Remnant of a Shinobi

by AuraofChakra

During the final battle between Naruto and Sasuke, things don't go so smoothly. Sent off to another world, Naruto is ready for a new adventure. What awaits him in this new world where people not only have to deal with each other, but a race of creatures that solely exist to destroy humanity?

14. Chapter 14 - We Won't Back Down

Chapter 14 – We Won't Back Down

It is the morning after the dance, and one would hope things were calm. However, Ironwood, Glynda, and Ozpin are in the middle of another argument.

"Between the revelation that there's this Dust that can make Super Grimm, and now a break in at the tower last night, we need immediate action!" Ironwood stresses.

"And what exactly would you suggest?" Ozpin asks in a manner that conveys how weary he has grown of this conversation. "Besides a police state of course."

"If I'm being honest, that doesn't sound like such a bad idea at this point…" Ironwood admits.

"Why must you suggest a military response for everything, James?!" Glynda asks in a chastising manner.

"Lecture me all you want, but we're running out of options" Ironwood counters.

Ozpin sighs before thinking to himself, "At this point I'm going to develop the wrinkles to match my gray hair…" He then responds to Ironwood saying, "This is hardly the case James, and you know it. And all mobilizing the military will do is cause a panic." He then puts a hand on Ironwood's shoulder before saying, "You already know I've recalled Qrow, so please stop acting like we aren't doing anything."

Ironwood takes a deep breath before saying, "You're right, that was unfair of me."

"Good" Ozpin states, pleased at the now calmer atmosphere in the room. He then walks back over to his desk and says, "Now that things have calmed down in here…" He then presses a button on his comms device before saying, "Would you please send Ms. Rose into the room." After a few more seconds, Ruby enters the room slowly, having heard some of the yelling from before and Ozpin asks her in a calm manner, "Good morning Ms. Rose, how are you feeling?"

"Okay, I guess. I'd feel better if my bad-guy-catching record wasn't O-for-three" Ruby responds. After some silence Ruby can tell the mood is still a little intense making her mutter, "Okay, so that's the tone we're going for, got it…"

Ozpin, seeing how uncomfortable Ruby is right now gets straight to the point and asks, "Now that you have had night to sleep on it, we wanted to know if you have remembered anything else."

Ruby ponders whether to tell them about the base but seeing the tension she decides to tell them saying, "I think I heard about a base in the southeast connected to Roman Torchwick. I bet she's connected too."

"There is not enough evidence to connect the two criminals, but we will look into finding this base" Ozpin tells her. He then has to tell her, "You are not to look into the base yourself, understood?"

"Oh yeah! Totally…won't hear a peep out of us!" Ruby tries to tell them very unconvincingly. Glynda and Ozpin look at each other not sure if she is actually trying to convince them. Ruby then starts stepping out the door and tells them, "Sooo…I'm gonna go now. Good luck hunting the bad guys." She then closes the door.

After Ruby leaves, Ironwood whispers to Glynda, "I've never seen Oz look so stressed."

As Ozpin starts to look out the window as he likes to do, Glynda sees Ozpin's reflection in the window and responds, "I have to agree…"

Ozpin has the same thought almost every time he looks out the window, "Salem, how did you make that Dust?"

---

As Ruby is heading back to her dorm room, she runs into Naruto who is on his way to grab some snacks. As they are about to pass each other in the hallway Ruby asks him, "Hey Naruto. Where you off to?"

"I'm off to grab some snacks!" Naruto informs her. "What about you? Where are you on your way back from?"

"I was on my way back from Ozpin's office. They wanted to know if I remembered anything else" Ruby informs him.

"Oh, so how are you holding up?" He asks out of concern.

"Don't worry I'm fine. I just…I wish I could have stopped her" Ruby confesses.

"Ah, don't worry about it" Naruto tells her. He then puts a hand on her shoulder before saying, "You'll get your chance, ya know."

Ruby smiles before saying, "Thanks Naruto."

"So, since I'm on my way to get snacks, you want any?" Naruto asks.

"Sure!" Ruby answers. "Mind bringing them to the dorm room?" Naruto nods and heads off. Ruby then returns to her dorm room and is confronted by her teammates.

Yang speaks first asking, "What happened?"

"Uh...well, um..." Ruby lets out to delay answering while also laughing nervously. "I might of…told them about the base…"

"That was a risky move" Weiss informs her.

"No, I think you handled it well" Blake interjects.

"I hope so" Ruby responds not very convinced.

"I'm sure everything will be alright, Ruby" Yang tells her. She then remembers something that was delivered as she says, "Oh, I know what will cheer you up!" She then holds out some kind of cylindrical package.

"What's that?" Ruby asks.

"I don't know yet. Dad sent it to us" Yang informs her. "I thought we could open it together!"

"Ooooh! Something from home!" Ruby exclaims. "Let's open it when the snacks arrive!"

The others 3 get a confused look on their faces as Weiss asks, "What are you talking about?"

"Oh, I ran into Naruto on the way back here and he offered to get me some snacks to cheer me up" Ruby informs them.

Weiss then looks at Yang and says, "You know, your boyfriend didn't offer to get us snacks."

"Okay, two things. One, we didn't need cheering up, Ruby did. Second, he's not my boyfriend" Yang says in response to Weiss. She then pauses a few seconds before adding, "At least not yet." Then almost on cue, there is a knock at the door.

Blake opens the door to see Naruto holding multiple bags filled with snacks. She then looks over to Weiss and says, "What was that you were saying?" Weiss then stutters a bit before sighing in frustration.

Looking very confused, Naruto asks, "What'd I miss?"

"Don't worry about" Ruby tells him. She then grabbed the bags and somehow already knew which one had the cookies in it.

Shocked and slightly amazed, Blake asks, "How did she know?"

As Ruby shrugs, Yang answers, "It's a gift." Ruby then starts munching on cookies as she opens the package and out pops another cylinder and a letter which Yang catches.

"What is that?" Naruto asks. They all then become alarmed when ears pop up from the cylinder. The cylinder then (unfolds?) until it is revealed to be an adorable little corgi.

Ruby then jumps up and shouts with affection, "Zwei!" She then hugs the dog.

"He sent a dog?" Blake questions

"In the mail?" Weiss questions further.

"Oh, he does stuff like this all the time!" Yang informs them.

"Wow, your dad sounds different" Naruto comments.

Yang then starts reading the letter aloud, ""Dear girls, I've got to leave the island for a few days, so I'm sending Zwei to you to take care of. Enclosed is all the food you should need. Love you both, Taiyang.""

Naruto then shakes the cylindrical package and out falls a bunch of dog food cans and a can opener. He then comments, "Little guy must have a hell of an appetite…" He then looks at Ruby downing cookies while petting Zwei and says, "Wonder where he gets that from?"

Weiss then goes to inspect Zwei and says, "Are you telling me that this mangy...drooling...mutt is going to wiv wif us foweva? Oh, yes he is, yes he is! Oh, isn't he adorable!" The others are stunned to see Weiss dote on Zwei.

Naruto is about to comment on this, until he sees something else that he finds more ridiculous as he says, "Are you kidding me?"

"Huh? What happened?" Ruby asks. Naruto points up into Ruby's bunkbed and they look to see Blake cowering in said bed.

"That's…wow I got nothing" Yang tried and failed to comment.

"Hey, Kurama" Naruto internally says gaining the fox's attention.

"What is it?" Kurama asks.

"Since Matatabi's a cat, did she ever cower in fear of you?" Naruto asks.

"No…" Kurama simply responds, annoyed he had to answer that. Zwei then looks at Naruto with a look of curiosity.

"Got any treats on you?" Yang asks.

"No" Naruto answers. He then thinks, "I wonder if he can sense you?"

"That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard" Kurama responds. However, Kurama decides to test it and stands up. Zwei then also stands up, much to Kurama's surprise. Kurama then steps to the right and then the left before laying back down. Zwei then follows Kurama's movements exactly.

"The heck is Zwei doing?" Yang asks.

"I have no idea…" Ruby asks very confused as are her teammates.

Naruto and Kurama are rendered speechless at Zwei somehow being able to sense Kurama within Naruto. Naruto then starts petting Zwei while thinking, "In terms of cuteness he's sure got Akamaru beat."

All of their attention is broken from Zwei as they hear Glynda over the loudspeakers, "Would all first-year students please report to the amphitheater."

"Oh right, I'm pretty sure our first assignment with a Huntsman is today" Weiss states addressing the announcement.

"I was wondering why we didn't have classes today" Naruto comments.

"Are you complaining?" Yang teasingly asks.

"Curiosity is not a complaint, ya know!" Naruto shouts indignantly. Everyone laughs at Naruto's outburst as they start to leave the room. Ruby, however, stays an extra minute wondering who is going to watch Zwei. She then dawns a sneaky smile.

---

The first-year students from Beacon as well as the visiting schools have all been gathered in the amphitheater. At the moment the students are chatting amongst themselves.

"Quiet! Quiet please" Glynda says trying to quiet everyone down. "Professor Ozpin would like to share a few words before we begin."

Professor Ozpin then steps up to the microphone and begins his speech, "Today we stand together, united. Mistral. Atlas. Vacuo. Vale. The four Kingdoms of Remnant. On this day, nearly eighty years ago, the largest war in recorded history came to an end. It was a war of ignorance, of greed, and of oppression. A war that was about much more than where borders fell or who traded with whom, but about the very idea of individualism itself. We fought for countless reasons, one of which being the destruction of all forms of art and self-expression. And as you are well aware, that was something many could not stand for. As a result, those who opposed this tyranny began naming their children after one of the core aspects of art itself: color. It was their way to demonstrate that not only would they refuse to tolerate this oppression, but neither were the generations to come. And it was a trend that is held to this very day. We encourage individuality, expressionism, and unity through diversity. As I have said, today we stand together, united. But this bond cannot exist without effort. Which is why today, while the rest of the world celebrates peace, Huntsmen and Huntresses will work to uphold it. As first year students, you will be tasked with shadowing a professional Huntsman or Huntress on a mission. Some of you may be taken out of the Kingdom for several days. Others may work within the walls for the rest of the week. But no matter which path you choose, remember to be safe, remember your training, and remember to do your very best."

Naruto starts to get excited from the speech as it truly embraces his ideals. Glynda then tells him, "We're going to figure out what to do with you once all the other teams have their assignments." Naruto's excitement falls apart as he goes and sits down in a bored and depressed slump.

"Tough luck Whiskers" Yang tells him.

"You'll have better luck next time!" Ruby tells him hoping to cheer him up a little. Naruto just nods while staring into space amusing the whole of Team RWBY. They then head off to grab their mission.

Team JNPR then walk up having already picked their assignment. Nora asks Naruto, "What's got you so glum?"

"I have to just sit here and wait to find out what I'll be doing" Naruto informs them.

"Sorry to hear that" Jaune tells him.

"We all know you would like to pick something exciting" Pyrrha comments.

Back over with Team RWBY who are trying to pick a mission, Weiss suggests, "Let's check "search and destroy.""

Ruby then checks under that option and exclaims, "Here we go! Quadrant 5 needs Grimm cleared out!"

"Well, it's in the southeast!" Blake exclaims with surprising enthusiasm.

"Sounds perfect!" Yang comments. However, when Ruby tries to enter her team for it the screen tells them that first-years are not allowed to accept that mission.

"Wonderful!" Weiss states with sarcasm.

"Any other ideas?" Blake asks her team.

"We mail ourselves there!" Ruby answers.

"Well, that's one option" Ozpin states from behind them taking them all by surprise. "Unfortunately, we determined that the concentration of Grimm was too extreme for first-year students. It seems that particular region is rather popular. In fact, I have the sneaking suspicion that you four will make your way there no matter which job you choose."

Weiss, Blake, and Yang glare at Ruby since she told Ozpin about the base. Ruby nervously rubs her head while saying, "Whatever makes you say that?"

"I'm still curious how you all found yourself at the docks last semester" Ozpin informs then. He continues, "I'm interested to know how you really learned about a hideout in the southeast. And I certainly wonder why witnesses reported seeing robots and rose petals in a dance club some time ago.

"Um...well..." Ruby says struggling to answer.

Ozpin then thinks to himself, "Before this semester, I may have tried to bend the rules for them since I know they're likely to try and go there anyway. But these new Super Grimm have me worried…" He then looks over to Naruto still chatting with Team JNPR and recalls to himself, "During the last report of these special Grimm, Mr. Uzumaki was with them, and they came back far less injured as a result. That may be the answer to this quandary…" After some more thought and seeing the gears working in Team RWBY's heads about what they can do, he decides to tell them, "It sure is a shame. If only you had an add-in I might be able to make an exception." He then pretends to walk away. Team RWBY all look at each other and make a full sprint over to Naruto, making a smile appear on Ozpin's face.

"Shadowing a sheriff huh?" Naruto comments hearing about Team JNPR's assignment.

"We thought it'd be fun!" Nora tells him.

"Sounds like it cou—" Naruto starts to say before he feels himself getting pulled away as he shouts, "What's going on?!"

"We need to borrow him for a bit!" Ruby exclaims. Team JNPR then look at each other as they see Naruto with a concerned look on his face.

"What in the world?" Glynda says to herself as she sees Team RWBY dragging Naruto along. She then goes to investigate for herself what is going on.

Yang now pushes Naruto in front of Ozpin as Ruby shouts, "We have an add-in!" Ozpin lets out a chuckle at what he just seen as he uses his override code to let Team RWBY and Naruto take the assignment.

Naruto, who has no context for what just occurred asks, "Can someone please tell me what just happened?!"

"You'll be doing your assignment with us as an add-in" Blake explains very calmly.

"Oh…okay I can work with that" Naruto responds now accepting the situation.

Now having seen what assignment the team chose, Glynda tells Ozpin, "Ozpin I really have to protest this."

Ozpin when takes Glynda to the side and says to her, "I understand your hesitation, but we both know that team is going to make their way there whether they like it nor not. This way they will have Naruto with them whom has proven himself to be a warrior far beyond his years." Hearing this, Glynda does not like it, but she cannot dispute his logic. Seeing the concern still in Glynda's eyes, Ozpin tells her, "I also told 'him' to stop by that area before making his way back here." Hearing this manages to help Glynda calm down.

Back with Naruto and Team RWBY, they are explaining the mission to Naruto.

Ruby finishes the briefing by telling him, "So then we found out we wouldn't be allowed to take the mission unless we got an add-in."

"Well, glad to be of help!" Naruto exclaims clearly gung-ho about it now.

"So where are we gonna put your N for our temporary team's name?" Ruby asks.

"Putting it at the end worked when I was with JNPR" Naruto answers.

"RWBYN? Like the sandwich?" Yang asks.

"I kinda like it!" Ruby exclaims.

Blake has a smile getting a kick out of the conversation before she notices Team CFVY finally arriving back to Beacon. She heads over to Velvet and asks her, "Velvet? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. I had Yatsuhashi to look out for me" Velvet responds.

"Your mission was supposed to end a week ago! What happened?" Weiss inquires.

"Nothing happened. It was just...there were just so many..." Velvet tells them. She then notices the concerned looks on Team RWBY's faces and tells them, "Oh, but don't worry. You first-years are just shadowing Huntsmen, so you should be fine."

"Right…" Yang responds.

Coco looks over and sees who Velvet is talking to and decides not to rush her. She then spots Naruto and says, "Hey there…" She then tries to remember Naruto's name. "It was Naruto, right?"

"You got it!" Naruto tells her.

"So, what assignment did you lot get?" Coco asks.

"We got a Search and Destroy in Quadrant 5" Ruby informs her.

When Coco hears this, she is shocked and says, "You first-years must be really something."

Remembering that Team CFVY just got back from dealing with a lot of Grimm, Naruto asks, "So, were any of those Grimm you fought out of the ordinary?"

"What do you mean?" Coco inquires.

"Anything like being a lot bigger than normal or having glowing bone armor?" Naruto clarifies.

"Never seen a Grimm like that" Coco informs him, much to Naruto's relief. Coco then heads off with her team and says, "We'll definitely be on the lookout for those weird Grimm you were talking about."

Having overheard the conversation, Blake says, "It's good to hear that the Dust hasn't been widespread yet."

"No kidding" Yang comments.

"We barely managed to walk away from those fights. Now imagine if other normal students found one." Weiss mentions.

"That'd be a disaster…" Naruto answers.

Changing the subject to try and get their moods back up, Ruby asks, "So, who do you think our Huntsman is gonna be?"

"Doubt it'll be Goodwitch. She's got too many responsibilities here" Naruto responds.

"Maybe Professor Port?" Weiss guesses.

"It would be interesting to see if he's as good as he tells us he is" Blake comments.

Overhearing this, Glynda tells them, "Your Huntsman is in the next room." RWBYN run into the next room and are stunned to see Dr. Oobleck.

"Why hello gir—" Oobleck starts to say before he spots Naruto. "Mr. Uzumaki! Will you be joining us as well?"

"Yup! Turns out an add-in was a requirement" Naruto informs him.

Oobleck nods in understanding before asking, "Now, who is ready to fight for their lives?"

Naruto, not thrown off due to his experience at dealing with weird people responds, "You know it!"

"Terrific response!" Oobleck exclaims. He then looks to Team RWBY whose responses are much less enthusiastic. "Good! You are to meet me at the cliffside docks in two hours!" He then rushes off.

After some silence Naruto states, "This should be fun."

"You really think so?" Ruby asks.

"What do you mean? This is a Grimm extermination! The whole point of becoming Huntsmen!" Naruto answers.

"He does make a good point" Blake acknowledges.

"Well, I'm feeling a little more enthusiastic" Yang comments.

"Maybe you should be a motivational speaker" Ruby tells Naruto.

Naruto smiles before saying, "I need to go pack some cup noodles."

Team RWBY collectively roll their eyes before Blake says, "Naruto, you have a problem."

"Hey! I get my protein and veggies too!" Naruto exclaims defensively.

"That doesn't make it not a problem!" Weiss informs him.

"…Okay I have a problem. But I'm not gonna fix it." Naruto tells them.

As none of Team RWBY have a counter to that, Ruby simply says, "I guess we'll just head over to the docks then."

"Meet you guys there" Naruto tells them as he heads off to grab his supplies.

---

Naruto meets up with Team RWBY at the docks and they see Dr. Oobleck already waiting there. Weiss begins to address him saying, "Professor Oobleck…?"

"Yes, I'm afraid those bags won't be necessary seeing as you've opted to shadow a Huntsman on what is now essentially a reconnaissance mission" Oobleck explains out of nowhere. "I can assure you; we will not be establishing a single base of operations; rather, we will be traversing several miles of hazardous wasteland and making camp in any defendable locations we may stumble upon. I packed all of our essentials myself, plotted our air course, and readied the airship. And..." Oobleck trails off before he gets face to face with Weiss. "It's Doctor Oobleck. I didn't earn the PhD for fun, thank you very much!" He then gets out of Weiss' face. Weiss then stares at Blake who is just as thrown off as she is.

Naruto on the other hand asks, "What's the difference?"

"The amount of study required" Oobleck informs Naruto. He then looks at his watch before saying, "Come now, children; according to my schedule, we are already three minutes behind!" He then pauses for a second before he clarifies saying, "...schedule!" He then rushes onto the airship.

Seeing her team is kind of depressed, Ruby tries to cheer them up saying, "Well, alright, then! Looks like we're going to save the world with Doctor Oooobleck—okay yeah when you say it out loud it sounds worse…" Naruto busts out laughing at Ruby's attempt making her say, "Oh shut it…"

"Save the world?" They hear someone say out loud. They look over to see it is Nora who further says, "You better not be on another big adventure on your own again!"

"It's a Grimm extermination which is partially saving the world" Naruto tells her. Ruby sighs in relief as she and her team appreciate the cover. They don't want to deal with an angry Nora again.

"Sounds exciting. Where ya going?" Jaune asks the group.

"Oh, just outside of the kingdom" Ruby answers.

"Hey! So are we!" Nora explains in excitement.

"Ren and Nora wanted to shadow the sheriff of a nearby village" Pyrrha informs Team RWBY

"That's what they were telling me as you all pulled me away" Naruto states.

"At least it worked out" Jaune tells Naruto.

"We set out tomorrow" Ren further informs them.

"Then you can party with us tonight!" Neptune tells them as he and Sun approach the group. "We're shadowing a crime specialist. All inner-city detective stuff. We get junior badges" he says showing off said badge. Jaune is awestruck by this.

"We normally go to the city with you guys, which means stuff's always exploding and junk, so we thought this might be a better way to check out the kingdom when it's, you know...normal" Sun informs them.

"Maybe you can manage to not ditch the detective" Naruto states throwing shade at Sun.

"How long are you gonna keep giving me flak for that?" Sun asks.

"At least another few weeks" Naruto answers.

Sun looks at Blake hoping for some back up, but she tells him, "At least that long."

After Sun sighs, Neptune tells him, "Dude, don't worry about it."

Oobleck then yells from the ship, "Four minutes children!"

"Well, uh...Wish us luck!" Ruby exclaims as she throws a thumbs up to their friends. She then heads to the ship with her team.

---

During the trip, there is some awkward silence. Yang tries to break it when she says to Oobleck, "I guess I just never saw you as much of a fighter."

"I admit I fancy myself more of an intellectual, but I can assure you, as a Huntsman, I've had my fair share of tussles" Oobleck responds.

"Like the mushroom?" Ruby asked in confusion.

"Those are truffles" Blake says correcting her.

"Like the sprout?" Ruby again asks in confusion while scratching her head.

"Those are Brussels" Yang says, again correcting Ruby.

"The heck's a Brussel sprout?" Naruto asked legitimately not knowing.

Team RWBY all look at him as Ruby asks, "Are you serious?"

Embarrassed, Naruto responds, "I've never heard of them!" This gets some laughter from the group.

Paying them no mind, Oobleck continues, "Besides, given my expertise in the field of history as well as my dabblings in the archaeological surveys, our dear headmaster saw fit to assign me to this particular...assignment!"

"What does history have to do with this?" Weiss asked.

"It's got everything to do with everything…" Naruto says with a hint of disgust in his voice. This is mostly due to him having the fight the history of his world back during the 4th Great Shinobi War.

Pleased with Naruto's understanding of history's importance, Oobleck states, "Mr. Uzumaki is correct! History is the backbone of our very society! And the liver! Probably the kidneys, if I were to wager."

"Then what's the gut?" Naruto asks to see where this will go.

"Ideology" Oobleck answers without missing a beat, much to Naruto's surprise.

"Um…so what were you trying to say before?" Weiss asks as she has gotten lost on the conversation.

"Ah, right! The southeast quadrant outside of Vale is home to wild forests and deep caves, but it is also the location to one of the kingdom's greatest failures!" Oobleck says getting back on track.

"Mountain Glenn" Ruby clarifies.

"That's right! It was an expansion of Vale...but in the end it was overrun by Grimm and fenced off from the rest of the city" Yang further explains.

"Correct! And now it stands abandoned as a dark reminder" Oobleck further comments.

"And a likely place for a hideout" Blake states.

Oobleck adjusts his glasses as he says, "Precisely!"

"If anyone will find it it'll be us!" Naruto exclaims.

"Yeah!" Ruby hops up in excitement.

"Let me remind you that this is a scouting mission. If we find anything we are to report it, not go in!" Oobleck informs them.

"We understand prof—Doctor!" Weiss says catching herself as she expresses a bold-faced lie.

"Nice save" Yang tells her with a cheeky grin.

"Oh hush you…" Weiss says in embarrassment.

"Ready yourselves children. We are about to arrive at our destination" Oobleck announces to his students.

---

The party have exited the ship and most have their weapons in hand. They are on an abandoned street amongst ruined buildings.

"Alright children! You still may be students, but as of this moment, your first mission as Huntsman and Huntresses has begun!" Oobleck says informing his students. "From this point forward, you need to do exactly as I say! Do you understand?"

"We got it!" Naruto answers.

Oobleck then notices Ruby and Naruto both have bags and says, "Mr. Uzumaki! Ms. Rose! I thought I told you to leave all of your bags back at school."

Naruto opens his bag and shows Oobleck the cup ramen as well as a kettle before telling him, "Over my dead body…" Oobleck shakes his head but does so with a smile. Team RWBY does the same with Ruby herself letting out a giggle. Said giggle drew Oobleck's attention to her.

"And what is so important that you refuse to leave behind Ms. Rose?" Oobleck asks. As he is asking this, Zwei pops his head out.

"Get back in the bag" Ruby whispers to Zwei. Zwei just barks in response as he does not know better.

Naruto bends down to look at Zwei and says to the pup, "Wanted to come on an adventure little guy?" Zwei barks as if to answer. He then licks Naruto's face which Naruto snickers at.

"He really seems to like you Whiskers" Yang tells him.

"We're here to investigate an abandoned urban jungle teeming with death and hostility, and you brought...a dog?" Oobleck questions Ruby.

"I uh…" Ruby says as she has no good answer. The rest of her team and Naruto look concerned and prepare to get lectured.

"Genius!" Oobleck shouts resulting in Ruby and the rest of the group getting confused. Oobleck then rushes past Ruby and grabs Zwei causing Ruby to fall to the ground as he spins while holding Zwei in the air. "Canines are historically known for their perceptive nose and heightened sense of sound, making them excellent companions for a hunt such as ours!" Zwei gives a happy bark seemingly just thrilled to be there.

After getting over the initial shock of their teacher's reaction, Ruby exclaims with a big grin, "I'm a genius!" Weiss and Yang facepalm at this but Naruto gives her a high-five.

Trying to stay on point, Blake asks Oobleck, "So, what are your orders, Doctor?"

"Ah, yes, straight to the chase; I like it!" Oobleck exclaims as he lets go of Zwei. "As you've been informed, the southeast area has been marked as a recent hot spot for Grimm activity. Now, there are several possible explanations for this behavior, one of which being...Grimm."

Confused because how redundant that sounded, Ruby says, "Uh, what?"

"Grimm. A creature of Grimm approximately one hundred yards from us at this very moment" Oobleck states nonchalantly.

"What?!" Yang exclaims as she looks along with the rest of the group and spots a Beowolf. She and the rest of her team go to attack but Naruto stays put.

"Stop!" Oobleck orders Team RWBY.

"Huh?" Blake expresses with confusion as does the rest of her team.

Oobleck notices that Naruto did not go after the Beowolf and asks, "Mr. Uzumaki, do you know why it was correct not to attack?"

"So, we can follow it to its pack, right?" Naruto guesses.

"Excellent Mr. Uzumaki!" Oobleck exclaims.

"Wow, I'm actually impressed you knew that" Weiss said giving a rare compliment to Naruto making him grin.

"How long do we wait?" Blake asks.

"It's uncertain. Hours, days, weeks. Why, lone Grimm have been known to stay isolated from the pack for months—" He then notices something. "-and there's the whole pack." Five Beowolves are now seen following the first one.

"What?" Weiss states not having seen them yet.

"Oh, great! One for each of us!" Naruto exclaims.

"And now they've seen us" Oobleck further points out.

"What?!" Weiss exclaimed, baffled at how this is turning out.

Oobleck thinks Weiss meant that she did not hear him, so he goes right up to her ear and shouts, "AND NOW THEY'VE SEEN US!"

"I take it tracking them is out of the question?" Ruby asks.

"Pretty much" Naruto answers.

"An accurate assumption, yes" Oobleck further comments.

"What's the plan, then?" Yang asks as more start coming out of hiding.

"Show me what you're capable of" Oobleck tells them.

"Finally at the fun part!" Naruto shouts as he takes out Orange Spark before he dropkicks one of the Beowolves knocking it over and then he bludgeons it to death with two hits from staff. He then kicks the next one that approaches into the air.

Ruby looks at Zwei and tells him, "Cover your ears Zwei!" Zwei curls into a ball doing just that as Ruby fires behind her to boost herself forward as she heads toward the Beowolf Naruto knocked airborne and cuts it in half. Yang then knocks out another in a single punch. Seeing this, they decide to avoid Yang and go after Blake. Blake waits for them to attack before using her Semblance to trick them as she cuts down three of them. Weiss baits a few of them in by making it look like she's running away before she jumps up and runs one through with her rapier. She then dashes forward and takes down four of them with a single strike. Naruto then loads up his staff with lightning Dust and uses a Dust overdrive shocking the remaining Beowolves both weakening and paralyzing them. Yang jumps in and crushes half of them while Ruby cuts down the other half before stating, "Piece of cake!"

"Do not celebrate yet, for I am certain this is the first bout of many. Shall we continue?" Oobleck asks.

"Sounds like fun" Naruto answers.

"Putting your life at risk is hardly what would be considered "fun" Mr. Uzumaki" Oobleck responds.

"It is to me" Naruto simply responds.

"Hmm…" Oobleck responds as they continue on. As the group continues cutting through more Grimm, Oobleck is looking for signs of life. Unfortunately, he does not find any. Looking at his students cut down the last of the Grimm in this spot he tells them, "Excellent work! Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be any signs of criminal operations in this sector. Oh, well!"

With a little bit of annoyance in her voice, Yang says, "Hey, Doc, y'know, I was actually looking forward to seeing a "pro Huntsman" in action. Like, fighting, or at least, helping us fight?"

"Oh here we go…" Naruto mutters. Yang is confused at Naruto's remark until she starts to hear Oobleck's rebuttal.

"Ah, but I am in action!" Oobleck begins to tell them. "Scouring the ruins of this once-great city for any signs of irregularity! Not every mission is filled with daring and heroism. Sometimes it's just a heightened form of extermination! Remember, this is a job, and you all signed up for it. I do hope you understand that." He then looks at Naruto's bored face and asks, "And what is with that look?"

"I already heard these lectures before. I didn't wanna hear them again…" Naruto answers.

"And where did you hear these lectures from?" Oobleck further inquires.

"From people back in my village" Naruto answers again.

Oobleck is silent for a few seconds before saying, "Well then, I must commend your village for trying to instill this information while you are still so young!"

Yang then whispers to Naruto, "Was that really true?" Naruto then nods.

"I'm curious to know more about this village" Blake adds.

"Uh, maybe later, ya know" Naruto answers only increasing the curiosity of Team RWBY

---

As the search continues, Oobleck takes the opportunity to learn more about his students. He starts by approaching Yang and asking, "Tell me, Yang: Why did you choose this line of work?"

"Huh? Well, to fight monsters and save—" Yang begins to answer.

Oobleck cuts her off saying, "No, that is what you do. I want to know why you do it. The honest reason as to why you want to be a Huntress."

Yang starts to ponder the question before answering, "The honest reason? I'm a thrill-seeker. I want to travel around the world and get wrapped up in as many crazy adventures as I can. And if I help people along the way, then that's even better. It's a win-win, ya know?"

"I see" Oobleck responds having learned all he can on the matter from Yang. He then heads over to Weiss' location who is fighting off some more Beowolves. "And you, Miss Schnee? A girl born into fame and fortune such as yourself certainly doesn't need the extra work. So...why choose this over a cushy job in Atlas?"

Weiss finishes off the last Beowolf and answers, "It's exactly as you said: I'm a Schnee. I have a legacy of honor to uphold. Once I realized I was capable of fighting, there was no longer a question of what I would do with my life. It was my duty."

"Interesting" Oobleck responds showing neither approval nor disappointment. He then heads to Blake who cuts open a door and a flock of small Nevermores fly out. Oobleck looks inside the doorway himself before asking, "And what about you, Blake? You seem to carry yourself with a sense of purpose."

"There's too much wrong in this world to just stand by and do nothing. Inequality, corruption...someone has to stop it" Blake answers.

"Very well. How?" Oobleck asks simply despite knowing there is not an easy answer.

Unable to find an answer, Blake simply mutters, "I, Uh..."

Oobleck lets out a "Hmm…" as he dashes away. Blake is disappointed in herself that she had no answer. He then finds Naruto on top of a building in a meditative position and asks, "What are you doing there, Naruto?"

"I'm using my Semblance to keep track of the others and the Grimm in the area" Naruto tells him.

Oobleck did not know Naruto had a Semblance, much less one so useful. He then asks, "Would you please give me everyone's location?"

"Yang's over with Weiss in that tower over there. Blake's patrolling the street on the other side of that collapsed market. And Ruby's down there playing with Zwei." Naruto informs him.

"Please do the same with the Grimm" Oobleck requests.

"Grimm don't have Aura so I can't make out what kind of Grimm they are, ya know" Naruto responds. "All I can sense is a dark presence."

"That makes sense" Oobleck responds. "No matter how Grimm appear physically, they have no individuality on the inside."

"I can still give you some basic locations" Naruto informs him. "There's some basic Grimm collecting on the far side of the area. Although there's a herd of large and powerful Grimm starting to pass by near where Ruby is."

"A herd of large and powerful Grimm? The only ones that come to mind would be Goliaths" Oobleck thinks to himself. He then asks Naruto, "Tell me, why did you choose to become a Huntsman?"

Naruto thinks for a few seconds before answering, "I strive for a world where people can understand each other. But that's a long ways off. That being said, with humanity so restricted by the Grimm, understanding your fellow man is really far from everyone's minds. The only way humanity has a chance is to work together and I wanna lead by example! Long and short of it is there's nothing else I'd rather be!"

Surprised at such a well thought out answer, Oobleck smiles and tells him, "Well said Mr. Uzumaki." He then heads to where Ruby is and sees her playing with Zwei, just as Naruto said she was.

Upon seeing Oobleck, Ruby sheathes her weapon that she was using to hang some food over Zwei's head and says, "Sorry! Uh... Are we ready to keep going?"

"Nope! I believe that will have to do for today. It's going to be dark soon" Oobleck responds as he throws his bag over to Yang. "Come on down Mr. Uzumaki!" Naruto does just that. "You four, set up camp in that building. Oh, and please do make sure there are no more of those...creatures. Your leader and I are going to secure the perimeter. Come, Ruby."

"Got it!" Naruto says as he quickly gets to work wanting to get started on his Ramen.

Oobleck and Ruby turn the corner and see a herd of Goliaths passing by making Ruby let out in awe, "Whaaaa...What is that? It looks awesome!"

"That, my dear girl, is a Grimm" Oobleck answers. He then thinks to himself, "A herd of large and powerful Grimm. Naruto was right on the money."

Ruby continues to stare at the large elephant-like Grimm before she gets her weapon ready and says, "Let's kill it."

"I'm afraid your sniper rifle will do nothing more than agitate a Grimm of that size" Oobleck informs her.

"But...what if it attacks us?" Ruby asks concerned at his statement.

"Fret not, Ruby; those Goliaths are not concerned with us" Oobleck starts to explain. "Ruby, not every Grimm is mindless, or rather not every Grimm is still mindless. You see, the Grimm you see before you are so powerful, so superior to the Grimm you fought, that they've undoubtedly lived hundreds of years, and in that time between killing humans and attacking our borders, they have done one important thing: They've learned. They've learned that when they attack our borders, they're likely to die, and what we lack in strength, we make up for in will, and that killing one human will only bring more." A Goliath then turns its neck to look at them before moving on.

"Then why are they still so close to the city? What are they doing?" Ruby asks.

"Waiting" Oobleck answers simply.

Seeing how wise Oobleck is first hand, Ruby asks, "Doctor Oobleck?"

"Hmm?" Oobleck lets out letting her know she has his attention.

"I was wondering..." Ruby says delaying the point.

"Wondering why I've been interrogating your teammates all day?" Oobleck guesses.

"A-Actually, I was wondering...Why did you want to become a Huntsman?" Ruby asks turning the question around on Oobleck.

"Look around and tell me what you see" Oobleck instructs her.

"Lots of old buildings, uh, empty streets..." Ruby answers clearly not knowing where Oobleck is going with this.

"I see lives that could have been saved" Oobleck tells her setting the mood for how serious he is with his answer. "As a Huntsman, it is my job to protect the people, and although I am capable of doing it with traditional weaponry, I believe I can make a much larger impact if I do it with my mind. As a teacher, I'm able to take knowledge, the most powerful weapon of them all, and place it in the hands of every student that passes through my classroom. I look at this wasteland, and I see lives that could have been saved, but I also see an opportunity; an opportunity to study these ruins and learn from this tragedy, and therefore become stronger. I am a Huntsman, Ruby, because there is nothing else in this world I would rather be." He then remembers Naruto had a similar answer and thinks, "I see why the Headmaster sees so much promise in that young man."

---

Weiss, Blake, Yang, and Naruto have successfully made camp. Naruto is currently using the fire to boil water.

"I can't believe we didn't find anything..." Yang complains.

"Yet" Naruto replies clearly still optimistic.

Completely off topic, Weiss states, "That's not what I meant."

"Huh?" Blake asks confused.

"Earlier, about...upholding the legacy. There's more to it than that" Weiss admits.

"Guessing you're not comfortable trying to explain it right now?" Naruto guesses. Weiss does not respond.

"Yeah...No, me too. I mean...I don't know" Yang says not clear on her own reasons.

"I don't know, either. I know what I want to do, but I figured I'd always take things one step at a time" Blake admits. The girls are again disappointed in themselves.

Yang then looks at Naruto and asks, "So what about you? I'm sure he asked you the same thing."

"I told him that I wanna lead by example and there's nothing I wanna be more than a Huntsman" Naruto responds.

"Wow, it must be nice to have it all figured out" Blake tells him.

As Naruto grabs one of the noodle cups from his bag he tells them, "Guys, relax. We're just first years. Your reasons will come along in time, ya know." The rest of them, Weiss included, find some reassurance in what he just told them.

"That was nice Whiskers. When did you get so reassuring?" Yang asks. Naruto shrugs as he does not know when he got that talent.

Oobleck then quickly arrives in the room and addresses the group saying, "Ah, wonderful; a textbook campfire!"

"Fire!" Ruby exclaims as she comes in and sits down by the fire next to Naruto and Zwei follows along. She puts her hands closer to it and says, "So...warm..." The kettle then goes off and Naruto pours boiling water into his noodle cup. Seeing this Ruby asks Naruto, "Oh, can I have one of those?" Naruto smirks and then hands her the one he just made and gets out another. "Thanks!" She then starts eating it.

"Very good! Eat your dinners and hurry to bed. We have a lot of ground to cover tomorrow and we'll need you to take turns keeping watch over our temporary abode" Oobleck instructs them. "Any volunteers for first watch?"

Ruby lifts her arm up to volunteer saying, "Yo."

"I don't think so" Naruto tells her.

"What? Why not?" Ruby asks.

"My Semblance is tailor made for this" Naruto points out. "I'd also like the person who relieves me to have gotten a little rest."

"His logic is quite sound" Oobleck states. None of the others can disagree either.

Naruto grabs his cup noodles and stands up saying, "Okay then! Get some rest everybody." He then heads off for his watch. Oobleck then turns in.

Now that Oobleck has turned in, Yang asks Ruby, "Hey, did Oobleck ask you why you wanted to be a Huntress? I mean...what did you tell him?"

"Hmm...No, he didn't. Weird. Oh, well; good night, guys!" Ruby tells them as she grabs Zwei and also turns in.

Yang, Blake, and Weiss are unable to fall asleep as even though Naruto told them their answers would come in time, they are still disappointed in themselves. After some time has passed, Yang says to Blake, "Blake, are you awake?"

"Yeah" Blake responds.

"Why do you think he asked us about being a Huntress? Like, what was he trying to say?" Yang asks.

"Maybe he was just curious" Blake answers unconvincingly.

"You think?" Yang asks unconvinced.

"No" Blake no answers honestly.

"Does it really bother you guys that much?" Ruby asks them.

"Yeah it does. Especially since he didn't even ask you" Yang tells her. She then asks Weiss, "Weiss, are you awake?"

"Of course I'm awake! You're all talking. And I think he...When I said I wanted to honor my family's name, I meant it. But, it's not what you think. I'm not stupid. I'm fully aware of what my father has done with the Schnee Dust Company. Since he took control, our business has operated in a...moral gray area" Weiss reluctantly admits.

"That's putting it lightly" Blake comments.

"Which is why I feel the need to make things right. If I had taken a job in Atlas, it wouldn't have changed anything. My father was not the start of our name, and I refuse to let him be the end of it" Weiss says with more determination.

Feeling more open thanks to Weiss admitting that, Blake says, "All my life, I fought for what I thought was right. I had a partner named Adam. More of a mentor, actually. He always assured me that what we were doing would make the world a better place. But of course, his idea of a perfect future turned out to be not perfect for everyone. I joined the Academy because I knew that Huntsmen and Huntresses were regarded as the most noble warriors in the world. Always fighting for good. But I never really thought past that. When I leave the Academy, what will I - how can I undo so many years of hate?"

"I'm sure you'd figure it out. You're not one to back down from a challenge, Blake" Yang tells her.

"But I am!" Blake retorts. "I do it all the time! When you learned I was a Faunus, I didn't know what to do, so I ran! When I realized my oldest partner had become a monster, I ran! Even my Semblance! I was born with the ability to leave behind a shadow of myself; an empty copy that takes the hit while I run away!"

"You don't have to do it all alone" Ruby tells her.

"I know that now, but still…" Blake admits.

"At least you all have something that drives you. I've just kinda of always, gone with the flow, y'know? And that's fine, I mean, that's who I am. But how long can I really do that for? I wanna be a Huntress, not really because I want to be a hero, but because I want the adventure. I want a life where I won't know what tomorrow will bring. And that'll be a good thing. Being a Huntress just happens to line up with that." She then looks at Ruby, "I'm not like you sis. You've always wanted to be a Huntress. You always said you wanted to be like the heroes in the books."

"Yang, it's because of who you are that I was able to become who I am today! Don't sell yourself short like that!" Ruby shouts in defense of her sister. Yang apricates that.

"Remember what Naruto said, we're still just first-years. We're still kids." Blake reminds them.

"I think he was just trying to reassure us" Yang responds. "He has his priorities figured out just like Ruby. Even though we're technically kids, we're still in the middle of a warzone and armed to the teeth."

"It's the life we chose" Blake further adds.

"It's a job" Weiss clarifies. "We all had this romanticized vision of being a Huntress in our heads! But at the end of the day, it's a job to protect the people! And whatever we want, will have to come second."

"I don't know guys, it sure sounds to me like you have this all figured out" Ruby tells them.

"Sometimes it just takes someone bringing it up to make you realize it" Weiss states. Oobleck overheard the conversation and has a big smile.

---

While Team RWBY's conversation is happening, Naruto is having his own conversation with Kurama while keeping track of his surroundings with his Semblance.

"Be careful not to exhaust yourself" Kurama tells Naruto.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine" Naruto replies to the fox. "I wonder if I can train my Semblance to be able to actually identify the Grimm."

"Doubtful, but maybe you can when you learn to properly absorb nature energy again" Kurama tells him.

"What do you mean? Isn't that what I'm doing now?" Naruto asks.

"Not to the same degree and not a perfect merger like your last Sage Mode was" Kurama tells him. Hearing this, Naruto then looks at his hand and manifests some Chakra wondering if he can properly stack his Aura and Chakra. Kurama then asks him, "When do you plan on using your Chakra in combat?"

"When I face something tougher than a Beowolf" Naruto informs him.

Kurama smirks as he then overlooks the ruined landscape through Naruto's eyes. He then tells Naruto, "It may not have been fate, but it is a gift that you were brought to this world."

"What do you mean?" Naruto asks his old friend.

"Look around" Kurama tells Naruto. "Clearly humanity hasn't had much luck in besting the Grimm. They've merely halted their advance. You might be the boost they need" Kurama tells Naruto.

Naruto starts to laugh before saying, "Like I needed more motivation to get stronger!"

"Well since becoming Hokage is out, you could use another goal" Kurama tells Naruto who quickly becomes depressed. Kurama then realizes that was something he should not have mentioned. The goal Naruto worked his whole life for had become impossible.

However, before Kurama can say anything to try and cheer him up, Naruto lifts his head and says, "Even if I can't be Hokage, I can still be what it represents! The one people look to for courage and who stands in front of their comrades!"

Kurama smiles as he thinks to himself, "It's that "never give up" attitude that brought the shinobi together. And I fully believe that it will be the same for this world."

Naruto then picks up an Aura in the distance. He looks down to where Team RWBY and Oobleck are sleeping and says, "They're all down there, which means it's not one of us." He then jumps down and goes to investigate.

Zwei notices Naruto heading off and wiggles his way out of Ruby's arms startling her awake. Zwei then scampers after Naruto trying to lead Ruby there. Not understanding this, Ruby follows Zwei while whisper yelling, "Zwei! Come back!"

Naruto finds two members of the White Fang and then hides behind the corner of one of the buildings to stay out of sight. He then thinks to himself, "This is perfect! I can follow them to their hideout and—" His thoughts are then broken when he looks down to see Zwei at his feet wagging his tail.

Ruby then comes running up and yelling, "Zwei! Get back here!"

"What was that?" One of the White Fang members asks.

"It came from over there" The other member says as he starts heading for Naruto's location.

Seeing this, Naruto mutters, "Damn!" He grabs Zwei and runs towards Ruby.

Ruby now sees Naruto and says, "Naruto? What are—" Naruto grabs her and heads into one of the ruined buildings while keeping her mouth covered. She gets upset until she sees one of the White Fang members and stays quiet. Seeing this, Naruto takes his hand away. Zwei starts to growl at the sight of the White Fang member but Ruby picks him up and calms him down. The White Fang members then move on.

Naruto and Ruby breathe a sigh of relief before he asks her, "Ruby, what are you doing here?"

"Zwei took off and I went after him. I guess he was following you" Ruby tells him.

Naruto then looks at Zwei who is looking back at him. He then pets Zwei saying, "Little guy's lucky he's adorable."

"So what are YOU doing here?" Ruby asks.

"I sensed those two White Fang members while on lookout and went to tail them…which I'm about to do again" Naruto informs her.

"I'll come too!" Ruby tells him.

Knowing he will not be able to convince her not to, Naruto tells her, "Okay but you gotta stay quiet." Ruby then gives a salute instead of a verbal response. Naruto smiles as they continue their pursuit. They manage to tail the White Fang members to the entrance of their hideout.

Ruby then says, "We should head back and get the team."

"That's a good call, ya know" Naruto tells her in agreement. They start heading back when the pavement under them collapses. As Ruby starts to fall in, she throws Zwei into the air so he does not also fall in. Naruto dives in and catches her and then tries to use his Chakra to grip one of the rocks and stop their fall but he did not have enough gathered to stop their momentum and they fall into the underground city.

"Thanks for catching me…" Ruby says to Naruto. She then starts to panic a little when she realizes her weapon is back on the surface. Two White Fang members spot them.

"You're not supposed to be in here!" One of them says as he goes to subdue Ruby and succeeds pretty easily. As the other one tries to subdue Naruto, Naruto hits him with a backfist sending him flying into the cave wall.

Naruto then looks at the one restraining Ruby and says, "Now I really need to hurt you." He then kicks the White Fang member off of Ruby then hits him with an extra hard hook with his metal arm. Naruto then helps Ruby up saying, "Still no Taiju—I mean still no hand-to-hand skills huh?"

"Yeah I know…" Ruby says feeling humiliated.

Thinking for a second, Naruto takes out Orange Spark in its condensed state and asks Ruby, "Think you can handle Orange Spark until we get your weapon back?"

"I learn pretty quick!" Ruby tells him with confidence.

Naruto then hands her Orange Spark and his kunai. He goes over how to configure it into rifle mode, dual staff mode, and most importantly spear mode since that is the closest mode to her scythe. He then tells her, "We can spare a few minutes for you to practice and get used to the weapon. Just don't fire it." Ruby then starts doing just that. She spends about half of her practice time switching between rifle and spear mode and then two minutes practicing in spear mode. She struggles a bit trying to remember that she can't boost herself forward with sniper shots. In total she practices for about five minutes.

"You ready?" Naruto asks her.

"As ready as I can be" Ruby responds. They then continue through the tunnel.

---

Yang opens her eyes and sees that Ruby is not there. She then looks to see if Naruto is back thinking Ruby relieved him of lookout duty. She sees that he is not there and starts getting worried. She then sees Zwei come back alone and her worry only increase as she starts shaking Weiss and tells her and Blake, "Come on, you gotta get up!"

Weiss notices the sun is not up and asks, "Why am I being woken up?"

"Ruby and Naruto are gone" Yang informs her.

Oobleck, who was already awake walks up and says, "They might be in trouble." They head out and start searching. They end up finding the hole and Yang finds Ruby's scythe.

"Oh no" Blake says out of worry.

"Do you think they fell?" Weiss asks.

"Fell?" Oobleck questions now coming upon the hole.

"Down there" Weiss points out.

Oobleck looks down at the hole before exclaiming, "Oh my. Of course! Of course, OF COURSE, OF COURSE!"

"What is it?" Blake asks confused.

"How could I be so stupid?!" Oobleck expresses but still not providing answers.

"Dr. Oobleck, what's wrong?" Yang asks.

"Mountain Glenn!" Oobleck shouts as if that answers everything. "Yes, an expansion of Vale that was inevitably destroyed by creatures of Grimm! Previously home to thousands of people! Working people commuting to the city, the main city! Developed a subway system to the inner city! Grimm attacks increased! Population in danger, now desperately searching for shelter! City evacuates into the metro tunnels and what do they find? The southeast quadrant of Vale is known for wild forests and deep caves!"

"Doc, what are you saying?" Yang asks as Oobleck has yet to make his point.

"My dear, we're not just looking for an underground crime network, we're looking for an UNDERGROUND crime network!" Oobleck finally gets to said point.

"They've been working in caves?" Blake asks, thinking she now understands.

"No, no, Mountain Glenn was Vale's first serious attempt at expansion" Oobleck further explains. "It worked for a short period of time, thanks to an aggressive perimeter defense, and unique transportation; the city developed an elaborate subway system to carry citizens safely from the new territory into the main Kingdom! Sadly, without the many natural barriers Vale had to protect its borders, Mountain Glenn was doomed from the start! As the end drew near, the citizens of the territory made one last attempt at survival: They took up shelter beneath the city! In massive caves that they had cleared out for the subway. And they had cut themselves off from the surface!"

"An underground village?" Yang guesses.

"In a matter of speaking, yes" Oobleck answers. "A safe haven. Until...an explosion opened the mouth of another cavern, filled with subterranean Grimm. After that, the Kingdom officially sealed off the tunnels, creating the world's largest tomb. If Ruby is down there without her weapon then we must find her" He then readies his weapon, Antiquity's Roast, which was his thermos the whole time.

Yang grabs Crescent Rose and says, "Naruto is with her so she should be okay for now." She then jumps into the hole and the others follow.

---

As Yang, Blake, Weiss, and Oobleck continue to search for Naruto and Ruby, Naruto and Ruby have come upon the base they have been searching for.

One of the first things Ruby notices is another Atleasian Paladin-290 carrying crates and she says, "I really don't want to have deal with that thing again."

"We got bigger problems…" Naruto says as he points.

Ruby looks where he's pointing and sees a bomb making her even more worried. She then looks around more before saying, "I knew it…"

Naruto looks in the same direction Ruby is and spots Torchwick before saying, "That smarmy bastard would be here..." Their worry attracts a nearby Beowolf that attacks them. Naruto manages to spot it in time and throws it and Ruby then stabs it with Orange Spark in spear mode. This gets the attention of the White Fang members who then surround Naruto and Ruby.

Roman then asks., "What in the world is going on over here?" He then spots Ruby and says, "Red? You just can't seem to keep that annoying little head out of trouble, can you?" This causes Ruby to make an annoyed face. Roman then looks over to see Naruto making his eye go wide as he shouts, "No! Not you!"

Naruto smirks as he says, "You remember me!"

"Kill him! NOW!" Roman shouts in a tone that could be described as desperate anger.

The White Fang open fire on Naruto who dive rolls to one of the members and kicks that same White Fang member into another member. He then Superman punches the next closest one.

Ruby blocks some shots fired at her with Orange Spark and then sweeps a couple of White Fang members before sticking the spear in the ground and swings herself around it clobbering two more White Fang members. She then takes the spear out of the ground and spins it around making her slash more powerful as she takes out three more. Seeing this starts to intimidate some of the White Fang members. A White Fang member of hulking size with a rhino tattoo on his shoulder approaches her. Ruby keeps a confident look as the large White Fang member feels a tap on his shoulder.

He sees Naruto is the one who tapped his shoulder and starts to turn around saying, "You have a death wi—" He gets cut off when Naruto hits the large Faunus with a left uppercut knocking him out cold. The White Fang members that were scared of Ruby are now terrified of Naruto. Explosions can then be heard coming from the direction Naruto and Ruby came from.

"Ruby!" Yang can be heard calling out.
"Yang! Over here!" Ruby calls back. Oobleck, Weiss, Blake, and Yang can now see Naruto, Ruby, and the train.

Roman now sees all of them and shouts, "We're leaving now!"

The rest of the team now join up with Naruto and Ruby as Ruby jumps into Yang's arms for a hug. Weiss then asks, "What happened?"

"We can talk later, right now we gotta stop that train!" Naruto tells them. Yang then hands Crescent Rose back to Ruby.

Ruby then cuddles her weapon saying, "Oh I missed you…" She then tosses Orange Spark back to Naruto and says, "Thanks for the loan!"

Yang then looks at Naruto who says, "She needed a way to defend herself since she's so bad at hand-to-hand, ya know?"

Yang smiles at Naruto's quick thinking and says, "Thanks for having her back."

"It's what friends do!" Naruto responds as they go to try and board the train.

Oobleck says to Blake, "Blake, you uncouple the train cars!" Blake goes to do so when a White Fang member on top of one of the train cars fires a missile launcher.

They manage to avoid the blast as Weiss shouts, "How rude!" She then freezes the car the member is riding on as Naruto braces himself with Orange Spark in hand. Ruby jumps onto Orange Spark and Naruto springboards her forward. She then fires a sniper shot behind her further launching her forward and she takes out the missile launching White Fang member with one swing and lands on the car. Yang and Blake go to the back train car to make their way forward as Naruto, Weiss, Ruby, and Oobleck make their way forward on top of the cars.

Yang and Blake make their way through the first car with ease but upon getting into the next one they run into Neo. Seeing her makes Blake a little nervous as she tells Yang, "That's the girl Sun and I couldn't land a hit against and Naruto had to take care of."

Yang stares down Neo and tells Blake, "You go on ahead."

"Are you sure?" Blake asks not sure Yang can handle this.

"Hey, don't forget I was one of the only people who managed to beat all 4 Grimm during the midterms. I got this" Yang tells her with confidence. Blake then hesitantly moves on as Yang and Neo go face to face.

Neo shoots Yang a cocky smirk resulting in Yang throwing the first punch. However, before the punch can land, Neo quickly jabs Yang with her parasol forcing Yang to back up. Neo then opens up her parasol and places it over her shoulder while keeping her cocky grin further provoking Yang. Yang then runs back in and throws two straight punches, a right hook, another straight left punch, a right front kick, another left and right punch, all which Neo easily dodges. Yang keeps up the assault with a spinning back fist and a scissor kick, two more punches and a kick. Unfortunately for Yang Neo easily blocks those strikes and upon blocking Yang's kick, Neo nails Yang with a wheel kick knocking Yang down. Neo then attempts a back-flipping kick seemingly trying to style on Yang as she does not take Yang as a serious opponent. Yang manages to roll away in time and get back to her feet.

Yang then rushes back in with a punch but Neo catches Yang's arm over her shoulder and kicks Yang in the face with a very flexible high kick and then follows up with a side kick knocking Yang down again. Neo then cartwheels over to Yang while she's getting up, much to Yang's annoyance. Yang then fires her Ember Celica at Neo point blank but Neo opens up her parasol which disperses the shot and proceeds to hit Yang with a light but quick hit every time Yang tries to attack. Neo then casually sits down on one of the cases as Yang approaches. Yang throws a punch which Neo dodges and then assaults Yang with a series of acrobatic kicks that knocks Yang away. No matter what Yang tries, Neo is able to casually render it ineffective and land her own attacks. Neo then grabs Yang's arm and acrobatically spins around causing Yang to do the same before she throws Yang to the roof making Yang bounce off of it.

Yang is on her knees, eyes red with anger due to not being able to do anything. Neo then approaches with a cocky smile. Frustrated, Yang's Aura gains visible blue streaks before fire mixes in and she shouts, "DAMN IT!" as she hits the ground creating a fiery explosion that almost destroys the whole train car and sends Neo flying back causing her to hit her head. Yang then passes out from exhaustion.

Neo, now holding the back of her head, looks confused at what just happened. She takes her sword out of her parasol and readies to kill Yang when a woman with wild raven-colored hair wearing black and red attire along with what seems to be a Grimm mask and wielding a katana rushes in and attacks Neo forcing her to back off. The katana wielding woman then fully unsheathes her blade inviting Neo to attack. Neo with a concerned look on her face backs off and uses her Semblance to escape. The masked woman then looks at Yang before looking at the scorched and damaged train car before saying, "Yang, how in the world did you do this?"

---

Naruto, Ruby, Weiss, and Oobleck are making their way across the top of the train cars. Weiss knocks three White Fang members off the train with a single thrust. Ruby takes two more down with a swing of her scythe before she shoots two more off who were climbing up on top of the train. Oobleck finally is showing off his skill as a Huntsman as he takes down five White Fang members in two seconds. Naruto, who's shoulder Zwei decided to ride on, knocks two off the train and then throws a third one off.

"How many of these guys can be on one train?" Ruby asks.

"Considering the size of these train cars they could be hiding over a hundred members" Weiss tells her.

"Doesn't matter how many there are, we gotta stop this thing before they do whatever they're planning with that bomb" Naruto states.

"Naruto is right" Oobleck adds. "We haven't another moment to spare!" They get to the next train car where they are confronted by another Paladin.

Naruto grabs Zwei off his shoulder and puts him on Ruby's head before saying, "You all go ahead. I can handle this."

"What? No, we should stick together!" Ruby responds.

"You heard him Ruby, we don't have time, ya know!" Naruto yells.

"Come along girls, have faith in your friend" Oobleck tells Ruby and Weiss as they start to pass the Paladin. They stop for a second when they see Blake arrive.

Blake sees the Paladin and says, "Oh, you're kidding…"

"Don't worry, I have this handled!" Naruto tells her.

Blake then sees Oobleck leading Ruby and Weiss past the Paladin and goes to join them, but first she shouts back to Naruto, "Yang's still back there!"

"I'll turn back for her once I beat this thing" Naruto responds as Blake heads off with the rest of the group. He then puts Orange Spark in dual staff mode and says, "Time to try my training out in the field!" He then coats his staffs in wind Chakra. The Paladin then swings at Naruto but Naruto runs and slides under it and swings one of his staffs at the legs of the Paladin. Not only does the Chakra add to the striking power of his swing, but it adds a slight slicing effect as well. Naruto has now gotten behind the Paladin so he jumps up and lands a Chakra and Aura enhanced punch that sends chunks off of the Paladin as well as knocking it off balance.

The White Fang member piloting the Paladin shouts, "What's going on?! This thing's supposed to be state of the art!"

"You might want a refund!" Naruto shouts as he continues to assault the Paladin with Chakra enhanced hits causing substantial damage. The Chakra then stops working as Naruto needs more practice wielding Chakra with Aura. However, the Paladin has already been turned to scrap and the pilot runs away.

"That wasn't bad for a test run" Kurama says complimenting Naruto.

"Using Chakra with my Aura still exhausts me quicker though…" Naruto responds.

"That will change with further training. It will likely happen quick considering their compatibility" Kurama tells Naruto.

Naruto then stares at his hand and says, "I sure hope so." He then puts away Orange Spark and heads back for Yang.

---

As Blake, Ruby, Weiss, and Oobleck continue busting their way through members of the White Fang, they come upon a chainsaw-sword wielding Lieutenant blocking their way.

"You all go on ahead" Weiss tells them and also hands Blake some Dust. Ruby is still not a fan of them splitting up but she does so anyway along with Oobleck and Blake.

"Finally, I get to kill a Schnee" The Lieutenant says with glee. Weiss now readies herself knowing the kind of person she's dealing with.

Ruby, Oobleck, and Blake now come upon another Paladin. "How many of these do they have?!" Ruby exclaims. After that outburst, Ruby is about to tell Blake to go on ahead, but Blake already did.

"She seems to have gotten the picture" Oobleck comments. He then drinks from his thermos before configuring it back into his weapon and Zwei jumps up before Oobleck turns Zwei into a flaming projectile that staggers the Paladin. Ruby then rushes forward and cuts the arm of the Paladin as Oobleck takes out the legs knocking the Paladin over. Ruby then jumps up and Oobleck lights Ruby's scythe on fire as she slashes her scythe through the cockpit door just missing the pilot. That pilot then opens the door and runs off. Ruby and Oobleck then see the crate that the Paladin was guarding and Oobleck opens it. It is filled with Dust vials that Oobleck has never seen before. Ruby then looks and all the color leaves her face as she falls back.

"Ruby? What's wrong?!" Oobleck asks out of concern.

"That…that Dust is REALLY bad news. It somehow turns Grimm into bigger super versions of themselves." Ruby explains. Oobleck then looks at the vials stunned at this revelation.

---

Naruto is heading back to find Yang when he sees a train car that is barely able to stay on the tracks and is heavily damaged. Concerned, he shouts out, "Yang!"

The masked woman hears this and makes a red portal so she can leave. Yang is starting to wake up after hearing her name called out and she sees the masked woman. Yang reaches out to her just before she leaves.

Naruto then comes running in and asks, "Hey, you okay?"

"Physically, yeah. But I got my butt kicked…" Yang admits with shame. She sees Naruto breathe a sigh of relief and asks, "Why do you look so concerned? Were you that worried about me?"

"Of course I was! Look around!" Naruto exclaims. Yang looks around and finally notices how messed up the train car is before Naruto asks her, "What happened here?"

"I was fighting that multi-colored hair girl you told us about" Yang explains to him. "I couldn't land a single hit on her…then I remember getting mad, hitting the ground, and blacking out."

Having faced Neo before, Naruto knows she is not capable of doing this. He then tells Yang, "You somehow must have done this."

"What? Come on there's no way…" Yang starts to say but she cannot come to another conclusion.

Naruto then helps Yang back up and tells her, "Come on. The others are heading to the front car."

"Then let's go" Yang tells him as they start making their way forward.

---

Blake makes it to the front car where she finally confronts Roman.

"Oh, hey kitty-kat. You miss me?" Roman taunts while twirling his cane. "We really gotta stop meeting like this, people are gonna talk." Blake wastes no time and runs at Roman. Roman attacks first but Blake uses her Semblance that is enhanced by fire Dust to create a fire clone that upon contact sends Roman into the air allowing Blake to land a three slash combo and knock Roman down. Roman get up and fires an explosive shot from his cane and Blake again uses her Semblance enhanced by Dust to make a solid copy that gets hit instead. They get into another exchange that ends with Blake making an ice copy that Roman gets his cane stuck in which allows Blake to launch a flying slash to knock Roman down again and this time she puts her foot on his chest and has her blade to his throat.

Roman then asks, "Why are we fighting? I saw you at the rally. We're on the same side and you know it." Blake gets annoyed and moves her blade closer. "Still Feisty. So…what are we gonna do now? Do you really think a little bow on top is gonna make people forget what you were? What you've done?" Weiss then gets knocked into the room by the Lieutenant. "So, what's it gonna be, Blake?"

Blake then kicks him in the side of the head to knock him out and goes to help Weiss. However, she cannot help but think, "He wasn't panicked there like he is every time he sees Naruto. Something must be off." She then grabs Weiss and runs off.

Naruto and Yang have come upon Ruby and Oobleck trying to carry a crate. "What are you two doing?" Yang asks.

"We need to get this crate out of here! It's full of that special Dust!" Ruby informs them. Naruto's eyes widen as he and Yang run over to help them with the crate.

Unfortunately, Blake and Weiss come running in as Blake shouts, "The train's gonna crash!"

Ruby, Yang, Naruto, and Oobleck collectively shout, "WHAT?!" Weiss then casts a defensive ice barrier to protect them, but the crate goes flying as the train opens up a barricade and the bomb lets Grimm into Vale.

---

The group starts getting back up. Naruto speaks first saying, "Thanks for the protection, Weiss."

Weiss is dusting herself off as she says, "Don't worry about it."

Ruby is looking around as she asks, "Where'd the Dust go?" Soon after she asks this, they hear multiple deep roars coming from beyond the hole made by the train.

"My word, I've never heard roars like that before…" Oobleck states a little shaken.

"That's what the mutated Grimm sound like…" Weiss tells Oobleck in a tone restrained by fear.

"Then this is the worst possible situation" Oobleck states.

Ruby sees the frightened looks on her team's faces and starts to say, "I know we're all scared, but…"

Naruto has already made his way to the hole and says, "Vale needs us."

Ruby then joins him up there and looks back to her team saying, "We're gonna be Huntresses, right?"

The rest of her team recall their conversation back at camp and go join Ruby and Naruto. Seeing this, Oobleck has a big proud smile.

---

Emergency sirens are going off as an invasion of Grimm starts tearing through Vale. Team JNPR are heading off on their assignment, but upon hearing the sirens Jaune says, "We're changing our mission." His team agrees and they head for an airship heading for Vale.

Meanwhile, Team RWBYN are taking on a horde of Grimm to make sure they are not attacking the citizens who are being led away by Oobleck. Unfortunately, between lack of sleep and fighting since before dawn they are struggling with exhaustion. A Boarbatusk charges at Ruby but Naruto throws her into the air and Yang punches the charging Boarbatusk knocking it over. Ruby then strikes the Grimm as she falls. Weiss runs a Beowolf through with her rapier and 3 more go to pounce on her. Blake jumps up and knocks two of them out of the air with one sword sing and then the other with a second swing before going back-to-back with Weiss. A King Taijitu then slithers up, but Nora comes out of nowhere and clobbers it with her hammer as the rest of Team JNPR arrive.

"Man am I glad to see you guys!" Naruto shouts over to them. They then hear powerful footsteps approaching as a Super Ursa and two Super Beowolves approach.

"FINALLY!" Nora shouts in excitement as she gets odd looks from her friends. One of the Super Beowolves rushes Nora at high speed. Thanks to sparring with Naruto, Nora developed a new counter by side-stepping while holding her hammer by the very end of the handle and hooks the Beowolf. However, the force from the Super Beowolf was more than she expected, and the Grimm takes the hammer out of her hand. She gets cornered and does not notice 3 more Beowolves pounce at her. Ren intercepts them kicking one of them and shooting the other two.

Naruto activates his Semblance to keep track of all the Grimm around them. The King Taijitu goes after Pyrrha, so he hits the black half of the snake in the throat with Orange Spark. Pyrrha then notices the white half about to strike and pierces its head by throwing her weapon in spear mode. Two Boarbatusks then rush her so she dodges one and shield bashes the other.

A normal Ursa is about to try and strike Pyrrha when Jaune shouts, "Look out!" as he manages to strike it down and then tosses Pyrrha his sword. Pyrrha catches it as Jaune covers her back.

"Thank you Jaune" Pyrrha tells Jaune as she then uses his sword to cut through 2 approaching Beowolves. Then Nora, who has retrieved her hammer, smashes a charging Boarbatusk into a Beowolf.

Naruto then yells to Ruby, "Ruby! Can you handle the black half of the snake while I go after the white half?!"

"I'm on it!" Ruby responds as she jumps up and then boosts herself with a sniper shot before cutting the mouth of the Black King Taijitu with an upward slash.

Naruto leaps forward and clocks the head of the White King Taijitu with Orange Spark disorienting it. This allows him to pull Pyrrha's spear out of its head and yells, "Pyrrha!" as he throws the spear over in Pyrrha's direction.

Seeing this, Pyrrha tells Jaune, "Heads up!" as she tosses Jaune's sword back to him and uses her Semblance to bring her weapon back to her. As they both catch their weapons, they cut through multiple approaching Grimm. At the same time, Naruto finishes off the White King Taijitu half with a double strike with Orange Spark and an axe kick finisher. Ruby finishes off the Black King Taijitu with a decapitation.

Yang, Blake, and Weiss are squaring off with the two Super Beowolves. Weiss says, "I am getting really sick of these things."

"I couldn't agree more" Blake adds. More Grimm start to surround them and as they fight them off, one of the Super Beowolves rushes in and strikes Weiss on her left leg causing her to yell out in pain. Her Aura is still intact, but her levels are drastically reduced. Blake then cuts that Super Beowolf but it hardly flinches and it counter swipes making Blake have to use her Semblance just in time to avoid it. However, as she does this, she gets charged from behind by a Boarbatusk and she hits the ground hard.

"Blake!" Yang shouts as she goes to help her partner. As she does, the other Super Beowolf cuts her off and swipes at her. Yang guards up, but since she has had very little recovery time, she does not have enough Aura causing it to shatter.

Ruby gasps at seeing this and goes to help Yang in a panic but is caught by a swipe from the Super Ursa making her bleed as she crashes into the ground. She reaches out for her sister and lets out, "Yang…!" Yang goes to get Ruby but she stumbles and falls to a knee as the Super Ursa goes to attack Ruby again.

Seeing this take place, Naruto is filled with rage and again draws a little bit of Kurama's Chakra as he blitzes at the Super Ursa and punches it sending it tumbling over. However, the Ursa is not heavily damaged. He is then about to be pounced on by the Super Beowolves. He knows if he moves Ruby and Yang will be the ones getting attacked so he guards up instead. However, Jaune and Pyrrha strike one of them out of the air as Ren and Nora strike the other. He tells them, "Thanks you guys…" He then looks at the rest of his temporary team and sees they all have wounds and draining Aura levels, himself included. That being said, Team RWBY all get back up and show no signs of giving up. Seeing the fire in their eyes, Naruto smiles as he then stands next to Jaune and Ruby and tells them all, "Everybody stand in a circle, backs only to each other!" The two teams look at each other and agree as they make a circle with their backs only to one another. Naruto then shouts, "Trust those who stand next to you to the end!" Each member of this makeshift team looks at the eyes of the ones next to them and nod.

Yang then asks Naruto, "You got any other inspirational words for us?"

Naruto smirks and says, "I think these two might" He then says referring to Jaune and Ruby.

Jaune and Ruby look at each other and then Jaune says, "It doesn't matter how many of you show up…"

"We won't back down!" Ruby shouts, finishing the thought. The Grimm start rushing in and proceed to be cut down. Any time a member of the group gets hit, someone next to them picks up the slack until they can get up. Naruto's forehead gets sliced open by one of the Super Beowolves but Naruto slams his foot down, so he does not go down and manages to uppercut the Beowolf as Ruby shoots it back and Jaune slices its leg. The Super Beowolf heads back behind the swarm of Grimm. Ruby then shouts, "Weiss! Use some of your glyphs to pin down some of the Grimm!"

Jaune then also shouts, "Naruto, you use one of your Dust overdrives to make some space!" Weiss then tosses Naruto two full vials of ice Dust which he catches and uses an ice Dust overdrive knocking some of the Grimm back and freezing them in place. Weiss then does the same with her glyphs earning them a five second breather before the Super Ursa rushes through and sends Pyrrha flying with a claw swipe breaking her Aura. Yang manages to catch her but the circle is now broken.

"Damn it! WE'RE NOT GOING DOWN HERE, YA KNOW!" Naruto shouts at the top of his lungs. Pyrrha gets back to her feet and they all share the same sentiment as Naruto as they all let out a determined scream as they fight back with all they have. Tired and wounded all but none willing to give an inch. Naruto manages to knock over one Beowolf but then himself gets knocked over by the other one pouncing at the same time. Jaune and Pyrrha help him up and that is when they see a significant amount of Grimm go flying. "What's going on back there?" Naruto asks when a gray blur goes by and cuts down an approaching Ursa. Naruto on instinct thinks of Kakashi but knows it can't be. He then gets a better look and sees a tall man with pale red eyes, spiky black hair, a red tattered cloak, a gray dress shirt with a long tail, and black dress pants and shoes. He is wielding a mechanical looking sword that is clearly more than it appears.

"You kids sure got a lot of guts" The new arrival said.

Ruby and Yang then both shout, "Uncle Qrow?!"

All the others stare at Ruby and Yang before staring back at the now revealed Qrow and question, "Uncle?"

"We'll catch up later. Right now we got a hell of a fight on our hands" Qrow tells them. Reinvigorated, the nine Huntsmen in training get back into their formation. Impressed by their teamwork, Qrow joins the group standing in between Ruby and Yang. The Grimm attack continues but with the assistance of Qrow they manage to keep them at bay for now. That is when the Super Grimm make their way to the front again. "What's the deal with those Grimm?" Qrow asks as he has yet to come across a Super Grimm.

"They're enhanced by some weird Dust" Ruby tells him. Qrow is shocked by this but stays calm as he knows they need to stay focused.

Just then, Atlas warships led by Ironwood come in and provide air support as Ironwood jumps down to aid the students when he sees Qrow. Ironwood simply says, "Qrow…it's been a while."

"Gotta say, I never thought I'd be happy to see you and your troops" Qrow says in return.

Oobleck is making his way through Grimm trying to get back to his students when he is met by Port. Port then says, "Ah, Oobleck! I was wondering where you were in all this."

"Yes, well, I'm trying to find my students! They may be in danger!" Oobleck responds.

Port then motions over to where they are showing they are with Qrow and Ironwood before he says, "You needn't worry." Oobleck is relieved and then a Beowolf tries to attack them but they both attack it at the same time causing Port to chortle before exclaiming, "Just like old times!" Oobleck smiles at this until Glynda comes in looking annoyed at the whole situation. She sends several Beowolves flying before she goes to check on Team RWBY, JNPR, and Naruto. After seeing the state of them, her goes mood from annoyance to anger as she starts slaughtering Grimm.

As Ironwood and Qrow are doing the same, Ironwood comments, "I don't think I've ever seen her this mad."

"Behind that stern demeanor is some who deeply cares about her students" Qrow responds. As they are having this conversation one of the Super Beowolves attacks them and takes Qrow by surprise, but his Aura stays intact. Ironwood shoots the Super Beowolf point blank getting it off of Qrow. To both of their surprise, it is not only still alive but still on its feet.

"So, this is what the Dust does to them…" Ironwood comments.

While this is happening, the gang are trying to catch their breath as more Grimm attack. Naruto and Yang punch out a Beowolf together but struggle to stay on their feet. As more Grimm make their way over to the exhausted group, Team CFVY arrive to back them up as Fox kicks 2 Beowolves that were about to attack Ren. A Boarbatusk charges at an exhausted Blake but Yatsuhashi stops it. Velvet asks Blake, "Are you okay?"

Out of breath, Blake answers, "I'm really glad to see you guys…"

"You're all nuts trying to take on all these Grimm by yourselves" Coco tells them. She then looks at a large Beowolf and tells it, "You just destroyed my favorite clothing store. Prepare to die." The Beowolf goes to strike her, but she swats its hand away and kicks it in the crotch. She then looks at it as she leans down and slams her bag onto its head before smacking away three more Beowolves. Velvet is about to open her box to help when Coco tells her, "Hey, come on, you just spent all the semester building that up. Don't waste it here."

Seeing all of this, Naruto says, "Things are finally starting to turn around." The nine of them hang back to catch their breath. Yang's Aura has finally returned but it is far from full strength.

The Super Beowolf swipes at Qrow multiple times but Qrow manages to block each strike and counter swings. Ironwood shoots at the Super Grimm from behind gaining its attention. However, Qrow then shoots the Super Grimm from behind as well distracting it enough for Ironwood to hit is over the head with his gun as Qrow slashes the leg of the Beowolf. Some rubble then falls on the Super Grimm pinning it down. Qrow goes to finish it off when…

"Wait! Don't kill it! We should study it, find out exactly how this works" Ironwood says to Qrow.

After some silence Qrow responds, "Ironwood, you're playing a really dangerous game." As this happens, one of the airships gets destroyed surprising everyone. They all look to see what did it and find an enhanced giant Nevermore.

"Oh come on!" Yang shouts in a tone of exhaustion and frustration.

Seeing this, Jaune steps up and says, "Our team will handle the enhanced Ursa."

"Then we'll handle the other Beowolf" Ruby states.

Naruto gets back up and heads over to Qrow and Ironwood before saying, "Then everyone else is on Nevermore duty."

"Agreed" Ironwood states as everyone heads to their respective battle.

---

JNPR are huddled together waiting for the Super Ursa to make its move. As it picks Ren as its first target, Nora instinctually hits it with her hammer, but it barely moves. Jaune then shouts, "Nora, get out of there!" Ren pulls Nora away before the Ursa can strike her. As Ren and Nora are running, the Ursa follows allowing Jaune to run in and stab it. Unfortunately. the blade does not penetrate far. Pyrrha jumps and thrusts at the beast's eye, but it surprises them by parrying the attack. Stunned, Jaune shouts with fear, "They didn't mention anything about these things being able to learn how to fight!"

Overhearing this, Ruby shouts, "Sorry!"

As Weiss thrusts her blade at the Super Beowolf she says, "We honestly forgot." The Beowolf dodges Weiss' thrust and swipes its claw at her, but she gets pulled back by Blake who had her weapon's ribbon tied around Weiss.

Ruby then looks at Yang and shouts, "Enabler!"

Yang runs in with Ruby and says, "I love that name." Yang then makes sure to stay behind Ruby as they approach the Beowolf. Ruby boosts herself forward with her sniper scythe and swings her scythe making the Beowolf dodge it, but it was a feint as Ruby fires at the ground while she's still in the air making her go up higher and keeping the Grimm's attention. With the Beowolf distracted, Yang fires her Ember Celica behind her to give herself a boost at the exact same time Ruby boosted herself into the air so the noise canceled out leaving the Beowolf unable to hear her coming as she lands five straight punches and then jumps away before the Beowolf can retaliate. Ruby then cuts the Beowolf's from the air and gets away as it reels in pain.

Back with the Ursa, it is currently knocking Pyrrha off of her feet. However, before it can follow up, Nora hits it in the side with her hammer and then Ren opens fire on it drawing its attention away from Pyrrha.

Jaune picks helps Pyrrha back up and notices she is bleeding from the Ursa's last strike. Concerned, Jaune asks, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine" Pyrrha responds. "I can't maintain my Aura, but I'll compensate."

Meanwhile Ren lands a scissor kick on the Ursa and then does a tornado spin landing multiple superficial cuts on the Super Ursa. The Ursa does not react at all and then smacks Ren into a pole which also knocks down a power line and shatters his Aura.

Seeing the power line, Jaune yells out, "Nora, go get charged up while Pyrrha and I hold off the Ursa!"

"You got it!" Nora shouts as she goes to do just that. Jaune then rushes the Ursa and slices its back to keep its attention on him. The Ursa then swings at him wildly, but Jaune manages to duck and then land five rapid slashes with his blade that would have killed a normal Ursa. Unfortunately, it does very little against This enhanced one. As the Ursa goes to strike the now vulnerable Jaune, Pyrrha hops over Jaune and cuts the Ursa across the face. As the Ursa shakes its head and stares at them angrily, Pyrrha and Jaune have both gotten behind their shields. However, instead of feeling an impact from the Ursa, they see Ren is back on his feet and has dug his Stormflower's blades into the Ursa's back causing the Ursa to flail about trying to get him off.

"I won't let you shake me!" Ren shouts at the Ursa with conviction in his voice. Jaune and Pyrrha look at each other and nod as they rush back in and get eight slashes off on the Ursa while it is focused on Ren. These multiple hits are wearing the Super Ursa down, but it lets out a roar causing a shockwave that knocks them all back.

As he's getting sent back, Jaune shouts, "Nora, NOW!"

Nora, who has been using the power line to use her Semblance and give herself a big boost, jumps at the Ursa while yelling and hits the Ursa into one of the stores and the building collapses on it.

"Did we manage to beat it?" Ren asks out of desperation. His question is answered as the Super Ursa gets out of the rubble, although just barely. Nora goes in to finish it off. It is going to meet Nora's attack with its own, but Jaune hits the Ursa's arm with his shield before it can strike. Pyrrha then does the same with the other arm and Ren comes in with a flying dropkick knocking the Ursa off balance and leaves it unable to defend as Nora finishes it off with one last mighty swing.

Completely exhausted, Jaune asks Nora, "Are you happy now?" Jaune is referring to the times Nora complained about not getting to fight the Super Grimm.

As a blue energy strand leaves the Ursa and goes into Nora she shouts, "You bet I am!"

Back with the Beowolf, Blake uses her Semblance to bait it into an attack leaving it vulnerable for Ruby's sniper shot. Yang then hits the Beowolf from behind as Weiss runs it through from the front. As the Beowolf dies, a blue strand goes into Weiss. However, their team is too tired to notice. Team JNPR see Team RWBY's fight is now over too and stumbles their way over to sit with them. Ruby looks over and sees the Ursa is gone and in an exhausted voice says, "Congrats you guys, you beat it."

"Was it like you imagined?" Blake asks of Team JNPR.

"Worse…a lot worse." Jaune responds. The two teams laugh before they start watching Professor Port leading Team CFVY, Sun, Neptune, and even Emerald and Mercury against the normal Grimm to make sure they cannot back up the Super Giant Nevermore. They then look over to see those dealing with that Nevermore.

"Three down, one to go" Pyrrha comments.

The Nevermore has downed another Atlas ship but then its flight path is cut off by flying rocks launched by Glynda. The Nevermore then circles back and launches a volley of giant feathers at high speeds. Glynda puts rocks in the way, but Qrow ends up tackling her. She is about to ask why he did that, but she sees her answer as the feathers crumbled the rocks and are sticking in the ground. Stunned at the sight of this, Glynda says, "I never would have imagined the Dust made them this much stronger…"

One of the remaining airships is firing at the Giant Nevermore and it circles around again before flying at the ship. The pilot starts to panic yelling out, "No! I don't wanna die!"

Naruto then jumps off one of the roofs of a nearby building onto the top of the ship and then jumps off the ship as well towards the Nevermore with Orange Spark in hand in spear mode. He adds wind Chakra to his spear and jams it into the Nevermore's wing. The Nevermore then gets angry and slams Naruto into the side of a building causing Naruto to fall but he lands on his feet.

"Naruto, stay down and let us handle this!" Glynda shouts over to him.

"You guys need all the help you can get!" Naruto shouts in response.

"I like your spirit kid, but you've already been through a lot" Qrow tells him. "Let the Huntsmen hunt."

Naruto starts taking note of his Aura and Chakra levels before looking at one of the taller buildings and thinks to himself, "I'll let the Huntsmen do the main fighting while I head up there and try something a little crazy."

Ironwood opens fire on the Nevermore gaining its attention as Qrow configures his weapon into a scythe. Oobleck then shoots a stream of fire up at the Nevermore. It does not do much damage, but it succeeds in masking Qrow approaching and cutting into the wing Naruto damaged. The Nevermore tries to fly off and as it passes by one of the damaged buildings, it collapses and falls onto the Nevermore making Qrow smirk. Ironwood then gets it close and hits the Nevermore with his gun and some punches. Oobleck then also makes his way over and joins the assault as they do not want to let this opportunity slip by. The Nevermore then swings its wings and lets out a loud cry unleashing a shockwave and a wind gust knocking the Huntsmen back.

"I can't believe it can still move its wing after all of that!" Oobleck exclaims.

"If this is what the Dust has done to a giant Nevermore, I'm terrified of what it would do to a Death Stalker or god forbid a Goliath" Ironwood comments.

"Hey man, don't jinx us" Qrow tells Ironwood.

"Everyone get ready, it's about to attack again!" Glynda announces. The Nevermore then fires another volley of feathers which they all mange to dodge before it gets airborne again.

While this is happening, Naruto is on top of the tall building he saw earlier and is in Aura Sage Mode as he takes a deep breath. Kurama then asks him, "Are you sure about this? It didn't turn out well during training."

"During training I wanted to pull it off. Now I need to" Naruto responds.

"You might want to try and siphon some Chakra from me to try and pull this off" Kurama suggests.

"I can't do it at will yet" Naruto informs him. "I need to make my Chakra and Aura a lot more compatible before I can." He then looks at his metal arm. It was the arm he always used his signature technique with. "Can this false arm pull it off?" He says thinking out loud. He then puts all his focus around the center of his hand as he says over and over, "Come on…come on!" A small blue ball then forms in his hand.

"Now the hard part" Kurama comments. Naruto keeps concentrating as the air pressure around him increases from the energy build up as shimmering swirls are getting pulled around the Chakra. The Chakra then spins causing the swirls to follow and form a full sphere and then starts to shine. Naruto's Semblance cuts out as all of his Aura and Chakra went into making this technique; an Aura infused Rasengan.

"You actually did it…" Kurama says surprised, although not by much. Naruto never fails to rise to the occasion. "So how do you plan to get close enough to the Nevermore in your current state?"

"I'll figure something out" Naruto tells his old friend.

The Nevermore continues its strafing runs. It then notices Port and Team CFVY who have taken care of most of the normal Grimm and goes after them.

"Damn it!" Qrow exclaims as he and the other three Huntsmen try to intercept it.

Blake sees where the Nevermore is going and yells, "Velvet! Look out!" Velvet turns around to see the large Grimm and yells out as she and her team dive out of the way of an incoming volley.

Port then gets in front of them gaining the Nevermore's attention and says, "Stay behind me!"

"Port! You need to get down!" Oobleck shouts over to his old friend.

"I won't let that monster target my students!" Port shouts in defiance.

As the Nevermore is about to go and attack Port, Naruto shouts at the top of his lungs, "Oi! Birdbrain!" the Nevermore glances at Naruto and is then fixated at the shine coming from his Rasengan.

"Guys, what is that?" Ruby asks referring to the Rasengan.

"I got no idea" Yang responds.

"None of us do either" Jaune responds as well. The Nevermore then heads for Naruto and the teachers are extremely concerned. Naruto has Orange Spark put away and instead has his Rasengan in his right hand and his father's kunai in his left.

"Kid, this is beyond reckless even for you" Kurama tells Naruto.

"I plan on being the Hokage for this world, and the Hokage stands in front of his comrades!" Naruto responds.

Kurama gains a smile and tells Naruto, "Go for it."

Naruto jumps forward Rasengan first but the Nevermore evades it. However, it was a feint as Naruto then digs his kunai into the Nevermore and goes for a ride.

"What in the? He's insane!" Yang shouts.

"Yeah, but isn't that what you like about him?" Blake asks.

Yang then smirks and says, "Kinda."

"Come on Naruto!" Ruby shouts cheering on Naruto.

"Take that thing down!" Nora shouts joining in the cheers. The rest of Teams RWBY and JNPR start adding cheers of support.

"We have to help!" Glynda exclaims.

"Sure, but how?" Ironwood asks.

Glynda does not have an answer, but she then starts looking around and asks, "Where did Qrow go?" They then see him hopping from building to building but they do not know his plan.

Qrow is thinking to himself, "I can't fly as fast as that thing and I probably can't transform in time to hit it. This is a problem…" He then notices someone is already ahead of him on the rooftops. The one ahead of him is Sun. Qrow then shouts to Sun, "Hey kid! The hell are you doing up here?!"

"Trying to find a way to help my friend!" Sun tells Qrow. "And if you're about to try and tell me to stop you can forget it!"

Qrow decides to just go with and says, "Listen up kid, here's my plan."

After hearing Qrow's idea, Sun tells him, "I got a way to help with that!"

Meanwhile Naruto is hanging on for dear life. He keeps trying to hit his Rasengan but he is too weakened to overcome the wind pressure. He then shouts, "Crap! I will stop you, ya know!"

As the Nevermore gets closer to Qrow he shouts, "Now kid!" Sun then uses his Semblance to make two Aura clones. One clone jumps off the building and then the other clone along with Qrow jump off the first clone. Qrow then jumps off the second clone bringing him right in front of the Grimm catching it off guard and lands a slash cutting off its momentum and it flings Naruto high into the air after he loses his grip. Naruto then maneuvers himself to dive straight down towards the Grimm. The Nevermore then fires a volley of feathers at Naruto and he gets run through by four of them. One on each shoulder, one in his gut, and one in his right leg. This makes him start falling back. All of his friends start to panic as does Glynda, Port, and Oobleck.

In both hope and desperation, all of Team's RWBY and JNPR shout, "NARUTO!"

Naruto is barely conscious, but he manages to hear his friends call out for him. This makes him scream out a determined roar at the top of his lungs as he uses the last of his strength to force his body back over and towards the Grimm. The Nevermore cannot get away this time and Naruto hits it full on and it is sent plummeting to the ground in the shape of a rotating energy sphere that upon hitting the ground makes a huge impact. Naruto also plummets but he is caught by Qrow who sets him down and goes to check on the Nevermore. Team's RWBY and JNPR run to go check on Naruto. Qrow sees the Nevermore crumble apart and two strands of blue head off. Jaune and Pyrrha pass by, and the strands go into them but Qrow cannot quite tell due to the dust in the air from the impact. Jaune and Pyrrha also don't notice as they are focused on getting to Naruto.

As Team's RWBY and JNPR get to Naruto, Ruby asks, "Naruto, are you okay?" However, Naruto does not respond. Jaune then gets closer and notices the blood coming out of him before shouting at the teachers, "We need help! Please!"

Glynda runs over and covers her mouth with her hands in shock at the sight of Naruto. She manages to keep herself together and does what she can to try and stop the bleeding. Ironwood gets on his communicator and shouts over it, "We need a medical team, stat!"

Sun and Neptune then arrive and see Team's RWBY and JNPR in tears and finally see why as they see the state of Naruto.

Yang shouts at Naruto, "Don't you do this Naruto! You're not allowed to die!"

Ruby is absolutely beside herself and hugs a melancholy Qrow who has now approached.

Weiss, despite their bickering, considers Naruto a friend. She sees Roman who is tied up in custody and runs at him weapon drawn shouting, "You did this!" Ironwood is about to go stop her, but Pyrrha holds Weiss back. Weiss then shouts at Pyrrha, "Why are you stopping me?!"

"No matter how much he deserves it, I can't let you execute a restrained man" Pyrrha tells her with tears in her eyes. "We're Huntresses. We defend mankind…even scum like him."

With feelings of anger and sorrow, Weiss drops her weapon and hugs Pyrrha as the medical team arrives.

---

It has been two days since the incident. Glynda managed to close the breach and repairs to the city have started. Due to this attack, the council of Vale has placed Ironwood in charge of security for the Vital Festival. Naruto managed to pull through thanks to his Uzumaki vitality. However, any longer without medical treatment and he likely would not have made it. He has not woken up since the incident.

In Naruto's subconscious he sees Kurama staring at him. Kurama then says, "Finally noticed me huh? That means you'll finally be waking up soon." As Kurama says this, Naruto's eyes start to open. He is in a hospital room and he is heavily bandaged up. He then sees Team RWBY in the room staring out the window.

Blake then turns around and sees Naruto's eyes open and shouts to the others, "He's awake!" Ruby and Yang go to check on him as Blake and Weiss go to tell Team JNPR.

In a weak voice Naruto asks, "How long was I out?"

"It's been two days" Ruby informs him.

"The doctors didn't expect you to wake up for at least another few days" Yang adds. Between his Uzumaki heritage and Kurama, Naruto has always had a fantastic recovery rate. He keeps this to himself though. As Naruto starts to sit up, Yang pushes him back down and says, "You're not gonna be moving around yet." Naruto then makes an unenthused face causing Ruby and Yang to laugh. Blake and Weiss then return with Team JNPR.

"How are you holding up?" Jaune asks to which Naruto shrugs.

"We're all relieved you're finally awake" Pyrrha tells Naruto.

"Nobody more than Yang" Nora comments with a cheeky grin. Yang then stares her down.

Blake with her own cheeky grin says, "Yang refused to leave the first night and slept next to the bed."

Feeling like she is being called out, Yang shouts, "Are you kidding me?!" This causes the rest of the room to laugh.

"It's nothing to be embarrassed about" Blake tells her partner.

As Yang is looking annoyed, Ruby asks Naruto, "What was that attack you used?"

Naruto takes a second to answer saying, "It's called the Rasengan and it's something I've been working on for a while."

"How does it work?" Ren asks out of curiosity.

"My Aura is contained and rotated at a high rate of speed" Naruto explains to them. "I can only seem to do it in Sage Mode and it drains everything I got so it's not very useful."

"It was still really cool though!" Ruby tells him.

Naruto smiles at the compliment before getting a serious face as he asks, "Were there any casualties?"

"There were a few but most of the damage was to property" Weiss tells him.

"It was because all those Grimm were focused on us" Yang adds.

Naruto breathes a sigh of relief before asking, "So are you all okay?"

"We're doing fine" Ruby says, and the others express the same.

"It really shows how crazy it got when the one in the hospital bed is asking if we're alright" Jaune comments.

The doctor then comes in and is stunned to see Naruto awake as he says, "Mr. Uzumaki it's wonderful to see you awake."

"So, when can I leave?" Naruto asks.

"In a few days when we can confirm there aren't any lasting effects" The doctor answers. Naruto then sighs as his stomach growls. The doctor then lets out a chuckle and says, "At least your appetite is in full effect."

"Well, we'll get out of your hair. Ozpin asked all students to help out the townspeople" Ruby tells Naruto.

"See ya around Naruto" Jaune says as he leaves.

"We hope to see you back on your feet soon" Pyrrha says before she leaves as well.

"Get well soon" Ren tells him.

"See ya!" Nora exclaims as she and Ren leave.

"Good luck" Blake tells Naruto.

"And don't give the doctors and nurses any trouble" Weiss tells Naruto making him smirk.

"See ya soon!" Ruby tells him as she leaves with her team.

Yang is the last to go and Naruto tells her, "Thanks for looking after me."

Yang stands still after hearing that before walking back over and says, "Ya know, you really had me and Ruby scared. All of us were actually."

Now feeling bad, Naruto starts to say, "I'm sor—"

Yang cuts him off saying, "You're important to all of us." She then says under her breath, "Especially me…" She then continues saying, "So you don't get to check out on us."

Naruto smiles and says, "I'm not going anywhere, ya know."

Yang then kisses him on the cheek again causing his face to turn red and she tells him, "Red's kind of a good look on you." She then walks out the door. Naruto then calms down and stares at the ceiling. He is quite happy despite his wounded state.

---

Qrow is in Ozpin's office and he asks, "How long have you know about this Dust, Oz?"

"It's been a few months" Ozpin informs him. "I recalled you as soon as I seen video evidence of these special Grimm."

Qrow looks concerned as he says, "The stories you told me about Salem didn't lead me to believe she had the capability to do something like this."

"I don't know how she's done it either" Ozpin admits. Ironwood then enters the room.

"So, where you hiding Torchwick?" Qrow asks.

"He's in custody abord one of my ships" Ironwood answers. "Interrogation will be in a few days."

"We can only hope he'll see reason and tell us about the Dust" Ozpin comments.

"Doubt it" Qrow states. "If this is Salem and her people then he'll be way more scared of them than us."

"And what of the Beowolf?" Ozpin asks.

"On its way to Atlas and kept under constant sedation" Ironwood answers.

Qrow stands up and starts to say, "Are you kidding—"

"I already got it approved by the council of Vale" Ironwood informs Qrow.

"It's true. There isn't anything we can do" Ozpin confirms.

"So, are you going to have a talk with your nieces?" Ironwood asks Qrow.

"Why would I need to have a talk with them?" Qrow inquires.

"Are you aware that they have been around every incident with these Super Grimm?" Ironwood asks Qrow. Qrow then looks at Ozpin for confirmation.

"Their team has been involved in each one" Ozpin again confirms. Qrow then sighs before taking a drink and leaving the room.

"That isn't the healthiest habit" Ironwood comments.

"I agree, but neither of us really have any place to talk to him about it" Ozpin responds.

Ironwood then walks up next to Ozpin as they both look out the window and asks, "Do you really think still having the festival is a good idea?"

Ozpin overlooks his students going out to help the townspeople and says, "We all need it now more than ever."

Chapter End