do not have a follow up.

"There's nothing wrong with knowing what you like" Blake comments.

"No, you having anchovies on your pizza is knowing what you like" Weiss retorts. "They're gluttons and addicts."

"Jerk" mutters Nora.

"Meanie" mutters Ruby.

"Snob" mutters Naruto.

Weiss runs her hand through her hair and says, "Hmph. You just don't like hearing the truth."

"She's got a point" Yang states.

"You traitor" Naruto says to Yang.

"He's right, who's side are you on?" Ruby asks.

Yang gets a sinister grin and asks Naruto, "You wanna take it outside?"

"I highly recommend you decline that offer" Pyrrha says to Naruto.

"Huh? But why?" Naruto asks her.

"Just look at your pizzas" Pyrrha tells him.

Naruto does so seeing he has had five pieces while Yang has had one. This makes Naruto realize one good gut shot and he would be in serious pain. He sits down and says, "I'm good…"

Yang smiles and says, "Thought so." She then sits back down and continues eating. Jaune has a giant smile through all of this.

"What is that smile for" Pyrrha asks him.

"Before I came to Beacon I didn't have much in the line of friends, just my sisters" Jaune tells her. "Now I'm surrounded by them."

Pyrrha smiles and tells Jaune, "It's a great feeling finally having friends, isn't it? I know how you feel."

"I find that hard to believe" Jaune tells her.

"Jaune, having admirers isn't the same as having friends" Pyrrha informs him.

Jaune realizes she's right and says, "I'm really glad we both came to Beacon."

Naruto sees Nora has finished two pizzas already and thinks to himself, "She could give Choji a run for his money…" He then asks everyone, "So what are you guys doing over your break?"

"We're going to rest for a few days" Jaune tells him. "Then we're going to get all our weapons tuned up since they've had so much use recently."

"Our plans are pretty similar, but we got more outings like this planned" Ruby answers.

"That sounds like a good plan" Naruto comments.

"What about you?" Ruby asks.

"Other than some training I don't really have any" Naruto answers.

"Well you're always welcome to hang with us!" Ruby tells him.

"Same goes with us" Jaune tells him. He then looks at his team and asks, "Right guys?" Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren all agree. Ruby then looks at her own team.

"Obviously!" Yang exclaims.

"Of course" Blake answers. Weiss, however, remains silent resulting in her teammates staring her down.

Weiss then sighs, rolls her eyes, and says, "Yeah, sure."

Naruto snickers and says, "Gee, thanks."

After a few more minutes of chatting, the gang starts heading home. On their way home, they spot the police patrolling the warehouse district.

"I wonder what their plans are…" Ruby mutters.

"Whatever they are, I know we haven't seen the last of them" Naruto answers. Blake still looks hurt that the White Fang are working with Roman. Yang puts a hand on her shoulder making her perk up a bit.

"Next time we'll have your backs" Jaune tells them.

"Thanks Jaune, we appreciate it" Ruby tells him."

"Okay, enough of all of that" Naruto says getting stared at by everyone now. "We just got done with our first semester."

"Naruto's right" Ruby states. "We're gonna make the next one even better!"

"How are you going to do that?" Blake asks.

"Oh, I have some ideas" Ruby tells her as they walk towards Beacon in the distance.

Chapter End

AN: This one took a while. I tend to write out the chapters these days bit by bit while I have breaks at work. If any of you are wondering how I came up with AERO, it was simply the only color I could come up with that starts with A that wasn't AMBR. Why not AMBR? Because that's already a fan-made team and I didn't want to copy it. Why start with A? Because I wanted to make sure it was not a member of the main cast who first fought the Grimm. With Blake being around, the only way to guarantee it was to find a team name starting with A and build it from there. I make no guarantees AERO will appear in the future. I promise the next chapter won't take as long. Until next time everyone.